tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58152749307067688962024-02-06T19:28:38.593-08:00Politics, Economy, Media, GreenCtangerinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506379219130942789noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5815274930706768896.post-88111602701945479232011-09-12T20:39:00.000-07:002011-09-16T23:34:20.876-07:00New York Times Subscription to Mount Misery: Cancelled<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">On September 12, 2011 former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced that he's cancelled his subscription to the New York Times. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/RumsfeldOffice"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">After reading Krugman’s repugnant piece on 9/11, I cancelled my subscription to the New York Times this AM."</span></span></a> </span>That's right, there will be no more subscriptions to Mount Misery.<span class="Apple-style-span"> Rumsfeld purchased his home on the infamous Mount Misery when he was in office. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q34AjCfGe-M"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Mount Misery is a former African-American slave whipping station</span></a>. 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 </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">September 11, 2011 at 8:51 AM:</span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 15px;"></span></div><h1 class="entry-title" style="line-height: 1.083em; margin-bottom: 2px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">"<a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/the-years-of-shame/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">The Years of Shame</span></a></span></i></h1><div class="entry-content" style="margin-top: 0px;"><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Is it just me, or are the 9/11 commemorations oddly subdued?</span></i></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Actually, I don’t think it’s me, and it’s not really that odd.</span></i></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">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.</span></i></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">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?</span></i></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The memory of 9/11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion for shame. And in its heart, the nation knows it.</span></i></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I’m not going to allow comments on this post, for obvious reasons."</span></i></div><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em;"><br />
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</div></div></div>Ctangerinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506379219130942789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5815274930706768896.post-52151855851106731872011-09-07T23:20:00.000-07:002011-09-14T18:17:54.200-07:00The Right's Ongoing Attack On Public Education<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Earlier this year </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFHJkvEwyhk"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Matt Damon defended</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">teachers</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">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. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">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 </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ549955&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ549955"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">handing out kits, which explain ways to dismantle the public education</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">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. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">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. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1362346834"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Americans For Prospe</span></a><a href="http://www.americansforprosperity.org/051211-join-afp-california-san-diego-friday"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">rity</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"> </span>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 </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-Ak3tZ_hw0"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">resegregating schools</span></a>.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> The NAACP filed a civil rights complaint, a complaint with the accreditation agency, and many protested the Kochs' policies. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">At a Koch brother's seminar</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span><a href="http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/09/audio-chris-christie-koch-brothers-seminar?page=1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Republican Governor Chris Christie declared</span></span></span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> 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. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmImyqmQoSu1vJ29pO649oDqHmfod1lCCVxz8iMiRvREP_vN8lkOwmQkCzB2K4n8PJqkITf30ldIRWAk3dZ0OnHF13QdBJVeMUl0w7OTF8Fxy_TQpCwFT1V3Dif5TghyBodoIAO6bGYB4/s1600/5526523815_f634af844d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmImyqmQoSu1vJ29pO649oDqHmfod1lCCVxz8iMiRvREP_vN8lkOwmQkCzB2K4n8PJqkITf30ldIRWAk3dZ0OnHF13QdBJVeMUl0w7OTF8Fxy_TQpCwFT1V3Dif5TghyBodoIAO6bGYB4/s320/5526523815_f634af844d.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">UNITED STATES</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Nobel Prize winner Bertrand Russell explains the history of education very well in his book </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">A History of Western Philosophy. </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">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. