Sunday, December 30, 2012

Rand Paul is right, Obama is wrong


Congress can’t pass a bill raising taxes on the top 2%, but by God it can still get a bill through to permit spying on American citizens.  By a vote of 73-23, the Senate adopted legislation, supported by intelligence agencies and President Obama, to collect electronic data inside the U.S. without obtaining a warrant.  The House approved the bill last September on a 301-118 vote.  The overall policy is authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA.

Here’s what Senator Paul said:  “The Fourth Amendment was written in a different time and a different age, but its necessity and its truth are timeless.  Over the past few decades our right to privacy has been eroded.  We have become lazy and haphazard in our vigilance.  Digital records seem to get less protection than paper records.”  

The Senate bill was opposed by 19 Democrats, 3 Republicans, and one independent.  The New York Times buried the article about the bill on page 12 of Saturday’s paper.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Reasonable suggestions


The Times News today printed a letter from Towamensing Township resident George White headlined “It’s Time to Act.”  Mr. White noted that there was no reason for the average citizen to own assault or automatic or semi-automatic weapons.

Mr. White had a number of reasonable suggestions:
  • ban the purchase of assault and automatic weapons.
  • stringent background checks for all gun purchases.
  • trigger locks on all guns.
  • responsibility of gun owners for their guns.  If your gun is used in a shooting, you are an accessory to the crime.
Those are four good suggestions.  None of them take away hunting rifles, shotguns, or pistols.  Unfortunately, the N.R.A., while it pretends to represent hunters like Mr. White and me, actually represents gun manufacturers and dealers.  

Some of its stands make no sense whatsoever.  Let me give you just one more example of the N.R.A.’s craziness.  Lead bullets used in hunting enter the food chain.  If an animal is wounded and dies, scavengers often ingest the bullets.  Pellets used in waterfowl hunting fall into bays and estuaries and pollute the environment.  Alternatives to lead ammo have been available for years.  The N.R.A. opposes all efforts to make lead ammo illegal. 


Friday, December 28, 2012

Sending a message to Lou Barletta


Fifteen people participated in a “press event” in Jim Thorpe today.  We carried signs that said “No Tax Increase for the Middle Class” and “Middle Class Over Millionaires” and “No Tax Hike for the Working Class.”  One of the posters pointed out that if we go over the “Fiscal Cliff,” the average annual tax bill will increase by about $2200.

Our congressman and Tea Party supporter, Lou Barletta, has been AWOL on the whole issue.  During his first two years in Congress, he represented the wealthy segment of American society very well.  The rest of us--not so much.

The event was covered by the Times News and Channel 13.  The organizers were Linda Christman of the CCDC, Mike Morrill of Keystone Progress, and Terry Whiteman, the president of the Carbon County Labor Chapter.  

It was fun to twist Barletta’s tail, but I don’t think he will change his behavior.  The only way to deal with a a representative who puts his ideology ahead of the national interest is to vote him out of office. 

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Firing back at the N.R.A.


In my last posting I noted that I thought that the N.R.A. executive V.P. Wayne LaPierre had a point when he criticized violent video games.  He should have also mentioned that the gun manufacturers and the game producers have a symbiotic relationship.  Electronic Arts, the company that makes Medal of Honor Warfighter and similar games, for a time actually offered a link to catalogs of the type of weapons used in the games.  Real weapons are used as models for the games.  (See today’s New York Times, p. 26, “The Gun-Game Complex”).

And just in case you need one, here is another reason to dislike the N.R.A.  In 2004 the National Research Council released a report entitled “Firearms and Violence.”  The conclusion was somewhat wishy-washy, but called for a program of data collection and research to establish which policies worked best to prevent gun violence.

