Monday, September 12, 2011

New York Times Subscription to Mount Misery: Cancelled

On September 12, 2011 former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced that he's cancelled his subscription to the New York Times. "After reading Krugman’s repugnant piece on 9/11, I cancelled my subscription to the New York Times this AM."  That's right, there will be no more subscriptions to Mount Misery.  Rumsfeld purchased his home on the infamous Mount Misery when he was in office.  Mount Misery is a former African-American slave whipping station.  With the cancellation, Rumsfeld will no longer read columns of the New York Times in the peace and quiet of his home, relaxing in pajamas, on the sofa on a Sunday afternoon, nor over breakfast with his serene view of the yard where slaves including Fredrick Douglas suffered tremendous torture.  The Krugman piece Rumsfeld calls repugnant was posted on September 11, 2011 at 8:51 AM:

"The Years of Shame

Is it just me, or are the 9/11 commemorations oddly subdued?
Actually, I don’t think it’s me, and it’s not really that odd.
What happened after 9/11 — and I think even people on the right know this, whether they admit it or not — was deeply shameful. The atrocity should have been a unifying event, but instead it became a wedge issue. Fake heroes like Bernie Kerik, Rudy Giuliani, and, yes, George W. Bush raced to cash in on the horror. And then the attack was used to justify an unrelated war the neocons wanted to fight, for all the wrong reasons.
A lot of other people behaved badly. How many of our professional pundits — people who should have understood very well what was happening — took the easy way out, turning a blind eye to the corruption and lending their support to the hijacking of the atrocity?
The memory of 9/11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion for shame. And in its heart, the nation knows it.
I’m not going to allow comments on this post, for obvious reasons."


Wednesday, September 7, 2011

The Right's Ongoing Attack On Public Education

Earlier this year Matt Damon defended teachers in an interview with right-wing Libertarian's "Reason T.V."  He became frustrated with a cameraman's attack on teachers and in other footage Damon expressed that he's fed up with the ongoing war on teachers.  


The right-wing's attack on teachers and public education is nothing new. Graduate of Stanford University and Professor at ASU, David C. Berliner's research published in 1997 entitled: "Educational Psychology Meets the Christian Right: different views of children, schooling, teaching, and learning" tells of the extremist churches with a right-wing agenda handing out kits, which explain ways to dismantle the public education system.  The article also revealed ties between extremist church leaders and right-wing politicians.  The kit teaches how to cancel book orders at the last minute - leaving teachers and students without textbooks, how to become elected to school boards, and how to take a number of other actions to cripple the system.  One could only wonder of the extent this contribution has made to the public's view of the organization level and integrity of public education.  


The late Fredrick Von Hayek, good friend of the billionaire Koch brothers' father promoted the privatization of public education through the voucher system and the Koch brothers have invested millions in their own right-wing agenda for privatization through their group called Americans For Prosperity. Americans For Prosperity has funded and helped their own to become elected to the school board of Wake County, North Carolina. Wake County community members, parents, and students became outraged when they discovered the members funded by Americans For Prosperity were resegregating schools. The NAACP filed a civil rights complaint, a complaint with the accreditation agency, and many protested the Kochs' policies.  


At a Koch brother's seminar Republican Governor Chris Christie declared his next mission will be to dismantle the teachers' union.  Other seminar attendees included Republican Governor and current Presidential candidate Rick Perry, and Republican Governor Rick Scott. 

UNITED STATES
Nobel Prize winner Bertrand Russell explains the history of education very well in his book A History of Western Philosophy.  Periods in Western history when most people could not afford an education point out a relationship between money and learning. Education was for the very few in the ruling class who could afford private tutors.  The rest didn't have the means to pay for an education. 




Professor Berliner's 2005 research entitled: Our Impoverished View of Educational Reform compares statistical data between industrialized nations with an emphasis on economic systems.  His data show the American public education system has been misrepresented - and why else than for political and economic gains.  The worse the system is made out to be, the more support for an agenda to privatize.  The research finds that data on those who live in poor neighborhoods - people living in poverty - clearly skew the nation's data as drastically lower performing than if the data were looked at with the poorest demographical data excluded.  With it excluded, the US is among the top few highest performing in every graph variation.  The data also compares US poverty with the poverty of other industrialized nations and finds that it's much more difficult for individuals to escape poverty in the US than in other countries, this helps explain the skewed data.  A solution to solve the problem of poverty has been ignored, while attacks on public education continue.   


