INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
BOOKS
- The Secret Histories: Hidden Truths That Challenged the Past and Changed the World by John S. Friedman - A one-of-a-kind collection of political histories that have changed the way we look at the world. Includes pieces by I.F. Stone, Seymour Hersh, Greg Palast, James Risen and others
--Klein, Woody. The Inside Stories of Modern Political Scandals: How Investigative Reporters Have Changed the Course of American History. Praeger, 2010. Rev. A recounting of major investigative coups of the past sixty years—Woodward-Berstein Watergate revelations, Bethany McLean on Enron, Eric Lichtblau and James Risen on Bush admin. vast eavesdropping program, Dana Priest and “extraordinary rendition,” et al.
--Tell Me No Lies by John Pilger - a Collection of investigative journalism of the past 60 years includes pieces by well-regarded reporters such as Seymour Hersh, Greg Palast, Edward R. Murrow, Jessica Mitford, Eric Schlosser and other. Rev. Columbia Journalism Rev. (Nov. Dec. 2010).
OMNI's media endowment to UA's Mullins Library includes specific reference to the purchase of books and films on investigative journalism.
Dick
Friday, November 19, 2010
Right Wing, the Media, and ACORN
RIGHT WING AND MEDIA ALLEGATIONS OF ACORN “VOTER FRAUD”
Michael Schudson and Julia Sonnevend, “In ACORN’s Shadow,” Columbia Journalism Rev. (Nov. Dec. 2010): The authors report on a study by Peter Dreier and John Martin in Perspectives on Politics (Sept. 2010) of 647 stories on ACORN during 2007-08, and concludes that ACORN’s alleged voter fraud “was absurdly hyped for partisan advantage; the national media were steamrolled into promoting…a ‘disingenuous controvery’; and ACORN twisted in the wind.” “…the national news media were ‘easily permeated’ by conservatives’ anti-ACORN accusations.” "The find that the media were taken in all too easily by a very effective group of 'opinion entrepreneurs' largely indifferent to facts or fairness."
Michael Schudson and Julia Sonnevend, “In ACORN’s Shadow,” Columbia Journalism Rev. (Nov. Dec. 2010): The authors report on a study by Peter Dreier and John Martin in Perspectives on Politics (Sept. 2010) of 647 stories on ACORN during 2007-08, and concludes that ACORN’s alleged voter fraud “was absurdly hyped for partisan advantage; the national media were steamrolled into promoting…a ‘disingenuous controvery’; and ACORN twisted in the wind.” “…the national news media were ‘easily permeated’ by conservatives’ anti-ACORN accusations.” "The find that the media were taken in all too easily by a very effective group of 'opinion entrepreneurs' largely indifferent to facts or fairness."
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Sarah Keenan, Pachamama Alliance, Awakening the Dreamer
Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream Symposium - Nov. 26, 1-4pm, at OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology Convenor: Sarah Keenan, Seattle, Wash.
A Symposium of inspiration in response to global issues such as climate change, social injustice, and the widespread breakdown of many of our societal structures will take place at the OMNI Center the day after Thanksgiving, Nov. 26, 1-4pm. The Changing the Dream Symposium is an initiative of The Pachamama Alliance, whose mission is to preserve the Earth’s tropical rainforests and to contribute to a new global vision of equity and sustainability for all. It is an opportunity for participants to explore how we can all play a part in addressing the challenges of our times and to come together in community to create a world that works sustainably for us and for future generations. OMNI is located at 3274 Lee St., Fayetteville. Contact: Gladys 395-4422., Dick 442-4600,
A Symposium of inspiration in response to global issues such as climate change, social injustice, and the widespread breakdown of many of our societal structures will take place at the OMNI Center the day after Thanksgiving, Nov. 26, 1-4pm. The Changing the Dream Symposium is an initiative of The Pachamama Alliance, whose mission is to preserve the Earth’s tropical rainforests and to contribute to a new global vision of equity and sustainability for all. It is an opportunity for participants to explore how we can all play a part in addressing the challenges of our times and to come together in community to create a world that works sustainably for us and for future generations. OMNI is located at 3274 Lee St., Fayetteville. Contact: Gladys 395-4422., Dick 442-4600,
Obama's Climate Promises
[CCTF] Tell Obama the world needs his climate leadership
|joanna pollock to cctf, OMNI, me, nathan, Gladys, Mikel, david, Michelle, nick
This is a critical petition. Congress has driven the climate change action car deep into the ditch...and there doesn't appear to be any sign of a tow truck coming any time soon. I wish our President Obama would see the hurricanes, droughts and floods in our rear view mirror. We desperately need him to lead on this issue!
In the meantime, the world meets again to try to figure out what to do about this global crisis in lieu of the United States making no solid commitments or plans for carbon reduction. Please sign this petition!
Joanna.
Joanna,
Tell the President to keep his climate promises: Sign the petition today
https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=dd75a4efec&view=cv&fs=1&tf=1&ver=2XB5n9DbH1E.en.&am=!dsYgKrSqQz-xhZxijtQ2BPpvY6pHEbT3HlIFnvhlJBPESY_f-Wwmsw&search=inbox&th=12c5589360927b08&cvid=2
The world's poorest nations are on the front lines of catastrophic climate change. The recent floods in Pakistan and droughts in Africa are just the most recent examples of how the world's poor are suffering because of our leaders' indifference to the climate crisis.
Now that we face a Congress full of climate deniers and shills for big polluters, President Obama must become a true global climate leader to help the world's poorest nations cope with climate chaos. Tell the President to keep his promises at this year's climate conference in Cancún, Mexico.
Nearly a year ago, we reported to you from the UN climate talks in Copenhagen that the U.S. and other developed countries agreed to raise $100 billion per year by 2020 to help developing countries adapt to the impacts of climate change, protect their forests, and transition to clean energy economies.
President Obama now has a responsibility to keep America's climate promises to the world's poorest nations. Tell the President to keep his promises at this year's climate conference in Cancún, Mexico.