Since 2004, however, the N.R.A. has been largely successful in blocking funding for research on weapon-related injuries and deaths.  I am sure the reason is because the N.R.A. is worried that the researchers will find a clear link between lax gun laws and the death rate from guns.  Incidentally, the states with the most restrictive laws, such as New York and California, do have a lower percentage of death by firearms than states like Texas and Alabama.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

The N.R.A. has a point


Wayne LaPierre of the N.R.A. made some embarrassingly stupid comments after the school massacre in Newtown, and I will address some of those tomorrow night.  One of his statements, however, resonates with me.  He criticized violent video games.

Gamers reacted in the same way that the N.R.A. does when liberals push for regulating gun show purchases.  They got all defensive and denied that video games have any effect on behavior.  Here’s Chris Suellentrop, who writes about games for the New York Times:  “There’s no evidence that video games cause--or even correlate with--violence, and that can’t be stated often enough.”  

Really?  That sounds a lot like: “There’s no evidence that stronger gun regulations will reduce violent crime.”

When Hitler’s favorite director, Leni Riefenstahl, made films with fleeing Jews interspersed with running rats, you think that didn’t have an effect?  Look at “Birth of a Nation” and the resurgence of the Klan.  Look at the way gangsters tried to emulate the characters in the Godfather movies.  And those were films.  In video games, you do the shooting, and you create the blood and flying body parts. 

I’ve read that the average American boy plays video games--many of them incredibly bloody and violent--an average of 10,000 hours by the time he is 18.  That has to have an effect.

Finally, if what we watch doesn’t affect us, somebody better explain to the ad agencies why those Superbowl commercials and those political ads by the Obama campaign were such a waste of money.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Keep istm in Christmas


Because otherwise it would be Chras.  But seriously folks, atheists, at least the ones I know, celebrate the holidays.  We might not go to synagogue or mosque or midnight mass, but the giving of gifts, the general happiness that goes with the season--too good to pass up just because one doesn’t believe in the existence of some higher being.

So, to all my readers, have a great holiday, no matter what your religion or lack thereof.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Another Times News debacle


A letter appeared in the Times News from me on Saturday.  The letter noted that U.S. government savings bonds were no longer sold at banks, and that you had to buy them on the internet.  I pointed out that the internet was often unfamiliar to elderly people, and that some people, like me, did not have credit cards.  The letter was addressed to Rep. Barletta and asked for his help to get the policy changed.

I also sent copies to the Times News and the Hazleton Standard Speaker. The letter clearly was addressed to Barletta, not “Dear Editor.”  I did not ask the Times News for help, as the letter in the paper implied.  

The contrast of the Times News with the Standard Speaker was stark.  A reporter from that paper called the  U.S. Treasury Department.  He found out that you really don’t need a credit card.  You can purchase savings bonds by using that long number that is on every check. After getting that information, he called me to tell me the news.  

The Standard Speaker is a real newspaper.  I so wish it was available down here.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

The N.R.A., shill for the arms companies


When I was picketing the Romney rally in Weatherly earlier this year, I was asked if I were a Communist.  The question surprised me, and I answered no, but then I said I thought Marxist analysis can explain a good deal of politics.  My interrogator asked me to explain, and I told him you could sum it up in three words, “Follow the money.”

Yesterday I read in a New York Times editorial that the gun industry is a major contributor to the N.R.A.  Since the N.R.A. does not publish a list of donors, the best estimate is between $14.7 and $39.9 million since 2005.  Even that high figure might be conservative. 

Since a large majority of N.R.A. members support background checks for gun purchasers at gun shows, you’d think the organization might reconsider its stand.  No way.  There’s money to be made.  If a few kids get killed here or there, so be it.

Friday, December 21, 2012

Municipal bonds, cont.


I suppose I should restrict my postings to topics about which I’m an expert, but if I did that, I wouldn’t be posting very often.  I certainly am not an expert on financial matters.  To me a good investment is a passbook savings account.  

One of my alert readers, who is also a financial advisor, had some comments on the last posting on municipal bonds, where I basically said--let’s tax the interest.  He sent me a long email, and I thought it was worth reprinting.  He did ask that his name not be used.  Here’s what he said, slightly edited:

As much as I usually agree with your posts, this one is way off base.  

