The pipeline

Today I attended a meeting in Jim Thorpe with a group of people intent on stopping the PennEast pipeline.  The group included people from quite a few of the jurisdictions in Carbon County--Kidder, Penn Forest, Towamensing, Lower Towamensing, and Mahoning townships, and Jim Thorpe and Lehighton boroughs.  

Some were Republicans, some were Democrats, but all were united in the belief that the pipeline will harm Carbon County’s environment and needs to be stopped.  Not rerouted, stopped.  

Task forces were formed, and people were recruited to attend the meeting of the Delaware River Basin Commission next week.  A number of people pledged contributions.  

I am fully aware that we are going up against some very rich companies who make some major campaign contributions.  Nonetheless, I think we have a shot at stopping this boondoggle.

Stopping progress

A letter to the editor in today’s Times News equated the proposed PennEast pipeline with progress.  The letter writer continued with that old cliche “You can’t stop progress.”

I was reminded of a statement by the columnist Russell Baker:  “Usually, terrible things that are done with the excuse that progress requires them are not really progress at all, but just terrible things.”

That’s exactly what I think about the Penn East pipeline.

Voter Suppression in Russia

The Man Without a Face:  The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin discusses how Putin rose to power and instituted a dictatorship, using some of the same voter suppression tactics we are currently seeing in the U.S.  

A book review, published in the latest issue of Ballot Access News, explains that a 2004 Russian ballot access law required parties to have a meeting of at least 500 people to nominate a presidential candidate.  Those 500 people first had to go before a notary to verify who they were.

That sounds a lot like the Kansas law mandating that voters must prove their citizenship before they can vote.  

Russian law also required parties to obtain 2 million signatures in a short time.  Signatures were also declared invalid if the signer signed St. Petersburg instead of Saint Petersburg or wrote apt. instead of apartment.  Pennsylvania’s third parties are familiar with those kinds of tactics as well.

The book’s author, Masha Gessen, lived in Russia when the book was published, but she has since moved to New York to escape possible prosecution.

Contaminated moral environment

The opening essay in the latest issue of the New Yorker noted that a bust of Vaclav Havel was unveiled last week in a ceremony at the Capitol Rotunda.  Havel was the first President of Czechoslovakia after that country obtained its freedom from Moscow's rule

The essay quoted from Havel's first New Year's address to the Czech people.  He said that the years of oppression and tyranny had led the Czechs to live in what he called a "contaminated moral environment."

It occurs to me that describes the current condition in the U.S. very well.  Would you call Mitch McConnell moral?  Ted Cruz?  The Koch Brothers?  The House Republicans?

When people fear immigrants are bringing Ebola, when they would deny an abortion even if the woman dies, when they deride scientific evidence, they are living in a "contaminated moral environment.  And we don't even have the excuse of emerging from years of Communist tyranny.  We are doing it to ourselves.

Ferguson

Of course there is a problem.  The investigative newsroom group ProPublica issued a study last month that said young black men are 21 times more likely to be shot than young white men.  Justice is not equal in this country, and I think most people, including most white people, understand that.

What is a real problem will obviously not be solved by looting stores.  I have always been dubious about any protest where widespread looting is involved.

Nor is the problem made better by tax cheat Al Sharpton showing up and spouting off.  What a charlatan that man is.

Atheist's lament

At times it is very difficult for me to understand.  Palestinians killing rabbis.  Israel screwing around with citizenship for non-Jews.  Buddhists in Malaysia killing Muslims.  Shiites killing Sunnis.  Hindus attacking Muslims.  All of this in the name of a non-existent being in religions which are fairy tales.  

Look folks, when you die, that’s it.  Remember how it was before you were born?  Of course you don’t.  You didn’t exist.  That’s how it will be after you die.  So behave yourself while you are alive.  Act in a decent manner.  Think rationally.  Quit being evil.  What you have here on earth while you are alive is the only time you have.  Use it well.

Jim Webb for President?

