Electronic recycling day

I’ve been collecting flashlight batteries for years.  I generate my own, but I also pick them up from gutters; flashlight batteries are quite toxic to the environment.  Strangely, in an era of high tech, many of our devices run on batteries, including the keyboard on which I’m typing this.  

When I heard that Lehighton was holding an electronic recycling day at the Public Works Garage, I was delighted.  Unfortunately, the recyclers charged $2.00 a pound for the batteries, and I had over 25 pounds.  I can’t tell you the exact amount because the people in charge of the recycling didn’t have a scale.  They also charged $2.00 for each swirly lightbulb, and I had 12 of those.  My cost came to $74, although the nice lady who took my money gave me a discount, so I only had to pay $65.  I hope I’m not getting her into trouble.

Two lessons can be drawn.  First, the environmental costs of batteries are “externalities.”  The environmental costs are external to the consumer costs, to be borne by either the consumer himself or herself, or by the environment.  I’m pleased to say that car batteries now have a charge for recycling, but regular dry cell batteries don’t.  It is time we add the externalities to the consumer cost.

Secondly, how many people will pay to recycle their light bulbs and batteries?  How many will put them in the trash or throw them out beside the road?

Andrew Carnegie and the Koch Brothers

They are all rich bastards who made their money by exploiting workers, by ruthless economic manipulation, and by being in the right place at the right time.  There is a major difference, however, between Carnegie and the Koch Brothers.

Andrew Carnegie used his fortune for good.  Hundreds of libraries across this country owe their existence to Andrew Carnegie.  He not only provided money for the buildings, in many cases he helped with the purchase of the books.

We all know about how the Koch Brothers are funding right-wing candidates and causes.  Now they are pushing to end state mandates on renewable energy.  Earlier this week the Ohio legislature voted to freeze the phasing-in of power that utilities must buy from renewable energy sources.  

Eli Miller, the “Americans for Prosperity” Ohio state director called the rollback a “prudent step.”  He said he was worried about job growth.  Global climate change?  Not so much.

Raise the Wage

A rally to raise the Pennsylvania minimum wage to $10.10 will be held on Tuesday, June 3, in Harrisburg.  My understanding is that attendees will lobby their senators and representatives at 11 a.m., followed by a massive rally on the steps of the Capitol at 1:00 p.m.  Mark your calendar.

We don’t have a bus leaving from Carbon County, but I know from past experience that it takes under two hours to drive to Harrisburg. 

Farmland preservation

Tonight I attended a meeting of the Carbon County Farmland Preservation Board.  This is the board that determines the ranking of farms to be preserved and can approve or disapprove applications.

Here’s the way the program works in Pennsylvania.  After you apply, your farmland is appraised at the value it has as a farm and the value it would have if you subdivided and developed it.  If you broke up the farm into lots and sold the lots, it would be more valuable than if you used the land for farming.  

The value of the land for farming is then subtracted from the value of the land as subdivisions.  You are offered the difference, and if you accept, your land is then considered farmland in perpetuity.  You cannot subdivide, your heirs cannot subdivide, and if you sell the farm, the new buyers cannot subdivide.  Your land will have a “deed restriction” for all time.

To qualify for the program you must have at least 50 acres unless your farm adjoins already preserved farmland, when the amount is 10 acres.  Since our farm adjoined preserved farmland in the Beltzville State Park (which, ironically, was once part of the Christman farm), we qualified although we only had 13 acres.  (We’ve since added another 10.)

Tonight at the meeting I learned that the amount of acres needed has been reduced from 50 to 35.  This means that many more farms in Carbon County will be eligible for the program.  That is very good news.

The HPV vaccine

Suppose you could protect your daughter from contracting cervical cancer caused by human papillomavirus (HPV), which kills about 4,000 women in the U.S. every year.  You could also protect your son from the same virus, which can cause cancers of the vulva, penis, anus, and throat.  According to an article in the Morning Call today, roughly 15,000 women and 7,000 men in the U.S. develop HPV-related cancer.

To prevent HPV-related cancer, you need a series of three shots.  But large numbers of boys and girls are not getting the vaccine, especially in southeastern states, which also have higher rates of cervical cancer.  