While it's true that munis benefit higher net worth investors, I believe that they actually help increase the quality of life for people of average means more.  Let me explain.  When I set up a portfolio for someone when they are retired there are a number of factors to be taken into account.  Not least among them is how their income will effect their eligibility for government programs.  If people have too much investment income in addition to social security and their pensions, then they are usually denied the programs that most seniors qualify for.  This generally serves to decrease their real income by thousands of dollars per year while someone that made only a little less enjoys all of the government programs.  The only real tool at people's disposal to combat that is muni bonds.  It serves to cut their investment income to nothing while also decreasing their actual return by 50-75%.  Its not as if muni bonds are paying some great interest rate...they're not.  

To your point on Munis costing $10,000 to purchase.  That is also incorrect.  The only "people" that buy individual munis are institutional investors such as trust departments and pension funds.  The average investor will tend to buy a muni bond fund.  This gives them diversification and also keeps costs down since the fund does all of the trading for them and allows them to avoid costly commission charges while still being paid a monthly income.  The minimum investment amount for a muni bond fund is $250 for IRA/401k money and $1000 for regular money.  

That being said I only use them for most clients if they have a tax issues since the return stinks.  For most people it’s more beneficial to make 6-7% on a taxable investment rather than 1-2% on munis.

I'm sure you have heard all about the effects that munis have on municipalities and school districts, etc.  

If your touch the tax savings on munis, then borrowing rates for local government entities will likely at least double which will cause large tax increases and municipal bankruptcies which we can't afford.

My only comment is that I didn’t think that municipal bonds would affect municipal bankruptcies, since they are not issued for day-to-day municipal budgets.  I’m not even sure about that.

In the meantime, the Mayan calendar was wrong.  Or did I get the date wrong, and the world ends tomorrow?  Wait and see.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Municipal bonds


The Business Section of today’s New York Times had an article about a possible elimination of the tax exemption currently granted to the interest accrued on municipal bonds.  Under current I.R.S. law, if you by municipal bonds, the interest you get is not taxed at the federal level.  Evidently, President Obama and Speaker Boehner are close  to agreeing that the exemption should be eliminated, at least for the taxpayers in the top brackets.

I  called Lois, a friend of mine who is a tax consultant, and asked her to explain this whole issue.  Lois said that--for example--if you buy a Pennsylvania municipal bond, you are exempt from federal and Pennsylvania income taxes, so you need to figure out whether the lower tax rates will offset the lower interest rates you get on the municipal bonds.  Obviously the agencies issuing municipal bonds would like to continue the exemption, because they can keep their interest payments at a lower level than private bonds.

Here’s the kicker.  Lois told me that generally the minimum you need to invest in municipal bonds is $10,000.  I don’t know how many of my readers have $10,000 sitting around to invest, but I have a feeling it is a small number.  Here we have a debate on a tax policy, that, let’s face it, involves only a small percentage of Americans.  The amount at stake is approximately $32 billion.

My partner, who reads my postings for typos, vehemently disagrees with this message.  As a former local government official, she points out that the average taxpayer benefits from the sale of municipal bonds.  Bridges are built, flood control dikes are erected, infrastructure improvements are made because people are willing to invest in municipal bonds even though the interest rates are lower, because the interest is tax exempt.   My response is, yeah, but the rich are the people who still benefit.  She is looking at the infrastructure improvement.  I’m looking at the class warfare aspect.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Rick Perry, always a jerk


For many years I kept a file of strange and unusual news stories.  I called it my “trivia” file.  I’ve decided to chuck it, but as I was going through it, a small blurb from the Feb. 10, 1991, San Jose Mercury News caught my eye.  Here it is, in its entirety:

When a Republican candidate for Texas Agriculture Commissioner tried to hurt his opponent in August by claiming that the Democrat had visited “Jane Fonda’s home,” columnist Molly Ivins asked for an explanation.  GOP spokesman Rick Perry said the Democrat had visited “Los Angeles several times,” pointing out that he thought Los Angeles is where Jane Fonda lives.