First of all, you should know I’ve backed quite a few losers running for President.  Eugene McCarthy, George McGovern, Morris Udall, Teddy Kennedy, Jesse Jackson, Al Gore, and John Kerry were among them.  My success stories are Jack Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson (first term), and Barack Obama.

Now former Senator Jim Webb is forming an exploratory committee for a presidential run.  I have great respect for Jim Webb, and I’m on board, provided Elizabeth Warren doesn’t run.  I just can’t get excited about Hillary Clinton.  I know she will probably be the Democratic nominee, and I will support her, but I really think we can do better.

Sen. Mary Landrieu

The Democratic Party has been sending me appeals to donate to the Louisiana runoff campaign of Mary Landrieu.  This is a Senator who is pushing the Keystone pipeline, who is in the thrall of big oil, and who is so far to the right that she opposes legalizing marijuana for medical reasons, although her Republican opponent supports it.

I know she will be another Democratic vote in the Senate on organizational matters, but so what.  Doesn’t the Democratic Party stand for anything?  Perhaps some of the Democratic candidates lost because they ran from the Affordable Care Act, which has insured millions.  They ran from Obama’s policies that brought us out of the worst recession since the Great Depression.  Alison Grimes wouldn’t even admit she voted for Obama.  

Why settle for Republican light?  No wonder voters went for the real thing.  As for Mary Landrieu, I’m ok with you losing.

Solitary confinement

In Louisiana in the United States of America we have kept a man in solitary confinement since 1972.  The man is named Albert Woodfox.  He is 67 years old.  For 23 hours a day he sits in a windowless cell.  He eats alone.  He has no access to the prison’s educational activities or religious services.

What is wrong with us?

Mockingjay Part I: Life Imitates Art

Tonight Linda and I saw the latest movie in the Hunger Games series at the Mahoning Theater.  The audience consisted mostly of teenage girls.

The rebels in the movie adopt three-fingered salute, which the government forces declare as subversive.  Anyone who uses the salute is summarily executed.

Now the government of Thailand, a military dictatorship that came to power last May, has announced that anyone using the three-fingered sign could be arrested.  Five students who wore shirts that said “ We don’t want the coup” flashed the sign during a speech by the Prime Minster.  The students were arrested and held for “attitude adjustment.”

Another student was detained for silently reading “1984.”

Where is Katniss when we need her?

Moral Stand at Guantanamo

When a lowly individual defies authority for moral reasons, knowing that he or she will be punished for taking a stand, that person deserves both respect and support.  A 18-year Navy medical officer has refused to force-feed prisoners on a hunger strike at Guantanamo.  

The American Medical Association called force-feeding a violation of “core ethical values of the medical profession.”  The AMA noted that “every competent patient has the right to refuse medical intervention,” including measures to extend life.

Another word for force-feeding is torture.

The American Nurses Association wrote a letterer to Defense Secretary Hagel asking that no retaliatory action be taken against the Navy nurse.  I personally think the nurse should be given a medal.

(Information on the nurse can be found in today’s New York Times at <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/20/health/nurses-urge-leniency-over-refusal-to-force-feed-at-guantnamo-bay.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3As%2C%7B%222%22%3A%22RI%3A15%22%7D>.)

Contentment Tinged

That’s the title of a poem I’ve had accepted in an online publication entitled “Attune Online Journal.”  Check it out at <http://www.attune-online.com> or Google “Attune Online Journal.”

PennEast Shuck and Jive

I went to the PennEast Pipeline “open house,” and it was even worse than I expected.  PennEast had about 60 employees, all in blue shirts, scattered around various tables in the Aquashicola Fire Company.  It was truly “divide and conquer.”

The meeting last night at the Penn Forest Fire Company with the two Penn State extension representatives was so much better.  Here is one small example.  When the pipeline goes through a farm, you can ask the company to pay for the ruined crop.  That is obvious.  What is not obvious is that you can also ask the pipeline company to pay for the reduced crop which will occur for the next four or five years because the soil has been disturbed.  I learned that at Penn Forest, and I am grateful to Doyle Heffley for setting up that meeting.