Drill exams that force teachers to "teach to the test" such as those built into the No Child Left Behind Act, instead of helping public-education, Berliner points out, provide a map of where the failing schools are with the demographics of who attends.  Information, he writes, we've already known for a half a century.  


Funding and appropriations for public education have decreased over the years.  Americans For Prosperity's Michele Bachmann would like to further decrease funding for public education if elected to the presidency. In 2011, the school board in the city of Memphis, Tennessee said they would not be opening their public-schools on time this year due to problems with funding.  Roughly six-thousand teachers have been laid-off in San Diego, California alone. The arts, physical education, and music have been cut.  Money for supplies such as paper and ink has decreased.  Teachers are constantly unaware whether they'll be able to continue teaching, pay off school loans, and use the graduate degree they studied for.  Many teachers spend their summers searching for work unaware when and if they'll receive the call or email notifying them that they'll be able to teach again for another year or semester. 

Monday, September 5, 2011

San Diego Labor Day Rally

On Labor Day, September 5, 2011 in San Diego, California roughly 150 people attended the Labor Day Parade Labor Day Rally. Protestors chanted for "Jobs, Not Cuts" and sang a remix version of John Lennon's, Give Peace a Chance: "all we are saying, is give jobs a chance."  The Rally was on Broadway just outside of the Horton Plaza Mall.  Speakers included Union leader Lorena Gonzalez, Democrat Rep. Susan Davis, Democrat Rep. Bob Filner, upcoming Congressional candidate Lori Saldana (Democrat), and others. 






Democrat, Rep. Susan Davis

Democrat, Rep. Bob Filner
Upcoming Congressional Candidate Lori Saldana (Democrat) and FOX 5 News
Protestor interview with NBC


US UNCUT




Saturday, September 3, 2011

Attempts to Use Portions of War Contract Monies for Domestic Needs

"Trickle down economics, ladies and
gentlemen, does not work; it has not 
tricked down, and in fact it has closed 
off to where all of the money stays up 
top, it never trickles down to the 
bottom. We've got to change that." 


- Democrat Rep. Hank Johnson  
On July 7, 2011 Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx spoke in the House on the 14.3 trillion dollar debt and said that an uncertainty in spending is what stops job growth.  She left out the cuts made by her and her Republican constituents to vital projects and programs in America, which translate to slashed paychecks, job loss, hunger, the downsizing of the education system, less innovation, a barely existent middle-class, and less job training for the youth.  A look at the US, at Britain and other countries' experiences with austerity show that cuts to social safety-nets have made economies worse.  She also left out the last thirty-year usurp-up economics.  Yes what you have learned in physics has been reversed.  


On July 7 Democrat Rep. Paul Tonko offered an Amendment to the defense spending budget that would limit the yearly salaries of private contractor executives to no more than 200,000 dollars, no more than the salary of the United States Secretary of Defense.  He pointed out that some contractors make a starting salary, of 700,000 dollars with yearly increases.  Private contract companies that send civilians overseas make additional hundreds of thousands for each individual, 100-percent payed for with tax-payer dollars.  Army Privates make a starting salary of 20,000 dollars, a General who has served for thirty-seven years makes 180,000 and the president makes 400,000.  The Amendment did not pass, in fact it was not voted on after Republican Rep. Bill Young stated the Amendment was an attempt to change existing law.


An Amendment by Democrat Rep. Christopher Murphy asked that noncombat vehicles used in Iraq and Afghanistan be purchased from US companies rather than European and Asian companies.  The Buy American Act says that when buying items for the US military, they should be purchased at home.  There is a loophole to the Act.  When buying items for use outside of the United States, they need not be from the United States.  Since 2003, the DOD reports that they have spent 1.3 billion in purchases of noncombat vehicles from foreign manufacturers and thirty-six billion in other foreign purchases last year. They used approximately 38,000 waivers to the Buy America Act last year and approximately 161,000 waivers in the last four years.  Murphy's Amendment would create jobs in the US.  His Amendment would fix the loophole to the Buy American Act. Rep. Bill Young, again, explained that this Amendment too proposes to change existing law and the Amendment was also not voted on.

