A Time To Break The Silence

Anniversary of the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr (April 4, 1968)

Monday, April 4, 2011, at 4:30p.m., ‘A Time to Break the Silence’ – Demonstration Speak Out for Justice, Peace, and The Environment, Independence Mall Visitors Center (lawn area), 6th & Market Sts., Phila., PA

Rain or Shine (dress accordingly, bring an umbrella).

Join us Monday, April 4, outside the Independence Mall Visitors Center, from 4:30p.m. – 6p.m in ‘A Time to the Break Silence’ Demonstration ‘Speak-Out’ for Justice, Peace, and the Environment. Speakers include Celeste Zappala, Gold Star Mother for Peace, music, and the audio broadcast of excerpts of speeches and sermons by Dr. King including excerpts from his ‘Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence’ speech delivered at New York City’s Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, one year to the day before being shot down in Memphis, Tennessee.

In this most prophetic of Dr. King’s speeches, he spoke out dramatically against U.S. policies of war, worldwide militarism, poverty, and social injustice, calling for nonviolent resistance to the “evil triplets of American society: racism, materialism, and militarism”.

(click on link http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm to read and hear the speech in its entirety).

Today, faced by the consequences of a devastating economic meltdown, we must rebuild our society and the world, demanding a new economy not for the greed of Wall Street and corporate elites, not for war-profiteers like Lockheed Martin and Boeing, but for us all and our communities: health care for all, jobs, justice, and peace.

A TIME TO BREAK THE SILENCE…

-End U.S. wars which cost us millions daily; demand Jobs not War$.

-Bring the troops and the war dollars home. End poverty and stop the foreclosures on people’s homes.

-Abolish Nuclear Weapons, once and for all, and the lethal scourge of nuclear power and unconventional gas drilling (Fracking).

-Stop the assaults on our civil liberties.

Celebrate the active legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, as people come together across the nation and proclaim WE ARE ONE in a day devoted to labor rights, justice, peace, and the environment.

For more information: Brandywine Peace Community www.brandywinepeace.com, or call 610-544-1818

Where Does The Money Come From?

This page from the National Priorities Project stresses some important facts.  There is a clear distinction between FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and income tax [though both show up on your pay stub].  Enemies of Social Security like to cloud this difference.   And there’s a difference between debt and deficit.  A quick and valuable read.

http://nationalpriorities.org/publications/2011/taxday-2011/revenues/faq/

Is This How How You Want To Spend Your Money?

Members of Main Line Peace Action and DelMont Progressive Democrats of America put together a Power Point presentation on how military spending is screwing around our priorities and our domestic needs.  This has now become an eleven-minute YouTube video here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v20Vm33Rx10.  We hope you’ll look at it and forward it on to your friends.

Death Watch Noon Today

NEXT DEATH WALK IN CENTER CITY WILL BE SATURDAY, April 2, 2011 FROM 12 NOON TO 1:00. PLEASE JOIN US.

Friends – The United States continues DRONE BOMBINGS IN PAKISTAN AND AFGHANISTAN AND YEMEN, AS WELL. We walk with a picture of drone bomber and hand out leaflets to inform people on the street that this is being done in our names and with our money. We oppose the wars and all bombings.

We will do the DEATH WALK on Saturday, April 2, 2011, from 12 – 1:00 p.m., meeting at 12th & Market. Wear BLACK, we will bring plain white masks and we will be sure to have some extra masks but it would be helpful if you rsvp just to be sure. Contact us at Resisters30@gmail.com or reply to e-mail. One person will hold a sign, others will pass out leaflets. They will not wear the mask. We will continue to carry signs opposing U.S. DRONE WARFARE and TERRORISM, which is the killing of civilians.

We are now part of a national campaign against DRONE WARFARE.

We will be walking in the manner of a SILENT DEATH WALK to bring attention to the wars and the victims in Afghanistan , Pakistan . (Possibly expanding ground war there) PLEASE WEAR BLACK OR DRAPE BLACK CLOTH IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A COMPLETE OUTFIT. This is to keep some uniformity. We will also have a drum this time.

Peace, with hope that you will join us and bring friends. Marge VC p.s. It is helpful if you rsvp so we have enough MASKS.

p.s. In case of heavy rain, we will stand under the building at Reading Terminal Market as we did another day.

Six Signs The Revolution May Be Near

We don’t often quote the Wall Street Journal, but here’s Market Watch’s Paul B. Farrell spelling out what we can expect if we don’t start properly taxing the rich.  The situation now promotes widespread economic misery and wealth inequality.  We’re told that the one hundred richest families in America have more money than the bottom 40% combined.  Something’s got to give.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tax-the-super-rich-now-or-face-a-revolution-2011-03-29?pagenumber=1

What Will A Government Shutdown Mean

Danny Schechter, who wrote “Plunder,” tells us what to expect if the projected trainwreck comes to pass.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Showdown-On-A-Shutdown-Go-by-Danny-Schechter-110331-46.html

It’s Good To Be Rich

http://www.truth-out.org/the-new-american-dream68847

Why Aren’t We Surprised By Fox Any More?

The Vice President and Washington Managing Editor of Fox News told an audience that he made up the story of Obama’s socialist beliefs during the 2008 election and caused it to be a steady drumbeat on Fox “news” coverage.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20048382-503544.html

Help Stamp Out Creeping Ignorance!

This article is about creeping ignorance – the widespread refusal to accept facts and the growing tendency to create one’s own.  For example, a 2010 Gallup poll asked people if they believed in naturalistic evolution.  Only 16% of the whole sample did.  25% of those with post-graduate degrees.  9% of those with high school or less.  2% of those who attend church weekly.  31% of those who seldom or never attend church.  Twice as many Democrats as Republicans believe in evolution.  You can find similarly scary statistics about the percentage of people who believe that global warming is caused by man and about the people who think government should stay out of relations between workers and bosses (this after the hundreth anniversary of the Triangle Fire last week!).  Paste the link to your browser to read the article.

http://www.alternet.org/story/150382/the_biggest_threat_facing_the_country_today_is_fast_creeping_ignorance?page=entire

How The Pentagon Spends Money

Since the beginnings of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, some of the most deadly killers and maimers of our troops are roadside bombs – IED’s.  All the hugely expensive weapons in our arsenal – The F-25,  nuclear submarines,  aircraft carriers, etc. – are useless against them.  Five years ago the Pentagon set up a special office under a four-star general to figure out how to combat the threat.  They have spent $19 billion dollars.  How is it going?  The program is a complete failure, and there’s evidence money was spent not just on anti-IED research but on civilian advisors and such.  We’re not suggesting that it’s not important to end the IED threat, but is this the best we can do?   Click the link for details.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/03/27/111029/pentagon-spends-billions-to-fight.html

Our Energy Solution Is Not Under The Ground

The New York Times  tells us about a new company, Tres Amigas, that plans to build a big power hub in New Mexico that will tie together the three power grids in this country.  Read it here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/08/business/energy-environment/08grid.html?_r=1&ref=business. 

This will make possible not only the sharing of power among all regions, but will allow us to tap the enormous sources of wind and solar energy concentrated in the West.  Already wind turbines in Texas on some days generate enough electric power to take care of the whole nation.  The problem is transmission and variations in energy availabilities among regions.  The new hub will help solve that problem.

It is interesting that one site that would generate huge amounts of wind power is the tops of the Appalachian Mountains.  But instead of putting up those turbines, we are tearing down the mountains!  Mountain top removal is in full swing, destroying mountains that withstood the great glaciers, and filling mountain streams with rubble and waste (called  “fill” by the mining companies).

In a wide swath that extends from Virginia to New York, and especially under Pennsylvania,  lies the Marcellus Shale, a geologic formation that contains giant amounts of natural gas.  But to get the gas out, you don’t just drill a hole.  You have to do something called “frakturing,” pumping enormous quantities of water and chemicals into the shale to flood the gas out.  The water, full of contaminants that can cause cancer and birth defects, then either pollutes area drinking water wells or is trucked out to treatment plants in southeastern Pennsylvania and eventually pumped into the Delaware River and Chesapeake Bay, to further pollute our greatest inland marine environment.

What seems to be the lesson in all this?  “Drill Baby Drill” is not the answer.  Cutting down forests and mountains and blasting shale beds with contaminated water is the way to enrich a few large corporations but it is not the way to solve our energy problems.  Clean renewable energy is ours for the taking – wind and solar.  It is free and it is forever.  To distribute the energy we need modern electric grids as The Times article indicated.  That is all eminently doable.  Let’s get started.

Walter Ebmeyer.

Why Quit Fossil Fuels?

For those who wonder how to convince resistant people we must move away from fossil fuels due to Climate Change, I have one word of advice: Don’t.

There’s actually no need. Not because Global Warming isn’t real – it is, and the overwhelming evidence is that it’s largely fueled by human actions – but because there are other reasons why we should move away from fossil fuel-based energy. The elegant thing about a multi-pronged approach like this is that you can always find some reason to convince someone with. For example, hard-core conservatives may simply refuse to believe anything people do could affect “God’s perfect world” but they are perfectly willing to accept that we should not be sending half a trillion dollars a year to foreign oil producers who mostly hate us, and who export terrorism along with their oil (#s 4-6).

1. Climate Change: Oil and Coal contribute to global warming and will only do so more as China, India etc. emulate American lifestyles. According to many scientists, we may already be past the temperature “tipping point” where runaway synergistic effects will make warming inevitable, even if we could stop all CO2 production today (which we can’t).

2. Balance of Trade: We import 70% of our oil – $500 billion/year – often from countries that hate us, fund terrorists, and buy our businesses (Citigroup) and infrastructure (Chrysler Building). This is an unsustainable transfer of wealth, which will only make America poorer. We are now paying foreign powers both what we earn personally AND what our companies earn, while they sit back and enjoy the results of their geological luck. Take a look at T. Boone Pickens’ presentation for a more realistic assessment of what exporting our wealth will do to us in 10 years. Or, take a look at post-Columbus Spain, which thought having all the gold in the new world would keep them prosperous forever and allow them to import whatever skills and goods they needed. It didn’t and they couldn’t.

3. Green Jobs: Germany has created 250,000 new green jobs in its solar industry, which supplies 13% of its electric needs. We need to replace oil, coal and nuclear producing jobs with wind and solar installation and maintenance jobs. (It takes 10 years to build a nuclear plant and 2 years to build a solar thermal field).

4. National Security: We must not depend on foreign powers to supply us with vital energy, which is as critical to modern society as food and shelter. Even if we drill the arctic for oil (home to up to 25% of the world’s reserves, according to US Geological Survey), we will have to defend those new wells not only from nature, but from Russia, Canada, Denmark (Greenland), and others with a claim to the high north, leading to unnecessary conflict with these countries. Clearly, ANWR has never been about the tiny bit of land off northern Alaska that would supply just 2 years of oil for America; it’s been about opening up the entire Arctic to exploration. We cannot afford to defend such a large and inhospitable region from other regional players with as large or larger geological claims.

5. The Oil Curse: Countries that depend on natural resources to make money, and not people, are the most corrupt, despotic, self-righteous and anti-human rights regimes on Earth. China does not seem to care where their oil comes from, encouraging rogue states like Sudan, Iran, Burma and Venezuela, where human rights barely exist. This is a naïve and ultimately counter-productive strategy for China but not one we should be encouraging again either (see: the downfall of the Shah of Iran).

6. Military Overreach: America cannot afford to defend oil fields. The Iraq war is, at least partly, a subsidy for Big Oil. Lives are being lost and resources are being spent ($12 Billion/month) so that – maybe, eventually – we can get more oil out of Iraq (estimated to be 2 or 3 largest holder of oil reserves). Meanwhile, Iraq does not even use $79 billion surplus to pay for its own infrastructure needs, while here in the U.S. our bridge collapse from lack of care (Minnesota) and our electrical grid blacks out.

7. Peak Oil: We are probably only seeing peak geopolitical oil, not peak geological oil, now, but it will only get more expensive to drill oil. Most estimates put peak oil within 10 years, and since global demand has exceeded earlier estimates, we may be even closer. The perversion of the OPEC dominated oil market means that they will drill LESS, not MORE, as the price goes up, since they literally collect more money than they know what to do with already, and they want to stretch out their supply. It’s only when the price of oil goes DOWN that OPEC members are tempted to cheat on their quotas because their dysfunctional economies become desperate for cash. Right now, they want to sell oil only a trickle at a time.

8. Local Environmental Damage: If we drill everywhere, we will eventually have oil wells all over the west (instead of wind turbines), and even in the (newly melted) arctic. These high-risk drilling areas will be more likely to see oil spills, soot, and CO2 damage and the further eradication of local animal (Polar Bears) and plant life. Already, regional water tables are being polluted by accidents and poisoness chemicals involved in the drilling industry. This is especially true of the Natural Gas and Coal industries, which use and pollute prodigious amounts of scare water resources. The cost to clean up the toxic coal ash release in Harriman, Tennessee has been estimated to be as high as $800 million higher than President Obama’s entire stimulus bill. This “pond” was merely average out of hundreds of similar ponds located all over the south and west.

9. We eat too much oil: Oil goes into fertilizer, which goes into corn, which goes into EVERYTHING we eat, including meat. Omega 6 fatty acids (the bad kind) are higher in factory-fed beef. Omega 3 fatty acids (the good kind) are higher in grass-fed beef and almost as high as in fish, according to Michael Pollen (the Omnivore’s Dilemma). Oil-based Corn-fed meat is making us fat and raising the national health bill. Cattle, pigs, chickens live a cruel, short life in tight, economical confines because it is cheaper to make them do so than to let them live on the open range. Even an omnivore must realize there is a difference for an animal to be raised humanely and then killed for food then one that is tortured in a CAFO its entire life and then killed. Each wind turbine pays farmers $5,000-$10,000 annually and allows livestock to graze in their shade, making natural grass-fed meat economically competitive again. This synergy could make us healthier AND wean us off imported oil. It would also make our streams, rivers and the Gulf of Mexico healthier by reducing fertilizer runoff.

10. Loss of American’s position as Innovation Leader: The oil and automotive industries were born here over 100 years ago. It is time for America to lead the world into the renewable era with Zero Emission Vehicles and renewable energy. If not us, then China or some other countries will take our place and America will become a second-rate power dependent on others for everything.

Take action — click here to contact your local newspaper or congress people:
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Scott Baker is a Senior Editor and Writer at Op Ed News, a Writer for DailyKos

What Copenhagen Didn’t Do

Goodbye Africa.  Goodby Southeast Asia.  Goodbye glaciers and coral.  Read on.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/12/18-11.

Natural Gas Drillers On The Offensive

The Natural Gas industry is moving forward with operations to get at gigantic natural gas deposits in the Marcellus Shale, deep below most of Pennsylvania – a virtual goldmine of energy so near to the New York City market.  The results so far have been disatrous for wildlife, streams, state forests, and drinking water supplies.  Read all about it in this article from Beaver County Blue, the website of our Progressive Democrat friends in the western end of the state.

http://beavercountyblue.org/2010/02/26/gas-drillers-open-political-offensive-in-beaver-county/

Riding The Glass Elevator To Profits

You’ve probably seen the TV commercial of the woman riding a glass elevator into and out of the depths of the earth telling us of the wonders of gas and oil there, just waiting for us to tap them.  Our friend Randy Shannon in this article talks about the greed and mendacity of the energy companies and their Wall Street investors who have now committed the environmental crime of the century.

http://beavercountyblue.org/2010/04/29/the-greatest-environmental-disaster-of-the-century-turning-point-or-more-to-come/

Amy Goodman Says “Jail!”

