Thursday, November 30, 2017

Party of the rich

It is comforting to know that in an era of constant change, some things remain the same.  

When I was growing up, my mom told me “The Republicans are the party of the rich.  The Democrats are the party of the common people.”

Here we are, decades later, and a tax bill that rewards the rich is advancing, cheered on by Republicans in the House and Senate, benefiting the very people who are pushing it in Congress and the White House.  


Some things don’t change.

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

PA legislators get a raise

During Jerry Brown’s first term as governor of California, he advocated a raise for state employees in which every employee would get the same dollar amount, no matter what the level.  As you can imagine, people at the upper levels were furious.

The problem with percentage raises is that the rich get richer.  For example, say a Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice makes $200,000 a year and janitor who cleans the judicial chambers makes $40,000.  If you give them each a 1% raise, the Justice receives $2000 and the janitor $400.  And if you think the Justice works harder, you’ve never been a janitor.

So what is policy in Pennsylvania?  The state gives a percentage raise based on increases in the Consumer Price Index.  Our legislators, the second highest paid in the nation, will get an increase of about $700.  That will give them an annual income of almost $87,200, and that is base pay.  

The leadership, like Mike Turzai(R-Allegheny), receives about $136,000.  This is a leader who is clueless about what the citizens of Pennsylvania need, and he’s getting a raise.  In fact, the Republican majority in both houses has a dismal record this session, but they will all get raises.

Did I mention the per diem?

Figures are taken from Marc Levy, “State officials to get pay raise in 2018,” Morning Call (Nov. 29, 2017), p. 7.


Tuesday, November 28, 2017

One more reason not to shop at Walmart

In the last year Walmart has spent nearly $4 billion buying up e-commerce companies with thousands of workers.  

In October many of these employees learned their costs for medical expenses would increase in 2018, in some cases by thousands of dollars.

Perhaps the worst part of Walmart’s reduction in benefits is that it will put pressure on other companies in the e-commerce sector to do the same.

I really hate this company.  I have never shopped there and never will.


Information for this article came from Noam Scheiber and Michael McCorkery, “As Walmart Scoops Up Firms in E-Commerce,Benefits Start to Shrink,” New York Times, (Nov. 28, 2017), p. B7.

Monday, November 27, 2017

Deer Season

I’m not much of a hunter.  When I was in high school deer hunters often met in our house.  The sun was barely up, it was cold, sometimes snowing, and I was always happy to go to school rather than into the woods.  I hunted a few times, but I never saw a deer, probably because I made too much noise and scared them away.

Nonetheless, I absorbed some lessons from my dad, an excellent deer hunter.  First, always be sure of your target.  If you are not absolutely sure, don’t shoot.  Yesterday a woman was killed in Western New York by a guy who shot a pistol at what he thought was a deer, after sunset. It is illegal to hunt after sunset, and obviously the shooter could not see what he was shooting at.  He knew something was wrong when he heard a scream.

Another lesson was never put a loaded gun away.  Always make sure it is empty of bullets.  When I put away my 22, I always pumped it once, pointed it to the ceiling, and pulled the trigger just to make sure it was empty.  One time it wasn’t, and I shot into the ceiling, but better into the ceiling than into a person.  Yesterday a three-year-old kid in Philadelphia shot herself with a gun that was put away loaded.  


My dad was a wise man.

Sunday, November 26, 2017

A lesson on eggs

In Europe eggs are seldom refrigerated.  Washing eggs is not required, and, in fact, is against the law in France.  Eggs have a natural protective film that prevents Salmonella from entering the eggs.  Because European eggs retain that film, there is no need to refrigerate them.

In the U.S. the Department of Agriculture requires commercial egg producers to clean and sanitize the eggs, which involves washing.  The washing process removes the dirt and possible fecal matter, but it also removes the protective film.  That means the eggs must be kept in a location where the temperature does not exceed 45 degrees Fahrenheit.  That prevents any condensation from building up on the egg surface, which in turn allows Salmonella to penetrate the shell.  

