Humpday Humor: Government Buildings

The Department of Labor in Washington, D.C.

Photo credit: Benny Johnson 

Check out more awesome government buildings at BuzzFeed

Martin Luther King Gets Angry About Media Hypocrisy

"The time has come for America to hear the truth about this tragic war." 

- Martin Luther King Jr.

One year before his death Martin Luther King Jr. began speaking out against the U.S. attack on Vietnam.  Not only did he defend the rights of brown people in Southeast Asia but he also grasped the economic devastation that militarism brings to residents of both sides of the war.  

"And you may not know it, my friends, but it is estimated that we spend $500,000 to kill each enemy soldier, while we spend only fifty-three dollars for each person classified as poor, and much of that fifty-three dollars goes for salaries to people that are not poor.  

 So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor, and attack it as such." 

In addition to his grievances with racism, militarism and economic exploitation King also criticizes the press.

Putting War Casualties in Perspective

52,000 U.S. soldiers suffered serious physical wounds during the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.  These are the men and women who were lucky enough to make it out of the war zones alive.

52,000 is a hard number to comprehend.  Here are a few attempts to put the number of war casualties in perspective:

• 52,000 is nearly identical to the entire student body at the University of Texas in Austin    
• 52,000 is slightly more than the total number of adult males in Jackson, Mississippi (the state capital)
• 52,000 almost equals the combined number of people working in the U.S. forest, conservation and logging industries
• 52,000 is the total number of employees at Google

Now imagine a scenario where each subset of people listed above have all sustained serious injury. 

The potential ingenuity, productivity, enjoyment and resources created by these 52,000 people at full strength is immense.  Thanks to these two invasions we have all sustained a great magnitude of loss with the steepest burden felt by the surviving war veterans.

  

File Under: Medicaid Fraud

The Texas Tribune reports on the most recent case of Medicaid fraud:

State spending on orthodontic services spiraled out of control: Between 2003 and 2010, Texas Medicaid payments for orthodontic services grew by more than 3,000 percent — from $6.5 million to $220.5 million — while program enrollment only grew 33 percent.

Just the state being swindled out of millions of your dollars, again.

Funny that you never hear about Starbucks squandering billions of dollars which lead to a 3,000% jump in coffee prices.  The people who serve you coffee seem to be better stewards of resources then the people who collect the taxes.    

Humpday Humor: IRS Unaware of File Back-Up Services

Email exchanges for at least seven IRS employees are lost because of habitual computer crashes at the agency.  To investigate the unfortunate situation the U.S. has spent $10,000,000.

The money quote from the news item:

IRS technicians went to great lengths trying to recover data from Lerner's computer in 2011.  Technicians said they sent the computer to a forensic lab run by the agency's criminal investigations unit. But to no avail.

Message to the IRS: File back-up services exist.    

Story from the AP 

The Underground Commons

Community Garden in Detroit
(Photo: David Guralnick, The Detroit News)

David Bollier has written a piece for the Huffington Post titled "The Commons as a Rising Alternative to State and Market".  Bollier highlights new alternative commons like:

• open-access science journals, Directory of Open Access Journals
• community gardens
• digital hackerspaces
• alternative payment systems, like community currencies or Bitcoin
• seed-sharing collectives, Seed Savers Exchange
• crowdfunding, i.e. Kickstarter & Indiegogo

Since many of these examples of wealth are decentralized it's not likely you will hear about them on the centrally controlled outcast media.  But understand that for those in need of resources there are many options available.  It just takes a little sifting and digging to connect with people in the new underground commons.  

The Booming Brazilian Riot Gear Market

Supporters of a native community living at the Indian Museum
are hit with pepper spray. (Rio de Janeiro, March 2013, Reuters/Ricardo Moraes)

Two weeks ahead of the month-long World Cup the people calling themselves "Brazil" have stocked up on non-lethal weapons.  Why?

Reuters reports that the state is expecting small "anti-government protests" during the Cup.

The people of Brazil are not so pleased with the government spending nearly $4 billion (US) of taxpayer funds on a dozen soccer stadiums.  Not to mention the state paving over an Indian museum in Rio de Janeiro and arresting the native residents who have lived there for eight years. This to make room for a parking lot outside the stadium.      

Police, military and politicians are confiscating another $850 million for World Cup security.

But no need to worry concerned taxpayer of Brazil.  The Defense Minister said:

"If troops have to use weapons, they will first use non-lethal arms"

"First".  

Police Arresting Indians at an Indian Museum in Rio.
(March 2013, AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Are Cities Smartening Up About the Olympics?

Not the most efficient use of resources. 

After multiple cities have removed their bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics the organizers are having a tough time selling the event.  Why are potential host cities reluctant?  They have finally figured out that massive projects built for one-time use is a big waste of scarce resources.

Regarding the Olympics The Guardian reports:

It's blisteringly expensive to put together, doesn't improve infrastructure as much as anybody claims and will almost certainly leave a wonky legacy of deserted ski-jumps and bobsleigh tracks littered around the host city.

Abandoned pool in Helsinki

   
We can hope this small show of constraint on the part of event organizers, sponsors and politicians is a building block for sanity.  Barring taxpayer funds entirely from supporting the Olympics would be a nice culmination.  The world doesn't need more unused cement ditches.

Drone Crash in Texas

A drone for your local SWAT team
(AP Photo/Lance Bertolino, Vanguard Defense Industries)

Police are searching for a drone which crashed in Lake Conroe, Texas last week.  The robot, which could be fitted with a grenade launcher, malfunctioned while the sheriff's were practicing flying over the lake.

In addition to the $250,000 cost of the drone, more resources are being wasted as divers are spending time on a search and rescue mission of the flying machine.  

From the Houston Chronicle.  

Guitars for Prisoners

With 2,312,000 people locked behind bars in the U.S. there are plenty of resources needed for inmates.  Wayne Kramer the former guitarist for the MC5 founded Jail Guitar Doors in order to supply guitars for prisoners.

Here is his story...