The people in charge of the West Virginia coal mine and the BP drilling rig are as guilty of involuntary manslaughter as if they’d driven a car 95 miles per hour in a 35 mph zone.  We must demand jail time.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/05/19-2

About Obama And The Nuclear Umbrella

http://www.truthout.org/alexander-cockburn-nuclear-disarmament-not-what-he-promised59706

We’re Still Buying New Military Aircraft

This is one of many military aircraft graveyards in the United States.  We seem to have extra planes.  This in a country that spends as much or more on the military than all the other nations in the world put together!  Who will say “STOP” to this madness?  You could call your congressman and tell him you want military spending cut by 50%.  We would still be outspending China by about 3 to 1.  Call your congressman at 202-224-3121.

Wall Street Wants To “Fix” Social Security

Those wonderful people who brought you credit default swaps, Lehman Brothers, and Bernie Madoff want to get their hands on Social Security.  Why?  They claim it is contributing to the deficit.  Wrong.  SS will be solvent just as it is until the 2040′s.  And if it needs more money?  You know the $106,000 annual income cap on SS taxes?  Why not do away with that?    Let wealthier Americans pay the same SS tax rate on all their income as the majority of us.  No problem.

http://beavercountyblue.org/2010/05/27/blue-dog-democrats-and-republicans-are-out-to-kill-social-security-and-medicare/

How Many Nuclear Bombs Do We Need?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/opinion/24schaub.html?ref=afternoonupdate&nl=afternoonupdate&emc=auab1

Cut Military Spending In Half!

An excellent Christian Science Monitor op-ed piece about drastically cutting military spending.  It’s by a fellow at the Cato Institute.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2009/0427/p09s01-coop.html

Barney Frank Says We Can Cut $1,000,000,000,000 Out Of The Defense Budget In 10 Years

Barney Frank and his study group say they can cut a trillion dollars out of the defense budget over the next ten years.  One can hear the Congressional howls already, but something like it must be done to get spending under control and make money available for domestic concerns.  The strange vehicle pictured is the Marine Corps’s Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, which would be deep-sixed.

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/102677-panel-commissioned-by-barney-frank-recommends-nearly-1t-in-defense-cuts-to-close-deficit

Barney Frank’s Task Force

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/06/11-8

Our Navy Exceeds The Next 13 Navies Combined

Defense Secretary Gates talked about this in a recent speech, and Barney Frank has proposed cutting a trillion dollars out of military spending in the next few years.  This article makes some comparisons that are shocking.  The only plausible explanation for such spending is the greed of defense contractors.  [Highly recommended: George Bernard Shaw's "Major Barbara" with Wendy Hiller and Rex Harrison]

http://www.armscontrolcenter.org/policy/securityspending/articles/US_vs_Global/

If You Liked Credit Default Swaps, Lehman Brothers, and Bernie Madoff, You’ll Love Privatized Social Security

Robert Kuttner thinks that when the American people find out the Republicans want to monkey with Social Security, it will be lights out for them.  It is America’s favorite government program, and anybody who knows anything about it (or wants to) knows it works beautifully.  Just ask the lady with the check.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-kuttner/the-stealth-attack-on-ame_b_617164.html?ref=email_share

A Change In Thinking On Military Spending

Slowly, slowly the Congress is paying attention to the crying need for massive cuts in military spending.  This Columbia Journalism Review article notes that, as usual, the press seems to be clueless.  Read all about it.

http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/congress_gives_defense_spending_a_look.php

“We Can’t Afford War”

McChrystal was in Paris when interviewed by Rolling Stone to prevent the French from “going all wobbly on him.”  Our NATO “allies” are pulling out of Afghanistan under heavy public pressure.  Obama’s Vietnam?  Comments from our favorite newscaster.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/06/30

Close Those Overseas Bases

http://www.fpif.org/articles/too_many_overseas_bases

Stimulus Money Going Overseas For Nuclear Power

It appears that a large slice of the stimulus funds intended to build more nuclear power plants will go to overseas corporations.  Really!  Our Senator Casey raised some hell a few months ago when the administration was planning to buy wind turbine parts overseas.  But nothing heard on this newest boondoggle.  CALL HIM!   215-405-9660.  Or FAX 215-405-9669.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0702/US-backed-loans-to-expand-nuclear-power-a-boon-for-overseas-jobs

Frank And Paul For Military Cuts

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-barney-frank/why-we-must-reduce-milita_b_636051.html

“The Usually Sacrosanct Defense Budget”

Columbia Journalism Review talks about The Sustainable Defense Task Force and the shocking story it tells about the lack of audited controls on Pentagon spending and the usual failure of the press to cover it.  This is the investigative group set up by Congressmen Barney Frank and Ron Paul in their efforts to cut military spending.  There is a link in the article to the Task Force’s report, all 56 pages of it.

http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/congress_gives_defense_spending_a_look.php

Obsession And The Body Politic

The President calls our interest in withdrawing from Afghanistan an “obsession.”  We call it sanity.  And more and more members of Congress are joining the demand for a time table.

http://www.truth-out.org/35-house-dems-obsessed-with-afghan-withdrawal-timetable61031

Sustainable Defense Task Force Report

Reps.  Ron Paul and Barney Frank organized a Sustainable Defense Task Force to figure out how to drastically cut military spending by the American government.  Click here for the whole 56-page report.  It proposes a saving of one trillion dollars over the next ten years, a cut of 25%.  All the details are here.

http://www.comw.org/pda/fulltext/1006SDTFreport.pdf

Barney Frank And Ron Paul On The 25% Solution

$1,000,000,000,000 And Afghanistan

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/10-4

Closing Overseas Bases

This is the letter sent by four congressmen to the Catfood Commission asking them to recommend closing overseas military bases.  How many of those there are is in debate because of the confusing ways they are delineated.  Many in the UK, for instance, are called RAF bases, but they are really USAF bases.  Most people put the number at near 1,000. The picture is of a stream in Vincenza, Italy, home of a giant US base and of Palladio’s famous Villa Rotonda.

http://www.house.gov/frank/letters/official/2010/05-27-10-joint-letter-military-spending.pdf

We’re Not Ready For Nuclear Power

If you think the Gulf oil spill was bad, wait until you see the next nuclear disaster.  And why not?  Do you have any more faith in the nuke engineers than you do in those great guys from BP and Haliburton?  You’d better read Bob Herbert on this.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/opinion/20herbert.html?_r=2&hp

Things To Know About Afghanistan

David Swanson spells out six things about the Afghanistan war that war supporters should know.  They are six excellent reasons to bring the troops home, save lives, and make a start toward reducing war spending by one trillion dollars over the next ten years.  The vote in Congress to increase funding may come up this week.  Our strategy must be to delay that vote into September, because by then the push for it may go away.  Call your congressman at 202-224-3121 and tell him you don’t want more money going to the Afghanistan War.

http://www.pdamerica.org/articles/news/2010-07-25-01-51-05-news.php

The Clean Air Bill We Need

We know cap-and-trade is not the way to cut air pollution.  At last a bill in the Senate we can all get behind.

http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=3808&issue_id=102

“Prosperity Is Right Around The Corner”

That’s what Herbert Hoover told the nation eighty years ago, and the Depression got deeper and deeper.  The government worried about deficits and cut spending until deflation set in and the rest, as they say is history.  Now Obama tells us that things are looking up and we should start trimming spending and worrying about deficits.  But several Federal Reserve worthies are talking deflation.  Now that would be a disaster.

http://www.thenation.com/article/38063/deflation-not-deficit-real-threat

IED Attacks In Afghanistan – This Is Progress?

These are IED attacks from 2007-2009 according to Wikileaks.

Reading Howard Zinn In Prison

Some interesting writing by Chris Hedges about teaching the truth about American history to inmates and about what the Feds tried to do to Howard Zinn because they feared that truth.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/08/02-0

Where Will People Work If Not For The Military-Industrial Complex?

Many people today make their living in the MIC – as soldiers or sailors or airmen or as employees of companies that manufacture weapons or provide outsourced services to the military.  What will happen to them if we cut war spending by 25%?  It’s easy enough to talk about retraining, but too many people, many with advanced degrees, have undergone retraining and find themselves at the end of a long line of job-seekers.  This is an important article to read.

http://www.livableincome.org/peace.htm

The New Age Of Anxiety

Sometimes the Letters to the Editor at The Times are so excellent that they’re as good as an article or an op-ed.  Recent material about the economy stirred these six writers to tell the Editor what was bothering them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/05/opinion/l05econ.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

A Martian Visits Iraq And Afghanistan

Admiral Mullen says the Wikileaks people have the blood of innocents on their hands.  But what if a Martian came down and looked around?  On whose hands would he see whose blood?  This is an excellent, if lengthy, Tom Englehardt article.

http://original.antiwar.com/engelhardt/2010/08/05/whose-hands-whose-blood/

Noam Chomsky Speaks At Albany Peace Conference

This video is 30 minutes long, but if you’re inspired by “America’s greatest living intellectual,” make yourself comfortable and listen.

Stop Spending Money On Nuclear Weapons

Here’s a great boondoggle – billions of dollars being poured into a Nevada facility construction called Chemical and Metallurgical Research and Replacement so that we can build bigger and “better” nuclear bombs.  And this expenditure isn’t charged against the Defense Department but the Department of Energy.  It has to stop.

http://www.lasg.org/CMRR/open_page.htm

Private Affluence, Public Squalor

John Kenneth Galbraith railed against private affluence and public squalor years ago.  Now our legislatures are mandating public squalor at unprecendented levels – street lights turned off, bridges not maintained.  Our favorite economist, Paul Krugman, has a column about this today.  The problem is of course lack of funds to maintain the infrastructure.  To some extent that shortage is due to excessive military spending – see www.25percentsolution.com – and to some extent it is caused by a failure to properly tax the wealthy since the days of George W. Bush.  We are increasingly living in a third world country.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/09/opinion/09krugman.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

Barney’s “Dear Colleague Letter”

This is the letter that Barney Frank and Ron Paul want the other Congressmen to sign to advance the cause of military spending reduction.

CONGRESSMAN BARNEY FRANK CONGRESSMAN RON PAUL

September xx, 2010

National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform

1650 Pennsylvania Ave

Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Commission Members,

As the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform continues its work of reviewing and recommending an appropriate set of responses to our nation’s mid- and long-term fiscal challenges, we write to urge in the strongest terms that any final Commission report include among its recommendations substantial reductions in projected levels of future spending by the Department of Defense.

Given the size of our deficit and debt problems as well as the political challenges and policy controversies involved in implementing any solutions to them, it is clear to us that cutting the military budget must be a part of any viable proposal. The Department of Defense currently takes up almost 56% of all discretionary federal spending, and it accounts for nearly 65% of the increase in annual discretionary spending levels since 2001. Much of this increase, of course, is attributable to direct war costs, but nearly 37% of discretionary spending growth falls under the “base” or “peacetime” military budget. Applying the adage that it is necessary to “go where the money is” requires that rigorous scrutiny be applied to military spending, and we believe that any such analysis will show that substantial spending cuts can be made without threatening our national security, without cutting essential funds for fighting terrorism, and without shirking our obligations as a nation to our brave troops currently in the field, our veterans, and our military retirees.

Much of these potential savings can be realized if we are willing to make an honest examination of the cost, benefit, and rationale of the extensive U.S. military commitment overseas, which in large part remains a legacy of policy decisions made in the immediate aftermath of World War II and during the Cold War. Years after the Soviet threat has disappeared, we continue to provide European and Asian nations with military protection through our nuclear umbrella and the troops stationed in our overseas military bases.. Given the relative wealth of these countries, we should examine the extent of this burden that we continue to shoulder on our own dime.

We also think that significant savings can be found if we subject to similar scrutiny strategic choices that have led to the retention and continued development of Cold War-era weapons systems and initiatives such as missile defense. While the Soviet Union and its allies nearly matched the West’s level of military expenditure during the Cold War, no other nation today remotely approaches the 44% share of worldwide military spending assumed by the United States. China, for instance, spends barely one-fifth as much on military power as the United States. Instead of protecting us against a clear and determined foe and enemy, Defense Department planning and strategic objectives now focus on shaping the stemming the emergence of new threats by maintaining a vast range of global commitments on all continents and oceans. We believe that such commitments need to be scaled back.

Additionally, we believe that significant savings can be realized through reforming the process by which the Pentagon engages in weapons research, development and procurement, manages its resources, and provides support services. Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has speculated that waste and mismanagement accounted for at least 5% of the Pentagon budget annually, and despite a long history of calls for reform from outside the Pentagon, and actual reform initiatives within it, it is clear that much more remains to be done.

We repeat that we are not urging reductions that in any way would cut resources and supplies necessary to protect American troops in the field. Similarly, while we are not opposed to an honest look at efforts at reforming the way that the Department of Defense provides health care and other services to personnel, we are opposed to cuts in services and increased fees for our veterans and military retirees.

As your commission scrutinizes the federal budget and discretionary spending, we ask that you look closely at the Department of Defense in regard to the issues we have raised, and others. We hope that the report you release this coming December will subject military spending to the same rigorous scrutiny that non-military spending will receive, and that in so doing a consensus will be reached that significant cuts are necessary and can be made in a way that will not endanger national security. We strongly believe this to be the case, and we strongly believe that any deficit reduction package must contain significant cuts to the military budget.

Sincerely,

Save Social Security

The Truth About Social Security and Privatization

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Our Social Security System vs. “Privatization”

Social Security is a successful intergenerational program that has served this country well. Yet some groups want to “privatize” Social Security by taking payroll tax money that now goes into the Social Security trust funds and investing it instead in private investment accounts.

Under Social Security, people earn the right to participate by working and contributing. The program was never intended to be an investment program. With broader policy goals than private retirement plans, its intent is to provide guaranteed income to seniors, disabled citizens, survivors, and their families. Privatization would severely undermine this system.

The arguments for privatization can seem persuasive at first, but they are all hollow and easily disproved. Following are five simple rebuttals to many common and misleading claims being spread by the privatization movement. When you hear any of the pro-privatization claims, refer to the facts provided here.

When They Say , “Privatization Will Fix Social Security for Future Generations,” The TRUTH is…

Privatization is not a plan to save Social Security; it is a plan to dismantle Social Security. Privatization means increased retirement risks, severe cuts in Social Security benefits, and a multi-trillion dollar increase in the federal debt.

Privatization diverts money out of Social Security into individual accounts leaving an even larger solvency problem. Privatizers fill this funding gap by dramatically cutting Social Security benefits. They cover the rest by borrowing money, thereby increasing the debt burden on all taxpayers by trillions of dollars over the next half century. With market-based accounts, the risk of an adequate retirement is placed entirely on the individual.

