A big thank you to the St. Louis Rams football players who said "Hands up/Don't shoot." before today's Rams game in St. Louis.

The work of freedom is up to each of us. 

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Here is a picture of the waiting area of the Honda dealership I was last week to get my car fixed as part of the giant airbag recall. 

Airbags in millions of cars sold to consumers all over the world in recent years are defective. If they go off, they may well shoot shrapnel into your body.

If this had been a government screw-up, you'd never hear the end of it all. 

The private sector makes defective products all the time. The private sector cheats hard-working people out of fair wages all the time.

Folks can keep on bashing government for everything in our society, but in so many cases if were not for government oversight and regulations we would be even more powerless in the face of big money than we are at the moment.

The work of asking for something better is up to each of us. 

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Republican U.S. Senator David Vitter of Louisiana says the U.S. approach on Ebola is flawed because "...it focuses on Africa." 

At the same time, the World Health Organization said today that the number of new Ebola cases in Africa may number as high as 10,000 a week by December of this year. 

If the disease is stopped in Africa, the threat of the disease spreading around the world will be dramatically reduced. 

I've made a second small donation to Ebola relief as part of what I can do to combat the spread of this terrible illness.  

Here is the Ebola relief page of Doctors Without Borders. 

Here is the Ebola relief page for UNICEF.

Maybe there are other organizations you support in the fight against Ebola. 

I have to compose myself for a time to manage the anger at political parties using Ebola as a vote getting tactic. I have to focus on what I can accomplish to help people and focus on seeing us all as connected even as some choose a mean-spirited path. 

I believe we can move forward as individuals and as a connected world. This is the course we must maintain.

We just have to move ahead even though moving ahead is often very difficult. 

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Former Congressman James Traficant of Youngstown, Ohio died recently.

Mr. Traficant was known for his speeches on the floor of the House and for his hair.

Mr. Traficant was expelled from the House of Representatives in 2002 and spent seven years in jail after a conviction for soliciting bribes in exchange for government favors.  

Mr. Traficant may not have been the most honest soul, but at least he served his time.

Serving time is more than happened to the folks who deregulated our financial sector to help cause our never-ending recession, or to the folks who lied about why we went to war in Iraq. 

If you are a big time power broker, you can get away with anything in America.

If you are some clownish small-time Congressman, you might or might not get jail for stealing.

And if you are poor or of color, we are building more and more jails to keep you locked up for as long as we can. 

There are two things Jim Traficant accomplished that most politicians don't achieve---He put on a good show and he paid the price for wrong deeds.

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Amnesty International has offered a viewpoint on the role of militarized police and about the shooting of unarmed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. 

From Amnesty International----

In addition to a prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigation into allegations that police shot dead an unarmed teenager in Missouri, an investigation into the use of heavy-handed tactics to disperse a wave of protests in the wake of the shooting must be launched without delay, Amnesty International said.

"What is now urgently needed are thorough investigations, not further inflammation, of the incredibly tense situation in the aftermath of Michael Brown being shot dead," said Steve Hawkins, Executive Director at Amnesty International USA.

"Any police officer suspected of having committed unlawful acts must be held to account through effective investigation and, where warranted, prosecution."

"Using excessive force to quell protests is unacceptable. Police in Ferguson must conform to the US Constitution and international standards on the use of force and firearms. Residents must be allowed to peacefully exercise their right to freedom of expression and journalists must not be prevented from carrying out their work."...............

Here is the full statement.  

The killing of Mr. Brown and the violent response by police are a matter of international concern just as  any violation of basic human rights is an international concern. 

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 I bought the Texas cake you see in the picture to mark the indictment of Governor Rick Perry.

I don't know if the charges will stick or not, but Governor Perry is a killer who signed the state-mandated rape of the forced sonogram bill & who has done all he can to stop the expansion of health insurance in Texas.

Calling out our elected leaders who permit rape and who kill people with public policy does not make us out of bounds in any fashion.  

Instead, what it does is point out the fact that some of our elected leaders allow rape and use public policy to kill people.  

If Governor Perry would use the politics of the health care law to deny people coverage and kill them, why would any other abuse of his power be unlikely?  

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Here is a recent graphic from the National Weather Service regarding the 1915 Galveston hurricane. 

The 1915 storm was as forceful as the famous 1900 Galveston hurricane that killed 6,000 people. Yet as the NWS graphic indicates, the death toll for 1915 was just over 200. 

The difference in the number of lives lost was the Galveston Seawall built by government initiative and effort after the 1900 hurricane.

I'm just saying there are some things only government is likely to accomplish. There is no profit in building a giant seawall. 

The National Weather Service is another needed aspect of government.

We can rush to privatize or believe all the far-right talk about government does not work, but the everyday facts all around us show that government has a meaningful and ongoing part to play in our lives.

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