You would not have learned that tonight in Aquashicola.  There is no way the PennEast Pipeline people would tell you that.  Tonight’s meeting was all about P.R.

I did get some information from a table staffed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and a cookie and a measuring tape and a button supplied by PennEast, but I left early in disgust.

I was also disappointed that a number of people from the Laborers’ Union showed up in orange shirts.  None of them were at tables asking for information, and I doubt if any of them were from Carbon County.  I’m sure that PennEast asked them in and probably promised them work on the pipeline.

If you are in the area, there’s a meeting at the Trachsville Firehouse this Thursday.  Maya Rossum of the Delaware River Keepers will speak on how to fight the pipeline, and Dory Hippaup of the Gas Drillers Awareness Coalition will also be available to answer questions. 

Remember, this pipeline has not been built yet.  There is still time to stop it.

Pipeline meeting at Penn Forest Fire House

Rep. Doyle Heffley sponsored a meeting tonight at Penn Forest Fire House.  The meeting featured Dave Messersmith, a Penn State Cooperative Extension representative, who gave an overview of pipelines in general and what land owners can expect when the pipeline comes through their property.

The second speaker was Carl Engleman, Jr., an attorney who specializes in environmental law and who had advice on how to get the most money from PennEast, the company that is building the pipeline through Carbon County.

I must say I was pleasantly surprised.  I know the Republican Party has received tons of money from the fracking companies, and I was expecting very biased speakers.  Both speakers simply gave information and tips.  

The news for the landowners is not good.  The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), set up during the Bush administration, rubber stamps all pipeline applications.  Less than 2% of the applications were not approved, but that was because they were withdrawn by the pipeline companies themselves.

Both speakers recommended that in negotiations with the pipeline company, the landowner should hire both an attorney and a financial advisor.  So in addition to losing property values, we need to hire staff.

Even though it is a long shot, a group called Carbon Pipeline Alliance is fighting the pipeline.  On Thursday that group is holding a meeting at the Trachsville Fire House with a speaker from Delaware River Keepers, a group opposed to the pipeline.

As for the meeting tomorrow night at the Aquashicola Fire House sponsored by PennEast, that is a joke.  They call it a workshop.  They will have tables spread around the room, and that way people can’t hear each other’s concerns.  You won’t be able to get them to say anything definite, since that could be used in comments to FERC.  It is a clever way to mislead the public, and it is done deliberately.

The Elephant in the Room

In the various analyses of why the Republicans won the Senate and the House, I have read that the Democrats didn’t inspire the voters.  They weren’t able to turn out their supporters.  Obama acted as a drag on the Democratic candidates.  

While all of those things might be true, isn’t it time we also recognized that Democrats were outspent, especially in the last month before the election, especially by energy companies and the Koch Brothers, especially by secret contributions now made legal by the Republican Supreme Court?

If you want to bet on a political race and you can know only one thing about the race, ask who spends the most money and bet on the candidate who has the most money to spend.  You’ll do well.

I’m not sure the Democrats will ever win again.  The system of campaign finance is now completely stacked against them.  The gerrymanders are also stacked against them, and the U.S. Senate over-represents states like Kansas and Arkansas, and under-represents the liberal states like California and New York.  

The U.S. is no longer a democracy.  It is an oligarchy, and a few very rich people are pulling the strings.  Let’s recognize reality.

Turnout

This past election had the lowest turnout since 1942, during World War II.  No state broke the 60% mark.  

Here’s an example of why turnout is so important.  In Colorado in 2013 two state legislators who supported restrictions on guns were voted out of office  and replaced by two pro-gun Republicans in a recall election.  Turnout is usually low in recall elections, and the N.R.A. celebrated its victory.

In this November’s election, both pro-gun legislators were easily defeated.  Democrats voted in larger numbers than in the recall election.  