When They Say, “Social Security will soon go bankrupt,” The TRUTH is…

If Congress does nothing – makes no changes or “reforms” – Social Security is projected to deliver full guaranteed benefits until at least 2037. Even after 2037, again without any changes, the trust funds will continue to pay 76 percent of benefits for years after that.

It’s true, the aging baby boom generation will strain Social Security in the future. However, if Congress enacts modest changes, Social Security should be able to meet 100% of its benefit obligations for many decades to come.

When They Say, “Workers could get a better return by investing in the Stock Market,” The TRUTH is…

Right now, Social Security provides a guaranteed income, paying benefits every month for life, with increases for inflation. After adjusting for risk, Social Security has a rate of return equal to that of any mix of financial assets in private accounts.

And risk must be taken into account, because stock market returns are never guaranteed! As we’ve seen in recent years, returns can fluctuate wildly. One need only be reminded that between 2001 and 2003, the NASDAQ lost 75% of its value. And the market took a major downturn again in 2008. Nest eggs can disappear in an instant – and take months, if not years, to rebuild.

With privatization, some might do well, many might lose – but our society would lose the benefit of the sound, basic income security provided by Social Security retirement, disability and survivor benefits.

When They Say, “Social Security is unfair because tomorrow’s workers will have to support the Baby Boomers’ retirement,” The TRUTH is…

In fact, the Boomers have helped pre-fund part of their benefits by building a huge surplus that should keep Social Security alive and well for many years. With privatization, however, workers would end up in a double bind – paying taxes to support the Boomers’ retirement plus investing money in their own individual accounts, in hopes of building retirement funds for themselves.

To make matters even worse, today’s workers would have to bear the transition costs of switching to privatization, estimated at nearly $5 trillion over just the first twenty years- a cost that would fall on today’s young people.

When They Say, “Privatization gets rid of the inefficiency of big government,” The TRUTH is…

Administrative costs for Social Security are very low – less than 1% of the program’s budget. Diverting money to the stock market would incur the very high costs of brokers’ commissions, mutual fund management fees, and other expenses inherent in buying and selling stocks and bonds.

Small investment accounts are very expensive to administer. Commissions and fees could easily burn up as much as 15 cents out of every dollar of a worker’s annual investment as they do in some countries with privatized systems.

Wall Street brokers and fund managers would stand to make billions of dollars a year thanks to privatization, so it’s no surprise that they strongly support the privatization movement!

Conclusion: Privatization is NOT the Answer!

Unfortunately, exaggerated media coverage regarding Social Security’s finances has contributed to the illusion that Social Security is in immediate trouble. And the pro-privatization movement has spent millions of dollars promoting that illusion.

That’s why the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare is spreading the truth, through education material like the booklet you’re reading right now. And that’s why NCPSSM remains committed to blocking any effort to privatize Social Security.

By using these facts, you can help the truth – and Social Security – win! Thank you for supporting Social Security for the benefit of every generation of Americans!

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This information was compiled by the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare

http://www.ncpssm.org.  Distributed by www.delmontpda.wordpress.com.

 

Afghanistan Now Is Like Iraq In 2006

A Republican Congressman has called for a blue-ribbon commission to study how the war is going and what we can do to find more success.  The direction the war and American opinion is running is contrary to the Military-Industrial Complex’s gospel, contrary to what Andrew Bacevich calls “Washington Rules.”

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/08/11

85% Say “Don’t Cut Social Security”

Our thanks to Beaver County PDA for sending along this article.  Their Congressman, like most Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats, wants to cut the program.  As always, to understand the thinking of those people, look for the money.  Privatizing Social Security would be good for the retirement insurance industry and the Wall Street establishment that owns it.  There is no other reason to privatize.

http://beavercountyblue.org/2010/08/11/cut-social-security-public-says-no-cong-altmire-says-mumble-mumble-mumble/

National Defense Full Employment Act

Robert Reich thinks calling a massive new jobs program NDFEA would be a good idea, as was the spending on training high school math and science teachers and the building of the interstate system years ago under “Defense” justifications.  Let’s spend money on high speed rail, not missile submarines.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/americas-biggest-jobs-pro_b_679426.html?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=081210&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BlogEntry

Top 5 Social Security Myths Debunked

We especially like this page because the responses to the myths are footnoted.  So if someone says “Sez who?” ,  the answer is right here.  Some Republicans are putting out myths and lies about Social Security in an attempt to privatize it.  We say: “If you liked credit default swaps, Lehman Brothers, and Bernie Madoff, you’re going to love privatized Social Security.”

Top 5 Social Security Myths

Myth #1: Social Security is going broke.

Reality: There is no Social Security crisis.  By 2023, Social Security will have a $4.6 trillion surplus (yes, trillion with a ‘T’).  It can pay out all scheduled benefits for the next quarter-century with no changes whatsoever.1 After 2037, it’ll still be able to pay out 75% of scheduled benefits—and again, that’s without any changes. The program started preparing for the Baby Boomers’ retirement decades ago.2  Anyone who insists Social Security is broke probably wants to break it themselves.

Myth #2: We have to raise the retirement age because people are living longer.

Reality: This is a red-herring to trick you into agreeing to benefit cuts. Retirees are living about the same amount of time as they were in the 1930s. The reason average life expectancy is higher is mostly because many fewer people die as children than they did 70 years ago.3 What’s more, what gains there have been are distributed very unevenly—since 1972, life expectancy increased by 6.5 years for workers in the top half of the income brackets, but by less than 2 years for those in the bottom half.4 But those intent on cutting Social Security love this argument because raising the retirement age is the same as an across-the-board benefit cut. 

Myth #3: Benefit cuts are the only way to fix Social Security. 

Reality: Social Security doesn’t need to be fixed. But if we want to strengthen it, here’s a better way: Make the rich pay their fair share.  If the very rich paid taxes on all of their income, Social Security would be sustainable for decades to come.5 Right now, high earners only pay Social Security taxes on the first $106,000 of their income.6  But conservatives insist benefit cuts are the only way because they want to protect the super-rich from paying their fair share.

Myth #4: The Social Security Trust Fund has been raided and is full of IOUs

Reality: Not even close to true. The Social Security Trust Fund isn’t full of IOUs, it’s full of U.S. Treasury Bonds. And those bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States.7 The reason Social Security holds only treasury bonds is the same reason many Americans do: The federal government has never missed a single interest payment on its debts. President Bush wanted to put Social Security funds in the stock market—which would have been disastrous—but luckily, he failed. So the trillions of dollars in the Social Security Trust Fund, which are separate from the regular budget, are as safe as can be.

Myth #5: Social Security adds to the deficit

Reality: It’s not just wrong—it’s impossible!  By law, Social Security’s funds are separate from the budget, and it must pay its own way. That means that Social Security can’t add one penny to the deficit.8

Defeating these myths is the first step to stopping Social Security cuts.  Can you share this list now?

Sources:

1.”To Deficit Hawks: We the People Know Best on Social Security,” New Deal 2.0, June 14, 2010  http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89703&id=22141-17700787-cAEhIbx&t=4

2. “The Straight Facts on Social Security,” Economic Opportunity Institute, September 2009  http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89704&id=22141-17700787-cAEhIbx&t=5

3. “Social Security and the Age of Retirement,” Center for Economic and Policy Research, June 2010  http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89705&id=22141-17700787-cAEhIbx&t=6

4. “More on raising the retirement age,” Washington Post, July 8, 2010  http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89706&id=22141-17700787-cAEhIbx&t=7

5. “Social Security is sustainable,” Economic and Policy Institute, May 27, 2010 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89707&id=22141-17700787-cAEhIbx&t=8

6. “Maximum wage contribution and the amount for a credit in 2010,” Social Security Administration, April 23, 2010  http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/240

7. “Trust Fund FAQs,” Social Security Administration, February 18, 2010  http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/fundFAQ.html

8.”To Deficit Hawks: We the People Know Best on Social Security,” New Deal 2.0, June 14, 2010  http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89703&id=22141-17700787-cAEhIbx&t=9

Distributed by DelMont Progressive Democrats of America – www.delmontpda.wordpress.com

Why We Don’t Have High Speed Rail

A week ago the Philadelphia Inquirer wondered why all the other countries are building or have built high speed rail lines and we have not.  Jane Dugdale sent the Editor this letter:

Gates Tries To Head Off 25% Cuts

This article suggests that Gates is doing the old “bait and switch”  – cutting budget a tiny bit to distract the critics.  But Lefcourt points out that if this is a “dangerous world,” most of our “defense” spending won’t do any good.  A woman I know said “How can we leave Afghanistan and abandon all those poor women?”  Building some schools will do far more good than missile submarines and another battalion or three of Marines.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Secretary-of-Defense-Gates-by-Dave-Lefcourt-100814-599.html

Pentagon: “Be Afraid Of China!”

Thom Shanker’s article in today’s Times tells us that mysteriously anonymous figures “throughout Washington” are worried about Chinese military growth.  The lesson of course:  don’t cut military spending.  But the article is woefully short on facts.  It estimates that China will spend $150 billion on defense this year, a volcanic increase of 7.9%!  Meanwhile US military spending approaches $1 trillion.  The fact that China has between three and four times as many citizens as the US is not mentioned.  Nor is there a word about the huge numbers of US troops and weapons in Japan and Korea.  We’ll see a lot more of this scare-mongering as 25% grows in popularity.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/world/asia/17military.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=Shanker&st=cse

Social Security Fearmongering

By Tula Connell
August 17, 2010

 

When the report by the Social Security Board of Trustees came out last week, it found Social Security is strong for the long term. But that’s not what you’d hear from some corporate media outlets. Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) points out that CNN coverage has been especially egregious, with Wolf Blitzer asserting that Social Security has reached “the financial tipping point.”    <!– [more] –>

Other CNN talking heads painted a similar dire picture. We know they have cushy retirement pensions—why do they want to kill retirement funding for the more than 64 percent of America’s retirees who depend upon Social Security as their sole source of income? FAIR is urging people to contact CNN’s Situation Room and tell them what we think about their coverage: situationroom@cnn.com.

No less than the grandson of President Franklin Roosevelt has weighed in on the future of Social Security. Writing today at Huffington Post, James Roosevelt tackles the fear-mongering about Social Security head on:

Understanding that the public will not succumb to a frontal assault on Social Security, Tea Party supporters, Libertarians and other critics advance their radical agenda by creating a “mythology of fear,” trotting out themes of a program that is “in crisis,” “bankrupt,” “broke,” and, in the wake of the Madoff scandal, even a “Ponzi scheme.” They then position themselves not as wanting to eliminate Social Security but as wanting to “save, “strengthen,” and “protect” Social Security by privatizing it.

Describing the trustee’s findings that Social Security is solvent, Roosevelt goes on to say that “Social Security does not need to be saved.”

The fact is, Social Security has been the most successful government program of the past 75 years. Today, 53 million Americans receive Social Security benefits each month. No other program in American history—has touched more lives and families and brought more financial stability to households—including those of its most ardent critics.

 

Published by AFL-CIO Blog

Chalmers Johnson On The End Of Empire

This article is about the impending end of the Empire.  Johnson fans are invited to look into Johnson’s new book, “Dismantling the Empire,” available for $16.50 from Amazon.

http://www.alternet.org/world/147880

Smedley Butler Told Us – War Is A Racket

Now our old friend Cindy Sheehan, from her soapbox, repeats the General’s message and talks about Afghanistan, the military industrial complex, and, of course, Casey.

http://campaign.constantcontact.com/render?v=001avab2lDATeNP4pzffJoivoaN3T4ju3rldVEJI9rQ-FxGkMztq5Pp-JAo-rAT-dMSGg5cWgP0pKEskesV3svrMHz1KE5ULW6PzIpalgaA_1jh9nm2VRcr-w%3D%3D

Maintaining The Empire

Our friend John Grant writes about the Empire and about Robert Kaplan’s book describing it.  The interesting thing is that Kaplan is not a leftist but a rather conservative fellow.  Which makes it difficult for his right-wing friends to deny the Empire.  The left, meanwhile, seems to have assumed the role of Cassandra, who was given the gift of prophecy by Apollo.  Unfortunately, nobody believed her and so, when she warned the Trojans about the Greeks and their horse, she was ignored.  A really good piece of writing.  Probably our greatest chronicler of the Empire is Chalmers Johnson, whose new book, “Dismantling The Empire: America’s Last Best Hope,” is highly recommended.

http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/175

Jack Cafferty On Social Security

This video is almost two years old, and the time it was made makes it even more trenchant now.  Where is Jack Cafferty now that we really need him?

There Goes The Neighborhood

Who Do The Rich Give To?

Not to the poor.  Studies for years have shown that rich people give a smaller percentage of their income to charity.  But they also tend to give most of that money to cultural institutions and the alma mater.  Very nice if you’re the Philadelphia Orchestra or Penn.  Not so good if you’re making less than a living wage. Read on.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/magazine/22FOB-wwln-t.html?scp=2&sq=judith%20warner&st=cse

Krugman On Tax Cuts For The Wealthy

The Republicans and conservative Democrats want to extend the Bush tax cuts at enormous cost to the federal budget.  They say it would benefit small businesses.  How many small businessmen do you know who make several million dollars a year?  No.  This is about greed and it is a serious threat to the Republic.  Read our favorite economist on the subject.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/opinion/23krugman.html?emc=eta1

The Geography Of The Great Recession

Letters About Social Security

We often find that some of the best “op-ed” pieces in The Times are letters to the editor.  These were published August 23 and make some excellent points.  Our favorite senator, Bernie Sanders, says all we have to do is seriously raise the payroll cap and we can make Social Security safe for at least 75 years.  Is anybody listening?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/opinion/l23krugman.html?_r=1&ref=letters

Strike Up The Band

Walter Pincus of the Washington Post has been looking at military bands.  We have hundreds of them.  Easily more than 6000 members drawing salaries above $50,000/year plus health care, housing, dependents care, etc.  It is said we pay more band members than Foreign Service employees.  It may be time to pipe down.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/23/AR2010082304711.html

Protect Social Security

From our friends in Beaver County, PA-04, in the western end of the state.  Demanding support for Social Security – no cuts in benefits, no changes in start age – should be a major subject at our next Brown Bag vigils.

http://beavercountyblue.org/2010/08/25/congressional-progressive-caucus-pledges-to-defend-social-security/

Meet The War Profiteers

This is the first of a series of articles called “Call Them Out” about who the war profiteers are, how they live, and how they control our government.  This article  focuses on Stephen Lorenger, CEO of ITT, a major “defense contractor,” among whose products is the bomb release mechanism for drones.  Included is a list of Congressional beneficiaries of their campaign spending. 

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/54575

Made In China!

Richard Clark asks why Germany has avoided the Great Recession.  It goes back, like so much else, to the administration of Ronald Reagan.  During his first term, as a gift to his corporate pals, he pushed through legislation that made it possible for US corporations to do their manufacturing overseas in low-wage countries (like China) but avoid taxation on the imported products.  Germany never did such a thing.  So over the last 25 years, we’ve lost factories, middle class jobs, and tax income while the corporations have grown richer and richer.  This is a terrific article, well worth your time.  The car on the left is China’s newest offering to the US market.  Not built with UAW wages you can bet.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Why-is-America-suffering-s-by-Richard-Clark-100828-74.html

Bill McKibben on Letterman

“Somethin’s Happening Here, And You Don’t Know What It Is”

Our friend John Grant quotes Bob Dylan after hearing Chris Hedges’s dark thoughts at a Veterans For Peace meeting in Portland, Maine.  Plenty here to think about.

http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/189

Maine Needs Those War Dollars

This is a slide show about schools in Maine closed by budget cuts and small businesses killed by a crashing economy.  Bring those war dollars home!