Rick Perry was a front runner for the Republican nomination for president of the United States earlier this year.  Truly amazing.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

"Zero Dark Thirty"


“Zero Dark Thirty,” a movie directed by Kathryn Bigelow about the killing of Osama bin Laden, opens in a few theaters in New York and L.A. tomorrow and in theaters across the nation in January.  The film contains graphic and horrifying scenes of Americans torturing prisoners, and, although it is somewhat ambiguous, seems to imply that at least some of the information used to locate Osama may have been found because of torture.

I don’t plan to see the film.  I am bothered by three things.  First, from what I have read, American agents did not find Osama because of information gleaned in torture sessions.  They found him the old-fashioned way through good intelligence work.

Secondly, if we had to use torture to find Osama bin Laden, then finding him was not worth it.  In fact, I’m not sure spending so much effort was even worth it.  Ask yourself, is the U.S. safer now that he is dead?  Is the war in Afghanistan going so much better?  Did Iran quit working on nuclear weapons?  Did the TSA shut down its airport security operation?  I’ll admit that it felt good to get the bastard, but if we had to abandon all of our ideals to do that, it was too high a cost.

Finally, and this is what bothers me the most about the film, every time torture is depicted, we become hardened to it.  Every time a show like the Fox drama “Twenty-four” is run, more Americans begin to accept that this is something our country and its representatives do.  Not everyone in the audience will be sickened by those scenes.  Some of the viewers will enjoy them.  We don’t want torture to become the new norm.  I’m afraid for millions of Americans, it already has.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Florida to English majors: Drop Dead


Rick Scott, Governor of Florida, wants the 12 state universities to freeze tuition rates in certain majors like engineering or biotechnology.  He is also calling on the state’s 28 colleges to offer certain degrees for $10,000 based on the needs of society and whether or not the students find jobs after graduation.  It is fairly obvious that among the majors not needed are history or English or--dare I say it--political science.

This whole idea may be something of a gimmick.  According to Lizette Alvarez in the December 12 New York Times, “State spending per student declined 26% from 2006 to 2011....”  Last year Florida cut higher ed by another $300 million.  Governor Scott may simply be trying to divert attention from his past policies.

Even if he is sincere, what should government do to steer students in certain directions?  At San Jose State engineering and computer sciences were far more popular majors than English or political science because that’s where the jobs were.  It was my experience that people who majored in political philosophy or environmental studies were the kind of people who had other interests besides making money.  

Or it may have been because political science majors never really got algebra or calculus.  I speak from personal experience here.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Dates for your 2013 calendar


Saturday, January 19:  The Democratic Information Center will hold a grand opening at 2 p.m.  The D.I.C. is located at 110 South Main Street in Lehighton, in the same location as the former Carbon County Democratic Headquarters. Refreshments will be served.

Saturday, February 9:  We are kicking off our first voter registration drive in downtown Lehighton.  Canvassers will meet at 9:30 a.m. at the Democratic Information Center for training and assignment of turfs.  We are planning one registration canvass each month; our second drive will be in Beaver Meadows at a date to be announced.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Predictions


In the wake of the massacre of the Connecticut children, some of whom were the age of our grandson, I predict three things:
1.  gun stores will report a rush on handgun purchases by people who are fearful that sales of such weapons may be restricted.
2.  no meaningful legislation related to handguns or assault rifles will be passed.
3.  another mass killing will take place within the next six months.  But we know the drill, don’t we?  The candles, the flowers, the vigils, the grief counselors, the interviews, the somber tones of the reporters.  I’m sick of it.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Where do Republicans go?


Before the November election my sister-in-law Jeannine told us, “If Romney wins, we’re moving to Canada.”  When Sandra and I were canvassing in Union Hill, we met a woman who told us, “If Romney wins, I’m moving to Canada.”

People have been moving to Canada since the American Revolution, when thousands of Tories took refuge there.  It was a popular destination during the Vietnam War, when the Flying Burrito Brothers sang “Well I’m headed for the nearest foreign border, Vancouver may be just my kind of town.”