Here’s a fact about turnout.  Republicans almost always vote, and they usually vote straight ticket.  Democrats sit home, drink beer, and watch TV unless they are really motivated.  When they do vote, they often split their ticket.  

I don’t know why that is, but as a Democrat, it is depressing and it is a reason we lose so often.  What we need is the Australian system, where you are fined if you don’t vote.

The Obama I voted for

Yes, the Republicans swamped the Democrats in Congress, but look what the President has done in the last week.  First he came out strongly in favor of Net neutrality.  Then he announced  the climate deal with China.  Now he will change immigration policy so that up to five million undocumented residents can stay in the U.S. without fear of deportation.

My faith is restored.

Alex Lee

A teenager from Frisco, Texas, rocketed to fame in just two weeks because of a picture of him posted on a Twitter account with the comment “YOOOOOOOOOOO.”  Now more than 2.3 people follow him on Instagram.

And, of course, he’s mentioned on this blog.  

Now Alex and his family have received death threats.  His family’s Social Security numbers, phone records, and bank account information have been posted.  What kind of a world do we live in where a teenager receives death threats from anonymous people who never even met him?

Rebecca Solnit in an essay in Harpers discusses a 1984 Superbowl ad in which a young woman runs into a room full of workers watching a giant screen.  She spins around with a hammer and launches it into the screen.  If you are old enough to have seen the ad, you haven’t forgotten it, though you may not remember that it was for the Apple Macintosh introduced days later.

Solnit writes that Apple, far from liberating us, is part of the problem.  Underpaid Chinese factory workers manufacture Apple products, probably looking much like the people in the ad.  Instead of watching one big screen, literally millions are glued to small screens.  Apple’s iPhones are trackable at all times.  

Solnit continues that the Internet and Apple “...will savage privacy, break down journalism as we know it, and create elaborate justifications for never paying artists or writers--an Internet that will be an endless soup of grim porn and mean-spirited chat and rumor and trolling and new ways to buy things we don’t need while failing to make the contact we do need.”

Of course, my very writing depends on this same Internet.  Nonetheless, I don’t think it is being used well.  In fact, it may be corrupting both our communities and our souls.

Climate agreement between the U.S. and China

A few years ago, in her inimitable style, Sarah Palin said, “How’s that hopey-changey thing working out for you?”

Now the #1 (China) and #2 (the U.S.) carbon polluters have reached an accord to cut the amount of their carbon emissions.  This agreement should lead to a new global accord on carbon emissions, and we may yet save the planet.

My own take is that the agreement doesn’t go far enough, but it is a start.  That “hopey-changey” thing is working out pretty well.  

SB 76 and equal funding for schools

SB76, the bill to end property taxes in Pennsylvania, is a bad bill on a number of levels.  First of all, it will exempt huge corporations from paying any property tax.  Kovatch, a major contributor to Panther Valley School District, and Wal-Mart, a major contributor to the Lehighton Area School District, would pay no property tax.

Secondly, SB76 will raise the income tax.  In Pennsylvania, by Constitutional provision, taxes must be of equal percent.  Unlike the federal government, which has a graduated income tax, in Pennsylvania everyone pays the same percent.  If you make $2,000,000 a year, you pay the same percent as if you make $40,000 a year.  That is sometimes called a “flat tax,” but it actually regressive.  Who will have the harder time paying 3.07%--the millionaire or the $40,000-a-year guy?

Third, SB76 will raise the sales tax.  This is bad on three levels.  Sales taxes fluctuate wildly with economic swings, meaning deficits will be likely.  Secondly, the sales tax will apply to more items.  Finally, the sales tax is a regressive tax.  Poor people actually pay a higher proportion of their annual income in sales taxes than rich people pay.  If you don’t understand the reason for that, I’ll explain it in a later post.

Finally,and this is the big one, SB76 locks in the current spending in school districts.  Panther Valley, one of the poorer districts in the state, will remain a poor district.  Lower Merion, of course, will be funded at a high level.