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Professor Berliner's 2005 research entitled: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://216.78.200.159/Documents/RandD/Great%20Lakes%20Center/Impoverished%20View%20of%20Education%20-%20Berliner.pdf"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Our Impoverished View of Educational Reform</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: cyan;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">compares statistical data </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">between industrialized nations with an emphasis on economic systems. His data show the American public education system has been </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">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. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">A solution to solve the problem of poverty has been ignored, while attacks on public education continue. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">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. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Funding and appropriations for public education have decreased over the years. Americans For Prosperity's <a href="http://front.moveon.org/why-does-michele-bachmann-think-abolishing-the-department-of-education-is-a-solution/?rc=fb.fan"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Michele Bachmann would like to further decrease</span></a> funding for public education if elected to the presidency. In 2011, the school board in the city of Memphis, Tennessee said they would </span><a href="http://articles.cnn.com/2011-07-20/us/tennessee.no.school_1_school-board-schools-superintendent-kriner-cash-funding-dispute?_s=PM:US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">not be opening their public-schools on time this year</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> 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. </span></div></div>Ctangerinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506379219130942789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5815274930706768896.post-75833639133191677492011-09-05T17:42:00.000-07:002011-09-06T16:06:00.341-07:00San Diego Labor Day Rally<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">On Labor Day, September 5, 2011 in San Diego, California roughly 150 people attended the </span></span><s><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Labor Day Parade</span></span></s><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Labor Day Rally</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">. Protestors chanted for "Jobs, Not Cuts" and sang a remix version of </span></span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkZC7sqImaM"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">John Lennon's, Give Peace a Chance</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">: "all we are saying, is give </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">jobs</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> 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. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Democrat, Rep. Susan Davis</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Democrat, Rep. Bob Filner</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Upcoming Congressional Candidate Lori Saldana (Democrat) and FOX 5 News</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnkhqwIgbwy_qoPjzizKUbnHBcWHLdzBz-z6gBsU-z9hWP7KC_dlvJAgOnOWfgs9piX6-47NOAK6QDfx1Wv7-a7s-13atMMqVVWpKzzgP6xjEjonFX9CgXU2Q8n8WW36GRW9zCsdxomAw/s1600/IMG_1800.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnkhqwIgbwy_qoPjzizKUbnHBcWHLdzBz-z6gBsU-z9hWP7KC_dlvJAgOnOWfgs9piX6-47NOAK6QDfx1Wv7-a7s-13atMMqVVWpKzzgP6xjEjonFX9CgXU2Q8n8WW36GRW9zCsdxomAw/s640/IMG_1800.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Protestor interview with NBC</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFvOsuq2tjCt8mK2k9IJbYywkR5SHJaPunXDgsI3FsquqRg4Bw8_E5-frbawWY8fGuEE5z6RGKyWnCbWtXg0lGcCoFms5gx4_ey4Cii4DxnqDlAiAa18yikEcIKzPmL1Flvw9Eug3qbqA/s1600/IMG_1804.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFvOsuq2tjCt8mK2k9IJbYywkR5SHJaPunXDgsI3FsquqRg4Bw8_E5-frbawWY8fGuEE5z6RGKyWnCbWtXg0lGcCoFms5gx4_ey4Cii4DxnqDlAiAa18yikEcIKzPmL1Flvw9Eug3qbqA/s640/IMG_1804.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">US UNCUT</td></tr>
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</div></div></div></div>Ctangerinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506379219130942789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5815274930706768896.post-83051663982918370572011-09-03T11:28:00.000-07:002011-09-05T00:17:27.905-07:00Attempts to Use Portions of War Contract Monies for Domestic Needs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6BSvyBrLQ-8WUGmuJQODidghm5OpwzQKo5_ZGoupqCZrcAf-orAOGkSY3YnOx0v6TjXSYMDQTqytYT5b6kq8WELH1MMbNihaBHjzI84TwHulmvB8Ua59bydsN8fLU1aBrj34UPQ1g5P4/s1600/50252_115356957005_6849172_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6BSvyBrLQ-8WUGmuJQODidghm5OpwzQKo5_ZGoupqCZrcAf-orAOGkSY3YnOx0v6TjXSYMDQTqytYT5b6kq8WELH1MMbNihaBHjzI84TwHulmvB8Ua59bydsN8fLU1aBrj34UPQ1g5P4/s1600/50252_115356957005_6849172_n.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>"Trickle down economics, ladies and</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>gentlemen, does not work; it has not</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>tricked down, and in fact it has closed</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>off to where all of the money stays up </b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>top, it never trickles down to the </b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>bottom. We've got to change that." </b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><br />