During the George W. Bush administration, the number of Americans who took up permanent residence in Canada jumped from 5,800 in 2000 to 11,200 in 2008.  (I took those figures from an article by John Ortved in the New York Times, Nov. 4, 2012.)  

So where do the Republicans go now that Obama has won?  Although Canada has swung to the right in recent years, the country still has socialized medicine and strict rules on guns.  And while Rush Limbaugh threatened to move to Costa Rica if Obamacare passed, he should know that Costa Rica is a leader in environmental protection.  Given Republican attitudes on Latinos, Mexico and the rest of Latin America are out of the question.

I’ve got it!  They can all move to the Cayman Islands.  They can enjoy the sun and play with their money.  The sooner the better.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Framing the Debate


In his book Don’t Think of an Elephant, George Lakoff discusses the importance of “framing” a political debate.  He notes that conservatives have become very good at defining issues using their terms.  Here’s an example.  Late term abortions are described as “partial birth abortions.”  It sounds as though the woman is being aborted while giving birth.  That is not how late term abortions work, but that is now how they are now defined in the public mind.

Sometimes the framing device doesn’t quite succeed.  Calling the rich people who are getting tax cuts “jobs creators” was an attempt at framing the debate which, I believe, backfired.  At least I’ve heard it used sarcastically on a number of occasions.

On the other hand, the phrase “right to work laws” performed beautifully.  I always call them “right to work for less laws,” but that hasn’t caught on.  The laws that Michigan and Indiana recently adopted are couched in the language of “freedom” from “mandatory dues” and from “coercive union bosses.”  The laws will bring in “new jobs” and “increase economic activity.”

Lost in the debate is that over time those laws will lower wages and decrease the power of employees to stand up to their corporate bosses.  The debate has already been framed in those three words--”right to work.”

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Emma Goldman


I’ve always had a soft spot for anarchists.  I mean the old-fashioned kind who believed that local communities could govern themselves without a central government to give them orders.  Anarchism of this kind actually works.  All you need is three prerequisites.  First, a group of people who share values.  Second, a fairly rural population. (If you have sewage or garbage problems, it won’t work.)  Third, you need a rather simple and localized economic system.  If you have those three, you don’t need a central government.  Think Amish.

Which brings us to Emma Goldman.  A new book on Goldman and her lover Alexander Berkman (the man who shot but didn’t kill Henry Clay Frick) has just been published entitled Sasha and Emma.  Goldman was an excellent public speaker and an opponent of the U.S. entry into World War I, for which she was deported to Russia.  She didn’t fit in any better there, and she died in Toronto in 1940.  

She was a woman who enjoyed life to the hilt.  Her best known slogan, and one which should be remembered in this era of the Arab Spring and the Occupy Wall Street movement, was this:  “If I can’t dance I don’t want to be in your revolution.”  

Monday, December 10, 2012

Best political quote of 2012


Mazie Hirono, Hawaii’s first woman in the U.S. Senate, was talking to a group of political supporters.  She noted that she was an Asian, an immigrant, and a Buddhist.  Somebody in the audience then asked, “Yes, but are you gay?”  Ms. Hirono replied, “Nobody’s perfect.”

Don’t you just love America?

I learned about Ms Hirono’s reply in the December 2012 issue of the Hightower Lowdown, a newsletter edited by Jim Hightower, a real live Texas liberal.  Visit Mr. Hightower’s website at <www.hightowerlowdown.org>.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

San Jose State University pride


For 29 years I was a professor at San Jose State.  I taught in the Political Science, Environmental Studies, and American Studies Departments.  I enjoyed my students and my colleagues.  SJSU began as a “normal school,” educating teachers.  We were never very good in football, but we did have a track team that was at one time of Olympic caliber.  In fact, if you are old enough, you may remember the two runners at the 1968 Olympics, John Carlos and Tommie Smith, who raised their clenched fists in protest to American policies on Vietnam and poverty.