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/content/closed-photo-essay

On Keynes, Stagnation, and Fascism

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/09/02-6

Winning Hearts And Minds

No matter what you think of the Muslim community center near the World Trade Center site or the Southern religious leader’s (30 congregants!) plans to burn the Koran, how’s this for endearing us to the Afghans?  Body parts?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/09/12-us-soldiers-charged-wi_n_710409.html

What We Should Do About Afghanistan

The recently released report from the Afghanistan Study Group says we have to do more than simply get out.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/why-peaceniks-should-care_b_712333.html?ref=email_share

Is Afghanistan Coming Apart? Follow The Money.

The billions of bank dollars airlifted to Dubai have put a strain on the vaunted institution that will likely bring down the whole house of cards.

https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:CampaignPublic/id:25612.6785393147/rid:70ec34dd76c7bb23bfd939c299bef264

Yes, Smedley, War Is Still A Racket

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marjorie-cohn/business-as-usual-in-iraq_b_714134.html

Afghanistan As Farce

Except that farce is funny.  Our friend John Grant looks at the Afghan corruption problem (clear it with Karzai!) and Sudan.  Sudan?  Get used to it.

http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/205

And Now, This Word From Elizabeth Warren

Our favorite bureaucrat tells us about her new job.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Fighting-to-Protect-Consum-by-Elizabeth-Warren-100917-612.html

1,450,000 Uninsured Children In Pennsylvania

The number of people without health insurance is growing rapidly nationwide, with one of the largest increases in Pennsylvania.  Thousands of people die every year because of missing healthcare or go bankrupt and lose their homes because they try to pay medical bills.

http://beavercountyblue.org/2010/09/18/4-3-million-more-uninsured-in-2009-medicare-for-all-is-the-fair-affordable-healthy-solution/

The Rich Are Different

Our favorite economist writes about the white-hot anger among the rich.  There’s talk of raising their taxes!  You’d better read it, Muffy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/20/opinion/20krugman.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

Medicaid Ranks Swell As Jobs Disappear

Requests for help from Medicaid have grown 56% in the last ten years as more and more families and seniors reach out for help.  It makes a good case for the 25% solution – funding our communities by cutting military spending – and Medicare For All – a health system free of the profit motive.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10264/1089031-28.stm?utm_source=PA2010.com+First+Read+Opt-In+List&utm_campaign=359dca4b68-The+First+Read+9%2F22&utm_medium=email

About The Rich And Taxes

Sometimes the Letters to the Editor in the Times are among the best things on the editorial page.  Today is such a day.  Note especially the quotation from G.K. Chesteron.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/opinion/l22krugman.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

Great White House Fights

In case you missed it, this is an article in Tuesday’s NY Times about Bob Woodward’s new book.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/world/asia/22policy.html

Move Your Money To A Credit Union

http://www.opednews.com/articles/IN-OUR-BEST-INTEREST–LE-by-Lee-Patton-100507-76.html

Move Your Money!

It’s interesting to note that PNC bank, of which we have a local branch, is a major financier for the mountaintop removal strip mining companies.  Move your money!  See the next post about Credit Unions.

http://beavercountyblue.org/2010/09/27/3119/

So Who’s In Charge Here?

Michael Moore says Eisenhower was right to be concerned about the military-industrial complex.  Bob Woodward’s new book tells us how the brass presented exactly one option on Afghanistan to Obama: escalate.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/dwight-was-right

It’s Past Time To Kill The Filibuster

At the beginning of each Congress (January, 2011) each house can rewrite its rules by a simple majority vote.  We’ve seen enough of filibusters and “holds.”  Sign this petition to encourage your senator to act.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/filibuster_action/index2.html?r=6239&id=11512-2596810-CYNWxKx

Help Bernie Sanders Save Social Security

The Catfood Commission will probably ask Congress during the lame duck session in December to cut Social Security benefits.  Call your congressman – 202-224-3121 – and tell him to join our favorite senator in stopping this robbery.

http://beavercountyblue.org/2010/10/04/sen-sanders-resolution-to-block-cuts-in-social-security/

The Cost Of Empire? Try $250,000,000,000/year

This happy shopper is in Diego Garcia, a US base in the Indian Ocean essential to our military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Of course we had to pick up the natives and move them off island against their will, but that’s a cost of empire.  This article talks about five such sites of empire, among more than 800.

http://www.pdamerica.org/articles/news/2010-10-06-11-45-21-news.php

Eight Things You Can Do About The Plutocracy

Robert Reich has some suggestions for dealing with the recent Supreme Court decision that has virtually handed our dedmocratic system over to the rich.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/10/08-1

Clear Days On The Pakistan Scene

It gets harder and harder to tell what’s really going on.

http://news.antiwar.com/2010/10/10/us-drone-strke-kills-eight-in-north-waziristan/

Aristophanes Is Trying To Tell Us

Chris Hedges reaches out to Aristophanes, author of Lysistrata and The Birds, who warned Athens and warns us about plutocracy and endless war.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/how_democracy_dies_lessons_from_a_master_20101011/

Good News! The Atlantic Wind Connection

Some smart people have put together a plan that could harness the offshore winds to put electric current through a trenched cable off the shores of NJ, DE, MD, and VA.  Renewable energy could be fed into the on-shore grid with minimal zoning and property-owner hassles.  Google is involved.  Read on.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/science/earth/12wind.html?th&emc=th

Why The Suicide Bombers?

Robert Pape of the University of Chicago reports on the cause of Islamic suicide terrorism, a report he will deliver soon to Congress.  You could have figured it out.

http://www.commondreams.org/print/61267

Frank/Paul “Dear Collegue Letter” Arrives

Fifty-five members of Congress signed the letter written by Barney Frank and Ron Paul calling on the Catfood Commission to recommend drastic reductions in military spending.  If you recall, when President Obama set up this Alan Simpson-led deficit commission, he said cuts in military spending were off the table.  Frank and Paul say that if there aren’t such cuts, we’ll never pull out of our domestic nosedive.

http://warisacrime.org/content/55-congress-members-urge-military-budget-cuts

Waiting For Superman

“Waiting for Superman,” a documentary about the troubles of our educational system, is showing at local theaters.  It is well worth a look.  Here is Roger Ebert’s review: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100929/REVIEWS/100929981.

The AFT And Superman

A press release from January, 2010, spells out the concerns of the American Federation of Teachers about the question of retaining unsatisfactory teachers and about public school education in general.  What President Randi Weingertner has to say makes a lot of sense.   It is easy to settle on one cause of our system’s failures.  But there is enough blame to go around.

http://www.aft.org/newspubs/press/2010/011210.cfm

Tell The Catfood Commission What You Think

The President’s Deficit Commission (popularly known as the Catfood Commission)  has been hearing from organizations and experts since April.  Now, as they begin their deliberations, they need to hear from all of us:

1.  Don’t extend the tax breaks for the wealthiest households.  These tax cuts were the largest contributor to the deficits that accumulated between 2001 and 2007.  Not extending them will save $1 trillion over the next 10 years,

2.  Cut Pentagon spending substantially.  This is the “25% solution.”  Use the recommendations of the Sustainable Defense Task Force to bring Pentagon spending in line with what our nation actually needs and can afford.

3.  Invest in programs that create jobs, assist those hardest hit by the recession, and take care of our elders – on whose shoulders we stand – and children – who will create our future.

Do not try to the cut the deficit by cutting social security and medicare.

Tell your neighbors how you feel, and tell the Commission.  E-mail them at commission@fc.eop.gov.

“The Biggest Scandal Since Watergate”

The Department of Justice must be encouraged to bring criminal proceedings against political groups that are violating the election laws in the new climate of excess.

http://www.democrats.com/watchdog-groups-ask-department-of-justice-to-use-criminal-statutes-to-stop-crossroads-gps-and-americ

Teachers And Test Scores

Speaking of test scores – has anyone looked lately at the SAT scores of young people going into teacher training programs?  Of all professions, teaching draws the weakest candidates.  And why is that?  It could have to do with the fact that average teacher annual salaries are $52,000.  Not a huge incentive for bright young people.  Teaching is hard work both during the day when working with children and at home at night correcting papers and writing lesson plans.  Diane Ravitch has some things to say in this article.

http://www.opednews.com/populum/linkframe.php?linkid=120316

Paul Tillman, Teachers, DADT, & Captain America

http://www.opednews.com/articles/2/Don-t-Ask-Don-t-Tell–T-by-Paul-Thomas-101014-950.html

A Short Film On Sustainability

Robert Reich And The Perfect Storm

Batten down the hatches!  Our former Labor Secretary sees real danger ahead.

http://robertreich.org/post/1344561814

What Are Local Companies Doing To Us?

This website – Jobtracker - is maintained by the AFL-CIO.  It will give you names of companies in SE Pennsylvania that are firing, getting ready to fire, endangering workers, etc.  You can also look up your own ZIP code.  This is amazing stuff.

http://www.workingamerica.org/jobtracker/?zipCode=19406&Email=ebmeyer6w@verizon.net&join=1&appState=zipSearch&sortToggle=ASC&x=45&y=12

Let’s Talk About Jobs

What the White House would like us to know about jobs and the economy.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/whiteboard?utm_source=email79&utm_medium=image&utm_campaign=economy

The British Budget Cuts And Our Security

Pay close attention to what’s going on in the UK.  The relatively puny cuts in military budgets there will mean larger cuts in domestic programs, and if the Republicans win on November 2, we can expect attacks on Social Security here. And even if the GOP doesn’t win, the Catfood Commission will probably avoid military cuts and endorse cuts to Social Security.  We need the 25% solution. Paul Krugman today in the Times (www.nytimes.com) also talks about the Brits misguided program which seems to be getting its advice directly from Andrew Mellon.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/britains-budget-cuts—wi_b_771570.html?ref=email_share

How You Can Save The Planet

This brilliant piece of graphics talks about what you can do to save the planet when it seems everyone else is out to fry it.  Scroll down on the link for some enlightening stuff.

http://www.frankejames.com/debate/?p=1896

It’s About Tax Cuts

What Else Is Coming Up With The Fracking Water?

When they pump zillions of gallons of water (and other things) into the Marcellus shale to frack it and release its natural gas, several heavy metals including uranium come to the surface.  Not a good thing.

http://beavercountyblue.org/2010/10/26/marcellus-shale-fracking-releases-uranium-university-of-buffalo/

Is The NY Times Telling The Whole WikiLeaks Story?

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/10/25/nyt

Stop The Torturers

A UN Investigator says Obama may have stopped torture but he has not lived up to his promises and global expectations.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/10/27-2

We’re Supporting Child Soldiers!

Amy Goodman last night on “Democracy Now” reported that Obama has waived the restriction on giving military aid to countries who have child soldiers.  That means that arms money will soon be flowing into Chad and Sudan,  among others.  We will continue to research this subject.  Your comments and links to news sources are urgently invited.  It is hard to imagine why this waiver was granted and why we’re supporting regimes that put guns in children’s hands.

The Terrorists Among Us

The Pennsylvania Department of Homeland Security hired an Israeli consulting firm to identify terrorist organizations in the Commonwealth.  Their list turned out to be over 400 organizations long, but we made it!  Main Line Peace Action and DelMont PDA are both listed as threats to domestic tranquility.  We are proud.  We will also attend two responses to this information.

Wednesday, November 10, 11am-1pm, there will be a rally at Philadelphia City Hall west side (15th & Market) to demand that the governor-elect commit to protecting our free speech rights.

Wednesday, November 10, 6:30pm there will be a Town Hall on the subject of Dissent at Friends Center, 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia with speakers from ACLU and people with experience with the FBI.

Please join us.

Lose The ROTC!

When one wonders about cutting the military budget by 25% to provide funds for our communities, ROTC has to come to mind.  It is a gigantic operation at universities, colleges, and high schools across the land.  It militarizes our educational system and dilutes its academic standards.  Years ago the Ivy League schools stopped giving it course credit because it was so mindless and now offer it as an extracurricular activity like the frisbee club or humor magazine.  Worse yet, it costs so much money.  This year’s budget sets aside $1.328 billion for it.  Worse yet, it uses up three times the budget of the Peace Corps ($446 million).  And most people would agree that the Peace Corps does more good for this nation than ROTC.  A far more efficient way to create military officers is to send competent college graduates to OCS.  It is a path that has been proven over many years.

The Rich Don’t Need The Rest Of Us

Bill Moyers on the “plutocracy” or “plutonomy.”  This article is long, but it’s vinatge Moyers and is well worth the time devoted to it.  Written in honor of the late Howard Zinn, it is as inspiring and empowering as Zinn at his best.  Read on.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/11/02-2

Blue Dog Disaster

The Blue Dogs lost big in Congressional races, more than half across the country going down.  As the NC Democratic county chairlady said, “I’d rather have a real Republican than a fake Democrat.”  Five of PA’s congressional delegation have been signed-up members of the Blue Dog Coalition.  Three of those five lost last night: Murphy, Dahlkemper, and Carney.  Now we should work to get rid of Altmire and Holden.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/03/blue-dog-coalition-gop-wave-elections_n_778087.html

The Election Around The World

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/03/AR2010110303324.html

Obama: Get Tough!

There are plenty of things Obama can do in the next two years to advance the progressive agenda and get this country going again, and they don’t need congressional help or votes or blessings.  The first thing to do is clean house.  Get rid of people like Tim Geithner who are more concerned with Wall Street than Main Street.  Then use the regulatory powers you already have.  Enforce the new rules for banks.  Make sure the new health law gets going to help sick people. Crack down on oil and coal companies that are wrecking our environment.  Get all the old government agencies ticking again – FEC, FTC, FCC, ICC, EPA .  Be the Commander-in-chief who gets our troops and our treasure out of Iraq and Afghanistan and a thousand bases around the world.  In other words, act more  like the head of the executive branch and less like a prime minister.  Yes you can.

Wealth Redistribution?

Progressives Were The Real Winners

Randy Shannon (PDA – PA04) writes about the many successes of progressives in Tuesday’s election and lists the winners.  It’s pretty clear that most voters wanted real progressive Democrats and not Blue Dogs.

http://beavercountyblue.org/2010/11/04/medicare-for-all-co-sponsors-returned-to-congress-by-big-margins/

The Problems Was The Banksters

Galbraith says Obama’s failure was in turning over economic policy to bank-friendly people – Geithner, Summers, Bernanke – who had no interest in Main Street.  So the big banks called all the shots and took home some very nice bonuses.  Sounds about right to us. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-k-galbraith/obamas-probelm-simply-def_b_779711.html

Noam Chomsky On Human Destiny

Good Night, Tea Party!

