And We Thought Wall Street was the Bad Guys

Wall Street creative financial instruments that went bad are not the only sign of corporate greed. While Congress debates consumer protection regulations for the credit card industry, many of the companies it seeks to regulate are rushing to sock-it to customers before it's too late to milk them any further.

The credit card industry has enjoyed precious little regulation over the years and they have in recent times piled on  the fees and in many instances raised intrust rates even for well paying customers arguing they must do so to cover losses.

President Obama has urged a series of protections for customers. They include:

• statements that are easily understandable
• ban on unfair rate increases
• prevention of unfair fee and interest charges
• straightforward contract terms
• protections for students and young people

Yet a proposal to cap rates at 15 percent failed on Wednesday. A sign that the industry still has power in the halls of Congress.

While some changes are likely to reach the President's desk this secession there will be an interim period of time before they take effect. Meantime, companies are busy tacking on amendments to customer's contracts and hiking fees.

Another ironic aspect of all this is at least one major company who swallowed up several other companies and received taxpayer funded assistance has sent notices to customers current and with good credit scores advising them it is necessary to increase their rates due to industry losses.

Sources: NPR Washington Times Credit FYI

Technorati Tags: President Obama,credit card industry,consumer credit protections,Congress,Chase Credit

Double Darn

Darn!  Had I realized it earlier, I would have joined the President, Michelle and Darth Vader for a poetry reading at the White House.

Another discouraging  bit of news...  Republican Senator Tom Coburn  of Oklahoma tacked an amendment on to a credit card reform bill that would allow visitors to National Parks to carry guns. It is so lame to slip shit like this into law by attaching it to legislation that is not remotely connected to the topic. And of course, the measure passed 67 to 29 vote.  A lot of Democrats folding to the gun lobby. No backbones!   27 Democrats joined 39 Republicans voted for it and another 27 were joined by one Republican and voted to against it. Of course it may or may not survive a House Senate conference, but the fact remains there were a lot of Senators running with their tail between their legs.

Technorati Tags: White House Poetry Reading,Sen. Tom Coburn,No backbones,Guns in National Parks

Roxana Saberi Free

 

In the event you've not already heard, the Iranian - American Roxana Saberi was released from jail in Iran and has been told she is free to leave the country.  Last week, Amnesty supporters immediately responded by sending over 26,000 letters to the Iranian government in less than 24 hours urging her trial be revisited openly and that she be released. The details of Ms. Saberi's ordeal were reported here earlier.

Some of my Journal Bits from the past week....

• The sky has no cheer to offer
• The stars wink back / we are mutually exclusive
• old notions of predisposition / fell upon a perilous path /and were trampled
• there is commotion  / in the world order / what to do with the castors

Technorati Tags: Roxana Saberi,Amnisty International,Journal Bits

It's Clicking Again

Sadly the weekend is slipping away.  On the positive side, I was able to get some positive vibes back into my writing.  Yeah!!!

I'm working on both new stuff and rewrites for a particular submission that I've been planning and while the deadline is fast approaching, I don't as of yet feel particularly stressed about it. Surprising as that seems.

Parting thought for the weekend - "I shut my eyes in order to see." ~ Paul Gaucuin

 

Technorati Tags: life as a poet

A Few Contemporary Poets I Especially Appreciate

 

There are a good number of contemporary poets that are not  Merwins or Ashberys that nevertheless are exceptional practitioners of the craft and don't get near the attention they deserve. Here are my list of ten who's work I especially appreciate. (they are in no special order)

1. Dana Goodyear
2. Cecilia Woloch
3. Kelli Russell Agodon
4. Victoria Chang
5. Aleah Sato
6. Eileen Tabios
7. Katrina Vandenberg
8. Ivy Alvarez
9. Aimee Nezhukumatathil
10. Laura Kasischke

Technorati Tags: Contemporary living poets I appreciate

The Weekend Surprise

 If you're like me this April, your e-mail swelled beyond the capacity to read on a daily basis. Much of it is due to the influx of poems and poem related material during National Poetry Month. One such e-mail was from PBS Online News Hour with Jim Leher. They do a periodic feature piece on a poet and they are always top notch video feeds with bibliographical information and usually a poem or two. The email was to promote their latest, a visit poet Bob Hicok. I'm familiar with Hicok and I will get around to listening to their piece, but in taking the link to the PBS site, I saw a previous piece I had missed on another poet who I stopped to check out. The poet, pictured above, was  Nathalie Handal. 

I've missed anything about Ms.Handal up to this point on my poetry radar (which may need servicing) and this was an astonishing discovery.  She is well traveled, having I've lived in Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, the United States, and the Arab world. And while her roots are Palestinian, she is clearly a poet of the world.