A huge problem is that parents are uncomfortable with asking for a vaccine to prevent a sexually-transmitted disease.  They don’t want to think of their child as having sex.  Evidently they’d rather think of their child dying of cervical cancer.

Tipped wages

Barbara Ehrenreich, college graduate and journalist, wanted to see first-hand, how the poor lived after the Clinton Administration welfare reforms.  She thought that she could save money and figure out ways to move out of poverty.  Nickel and Dimed, published in 2001, details what she discovered.  

She found that low paid workers are caught.  The work is often physically demanding, often involves a long commute, and usually lacks any kind of job security.  She learned why low paid workers sometimes live in more expensive motels than in cheaper apartments.  It isn’t because they are stupid; it’s because they can’t afford first and last month’s rent.  One of the jobs she took was that of waitress, and it was brutal.  Most of the readers of this blog do not have that kind of experience.  Neither do I.

I am sorry to admit I did not know until a few weeks ago that workers who receive tips (usually waitresses) have a different minimum wage than other employees. The federal minimum wage that you usually hear about is $7.25 an hour.  “Tipped workers” have a minimum wage rate of $2.83 an hour.  

In Pennsylvania.  $2.83 an hour.

The Revolution will not be on Facebook

The best organizer I know can turn out people to pack a meeting or staff a picket line.  Because of her, our county has a growing cadre of progressives who will ultimately change the political system.

Here’s a quiz.  She does this by:

1.  posting a message on her Facebook page; 

2.  sending out an email to her friends;

3.  making phone call after phone call, cajoling her list of volunteers and getting their commitment to participate.

If you can’t figure out the answer, you are not an organizer.  Last week Thomas Friedman discussed why large scale actions like those in Egypt or Turkey or Occupy Wall Street didn’t result in meaningful changes.  Spread by Twitter and Facebook, thousands turned out.  And then they went home.

To build a progressive organization, you need an organization.  You need the hard work of phoning, meeting, discussing, setting agendas, recruiting members.  It has never been easy.

Indigo buntings and cats

For the past three weeks we’ve had a pair of indigo buntings at our backyard bird feeder.  They really are indigo, and they are increasingly rare.

For the past week, we’ve had a cat hanging around our property.  Some irresponsible owner obviously dropped it off, assuming that the “farmer” would take care of it.

If the cat kills the indigo bunting, leaving its hatchlings to starve, no penalty.  If I shoot the cat and someone sees it, I can be charged with cruelty to animals.  

Will someone please explain that to  me.

All you need is love

I always thought Pennsylvania would be among the last of the states to legalize gay marriage.  I thought the state would beat Alabama and Mississippi, but not by much.  But now, thanks to a federal court decision, men and women can marry in Pennsylvania no matter what their gender.

Gov. Corbett has decided not to appeal, and various commentators are wondering whether this will help his re-election (takes a controversial issue off the table, makes Corbett seem more moderate) or hurt his chances (annoys Republican troglodytes who won’t be enthusiastic in their support).

I really don’t care whether it helps or hurts Corbett’s re-election.  I’m too busy celebrating.

Top Vote Getter

I am pleased to announce that in Towamensing North precinct, the top voter getter was Roy Christman, with 43 votes. John Yudichak received 40 votes, Wolf received fewer than that, and Linda Christman received only 42 voters.  

I want to thank the voters in Towamensing North for their support.  I will do my best to represent their interests their as their Democratic County Committeeman.  

As to my fellow committeewoman, who received only 42 votes, I can only say that you still won the seat of Democratic Committeewoman, even if you didn’t have as many votes as the front runner.

Getting all medieval

The state legislature of Wyoming has decided to forbid its teachers from saying that global warming is caused by human activity.  The coal and gas industry are important to Wyoming, and the legislators certainly don’t want to call attention to what those industries are doing to the global climate.

Oklahoma will probably follow suit.

We are now legislating ignorance.  I’m waiting for an earth-centered solar system to make a comeback.  After all, the sun rises and sets.  It must revolve around the earth, no matter what Galileo said.