1Sky has joined with Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, ActionAid and the Jubilee USA Network to gather 50,000 signatures for this petition because we believe it's fundamentally unfair that the world's poor should suffer from our leaders' unwillingness to grapple with climate change change in a serious way. We'll deliver this petition and our message to the White House on December 1st and to key U.S. officials at the climate conference in Cancún, Mexico in December.
Thanks for taking action,
Adi Nochur,
Partnerships Coordinator, 1Sky
Get Local! Become a Climate Precinct Captain
How do I donate? Fund our efforts and make bold climate action a reality
Join our network:
Sign Up: If you received this email as a forward, sign up to receive your own email updates
How do I stop receiving emails? Click here to unsubscribe
--
======================================================
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "OMNI-CCTF" group. The Climate Change Task Force is sponsored by the OMNI Center for
Peace, Justice and Ecology, in Fayetteville, Ark. Visit OMNI on the web at:
http://www.omnicenter.org
Opinions expressed on this list are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the Omni Center. The Omni Center does not approve or moderate postings and has no control over their content.
• To post to this group, send email to omni-cctf@googlegroups.com
• To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
omni-cctf+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
• For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/omni-cctf?hl=en?hl=en
|joanna pollock to cctf, OMNI, me, nathan, Gladys, Mikel, david, Michelle, nick
This is a critical petition. Congress has driven the climate change action car deep into the ditch...and there doesn't appear to be any sign of a tow truck coming any time soon. I wish our President Obama would see the hurricanes, droughts and floods in our rear view mirror. We desperately need him to lead on this issue!
In the meantime, the world meets again to try to figure out what to do about this global crisis in lieu of the United States making no solid commitments or plans for carbon reduction. Please sign this petition!
Joanna.
Joanna,
Tell the President to keep his climate promises: Sign the petition today
https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=dd75a4efec&view=cv&fs=1&tf=1&ver=2XB5n9DbH1E.en.&am=!dsYgKrSqQz-xhZxijtQ2BPpvY6pHEbT3HlIFnvhlJBPESY_f-Wwmsw&search=inbox&th=12c5589360927b08&cvid=2
The world's poorest nations are on the front lines of catastrophic climate change. The recent floods in Pakistan and droughts in Africa are just the most recent examples of how the world's poor are suffering because of our leaders' indifference to the climate crisis.
Now that we face a Congress full of climate deniers and shills for big polluters, President Obama must become a true global climate leader to help the world's poorest nations cope with climate chaos. Tell the President to keep his promises at this year's climate conference in Cancún, Mexico.
Nearly a year ago, we reported to you from the UN climate talks in Copenhagen that the U.S. and other developed countries agreed to raise $100 billion per year by 2020 to help developing countries adapt to the impacts of climate change, protect their forests, and transition to clean energy economies.
President Obama now has a responsibility to keep America's climate promises to the world's poorest nations. Tell the President to keep his promises at this year's climate conference in Cancún, Mexico.
1Sky has joined with Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, ActionAid and the Jubilee USA Network to gather 50,000 signatures for this petition because we believe it's fundamentally unfair that the world's poor should suffer from our leaders' unwillingness to grapple with climate change change in a serious way. We'll deliver this petition and our message to the White House on December 1st and to key U.S. officials at the climate conference in Cancún, Mexico in December.
Thanks for taking action,
Adi Nochur,
Partnerships Coordinator, 1Sky
Get Local! Become a Climate Precinct Captain
How do I donate? Fund our efforts and make bold climate action a reality
Join our network:
Sign Up: If you received this email as a forward, sign up to receive your own email updates
How do I stop receiving emails? Click here to unsubscribe
--
======================================================
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "OMNI-CCTF" group. The Climate Change Task Force is sponsored by the OMNI Center for
Peace, Justice and Ecology, in Fayetteville, Ark. Visit OMNI on the web at:
http://www.omnicenter.org
Opinions expressed on this list are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the Omni Center. The Omni Center does not approve or moderate postings and has no control over their content.
• To post to this group, send email to omni-cctf@googlegroups.com
• To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
omni-cctf+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
• For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/omni-cctf?hl=en?hl=en
Monday, November 15, 2010
Jesus' Unending Crucifixion
I am interested in everything that helps explain why the US has become a militaristic empire, and Fran's essay helps explain several other issues too. Dick
COMMENTARY: Christmas Child’s Play Concerns
TOY CATALOG PROMPTS WORRY ABOUT GENDER-SPECIFIC ROLES
By Fran Alexander
Posted: November 14, 2010 at 5:14 a.m.
Print itemE-mailShareFAYETTEVILLE — The glossy thick Christmas ads and catalogs are now falling out of the mailbox, but before you recycle them, check out what these sociological tomes reveal about us. I recently examined a 52-page toy catalog from a global retailer and skimmed another. Both speak volumes about our culture.
My loose methodology in looking at the first catalog was to tally the pages where only boys (19) or only girls (13) or both (7) were pictured, to list the main toys shown for each, and to note the predominate colors used on the toys and in the ads.
The remaining pages of the catalog were full of videos, games, bikes, etc.
The two most interesting things I noticed in this amateur survey of mine were the names of the toys and the activity they provided.
Boys’ pages, which led in both catalogs with the first 20 pages or so, were stocked with “Toy Story’s” cowboy, Space Ranger, and a dinosaur. Bigfoot the Monster is pictured big this year, as well as loud rocker guitars (7) and the usual trucks (5), speedways (4), dragons (4), robots (6), huge guns (8), “Star Wars” battleships (5), various macho vehicles (19), and, strangely, wrestling rings (2). I lost count of toys described as “battle,” “war,” “force,” “action,” “gear,” “assault,” “power,” “striker,” and “fighter” equipment. In this holiday season about birth and love and good cheer, imaginethe joy you’ll bring to your little boys with “Stinky the Garbage Truck” or the “Fire-Breathing Night Fury and the Attack Playset” (dragons) or a “Viking Battle Ax. “They also can be thrilled with the “Bakugan Battle Brawlers” or the “Star Wars Hailfire Droid” and can wield a “Grievous Lightsaber.”
“Iron Man 2 “has a “3-in-1 Repulsor” that I think I could use, but alas, only a helmeted boy with a fist drawn back was demonstrating it so I guess girls need not apply.