I have found some of her poems and posted a few of their links here:

• The Hanging Hours 
• Strangers Inside Me
• Wall Against Our Breath
• Made in Palestine

And here us the PBS Video: 

Click here

Another Video of Nathalie Handal  reading - you might need to turn the volume up a bit. This poem captures a portion of the beauty that she compresses within the language of her work. A soft but mighty voice.

In many respects she reminds me of the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish.

 

Technorati Tags: Nathalie Handal,PBS Online News Hour with Jim Leher

Sunday May 3rd is World Press Freedom Day

In 1991 the United Nations General Assembly established May 3rd as World Press Freedom Day. This year there have been a number if international incidents that underscore the fact that there are governments around the world that continue to suppress news journalists from doing their job.

Just since January there are a significant number of members of the press who have been assassinated and a larger number imprisoned throughout the world. Take a look at this list of news journalists who have paid the ultimate price for their work:

Assassinated journalists and media workers

Raja Assad Hameed (Pakistan)

Reporter for the daily Nation and Waqt TV Channel

Killed on 26 March 2009 in Pakistan

[UNESCO Statement]

Jawed Ahmad (Afghanistan)

Reporter for the Canadian media, including CTV News.

Killed on 10 March 2009 in Afghanistan

[UNESCO Statement]

Haider Hashim (Iraq)

Correspondent for the private TV broadcaster Al-Baghdadia

Killed on 10 March 2009 in Iraq

[UNESCO Statement]

Suhaib Adnan (Iraq)

Cameraman for the private TV broadcaster Al-Baghdadia

Killed on 10 March 2009 in Iraq

[UNESCO Statement]

Ernesto Rollin (Philippines)

Journalist for local radio DxSY-AM

Killed on 23 February 2009 in Philippines

[UNESCO Statement]

Jean Paul Ibarra Ramírez (Mexico)

Photographer for El Correo newspaper

Killed on 13 February 2009 in Mexico

[UNESCO Statement]

Ando Ratovonirina (Madagascar)

Reporter for the privately-owned Radio et Télévision Analamanga (RTA).

Killed on 7 February 2009 in Madagascar

[UNESCO Statement]

Said Tahlil Ahmed (Somalia)

Director of Horn Afrik Radio/TV

Killed on 4 February 2009 in Somalia

[UNESCO Statement]

Bruno Ossébi (Republic of Congo)

Columnist for the online newspaper Mwinda

Killed on 2 February 2009 in Republic of Congo

[UNESCO Statement]

Francis Nyaruri (Kenya)

Journalist for the independent Weekly Citizen

Killed on 29 January 2009 in Kenya

[UNESCO Statement]

Shafiq Amrakhov (Russian Federation)

Owner and editor of the online regional news agency RIA 51

Killed on 19 January 2009 in Russian Federation

[UNESCO Statement]

Anastasia Baburova (Russian Federation)

Journalist for Novaya Gazeta

Killed on 19 January 2009 in Russian Federation

[UNESCO Statement]

Orel Sambrano (Venezuela)

Editor of a weekly magazine ABC

Killed on 16 January 2009 in Venezuela

[UNESCO Statement]

Uma Singh (Nepal)

Journalist for daily newspaper Janakpur Today and Radio Today FM

Killed on 11 January 2009 in Nepal

[UNESCO Statement]

Lasantha Wickrematunga (Sri Lanka)

Editor of the Sri Lankan newspaper Sunday Leader

Killed on 8 January 2009 in Sri Lanka

[UNESCO Statement]

Basel Faraj (Palestine)

Cameraman for the Algerian TV network ENTV and for the Palestine Broadcast Production Company

Killed on 6 January 2009 in Palestine

The Roxana Saberi Matter

Roxana Saberi is a 31 year old journalist with joint U.S. and Iranian citizenship. She has been residing in Iran for six years where she's been studying for a masters degree in Iranian studies, and reporting for NPR, the BBC, ABC News and other international news organizations. Her plans were to return to the U.S. this year when she completed a book about Iranian culture she was writing.

Saberi was arrested at the end of January initially for purchasing wine (alcohol is banned in Iran) then officials alleged she continued to work as a journalist after her credentials were revoked. This finally converted to charges of unspecified "espionage."

On April 18th she was convicted and sentenced to 8 years of jail in a trial that was short of any international standards.

If you do nothing else to mark this this Word Press Freedom Day, click on these two sites and add your voice to the call for Roxana Saberi to be freed.

1. Amnesty International Site - send a letter to His Excellency -Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei asking for a fair and public review of the allegations against her and without any verifiable evidence otherwise, she be released.
   
2. Go to the site set up by Roxana's parents for her. Leave a note of support on the guest book.
   

Technorati Tags: Roxana Saberi,United Nations,World Press Freedom Day,Amnisty International