Praise for Judge Steve Serfass

Earlier in the school year an 18-year-old who lived in a group home in Penn Forest Township was arrested for bringing an air pistol to the Jim Thorpe High School where he was a student. He threatened no one, but he did show the pistol to two girls, the word got out, and he was arrested.  This being the era of “zero tolerance,” a.k.a.  the era of “no common sense,” the young man was put in jail and assigned a high bail.  After all, he was a black kid who came from Philadelphia.

I made some phone calls at the time and found out the young man would have a public defender.  Nonetheless, he spent 15 days in jail.

According to an article in the Times News last week, the young man appeared before Judge Steve Serfass and pleaded guilty.  Judge Serfass sentenced him to time already served, said he couldn’t return to Jim Thorpe High, and gave him 100 hours of community service.  Mr. Serfass is to be commended for what I think is a reasonable sentence.  The fifteen days can’t be undone, but at least the young man won’t have to serve more jail time for a stupid act of the kind that 18-year-olds sometimes do.  

Voter Fraud

When I moved from California to Pennsylvania in 2002, it never occurred to me to notify the Registrar of Voters in Marin County that I was no longer a California resident.  That wasn’t even on my “to-do” list.

According to a column by Donald Barnhouse published in the Times News on May 15, I’m committing voter fraud.  In a column entitled “Widespread Voter Fraud,” Barnhouise notes that almost three million voters are registered as active voters in more than one state.  How the heck does that constitute voter fraud?  Do those three million people vote in more than one state?  Do 25 of them vote in more than one state?

He also points out that 2 million dead people are registered to vote and cites this as evidence as voter fraud.  Are those dead people voting?  I know that in Carbon County our Registrar does check the obits every day, but probably most Registrars don’t.  In any case, unless Barnhouse can point to current examples of dead voters casting ballots, there is no fraud.

This is the kind of misleading crap Republicans are using to suppress the vote.  They are either dishonest or stupid.  I’m pretty sure it’s dishonest.

Reversing inequality

In my last post I listed five steps Robert Reich says we could take to reverse the growing inequality in America.  The full list was can be found in the May 26 issue of The Nation.  Here are the remaining five recommendations.  The suggestions are Reich’s; the comments are mine.

6.  Make the payroll tax progressive.  One huge step would be to remove the cap on the portion of income subject to the Social Security payroll tax.  I have never understood the reason for that cap.

7.  Raise the estate tax and eliminate the “stepped-up basis” for determining capital gains at death.  This is where the arcane rules of our tax system elude me.  I have no idea what the “stepped up basis” for determining capital gains at death means.  On the other hand, I’ll bet the Koch Brothers or the Walmart family know exactly what Reich is talking about.

8.  Constrain Wall Street.  Reich suggests that the size of the biggest banks be capped.  Nobody should be “too big to fail.”

9.  Give all Americans a share in future economic gains.  Here Reich suggests that we give every newborn $5000 in a diversified index of stocks and bonds.  I am enough of a realist to realize that that one ain’t every gonna happen.

10.  Get big money out of politics.  The Citizens United decision by the Republican-dominated Supreme Court is destroying democracy in this country.  I keep hoping that at some point a populist movement will emerge to fix that decision.  If it doesn’t, we are destined to see the end of the experiment in popular government our Founding Fathers envisioned.

Robert Reich on inequality

In the latest issue of The Nation, Robert Reich, the force behind the movie “Inequality For All,” lists 10 practical steps to reverse the growing inequality in this country.  The gap between the rich and poor has widened in the “recovery.”   According to Reich, 95% of all the economic gains since the recovery began have gone to the top 1%.

I’ll list Reich’s first five suggestions.  The comments are mine.

1.  Make work pay.  Raise the minimum wage.  No worker who works full time should live in poverty.

2.  Unionize low-wage workers.  You can’t outsource a Subway sandwich maker.  Nor can she (and it’s usually a she) be replaced by a robot.  It’s time for unions.

3.  Invest in education.  The one area in which poor people can gain capital is education.  It should be available from pre-school through college.

4.  Invest in infrastructure.  Bad public transportation, lousy roads, bad water supplies, crappy internet access--we are not #1.