But wait.  Six school districts are suing Pennsylvania.  The districts, which include Panther Valley, say the state has failed to meet its constitutional obligation to “...provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of equal education” for the state’s students.

An aside here:  In 1971 the California Supreme Court ruled in Serrano v. Priest that the state’s school funding law denied students in poor districts an equal education, and thereby violated the state’s equal protection clause.  A later case reaffirmed the decision and gave California six years to to equalize funding.

In 1973, in San Antonio School District v. Rodriguez, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that unequal schools did not violate the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause, saying that education was not a fundamental right.

That is why the Panther Valley case is using the Pennsylvania Constitution to challenge the funding formula.  Similar cases in the 1990s were dismissed because the Court had no basis on which to judge success or failure.  Now they do--the results from state-mandated testing are public, and in fact, were published in a recent issue of the Morning Call.  Panther Valley students compared poorly to the other school districts, but wouldn’t you expect that of a poor district?

For those legislators, such as Doyle Heffley and John Yudichak, who support SB76, heads up.  I believe the Court will rule that funding will have to be substantially equal.  That ought to pull the rug from the present method of school funding as well as SB76.  It’s about time.

St. Vincent--a review

I recognize that Bill Murray is a wonderful actor.  I also think the actor who played the kid was great, and Naomi Watts was outstanding.  The plot involves a curmudgeon who nonetheless manages to affect people’s lives in positive ways.

I didn’t buy it.  Look at the way Vincent treats the bank teller.  Look at the way he gambles thousands of dollars on a long shot at the track.  He drinks.  He smokes.  He’s irresponsible.  I don’t think he is cute--not one bit.  I wanted to slap him.  I really did not like this movie.

Linda, by the way, totally disagrees with me, but she’s wrong.

Do What You Can

Here’s what John Wesley, often considered the founder of the Methodist religion, said about doing good.

“Do all the good you can.  By all the means you can.  In all the ways you can.  In all the places you can.  At all the times you can.  To all the people you can.  As long as ever you can.”

Amen.

Grading standards

A student at Lehigh University sued the school for $1.3 million because she received a C+ in a class instead of the B she needed to stay in the program.  Judges on the Superior Court upheld a lower court ruling denying the student any damages.  

The opinion stated:  “Courts lack the expertise to micromanage the complex and highly subjective endeavor of academic grading.  Attempting to do so would invite an increase in difficult and time-consuming lawsuits by students who are disgruntled over grades, courses, teachers or other academic requirements.” (Morning Call, Nov. 6. 2014, p. 6)

While I agree with the court’s decision, I do have sympathy for the student.  I never gave any points whatsoever for participation in my classes.  What happens if your student is a female Vietnamese who has been taught to respect elders and remain quiet, or a Latino student who is ashamed or his accent, or a blowhard who thinks he can get points by “participating” a great deal, although his contributions are nonsense?

My grades were based on quizzes, finals, and papers.  I am aware that some subjectivity is involved in those grades as well, but it is minimal compared to “participation.”  I had very few students question their course grades; they understood why they received the grade they did.  Grading on participation is simply not fair.  Had I been on the court, I would have added a long footnote chastising the professor.

Ain't whipped yit

When the Tuesday election results came in, I kept thinking of Wash Jones in Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom!  Wash kept telling Col. Sutpen, “Well, Kernel, they kilt us but they ain’t whupped us yit.”  

We ain’t whipped yit.  Knocked down four times, rising up five.

Boycotting the Boatyard

I have never understood why businesses would publicly support a candidate.  Why alienate part of your clientele?  It seems to me as a business, you have three choices.  One is to not put up a sign for either candidate (for example, Diggity Dog in Lehighton).  One is to put out signs for both candidates (for example, Central Lunch in Weissport).  

The third choice is to put out a sign for a candidate and irritate the opponents of that candidate.  The Red Castle in Lehighton, the restaurant in Little Gap, and the biker bar known as “the Boatyard” in Weissport all had signs supporting Heffley.  