Now a group of students in a sociology course succeeded in raising the minimum wage in San Jose to $10.00 an hour by using the initiative process and an incredible amount of work.  They first got the support of Cindy Chavez, leader of the Central Labor Council, and one of my former students, I am so proud to say. 

According to The Nation (December 17, 2012, pp. 4-6), San Jose is the largest city in the nation to do this.  (Yeah, San Jose is much larger than San Francisco). It will increase the annual take-home pay of minimum wage workers by $4000.  This was a result of a student-labor coalition.  I am so pleased.

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Advertisement for myself


I’ve been writing articles for Carbon County Magazine for the past three years. Carbon County Magazine is a monthly on-line publication edited by my friend Al Zagofsky, who also is a freelancer for the Times News.  

My Carbon County Magazine articles tend to be less overtly political and more personal than the posts on this blog.  My persona on the magazine is that of a wise old farmer who has been around the block a few times.  Check it out--just search for Carbon County Magazine.  There’s only one.

Friday, December 7, 2012

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, again


My American Studies class was team-taught, but my colleagues always allowed me to give the lecture on the rise of labor unions.  In that lecture I always discussed the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.  In March 1911 a fire erupted in a New York garment factory on the 9th, 10th, and 11th floors.  Most of the workers were young women, mostly Jewish and Italian immigrants.  Management had locked the exits to prevent pilfering, and the only way out for most of the women was to jump.  Women plunged to their deaths rather than burn in the fire.  146 people died, including two girls aged 14.  That was the most people killed in a disaster in New York until the 9/11 World Trade Center horror.  

The outrage over the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire led to changes in labor laws in New York and spurred the growth of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union.

Now, 101 years later, we see it repeat, this time in Ashulia, Bangladesh.  Eight stories up.  Windows blocked by grates.  Yarn stored near generators.  112 people dead from fire and smoke.  

These people were making clothes for Wal-Mart and for Sears.  Yes, you can buy cheap clothing at Wal-Mart.  Sure it saves you money.  But somebody pays.  Somebody always pays.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Our Tax Burden


Will this whining about taxes ever stop?

I will now reprint three paragraphs from an article by Benyamin Appelbaum and Robert Gebeloff from the New York Times of November 30.  [And yes, that is how Benyamin spells his name.]  

...in fact, most Americans in 2010 paid far less in total taxes--federal, state and local--than they would have 30 years ago.  According to an analysis by the New York Times, the combination of all income taxes, sales taxes and property taxes took a smaller share of their income than it took from households with the same inflation-adjusted income in 1980.

Households earning more than $200,000 benefited from the largest percentage declines in total taxation as a share of income.  Middle-income households benefited, too.  More than 85 percent of households with earnings above $25,000 paid less in total taxes than comparable households in 1980.

Lower-income households, however, saved little or nothing.  Many pay no federal income taxes, but they do pay a range of other levies, like federal payroll taxes, state sales taxes and local property taxes.  Only about half of taxpaying households with incomes below $25,000 paid less less than in 2010.

Let’s step on the gas and go right over the rim of the fiscal cliff.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Rice lied about the Middle East


She said on a Sunday talk show that “high-quality aluminum tubes that are only suitable for nuclear weapons programs” were imported by Iraq and went on to say, in a memorable phrase, “We don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.”

That would be National Security Advisor Condolezza Rice, and the year was 2002.  It helped to launch a war in which thousands of American troops and even more Iraqis died.  

I don’t recall Senators McCain and Graham making any fuss about that when Condolezza Rice was promoted to Secretary of State.  Now they are trying to prevent Susan Rice from becoming President Obama’s Secretary of State because she repeated what the CIA told her about the attack on the Libyan ambassador.

The hypocrisy of these people is truly amazing.

I want to credit columnist Clarence Page for pointing out the disconnect by the Republican senators in today’s Morning Call.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Ya dance with them that brung ya


Candidate Obama ran on a platform of increasing taxes on the very wealthiest of American taxpayers.  Romney ran to either hold the line on taxes for the rich or cut them--I was never sure exactly where he stood.