Iron Man also had a rocket boost, a war machine, and an arc light. (Sigh.) And I know every mother’s heart will appreciate the “K’NEX Speed Demon Coaster” and the “Monster Jam Grave Digger vs. Maximum Destruction Building Set.” But perhaps it should be the “Air Hogs Sharp Shooter Missile Launching Helicopter” that will really defines the spirit of the season in your home? Or a “Mighty Beanz Slam ’N Smash Play Set”? Choices, choices.
Since gender is often delineated by color, the older boy toys grow up from baby blue to mostly solid red, blue, green, gold, gray, brown, and the ever sinister, black.
Turn the page, however, into the girls’ section (15 pages), and it looks like you’ve fallen into a crock of Pepto Bismol. What’s not pink is gentle aqua, yellow, or lavender. Girls,however, seem to be shown with the most educational toys like “Playskool Alphie” and the “V.Tech V. Reader,” but in this catalog they were also offered seven different doll houses, three treehouses, three kitchen sets, two barns, five craft kits, 21 pets, two horses, six fairies, and a whopping 31 different dolls including one called a “Lalaloopsy.” That ad claims, “each… is unique.”
“Dora the Explorer” is singing and dancing and has her own house these days. I wonder what she’s discovering? Girls cook, rearrange furniture in their “Loving Family” dollhouses, and above all, these “Little Mommy” pretenders take care of “Baby Alive,” or rescue and walk pets. A foreveron-her-plastic toes Barbie has another townhouse and a “Fashion Fairytale Glitterizer Playset,” but most ironic of all (and the smallest featured item) is the “Barbie I Can BePlayset” with its “variety of professions to choose from.”
A couple of the dolls with horses are dressed in darker colors, but are not short on girlie fashion. However, I wouldn’t want to ride a horse in the shorts one is wearing or the dress with tights the other one chose.
There were no doctors, nurses, scientists, astronauts, artists, teachers, leaders, architects, carpenters, etc. in this catalog, and by the end of my survey the overwhelming impression left in my gut is that girls have the babies and make the homes and the boys go into battle and destroy stuff, including life.
This grandma is not buying.
FRAN ALEXANDER IS A FAYETTEVILLE RESIDENT WITH A LONG-STANDING INTEREST IN THE ENVIRONMENT AND AN OPINION ON ALMOST EVERYTHING ELSE.
Reply Forward
Dick BennettExcellent analysis Fran. You partly explain why our nation makes permanent wa...
1:26 PM (3 hours ago)
Reply |Fran Alexander to Dick
show details 4:14 PM (38 minutes ago)
sure-----and thanks, F
- Show quoted text -
On Nov 15, 2010, at 1:26 PM, Dick Bennett wrote:
Excellent analysis Fran. You partly explain why our nation makes permanent war.
May I put it in my Blog? Dick
On Sun, Nov 14, 2010 at 10:12 PM, Fran Alexander wrote:
COMMENTARY: Christmas Child’s Play Concerns
TOY CATALOG PROMPTS WORRY ABOUT GENDER-SPECIFIC ROLES
By Fran Alexander
Posted: November 14, 2010 at 5:14 a.m.
Print itemE-mailShareFAYETTEVILLE — The glossy thick Christmas ads and catalogs are now falling out of the mailbox, but before you recycle them, check out what these sociological tomes reveal about us. I recently examined a 52-page toy catalog from a global retailer and skimmed another. Both speak volumes about our culture.
My loose methodology in looking at the first catalog was to tally the pages where only boys (19) or only girls (13) or both (7) were pictured, to list the main toys shown for each, and to note the predominate colors used on the toys and in the ads.
The remaining pages of the catalog were full of videos, games, bikes, etc.
The two most interesting things I noticed in this amateur survey of mine were the names of the toys and the activity they provided.
Boys’ pages, which led in both catalogs with the first 20 pages or so, were stocked with “Toy Story’s” cowboy, Space Ranger, and a dinosaur. Bigfoot the Monster is pictured big this year, as well as loud rocker guitars (7) and the usual trucks (5), speedways (4), dragons (4), robots (6), huge guns (8), “Star Wars” battleships (5), various macho vehicles (19), and, strangely, wrestling rings (2). I lost count of toys described as “battle,” “war,” “force,” “action,” “gear,” “assault,” “power,” “striker,” and “fighter” equipment. In this holiday season about birth and love and good cheer, imaginethe joy you’ll bring to your little boys with “Stinky the Garbage Truck” or the “Fire-Breathing Night Fury and the Attack Playset” (dragons) or a “Viking Battle Ax. “They also can be thrilled with the “Bakugan Battle Brawlers” or the “Star Wars Hailfire Droid” and can wield a “Grievous Lightsaber.”
“Iron Man 2 “has a “3-in-1 Repulsor” that I think I could use, but alas, only a helmeted boy with a fist drawn back was demonstrating it so I guess girls need not apply.
Iron Man also had a rocket boost, a war machine, and an arc light. (Sigh.) And I know every mother’s heart will appreciate the “K’NEX Speed Demon Coaster” and the “Monster Jam Grave Digger vs. Maximum Destruction Building Set.” But perhaps it should be the “Air Hogs Sharp Shooter Missile Launching Helicopter” that will really defines the spirit of the season in your home? Or a “Mighty Beanz Slam ’N Smash Play Set”? Choices, choices.
Since gender is often delineated by color, the older boy toys grow up from baby blue to mostly solid red, blue, green, gold, gray, brown, and the ever sinister, black.
Turn the page, however, into the girls’ section (15 pages), and it looks like you’ve fallen into a crock of Pepto Bismol. What’s not pink is gentle aqua, yellow, or lavender. Girls,however, seem to be shown with the most educational toys like “Playskool Alphie” and the “V.Tech V. Reader,” but in this catalog they were also offered seven different doll houses, three treehouses, three kitchen sets, two barns, five craft kits, 21 pets, two horses, six fairies, and a whopping 31 different dolls including one called a “Lalaloopsy.” That ad claims, “each… is unique.”
