Resolutions

In addition to the usual ones--lose weight, check my email at least once a week, spend more time in the woods--I have three more for 2011.

Write to Heffley, Barletta, and Toomey at least once a month.  You’re thinking why bother, since those right-wing ideologues won’t listen to reason anyway.  Perhaps they won’t, but I plan to let Toomey, Barletta, and Heffley know they have constituents who are environmentalists, feminists, supportive of gay rights, pro-union, and  pro-health care reform.  (And I’m sending real letters on real paper with real stamps--emails are way too easy to delete or ignore.)

Boycott Walmart.  I’ve made that one for years, and I have kept it every year.  I have never shopped at Walmart.  My view is that if you have to go into Walmart to buy something, you really don’t need it.  Walmart is a terrible employer, a bully to its suppliers, a wrecker of small town main street shopping, an unfair competitor, a mainstay of the Chinese economy, a despoiler of Civil War battlefields, and its stores are architectural monstrosities.  What a blight on America, and soon the world.

Continue to blog.  As Groucho Marx once said, “These are my principles.  If you don’t like them, I have others.”

Destination Pittsburgh

Keystone Progress is holding a “Pennsylvania Progressive Summit” in Pittsburgh on January 22-23 at the Sheraton Station Square.  The Summit will feature workshops and training to build a progressive movement in Pennsylvania.  

There’s a registration fee and you’ll have to pay for a room, but this sounds like a worthy  event.  Perhaps one of the Demo clubs in Carbon County can sponsor a delegate.  I’m thinking of attending myself.  

 Mike Morrill <mike@keystoneprogess.org> recently sent me an email about the Summit.    Some readers may remember Mike for his work at the Carbon County Democratic Headquarters in Lehighton before the election.  He’s a great guy, and I believe the Summit will be well worth attending.  

Plus you get to hang out in Pittsburgh.

False optimism

Columnist John Tierney has written a rather smug article about a $5000 bet he made with Matthew Simmons, one-time member of the Council of Foreign Relations and an executive at a Houston bank, regarding the price of oil.  In 2005 Mr. Simmons predicted that the price of oil, then about $65 a barrel, would triple in five years. Mr. Tierney challenged him, and Simmons took the bet.  

Tierney is happy to report that he won.  Oil in 2010 came in below $80 a barrel. Tierney goes on to discuss the ideas of a group called the “Cornucopians,” who follow the philosophy of the late economist Julian L. Simon.  Mr. Simon predicted that we would always have abundant supplies of energy and other resources.

For years writers like Tierney and Simon have been deriding Malthus, or Paul Ehrlich, author of The Population Bomb, or Al Gore and his warnings about global warming.  Environmentalists are frequently compared to Chicken Little, running around the barnyard clucking “The sky is falling, the sky is falling.”  

But Chicken Little is absolutely correct.  Pieces of the sky are already littering the ground.  We are in the middle of the earth’s sixth major species die-off and the first caused by humans.  The growing desertification and population increase in Somalia and the Sudan have already brought violent conflict.  The massacre in Rwanda was largely a result of  pressures on a finite amount of farmland by an exploding population. Millions of Pakistanis live on flood plains, the only fertile land remaining.  As for the idea that we will always have abundant supplies of resources, are the Cornucopians including clean air or clean water or nutritious food?

If you want to read Mr. Tierney’s article, it was in the December 27 Science Section of the New York Times.  

My five favorite Republicans

Sherwood Boehlert--Mr. Boehlert, a congressional representative from upstate New York, has been a strong voice for environmental protection.  I wish he’d switch parties.

Gifford Pinchot--He was elected governor of Pennsylvania in the middle of the Depression, which says something about his politics.  I know some environmentalists don’t like him because he emphasized the utility of conservation as opposed to protecting the environment for its own sake, but hey, by the standards of his time, he was one of the good guys.  (Plus he was married to a real feminist).

Teddy Roosevelt--On trust busting alone he deserves to be on the list. Bully.

William Ruckelshaus--I’d put him on the list for his integrity during the “Saturday Night Massacre,” but he was also the first EPA administrator, and in that position he set an excellent precedent.

Abraham Lincoln--I think the Democrats should hold a Lincoln Day dinner in Carbon County.  If Lincoln were alive today, he would be ashamed of the Republican Party.  He’s definitely one of us.

Unfortunately, four of the five are no longer alive. If you can think of living Republicans who deserve to be on the list, let me know. 

P.S.:

On a different subject entirely, “the wife” will be home from the hospital tomorrow morning.  I want to thank the readers who called or emailed to express their concern.

Death panels

Tomorrow my family is holding a memorial service for my Aunt Margaret.  She died last week at age 94.  She was frail, couldn’t see well, was almost completely deaf, and had talked about welcoming death for years.  

Thank goodness she had a “living will.” Her daughter and son had discussed her wishes with her, and she made it clear that she wanted no “heroic measures” taken to prolong her life.  My cousins and my aunt were intelligent people, and they were familiar with their rights and responsibilities; together they decided just what they expected of the medical profession as life neared its end.  

