Monday, February 28, 2011

The Pros and Cons of Capitalism

Pro:  
Mad fabulous parties with delicious, complex cuisine, rare wines, and rested people in beautiful clothes.
Con:
You won’t be invited.
(from I.E. Skin, East Bay Express, c . 1993)

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Worse than coal

Drive from Nesquehoning to Lansford, and you get a visual reminder of the damage coal mining has done to our area. The results of gas drilling for Marcellus shale will be far worse.  First of all, much more of the state is involved in gas production than in coal mining.  Secondly, gas drilling puts chemicals in the ground, in the air, and in the streams and rivers.  Acid mine drainage pollutes the water, but it can be mitigated.  Strip mines can be revegetated.  Subsidence is localized.  
Gas drilling will cover half the state, it involves radioactive waste, and once the chemicals are in the ground water, they may be there for centuries.  We don’t even know what chemicals are being used.
Pull up the Sunday, Feb. 27, New York Times and take a look at the article entitled “Regulation Lax as Gas Wells’ Tainted Water Hits Rivers.”  This article, a full two pages, is one of the most sobering and frightening accounts of the problems of the gas industry.  Most of the article relates to what is happening in Pennsylvania.  The author, Ian Urbina, points out just how bad Pennsylvania is in regulating the gas industry compared to other states. 
Environmentalists are often accused of being alarmist.  If you think we are crying wolf, please read the article.  Please.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

The Rally in Harrisburg (and two letters)

I’m fired up.  Standing in the middle of a thousand cheering union supporters on the Capitol steps in Harrisburg was a morale booster.  We heard from a teacher, an environmentalist, a social worker, and a 92-year-old woman and former union worker from Wisconsin, who talked about the importance of sticking together.  
The crowd included young and old, black and white, men and women--all of us aware that the governor’s proposal in Wisconsin has nothing to do with balancing the budget.   Its purpose is to destroy unions.  By going after public unions first, he hopes to split the union movement.  At the rally it was clear this tactic would not succeed.
One of the speakers noted that Governor Corbett said “Pennsylvania is not Wisconsin.”  Perhaps not, but I thought the sign “Wisconsylvania” was close to the mark.  After all, Corbett has proposed vouchers to weaken public schools, the closing of the state stores, and a “Right to Work for Less” law.  
Rally participants had hundreds of signs, most of them homemade.  My sign said “Governor Walker:  David Koch on Line One.”  Linda’s sign said “The Right to Organize is Fundamental.”  
I have not heard if the other rallies, scheduled for the state capitols of all 50 states, were successful, but the one in Harrisburg certainly was.  We were told that this would be a long hard struggle, but union organizing has always been a long hard struggle.  A positive note is that we have friends and allies across the state. 
About 25 Tea Party followers across the street shouted and heckled, even during the invocation.  Why a group that often wears revolutionary hats would want to ally with large corporations, union busting governors, and enemies of the middle class is beyond my understanding.
Two views on the state budget, one smart, one not-so-smart
The Times News (Feb. 26) printed two letters on the budget crisis.  “Missing out on state revenue” by Billy O’Gurek, Chair of the Carbon County Democratic Party,  notes that a severance tax on natural gas production would bring in much needed funds to the state.  He also points out the Governor Corbett received almost a million dollars in campaign donations from natural gas companies. 
Next to Mr. O’Gurek’s letter is a “legislative review” from Representative Doyle Heffley.  The “review” is not a review, but an advocacy piece pushing the sale of liquor stores.  Heffley ran as a family values guy.  Evidently he thinks that a proliferation of liquor stores is in keeping with family values and a one-time windfall represents good government management.
Both letters can be found at <www.tnonline.com> for Feb. 26.  Click on “letters.”  