</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>- Democrat Rep. Hank Johnson </b> </span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On July 7, 2011 Republican Rep. </span></span><a href="http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/HouseSession5229"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Virginia Foxx spoke in the House</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> 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. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On July 7 </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Democrat Rep. Paul Tonko offered </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">an Amendment to the defense spending budget that would limit the yearly salaries of private contractor executives to no more than </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">200,000 dollars, no more than the salary of the</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> 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 </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">make additional hundreds of thousands for each individual, 100-percent payed for with tax-payer dollars. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">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.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">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, th</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">e DOD reports that </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">they have spent 1.3 </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">b</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">illion in purchases of noncombat vehicles from foreign manufacturers and thirty-six <b>b</b>illion 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. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Murphy's Amendment would create jobs in the US. His Amendment would fix the loophole to the Buy American Act. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Rep. Bill Young, again, explained that this Amendment too proposes to change existing law and the Amendment was also not voted on.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">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. </span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">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. </span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Half a </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">t</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">rillion dollars have been spent over the last ten years in Afghanistan. Twelve-</span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">b</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">illion 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 </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">m</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">illion 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.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">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.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object align="middle" classid="clsid:d27cdb6eae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" height="500" id="cspan-video-player" width="410"><param name='allowScriptAccess' value='true'/><param name='movie' value='http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/assets/swf/CSPANPlayer.swf?pid=300366-2&start=30415&end=63088'/><param name='quality' value='high'/><param name='bgcolor' value='#ffffff'/><param name='allowFullScreen' value='true'/><param name='flashvars' value='system=http://www.c-spanvideo.org/common/services/flashXml.php?programid=255808&style=full&start=30415&end=63088'/><embed name='cspan-video-player' src='http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/assets/swf/CSPANPlayer.swf?pid=300366-2&start=30415&end=63088' allowScriptAccess='always' bgcolor='#ffffff' quality='high' allowFullScreen='true' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' pluginspage='http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer' flashvars='system=http://www.c-spanvideo.org/common/services/flashXml.php?programid=255808&style=full&start=30415&end=63088' align='middle' height='500' width='410'></embed></object></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div>Ctangerinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506379219130942789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5815274930706768896.post-23687632050076781582011-09-01T22:06:00.000-07:002011-09-03T00:39:05.782-07:00Infrastructure: Republicans Block Construction of High-Speed Rails<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">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. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Future jobs associated with the system include </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">short-term construction jobs, jobs in urban planning and architecture, and long-term jobs in maintenance and operations (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU2JSHPx8dQ&feature=relmfu"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">450,000 in CA alone</span></a>). </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">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. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">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 "<i>Floods For Dummies" </i>manuel<i>. </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Republicans continue to support the </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">forty-billion dollar yearly tax subsidies to oil companies and eight-billion in giveaways to multinational corporations that take jobs overseas. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz8EYumXKZnk9ShnsSNItIAHs86jCEC6PkHvki8LCRhegOCfcFSbMCsX6oewGyNn3ucyyvYgejHeB7nOhKNruU7A8e-UxcesDjPMuxVFjdA994ssNp_SeEay6ZhApKDbOiEQrlE_y9yRk/s1600/default.aspx.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz8EYumXKZnk9ShnsSNItIAHs86jCEC6PkHvki8LCRhegOCfcFSbMCsX6oewGyNn3ucyyvYgejHeB7nOhKNruU7A8e-UxcesDjPMuxVFjdA994ssNp_SeEay6ZhApKDbOiEQrlE_y9yRk/s200/default.aspx.png" width="159" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">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. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">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. </span><br />