This is from the San Francisco Chronicle.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/11/10/notes111010.DTL

Everything You Wanted To Know About The Fed

Our Doomsday Cycle

Noam Chomsky two days after the election.

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/6615/outrage_misguided/

Anyone? Anyone?

We don’t usually promote the writings of  former members of the Reagan administration, but the linked article raises the spector of Smoot-Hawley [anyone? anyone?] and its effect - if any –  on American depression history.  The two gentlemen on the left are Senator Smoot of Utah and Representative Hawley of Oregon (but not in that order) who, in response to the crash of 1929, wrote and got passed a tarriff to protect American industry and agriculture.  We were all taught in high school – just like Ferris Bueller – that it was a failure, that it was somehow to blame for the terrible decade of the Thirties.  But students of the era,  like John Kenneth Galbraith, think the causes of the crash and the depression that followed were much like those that caused the market crack-up and subsequent recession of 2008-2009.  It should be noted, and our author – Robert Lighthizer – does, that in the last decade our country ran a trade deficit of $4.3 trillion and lost 5.6 million manufacturing jobs.  There are many men on Wall Street who got rich taking advantage of  tax loopholes that helped them move jobs and whole companies overseas.  How to get those jobs and companies back?  Maybe a new Smoot-Hawley.  Will it make things more expensive in Wal-Mart?  Yes, but that won’t matter as much if you have one of those 5.6 million jobs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/opinion/13lighthizer.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

The Crisis Of Capitalism – Your Questions Answered

This video may tell you more about capitalism and its future than you want to know.  It’s eleven minutes long, but it’s wonderful.  You should watch it.

Where’s “Events Of Interest”?

The way the blog works, every time a new article or posting is put up, everything posted earlier – including Events of Interest – moves down a notch, so you have to scroll down to find it.  But we do work to keep the Events up-to-date and complete.  To go to “Events of Interest” directly, move your cursor to the right, under “Categories,” and click on “Events of Interest.”  And there it is!  Try it for “Films” too and find out where and when some good flicks are showing.

Do We Need A Base In Aviano?

We have more than 700 overseas bases, possibly as many as a thousand, and their enormous cost is a target for budget-cutters.

http://www.kiplinger.com/columns/washington/archives/overseas-bases-in-budget-crosshairs.html

How Do You Hide 1,000 Bases?

As the article says, the Press and most Americans know nothing and care less about the American Empire – 1000 overseas bases that make us no friends and cost us a fortune.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175321

A Song About Grocery Bags!

What the song doesn’t say enough is that switching to paper bags is not the answer.  Think of the trees. The trucks and logging roads. The paper mills. Get your reusable canvas bags out and use them!  If Los Angeles can do it, you can do it!

What Will We Do About The Rich?

Our favorite Senator talks about the endless greed of the top 1% of earners in this country and the need for all Democrats to dig in and stop them.

http://www.pdamerica.org/articles/news/2010-11-21-02-18-55-news.php

Letters About Social Security

Sometimes the letters to the Editor of the New York Times consitute some of the best thinking and writing.  Today’s letters about Social Security seem to fit that description, and you are urged to read them and contemplate their collective wisdom.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/opinion/l21social.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

What Patriotic Millionaires Say About Taxes

Anyone who thinks keeping tax cuts for the 1% of Americans who earn more than $1 million will create jobs hasn’t been paying attention.  Even some millionaires call it nonsense. This is from John Nichols.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/156569/patriotic-millionaires-explain-tax-cuts-rich-dont-grow-economy

Forward Single Payer!

This important meeting of the World Health Organization went right over the heads of the US media, but our Canadian friends wrote it up.  The important thing is that the WHO is calling for universal health care everywhere, including the USA.  Single Payer fans should not give up hope.  Colleagues in Vermont and California are very near to enacting a single payer law in their states and asking the Congress to grant a  waiver to permit them to ditch the recently passed “Health Reform Act” and put in a system that will work.  If you want to know more about this movement and steps being taken in Pennsylvania to get us single payer, go to www.healthcare4ALLPA.org.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/Illness+medical+bills+plunge+millions+into+poverty/3866940/story.html?cid=megadrop_story

25% Solution Has A New Name

The national organization working to drastically cut military spending and make funds available to our communities has been called “25% solution” and “move the money” and “safe security” and a few other things.  But it has adopted the name “New Priorities” because it wants this country to readjust its priorities to provide adequate funding for daycare centers, libraries, firehouses, hospitals, bridges, mass transit, green energy and to stop wasting our treasure on wars and weapons. So “New Priorities” is now a category in the list on the right and clicking on it will take you to articles on the subject.  The New Priorities Network’s under-construction website is www.newprioritiesnetwork.org.

Will Vermont Be The Next Saskatchewan?

Vermont is moving with incredible speed toward instituting a single payer universal health care system  Details in the link.  If the states are the great “laboratories of democracy” where new ideas and programs are tried out before going national, this could be the beginning of something huge.  You might start eyeballing Green Mountain real estate.  Citizens and businesses will flock to Vermont if single payer becomes the law there.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/11/25/923327/-Vermont-moving-forward-with-Single-Payer!-Must-Read-(Update-1

The Bush Tax-Cuts Were Not Good For Growth

David Englehardt shows rather convincingly that the years of the Bush tax cuts were the worst for economic growth since World War II.  One must question why anyone would argue that maintaining the cuts would be good for future growth.  We should have learned that lesson.

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/were-the-bush-tax-cuts-good-for-growth/

“China Will Outpace Us”

China is already hugely outspending the US and UK on clean energy investments – lithium batteries, solar panels, electric cars – and while people like Sarah Palin are talking about Arctic slope oil drilling, Rep. Inslee points out that that is like investing in whale oil.  In ten more years we won’t even be playing in the same ballpark.

http://climateprogress.org/2010/11/27/inslee-anti-innovation-gop-clean-energy-china-eat-our-lunch/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climateprogress%2FlCrX+%28Climate+Progress%29

Okinawa Wants Our Base Out

Approximately 25,000 American troops are based in the most populous part of Okinawa.  The US has offered to move them to a quieter area, but the Okinawans want them gone, and they have elected a Governor who has promised to get rid of them.  The usefulness of this base and its many troops, dependents, and civilian hangers-on is questionable even as North Korea flexes its muscles.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/world/asia/29okinawa.html?_r=1&ref=world

Nice Coat!

Look Out For The Nurses

Nurses across America are objecting to the Deficit (Catfood) Commission’s scheme to extend the Social Security retirement age to 69 or so.  That age may make sense for some deskbound paperpusher, but it will be extremely hard on teachers of young children and people who work with their muscles.  And the nurses do that! Paste the link to your browser.

http://www.pdamerica.org/articles/alliances/2010-12-02-02-57-59-alliances.php

“Get Over It; Wikileaks Is Good For America”

Our friend, John Grant, makes an excellent case for Wikileaks being the best thing for America since the Freedom of Information Act.  Even Walter Lippmann would be impressed. Paste the link to your browser.

http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/328

Obama’s Moral Collapse?

Our favorite economist says President Obama, who should have come out fighting to protect the unemployed, the START treaty, and Social Security, instead froze federal wages – a bargaining chip given over to his adversaries with no response.  Has he lost his rudder?  Must Congressional Democrats provide their own leadership?  What does this forfend for 2012 Presidential primaries?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/03/opinion/03krugman.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

Give ‘em Hell, Bernie!

Let’s Take Back The Democratic Party

Last month’s election was a disaster for the Blue Dogs and a golden opportunity for progressives to reassert their role in the Democratic party.  This article suggests that that is far more intelligent than breaking off into a third party.  Paste the link to your browser.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Democrats-and-Progressives-by-Don-Smith-101202-740.html

Killing The Wikileaks Messenger

This article from the Guardian in Britain discusses the violent reaction of “Democratic” officials and media when their own shady dealings are exposed by Wikileaks.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/dec/06/western-democracies-must-live-with-leaks

A New NAFTA With Korea

If you wonder who this newly proposed trade deal is good for, look no further than the corporations (like WalMart) and GOP congressmen who applaud it.  It will not create jobs.  Notice that the White House statement says it will “support jobs,” not “create jobs.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/business/global/08korea.html?_r=1&ref=business

Something’s Rotten At The Justice Department

The Justice Department has put out a list of malefactors from our recent economic unpleasantness.  So far so good.  But some of those named were picked up long before Holder took office, and glaringly absent from the list are the bigshots who ran – and run – the giant banks.  Nobody’s touching them.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-09/wall-street-s-worst-at-least-can-do-the-math-commentary-by-jonathan-weil.html

An Attack On Social Security

The scheme concocted by President Obama and the Republicans to cut payments to Social Security is a trap.  As this article makes clear, Republicans are well aware that once Social Security taxes are cut, it will be extremely difficult to restore them to where they belong – especially in an election year!  If the point of this exercise is to stimulate the economy, that can be done much more easily by increasing the Make Work Pay program that is already in place.  But this move ends Social Security’s spendid isolation and mixes it into the regular budget where it can compete with education, health, defense, and so forth.  This is a terrible idea.

http://www.ncpssm.org/entitledtoknow/

Obama The Negotiator

President Obama’s recent negotiations with Republican leaders puts us in mind of Neville Chamberlain who, in 1938, returned from Munich assuring us he had established “peace in our time.”   We have to hope we have more time before the collapse than Chamberlain and the British did.  The article by Bob Burnett has more about negotiating with vipers.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Barack-Obama-Negotiating-by-Bob-Burnett-101210-79.html

James K. Galbraith On Obama

About two weeks ago, James K. Galbraith spoke at the Harvard Kennedy School to a meeting of Americans for Democratic Action.  He reminded us what Lincoln said in the dark winter of 1862: “We cannot escape history.  The solutions of a quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present.”  This is well worth a read.

http://www.pdamerica.org/articles/news/2010-12-12-04-58-49-news.php

The Hidden Cost Of War

Bush administration estimates of the cost of war weren’t even close.  This video talks about the real cost. The New Priorities Network and Smart Security PA want drastic cuts in military spending to save our communities.  For more on this, go to http://smartsecuritypa.org. 

Where Did “Military-Industrial Complex” Come From ?

It’s entered our language, but it’s a phrase first crafted for President Eisenhower’s Farewell Address.  The phrase is still with us, and the Military-Industrial Complex most certainly is.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/11/us/politics/11eisenhower.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

Welcome To The Reservation

It’s a good idea to keep a sharp eye on your enemies.  Dana Millbank of the Washington Post seems to be suggesting that Crazy Horse’s fate may be shared by liberals.  Bruce Gagnon is a leader of the New Priorities Network in Maine.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/THE-WARNING-HAS-BEEN-GIVEN-by-Bruce-K-Gagnon-101213-425.html

Fifteen Mind-blowing Facts About Wealth And Inequality

It keeps getting worse – now the worst since the ’20′s – and it affects everything from average length of commute to life expectancy.  To read more amazing things about inequality, read “The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger” by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett.                                                                                                             Copy and paste the link to your browser.

http://www.businessinsider.com/plutocracy-reborn

Chris Hedges, Daniel Ellsberg, and W.H. Auden At The White House

There they stood on December 16 in the snow and got arrested for peace and democracy.  We should have all been there.  This is an interview with Chris Hedges and a video about the White House demonstration.  Asked why he wanted to get arrested, Hedges said “because that’s all we have left.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/untitled-chris-hedges-interview/

The Meat In The Sandwich

John Grant on Defense Secretary Gate’s characterization of the Pashtun homeland as “the meat in the sandwich” and his recollections of the December 16 demonstration at the White House.

http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/355

How Cuba Survived Peak Oil

In 1990, when the Soviet Union collapsed, their shipments of oil to Cuba abruptly ended, and Cuba faced a “peak oil” situation similar to what we will soon face.  “The Power of Community,” a documentary about how the Cuban people and the Castro government coped was shown last night at a Transition Town meeting in Philadelphia.  This website will tell you more about this incredible film (which can be purchased at a very low price from Amazon).  Everyone should see it.

http://www.powerofcommunity.org/cm/index.php

Daniel Ellsberg Tells Us What To Do

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jyDCZQxRbU

Don’t Build More Nuclear Bombs and Factories

Tri-Valley CAREs Responds to U.S. Ratification of New START with Praise and

Cautionary Warning

Statement of Executive Director, Marylia Kelley: Today’s Senate vote to

ratify the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with Russia is

proper and wise.

New START paves the way for modest reductions in the number of deployed,

strategic weapons in the U.S. and Russia.

Our two countries possess 95% of the world’s nuclear weapons. It is

necessary and fitting to take bilateral action, and Tri-Valley CAREs views

U.S. ratification as a small but significant step in the right direction.

It has long been discussed that Russian ratification would follow the U.S.

Now that New START has cleared that last U.S. hurdle and has become the law

of the land, we call on Russia to swiftly follow suit.

Today’s Senate vote, at its best, represents a victory for common sense

over political wrangling, and for that we thank Republicans and Democrats

alike. The vote was 71 to 26, with 11 Republicans voting for ratification.

Among New START’s merits are important verification measures, and we

welcome their prompt resumption. In sum, New START makes the U.S., Russia

and the world all a bit more safe and secure.

However, while we pop the corks on the champagne to celebrate this victory,

we must warn elected officials, the Administration and the public about the

dark and ominous cloud that hangs on the New START horizon, not because it

must, rather, solely because political deal-making sullied the process. In

truth, New START is such a modest step, its ratification should have been a

short, sweet and cloudless pursuit.

Instead, Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) became the ringleader for holding the

ratification vote on New START hostage to demands for future funding for

new U.S. nuclear weapons and the new bomb plants that will build them.

While Kyl’s efforts secured Administration promises to request future year

monies totaling $185 billion for so-called “modernization” of the weapons

complex and arsenal, this political “deal” is not itself part of the

treaty. Today’s ratification vote does not change the U.S. Constitution’s

mandate that the Congress shall appropriate funds on an annual basis.

Importantly, on a scientific and technical basis, there is no linkage

between New START and new bomb plants. Therefore, any action to build a new

plutonium bomb core factory at Los Alamos Lab, a new Uranium Processing

Facility at Y-12 and other new nuclear weapon design, testing and

production capabilities will jeopardize the nonproliferation and

disarmament benefits of New START and threaten the treaty’s global

effectiveness.

Tri-Valley CAREs vows to conduct a public and congressional education

campaign leading to curtailment of funds for “modernization” and

revitalization of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex. Moreover, we note that

Jon Kyl, in the end, voted against the treaty!

Tri-Valley CAREs is a non-profit organization founded in 1983 and located

in Livermore, CA, in the shadow of the Lawrence Livermore National

Laboratory, one of two U.S. nuclear warhead design locations. The group

represents 5,600 members, most of whom live near the Livermore Lab main

site or its nearby high explosives testing range.

###

Hundred Year Storms

As we hunker down for a foot of snow (with more to the northeast) it is well to understand that the exceptional weather of 2010 may be real evidence of atmospheric instability – of the effects of global warming.  This article discusses some of the evidence.  We’re experiencing “hundred year storms” every two or three years.  This is not to say that all hope is lost, that we’ve reached a tipping point.  But it is certainly time to get going – to cut CO2 emissions.  We are told that Pennsylvania’s new US senator does not believe in it.  We’d better get to work.

http://climateprogress.org/2010/12/23/the-year-of-living-dangerously-masters-weather-extremes-climate-change/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climateprogress%2FlCrX+%28Climate+Progress%29

Europe To Cut Military Spending

The Military-Industrial Complex has pushed us past sanity, and the Europeans have finally decided enough is enough.  When do we start cutting?