Democrat Rep. Jared Polis' Amendment would reduce the number of troops in Europe from 80,000 to 30,000.  Polis noted that they can easily and quickly return to Europe with the quick travel of today and that there isn't a real current threat to Europe that requires their presence.  He explains that re-stationing the troops to United States bases would be ten to twenty-percent less expensive.  This would also close some of the bases in Europe, which are unpopular among many Europeans.  He explains that European countries are some of the richest and they can afford to protect themselves, with their current defense spending at two-percent of their GDP.  Young opposed the Amendment and advised a "no" vote.  

An Amendment offered by Democrat Rep. John Lewis would have required that the DOD post information on their website showing the cost of war to each individual American. He explained that there seems to be a bottomless pit of money and blank checks for war, but for education, the elderly, and money for medicine, there isn't enough. Young stated that Lewis' Amendment proposes to change existing law and a vote wasn't taken.  When the House was then asked if anyone had any comments, Lewis stated that he had made his point and did not have another point to make.  

Half a trillion dollars have been spent over the last ten years in Afghanistan.  Twelve-billion dollars is the amount recently appropriated to Afghanistan's security forces and it's in "borrowed money." Afghanistan's yearly GDP is twelve to fourteen billion dollars, nearly the same amount.  Twelve-billion have been spent on private contractors in Afghanistan since 2005 and 112 billion on private contractors in Iraq since 2005.  Democrat Rep. Hansen Clarke recently had an Amendment to keep 236 million to be used instead for an infrastructure fund to repair roads and bridges, secure ports, and fund rapid transit systems, which would enable the United States to be less dependent on foreign oil.  Republican Rep. Bill Young said that Clarke's Amendment would change existing law and the House was not able to vote on it.

Steve Cohen's Amendment requested that four billion of the twelve-billion eight-hundred million in monies going to the Afghan security forces fund be used to pay for some of the deficit.  The Amendment was also denied by House Republicans and not voted on.





Thursday, September 1, 2011

Infrastructure: Republicans Block Construction of High-Speed Rails

On July 14, 2011 House Republicans pulled funds for a high-speed rail system to be constructed across the United States.  This will affect future and current jobs, as construction has already begun in some areas. Future jobs associated with the system include short-term construction jobs, jobs in urban planning and architecture, and long-term jobs in maintenance and operations (450,000 in CA alone).   


President Obama and Democrats had planned to connect eighty-percent of America by 2025, but House Republicans voted to move the money to an emergency floods fund.  When House Democrats suggested that the money come from other areas, such as taxes to the super-wealthy, Republicans answered by disregarding the suggestion and instead repeatedly described what floods are and what they do, ending with enough information on floods for a "Floods For Dummies" manuel. Republicans continue to support the forty-billion dollar yearly tax subsidies to oil companies and eight-billion in giveaways to multinational corporations that take jobs overseas. 


A high-speed rail system would make America less reliant on foreign oil, and less reliant on oil in general.  Americans would buy less gasoline.  The system would also contribute to cleaner air as the trains use one-third less energy than airplanes and one-fifth less energy than cars. 






and Eric and Irene 


Tuesday, August 30, 2011

The Keystone XL Pipeline

Protestors have taken to the streets to oppose the construction of a new oil pipeline.  The pipeline carrying cheap oil would run over one of the largest aquifers and biggest sources of clean water in our continent, Environmentalist Bill McKibben explained on KPBS NewsHour.


On July 26, 2011, a bill passed in the House of Representatives to construct the 2,000 mile-long pipeline to run from Alberta, Canada, through the US Gulf Coast, to Texas.  The pipeline would deliver 900,000 barrels of raw Tar Sands crude oil per day.  Most Democrats voted no on the bill. 