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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/02/opinion/krugman-eric-and-irene.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">a</span></span></a><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/02/opinion/krugman-eric-and-irene.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">nd Eric and Irene</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><br />
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</div>Ctangerinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506379219130942789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5815274930706768896.post-59394011587761208822011-08-30T23:06:00.000-07:002011-09-06T12:22:30.776-07:00The Keystone XL Pipeline<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Protestors have taken to the streets to oppose the construction of a new oil pipeline. T</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">he pipeline carrying cheap oil would </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">run over one of the largest aquifers and biggest sources of clean water in our continent, Environmentalist </span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Bill McKibben explained on </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">KPBS NewsHour.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">On </span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">July 26, 2011, a</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> 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 </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">900,000 barrels of </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">raw Tar Sands crude oil per day. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Most Democrats voted no on the bill.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX7VOT0Jcy4h8ncxJasGTRD3IchqBdPTSb5W4SYbfZ_PpWS9MrMg_injmB110wP-6Ci-kYvBclMJ_RJXjbpt82aadUckRKL3opOMLKL9VUuH8SEVupbmTGWNMWiYKXZmDhEE3YrPVpO3w/s1600/pipeline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX7VOT0Jcy4h8ncxJasGTRD3IchqBdPTSb5W4SYbfZ_PpWS9MrMg_injmB110wP-6Ci-kYvBclMJ_RJXjbpt82aadUckRKL3opOMLKL9VUuH8SEVupbmTGWNMWiYKXZmDhEE3YrPVpO3w/s320/pipeline.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Democrat Rep. Hank Johnson spoke in opposition to the bill and referred to the pipeline as the "Koch brothers Keystone XL pipeline." </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He offered an </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amendment to the bill - which did not pass though most Democrats voted for it. The Amendment was </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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 </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">toxic and acidic than other crude oils. This oil-type </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">g</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">oes 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. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">US gas prices will also increase, says </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Democrat Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">nd 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 </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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 <b>b</b>illion 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. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Though the information on the increase was provided to the Canadian government it was excluded in the application for a US permit. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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 </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">across the US </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">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). </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The company Canada hired to evaluate the Keystone XL pipeline has stated that </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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. </span></span><br />
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<object align="middle" classid="clsid:d27cdb6eae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" height="500" id="cspan-video-player" width="410"><param name='allowScriptAccess' value='true'/><param name='movie' value='http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/assets/swf/CSPANPlayer.swf?pid=300708-101&start=9316&end=10952'/><param name='quality' value='high'/><param name='bgcolor' value='#ffffff'/><param name='allowFullScreen' value='true'/><param name='flashvars' value='system=http://www.c-spanvideo.org/common/services/flashXml.php?programid=257486&style=full&start=9316&end=10952'/><embed name='cspan-video-player' src='http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/assets/swf/CSPANPlayer.swf?pid=300708-101&start=9316&end=10952' allowScriptAccess='always' bgcolor='#ffffff' quality='high' allowFullScreen='true' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' pluginspage='http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer' flashvars='system=http://www.c-spanvideo.org/common/services/flashXml.php?programid=257486&style=full&start=9316&end=10952' align='middle' height='500' width='410'></embed></object></div>Ctangerinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506379219130942789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5815274930706768896.post-44776541676401503062011-08-28T13:56:00.000-07:002011-08-29T21:05:11.476-07:00Foreign Lobbying for the Grand Canyon's Uranium and the Effects on Clean Water<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On July 25, 2011 <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/HouseSession5241"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Democrat Rep. Louise Slaughter rose</span></a> </span>in the House <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">of Representatives</span> </span>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.