With a flock of 13 chickens, I don’t wash the eggs, although I do sometimes wipe them if they are dirty.  I also refrigerate them, since that is what most people expect.  There are times I wish I lived in France.


Actually, since January 20 of this year, I really wish I lived in France.

Saturday, November 25, 2017

The Louisiana Science Education Act of 2008

I read somewhere that when Americans hear someone with a British accent, they automatically add 10 points to that person’s IQ.  By the same token, if they hear a Southern accent, they deduct 10 points. 

The Southern accent deduction might have some rationale.  In 2008 the Louisiana legislature passed the Science Education Act, permitting public school teachers to use materials that undermine scientific findings.  Four specific areas are singled out: “evolution, the origins of life, global warming and human cloning.”  The law still stands, nine years later.


This legislation is bringing “creationism” into the classroom in the guise of “teaching the controversy.”  The message to students is more subtle.  Don’t trust science.  Now we have the Trump administration to echo that sentiment, with its “birther” beliefs, “fake news,” and the theory of “alternative facts.”  We are getting dumber and dumber.

Friday, November 24, 2017

Thanksgiving

I planned to post this last night, but, as usual, I couldn’t figure out how to connect my “air book” to the motel’s Wi-Fi.  This was down in Easton, Maryland, where L. and I spent Thanksgiving on the Eastern Shore eating crab cakes instead of turkey.

Anyway, here are three takes on Thsnksgiving:

I celebrated Thanksgiving in the traditional way:  I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house.  We had an enormous feast.  And then I killed them and took their land.
-Jon Stewart

Thanksgiving is an emotional time.  People travel thousands of miles to be with people they only see once a year.  And then discover once a year is way too often.
-Johnny Carson

Once again, we come to the holiday season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice.
-Dave Barry


Happy belated Thanksgiving, everyone.

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Sexual misconduct

One of the problems of living in a hyper-partisan society is that many of us seem unable to make reasonable judgements.  A perfect example is the attempt to equate the child molester Roy Moore with the boorish pig Al Franken.  

In the interests of rational debate, I’ll try to set up a continuum.  At the one end, I’ll put the case that was recently reported in the Morning Call about a guy who raped a baby.  A baby!  As a member of a jury, I’d go for life in prison on that one, no problem.  

Then we have Harvey Weinstein, who not only exposed himself, but evidently raped women.  (By the way, Donald Trump, President of the United States, has also been accused of this crime.)

Roy Moore’s crime ranks fairly high on the continuum.  It’s obvious that he was involved in what is defined as child abuse.  If you are 15 it’s ok to ask out a 14-year-old, but not when you are in your 30s.  

I will admit that times are changing.  Fifty years ago the idea that a husband could rape his wife would have been seen as nonsense.  According to an article in Time, the first successful prosecution of marital rape occurred in 1979.  I believe at one time grabbing a woman’s butt was regarded as “playful” by many men and a very few women, although I don’t ever recall it was acceptable to “grab them by the pussy,” which Donald Trump, President of the United States, bragged about.

Where you stand on how much punishment should be meted out to men at various points on the continuum is both a legal and a personal judgement.  I personally think someone guilty of pedophilia should not serve in the U.S. Senate.  Someone guilty of forcing his tongue in an adult woman’s mouth certainly behaved in a disgusting manner and today, I believe, could be prosecuted for assault, although probably when Franken did it, it probably would not have been prosecuted.  

The point of this is that not all sexual misconduct is equivalent.  Use some judgement and common sense and put partisan politics aside.  If Toomey had done what Franken did, what would you be saying?  If a Democratic candidate had done what Moore had done, would you call on him (it’s always a him) to resign?  


In the child molestation case, yes.  In the forcible kiss case, I’m still thinking about it, although the fact that 14 of Franken’s female staff members have stated he has always treated them with respect makes me think he is not the same person he once was.  Let’s hope not.

