(Gary Z McGee) We live in an oligarchic plutocracy disguised as a democratic republic. Because a massive amount of wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few, we’re unable to maintain a healthy horizontal democracy. Instead we’re forced to deal with the snake of unhealthy vertical democracy which has the diabolical snakehead of plutocracy.
slavery
The Reality of Consumerism – Starbuck’s Certified Coffee Plantation Busted Using Slave Labor
(Daniela Penha) At first sight, the Córrego das Almas farm in Piumhi, in rural Minas Gerais state, seems to be a model property. “No slave or forced labor is allowed,” reads one of several signs that display international certifications — including one linked to the U.S.-based company Starbucks corporation. But investigators have found that laborers on the farm’s coffee plantations were working under degrading conditions and living in substandard housing without sewerage or drinking water. A Ministry of Labor team inspection conducted at the site rescued 18 rural workers in conditions analogous to slavery.
SLAVERY IN AMERICA: Who Really Owned and Operated the Slave Trade?
(Walter White Jr.) The story of the slaves in America begins with Christopher Columbus. His voyage to America was not financed by Queen Isabella, but by Luis de Santangelo, who advanced the sum of 17,000 ducats (about 5,000 pounds-today equal to 50,000 pounds) to finance the voyage, which began on August 3, 1492.