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The same Republican bill cuts programs for clean </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">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.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Slaughter points out that the bill also affects the arts; the </span><a href="http://www.nea.gov/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">National Endowment for the Arts</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> 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 </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">m</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">illion dollars for non-profit art organizations has generated 166.2 </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">b</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">illion dollars, supported 5.7 million jobs, and has put back more money into the treasury than taken out, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">16.6 </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">b</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">illion</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> has been put back in tax revenue, Slaughter explains. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1IenzQ1Z4Rem7GeDR7jxBhPBrUaAgTWtT53_80KMX1iQtpELQXTrD4hFwUCMPcyEOqfylR5NAYh1wqvKFvwW83zSh35lTqmKQc5iqdWE8MN64X4a_dg8me0nLPDMN22AhAoWCsvyJ5gE/s1600/issues.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1IenzQ1Z4Rem7GeDR7jxBhPBrUaAgTWtT53_80KMX1iQtpELQXTrD4hFwUCMPcyEOqfylR5NAYh1wqvKFvwW83zSh35lTqmKQc5iqdWE8MN64X4a_dg8me0nLPDMN22AhAoWCsvyJ5gE/s320/issues.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grand Canyon</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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 </span></span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/opinion/29wed4.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">NY Times article</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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."</span></span><br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The mining would expose people in the area to radiation along with anyone visiting the Grand Canyon National Park. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A </span></span><a href="http://healthvermont.gov/enviro/rad/Uranium.aspx"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">uranium report</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> 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. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">It's tough when mainstream media outlets obtain so much of their environmental information from a group called the </span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_C._Marshall_Institute"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">George C. Marshall Institute</span></a>,</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"> </span>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,<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"> </span>acid rain, and many other strange delusions based in profit pseudoscience. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKFTOnVsBKjdq99y-UKXxCC7QqJpPYutunh5L1N5H8Gi0A_YMUAhtUYoLOON08bIUXxA6ibhcCGd1Cqhkef9FmRVt5nPQnC5T2Q79Djz8og0WBKaOvQD12-stMouV3DvFl6jmhQk-goHQ/s1600/IMG_1761.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKFTOnVsBKjdq99y-UKXxCC7QqJpPYutunh5L1N5H8Gi0A_YMUAhtUYoLOON08bIUXxA6ibhcCGd1Cqhkef9FmRVt5nPQnC5T2Q79Djz8og0WBKaOvQD12-stMouV3DvFl6jmhQk-goHQ/s320/IMG_1761.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Economic Summit, San Diego, August 2011</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">One of the worst sewage offenders is a company called <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/factsheet/a-closer-look-veolia/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Veolia</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">. Veolia </span></span>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 <a href="http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Food & Water Watch</span></a> at the <a href="http://act.aflcio.org/c/240/p/salsa/web/common/public/index.sjs"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Economic Summit</span></a> 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. </span></span></div><object align="middle" classid="clsid:d27cdb6eae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" height="500" id="cspan-video-player" width="410"><param name='allowScriptAccess' value='true'/><param name='movie' value='http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/assets/swf/CSPANPlayer.swf?pid=300676-2&start=1004&end=3890'/><param name='quality' value='high'/><param name='bgcolor' value='#ffffff'/><param name='allowFullScreen' value='true'/><param name='flashvars' value='system=http://www.c-spanvideo.org/common/services/flashXml.php?programid=257286&style=full&start=1004&end=3890'/><embed name='cspan-video-player' src='http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/assets/swf/CSPANPlayer.swf?pid=300676-2&start=1004&end=3890' allowScriptAccess='always' bgcolor='#ffffff' quality='high' allowFullScreen='true' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' pluginspage='http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer' flashvars='system=http://www.c-spanvideo.org/common/services/flashXml.php?programid=257286&style=full&start=1004&end=3890' align='middle' height='500' width='410'></embed></object><br />