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

59,000 Haitians

After the 2010 earthquake, thousands of Haitians were granted “Temporary Protected Status,” a provision in the law passed during the George Bush administration in 1990 to allow refugees into the U.S.
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and many Haitians on the island depend on remittances from their relatives working in the U.S.

The Trump administration announced that all 59,000 Haitians must leave the U.S. by July 1919 or face deportation.  


Trump did pardon a turkey.  

Monday, November 20, 2017

Bump stocks and walls

Here's how it works.  50-plus people are killed with a rifle converted to automatic with something called a "bump stock," but it is too early to discuss outlawing that item.

Two border patrol agents are shot, and that is used as an excuse to whip up racial hatred and demand a multi-billion dollar wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

This is how things are in America, 2017.

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Accepting torture

Approximately a year ago, the International Committee of the Red Cross surveyed residents of 15 countries to ask if torture was “part of war.”  Sixteen percent of Afghans said it was.  Fifteen percent of Chinese said they would tolerate the torture of enemy combatants.  In the U.S. the figure was 33%, with 46% of Americans saying that enemy combatants could be tortured “to obtain important military information.”

That was a year ago.  We now have had a year of President Trump, who endorsed waterboarding and “a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.”

We have become a force for evil.  We are the people who now set a bad example for the rest of the world, not just on torture, but on climate change, free and fair elections, educational levels, income distribution, mass killings, life expectancy, and infant mortality.  

Information for this post is from Kevin Sieff, “Survey: Torture gains U.S. acceptance,”  Morning Call, (Dec. 8, 1016), p. 16.  The editorial comment is mine.


Saturday, November 18, 2017

75th birthday

Yeah, it was today.  Please, no presents.  I am taking advice from an article entitled “The Art of Aging” by Sparrow that appeared in The Sun last April.  Here are excerpts from just three of the suggestions.

Take naps:  
Napping is an art, like ceramics.  A great nap can reinvent a day.  You awake to clearer, fresher air–happier air.  And old people are allowed to nap.  In fact it’s considered a virtue.

Stop worrying about becoming famous:  
Until you’re twenty-four, there’s a chance you’ll be a celebrity, even if you’re completely talentless, but as the years go on, that possibility diminishes.  By the time you’re seventy-one, it’s infinitesimal.  Also, you’ve lost touch with the inner circle of pop culture.  You open People magazine, and you’ve never even heard of any of the stars.  (OK, maybe two our of eighty.)

Besides, you’re already famous in your neighborhood, or in your occupation–and that’s good enough.  Instead root for one of your grandchildren to become world-famous.

Stand up for your beliefs:
There’s nothing like a ninety-three year-old at an antiracism rally to bring tears to everyone’s eyes.  Be that person.

I’m have no idea who Sparrow is, but I really like the suggestions.



Friday, November 17, 2017

Pipelines leak. Not if, when.

FERC and the energy industry tell us over and over that pipelines are the safest and most efficient way to move oil and gas.  Yesterday the Keystone pipeline running from Canada across the Great Plains leaked, spilling about 210,000 gallons of oil in South Dakota.

In barrels it is only 5000.  You know how big a barrel is.  Now imagine 100 barrels filled with oil in the Palmerton town park.  Now imagine a thousand, which would pretty much fill the park.  Now add another four thousand, which would not only fill the park, but would stretch out in the streets on all sides.  Now dump them.


On the other hand, if the gas pipeline PennEast/UGI hopes to lay across our field ruptures, we don’t have to worry about a spill.  All we have to worry about is the blast, since we are in the annihilation zone.