“Dora the Explorer” is singing and dancing and has her own house these days. I wonder what she’s discovering? Girls cook, rearrange furniture in their “Loving Family” dollhouses, and above all, these “Little Mommy” pretenders take care of “Baby Alive,” or rescue and walk pets. A foreveron-her-plastic toes Barbie has another townhouse and a “Fashion Fairytale Glitterizer Playset,” but most ironic of all (and the smallest featured item) is the “Barbie I Can BePlayset” with its “variety of professions to choose from.”
A couple of the dolls with horses are dressed in darker colors, but are not short on girlie fashion. However, I wouldn’t want to ride a horse in the shorts one is wearing or the dress with tights the other one chose.
There were no doctors, nurses, scientists, astronauts, artists, teachers, leaders, architects, carpenters, etc. in this catalog, and by the end of my survey the overwhelming impression left in my gut is that girls have the babies and make the homes and the boys go into battle and destroy stuff, including life.
This grandma is not buying.
FRAN ALEXANDER IS A FAYETTEVILLE RESIDENT WITH A LONG-STANDING INTEREST IN THE ENVIRONMENT AND AN OPINION ON ALMOST EVERYTHING ELSE.
--
Dick Bennett
Wars and Warming: Reducing the Footprints
My blog:
http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/
jbennet@uark.edu
(479) 442-4600
2582 Jimmie Ave.
Fayetteville, AR 72703
COMMENTARY: Christmas Child’s Play Concerns
TOY CATALOG PROMPTS WORRY ABOUT GENDER-SPECIFIC ROLES
By Fran Alexander
Posted: November 14, 2010 at 5:14 a.m.
Print itemE-mailShareFAYETTEVILLE — The glossy thick Christmas ads and catalogs are now falling out of the mailbox, but before you recycle them, check out what these sociological tomes reveal about us. I recently examined a 52-page toy catalog from a global retailer and skimmed another. Both speak volumes about our culture.
My loose methodology in looking at the first catalog was to tally the pages where only boys (19) or only girls (13) or both (7) were pictured, to list the main toys shown for each, and to note the predominate colors used on the toys and in the ads.
The remaining pages of the catalog were full of videos, games, bikes, etc.
The two most interesting things I noticed in this amateur survey of mine were the names of the toys and the activity they provided.
Boys’ pages, which led in both catalogs with the first 20 pages or so, were stocked with “Toy Story’s” cowboy, Space Ranger, and a dinosaur. Bigfoot the Monster is pictured big this year, as well as loud rocker guitars (7) and the usual trucks (5), speedways (4), dragons (4), robots (6), huge guns (8), “Star Wars” battleships (5), various macho vehicles (19), and, strangely, wrestling rings (2). I lost count of toys described as “battle,” “war,” “force,” “action,” “gear,” “assault,” “power,” “striker,” and “fighter” equipment. In this holiday season about birth and love and good cheer, imaginethe joy you’ll bring to your little boys with “Stinky the Garbage Truck” or the “Fire-Breathing Night Fury and the Attack Playset” (dragons) or a “Viking Battle Ax. “They also can be thrilled with the “Bakugan Battle Brawlers” or the “Star Wars Hailfire Droid” and can wield a “Grievous Lightsaber.”
“Iron Man 2 “has a “3-in-1 Repulsor” that I think I could use, but alas, only a helmeted boy with a fist drawn back was demonstrating it so I guess girls need not apply.
Iron Man also had a rocket boost, a war machine, and an arc light. (Sigh.) And I know every mother’s heart will appreciate the “K’NEX Speed Demon Coaster” and the “Monster Jam Grave Digger vs. Maximum Destruction Building Set.” But perhaps it should be the “Air Hogs Sharp Shooter Missile Launching Helicopter” that will really defines the spirit of the season in your home? Or a “Mighty Beanz Slam ’N Smash Play Set”? Choices, choices.
Since gender is often delineated by color, the older boy toys grow up from baby blue to mostly solid red, blue, green, gold, gray, brown, and the ever sinister, black.
Turn the page, however, into the girls’ section (15 pages), and it looks like you’ve fallen into a crock of Pepto Bismol. What’s not pink is gentle aqua, yellow, or lavender. Girls,however, seem to be shown with the most educational toys like “Playskool Alphie” and the “V.Tech V. Reader,” but in this catalog they were also offered seven different doll houses, three treehouses, three kitchen sets, two barns, five craft kits, 21 pets, two horses, six fairies, and a whopping 31 different dolls including one called a “Lalaloopsy.” That ad claims, “each… is unique.”
“Dora the Explorer” is singing and dancing and has her own house these days. I wonder what she’s discovering? Girls cook, rearrange furniture in their “Loving Family” dollhouses, and above all, these “Little Mommy” pretenders take care of “Baby Alive,” or rescue and walk pets. A foreveron-her-plastic toes Barbie has another townhouse and a “Fashion Fairytale Glitterizer Playset,” but most ironic of all (and the smallest featured item) is the “Barbie I Can BePlayset” with its “variety of professions to choose from.”
A couple of the dolls with horses are dressed in darker colors, but are not short on girlie fashion. However, I wouldn’t want to ride a horse in the shorts one is wearing or the dress with tights the other one chose.
There were no doctors, nurses, scientists, astronauts, artists, teachers, leaders, architects, carpenters, etc. in this catalog, and by the end of my survey the overwhelming impression left in my gut is that girls have the babies and make the homes and the boys go into battle and destroy stuff, including life.
This grandma is not buying.
FRAN ALEXANDER IS A FAYETTEVILLE RESIDENT WITH A LONG-STANDING INTEREST IN THE ENVIRONMENT AND AN OPINION ON ALMOST EVERYTHING ELSE.
Reply Forward
Dick BennettExcellent analysis Fran. You partly explain why our nation makes permanent wa...
1:26 PM (3 hours ago)
Reply |Fran Alexander to Dick
show details 4:14 PM (38 minutes ago)
sure-----and thanks, F
- Show quoted text -
On Nov 15, 2010, at 1:26 PM, Dick Bennett wrote:
Excellent analysis Fran. You partly explain why our nation makes permanent war.