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</div>Ctangerinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506379219130942789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5815274930706768896.post-8835651679910445952011-08-26T20:30:00.000-07:002011-08-30T17:06:34.265-07:00"If Anyone Was Looking for the Free Speech Area It's Over There"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3KEy7ujy85x0kJzX_vD8qmA2mTSzv4qkzlMcB4fXHdeoxuRj4a7c5L665zuAiUCj0D-07hqwMN0_53UJU4Vyhqq-lnTNZ1Ny_1SM8kTsl4Z-rsnrXUpco_FKwY6P4haF2c8QasW9pPG4/s1600/freespeech22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3KEy7ujy85x0kJzX_vD8qmA2mTSzv4qkzlMcB4fXHdeoxuRj4a7c5L665zuAiUCj0D-07hqwMN0_53UJU4Vyhqq-lnTNZ1Ny_1SM8kTsl4Z-rsnrXUpco_FKwY6P4haF2c8QasW9pPG4/s640/freespeech22.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">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. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">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." </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">A group of people with <a href="http://front.moveon.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">MoveOn</span></a> 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. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">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. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1FnQwLxB2V4whIo1wnqJxC3LDONkHjnK2fdwT8O4fJPRzwEBM0Xx7lYLPnHGC6VsMdHiMQzrSa9KO3S5UMhoSRUfdGlLje2GpytViTYx2KJ2u0u_WCsTjLBEgHaNWZtUFSTtJPHGqUG4/s1600/freespeech.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1FnQwLxB2V4whIo1wnqJxC3LDONkHjnK2fdwT8O4fJPRzwEBM0Xx7lYLPnHGC6VsMdHiMQzrSa9KO3S5UMhoSRUfdGlLje2GpytViTYx2KJ2u0u_WCsTjLBEgHaNWZtUFSTtJPHGqUG4/s320/freespeech.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAnm3AAr7OS-AkCPBTJZ2lpI7mqjdyA_hlNfJ_8raDtSFR0cWcwG3joUPjaEIcMMotZGiNF5T96HyoEqEp1pmkuCl7RgLgSVkr9gdWiQBHzQvpLa9PjG77kKUQnZVr6v-N9n5XqILOwGw/s1600/free+speech+area.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAnm3AAr7OS-AkCPBTJZ2lpI7mqjdyA_hlNfJ_8raDtSFR0cWcwG3joUPjaEIcMMotZGiNF5T96HyoEqEp1pmkuCl7RgLgSVkr9gdWiQBHzQvpLa9PjG77kKUQnZVr6v-N9n5XqILOwGw/s320/free+speech+area.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCdI-birzXykZBmexZQxGoGYvHy5tyT0Mfnlys9-q3YKkfrVTGnD39NTJtI96dqSV-iqwxUIcEewL_qGSSDimpGa6wEcKavRJkZRcYR7F5n20Sy9widiiSou7qn45rkgkZKHC4GrH-qKo/s1600/freespeech22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCdI-birzXykZBmexZQxGoGYvHy5tyT0Mfnlys9-q3YKkfrVTGnD39NTJtI96dqSV-iqwxUIcEewL_qGSSDimpGa6wEcKavRJkZRcYR7F5n20Sy9widiiSou7qn45rkgkZKHC4GrH-qKo/s320/freespeech22.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div>Ctangerinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506379219130942789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5815274930706768896.post-55091047157979432342011-08-26T16:00:00.000-07:002011-09-03T07:55:30.497-07:00Executive Order for Contract Disclosure<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmyVRdIvY9Mu1yO2sa_kkx2jm-EwH8kwsVB9wO8fxpnT5iYJn3koXn43dz96Xhu-i3BBbTry9kkBBN3suFpgjosOetEz1Ppk910avcjlOCmlyqMCAa3YyrHeYskmLZsN7zMDvdN76dUZo/s1600/eshoo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmyVRdIvY9Mu1yO2sa_kkx2jm-EwH8kwsVB9wO8fxpnT5iYJn3koXn43dz96Xhu-i3BBbTry9kkBBN3suFpgjosOetEz1Ppk910avcjlOCmlyqMCAa3YyrHeYskmLZsN7zMDvdN76dUZo/s320/eshoo.jpg" width="209" /></a><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Democrat Rep. Anna Eshoo: both parties "...should oppose any Amendment designed to keep the public less informed..."</span></b></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">On July 7, 2011, viewable in the </span><a href="http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/HouseSession5229"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">CSPAN Video Library</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">, 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. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">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. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Republican Cole rises again and states, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">"The intent here is to make sure that we never link political contributions with the awarding of government contracts." </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">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. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 1em; padding-bottom: 6px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 6px; padding-top: 6px; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Sm3e8KUrsEaTGf9tNcx3zLBI1p6dVW7ndJarv5Et9GVzchg79hlXP3OBJiEw8M_Lt7GEnf5OV_O2ycTTYPqFhUZqph33yeKet_WR7pAWDp9vBayCU5TI0zHyL1NzLW72hQXKfKgMYEo/s1600/tomcole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Sm3e8KUrsEaTGf9tNcx3zLBI1p6dVW7ndJarv5Et9GVzchg79hlXP3OBJiEw8M_Lt7GEnf5OV_O2ycTTYPqFhUZqph33yeKet_WR7pAWDp9vBayCU5TI0zHyL1NzLW72hQXKfKgMYEo/s200/tomcole.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="200" /></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Republican Rep. Tom Cole:</div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">"The intent here is to make</span></b></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">sure that we never link political </span></b></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">contributions with the</span></b></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">awarding of government contracts."</span></b></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></b></div></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">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 </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">by 48 seats, Cole's Amendment to block the executive order for disclosure, that Democrats clearly oppose, passes in the House. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><object align="middle" classid="clsid:d27cdb6eae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" height="500" id="cspan-video-player" width="410"><param name='allowScriptAccess' value='true'/><param name='movie' value='http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/assets/swf/CSPANPlayer.swf?pid=300366-2&start=18368&end=19084'/><param name='quality' value='high'/><param name='bgcolor' value='#ffffff'/><param name='allowFullScreen' value='true'/><param name='flashvars' value='system=http://www.c-spanvideo.org/common/services/flashXml.php?programid=255808&style=full&start=18368&end=19084'/><embed name='cspan-video-player' src='http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/assets/swf/CSPANPlayer.swf?pid=300366-2&start=18368&end=19084' allowScriptAccess='always' bgcolor='#ffffff' quality='high' allowFullScreen='true' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' pluginspage='http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer' flashvars='system=http://www.c-spanvideo.org/common/services/flashXml.php?programid=255808&style=full&start=18368&end=19084' align='middle' height='500' width='410'></embed></object></span></span><br />