I have been in all three establishments, but I can tell you I won’t patronize any of them in the future.

A redeeming feature of politics

Yesterday I drove two people to the polls.  One was a resident of an assisted living facility.  It turned out she knew two of the four poll workers, the couple coming in to vote, and even the guy who was passing out Heffley literature.  She told me she hadn't received that many hugs in years, and she said it was the best day she had had for as long as she could remember.  

The second woman, from East Penn Township, lived in a remote area—the last house on a dead end road.  She used a walker, and wondered if I knew how to fold it.  I assured her I did, and we had a nice conversation on the way to and from the polling place.  

Both women were smart, interesting, and fun to talk to.  It was a reminder of why politics can be a community-building experience.  In a day of Koch Brothers contributions, Ted Cruz crowing, and Republican victories, it was just what I needed.

Congratulations to Doyle Heffley, Nice Guy

Congratulations to Doyle Heffley, who defeated Patti Borger in the race for the 122nd District seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.  By winning a third term, Doyle now qualifies for a state pension, which he so richly deserves for his fine representation of his constituents’ interests.

Actually, I’m no longer so sure about the “nice guy” label.  

Last week in a discussion with a Palmerton Council member, he called Patti Borger a “bitch,” and this morning, when the Mayor of Palmerton tried to shake his hand at the Ambulance Building on Delaware Avenue, he said “fuck you” to the Mayor—twice.  

Tomorrow's election

Four billion dollars spent on a midterm election.  Much of the money from secret PACs who need not report contributions.  Voter suppression in North Carolina, Texas, and other states.  A Supreme Court which has turned over elections to people like the Koch Brothers.  Republican senatorial candidates denying science and glorifying ignorance.

This is a broken system.  

Edward Bernstein was the founder of “democratic socialism.”  Bernstein believed that socialists could use the tools of bourgeois democracy, such as free speech, a free press and free elections, to achieve social reforms without a violent revolution.  

In Europe his “revision” of Marxism was successful.  England, France, Italy, and Germany have all had socialist governments that respected democratic values, contesting for power without violence.  What would have happened if those already in power had cheated on the elections, gerrymandered the districts, spent unlimited amounts of money, and had courts that approved these shenanigans.  What are people to do when the process is corrupt to its core?

Government Health Care--Here to Stay

Ok, boys and girls, time for another poli. sci. lecture from Dr. Roy.

The hardest part of the policy-making process is “getting on the agenda.”  A problem may exist for decades but no bills are introduced, no action is taken.  At some point, the problem is recognized, but it may take additional years for the issue to become part of a public debate.

The problem of health care has long been recognized.  European countries led the way, but by the Truman administration, many U.S. politicians understood that health care in the U.S. was woefully lacking.  

Nixon took a shot at a health plan, as did Clinton, but it wasn’t until the Obama administration that the U.S. was able to enact legislation.  The Affordable Health Care act has many flaws, but literally millions of people, many of them young and poor, now have health care because of it.

This means that health care is firmly on the agenda.  I note that “Doc” Moylan, the Tea Party candidate running against Congressman Matt Cartwright, says he wants to replace the Affordable Health Care Act.  He wants to keep that part about existing preconditions.  He wants to keep that part about staying on your parents’ plan until 26.

Even Mitch McConnell, representing a state with dramatic increases in coverage, is now saying he does not want to repeal the law completely.

Congress may tinker with the program and may even take a symbolic vote to repeal it, but government-assisted health care is here to stay.  Get used to it.

Doyle Heffley and Tom Corbett

This evening gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett brought his campaign to the American Legion in Lehighton in a joint appearance with the candidate for the 122nd House District Doyle Heffley, also known as Corbett’s Mini-Me.

I thought about picketing the event with a sign saying “Thank you, Governor Corbett, for catching Eric Frein single-handedly,” which is the impression I got from Corbett’s news conference, but I decided that I’d rather watch college football than deal with those clowns.