Exit polls in battleground states reflected clear class divisions.  People whose annual income was under $30,000 gave Obama 63% of their vote.  In the category between $30,000 to $49,000, Obama received 57% of the vote.

Above that we get into Romney territory.  Voters with an annual income of more than $50,000 voted for Romney by 53%. 

In my view the President has not only a political obligation to the people who elected him, he has a moral obligation not to abandon them.  People on the bottom don’t give many campaign contributions.  They don’t have PACs.  They don’t have lobbyists.  They do have votes, however, and those votes should be honored.  If we have to go over the cliff for them, so be it.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Watching birds


Most birders my age have “life lists” of at least 600 birds.  Lists of over a thousand are not uncommon.  Linda’s and my list stands at 135.  We do have a rule that both of us must see the bird, which does limit us.  I can’t count the kingfisher I saw in Solano County because Linda wasn’t with me, so it really should be 136.  By any birder standard, that is pathetic.

Anyway, to improve my skills, I’m reading a paperback entitled How To Know the Birds by Roger Tory Peterson.  It’s an old book, c. 1949 and 1957.  Even if we take the 2nd date, that makes the book 55 years old.  

Here’s a quote from page 37 on geese.  “Few men have souls so dead that they will not bother to look up when they hear the barking of wild Geese.  For Geese symbolize the mystery of migration more than any other birds, and as harbingers of spring, they are second only to the Robin.”

Last night a huge flock of geese flew over.  I did look up, and they were flying from west to east.  They live here year round, because the lakes no longer freeze over.  They are harbingers all right.  They show that the effects of global warming are already here, and they warn us that things will be worse in the future.

Incidentally, some robins have also been living here year round.

Meanwhile, Tea Party types say that global climate change is a liberal hoax.  Do these people ever get outside?

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Government jobs


This blog is way too partisan, but I can’t help myself.  How can I be middle-of-the-road when one side says stupid things.  Here’s an example.  “Government can’t create jobs, only private industry creates jobs.”  You probably heard Republican candidates repeat that canard during the last election.

Really?

One of the reasons we are taking so long to come out of this deep recession is because local, state, and national governments have laid off so many government workers.  Whether you get your paycheck from a private company or a government agency, you have a job.  And yes, government does create many of those jobs.

Epidemiologists, park rangers, sailors, soldiers, teachers, police officers, TSA personnel, game wardens, FBI agents, firefighters, members of Congress (like Paul Ryan), state store clerks, astronauts, lock tenders on the Intracoastal waterway, air traffic controllers--you get the idea.  

Government jobs are crucial in education, environmental protection, defense, public health, and public safety.  Private enterprise doesn’t fill the need.  To say that government does not create jobs betrays a myopia that is astounding.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Mellow and Brennan


I’m never upset when I read about a Republican legislator who took a bribe or misused staff.  That’s the other team.  That’s not us.

What upsets me is when somebody on my team acts illegally or immorally.  If a Democratic legislator misuses government funds, he or she is not only breaking the law, he or she is betraying our trust and our faith. 

Today Robert Mellow, former leader of Pennsylvania’s Senate Democrats was sentenced to 16 months in prison.  He said he was “...embarrassed and ...ashamed...and very very sorry.”   He used his staff to do political work to advance his own career.  This is one of our guys.  Our guys aren’t supposed to do that.  Go to jail Mr. Mellow.

I’m even more upset about former Democratic State Representative Joe Brennan.  Brennan, who was arrested this past summer for drunken driving and for punching and choking his wife, dropped out of his reelection bid in October.  Now the House Democratic Caucus has given this wife-beating son-of-a-bitch a job as a research analyst for the Legislative Policy and Research Office of the House Democratic Caucus.  He’ll be making $72,000 a year.

No wonder voters get cynical.  No wonder people hate politicians.  And this is being done by my side.