The Republican "Base"

The latest issue of the New Yorker had a description of the Republican base.  Just in case you missed it, the base is, and I am quoting exactly:

“an excitable, overlapping assortment of Fox News friends, Limbaugh dittoheads, Tea Party animals, war whoopers, nativists, Christianist fundamentalists, a la carte Catholics (anti-abortion, yes; anti-torture, no), anti-Rooseveltians (Franklin and Theodore), global-warming denialists, post-Confederate white Southrons, creationists, birthers, market idolaters, Europe demonizers, and gun fetishists....”

Let’s face it.  You might not agree with everything, but the Democratic Party is the adult party, the intelligent party, the reasonable party.  The Republican Party--at least its activist wing--is crazy.  You must have read or heard some of the strange things Santorum has been saying, and he almost won the Michigan primary.  It is mind-boggling--and scary.

The law on fracking in Pennsylvania

At a Carbon County Democrats for Change meeting tonight, attendees were given information on HB 1950, passed by the Pennsylvania legislature and signed by the governor.  Our own representative, Doyle Heffley, voted for the bill.  

Here is what the legislation does.  It allows drilling within 500 feet of a private well or home and within 1000 feet of a public water source.  (There are a number instances of wells being contaminated within 2000 feet of a well site, and a Duke University study recommends a 3000 foot buffer zone.)  All local zoning restrictions on drilling are overridden by the bill.

The bill requires drillers to release the list of chemicals that they use in the “fracking fluid,” but not if they are using a “proprietary” formula.  (All of the drillers claim to use a proprietary formula, so this clause is meaningless.)

The bill allows “affected” counties to impose a 2.5% fee.  (It’s not called a tax, because Governor Corbett said he wouldn’t impose new taxes.)  Texas has 5.4% fee and West Virginia has a 5% fee plus a tax on the sales of natural gas.  As you may know, Texas and West Virginia are not considered liberal states.

The fees, which are estimated to bring in $300 million annually, don’t kick in until 2013.  In the meantime, Pennsylvania is cutting aid to schools and libraries.  

Is it too cynical to wonder if the large contributions from the gas companies affected Corbett’s policy on this issue?  And why would our representative, Doyle Heffley, announce proudly that he supported this legislation? Is this something he is proud to support?  Really?

The Gardens at Monticello

Last Saturday Linda and I visited Monticello, Jefferson’s home near Charlottesville, Virginia.  I’ve always liked Jefferson.  I love the part of his Declaration that says when a government tries to reduce people under absolute despotism, they not only have a right to revolt, it is their duty to revolt.  What an inspiring piece of work.

Jefferson was a naturalist and a scientist.  The Lewis and Clark expedition was sent not only to stake out territory, but also to study flora and fauna and the Indians. Jefferson himself experimented with plants and grew hundreds of experimental varieties of vegetables and berries.  I bought some seed packets of melons and peppers he grew.

So why wasn’t I more awed to be standing in his house, walking in his garden?  I guess I can’t quite get past the slavery issue.  When Jefferson wrote in 1811, “No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden,” he was the master of about 140 slaves, and I’m pretty sure they planted the squash, spread the manure, hoed the corn, pulled the weeds, and picked the raspberries.  

When he wrote about yeoman farmers being the strength of the nation, he was hardly a good example as he sat in Monticello surrounded by thousands of acres.  And did he ever think of that phrase about “absolute despotism” when he had one of the slaves whipped as an example?

I am fully aware that you should not judge historical figures by current standards.  On the other hand, George Washington made provisions to free his slaves and provide care for the older slaves upon his death.  Jefferson’s slaves were sold off.  

Incidentally, the interpretative efforts of the Foundation that runs Monticello do not sugarcoat the issue of slavery.  The souvenir store has a whole table of material on Sally Hemmings and slavery in general, and reconstruction of the slave quarters is in the planning stages.

Protecting Industrial Agriculture

The Indiana legislature, the same group that recently passed a “right to work for less” law, is now turning its attention to aiding industrial hog farmers.  The Indiana House last week passed a bill on a 57-39 vote to force people who file “frivolous” lawsuits against agricultural operations to pay the legal costs of the defendants.

Indiana law already allows judges to impose such fees in cases of frivolous lawsuits.  In the past decade not a single lawsuit involving large scale agriculture has been ruled frivolous, so why the need for the bill?

Kim Ferraro, the water-policy director for the Hoosier Environmental Council, discussed the bill in the Feb. 25 issue of Lancaster Farming, “The idea is to intimidate, to make somebody be worried that they’re going to be on the hook for paying for a defendant’s attorney fees and costs.  It’s a chilling effect.”

By the way, Pennsylvania already has a law protecting farmers for normal agricultural operations.  If I spread horse manure on my garden, my next door neighbor can’t sue me for the smell.  (Horse manure doesn’t really smell anyway, but you get the idea.)  On the other hand, if I keep 1000 hogs in tiny pens, that might not be a “normal” agricultural operation.

Cooper tire update

Cooper Tire Company has reached a tentative settlement with its employees.  I thank the readers who supported the strike.  You can buy Cooper Tires with a clear conscience, but once again, public pressure had an effect.  Nice work.

The news from Newport News

I’m in Newport News, which I always thought was a strange name for a city.  It’s like naming a city Philadelphia Inquirer.  

The big headline in the Richmond, Virginia, newspaper announced that the “Personhood” bill would not be brought up this year.  For those of you who have been living in a cave, the bill defined a zygote as a person.  The bill required any woman who wanted an abortion to submit to an intrusive vaginal ultrasound.  Not kidding.

The important lesson to learn from this whole episode is that public outrage and public pressure worked to kill this legislation.  Remember that.

What happened to us?

In May 1943 the German forces in North Africa, almost 300,000 troops, surrendered to the Allies.  Thousands and thousands of those enemy troops were loaded on Liberty ships and brought to the U.S.  

By the end of the war we had about 500 POW camps in 45 of the 48 states.  The Geneva Convention on war prisoners was honored.  Prisoners were treated so well that some inmates stayed after the war and became American citizens.

Now we have Guantanamo.  In total 779 men and boys.  Now down to 172.  In May 2009 the Senate voted 90-6 that Guantanamo prison should remain open indefinitely, and none of the prisoners could be brought to the U.S.

In January 2011 President Obama signed a defense appropriations bill that had been amended to block funding for any transfer of Guantanamo prisoners to the U.S. 

Home of the brave?  We sure have come a long way from the country that defeated Mussolini, Hitler, and Tojo, haven’t we?

Tear down this dam!

Just north of Yosemite Valley is another valley of breathtaking beauty, but you can’t see it.  The valley, known as Hetch Hetchy, is under water.  A dam flooding the entire valley floor was completed in 1923 to supply San Francisco with water.  The fight to stop the dam, led by John Muir, failed.  One result of that battle was the formation of the Sierra Club, still going strong.  I’m proud to be a member.  

Dan Lundgren, one of the more conservative Republican congressmen, has asked Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar to determine whether San Francisco is doing enough to find other water sources such as recycling or using rainwater.  His district borders Yosemite.

Dianne Feinstein and Nancy Pelosi, with whom I almost always agree, like the arrangement just the way it is.  On this issue, they are wrong. I’m also sure Rep. Lundgren is proposing this to embarrass San Francisco.  Whatever his purpose, I like his proposal.  Hetch Hetchy Dam should never have been built in the first place.  Restore the valley.  Tear down this dam.