May I put it in my Blog? Dick
On Sun, Nov 14, 2010 at 10:12 PM, Fran Alexander
COMMENTARY: Christmas Child’s Play Concerns
TOY CATALOG PROMPTS WORRY ABOUT GENDER-SPECIFIC ROLES
By Fran Alexander
Posted: November 14, 2010 at 5:14 a.m.
Print itemE-mailShareFAYETTEVILLE — The glossy thick Christmas ads and catalogs are now falling out of the mailbox, but before you recycle them, check out what these sociological tomes reveal about us. I recently examined a 52-page toy catalog from a global retailer and skimmed another. Both speak volumes about our culture.
My loose methodology in looking at the first catalog was to tally the pages where only boys (19) or only girls (13) or both (7) were pictured, to list the main toys shown for each, and to note the predominate colors used on the toys and in the ads.
The remaining pages of the catalog were full of videos, games, bikes, etc.
The two most interesting things I noticed in this amateur survey of mine were the names of the toys and the activity they provided.
Boys’ pages, which led in both catalogs with the first 20 pages or so, were stocked with “Toy Story’s” cowboy, Space Ranger, and a dinosaur. Bigfoot the Monster is pictured big this year, as well as loud rocker guitars (7) and the usual trucks (5), speedways (4), dragons (4), robots (6), huge guns (8), “Star Wars” battleships (5), various macho vehicles (19), and, strangely, wrestling rings (2). I lost count of toys described as “battle,” “war,” “force,” “action,” “gear,” “assault,” “power,” “striker,” and “fighter” equipment. In this holiday season about birth and love and good cheer, imaginethe joy you’ll bring to your little boys with “Stinky the Garbage Truck” or the “Fire-Breathing Night Fury and the Attack Playset” (dragons) or a “Viking Battle Ax. “They also can be thrilled with the “Bakugan Battle Brawlers” or the “Star Wars Hailfire Droid” and can wield a “Grievous Lightsaber.”
“Iron Man 2 “has a “3-in-1 Repulsor” that I think I could use, but alas, only a helmeted boy with a fist drawn back was demonstrating it so I guess girls need not apply.
Iron Man also had a rocket boost, a war machine, and an arc light. (Sigh.) And I know every mother’s heart will appreciate the “K’NEX Speed Demon Coaster” and the “Monster Jam Grave Digger vs. Maximum Destruction Building Set.” But perhaps it should be the “Air Hogs Sharp Shooter Missile Launching Helicopter” that will really defines the spirit of the season in your home? Or a “Mighty Beanz Slam ’N Smash Play Set”? Choices, choices.
Since gender is often delineated by color, the older boy toys grow up from baby blue to mostly solid red, blue, green, gold, gray, brown, and the ever sinister, black.
Turn the page, however, into the girls’ section (15 pages), and it looks like you’ve fallen into a crock of Pepto Bismol. What’s not pink is gentle aqua, yellow, or lavender. Girls,however, seem to be shown with the most educational toys like “Playskool Alphie” and the “V.Tech V. Reader,” but in this catalog they were also offered seven different doll houses, three treehouses, three kitchen sets, two barns, five craft kits, 21 pets, two horses, six fairies, and a whopping 31 different dolls including one called a “Lalaloopsy.” That ad claims, “each… is unique.”
“Dora the Explorer” is singing and dancing and has her own house these days. I wonder what she’s discovering? Girls cook, rearrange furniture in their “Loving Family” dollhouses, and above all, these “Little Mommy” pretenders take care of “Baby Alive,” or rescue and walk pets. A foreveron-her-plastic toes Barbie has another townhouse and a “Fashion Fairytale Glitterizer Playset,” but most ironic of all (and the smallest featured item) is the “Barbie I Can BePlayset” with its “variety of professions to choose from.”
A couple of the dolls with horses are dressed in darker colors, but are not short on girlie fashion. However, I wouldn’t want to ride a horse in the shorts one is wearing or the dress with tights the other one chose.
There were no doctors, nurses, scientists, astronauts, artists, teachers, leaders, architects, carpenters, etc. in this catalog, and by the end of my survey the overwhelming impression left in my gut is that girls have the babies and make the homes and the boys go into battle and destroy stuff, including life.
This grandma is not buying.
FRAN ALEXANDER IS A FAYETTEVILLE RESIDENT WITH A LONG-STANDING INTEREST IN THE ENVIRONMENT AND AN OPINION ON ALMOST EVERYTHING ELSE.
--
Dick Bennett
Wars and Warming: Reducing the Footprints
My blog:
http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/
jbennet@uark.edu
(479) 442-4600
2582 Jimmie Ave.
Fayetteville, AR 72703
Arkansas' Accelerated Prison Growth
See below on prison growth in Arkansas.
ALTERNATIVES TO PRISON GROWTH
SAN FRANCISCO EDUCATE NOT INCARCERATE
FSTV 7-31-09 Meshe Monge Ingirray?? Critical Resistance, www.criticalresistance.org
BOOKS
Perkinson, Robert. Texas Tough: the Rise of America’s Prison Empire. Metropolitan, 2010. Rev. Columbia Journalism Rev. (May/June 2010).
Kerman, Piper. Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison. Spiegel & Grau, 2010. Rev. CJR (May/June 20010): Kerman and Perkinson give “two takes on the folly of our prison policies.”
Democracy Now (10-19-10) Amy Goodman interviewed Angela Davis for most of the hour, much of it about Davis’s experience with, views about, and advocacy of abolishing prisons. Prisons reflect a failed society. A genuinely caring society would largely eliminate prisons, as in Finland. Prison abolition is part of “building a new world.”
Ms. Davis referred to the book Instead of Prisons: A Handbook for Abolitionists.
1. Instead of Prisons Table of Contents
A Handbook For Abolitionists, Online book, Originally published 1976.