Democrat Rep. Hank Johnson spoke in opposition to the bill and referred to the pipeline as the "Koch brothers Keystone XL pipeline."  He offered an Amendment to the bill - which did not pass though most Democrats voted for it.  The Amendment was endorsed by the National Resource Defense Council and would have required that a study be conducted on the potential new health risks associated with the new pipeline.  The type of oil to be transfered, Tar Sands crude oil, is more toxic and acidic than other crude oils.  This oil-type goes through a complex process before it becomes the gasoline running through your vehicle - payed for by you at the pump.  The complex process that the oil goes through would produce more emissions than other types of crude and would be worse for air quality.  If you live in a construction area, air quality will be even worse.  


US gas prices will also increase, says Democrat Rep. Dennis Kucinich, and especially for those whose air quality will be the most affected.  He cites TransCanada and the consultants TransCanada hired on this.  TransCanada is the company in favor of building the pipeline.  If Kucinich's Amendment had passed with Republicans (most Democrats voted for it), it would have required an investigation into the pipeline's effects on gas prices for Americans, along with an investigation to determine whether the pipline is an attempt to manipulate the oil markets.    


While Republicans claim that the XL pipeline will help decrease oil prices, documentation in TransCanada's application to the Canadian government stated that America's fuel bill would be able to rise 4 billion dollars per year by limiting crude from one place and moving it to another.  The pipeline would move the crude from the Midwest to Gulf Coast refineries.  Though the information on the increase was provided to the Canadian government it was excluded in the application for a US permit.  


Economist Philip Verleger says that there is an oversupply in the Midwest, which results in lower prices for Canadian crude oil and moving it would raise prices across the US by 10 to 20 cents per gallon.  With double the increase in 15 states (OH, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, MI, MN, MO, NE, ND, OK, SD, TN, and WI).  


The company Canada hired to evaluate the Keystone XL pipeline has stated that Midwest crude oil prices will increase by $6.55 per barrel and $3.00 per barrel across the US,  costing Americans 3.9 billion dollars every year.  The prices of other products would also rise.


Republican Rep. Less Terry says that two American companies are expanding to be able to expect the crude oil and that we'll have a reliable .7 to 1.3 million barrels per day, which will eliminate uncertainty and lower prices at the pump.  He explains that a price increase would be due to a new reliability, which would raise the value.  




















Time: 2:35:15 

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Foreign Lobbying for the Grand Canyon's Uranium and the Effects on Clean Water

On July 25, 2011 Democrat Rep. Louise Slaughter rose in the House of Representatives to speak against a Republican bill that would enable two foreign entities to mine for uranium around the Grand Canyon: Russia (for its state atomic energy corporation) and South Korea (for its state-owned utility).  Mining for uranium in the area would have harmful effects to the water quality of 26 million people.  Slaughter explains, their bill is specifically designed to benefit lobbyists and special interests.  The lobbyists' beneficiaries need not be forgotten.  If passed, it would be an "auctioning off" of a national treasury - plus collateral damage.


The same Republican bill cuts programs for clean air and water by 40% and it would prohibit the addition of new animals to the endangered species list, yet allow species' to be removed from the list.


In the past private companies have contaminated the Great Lakes.  The Great Lakes are 20% of the worlds fresh drinking water.  The bill would not allow the use of any funding to restore the lakes.  As with the landfill dumping in San Diego, many private companies are reckless and the bill to clean up a mess is usually left for the state to pay, an additional cost to the tax-payer - additional to the tax-payers' money appropriated to the private contract.  


Slaughter points out that the bill also affects the arts; the National Endowment for the Arts would lose 20% of its funding and the measure would likely put people out of work since money will be limited for workers' pay. The previous funding of 167.5 million dollars for non-profit art organizations has generated 166.2 billion dollars, supported 5.7 million jobs, and has put back more money into the treasury than taken out, 16.6 billion has been put back in tax revenue, Slaughter explains.   


Grand Canyon
Republican Rep. Rob Bishop says that the land in AZ was intended for mining purposes and that the mined goods will be shipped and processed somewhere else so not to worry about pollutants.  It's just fine to ship away jobs as long as it makes others sick ladies and gentlemen.  Slaughter says, the Colorado River is already endangered by uranium mines. "Adding more uranium to the water does not make sense."  Slaughter sites a NY Times article on Obama's moratorium extension, which prohibits any new uranium mining claims on one million acres around the Grand Canyon.  The article states, this extension will "protect...the drinking water for millions of people."