Friday, February 25, 2011

The Rest of the Story

Pluralist democracy
In my previous post, I noted that the pluralist theory of American democracy appears to best describe American government.  Organized groups lobby for their interests, and the policies that government adopts tend to be compromises.  Nobody gets everything; everybody gets something.
At the national level groups learned to live in an uneasy balance with their opponents.   In political science terminology, we had “countervailing power.”
Pluralism does have its downsides.  First of all, not everyone joins in.  The Sierra Club, a comparatively large environmental group, has 1.3 million members.  For every 240 Americans, only one is a Sierra Club member.
A second problem is the lack of participation by the people who are in groups.  Many members have a “checkbook affiliation.”  They mail in their dues and receive a newsletter.  That’s not very participatory.
Finally, in the words of interest group scholar E. E. Schattschneider (love that name), “...the flaw in the pluralist heaven is that the heavenly chorus sings with an upper-class accent.”  Very few poor people join groups, give campaign donations, or support lobbyists.  Those few groups that do represent the poor are marginalized or attacked.  (Remember Acorn.)
The labor movement
The one place where the average blue or pink collar worker had some clout was in the labor movement.  Retail clerks, teachers, laborers, farm workers, miners, steel workers, auto workers--all had their unions.  While never as powerful as corporate interests, these unions did act as countervailing power, and they were effective.
An occupational therapist from Wisconsin was quoted as saying workers no longer needed unions, because we had laws to protect workers.  We do have minimum wage and maximum hours and workers’ comp, but that is because of unions.  If unions disappear, those laws will be repealed or not enforced, nor will non-union employers feel any pressure to match union wages or benefits.
Not all unions were progressive, of course.  Some of the old AFL unions resisted integration, and you may remember the “hardhats” supporting Nixon.  Nevertheless, when you look at the history of reform legislation, unions have been the good guys.  They are also one of the mainstays of the Democratic Party, and an important source of both campaign contributions and volunteers.  Of the ten top donor groups in 2008, only three supported Democrats, and they were unions.
Unfortunately, organized labor is on the ropes.  Fewer than one in ten private workers is in a union.  The reasons for that are too many and too complicated to cover here.  The one bright spot in the labor movement has been unionized government workers.  
Republicans know that.  Corporate interests know that.  By eliminating unions we will see government reflecting the interests of those at the top even more than it already does.  The U.S. currently has one of the largest gaps between rich and poor of all the industrialized countries, and that gap is growing each year.  We are becoming an oligarchy where the wealthy few enjoy their money and power and the rest of us can’t do a damn thing about it.  That is why Wisconsin is so important.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Three theories of American democracy

According to classical democratic theory, informed voters examine and understand political issues.  After careful analysis and rational thought, they elect representatives who support their viewpoints.  The majority party is expected to govern, and that party carries out the wishes of the electorate while respecting minority rights.  Free speech and press ensure that alternatives are presented, and elections are referenda on past performance and future promise.  Elections are fair, and one vote is equal to another.  
Although this theory is attractive, few political scientists would lend it much credence.  Voters may not be rational, campaigns are confusing and misleading, and money distorts the entire process.  
Political theorist Roberto Michels presented a different viewpoint.  He said that any social grouping over time would be run by a small elite.  A church, a parent-teacher organization, the local chapter of the VFW--any group you can think of will, over time, be dominated by a few people.  Michels called this the “iron law of oligarchy.” 
Elitist democratic theory follows Michels.  One could argue that in the U.S. a very few people actually have meaningful power.  One person, one vote may be true in theory, but in the real world the Koch brothers make a mockery of that idea.  A very small group decides U.S.-Afghan policy or the Federal Reserve Board’s monetary policy.  Voters merely select one portion of the ruling group over another portion.  A certain amount of play in the system allows for a “circulation of the elite” to keep the ruling elite slightly porous.  Neither Clinton nor Obama were born to the elite, for example.
A third view, called pluralist democratic theory, holds that government policy is a result of various groupings in society making demands on government.  As groups lobby for advantage and support, they usually get some satisfaction.  On the other hand, since many groups are fighting for a piece of the pie, no group gets everything it wants.  Growers get subsidies, business gets tax breaks, labor gets pension guarantees, and seniors get Medicare.  
I would ask my American government 101 students which theory best describes the U.S. government.  Being young and cynical, most chose elitist.  The correct answer is “it depends.”  A presidential election comes fairly close to classical democracy, U.S. nuclear policy is definitely elitist, and on an issue like education, pluralism seems descriptive.  Until recently, though, I would have argued that on most issues, pluralist democracy represented the best fit.
Pluralist democracy can work.  We have literally thousands of organized groups lobbying government.  Although some interests, such as the NRA or the Chamber of Commerce, have disproportionate power, in the past most groups would at least be heard.  While it is true that some segments of American society have little clout (prisoners, the poor, exploited foreign workers, students), most interests have been able to speak out and have an effect on policy.  
This is changing.  We are moving from a pluralist democracy to an elitist democracy.  Tomorrow I will explain why this is happening, and how we are turning into an oligarchy.  Stay tuned.
Note:  I earlier urged readers to wear a red ribbon to show their support for the unions in Wisconsin.  It really didn’t work that well for me.  Most people who see the ribbon assume it is for breast cancer awareness or the fight against AIDS.  Maybe I’ll have more effect at the Saturday rally in Harrisburg.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Rally