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us/20101226_European_allies_to_slash_military_spending.html

Fuel Cells Popping Up In California

This article for the 4CP December 2010 Newsletter is by Bill Haaf (billhaaf@verizon.net).

Behind a chain-link fence next to a parking structure at an office park in the San Gabriel Valley sit five softly humming gray boxes that could change the way homes and offices are powered.  The boxes — each somewhat bigger than an SUV — will begin generating enough electricity to power about a quarter of the complex, saving the property owner about $500,000 a year in electricity bills.

The Energy Servers use fuel-cell technology to create low-emission electricity. The product, developed by Bloom Energy, a Sunnyvale, Calif., start-up, has been hailed as an innovation that could change the power industry.

“We were convinced that this was a technology that was extraordinarily good,” said Wayne Ratkovich, chief executive of Ratkovich Co., which owns the Alhambra office park. “And we’re not paying as high of an electric bill, so we’ll save a lot of money.”

Assuming the boxes at the Alhambra do their job, Ratkovich is considering adding five more. And if he does, the new units won’t be hidden behind a fence.

The Bloom boxes take the oxygen from the air and combine it with fuel such as natural gas in an electrochemical process that produces electricity without using combustion.

Each unit costs up to $800,000, or $4 million for the set. At that rate, Ratkovich Co. could recoup its costs in less than a decade. Each box comes with a 10-year warranty.

So far, Bloom hasn’t had a heavy presence in Southern California. A Wal-Mart store in Lancaster installed a 400-kilowatt system last December, followed by another in Hemet. A Staples store in Ontario has a 300-kilowatt setup.

But many of the high-profile systems are located in the Bay Area: Google Inc. installed a 400-kilowatt set at its Mountain View headquarters and EBay Inc. has a 500-kilowatt group in San Jose.

Bloom plans to have about 100 systems installed by the end of the year. The company may branch out internationally in the future but is currently focusing on delivering a backlog of units in the United States, said Asim Hussain, director of product marketing.

San Diego city officials recently partnered with BioFuels Energy to buy three fuel-cell power plants from FuelCell Energy Inc., which will tap biogas to create clean power for UC San Diego and a municipal water facility.

Their fuel cells produce about 5 kilowatts of electricity, cost around $56,000 each and have a 20-year estimated life. Buyers are eligible for tens of thousands of dollars in government rebates and tax incentives. CEO Russell Ford says he expects to sell 1,000 units and make a profit in 2011. The company, which has locations in California and Oregon, is stepping up its manufacturing.

Cuba – The Good Neighbor

Cuba’s impressive medical assistance to Haiti, and earlier to Indonesia and Pakistan, goes virtually unreported by Western media.

http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/12-cuba-provided-the-greatest-medical-aid-to-haiti-after-the-earthquake/

Welcome To The New Normal

The Christmas snowstorm in New York and the city’s response to it may be a vision of the future.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/12/31

How Does Paul Krugman See The Future?

Paul Krugman wrote this for the current New York Review of Books.  It’s about the grim two years ahead for Obama and Democrats unless the party distances itself from its alleged leader.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/jan/13/where-do-we-go-here/

How Detroit Looks Today

From the Guardian Observer, a 16-picture slide show of what’s become of the Motor City.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2011/jan/02/photography-detroit#/?picture=370173054&index=0

Vermont Leads The Way

The Boston Globe editorializes that Vermont should be granted the necessary waivers from the new “health care reform law” to permit it to set up a state-wide single-payer healthcare system.  That makes sense from an economic point of view, and it makes sense if you believe in states’ rights.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2011/01/02/vermont_creating_a_singular_health_system/

War vs. Education

Co-editor Jane Dugdale wrote this letter to the Editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer.  Military spending is the giant maw gobbling up money that should be going to education, health, infrastructure, etc.  Why don’t you write a letter?

To the Editor:

Neighboring Hatboro-Horsham School District is allegedly experiencing “class warfare” between teachers and residents offended by the “high” pay and benefits of teachers. Let’s hope that Radnor and other districts can grasp what the real “class warfare” is and resist pitting ordinary citizens against each other.

Overlooked by most people is the fact that state support for local districts has been slashed because federal support to states has been slashed. Federal support to states comes from the “discretionary” budget, revenued by IRS taxes, more than half of which now goes to military spending. The National Priorities Project estimates military spending at 59 percent of the discretionary budget and growing.

So the money that should be subsidizing local spending is being siphoned off at an accelerating rate by the military to fund wars and weapons that people increasingly regard as needless and wasteful. Needless and wasteful they may be to working people, but extremely lucrative to those supplying the weapons and warfare.

“Class warfare” is indeed what is happening to our communities, but it is not between working people and teachers, whose unions are trying to maintain middle-class salaries and benefits for their members. The real class warfare is between working people in general, including teachers, and the powerful and wealthy leaders of what many call the “military-industrial-congressional complex,” who are delighted to see working people fighting amongst themselves. To save our communities from bankruptcy and social disintegration, military spending should be “on the cutting table” as Congress and the president begin work on the next budget.

Sincerely,

Jane Swift Dugdale, Bryn Mawr

Cut Military Spending – Who Gets The Money?

The tussle starts tomorrow over how to cut the military budget, and the question of Gates staying in his job is part of the equation.  But this Reuters article gives an idea of which weapons systems are on the chopping block.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE7035VO20110105?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FtopNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Top+News%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

It’s Great To Be An Amurrikan!

There are those (like your brother-in-law) who will tell you that this is the greatest country in the world.  Despite all the whining about infant mortality, life expectancy, reading levels, infrastructure, healthcare, etc., we are the best! This article suggests some responses to such talk.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/01/03-4

Healthcare Reform In Vermont

Don’t you wish we had a governor like this?

Here is an excerpt from Governor Shumlin’s Inaugural address – January 6, 2011:

The rising cost of healthcare for Vermont’s middle class and small businesses provides an equally daunting threat to economic prosperity. Just ten years ago our little state was spending $2.5 billion a year to stay healthy. Today we spend over $5 billion. That increase represents an enormous hidden tax on families and small businesses across our state. If left untethered, the rising cost of health insurance will cripple us.

That’s why we must create a single-payer healthcare system that provides universal, affordable health insurance for all Vermonters that brings these skyrocketing costs under control. Let Vermont be the first state in the nation to treat healthcare as a right and not a privilege; removing the burden of coverage from our business community and using technology and outcomes-based medicine to contain costs. By doing so, we will save money and improve the quality of our care.

Some will say it can’t be done. The special interests; insurance companies, pharmaceutical industry, medical equipment makers; the same lobbyists that spent hundreds of millions of dollars to make sure that real reform withered in Washington can be expected to exercise their will to protect their enormous profits.

Others will say reform will destroy our existing healthcare system. But logic suggests – and our experience shows – that our current system is unsustainable; that underfunded reimbursements starve our doctors and hospitals; that duplication, waste, inefficiencies and rising costs will drive more rural providers into bankruptcy and destroy our quality of care, which is the very best in the land. I ask the defenders of the current system to explain how small businesses, municipalities and taxpayers can sustain double digit premium increases year after year.

Shortly we will receive plans from Dr. William Hsiao to help us design a health care system that Vermonters can afford. I’ve assembled a healthcare team that will invite providers, consumers, businesses, municipalities, insurers, and our congressional delegation to the table to help Vermont build a sensible healthcare system. I call upon single payer supporters to resist the temptation to oversimplify the challenge. I call upon skeptics to challenge us, but to join us at the table. I call upon Vermonters to join together with the common purpose of our state once again leading where others dare not go; universal, affordable, quality healthcare that follows the individual and is not tied to employment.

What’s Going Wrong In Washington

Robert Reich is disappointed by Obama’s centrism.  “The public is bring told a big lie – that our problems owe to unions and the size of government and not to fraud and deregulation and vast concentrations of wealth.  Obama’s failure is that he won’t challenge this Republican narrative, and give people a story that helps them connect the dots and understand where we’re going.”  Paste the link to your browser.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/08/business/economy/08reich.html?ref=business

Ever Hear Of Eliminationism?

It has to do with not just discussing issues with your political opponents, but threatening to eliminate them.  This article talks about several examples of it.

http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/search/label/eliminationism

Letters About Arizona

Sometimes the letters to the editor of the NY Times are so good and so interesting that they deserve a special look.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/opinion/l11arizona.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

Harry Reid On Social Security

Drastic Cuts In Military Spending

If you want “drastic cuts,” don’t buy into the shell game Defense Secretary Gates is operating.  He just wants to move money from one unnecessary weapons system to another.  For real reform, look at www.smartsecuritypa.org.  We can do better.

Chris Rock On Gun Control

This was on Rachel Maddow’s show last night.

Pennsylvania Needs The Money

Our friends at National Priorities have come up with new statistics for 2011,  figures that show how military spending is impacting our domestic programs: education, health, Head Start, libraries, etc.  It is interesting to note that Pennsylvania’s projected 2011 state deficit – $4.1 billion – is almost exactly Pennsylvania’s share of the cost of the war in Afghanistan for 2011.  We have to do something about this.  For more on cutting military spending, look at www.smartsecuritypa.org.  To see how the deficit will affect Pennsylvania, click on the link below.

http://costofwar.com/media/uploads/publications/whats_at_stake/cow_whats_at_stake_PA.pdf

The Forgotten Martin Luther King

This article by Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon is sixteen years old but is still very accurate today.  It says that it was convenient to forget the last three years of King’s life when he was attacking wealth inequality and military spending.  Things have not changed much today.

http://www.fair.org/blog/2011/01/14/the-martin-luther-king-you-still-dont-see-on-tv/

Petraeus For President!

Here’s a little something David Swanson cooked up.

http://warisacrime.org/asskissinglittlechickenshit

“We Don’t Want To Raise Fees On Our Customers”

JP Morgan Chase is lying again.  They do want to raise fees, and it has nothing to do with regulation.  It has to do with (can you guess?) profits.  Move your money.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/15/your-money/brokerage-and-bank-accounts/15money.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Lieber&st=cse

Martin Luther King Jr. On War

Write A Letter!

Op-ed opportunity: January 17, Martin Luther King Day, is also the 50^th anniversary of Eisenhower’s “military industrial complex” speech. What a moment for a letter to the editor or op-ed! The wars are dragging on; our states and cities are screaming for economic relief; the Secretary of Defense just proposed “cuts” that will feed the military industrial complex… We’ll stop here and let you write your own letter. 
Go to http://publishaletter.com/writealetter.jsp.  It couldn’t be easier.

 

 

Peak Oil Is Here

In case you missed it, yesterday’s New York Times Sunday Magazine contained an article on oil discovery prospects in Angola titled “The Will to Drill.” It’s an interesting article in its own right, but I noted in particular the author’s observation that “… the industry’s faith in a limitless future has begun to diminish. The International Energy Agency — which had until recently been optimistic about oil — concluded last fall that the world has very likely already passed its peak oil production.”

The IEA’s conclusion that we have probably already passed global Peak Oil was reported a couple months ago but has received relatively little coverage or comment. It deserves more. All of us were born into a world in which oil extraction and use has continually increased. The global perpetual-growth economy is premised on the availability of ever-greater quantities of energy, almost all of which currently comes from fossil fuels. 95% of our motor fuel comes from petroleum. Most of our plastics, pharmaceuticals, and fabrics derive from petroleum. The world we are now entering — a world of ever-decreasing petroleum coupled with ever-increasing population — will be radically different from the one to which we are accustomed. The implications for all aspects of the remainder of our lives (and our childrens’) are enormous and deserve serious thought and public discussion.

The article can be found here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/magazine/16Drilling-t.html

Top 10 Reasons To Cut Military Spending

From the Friends Committee on National Legislation.  This excellent list is especially good because every point is footnoted. [By the way - we spend more on military bands than we do on the entire Foreign Service.]

http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=4010&issue_id=18

“It Just Doesn’t Make Sense”

We don’t usually quote Ron Paul a lot, but this little talk he gave about military spending last May just makes so much sense that it’s no wonder he and Barney Frank and the New Priorities Network and www.smartsecuritypa.org and the Progressive Democrats of America are in agreement.

The Cato Institute On Military Spending

The Cato Institute is a conservative think tank that, like Ron Paul below, we don’t often quote.  But on the subject of military spending we agree to a great extent.  It is this convergence of thinking beteen the left and the right that makes us optimistic about the chances of really taking a large bite out of “defense” spending.

The Nurses’ Message For The President

Call the White House at 202-456-1111.   Stand up!

youtube=http://www.youtube.com/calnurses

John Adams And Socialized Medicine

Some people say the Constitution doesn’t authorize requiring healthcare policies.  The 5th US Congress did it in the 18th century and John Adams signed it [Thomas Jefferson was Vice President and chaired the Senate].  They thought it was fine.

http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/01/17/congress-passes-socialized-medicine-and-mandates-health-insurance-in-1798/#post_comments

Yes You Can! Cut Military Spending!

This is a good very short video on making drastic cuts to military spending.  For more information, go to www.smartsecuritypa.org.  “Smart security” means investing wisely in defense against real enemies – terrorist or otherwise – but not continuing to fight the Cold War or worse.  Someone said the US Navy has been cruising around for sixty years looking for the Japanese Imperial Navy.   We’ve got to stop that sort of thing.

A Look At Global Militarization

The State Of The Union

For Immediate Release

January 25, 2011

 

Contact: Ricci Graham

Office: (510) 763-0370

Cell: (202) 215-4573

Congresswoman Barbara Lee Releases Statement on President Obama’s State of the Union Address 

Washington, D.C. – Tonight, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-09) released the following statement in response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address to Congress:

 “President Obama rightly addressed the critical issues facing our nation by focusing on creating jobs, continuing to rebuild the economy and forging a clear path out of the economic disaster inherited two years ago.

“We need to create opportunity for all, strengthen our middle class, and lift up the over 43.5 million Americans living in poverty.  Direct investments in education, infrastructure, health care and clean energy will be key in these efforts. And of course we must do more to address the causes of chronic unemployment and provide much needed relief to the so called 99ers.

 “There is a sensible way to jumpstart the economy and reduce the deficit, and that does not include cutting critical social safety net programs while rewarding the super wealthy. There is a sensible way that does not include taking a hatchet to the budget for the sake of doing so as many of my Republican colleagues have suggested.  

 “The President did express support for the modest military spending cuts proposed by Secretary Gates, and while this is a positive step, we should do more. We must reign in out-of-control defense spending that now sends nearly 60 percent of all discretionary dollars into a black hole at the Pentagon with no oversight, no accountability, and no consequences.

 “We can make meaningful and safe cuts to the defense budget, safely end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and close loopholes for millionaires that will immediately save billions of dollars and allow us to make vital investments for our nation’s future.

 “Unfortunately, despite growing calls from Members of Congress and the American public, we did not hear the President announce a clear and urgent roadmap to peace in Afghanistan.