5.   Pay for those investments with higher taxes on the wealthy.  Our whole tax structure is geared to loopholes for the wealthy.  And now the PA legislature is proposing to increase the sales tax, a regressive tax.  It’s time the rich paid their fair share.

To me none of these suggestions are outlandish, or even radical.  They are common sense.  

I’ll give you the remaining five tomorrow.

The Sixth Extinction

I ask myself when I recommend a book, does anyone read any more?  I know my friend Marian does, because she raved about this book, but I’m not so sure about the rest of the population.  On the other hand, I believe the people who read this blog are also the kind of people who still read books. 

Go down to your local library and take out The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert (N.Y.:  Henry Holt and Co., 2014).  Kolbert briefly discusses five previous extinctions of life on earth, some of which lasted for millions of years, although others were almost instantaneous, like the one that killed off the dinosaurs.  

Kolbert now says we are in the middle of he Sixth Extinction.  The unique factor in this one is that it is caused by humans.  While species extinction is usually a gradual process, we are seeing the extinction of thousands of species in a very short span of time.  Kolbert explains why and how this is happening.

Tonight I found a little brown bat on the floor of my shed about 5 p.m.  Little brown bats should be sleeping at 5 p.m., coming out at dusk to feed on insects.  We have lost millions and millions of little brown bats in the last three or four years, and Kolbert explains why this is happening.  Soon a species that was common all across the eastern U.S. will be put on the endangered list.

Kolbert is an excellent writer; the book, while depressing, is also fascinating.  I recommend it.  I wish every Tea Party member would read it, but I am also a realist and know that won’t happen.  The die-off will continue at an accelerated pace, and at some point in the next few hundred years, humans may be a part of that extinction.  This will not mean the end of life on earth, of course.  Some species--rats, for example--will survive and evolve.

Correction:  In the previous post, I said Mike Sauers was a college prof.  Actually he was an elementary school teacher.  I talked to some people whose grandchildren were in his classes.  The kids loved him.  

Mike and Carola Sauers

About three years ago a new couple moved into our neighborhood.  They had bought the Herb Strohl place, and Mike, a college prof, introduced himself.  He said he and his wife Carola wanted to plant trees on the property and keep the land in a natural state.

We came to know Mike fairly well.  He was an environmentalist who cared about his footprint on the land.  This Sunday afternoon he and his wife Carola stopped by to ask me if I knew of a tractor for sale.  The specifications were that it had to be small and inexpensive.  Carola told me, “We thought the famous Roy Christman would know of one.”  I laughed, but she was one of those people to whom one feels an immediate kinship.  We went on to talk about Harris sparrows and snowy owls.

I didn’t know of any tractors, but I put aside my latest copy of Lancaster Farming, a newspaper which has ads for all kinds of farm equipment.  It was sitting on our radiator this afternoon when I brought in today’s Times News and read that Carola had been killed in a crash on 209 between Nesquehoning and Jim Thorpe and that Mike was in critical condition. 

I am still in shock.  

Katie McGinty for Governor

First, let me say that I will vote for the Democratic nominee in the fall--be it McGinty, McCord, Wolf, or Schwartz.  Any of the four Democratic candidates would be a major improvement over the incumbent.

So why McGinty?  She won’t win the primary, and may come in fourth.  Nonetheless, in my view she is the best candidate and would do the best against Corbett.

I like her environmental background.  To me the overriding issue for the next generation is the environment.  While other issues are vitally important, if we destroy our earth, the other issues won’t matter.

Second, she is a decent candidate.  She ran a clean campaign and made the most of limited funds.  I am tired of candidates winning because they have their own money to put into the campaign.  That’s the main reason I won’t vote for Wolf.

Third, I like her stress on education.  Poor people have one source of capital in America--a good education.  McGinty understands that.

Fourth, she has had executive experience in government.  Schwartz has been a legislator--not the best recommendation.  Wolf has executive experience, but in the private sector.  There’s a difference.  The only other candidate who has run an executive department is McCord, but I’m not impressed with his tactics of desperation.