     On Saturday, Feb. 26, a pro-union rally is scheduled for noon in Harrisburg in front of the Capitol Building.   I don't know at this point who is sponsoring it or who is speaking.  I do know that I will be there.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Gasland

Carbon and Schuylkill Counties are full of reminders of the heyday of anthracite coal mining.  You can find culm banks, acid mine drainage, ravaged valleys, and mine subsidence.  The mines brought not only jobs, but also environmental devastation that has outlasted those jobs by decades.  
Pennsylvania is about to do it all over again.  The techniques used to extract natural gas from the Marcellus shale formation are unregulated and environmentally destructive.  Proposals to impose an extraction tax that could be used to mitigate the environmental problems have been rejected by the Corbett administration, although every other state--even Texas--imposes such a tax.
On April 28 at 7 p.m. at the Mauch Chunk Museum and Cultural Center at 41 West Broadway in Jim Thorpe the movie “Gasland” will be shown.  “Gasland” details the unfolding disaster natural gas drilling is bringing to Pennsylvania.  Tickets for the film, which was nominated for an Oscar, cost only three dollars, and students with an ID and a ticket will be admitted free.  
If you would like a ticket, email <LAChris@ptd.net>.  This a film worth seeing.  

Monday, February 21, 2011

Stand together

One of the frustrating aspects of modern life is seeing events unfold and not knowing quite how to add one’s support or voice to the good guys.  You want to support the workers in Wisconsin fighting for their rights, but flying out there is beyond most of us.  We have neither the time (we work) or the money.
Union leaders have suggested wearing red this week.  Even that may get lost--lots of winter coats are red.  One easy way to express our solidarity is to wear a red ribbon.  Pin it to your shirt.  People will notice a red ribbon and ask what it is for.  You tell them it is to support the right of people to peacefully assemble and ask for a redress of grievances.  It is for the right of people to organize and sign contracts.  It is for the right of teachers, fire fighters, and police to form a union and bargain for wages and benefits.
The governor of Wisconsin says he won’t be affected by out-of-state people, though he didn’t seem to have any problem with the out-of-state Koch brothers funding his campaign.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