Show map of 3049 E Genesee St, Syracuse, NY 13224
www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/instead_of_prisons/ - Cached - Similar
►
2. Instead of Prisons Chapter 2
[47] "By freely giving out ... drugs, wardens and guards keep many prisoners ...
www.prisonpolicy.org/.../instead_of_prisons/chapter2.shtml - Cached - Similar
3. Instead of Prisons Chapter 6
4. We should further reduce our excessive reliance on prisons by making ...
www.prisonpolicy.org/.../instead_of_prisons/chapter6.shtml - Cached - Instead Of Prisons: A Handbook For Abolitionists :: AK Press
From discussions on the range of voices that comprise the movement for prison abolition to demystification of the myths surrounding the justification of ...
www.akpress.org/2006/items/insteadofprisons - Cached - Similar
5. [PDF]
Treatment Instead of Prisons
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Quick View
Treatment Instead of Prisons: A Roadmap for Sentencing and Correctional Policy Reform in Wisconsin. This report would not have been possible with- ...
www.drugpolicy.org/.../Wisconsin_Report_Treatment_Instead_of_Prisons_Jan_06.pdf - Similar
6. States Eye Drug Treatment Instead of Prisons - 018751
Oct 31, 2006 ... The use of drug treatment instead of incarceration by states in order to cut costs is examined. For ...
nicic.gov/Library/018751 - Cached
7. Treatment Instead of Prisons | Justice Strategies
RESEARCH. BY STATE • BY ISSUE • BY PUBLICATION. Treatment Instead of Prisons. Treatment Instead of Prisons. CONTACT: Justice Strategies / A Tides Center ...
www.justicestrategies.org/treatment-instead-prisons - Cached - Similar
8. Building Schools Instead Of Prisons | Education
Aug 27, 2010 ... This could serve as a model for the rest of the country as to how communities can effectively build schools instead of prisons. ...
For a fuller discussion of this issue see today's Arkansas Times post on it...click here.
Many thanks to Uvalde Lindsey who addressed Sr Demos on this last year and remarked it would be one of the most important and difficult problem Ark legislators would be facing. Strangely the issue of prison growth/inadequate facilities was not discussed during the 2010 election. Perhaps it was best.
NWAOnline.com
Prison Population Tide Continues To Increase
By Ron Wood
Sunday, November 14, 2010
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — Arkansas prison officials said they’re being swamped by unprecedented inmate population growth but while they look for ways to house them, the human tide continues to increase.
Locally, judges and prosecutors say they still have a job to do and, in some cases, that means sending people to prison.
“Our growth right now is at an all-time high,” said Dina Tyler, Arkansas Department of Correction spokeswoman.
Tyler said the department is seeing its normal number of returnees but also seeing lots of new faces.
“That tells me our pool of criminals is growing,” Tyler said.
Since the 1970s state population has grown about 30 percent. The prison population has grown 600 percent, Tyler said.
Over the last 15 years, an average of 33 new inmates a month were added to the state prison population, Tyler said. This year, the monthly average has been 119.
“We are far outpacing the growth of Arkansas,” Tyler said. “People say, ‘How can that be? The crime rate is dropping.’ and that’s true. But the crime rate is only one component. You have to look at the crime rate, how many of those crimes are being solved with arrests made and how many of those arrests are leading to convictions and sentences of incarceration. So, we’ve got actually more cases being solved, more trials ending in guilty verdicts and more sentences being prison.”
Washington County courts have been sending more people to prison each year. In 2006, there were 686 people sent to either the Department of Correction or the Department of Community Correction. In 2007, the number was 727. By 2008, it had reached 800. In 2009, Washington County sent 846 people to state lockups.
“Everybody would like to have fewer people in the prison system,” said John Threet, Washington County prosecuting attorney. “But, I think we have to be careful how we reach that goal.”
Threet said his deputy prosecutors don’t seek prison time unless the evidence shows the person really deserves to be incarcerated.
“They’re not there by accident. There’s a reason those people are down there,” Threet said. “We don’t look at these numbers thinking we need to beat that number from last year.”
Circuit Judge William Storey said judges and prosecutors try to find alternative sentences, such as probation, when possible, but that only goes so far.
“It’s a function of the seriousness of the crime as well as the criminal history of the defendant,” Storey said. “Generally speaking, there’s an attempt to use probation as an alternative when the crime’s not too terribly serious or the defendant is not a repeat offender. There are some people who end up on probation or county jail time that really should probably go to prison, but that’s just, unfortunately, a fact of life that we have to deal with.”
Threet said prison overcrowding should not be dealt with by limiting what prosecutors, judges and juries do in their communities.
“If you start messing with the front end, you’re messing with what the community wants done,” Threet said.
Arkansas has a recidivism rate of almost 50 percent, meaning half of those released from prison will return, Threet said.
“We’ve identified the population at risk,” Threet said. “We need to look at doing a better job on that end.”
Threet said he’d like to see more education and treatment programs provided to reduce recidivism. The Department of Community Correction is based in large part on that theory and appears to be more effective than punishment alone, Threet said.
In June, Gov. Mike Beebe’s office announced the Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew Center on the States and state prison officials were working on a study to find an idea to curb growth in prison population while maintaining public safety.
“Our prisons are overcrowded, and the continued growth in our prison population and correction costs is unsustainable,” Beebe said. “We are looking for more ways to suitably punish and rehabilitate criminals while saving our prison beds for violent offenders.”
Pew was compiling data on correction trends in Arkansas with the help of state and local agencies.
Arkansas’ prison population has more than doubled in the past 20 years and is anticipated to top 21,000 inmates in the next decade.
Building and operating new prisons to accommodate that growth will cost Arkansas an estimated $1.1 billion between now and 2020, according to analysis conducted by the Pew team. Construction costs alone would exceed $350 million.
Earlier this week, prison officials said they will ask the Legislature for an additional $7.4 million to reimburse counties holding state inmates in their county jails.
As of Tuesday there were 1,863 state inmates waiting in county jails for a prison bed to open up. By Friday, that number had increased to 1,939.
Benton County on Friday was holding 161 people awaiting transfer to state prison, the average wait is six to seven months, Capt. Rob Holly said. Washington County was holding 245 state inmates.
The state pays counties $28 per day for each inmate.
The Legislature appropriated $7.5 million to pay counties for housing inmates during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011, but the money is expected to run out by the end of December, according to prison officials.
Threet said the percentage of Arkansans in state prisons is now within 4 percent of the national average.