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Letter to Senator Toomey

Dear Senator Toomey:

I sometimes wonder if the Republicans in Congress really understand what they are doing. 
  • a permanent tax cut for corporations; a temporary one for individuals.
  • another attempt to end health insurance for millions of Americans.
  • a tax on tuition benefits for college students.
  • a ballooning deficit, and the forlorn hope that the economy will boom and offset the cuts, which has never happened yet.
  • an end to the estate tax (or as you so cutely label it the death tax) which affects fewer than one percent of American citizens.
I could go on, but why bother?  You are an intelligent man; you know what you and your colleagues are doing.  And for what?  To claim a victory for Trump.  It may be a victory, but it is leading to a hereditary aristocracy, it is punishing the middle class, and it is rewarding the people at the top.  Some victory.


In anger,
Roy Christman

Breaking news-Big oil spill on the Keystone Pipeline today.  More tomorrow.

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Susan Stamper Brown comes through

I kept waiting for some idiot to ignore the 26 people killed in the church in Texas and praise the man who fired at the gunman, thus illustrating the need to carry weaponry.

Sure enough, along comes Susan Stamper Brown, a sometimes opinion columnist for the Lehighton Times News, who today stressed that this Texas gun owner stopped the murderer “from continuing his carnage.”  She does not mention that the gunman had already left the church.

She fails to address the gun safety issue of how the killer got his weaponry, nor why such weapons were even available.  She also fails to note that the good guy with the gun was 26 deaths too late.


The Times News has a gmail address where one can contact Ms. Brown.  I don’t see any reason to waste my time doing that.  I won’t be able to penetrate that wall of ideology.

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

3rd World Nation

In past regime changes in the developing world, it is sometimes the case that the winning candidate, or coup leader, or dictator, arrests and jails his former opponent.  (It’s always a “he.”)

Now I see that Breitbart, a hate-filled organization, and Fox News, likewise, are calling for an investigation on a made-up charge against Clinton for a uranium sale to Russia.  

Why investigate?  Why not do what they do in the Philippines, or Egypt, or Zimbabwe.  We don’t need no stinkin’ investigation.  Fox News and Breitbart and Trump know she is guilty.  Lock her up!

On another note:  Any Alabama politician who wears a cowboy hat (I’m talking about you, Roy S. Moore) should be immediately disqualified from running for office.  You can get away with that in Wyoming, maybe even in Texas, but not in Alabama, you pervert.


Monday, November 13, 2017

The Cuban missile crisis in slow motion

Since the late 40s the United States and the Soviet Union, now Russia, have possessed enough nuclear weapons to annihilate each other.  In all that time, neither country has used those weapons.

What prevented nuclear war was mutual deterrence, often called “mutually assured destruction,” or M.A.D.  I’ll admit those initials are somewhat ironic, but the doctrine worked.  Each side knew that if it launched nuclear weapons, it would be destroyed in turn.

Defensive measures were destabilizing, since if the U.S. could knock down all of the incoming missiles, it might be tempted to launch a first strike.  On the other hand, a defensive system would have to work perfectly within minutes the first time it was ever used with no full test of the system beforehand.  If Russia launched 1000 nuclear warheads and only 1% got through, the damage would still be unacceptable.  End result: nuclear standoff.

We did come dangerously close to a nuclear exchange (I love that phrase–sounds so Christmasy) during the Cuban missile crisis.  American generals wanted to bomb Cuba, and the U.S.S.R. would have responded.  Luckily, of the three leaders–Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro–only Castro wanted to fight.  The U.S. and the Soviet Union compromised (U.S.S.R. missiles out of Cuba, American missiles out of Turkey).

Now we have a problem with North Korea, and it seems neither Kim nor Trump are being very adult about this.  We do have cooler heads in Washington, but whether or not they can restrain Trump is problematic.  As for Kim, who knows?  

Nonetheless, M.A.D. certainly remains a viable option.  There is no reason to think that Kim or Trump are suicidal.  The problem is that Kim’s missiles may not be capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, which in turn may encourage Trump to act in a preemptive strike.  Even a preemptive strike will results in millions of deaths in South Korea and probably Japan.  And keep in mind the decision to use a nuclear first strike rests in the hands of a man who has not shown mature judgement.