As a City on a Hill

     When Ronald Reagan was president, he liked to refer to the United States as a “city on a hill.”  In a July 4, 1986, speech at the Statue of Liberty celebration, President Reagan told the audience that John Winthrop preached to his fellow Puritans “that they must not forsake the mission that God had sent them on, and they must be a light unto the nations of all the world--a shining city upon a hill.”
     Not quite.
     Winthrop’s sermon, “A Modell of Christian Charity,” was delivered on board the Arbella before the Puritans landed.  In these days when selfishness is celebrated, when greed is enshrined, when compassion is mocked, and when empathy is derided, Winthrop’s sermon remains as a summons to love one another and help one another. 
     Near the end of the sermon, he talks about the Covenant the Puritans have made with God.  He says if they break the Covenant, they will suffer a “shipwracke.”  Remember that he is on board a ship when he delivers the sermon.  To do Winthrop justice I must quote him at some length. I will not change his spelling.  Here is the operative paragraph of one of the most beautiful calls to love and mutual aid in American history.
     “Now the onely way to avoyde this shipwracke and to provide for our posterity is to followe the Counsell of Micah, to doe Justly, to love mercy, to walke humbly with our God.  For this end, wee must be knitt together in this worke as one man, wee must entertaine each other in brotherly Affeccion, wee must be willing to abridge our selves of our superfluities, for the supply of others necessities, wee must uphold a familiar Commerce together in all meekenes, gentlenes, patience and liberality, wee must delight in each other, make others Condicions our owne, rejoyce together, mourne together, labour, and suffer together, allwayes having before our eyes our Commission and Community in the worke, our Community as members of the same body, soe wee keepe the unitie of the spirit in the bond of peace....”
     Winthrop continues that if his followers will heed this advice, God will dwell among them, but he also provides a warning.  He tells his flock, “we shall be as a Citty upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us....” He warns that if we don’t live up to our ideals, the entire world will recognize our failure and curse us.  

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Meatpacking reforms

The Obama Administration is proposing an overhaul of the antitrust rules for the meatpacking industry.  According to Lancaster Farming (Feb. 12, p. A32) , these will be the toughest regulations since the Packers and Stockyards Act was passed 90 years ago.  Current law allows giant companies like Tyson to set prices and even dictate the kind of farm buildings in which to raise the stock and the kind of feed to give the animals.
The new rules would allow farmers and ranchers to sue companies on antitrust grounds.  Under the present law, farmers and ranchers must prove that competition was harmed in the entire industry.  Under the new rules, individual growers could prove they were harmed.
The rules were proposed last June and were controversial from the beginning.  With the new Republican House, opposition has grown.  Of the 115 members of Congress who signed a letter opposing the new rules, 69 were Republicans and 46 were Democrats.  The Republican signers have received a total of $28.4 million from the meatpacking industry; the 46 Democrats received 20.2 million.
The USDA can write these new regulations without Congress, but Congress may also deny funds for the USDA.  No date has been set for the new rules to go into effect.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Union busting

     College students today have no idea what is meant by “collective bargaining.” In my American studies classes I would explain the idea by using an example from the class.  I’d note that if one student came up after class and said the reading assignment was too long and impossible to complete by the next class, I would simply tell that student to stop whining and finish the assignment.  On the other hand, if all thirty-five students told me the assignment was impossible, and, furthermore, the entire class had decided not to do it, I would be forced to make some adjustments.
     The problem for students (or employees) is that the power differential of one student (or employee) to one teacher (or company) is simply too great unless that student (or employee) can bargain as a unit with fellow students (or employees.)  Students get that.
     Employers get it too, which is why they are so resistant to unions.  Imagine a Wal-Mart worker complaining about lousy wages.  One worker vs. the largest corporation in America--guess who will win?
     Republicans have never really accepted the idea of unions in this country.  Of all the industrialized countries, the U.S. has had the most violent struggles to unionize workers.  Now less than 10 percent of American workers in private companies are union members.  The one area where unions still have some power is in the public sector, and that is what the Republicans have targeted.
     It is interesting to note that the governor of Wisconsin is proposing to eliminate automatic withholding for union dues.  That has absolutely nothing to do with saving state money and has everything to do with union busting.  We will see a concerted effort in every state with a Republican legislature and a Republican governor to not only weaken unions, but also to destroy them.  
     Pennsylvania will be in this group.  I am convinced that one of the reasons Governor Corbett is pushing to privatize state liquor stores is because that workforce is currently unionized.  I believe the desire to destroy unions is also behind the drive for school vouchers.  

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Justice?