“It’s not that we’re out of control. Arkansas was way behind the rest of the country in incarceration rates and no one was prepared when we caught up,” Threet said, who said some of the state officials’ ideas are good.
“I just don’t want people messing with the reason we’re in office,” he said.
ALTERNATIVES TO PRISON GROWTH
SAN FRANCISCO EDUCATE NOT INCARCERATE
FSTV 7-31-09 Meshe Monge Ingirray?? Critical Resistance, www.criticalresistance.org
BOOKS
Perkinson, Robert. Texas Tough: the Rise of America’s Prison Empire. Metropolitan, 2010. Rev. Columbia Journalism Rev. (May/June 2010).
Kerman, Piper. Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison. Spiegel & Grau, 2010. Rev. CJR (May/June 20010): Kerman and Perkinson give “two takes on the folly of our prison policies.”
Democracy Now (10-19-10) Amy Goodman interviewed Angela Davis for most of the hour, much of it about Davis’s experience with, views about, and advocacy of abolishing prisons. Prisons reflect a failed society. A genuinely caring society would largely eliminate prisons, as in Finland. Prison abolition is part of “building a new world.”
Ms. Davis referred to the book Instead of Prisons: A Handbook for Abolitionists.
1. Instead of Prisons Table of Contents
A Handbook For Abolitionists, Online book, Originally published 1976.
Show map of 3049 E Genesee St, Syracuse, NY 13224
www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/instead_of_prisons/ - Cached - Similar
►
2. Instead of Prisons Chapter 2
[47] "By freely giving out ... drugs, wardens and guards keep many prisoners ...
www.prisonpolicy.org/.../instead_of_prisons/chapter2.shtml - Cached - Similar
3. Instead of Prisons Chapter 6
4. We should further reduce our excessive reliance on prisons by making ...
www.prisonpolicy.org/.../instead_of_prisons/chapter6.shtml - Cached - Instead Of Prisons: A Handbook For Abolitionists :: AK Press
From discussions on the range of voices that comprise the movement for prison abolition to demystification of the myths surrounding the justification of ...
www.akpress.org/2006/items/insteadofprisons - Cached - Similar
5. [PDF]
Treatment Instead of Prisons
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Quick View
Treatment Instead of Prisons: A Roadmap for Sentencing and Correctional Policy Reform in Wisconsin. This report would not have been possible with- ...
www.drugpolicy.org/.../Wisconsin_Report_Treatment_Instead_of_Prisons_Jan_06.pdf - Similar
6. States Eye Drug Treatment Instead of Prisons - 018751
Oct 31, 2006 ... The use of drug treatment instead of incarceration by states in order to cut costs is examined. For ...
nicic.gov/Library/018751 - Cached
7. Treatment Instead of Prisons | Justice Strategies
RESEARCH. BY STATE • BY ISSUE • BY PUBLICATION. Treatment Instead of Prisons. Treatment Instead of Prisons. CONTACT: Justice Strategies / A Tides Center ...
www.justicestrategies.org/treatment-instead-prisons - Cached - Similar
8. Building Schools Instead Of Prisons | Education
Aug 27, 2010 ... This could serve as a model for the rest of the country as to how communities can effectively build schools instead of prisons. ...
For a fuller discussion of this issue see today's Arkansas Times post on it...click here.
Many thanks to Uvalde Lindsey who addressed Sr Demos on this last year and remarked it would be one of the most important and difficult problem Ark legislators would be facing. Strangely the issue of prison growth/inadequate facilities was not discussed during the 2010 election. Perhaps it was best.
NWAOnline.com
Prison Population Tide Continues To Increase
By Ron Wood
Sunday, November 14, 2010
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — Arkansas prison officials said they’re being swamped by unprecedented inmate population growth but while they look for ways to house them, the human tide continues to increase.
Locally, judges and prosecutors say they still have a job to do and, in some cases, that means sending people to prison.
“Our growth right now is at an all-time high,” said Dina Tyler, Arkansas Department of Correction spokeswoman.
Tyler said the department is seeing its normal number of returnees but also seeing lots of new faces.
“That tells me our pool of criminals is growing,” Tyler said.
Since the 1970s state population has grown about 30 percent. The prison population has grown 600 percent, Tyler said.
Over the last 15 years, an average of 33 new inmates a month were added to the state prison population, Tyler said. This year, the monthly average has been 119.
“We are far outpacing the growth of Arkansas,” Tyler said. “People say, ‘How can that be? The crime rate is dropping.’ and that’s true. But the crime rate is only one component. You have to look at the crime rate, how many of those crimes are being solved with arrests made and how many of those arrests are leading to convictions and sentences of incarceration. So, we’ve got actually more cases being solved, more trials ending in guilty verdicts and more sentences being prison.”
Washington County courts have been sending more people to prison each year. In 2006, there were 686 people sent to either the Department of Correction or the Department of Community Correction. In 2007, the number was 727. By 2008, it had reached 800. In 2009, Washington County sent 846 people to state lockups.
“Everybody would like to have fewer people in the prison system,” said John Threet, Washington County prosecuting attorney. “But, I think we have to be careful how we reach that goal.”
Threet said his deputy prosecutors don’t seek prison time unless the evidence shows the person really deserves to be incarcerated.
“They’re not there by accident. There’s a reason those people are down there,” Threet said. “We don’t look at these numbers thinking we need to beat that number from last year.”
Circuit Judge William Storey said judges and prosecutors try to find alternative sentences, such as probation, when possible, but that only goes so far.
“It’s a function of the seriousness of the crime as well as the criminal history of the defendant,” Storey said. “Generally speaking, there’s an attempt to use probation as an alternative when the crime’s not too terribly serious or the defendant is not a repeat offender. There are some people who end up on probation or county jail time that really should probably go to prison, but that’s just, unfortunately, a fact of life that we have to deal with.”
Threet said prison overcrowding should not be dealt with by limiting what prosecutors, judges and juries do in their communities.
“If you start messing with the front end, you’re messing with what the community wants done,” Threet said.
Arkansas has a recidivism rate of almost 50 percent, meaning half of those released from prison will return, Threet said.