The phrase “the Cuban missile crisis in slow motion” was coined by the international relations scholar Robert Litwak.  I wish I had thought of it.

Sunday, November 12, 2017

In Putin We Trust

Trump says we don’t have to worry about Russian meddling in the 2016 Presidential election because Putin assured him that the Russians did not do that sort of thing.  

Did you see the photo of Putin with Trump?  Putin seems to be thinking, “What a chump.”


I”m not the best at reading Russian facial expressions, however.  Putin may be thinking, “What an idiot.”

Saturday, November 11, 2017

Trump gets to Vietnam

Bone spur Trump finally made it to Vietnam, 50 years late.  At least he got there on Veterans’ Day.  We can all be so proud.

Friday, November 10, 2017

China and Weatherly, Pennsylvania

Weatherly, Pennsylvania, has adopted a new policy regarding kneeling for the national anthem.  According to an article in the Times News, there is “zero tolerance for any student, staff or coach for kneeling during the national anthem.  Anyone caught will be dismissed for the season.”

In China you can get three years in prison for disrespecting the national anthem.  I don’t understand why Weatherly can’t be more like Communist China and throw kids in jail for three years.  Why is the school board so lenient? 


Do I have to spell out that I’m being sarcastic here?  It occurs to me that since I am talking about people who live in Weatherly, I probably do.

Thursday, November 9, 2017

Loving America

I needed this last election.  If you were like me, you’ve been depressed for a full year.  Then a ray of sunshine parted the clouds.

In Hoboken a Sikh was elected mayor after a campaign in which anonymous flyers called him a terrorist.  

In Manassas, Virginiia,  Danica Roem, a transgender woman, beat a 26-year incumbent, even though the state Republican party called her morally degenerate.  Her heavy metal band, Cab Ride Home, will be on hiatus while she serves in the legislature.

In Seattle, Jenny Durkan, a former U.S. attorney and former member of the Teamsters Union (so she’s a union sister of mine), was elected the first openly lesbian mayor of that city.

In Topeka, Kansas, Michelle De La Isla, homeless at 17, pregnant at 19, was elected mayor.  Ms. De La Isla, who went to college at Wichita State University, ran Topeka’s Habitat for Humanity program.  Topeka, as you might expect, has very few Latino voters.

Wilmot Collins, who settled in Helena, Montana, as a refugee from Liberia in 1994, is now the mayor of Helena.  He has also been in the Naval Reserve for the past two decades.


There are times when I just love America.  This past year shook my faith in my country, but this past election has been a restorative experience.  I am proud again.

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Judicial races in Pennsylvania

Seven statewide judicial races were on yesterday’s ballot.   Democrats won six of them.  In a statewide race the Republicans couldn’t gerrymander the districts.  There were no districts.  That’s what happens when an election is fair.


It is also the reason Barletta is going down in his race against Casey.  The whole state votes.  Barletta is toast.

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Trump's party

The Republican Party has lost its soul.  In Virginia the Republican candidate for governor said the Democratic candidate, Ralph Northam, supported a sanctuary cities policy that meant illegal immigrants would be let loose on the streets, including the gang known as MS-13.

In New Jersey the Republican candidate for governor implied that the Democratic candidate supported policies that would protect murderers like a Peruvian immigrant named Jose Carranza.  An ad said that the Democratic candidate “will have the backs of deranged murderers like Carranza.”

As I write this, it appears that both of these Republicans have lost, and their desperate tactics have failed.  I want to point out that no Republican leaders have disavowed these tactics.  Sen. Toomey, Mitch McConnell, and other Republican leaders have said nothing.  


This is the new Republican Party.  If tactics like this worked for Trump, maybe they will work for other Republicans, and whatever wins the election is ok.  I’m happy that these two Republicans lost.