Here is the kind of treatment Egyptians revolted against.  Saeed Hatim of Yemen was captured in 2001.  He was sent to a prison where he was tortured; he still can’t lift his left arm without pain.  He has said his confession to crimes was the result of his being beaten, blindfolded, and threatened with rape.
A lower court actually said that Mr. Hatim’s petition for release should be granted, but he should remain in detention while the government appealed.  A higher court then said that Mr Hatim’s case had to be heard again because the government had adopted new standards for guilt.  This story was reported in the New York Times on Feb. 16.
I should mention that it is the U.S. holding Mr. Hatim in Guantanamo.  The first ruling was by a district court judge; the second by a federal court of appeals in Washington.  This is how we fight our “war on terror.”  I don’t even know who to complain to.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

A Pennsylvanian in the news

     Last month a rather sophisticated bomb was found in Spokane along the planned parade route for a march on Martin Luther King day.  The bomb did not detonate, and no one took credit for placing it.  Since Spokane is not all that far from Hayden Lake, which is a hotbed of white supremacist activity, police naturally looked at a possible connection.

     One of the people interviewed about the bomb was a Pennsylvania native named Shaun Winkler, who lives near Hayden Lake and is a member of the Ku Klux Klan.  Mr. Winkler, questioned by the FBI, was quoted in the New York Times as saying, "We don't have that kind of intelligence level to make that kind of explosive."

     I, for one, am willing to take him at his word.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Framing the Debate

“Don’t think of an elephant!” by George Lakoff was published in 2004.  The book, subtitled “Know Your Values and Frame the Debate,” said the Republicans, by defining the terms, have an crushing advantage in debates with Democrats.  For example, when I write “illegal aliens” I’m already caving in to bigotry and anti-immigrant fervor.  I could say “exploited foreign workers” each time, and if I and enough other people used that term, we would redefine the debate.  Why do we say “partial birth abortion” instead of “late term abortion” when the latter term is more accurate?  The Republicans have defined that debate.
I thought of Lakoff’s book today during President Obama’s press conference.  He kept talking about the deficit.  I think we have a revenue crisis.  We don’t have enough money coming in.  If you lose your job and can’t pay your mortgage, you don’t have a deficit problem--you don’t have a pay check.  
The revenue crisis results from less money flowing in from the income tax and other taxes, but it is also a result of Bush era tax cuts that have not been repealed, and, in fact, were extended in December.  
We follow the talk about deficits with talk about where to cut.  The EPA?  Energy development?  OSHA?  The Republicans have already won this debate.  It is a sad state of affairs.
Happy Birthday, Charles Darwin
Mr. Darwin was born on Feb. 12, 1809.  In a country where biology teachers in many schools are reluctant to tell students that evolution is fundamental to modern biology, and people willfully believe that humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time, the celebration was muted.  I’m making a note on my calendar for next year.  I’m throwing a party.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Contributions to Judicial Races

New York is taking a giant step to clean up its judicial elections.  Court officials tomorrow will annouce new rules for political contributors in judicial races.  Are you ready?  “No case shall be assigned” to a judge when either the lawyers or any participant in the case donated $2500 or more to that judge in the previous two years.  The ruling will apply to over 700 trial-level judges.
That definitely removes the incentive to give huge donations, and it goes a long way to bring some integrity to the court system.  Had I been in charge, I would have made the limit $100, but this is a major step forward.  Since it was done by the Judicial Board, the new ruling does not need legislative approval.
And Pennsylvania?