Fifth, she’s been to Carbon County.  I know that isn’t a great reason to vote for a candidate, but at least she knows we are here.  

I’m proud and pleased to support her.

Bethlehem Steel

I’m reading an elementary school book entitled They Came to Pennsylvania, published in 1960.  The chapter on Germans includes the story of the Moravians, who founded Bethlehem.  It contains this paragraph:

For 100 years, only Moravians lived in Bethlehem.  Then other people came to live there.  Now Bethlehem is a busy city.  Steel mills give work to thousands of people.

That is so sad.

Doyle Heffley: Wasting our money

Item #1:  The former tax collector in Mahoning Township, perhaps for medical reasons, was derelict in his duties.  Taxes went uncollected and revenue was not reported.  Now Rep. Heffley has introduced a bill that a deputy tax collector must be appointed in every one of the thousands of municipalities across the state to address a problem faced by one municipality.  

Item #2:  Rep. Heffley voted for and has many times defended Pennsylvania’s Voter I.D. bill.  Yesterday the Governor announced he will not appeal the court ruling that struck down the law.  This after spending $5 million in federal funds to educate voters about the policy, another $1 million in state funds, and close to a million in legal fees, all for a bill that addressed in-person voter fraud, a non-existent problem.

I really don’t enjoy being so critical of Rep. Heffley.  I just wish he’d quit wasting our money.

Harris sparrow

On Tuesday a birder I know from Lehighton parked across the road at the trailhead to Christman Trail.  I told him and his friend about three rose-breasted grosbeaks at our bird feeder, and they walked up our driveway to see them.  The grosbeaks were still there, but the birder exclaimed, “There’s a Harris sparrow!”

I didn’t see the sparrow, but he said that it was a midwestern bird not native to Pennsylvania.  To see one was a special occasion.  

Fifteen minutes later another birder I know from Palmerton knocked on our door and said Dave called him about a Harris sparrow.  He looked out our kitchen window at our backyard but couldn’t spot it.  He went outside and fifteen minutes later knocked on our door with a photo he had just snapped of the Harris sparrow.  It’s a rather plain bird with a black-colored face and an orangey bill.

He asked if we minded if he told other birders.  We said that would be fine.  Today, when I was returning from the chicken coop, a guy had set up a scope in our back yard. It turns out he drove up here all the way from Delaware County just to see the sparrow.  He was here until 5:30, but the bird never reappeared.  It is probably half way to Canada by now.  He did see the Baltimore oriole that’s been hanging around.

Even though Linda and I didn’t see the bird, we are adding it to our life list.  After all, we saw the photo of it sitting in the tree in our back yard.  I think that counts.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor

“Race matters because of the slights, the snickers, the silent judgements that reinforce that most crippling of thoughts: ‘I do not belong here.’”  Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that in her opinion of the Michigan affirmative action case.

The National Review said her opinion was “legally illiterate.”  The Review, according to today’s Times, then said Justice Sotomayor’s opinion was “a case study in the moral and legal corrosion that inevitably results from elevating ethnic-identity politics over the law.”

Really?

And what is it when five justices say it’s ok to mention Christ on the cross in prayers at public meetings?  Or when they say that pre-clearance under the Voting Rights Act is no longer necessary when states suppress voting?  Or when they rule in “Citizens United” that corporations and PACs can give unlimited political contributions?  We don’t think of race and background when white guys do it.  (And yes, Clarence Thomas is a white guy deep down.)  

In case you are wondering what the term “institutional racism” means, look at the current majority on the Supreme Court.  You can figure it out.

Christ on the Cross

Suppose I go to the next meeting of the Towamensing Township Board of Supervisors to ask a question about my garbage bill.  Suppose before the meeting begins, a priest stands up in the front of the room, asks us to bow our heads, and prays “We acknowledge the saving sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.”

Is that not a violation of the First Amendment’s guarantee against the “establishment of religion?”  A majority of the Supreme Court doesn’t think so, and that actual quote was used in the case they decided.

Do you think that I as an atheist will get a fair hearing at that meeting?  What about my Jewish and Hindu and Muslim neighbors?  What is wrong with the Supreme Court?  Is it because a majority are Catholics?  I don’t think that’s it.  I think it’s because a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court is out of contact with the real world. 