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</div>Ctangerinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506379219130942789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5815274930706768896.post-40721321119605773752011-08-25T20:20:00.000-07:002011-09-10T23:08:10.495-07:00Credibility of Budget Plans<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The Labor Party's shadow chancellor of the UK, Ed Balls' </span></span></span><a href="http://www.edballs4labour.org/blog/?p=2094"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">blog</span></span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> on August 6, 2011 read, </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">“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. </span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span> </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJOSgjLKmUsXQKK6-QKr1AKezUpm-S3zc7h2Qi02w1o3LgC9f2son8z_ZeaiZ2Qi2WjiuAyUYJVdX6htntkfTs5X911viPfDCXSTz5dNH-CG4RjrboMX-jfC922SwdgCMCRSbyipo-sgE/s1600/Ed_Balls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJOSgjLKmUsXQKK6-QKr1AKezUpm-S3zc7h2Qi02w1o3LgC9f2son8z_ZeaiZ2Qi2WjiuAyUYJVdX6htntkfTs5X911viPfDCXSTz5dNH-CG4RjrboMX-jfC922SwdgCMCRSbyipo-sgE/s320/Ed_Balls.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 14px;">Ed Balls, British Labor MP</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Watching the debt fiasco on CSPAN, it was clear that Republicans were the party facilitating the doubt - to say the least. The </span></span><a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2011/08/05/sp-downgrades-u-s-debt-rating-press-release/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">S&P press release</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> singled out Republicans directly as reason for the downgrade, </span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">"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. </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span> </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0JfzelIDFXAXWBwDz4LCAe3uKhUQktzSG_97iiKhG_DKIYBps0kXHBhOUpztZA-5k0xKppSEhO9YLHcNzsK-NNCZTX92MSA03VuBIUZQamsso54Yc1CFS5cPFRNNjWGRDkKe_UnpVjcA/s1600/graves-tom-200x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0JfzelIDFXAXWBwDz4LCAe3uKhUQktzSG_97iiKhG_DKIYBps0kXHBhOUpztZA-5k0xKppSEhO9YLHcNzsK-NNCZTX92MSA03VuBIUZQamsso54Yc1CFS5cPFRNNjWGRDkKe_UnpVjcA/s1600/graves-tom-200x300.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Republican Rep.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Tom Graves (grave digger)</div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">There were talks of shutting down the government. Republican representative </span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ohsif77ZZCwJ:m.npr.org/news/Politics/138243481+put+the+government+in+a+box+and+shrink+it+over+the+next+five+years&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=safari&source=www.google.com"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Tom Graves said</span></span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">, "</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Let's</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">put</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">government</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">in a</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">box</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">and</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">shrink</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">the</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">box</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">over</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">five</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">years</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">." Democrat Representative Anna Eshoo posted a message in her </span></span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150152142617267"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">facebook notes</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"> </span>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. </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">A June 30, 2011 </span></span></span><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-29/moody-s-would-likely-cut-u-s-debt-rating-to-aa-range-in-event-of-default.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Bloomberg</span></span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"> </span>article noted, "</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">S&P would lower its sovereign top-level AAA ranking to D,</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> the last rung on its scale if the U.S. can’t pay its debt..." and "...</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">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 </span></span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBz70U0YJlI"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Michele Bachmann</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"> </span>passed through media outlets vowing that she would not raise the debt ceiling. Of course </span></span><a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/201108080047?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+mediamatters/latest+(Media+Matters+-+Latest+Items)"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">FOX News</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> 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</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #464646; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">US default. When later, S&P did end up downgrading the country's rating to a AA+, even though the ceiling was raised.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhOkaNsgvzxF1doh6q7llaw0w7jhvRTDdbE7s_-alpUseQeQLwczGzu49vUy-NaWr05FgnPMVBh03KOzLxglFqwHcF0Jh07ebr0JH2BUGzAFJXFLndfp9fNrWkRiptDWFWaXI3CHa-knc/s1600/michele-bachmann-fox-news.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhOkaNsgvzxF1doh6q7llaw0w7jhvRTDdbE7s_-alpUseQeQLwczGzu49vUy-NaWr05FgnPMVBh03KOzLxglFqwHcF0Jh07ebr0JH2BUGzAFJXFLndfp9fNrWkRiptDWFWaXI3CHa-knc/s1600/michele-bachmann-fox-news.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann</td></tr>