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Dr. Zucker

The most recent issue of the Ursinus College alumni magazine announced that former professor F. Donald Zucker had died.  Dr. Zucker was my first political science professor during my freshman year.  I started out as a history major--I wasn’t even sure what political science was.  I signed up for the course because it had the word “political” in the title.  By spring I had changed my major.
Dr. Zucker was a true liberal.  A member of the American Civil Liberties Union, he organized a play in which the script consisted of portions of hearings from the House UnAmerican Activities Committee.  That was my only starring role until the “Tea Party Chickens” video.  
Dr. Zucker ran for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives; I learned about walking precincts.  Running as a Democrat in Montgomery County in 1960, he didn’t have a chance, but I also learned that politics can be fun.  
He chartered a bus for a trip to the high school football stadium in Norristown so students could hear presidential candidate John Kennedy.  We stood in the rain for two hours waiting for Kennedy to arrive, and I’m so glad we did.  
I took other pol. sci. courses from Dr. Zucker and always benefited.  In fact, I was coming out of his political theory course when I learned that Kennedy had been shot.  A few years ago I had the satisfaction of writing to him and telling him what a wonderful teacher and influence he had been.   Thank you, Dr. Zucker.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Corn

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, after approving the unrestricted planting to genetically-altered alfalfa and sugar beets, has now approved a type of corn genetically engineered to make it easier to convert into ethanol.  
The corn, developed in Switzerland by Syngenta, is labeled Enogen.  (Doesn’t this sound like bad science fiction?)  The corn contains a trait that kicks in after the harvest.  It has the potential to interfere with food processing--it has been claimed that one kernel in 10,000 can weaken the corn starch and mess up food processing operations.  General Mills and many other processors oppose its introduction.  
In 2000 a genetically modified corn for animal use called StarLink found its way into human food, causing massive recalls.  Here we go again. 
I don’t think this story was carried on network news, but you can read about Enogen in Andrew Pollack’s article in the Business section of the New York Times of February 12.  For Syngenta’s view, go to <http://enogen.net/en/index.html>.  
Note to friends of David Wargo
David Wargo writes a weekly column for the Times News entitled “Don’t Blink.”  Would somebody who is this man’s friend please explain to him the difference between climate and weather?  I hate to see him keep embarrassing himself whenever he writes about global climate change.  Do it for his sake.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Time to Pay the Rent

Did you read about some of those newly elected Republican congress members who are proud to say that they bunk in their office?  No Washington digs for them--they are saving money.  Well, boys, what you are doing is staying in a building that my tax money paid for?  Why do you get to use public buildings for personal use?  Can I sleep there?
Now the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington would like the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate these leeches.  Melanie Sloan, the executive director of the group was quoted in the New York Times today saying, “House Office Buildings are not dorms or frat houses.”  
She’s right.  Quit bunking at taxpayers’ expense.  Get a room.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

A map and some photos

An alert reader from Summit Hill provided a link to an interesting analysis of possible Pennsylvania redistricting scenarios.  A blogger for the Washington Post, Aaron Blake, believes that Carbon County may be pushed into Tim Holden’s district.  It would be sweet  to be represented by an intelligent congressman rather than Lou Barletta.  For a look at this possibility go to <http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/mapping-the-future/a-safer-map-for-pennsylvania-r.html>.  
I also want to call your attention to the documentary photographer Milton Rogovin, who died last month at 101.  Rogovin originally was a optometrist in Buffalo.  He also happened to be a Communist; during the McCarthy period in the 1950s he was harassed for his political beliefs.  He changed occupations, becoming a photographer.  The Library of Congress has his negatives and prints, but you don’t have to go to Washington to see a selection of his work.  Just click on <www.miltonrogovin.com>.  I think you will be impressed.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

"one of the worst laws"

Democratic congressman John Conyers, minority leader of the House Judiciary Committee, called the Patriot Act “...one of the worst laws this body has ever passed.”  I couldn’t agree more.  
The Republican House leadership wanted to extend the bill, since certain provisions are set to expire next month.  The Obama administration also wanted to extend the bill to 2013.  
Under some arcane House rule, a 2/3rds majority was need for the extension.  Sixty-seven Democrats favored the extension; 122 voted against.  Had they been united, the Republicans would have had enough votes to reach the 2/3rds needed.  They weren’t united; 26 Republicans, mostly Tea Party types, voted no.  They thought this was too much federal intrusion into private affairs.
One of the provisions slated to expire gives the feds access to a suspect’s private materials, including library records.  I never thought I would see John Conyers and the tea party people on the same side on anything, but I’m happy they were.  The Patriot Act was a bad bill, completely unpatriotic, and passed in a panic.  Let it die. 