Democrat Rep. Edward Markey rose to say that if the bill were to pass "our air will be smoggier, our climate will be hotter, our water will be more polluted, our public lands will become more dispoiled, simply put this legislation is so toxic, so toxic that you'd better handle it wearing a hazmat suit."  Further, it would increase the infant mortality rate, add more cases of asthma, and add more harm to children and adults from toxins like mercury.  It would involve the future of many environmental crimes.

The bill cuts to a total of 78%.  The bill also prohibits the EPA in all 50 states from improving environmental standards on vehicles, which would in effect delay or stop the development and manufacturing of electric vehicles.  Markey states it's, "Good for the auto and oil industry" bad for everyone. 


The mining would expose people in the area to radiation along with anyone visiting the Grand Canyon National Park. Republican Rep. Rob Bishop claims that if some of the uranium were to get into the water used for drinking and cooking it would not be higher than the limit. A number lower than the amount considered dangerous in AZ.  


A uranium report on what unhealthy amounts of uranium in drinking water can do to the health explains that there is an increased risk of cancer over time, and that small amounts of uranium are automatically ingested and are absorbed and carried through the bloodstream.  This increases a person's risk of kidney damage.  


It's tough when mainstream media outlets obtain so much of their environmental information from a group called the George C. Marshall Institute, which is funded by large companies in oil and tobacco.  The institute fosters the ideas of the uncertainty of climate change, uncertainty of health problems associated with second-hand smoke, acid rain, and many other strange delusions based in profit pseudoscience.   


Economic Summit, San Diego, August 2011
One of the worst sewage offenders is a company called Veolia. Veolia has water contracts all around the state of California.  The company has been working on getting a water contract in the city of San Diego.  "You don't want them cutting corners with your water," said a rep. with Food & Water Watch at the Economic Summit held in San Diego, by A Better San Diego on Aug. 27, 2011.  Workers for these private companies make decent wages, but the real profit lands in the pockets of those at the top, and that's tax-money.  The all-around private contract costs more to the tax-payer than if it were to remain pubic and without the tax-payer, there would be no private contract nor public water company.  In addition, if pipes break in the city with a private entity - among other additional costs - more tax-dollars would be spent to purchase more contracts to hire people to fix the pipes; the privatization of water would cost much more to the public than if water were to remain a public entity.  


Friday, August 26, 2011

"If Anyone Was Looking for the Free Speech Area It's Over There"


On August 26, 2011 in the San Diego area Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter held a job fair that began at 9:00 AM this morning on a community college campus.  The event was held on a Friday, the day of the week when few classes are held and few students are in school.  

A man wearing a suit and tie walking away from the event said disappointedly, "This was a big waste of time, there were a bunch of low-level entry jobs, nothing that I can use."  Another attendee said, "Many of the jobs are military jobs and that's not what I'm looking for." 

A group of people with MoveOn concerned with the country's current economic climate attended to ask Rep. Hunter some questions on cuts to the public sector and the strain it has put on money for jobs that either they or people they know have lost. 

The group was limited to a free speech area to the side of the event away from the host who they had the questions for and away from the media.  Someone propped up these signs designating for them this "free speech area."  The area in which individuals have free speech.    






Executive Order for Contract Disclosure



Democrat Rep. Anna Eshoo: both parties "...should oppose any Amendment designed to keep the public less informed..."

On July 7, 2011, viewable in the CSPAN Video Library, Republican Rep. Tom Cole rose to speak in favor of his Amendment No. 4, which would circumvent an April presidential order that would require companies bidding on federal contracts to disclose federal campaign contributions. Cole stated, "Companies wouldn't be judged merely by the merits of their past performance, by their capability to do the job, but would also be obviously considered on the basis of who they gave money to or against."  Cole said that disclosure would hamper a company's right to donate to political parties and campaign candidates that they choose.  


