Texas Longhorns with newborn calf in Bluebonnets

Texas Longhorns with newborn calf in Bluebonnets

Please note I have a new phone number...

512-517-2708

Alan Maki

Alan Maki
Doing research at the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas

It's time to claim our Peace Dividend

It's time to claim our Peace Dividend

We need to beat swords into plowshares.

We need to beat swords into plowshares.

A program for real change...

http://peaceandsocialjustice.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-progressive-program-for-real-change.html


What we need is a "21st Century Full Employment Act for Peace and Prosperity" which would make it a mandatory requirement that the president and Congress attain and maintain full employment.


"Voting is easy and marginally useful, but it is a poor substitute for democracy, which requires direct action by concerned citizens"

- Ben Franklin

Let's talk...

Let's talk...

Wednesday, June 24, 2020

We need a living income Social Security

No one on Social Security should be getting less than $2,700.00 a month.

Right now Social Security is structured to enforce poverty.

Workers who received poverty wages during their working lives are forced into even more extreme poverty when they can no longer work and there is no justification for this kind of legislatively enforced poverty... this is an injustice Social Security was never meant to enforce and there must be legislation forthcoming now to correct this injustice.

And this injustice is made even worse by forcing pensioners to pay $144.00 a month for Medicare Part B which still requires very high-priced supplemental insurance which still doesn’t cover many medical procedures.

Medicare should cover 100% of all medical including dental, vision and hearing. 

We have paid enough into the Social Security and Medicare systems during our working years to more than cover our health care and provide for real living incomes in our retirement years.

That Democrats and the advocates of Medicare for All refuse to address the need for these reforms shows they are merely using our problems as campaign gimmicks with no intent to bring about real change...

Perhaps these politicians in Washington would take us seniors more seriously if we joined the youth out in the streets... apparently taking to the streets gets you more than the vote does.

Saturday, June 13, 2020

Free Rodney Reed!


I sent this message to Texas Governor Greg Abbott this morning; I would encourage you to contact his office if you haven’t done so before; or, if you have contacted him previously concerning the case of Rodney Reed please do so again because out of sight is out of mind.
Here is his contact info:
I want to renew my request for a meeting with you concerning the case of Rodney Reed.
Many of the people from ordinary Texans and people across the country along with clergy and union leaders who have contacted you concerning the case of Rodney Reed, have done so at my request.
I’m sure as a politician you understand the power of people talking to one another... like me, most people talk the most when we are not happy about something going on.
You spend a lot of money creating an image for yourself... what people say can travel a long way and end up costing a lot more money trying to put shine on that image. You might want to consider this.
I want to share with you, Governor Abbott, a FaceBook post I made that references those of you who participated in this racist frame-up of Rodney Reed:
What is racism in the criminal justice system in this country?
Well, let’s look at two very real examples:
The Minnesota Attorney General says it is very difficult to get a murder conviction on a cop and cites the case of George Floyd where everyone saw the cop murder George Floyd on video.
Now look at the case of Rodney Reed. Here we have an innocent black man framed for murder in Texas by racist cops, racist prosecutors, racist judges and racist Attorney Generals who used this case to pander to a bunch of racists in order to get elected to the United States Senate and Texas Governor.
Why is it so easy to frame an innocent poor working class black man for murder and sentence him to death but it becomes difficult to convict a racist cop who intentionally murders a black man?
Isn’t this the problem of racism which needs to be openly discussed in this country?
And then we have people asking:
Why didn’t someone stop this racist cop from murdering George Floyd?
The other side of this coin is this question:
Who is going to stop the racist execution- the murder- of Rodney Reed?
There are those in power in this country who have opportunistically condemned the murder of George Floyd because they think this condemnation will shield them from the criticism they deserve for hiring these racist cops... yet, these same people in positions of power who could stop the execution of an innocent black man like Rodney Reed wring their hands and say there is nothing they can do; is it true they can do nothing to prevent an innocent man from being executed? If so, what, more, does this tell us about the criminal justice system in this country?
What kind of criminal justice system do we have in this country where on the one hand it is very difficult to convict a cop of murder who has been caught on camera murdering a black man but can’t figure out how to free an innocent black man who has been framed by racist cops and a racist criminal justice system? 
And what kind of “free media” do we have which refuses to put these kinds of questions in perspective before the American people?