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

A clean-up bill vs. symbolic silliness

Whenever a major bill passed the California legislature, the following year the legislature would adopt a follow-up bill to fix up the omissions and errors that invariably accompanied such legislation.  Almost any large scale change in the law will have unintended consequences.  The process even had a name--the follow-up bill was called a “clean-up bill.”
Last week the U.S. Senate adopted a bill on an 81 to 17 vote to repeal the section of the health care bill that required business to report any payment of more than $600 or more a year to any vendor.  The purpose of this provision was noble.  It would mean that the vendors would report their income to the I.R.S.  Estimates were that this would generate about $20 billion in revenue.  The problem was that a reporting requirement for $600 transactions put a real burden on small businesses.  
So Republicans and Democrats united to make the bill less onerous.  This was a “clean-up bill.”  It is supposed to work this way--members of both parties recognizing a problem and fixing it.  
This is in contrast to the action of the Republicans in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.  They passed a law striking down the requirement that people have health insurance.  This legislation, which means nothing and fixes nothing, was merely a symbolic slap at the health care legislation.  Incidentally, Carbon’s representative, Doyle Heffley, was a co-sponsor.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Followups to earlier posts

Jan. 6--on Lou Barletta.  My letter on health care has not received a reply.  Maybe his staff is not up to speed.

Jan. 11--on the Sudan.  The voting is over, but the violence continues.  The army is having a difficult time splitting into northern and southern portions.

Jan. 19--on the filibuster.  It was not reformed, but the Senate Dems are permitting Reep amendments, like the one the Reeps added to the Aviation Bill to kill the Health Care bill.  The amendment, of course, did not pass.  In return, the Reeps are not stalling.  So far the Senate is acting like a real legislative body.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Feb. 2--on the politicizing of the federal courts.  Senator Hatch has urged Justice Kagan to recuse herself on the Health Care decision.  This after Scalia addressed a Tea Party event and Thomas's wife organized a right-wing advocacy group.

Feb. 5--on the USDA permitting "Roundup-safe" alfalfa to be planted anywhere.  Now the agency has added Roundup-safe sugar beets to the alfalfa.  Monsanto wins again, and the environment again loses.

But remember:  knocked down four times, rise up five.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

The Centennial

It’s been 100 years since President Reagan’s birth, and this is a big deal for some people. Why?  
This is the man who presided over the largest upward transfer of wealth in our history.  He took credit for the changes in the U.S.S.R. without evidence that he had a thing to do with them.  He compared Central American fascists to our Founding Fathers.  He ran up a bigger deficit than the cumulative total from Washington to his presidency.   He spent at least the last two years of his presidency in a mental fog.  He governed by slogan and anecdote. More than twenty years after his presidency we still have not fully recovered from his economic policies. We’re supposed to celebrate this? 

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Roundup Ready

Earlier this week the U.S. Department of Agriculture gave its stamp of approval to the unrestricted planting of genetically modified alfalfa.  This isn’t alfalfa modified for better taste or more nutrients--it is specifically modified (and patented) by Monsanto to survive the herbicide Roundup.  
This means a grower can plant this alfalfa next to an organic farmer, even though there is a very good chance that honeybees will move between the two farms and cross-pollinate the organic alfalfa.  
Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack said this decision was made so that farmers would have a right to choose.  I don’t see that.  How does the organic farmer have a right to choose not to have his or her alfalfa contaminated?  It seems to me that this decision was to benefit the Monsanto corporation.
By the way, Roundup is one of the most toxic of herbicides, and it is sold in hardware stores  for garden use.  Find an alternative.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Wal-Mart in New York City