Monday, November 6, 2017

Shad population rises

Today I have a whole new attitude.

First according to a front page article in the Allentown Morning Call, the shad population is rising on the Delaware River.  This is attributed to cleaner water and dam removal.  It shows the importance of our environmental protections.


Secondly, Trump, in talking about the automatic weapons massacre at the Texas church, noted that mental illness is a problem in this country.  I’m thinking he will look in the mirror and have an epiphany.  

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Tired

I posted every evening in October.  I try to be interesting, occasionally funny, often informative, now and then sarcastic.  

Sometimes, however, I just feel like giving up.  The bonobo apes are near extinction because people are stealing ape babies to sell as pets.  Over a score of people are dead in a Texas church.  Trump is our president.  The Republican congress is about to pass a bill to benefit the rich.  Fewer than half the electorate will vote on Tuesday, and of those who do, almost none will know anything about the judicial candidates.  There never seems to be any good news, nothing positive.


I know we have to keep fighting, but sometimes I just feel so discouraged.  It seems like the bad guys are winning.

Saturday, November 4, 2017

Sallie Mundy, prostitute for the N.R.A.

Suppose you had a judge who told you how she would rule before the case came before her court?  Well, you have one.  Her name is Sallie Mundy, she’s running for the PA. Supreme Court, and she is supported by a mailer paid for by the N.R.A.  The gun lobby calls her “the only candidate who will stand up for the rights of gun owners.”  The ad also has a picture of Ms. Mundy firing a pistol.

The ad also backs every Republican candidate running for a judicial seat.


This is the problem with electing judges.  They sell their soul to interest groups who have the funds to support their candidacy.  Some judicial candidates, of course, resist the temptation.  Unfortunately, they are usually the candidates who lose.

Friday, November 3, 2017

Hate groups on the Times News opinion page

Twice in recent weeks the Times News has run anti-immigrant columns by Joe Guzzardi, identified as a Californians for Population Stabilization Senior Writing Fellow.  The latest one was published today, Friday, November 3.  The Southern Poverty Law Center has identified Californians for Population Stabilization as a hate group.

In an earlier column Mr. Guzzardi quoted at length from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, using statistics from that group to prove that immigrants were a drain on the economy.  The Federation for American Immigration Reform has also been identified as a hate group.


I know the Times News is a very conservative newspaper, owned by a very conservative publisher.  Nonetheless, I had hoped the paper would not stoop to using material from racist hate groups.  

Thursday, November 2, 2017

Trump's prayers answered

After a driver in Charlottesville ran a car into a crowd, Trump kept asking, “Was it a Muslim?  Was it a Muslim?”  When told it wasn’t, he muttered “shit” and proceeded to blame both sides.

After the Las Vegas shooting, Trump kept asking, “Was it a Muslim?  Was it a Muslim?”  When told it wasn’t he muttered “shit” and proceeded to say it was too early to discuss gun legislation.

After the driver killed eight people in New York, Trump kept asking, “Was it a Muslim?  Was it a Muslim?”  When told it was, Trump pumped his fist and yelled “Yes!”  He then proceeded to blame Obama, call for the perpetrator to be put in Guantanamo, and whip up his base by tarring all Muslims.  He is so happy.


Wednesday, November 1, 2017

"the deconstruction of the administrative state"

That’s Steve Bannon’s term for the elimination of environmental and consumer protections.  Bannon may be gone, but cabinet officials are proceeding to carry out his objectives.  

On Tuesday Scott Pruitt, head of the E.P.A., dropped scientists and academics from a number of advisory positions and replaced them with industry representatives.  He also barred anyone who receives grants from the E.P.A. from advising the agency on scientific matters.

E.P.A. grants are used to study environmental issues, and the rule will eliminate a large number of experts.  Pruitt says he is doing this to avoid a conflict of interest.  


The industry flacks who are replacing the dismissed experts get no grant money, so they will not have a conflict of interest, according to Pruitt.