Rand Paul: Rupert Murdoch's Lapdog

Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul was walking around the Kentucky Derby with right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch, introducing him to everyone within range and basically sucking up to the man who controls Fox “News” and the Wall Street Journal.  Paul is running for President and would so much like to have Mr. Murdoch’s approval. He was practically panting for Murdoch to throw him a milk bone. 

A few weeks ago a whole gaggle of putative Republican candidates journeyed to Las Vegas to pay obeisance to Sheldon Adelson, casino owner and major moneybags to Republican candidates.  

What a disgusting spectacle.  Can you imagine any of these desperate suck-ups as President? 

Annoying environmentalists--Part II

A true environmentalist is concerned about all species of plants and animals, not just the cute and cuddly ones.  The policy of catching feral cats, neutering them, and then releasing them into the wild, is not an environmental position.  Released into the wild, feral cats may not reproduce, but they will continue to kill birds and small rodents.  The solution:  kill feral cats.

People sometimes release unwanted cats on our farm.  I guess they assume that since it’s a farm, we will be happy to care for a few more cats, and don’t farms like cats in their sheds to catch mice?  No, we don’t.  What am I supposed to do--capture them in a “have-a-heart” trap, take them to a vet, pay for spaying or neutering, and then release them into the wild to kill our goldfinches, bluebirds, and downy woodpeckers? 

“Animal rights” activists believe all animals are precious.  Environmentalists are concerned with saving species, both plant and animal.  If wild horses are propagating at an alarming rate and wrecking western ecosystems, an environmentalist would kill the horses.  An animal rights person would see each horse as precious, whether or not it was wrecking the habitat of some tiny rodent or rare desert plant.  

As you probably guessed, I am an environmentalist, not an animal rights person.  

Annoying environmentalists--Part I

All four Democratic candidates in the Pennsylvania governor’s race favor some sort of tax on the fracking industry.  They differ slightly in amount and type, but they point out that this is a lucrative revenue source tapped by such states as Texas and West Virginia, but not Pennsylvania.

Some environmentalists oppose any tax on the natural gas industry.  They argue that if we tax natural gas extraction, we will soon depend on the revenue and support for the industry will grow.

In a way this does make some sense.  The cigarette tax, the lottery, and casino gambling all take advantage of people’s weaknesses to raise revenue for the state; our revenue stream would take a major hit if people refrained from those activities.  The analogy breaks down, however, when we reflect that the fracking industry is already here, already has support, and is not about to go away, taxed or not taxed. 

Certainly we could take steps to make it less damaging.  Texas has imposed well water standards, Ohio is reducing air pollution from defective oil and gas equipment, and more significantly, Colorado has adopted a “zero tolerance” for methane releases, which is a huge problem in fracking.  According to a recent article by Michael Bloomberg and Fred Krupp of the Environmental Defense Fund, leading oil and gas producers cooperated with Colorado’s regulators.  Let’s regulate the industry, let’s tax the industry, and let us live in the real world.

Political signs

Last week I put up candidate signs in Trachsville, at the end of Spruce Hollow Road in Lower Towamensing, and at the intersection of Hahns Dairy Road and Forest Inn Road.  All of those signs have been removed.  Tomorrow I will put new signs up.  I hope they will remain. 

If they don’t, I would remind the sign takers that this is a game that two can plan.  Those signs better be there until the primary on May 20.

Geologic periods

May Day is the traditional holiday for Marxists and other Reds, but I am not writing about that.  Instead I will discuss a wonderful mnemonic device for remembering geological periods.  

I have been collecting fossils since I was seven years old, and I have memorized the geologic periods many times during my life, but it never sticks.  Now, while reading The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert (I will post about that shortly), I came across a mnemonic device to help me remember.  It is:  Camels Often Sit Down Carefully, Perhaps Their Joints Creak.

That corresponds to:  Cambrian-Ordovician-Silurian-Devonian-Carboniferous-Permian-Triassic-Jurassic-Cretaceous.  I cannot tell you how happy that has made me.