Democrat Rep. Norman Dicks rose in opposition to the Republican Amendment, "Our system has been improved by having public disclosure of political contributions.  The more the public knows about where the money is coming from, the better off the citizenry is."  He described the Amendment as an attempt to prevent disclosure of government contracts and especially contributions given to third party entities. The Republicans say the disclosure could be used nefariously.  Dick notes, "[Republicans] argue that companies should not disclose more information because people in power could misuse that information to retaliate against them.  Using the oppositions logic all campaign disclosures would be bad."  He countered that there are current laws which require disclosure and the Republican logic would need apply there too. His side, the Democrats, worry companies could make contributions secretly and notes it's what they're trying to avoid.  "... we already know, the Boeings the Lockeeds, the General Dynamics... they all make contributions and they are all disclosed. What's wrong with disclosure?" Dicks urges a "No" vote on Coles Amendment.  Republican Cole rises again and states, "The intent here is to make sure that we never link political contributions with the awarding of government contracts." 



Democrat Rep. Anna Eshoo rises and states that Cole's Amendment is an attempt to block disclosure, which is about "disinfectant" and "sunshine" to what's going on with contractors who do business with the Federal Government.  Eshoo reminds Republicans that the contracts are paid for with tax-payer dollars and asks that there be transparency and accountability for where their cash goes.  Anna says both parties "should oppose any amendment designed to keep the public less informed... We know who supports this amendment, the American League of Lobbyists."  Republicans had previously opposed contribution limits, stating they need disclosure instead.  Now that bills to promote disclosure are on the table, Republicans write Amendments to oppose them.  
Republican Rep. Tom Cole:
"The intent here is to make
sure that we never link political 
contributions with the
awarding of government contracts."



A verbal and recorded vote were taken. Republicans voted in favor of the Amendment to block disclosure.  Democrats voted against it in favor of disclosure.  With House Republicans outnumbering Democrats by 48 seats, Cole's Amendment to block the executive order for disclosure, that Democrats clearly oppose, passes in the House.  



Thursday, August 25, 2011

Credibility of Budget Plans

The Labor Party's shadow chancellor of the UK, Ed Balls' blog on August 6, 2011 read, “As I said in my LSE speech in June, deficit reduction plans are only credible if they have political agreement and they deliver on what they promise." Balls questioned whether the US Congress's plans can be delivered with confidence.  

Ed Balls, British Labor MP
Watching the debt fiasco on CSPAN, it was clear that Republicans were the party facilitating the doubt - to say the least. The S&P press release singled out Republicans directly as reason for the downgrade, "Compared with previous projections, our revised base case scenario now assumes that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, due to expire by the end of 2012, remain in place. We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act."  S&P had counted on the Bush tax cuts to expire and gave the Republicans stance on revenue as reason for the downgrade, whereas nowhere does the release single out Democrats.  


Republican Rep.
Tom Graves (grave digger)
There were talks of shutting down the government.  Republican representative Tom Graves said, "Let's put government in a box and shrink the box over five years."  Democrat Representative Anna Eshoo posted a message in her facebook notes on April 8, 2011 that in the event of a shutdown of the federal government, she would keep her offices in California and Washington DC open and that her staff would remain on duty without pay.  


A June 30, 2011 Bloomberg article noted, "S&P would lower its sovereign top-level AAA ranking to D, the last rung on its scale if the U.S. can’t pay its debt..." and "...Moody’s Investors Service said it will probably reduce its ranking if the government fails to increase the debt limit, leading to a default."  All the while  presidential candidate Michele Bachmann passed through media outlets vowing that she would not raise the debt ceiling.  Of  course FOX News was on board with Senate and House republicans including Republican Representative Bachmann along the way, downplaying the consequences of a downgrade to the creditworthiness of the county's debt or a US default.  When later, S&P did end up downgrading the country's rating to a AA+, even though the ceiling was raised.


Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann

Ed Balls alludes to the mirroring US budget plans of the British budget plans and how the Republicans have not learned lessons by observing the British austerity outcomes, "That is why I am fearful that Republican Congressional leaders have learned the wrong lesson from the British experience over the past twelve months."