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</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.edballs4labour.org/blog/?p=2094"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Ed Balls</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> 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, "</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">That is why I am fearful that Republican Congressional leaders have learned the wrong lesson from the British experience over the past twelve months."</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span></div></div>Ctangerinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506379219130942789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5815274930706768896.post-17670575127466764472011-08-24T06:58:00.000-07:002011-08-29T12:35:20.197-07:00Only 37-42% Voted in the 2010-Midterm Election: A case of operant conditioning<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Only 82.5 million people voted in the 2010-midterm election. That is 82.5 million out of the approximate 220 million eligible voters (total population of 308 million in 2010). So about 37-42% voted for this new general make-up of our current congress. 63% did not vote and much less voted in the 2010-primary election, roughly 10%. Within the 37-42% and 10% the majority were republicans. </span></span></span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">To put this into perspective I'm going to use two channels in mainstream media. FOX News may be nonsensical; however one thing they don't do is equate the two major parties, democrats and republicans as two sides of the same coin. The republican FOX News media anchors don't do that, no no no. MSNBC, with its republican president and its vast majority of anchors who are republican do quite regularly equate the two parties as being very much the same. Why anchors would be republican and then rant about both parties being the same is not rocket science. He or she's a republican and then when addressing a liberal audience, equates the two parties overtly and covertly so that the liberals feel like fools for having voted since the "parties are the same." </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirASLUbw0WDrcA2m1kWCin2KHMigM4rFSuv3ac7M7ow0KzMhywReXoXCXBmewNumrqrsjR292Wt1W0nm07TyFWmGD6sSx53a_EX0Y83B9BaSINi2lGdWeLOWPq2mdlc24ev4n-Ns14bTg/s1600/BF+SKINNER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirASLUbw0WDrcA2m1kWCin2KHMigM4rFSuv3ac7M7ow0KzMhywReXoXCXBmewNumrqrsjR292Wt1W0nm07TyFWmGD6sSx53a_EX0Y83B9BaSINi2lGdWeLOWPq2mdlc24ev4n-Ns14bTg/s1600/BF+SKINNER.jpg" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Whether learned through mainstream media, or through echoed slogans manufactured on MSNBC and PR firms these ideas make there way around whether you watch the channel or not. They encourage people not to vote, and even encourage criticism of others for voting or asking others to remember to vote. It's not a difficult trick, it's a form of operant conditioning. Two gal friends go to a store, gal A is choosing between two dresses. Gal B doesn't want her to buy the dress that's nicer than the one she herself has, then she'd be competition. So Gal B tells her that one or the other looks better on her and flip-flops between the dresses coming to a conclusion that both dresses are just about the same in the end. So Gal A wrestles with the two dresses and in the dress she once saw as beautiful she begins to find all its imperfections and puts them both down as she equates the dresses, with minor differences, and walks out of the store. </span></span></span><br />
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</span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Further, people are more likely to vote every four years not two. Classically, growing up we're told that voting for president is every four years. It generally sticks that "voting is every four years" and that that's what really matters especially with media coverage </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">(</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">other than CSPAN and some online sites) </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">overwhelmingly on the president and not on what's </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">actually</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> happening with the </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">House of Representatives and Senate</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">. </span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOrI5Uw_dn9rtP87CF-e-ktbDiAKcduOjsvaYAClHywHq9DBMRuZqWuUXwRA2FiM3ysObxjgmJmi_s7sz5zK4kaTOA8ywqsJJZW9oXq7tPqcC7ZS8jFhhXOSmKJDGlCF46ZlB4QZ8XRdA/s1600/C0048232-Skinner_Box-SPL.jpg%253Fid%253D670048232.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOrI5Uw_dn9rtP87CF-e-ktbDiAKcduOjsvaYAClHywHq9DBMRuZqWuUXwRA2FiM3ysObxjgmJmi_s7sz5zK4kaTOA8ywqsJJZW9oXq7tPqcC7ZS8jFhhXOSmKJDGlCF46ZlB4QZ8XRdA/s320/C0048232-Skinner_Box-SPL.jpg%253Fid%253D670048232.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baby in A Skinner Box</td></tr>
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</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">Source: <span class="word_break" style="display: block; float: left; margin-left: -10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_elections,_2010">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_elections,_2010</a></span></div></div></div>Ctangerinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506379219130942789noreply@blogger.com