 “I will continue to demand that the President announce a significant reduction in U.S. forces in Afghanistan this summer but also a complete withdrawal as soon as possible, and certainly well before 2014.

“I am pleased that the President renewed many of his previous commitments, including for comprehensive immigration reform, which is in the best interest of our nation and should not be a partisan issue.

 “The President also is rightly not backing down from Republican’s misguided efforts to repeal the healthcare reform law, which is saving lives and returning patient freedoms previously hijacked by the insurance companies.

“Rather than repealing the healthcare law I believe we must go even farther to strengthen the bill and finally ensure healthcare is a basic human right for all and not a privilege of the wealthy few.

 “Finally, while I am glad the President emphasized the need to strengthen and protect social security, I disagree that extending a blanket freeze on non-defense discretionary spending is the right path toward responsible budgeting. Budgets are moral documents, and they reflect who we are, and what we value as a people.

 “We cannot allow a return to the failed policies of the past that led us to the brink of economic catastrophe, and I will fight any efforts to privatize or weaken social security, rollback Medicare benefits, or balance the budget on the backs of our most vulnerable.”

###

Congresswoman Barbara Lee serves as the founding co-chair of the Congressional Out of Poverty Caucus and will soon be reintroducing legislation to provide an additional fourteen weeks of unemployment compensation for individuals who have exhausted their benefits.

 

Ricci Graham

Deputy District Director

Office of Congresswoman Barbara Lee

1301 Clay Street, Suite 1000-N

Oakland, CA 94612

Office: 510-763-0370

Fax 510-763-6538

Connect with Congresswoman Barbara Lee on:

Facebook:

YouTube:

www.youtube.com/replee

http://lee.house.gov/

 

“Gasland” Nominated For Academy Award

“Gasland” was a winner at last year’s Sundance Film Festival and now has been nominated for an Academy Award.  Needless to say the gas industry is furious and is cranking out critical propaganda at a great rate.  You owe it to yourself and to your community wherever you live to see this film.  Here’s a trailer.

Republicans Split on Cutting Military Spending

It’s one thing to campaign on cutting spending (as the Tea Party candidates did), but it’s another to actually make some cuts, especially in the Pentagon budget (where the money is).  And if a Republican congressman has a big military base in his district, or if he got buckets of campaign money from defense contractors, what’s he to do?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/us/politics/27pentagon.html?hp

Ron Paul, Ralph Nader, and FOX News!

What a combination!  The leading Congressional Libertarian and a leading progressive discuss (and agree about!) the Fed, the military, corporatism, and health care!  You have to see it.

“I Didn’t Evolve. God Made Me!”

Clearly, we have some educating to do. [What are they teaching in science class?]  This article tells about a US Congresssman who dismisses evolution and about scary percentages of Americans who do also.  We’ve always thought the sticking point is time.  If people could embrace the colossal spans of time involved (billions of years instead of 6,000), evolution would make sense to them.  The point is that if the public is this weak on science, how can we expect them to understand nuclear power, nutrition, health care, population, birth control, climate change, peak oil,  etc?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/30/jack-kingston-evolution_n_815909.html

Public Uninformed On Military Costs

This Rasmussen Poll informs us that millions and millions of Americans think the US spends not enough on defense.  There is a lot of information to distribute.  For accurate information on the problem, go to www.smartsecuritypa.org.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/january_2011/voters_underestimate_how_much_u_s_spends_on_defense

Ever Hear Of The BPA?

BND stands for the Bank of North Dakota, the state-owned bank that is the main reason the state of North Dakota is sailing along without a deficit and a bank credit crisis.  When you bank with Bank of America, your money leaves the state and some banksters in Wall Street make a pretty penny.   Several other states are considering such a move (Washington state has bills in the legislature).  Why not BPA – the Bank of Pennsylvania?

http://beavercountyblue.org/2011/02/01/why-not-public-banks-of-our-own-the-north-dakota-model/

Bernie Sanders To The Rescue Again

Bernie Sanders added a line to last year’s defense appropriations bill that required the Pentagon to list contractors convicted of fraud and barred from future defense work.  The report is out, and many “barred” contractors are still doing DoD work.  Worth a read, especially now that we’re so concerned about military spending.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2011/02/department_of_d.html

What Is “Smart Security”?

The Pennsylvania contingent of the New Priorities campaign is called “Smart Security” and you can find out more about it at the website www.smartsecuritypa.org.  Why is it called “smart security”?

The United States neither needs nor can afford the gigantic military structure we now have spread across our country and around the world. That is not a smart way to protect ourselves.

1. Smart Security means maintaining armed forces of sufficient size and competence to defend the United States from foreign attack. That should require a relatively small army, air force, and navy.

2. Smart Security means defending the United States without bankrupting it. We now spend about half our discretionary budget on the military and we can not afford the sort of health, education, housing, transportation, and energy programs we need.

3. Smart Security means presenting a reasonable and friendly face to the world. It means not kindling hatred against us and motivating people in other countries to attack us.

4. Smart Security means divesting ourselves of the thousand overseas bases we now operate – bases that get us involved in local politics, cost us a fortune, and encourage us to act as if we had an empire.

5. Smart Security means developing the sort of sustainable economy that does not depend on the importation of oil, with all the diplomatic and military entanglements that generates.

A Letter From Bucks County

Our Bucks County friend, Cathy Leary, has had this letter to the editor published.  We encourage you to do the same.  Go to http://www.publishaletter.com/writealetter.jsp.  That website will take you by the hand.

http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/news_details/article/577/2011/february/03/less-money-for-war-more-money-for-health-care.html

Obama As Unfledged Climate Hawk

The President was widely criticized last week for omitting certain words critical to explaining the State of the Union (see “Obama calls for massive boost in low-carbon energy, but doesn’t mention carbon, climate or warming” and Brulle: “By failing to even rhetorically address climate change, Obama is mortgaging our future and further delaying the necessary work to build a political consensus for real action”).

This weekend, his climate hawkish science adviser, John Holdren, was not so reticent.   Today, in a Penn State speech on energy efficiency, Obama reemerged as a ‘climate eyas’, an unfledged young climate hawk, with these remarks:

 

Right here at Penn State, a university whose motto is “Making Life Better,” you’ve answered the call. Today you’re preparing to lead the way on a hub that will make America home to the most energy-efficient buildings in the world. Now, that may not sound too sexy, “energy-efficient buildings.” But listen. Our homes and our businesses consume 40 percent of the energy we use. Think about that. Everybody focuses on cars and gas prices, and that’s understandable. But our homes and our businesses use 40 percent of the energy. They contribute to 40 percent of the carbon pollution that we produce and that is contributing to climate change. It costs us billions of dollars in energy bills. They waste huge amounts of energy.

The good news is we can change all that. Making our buildings more energy-efficient is one of the fastest, easiest, and cheapest ways to save money, combat pollution, and create jobs right here in the United States of America. And that’s what we’re going to do.

As Brad Johnson writes,

Reflecting many of the idea’s in the Center for American Progress’s Rebuilding America proposal, the president’s goal of increasing building energy efficiency 20 percent by 2020 is tied to new tax incentives for commercial building retrofits, expanded loan guarantees, a new competitive grant program for states and municipalities, and new training program and extension service for businesses in energy efficient building technology.

With his strong clean-energy jobs push, President Obama is addressing the crises facing this nation. Steering America to fight climate pollution is his great unmet challenge. He missed the opportunity to teach Americans about the true nature of the severity of the climate crisis in his first two years in office, even as Nashville, Fargo, Russia, Pakistan, Australia, and the rest of the world were pummeled by the hottest, wettest climate on record. He must do more than mention “carbon pollution” in passing before a friendly, collegiate audience, but it’s a start.

You have to squawk, before you can fly….

What Would It Cost To Save The World?

About Teacher Tenure

A collection of interesting letters about experienced teachers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/07/opinion/l07tenure.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

NYT/CBS Poll On Cutting The Deficit

http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2011/02/04/americans-if-youre-going-to-cut-cut-military-spending-not-safety-nets/

Disarmageddon April 8

http://warisacrime.org/sites/afterdowningstreet.org/files/disarmageddon2-472.pdf

Michael Moore Remembers Ronald Reagan

Obama! No You Can’t!

The President proposes cutting federal aid to poor people for heating fuels.  Anybody who thinks home heating oil prices are down is seriously out of touch.  Cut and paste the link.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/09/obama-poor-energy-cuts-kerry-letter_n_821061.html

From One War President To Another

Today is Lincoln’s birthday.

“I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.”

– U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864
(letter to Col. William F. Elkins)
Ref: The Lincoln Encyclopedia, Archer H. Shaw (Macmillan, 1950, NY)

Peak Oil And Changing Climate

The Nation magazine has started producing a series of videos on this subject.  The first video, linked below, features Noam Chomsky, Bill McKibben, Richard Heinberg and others talking about the decline in the world’s oil supply and the concurrent increase in global warming.  This video is 20 minutes long, but it is important, and you are urged to watch it.

The World Is Changing

Watch it here:

http://www.breathingearth.net/

What Are The Republicans Thinking?

Who Says Republicans Have No New Ideas?

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich’s Blog

13 February

Quiz: Which of the 2012 presidential aspirants delivered the following words at the Conservative Political Action Convention, now underway in Washington?

We have seen tax-and-tax spend-and-spend reach a fantastic total greater than in all the previous 170 years of our Republic.

Behind this plush curtain of tax and spend, three sinister spooks or ghosts are mixing poison for the American people. They are the shades of Mussolini, with his bureaucratic fascism; of Karl Marx, and his socialism; and of Lord Keynes, with his perpetual government spending, deficits, and inflation. And we added a new ideology of our own. That is government give-away programs….

If you want to see pure socialism mixed with give-away programs, take a look at socialized medicine.

If you guessed Jim DeMint, you could be forgiven. He talks a lot like this. But you’d be wrong. Newt Gingrich didn’t utter these precise words, either, although he uses much the same language and offers the same themes.

You’d also be wrong if you guessed Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, Tim Pawlenty, Ron Paul, Haley Barbour, John Thune, Mitt Romney, or Mitch Daniels. (Sarah Palin isn’t attending.)

But again, your mistake would be understandable because these words sound a lot like theirs. Any of them could have delivered this message – and all of them have, over and over again. It’s the Republican message of 2011.

The perfectly correct answer is Herbert Hoover.

Herbert Hoover didn’t deliver these words at this week’s Conservative Political Action Convention, though. He delivered them at the Republican National Convention in Chicago on July 8, 1952.

That was almost sixty years ago.

Republicans haven’t come up with a single new idea since. They haven’t even come up with a new theme.

Herbert Hoover, you may remember, didn’t have a sterling record when it came to the economy. As president, he presided over the Great Crash of 1929 and ushered in the Great Depression. He had no idea for what to do to help the nation out of the Depression except to balance the federal budget. By the time he was voted out of office in 1932, one out of four Americans was unemployed.

By 1952, Hoover had been proven irrelevant and hidebound.

After Dwight D. Eisenhower won the 1952 Republican nomination and went on to become president, he wisely disregarded everything Hoover had advised.

Under Ike, the marginal income tax on America’s highest earners was 91 percent. Eisenhower also commenced the biggest infrastructure program in the nation’s history – the National Interstate and Defense Highway Act, which replaced America’s meandering two-lane roads with 40,000 miles of straight four and six-lane highways. He signed into law the National Defense Education Act, which trained a whole generation of math and science teachers, and upgraded American classrooms for the future. The Federal Housing Authority subsidized home ownership. The Defense Department spawned future technologies in aerospace and telecommunications.

Did the US suffer fascism, socialism, deficits and inflation, as Hoover predicted? No. The US economy soared. The median wage rose faster than ever before. And the incomes of America’s working class and poor rose at the fastest pace of all.

——————————————————————————–

Robert Reich is Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He has written twelve books, including “The Work of Nations,” “Locked in the Cabinet,” “Supercapitalism” and his latest book, “AFTERSHOCK: The Next Economy and America’s Future.” His ‘Marketplace’ commentaries can be found on publicradio

Gov. Corbett and Marcellus Shale

Even if the governor sticks to his inflexibility on “no new taxes,” there are several things he could do to make the Pennsylvania gas industry more civilized.  This well-balanced article spells them out.

http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/index.ssf/2011/02/what_now_for_the_marcellus_sha.html

Hilary’s Hypocrisy

As Hillary Talks About Tolerating Free Expression, Police in Front of Her Brutalize Ray McGovern for Turning His Back Submitted by davidswanson on Thu, 2011-02-17 00:17 Civil Rights / Liberties Evidence

As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday about the failures of foreign leaders to respect people’s freedoms, a 71-year-old U.S. veteran Army officer, a man who spent 27 years in the CIA and delivered presidential daily briefs, a peace activist and proponent of nonviolence, the man who famously confronted Donald Rumsfeld for his war lies, the man who drafted our letter to Spain and delivered it to the Spanish Embassy on Monday, our friend Ray McGovern turned his back in silence.  As Clinton continued to speak about respecting the rights of protesters, her guards — including a uniformed policeman and an unidentified plain-clothed official — grabbed Ray, dragged him off violently, brutalized him, double-cuffed him with metal handcuffs, and left him bleeding in jail.  As he was hauled away (see video), Ray shouted “So this is America?” Clinton went right on mouthing her hypocrisies without a pause.

Tell Hillary Clinton what you think of this behavior at 202-647-4000.
UPDATE: Demand to speak with a real person in the Public Affairs Office.
UPDATE 2: Call the Secretary of State’s office 202-647-5291.

The Real Story Of Military Spending

Kevin Zeese, Executive Director of  Prosperity Agenda, has written this article that beautifully sets forth the  position of the Pennsylvania Smart Security campaign (www.smartsecuritypa.org).  He points out that we spend much more on military bands each year than we do on public broadcasting, but it is the latter that is threatened.  A fighter jet in training uses as much fuel in an hour as an average motorist in two years, but spending on the jet is “off the table.”  Citizens who want to understand what’s happening to our budget and our debt, must read this article.

 

http://www.prosperityagenda.us/node/4653

The Budget Is A Moral Document

Someone said the budget is a moral document.  In today’s NY Times, Bob Herbert talks about what the budget-cutters and Obama are going to do to our poorer brothers and sisters.  The President’s budget director, Jacob Lew, said in The New York Times: “The budget is not just a collection of numbers, but an expression of our values and aspirations.”  The President should listen to him.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/opinion/20herbert.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

What’s A Maybach Worth Anyway?

This article is about wealth inequality.  It is about what you can do with a billion dollars.  You may have friends who make that kind of money in a year.  They could buy you a Maybach.

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2011020612/understanding-extreme-incomewealth-gap

Psychological Operations On Congressmen?

First of all, using psychological operations on congressmen assumes some brain there to work with.  But the Army is trying it anyway.  And if you worry about Rolling Stone magazine being the source for this story, remember what they did to General MacChrystal.

A New Day Coming In Madison

It’s The Inequality, Stupid

This article will tell you just about all you need to know about inequality in the American economy.  For example: 2007-2009,   Wall Street profits were up 720%, unemployment was up 102%, home equity was down 35%.   Great graphs.

