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Protest racism at the valley swim club today 5:30 pm.

  By Racial Justice

You may have read or heard or yesterday that a Huntingdon Valley swim club decided to cancel an agreement with a Northeast Philadelphia day camp to allow campers to swim at the club two time a week because, the black campers would “change the complexion…and atmosphere of the club.” Kids who came to swim were summarily asked to leave the pool and told not to come back? What is there to say to decent people about the existence of blatant racism in this day and age? It’s grossly immoral. It’s enormously ignorant. It’s a throwback to days most of us hoped were long gone. And it can’t be allowed to stand without legal action and protest. Not to stand up and say that this sort of behavior is beyond the pale, is to allow it, and the attitudes behind it, to survive one more day. Continue reading

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The digital divide and equality of opportunity

  By Media Justice, Philadelphia

OK, here is the funny thing—or rather two funny things—about my writing on this topic. The first is that I’m one of the most net connected people I know. I use a computer for work or fun probably eight to ten hours a day and always have email, and IM windows open on my computer. And when I’m not on my computer, my phone is connected to a broadband connection through which I email, text, and IM. The second is that one of my closest friends is organizing around media related issues and has a particular concern with overcoming the digital divide. And yet, until today, when I read some responses to a very good op-ed in the Daily News by Hannah Sassaman and Todd Wolfson about the possibility of securing federal money to create a public broadband network in Philadelphia–a network that would help overcome the digital divide in… Continue reading

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It’s Past Time for Reparations

  By White Supremacy and Structural Racism

It’s long past time for the United States to create a program of reparations for Black Americans, not just for slavery but the second, third, and fourth iterations of systemic racism in the United States–the segregation in North and South after the Civil War, the terrorism against Black people perpetuated by the lynchings and chain gangs of Jim Crow, the  attack on Black communities through urban renewal and red-lining, and the mass incarceration carried out as a result of the  war on drugs. Each of these policies were created by the white supremacy and systemic racism that was created in the 17th century by  rich white people who sought to use create and heighten racial division to undermine opposition to them. Each of these policies have had  not only an immediate and devastating impact on the Black people in one generation but have had been repeated in different ways in… Continue reading

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-07-05

  By About me

is striking the Wellfleet set. # Abba is still an incredible restaurant. # Twitter:Blog Post:Mishna FaceBook:Comments:Gemara When will the first great redacted book in a 1000 years be published. Or did I miss it? # Twitter:Facebook; Blog Post:Comments, Mishnah:Gemorrah. When will the first good book in a thousand years be one that has been redacted? Continue reading

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Sweeping the Sand on the Cape

  By About me, Family Stories

There comes a day, in every trip to the Cape, when you have to decide whether to sweep all the sand you’ve brought into the house. Sweeping is how we reaffirm our  committment to civilization. It generally happens on Thursday. Continue reading

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June 25th Town Hall Photos

  By Health Care

Created with flickr slideshow. Here are some photos of our event with Representative Joe Sestak, Senator Specter; Dr. Valerie Arkoosk of the National Physicians Alliance; Jeff Blum, executive director of US Action; Ed Mooney of the Communication Workers of America; Jeff Garis, chanter extraordinaire of Penn Action, and the whole incredible scene. More photos and video coming this week.k. Continue reading

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Health Care events all over Pennsylvania

  By Health Care

In May and June, HCAN PA has ramped up its efforts. We are holding four to five health care events every week. The picture, which links to a short video, is from a Health Care Rally in Pittsburgh on May 28 which came a day after we did a Health Care Town Hall in Erie and two days after an event in Montgomery County. (Our rally was held at Mellon Square underneath Senator Specter’s office, to which I was pointing.) Continue reading

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06-28

  By About me

is upgrading windows 7 beta 2 to rc 1 so that I'll have a working computer when I get back from vacation. Ugh! # is getting ready to go on vacation, which means working like crazy Continue reading

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Passion and Commitment at the HCAN PA Town Hall in Washington.

  By Health Care

I’ve been to a lot of political rallies and events. And, if truth be told, a lot of them are pretty dreary. Speeches go on for too long. And pretty much every rally is subject to the funny observation I first hear from Mo Udall about political conventions, after the first 15 minutes “everything has been said but not everyone has said it.” I think the Pennsylvania town hall yesterday was a little different, especially at the beginning and the end. Continue reading

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What Mark Sanford can teach us about sex and love

  By Love and Sex

The initial reaction to Governor Mark Sanford’s admission of infidelity has been to see it as one more example of the sexual depravity of politicians or perhaps of ambitious, successful men in general. Sanford was initially portrayed as another man who gave into sexual desire because he could, that is because some combination of the opportunities presented to him by women infatuated with power on the one hand, and his self-absorption, on the other, lead him risk his career and his family in pursuit of sexual pleasure. But, it did not take long for at least some people to see that Sanford is different. He’s no Eliot Spitzer pursuing sex with an expensive call girl. He’s no Jack Kennedy, keeping a few women on his staff for the purpose of satisfying him whenever he got the urge. No one in pursuit of just sex takes up with a woman thousands… Continue reading