“We’ve identified the population at risk,” Threet said. “We need to look at doing a better job on that end.”
Threet said he’d like to see more education and treatment programs provided to reduce recidivism. The Department of Community Correction is based in large part on that theory and appears to be more effective than punishment alone, Threet said.
In June, Gov. Mike Beebe’s office announced the Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew Center on the States and state prison officials were working on a study to find an idea to curb growth in prison population while maintaining public safety.
“Our prisons are overcrowded, and the continued growth in our prison population and correction costs is unsustainable,” Beebe said. “We are looking for more ways to suitably punish and rehabilitate criminals while saving our prison beds for violent offenders.”
Pew was compiling data on correction trends in Arkansas with the help of state and local agencies.
Arkansas’ prison population has more than doubled in the past 20 years and is anticipated to top 21,000 inmates in the next decade.
Building and operating new prisons to accommodate that growth will cost Arkansas an estimated $1.1 billion between now and 2020, according to analysis conducted by the Pew team. Construction costs alone would exceed $350 million.
Earlier this week, prison officials said they will ask the Legislature for an additional $7.4 million to reimburse counties holding state inmates in their county jails.
As of Tuesday there were 1,863 state inmates waiting in county jails for a prison bed to open up. By Friday, that number had increased to 1,939.
Benton County on Friday was holding 161 people awaiting transfer to state prison, the average wait is six to seven months, Capt. Rob Holly said. Washington County was holding 245 state inmates.
The state pays counties $28 per day for each inmate.
The Legislature appropriated $7.5 million to pay counties for housing inmates during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011, but the money is expected to run out by the end of December, according to prison officials.
Threet said the percentage of Arkansans in state prisons is now within 4 percent of the national average.
“It’s not that we’re out of control. Arkansas was way behind the rest of the country in incarceration rates and no one was prepared when we caught up,” Threet said, who said some of the state officials’ ideas are good.
“I just don’t want people messing with the reason we’re in office,” he said.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Support the Disclose Act
httpshttps://mail.google.com/mail/?hl=en&shva=1#inbox/12c4bf0e9a2ac45d:/PETITION Get the Secret Money Out of Our Elections
Reader Supported News, Petition
Secret, unregulated campaign contributions dominated the 2010 midterm elections. Join us in the fight to combat secret campaign contributions by signing our petition. We can't let the corporations buy the 2012 election the way they bought the 2010 midterms. 421
Share Buzz up!
Pass the DISCLOSE ACT THIS YEAR!In January, the Supreme Court strengthened corporations' grip on our government and political process with a dangerous ruling, overturning more than 100 years of election law.
The results of that ruling led to millions of dollars of secret, undisclosed contributions that influenced this year's elections.
To combat the new, unregulated corporate influence over elections, the House of Representatives passed the DISCLOSE Act - because democracy is strengthened by casting light on spending in elections.
It is time for the Senate to act on this critical piece of legislation. Tell Senator Harry Reid to bring the DISCLOSE ACT to the floor of the Senate this year.
This in not a partisan issue, many Republicans lost in the primaries due to the influence of secret, undisclosed outside contributions. All Americans should support transparency.
We need to build support all around the country, and we need your help to do it.
The DISCLOSE Act legislation will address seven major points:
1.Enhance Disclaimers
Make CEOs and other leaders take responsibility for their ads.
2.Enhance Disclosures
It is time to follow the money.
3.Prevent Foreign Influence
Foreign countries and entities should not be determining the outcome of our elections.
4.Shareholder/Member Disclosure
We should allow shareholders and members to know where money goes.
5.Prevent Government Contractors From Spending
Taxpayer money should not be spent on political ads.
6.Provide the Lowest Unit Rate for Candidates and Parties
Special interests should not drown out the voices of the people.
7.Tighten Coordination Rules
Corporations should not be able to "sponsor" a candidate.
Text of petition:
The United States Senate must limit the damage done by the Supreme Court's misguided Citizens United v. FEC decision and combat the new, unregulated corporate influence over elections by passing the DISCLOSE Act in 2010.
SIGN THE PETITION/mail.google.com/mail/?hl=en&shva=1#inbox/12c4bf0e9a2ac45d
Reader Supported News, Petition
Secret, unregulated campaign contributions dominated the 2010 midterm elections. Join us in the fight to combat secret campaign contributions by signing our petition. We can't let the corporations buy the 2012 election the way they bought the 2010 midterms. 421
Share Buzz up!
Pass the DISCLOSE ACT THIS YEAR!In January, the Supreme Court strengthened corporations' grip on our government and political process with a dangerous ruling, overturning more than 100 years of election law.
The results of that ruling led to millions of dollars of secret, undisclosed contributions that influenced this year's elections.
To combat the new, unregulated corporate influence over elections, the House of Representatives passed the DISCLOSE Act - because democracy is strengthened by casting light on spending in elections.
It is time for the Senate to act on this critical piece of legislation. Tell Senator Harry Reid to bring the DISCLOSE ACT to the floor of the Senate this year.
This in not a partisan issue, many Republicans lost in the primaries due to the influence of secret, undisclosed outside contributions. All Americans should support transparency.
We need to build support all around the country, and we need your help to do it.
The DISCLOSE Act legislation will address seven major points:
1.Enhance Disclaimers
Make CEOs and other leaders take responsibility for their ads.
2.Enhance Disclosures
It is time to follow the money.
3.Prevent Foreign Influence
Foreign countries and entities should not be determining the outcome of our elections.
4.Shareholder/Member Disclosure
We should allow shareholders and members to know where money goes.
5.Prevent Government Contractors From Spending
Taxpayer money should not be spent on political ads.
6.Provide the Lowest Unit Rate for Candidates and Parties
Special interests should not drown out the voices of the people.
7.Tighten Coordination Rules
Corporations should not be able to "sponsor" a candidate.
Text of petition:
The United States Senate must limit the damage done by the Supreme Court's misguided Citizens United v. FEC decision and combat the new, unregulated corporate influence over elections by passing the DISCLOSE Act in 2010.
SIGN THE PETITION/mail.google.com/mail/?hl=en&shva=1#inbox/12c4bf0e9a2ac45d
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