Actually, the title is misleading.  There is no Wal-Mart in New York City.  The City Council held a hearing yesterday to discuss Wal-Mart, taking comments from small business owners who argued that Wal-Mart would eliminate them and from labor union representatives who brought up Wal-Mart’s anti-union activities.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, when asked for his opinion about Wal-Mart, said this: “You should let the marketplace decide.  Anybody who has tried to manage the market place, it has not turned out very well.  I think the Soviet Union is as good an example as you’d ever need of that.”  (New York Times, Feb. 4, 2011).
Interesting.  Comparing opposition to Wal-Mart to the Soviet Union. Wal-Mart is the company with the largest number of employees in the U.S.  The company that goes out of its way to fight unions.  The company with the lousy health insurance.  The company that bullies its suppliers.  The company that has wrecked small town shopping districts across the country.  This is free market?  Give me a break.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Voting Systems

One of the workshops at the Progressive Summit I attended in Pittsburgh dealt with the methods by which we vote.  A representative of the reform group Vote PA (<www.VotePA.us>) led the workshop, and she explained that Pennsylvania allows each county to pick its own system.  As a result, the state actually has six different methods of voting.
Carbon County uses the Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) touchscreen system.  Vote PA has major problems with the system, advocating an Optical Scan system instead.  I used Optical Scan when I was a poll worker in California.  The voter is handed a paper ballot with small ovals next to the candidates’ names.  He or she takes the ballot to a voting station and fills in the ovals next to the candidates selected.  The voter then takes the ballot to a scanner and feeds it in.  The votes are automatically recorded.  The ballot drops into a secure plastic bin behind the machine.  If there is a problem a paper backup is available.
If the voter makes an error, such as voting for both Sestak and Toomey, the scanner kicks back the ballot with an explanation.  The voter is handed a new ballot and revotes.
Here are the advantages of an Optical Scan system:
Fewer machines are needed.  You can have ten voters bubbling in their ballots at the same time.  The scanning process takes seconds, so you only need one scanner per polling place.
Optical Scan systems break less often than DREs.  And even if the machine breaks down, voters can still mark their ovals on the paper ballot.  The ballots can be scanned later.
People understand the system.  At your polling place, watch the hesitation of some of the elderly voters at the touch screen.  I know more than one citizen who will not vote with our machines.  Everyone knows how to fill in the ovals.

Disabled people have an easier time with the ballots.  Optical Scan systems have audio ballots available for the visually impaired and “sip and puff” for voters who do not have the use of their hands.
The secret ballot is preserved.  DRE printouts can be matched to the signup book to discover how people voted.
You can’t hack the ballots in the Optical Scan system.  If the DRE system malfunctions, those votes are gone forever.
When it is time for Carbon County to update its system, the best alternative is clearly the Optical Scan.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Unconstitutional?

Federal District Court Judge Roger Vinson issued a ruling on Monday declaring the Health Care bill unconstitutional.  In his opinion he compared the requirement for insurance coverage to colonists being forced to pay a tax on tea.   A District Court judge does not live in a vacuum, and I don’t believe in coincidence.  The judge, a Reagan appointee, is acting as a Congress of one, overruling the real Congress and the President to advance what is obviously a Tea Party political agenda. 
The judge not only overruled the requirement for insurance, but he also threw out the rest of the bill.  His reasoning was that the insurance requirement was so intertwined with other provisions that the whole thing had to go.

How is the insurance requirement related to parents’ insurance covering their kids until age 26?  How is it related to preconditions?  How is it related to enhanced arbitration procedures, or the donut hole for prescriptions? 
Judge Vinson acknowledged that he based much of his opinion on an amicus curiae brief from the Family Research Council, a right-wing Christian advocacy group.  
Republicans, who in the past have railed against “judge-made law,” are elated.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Subsidizing oil

When President Obama unveils his budget proposal later this month, he will recommend the elimination of approximately $4 billion ($4,000,000,000) in subsidies for the oil industry.  
Because of their concern about the deficit, the Republicans will fall all over themselves to support this.
Won’t they?