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/income-inequality-in-america-chart-graph

Events Of Interest

All events are free and open to the public unless tagged otherwise.

April 4 – Monday – 4:30pm.  Commemoration of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s death.  Independence Hall (6th and Market) rain or shine.

April 4 – Monday – 6:30pm.  Monthly vigil for peace.  Corner of Lancaster and Bryn Mawr Avenues, Bryn Mawr.  7pm planning meeting in Community Center behind Ludington Library.

April 16 – Saturday – 9:30am-1pm. Domestic effects of pentagon spending and spending cuts.  Jo Comerford, National Priorities Project.  Roundtable.  Tabernacle Church, 3700 Chestnut Street (enter 37th street side).

Corbett vs. The Environment

These are the first natural gas policies the Corbett Administration has trotted out, and they are clearly bad for the environment.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11056/1127950-113.stm

The House That Jeter Built

Yankee baseball player Derek Jeter has built a $7.7 million home in Tampa.  He’s a good  ballplayer, but he must be making a good deal more than the $67,000 the average New Jersey public school teacher gets.  Why is Governor Christie so upset?  He did his best by lowering taxes on the wealthy last month.  Now he’s taking away healthcare and pensions from those uppity teachers.  If only they could hit a hanging curve.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/sports/baseball/27jeter.html?_r=1&ref=sports

We’re All Part Of Madison

Tom Dispatch talks about connections between the Middle East and Wisconsin and between here and Madison.  Meanwhile the pizzas keep arriving for the demonstrators.

https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:CampaignPublic/id:25612.6975797982/rid:641a8ac9587ff8dba51f9d7beab44d8a

“Inside Job” Wins The Oscar

Director Charles Ferguson pointed out in his acceptance speech last night that three years after the stock market crash the guilty parties are still walking free.  Who’s running the government?

Single Payer In Pennsylvania!

Talking with the nation’s governors, yesterday, President Obama said “if you can do a better job with healthcare, go to it.”  He offered to move the possible date for state waivers from 2017 to 2014.  That means Chuck Pennacchio and www.healthcare4allPA.org could get single payer – Medicare for all – rolling in Pennsylvania in a couple of years.  This is big.

http://thepennsylvaniaprogressive.com/diary/3107/obama-to-allow-state-innovation-on-hcr

Bill McKibben The Communist

Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, has been branded communist by Glenn Beck.  Here he ponders that label and its connection to his Boston Red Sox devotion.  If you haven’t read his book “Eaarth,” you owe it to yourself to do so.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/28/AR2011022803518.html?wpisrc=xs_sl_0001

Governor Walker And Telling Lies

Mark Twain knew a thing or two about telling lies.  So apparently does the governor of Wisconsin.  Our friend Walter Brasch has some excellent comments.

http://www.mailermailer.com/x?function=view&c=132128939w-d6f473de%2a803782u-024b127d

Save Elmo And Cut The Military

Our friend Owen Powell, who is a fellow member of   Main Line Peace Action, had this great opinion piece in last week’s Delco Times.  We share his frustration at the massive domestic spending cuts proposed in Congress (including Elmo!) at the same time our solons ignore the elephant in the room: military spending.  Do read Owen.

http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2011/02/28/opinion/doc4d6b2dec145a8918851321.txt?viewmode=fullstory

Health Costs + Life Expectancy: US vs. The World

The Economist graphs annual health care costs against life expectancy and finds the US way out in right field.  Why? A profit driven health industry built on high insurance premiums, outrageous overhead, pricey drugs, unnecessary tests. There are people who like to brag about our flagship operating rooms – Cleveland and Mayo Clinics, Johns Hopkins, Mass General – to which all the Saudi shieks go.  Try running the  shieks through your local emergency room with no money in their accounts.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/buttonwood/2011/03/health_costs_and_life_expectancy

Hitler On Scott Walker

The Boomers Are Coming

Dave Lindorf’s article suggests that if social security was the third rail of American politics in the past, the arrival of the baby boomers at 65 is going to up the voltage considerably.  And what we’ve seen in Madison of public employees demanding their rights will become even more heavily populated as boomers demonstrate for not just a social security system defended from the banksters, but a system greatly improved and including expanded Medicare coverage for boomers’ children and grandchildren.  Look out for that walker!

http://www.truth-out.org/madison-a-foretaste-things-come-next-big-occupation-could-be-boomers-taking-over-capitol-building682

Save The Mets!

What are Casey Stengel and the Mets doing in a blog about politics and such other serious subjects?  Well, Bernie Madoff and his bankster friends got the beloved Mets into a sea of fiscal troubles, and Stan Isaccs, legendary sports columnist of Long Island’s Newsday, suggests the solution is to issue an “IPO of the Heart,” a chance for all New Yorkers to buy stock in the franchise.  They do it in Green Bay!  There were more than a few of us rooting for the Packers in the recent Super Bowl because of their public ownership.  And it worked!  So LET’S BUY METS!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/sports/baseball/28vecsey.html

$1.2 Trillion A Year For Defense – Or Is It $1.3 Trillion?

Chris Hellman of National Priorities wrote this article for TomGram.  He knows his  ways around the federal budget, and what he found out about military spending is going to amaze you.    www.tomdispatch.com/blog//175361/

“That’s Where The Money Is”

Our co-editor Jane Dugdale has sent this letter to the editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Dear Editor:
Senators facing a budget deadline may be looking for an “agreement that would
target the big-budget programs that drive up federal debt, including Medicare
and the military,” but tax-payers need to know that these two “big-budget
programs” are hardly comparable. Medicare, like Social Security, another target
of “deficit hawks,” is not part of the discretionary budget, as is military
spending, because — remember?– Medicare and Social Security have their own
revenue streams. Yes, unlike military spending, they take in revenue instead
of just spending it.

Only military spending is part of the discretionary budget that the spending
bills actually address, and according to the non-partisan National Priorities
Project, military spending now grabs $1.2 trillion of our tax dollars. Yes,
trillion. It is because of this huge chunk of spending that “nondefense
domestic discretionary programs… make up only 12 percent of federal spending.
” Senators are trying to cut fat from bare bones by focusing on
“nondefense domestic” spending alone for budget cuts.

Willie Sutton was famously asked, “Why do you rob banks?” and he famously
answered, “Because that’s where the money is.” Why should military spending be
on the cutting table? Because that’s where the money is.

Sincerely,
Jane Dugdale
284 S. Roberts Rd.
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
610 527 4170

The Fox Is Now In The Hen House

Governor Corbett has given control over energy regulation to former energy exec C. Allen Walker.

http://www.propublica.org/article/corbett-pa-energy-exec-authority-environment

How To Handle The Banksters

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/515607/awesome%3A_wisconsin_firefighters_shut_down_bank_that_funded_walker/#paragraph3

Koch Brothers Exposed – You Could Be A Producer

House of Representatives Repeals Science

Rep. Ed Markey(D-MA) had a few things to say about the Republicans’ repeal of Newton, Einstein, and most university science departments. 

http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2011/03/10/markey-flat-earthers/

Rep. Tim Briggs Tells It Like It Is

Upper Merion state representative Tim Briggs wrote this opinion piece.  There’s a lot of truth in it.

http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20110308_Pa__budget_showdown__Waging_middle-class_warfare.html

Look Out For The Grannies!

The Scene In Madison – A Slide Show

http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=U0&Dato=20110312&Kategori=WIS01&Lopenr=103120808&Ref=PH

Unnecessary And Unworkable Weapons Systems

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/12/opinion/20100313_Pentagonsboondoggles.html?ref=opinion

The Osprey Still Lives

The Osprey is built by Boeing right down the road in Ridley Park.  Would that they were making wind turbines!

http://www.truth-out.org/one-creature-that-deserves-extinction-the-v-22-osprey68419

Badger Spirit Comes To Harrisburg

Late last week 250 protesters sat in at Tom Ridge’s Marcellus Shale lobbying company in Harrisburg to demand a tax on gas extraction.  Watch the 2-minute video.  Daylin Leach is in it.  There will be more visits to Harrisburg.  Get ready to march.

What Does Libya Give Us?

Take Action!

Join Friends Committee on National Legislation to Call the Senate: Your phone calls to senate offices now could help persuade senators to make significant cuts in Pentagon spending that would free up money for other priorities. 
Call your senators toll-free at 800-530-1748. Ask them to find ways to cut Pentagon spending by at least $100 billion this year. Script and background info is available on FCNL’s website http://www.fcnl.org/index.htm
   
Inspiring stories of local organizing
Thinking of organizing a day of action on military spending? How about a month of actions? The New Haven Peace Council and kindred organizations are making war spending visible every day from March 15 to April 15, Tax Day. Union, church, and immigrant rights groups are in on the project, which is saying “end the war and fund human needs.” See their online calendar at http://bit.ly/hAOAbU.

Start organizing now!
April 4 WE ARE ONE Day of Action initiated by Communication Workers of America and organized by AFL-CIO . On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, where he had gone to stand with sanitation workers fighting for their rights. Join labor in solidarity with working families in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and dozens of other states where well-funded, right wing corporate politicians are trying to take away the rights Dr. King gave his life for. Find out more about the local actions at  http://www.we-r-1.org/
 
April 12 Global Day of Action on Military Spending and April 18 Tax Day
The media will be looking for new stories about tax day. Let’s get them to cover community and peace groups calling for moving our tax dollars from wars and the Pentagon to fund our communities. Press release to come at www.demilitarize.org.
 
Who’s organizing near you?
Contact Jobs with Justice chapters in your area: http://www.jwj.org/coalitions/index.html — to find out about local campaigns for economic justice.
 
Resources for your work
Two great leaflets from USLAW:
http://uslaboragainstwar.org/downloads/MoveTheMoney.WiscSolidarity.pdf
http://uslaboragainstwar.org/downloads/MoveTheMoney.pdf
 
Our Taxes Are Off to War – 2011 Edition
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/23/947675/-Our-Taxes-are-Off-to-War—2011-Edition
 
SAVE report on alternatives to federal budget cuts: http://www.chn.org/BetterBudgetforAll.html

Be Very Afraid

Did you know that Westinghouse, that good old American company picked to build nuclear power plants on the Texas gulf coast, is now Westinghouse-Toshiba, the very people who are bringing us the Japanese meltdown?  There are Japanese cities that could end up like Chernobyl, and someday it could happen in Texas.  This is an article worth reading.  Paste the link to your browser.

http://www.truth-out.org/tokyo-electric-build-us-nuclear-plants-the-no-bs-info-japans-disastrous-nuclear-operators68457

Who’s In Charge Here?

The people of Afghanistan have to wonder.  The Afghan government is heavily laced with Western, non-native advisors and contractors, and probably will be until 2025 at an annual cost of $6-8 billion. 

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/03/08/v-print/110004/afghans-rely-heavily-on-foreign.html

Call Your Congressman About Ending the War

Call 202-224-3121 and tell yourcongressman to vote with Dennis Kucinich to end the war. Or click here for details.

http://www.pdamerica.org/m/bclqyv4q/html

Military Math Explained For All

Send Obama Some Shoes

Back in the good old days, when Obama was running for President, he said that if anyone tried to infringe workers’ rights when he was in office, he’d put on his comfortable shoes and join the picket line.  Right.  Our friend, Walter Brasch, asks why the President isn’t in Madison.  And where’s Reid, Pelosi, and Biden?  Read Dr. Brasch here.

http://www.mailermailer.com/x?function=view&c=132128939w-d6f473de%2a808008w-77aebb23

Sign On To Stop The Chamber

The United States Chamber of Commerce used to be a reasonable pro-small business organization that made sense from time to time.  It has now been transformed into a fabulously rich monster that threatens democracy.  Paste the link to your browser and read all about it (and watch the video).  Our thanks to our friend Jack Hendricks, leader of PDA’s McConnellsburg chapter for sending this along.

http://www.velvetrevolution.us/stop_chamber2/

Krugman On Warren

Today our favorite economist, Paul Krugman, writes about our favorite bureaucrat, Elizabeth Warren.  His subject is the Republicans’ desperate attempt to blame her for our financial problems and erase memories of what really caused the Crash of 2008.  Last week House Republicans tried the same thing: how dare she talk with state attorneys general about moving against guilty banksters.  How dare she set up a consumer protection agency that could obviate the sort of crimes their bankster friends perpetrated?   Krugman is good today.  Elizabeth Warren is always good.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/21/opinion/21krugman.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

Why Congress Votes The Way It Does

Read all about the kinds of investments congressmen have in defense contractors.  No wonder they have trouble voting again $1000 toilet seats and the   F-35.

http://www.alternet.org/world/81915/

Important Meeting April 16

Chart a Course for New Priorities That Begins with Bringing the War Dollar$ Home

FEDERAL BUDGET CRISIS: WHY IT MATTERS, SAT., APRIL 16, 10A.M.(9:30A.M. – 1:00P.M.)Tabernacle Church 3700 CHESTNUT STREET, Phila., PA (corner of 37th & Chestnut St., enter on 37th)   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               The Federal Budget Crisis & Its Impact on Local CommunitiesPlan to Participate in a Workshop & Program with: Jo Comerford, executive director National Priorities Project (http://nationalpriorities.org) Be Part of A Provocative ‘RoundTable’: The Federal Budget Crisis… & The Assault on Public Service Unions…How Militarism Distorts Government Here and Around the World.

Challenge War and Rising Military Spending at the Expense of Human Needs and Justice at Home

Sponsors: Brandywine Peace Community, BuxMont Coalition for Peace Action, Catholic Peace Fellowship, DelRiver Area CodePINK, DelMont and PA PDA (Progressive Democrats of America), Phila. Jobs With Justice, PA Smart Security , Main Line Peace Action, Granny Peace Brigade Phila., Healthcare NOW, Veterans for Peace, Chapter #31 (list in formation).

RSVP Your Attendance by e-mailing cfparsvp@aol.com For more information call: Brandywine Peace Community, 610-544-1818.

Nader Says “End Athletic Scholarships”

Ralph Nader takes on another sacred cow.  But if the Ivy League and many liberal arts colleges can do it, why can’t everyone eliminate athletic scholarships?  Is that how we should be spending our education dollars?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/24/ralph-nader-calls-for-end_n_840243.html

Are All Our Dollars Buying Us Smart Security?

A group of citizens in Delaware and Montgomery Counties, Pennsylvania (members of Main Line Peace Action and the DelMont Chapter of Progressive Democrats of America,  agreed that it would not be possible to make progress in education, renewable energy, healthcare, infrastructure or anything else until we reined in military spending. The Frank-Paul Report on that subject had just been released, the National Priorities Project was generating important statistics on military spending and its effect on localities, and New Priorities, a group of Barney Frank’s constituents interested in the “25% solution,”  were starting to spread the word.  Our local group committed itself to bringing the  message to Pennsylvania on this vital subject and developed a Power Point presentation that became this video on YouTube.  We hope you will watch it and share it with your friends.  Much depends on it.

Television You’ve Been Waiting For!

It was announced this week that Glenn Beck may be setting up his own cable channel when he leaves Fox.  Click here to see the exciting daily schedule!

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/26/opinion/26opchart.html?ref=opinion