The Obama administration has now implemented a Medicare policy by administrative action that will pay physicians who counsel patients about “end-of-life” care.  Those consultations may include the discussion of living wills to prohibit the kind of heroic measures that can keep people alive in spite of their desires.  I have such a living will myself, signed and notarized.

If you have ever watched an aged relative who did not have a living will suffer through months of medical treatment that only prolonged misery, you will appreciate a policy that encourages doctors to discuss this issue with their patients and explain the options.

This is what the Republicans in the House and Senate were calling “death panels”  during the health care debate.  Members of congress were willing to have people suffer for political gain.  I don’t want to overuse the word “evil,” but that was evil. I am pleased the Obama administration found a way to promote a humane policy in spite of Republican opposition.

What's important

Today I had a number of topics to pick from, but this morning my wife had a heart attack, and none of those topics seem all that important. The attack was “minor” involving an artery too small even to use a stent, but to me, any heart attack that Linda has seems awfully major. She is Lehigh Valley Hospital and is being monitored.  She may even be discharged on Tuesday.  I must say that the doctors and nurses at Gnadden Heutten and Lehigh Valley were uniformly wonderful. I’ll be back tomorrow.

Good news, but

In keeping with the holiday spirit, may I draw your attention to two heartwarming developments brought to us by today’s New York Times.  In a front page article, the Times discusses a solar powered generator that has made life easier for a Kenyan family far from the power grid. One roof top solar panel generates enough electricity to charge the family’s cell phone and power a light by which the teenagers do their homework.  No greenhouse gases are emitted; no oil is used.

The small downside is that the solar generator was manufactured in China, not the U.S.

The second item was mentioned in an editorial.  The U.S. may soon be cracking down on American gun dealers who sell high-powered weaponry to Mexican drug gangs.  (Over 30,000 Mexicans were killed in drug-related shootings last year.)  The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is asking for emergency authority to require gun dealers, some of whom have shops along the border, to report multiple purchases of AK-47s and other assault rifles.  The OMB must first sign off on the plan before it can be implemented.  

The small downside is that the reporting requirement is opposed by the N.R.A.  

A Christmas message from an atheist

Christmas is supposed to be a bad time for atheists, what with all the wise men and shepherds and “Silent Night” and “Away in the Manger,” but I like the message.  Love your neighbor, heal the sick, don’t be selfish, reject materialism. 

Unfortunately, a counter message may be overwhelming the real Christmas message.  That message--express anger, hate those who are different, screw the poor, be greedy--seems to be alive and well in America.

Even an atheist can see that second message is not in the spirit of Christmas, although it does seem to be in the spirit of many members of Congress.

Rising above principle

President Obama is looking very presidential.  It will be much harder in 2011 for the Tea Baggers and others of that ilk to demonize him.  He’s won major victories (extension of unemployment benefits, ending “don’t ask, don’t tell,”  passing the “New Start Treaty,” aiding 9/11 first responders,) with Republican votes.  

Those nut cases who say he is not a citizen, who say he is a socialist, who say he is a Muslim--they have been completely marginalized.  I am not saying the next two years will be easy, but President Obama is looking like a man in charge.

And now, an admission.  I was so angry about the rich getting an undeserved tax break that I was willing to kill that whole bill.  My advisor at Penn State, Bernie Hennessy, often said, “There are times you must rise above principle.”  Think about that.  I was willing to smash the whole compromise because I was angry.  I’m still angry, but so what.  To remain pure in heart, I was willing to kill the compromise and with it the extension of unemployment benefits.  I was standing on principle, and I was wrong.  I still haven’t completely grown up.  Obama has.

The Decider Looks Back

Among the practical advice I gave my students was:  You don’t have to read the book if you read the reviews.  Scan a few reviews and you can discuss a book in some depth without ever cracking the covers.  Just “don ‘t let on,” as Huck Finn would say.

But I’ll come clean.  I didn’t read (and don’t intend to read) George Bush’s memoirs of his two terms in office, but I did read a number of reviews.  What strikes me as sad is how few good things we can say about those eight years, and how little responsibility Mr. Bush takes for monumental screwups.  Yes, he regrets the Katrina mess, and yes, he wishes the “Mission Accomplished” banner had not been hoisted, but he seems so satisfied with himself.

What are the accomplishments?  A robust economy?  A balanced budget?  A democratic Iraq?  A defeated Taliban?  Progress on environmental protection?  A more unified country?  No, no, no., no, no, and no.

Bush seems to have done two good deeds in eight years.  First, we must praise his attempts to fight AIDS in Africa.  Second, he really did try to dampen anti-Muslim paranoia after 9/11. 

I might get some argument here, but I don’t think George Bush, Jr., has a racist bone in his body.  I also think the “No Child Left Behind,” flawed and ineffective as it is, represented a sincere attempt to improve education in America.  Not too much for eight years in office, but I’m trying to be nice in this holiday season. 

Plus, I gave you a gift.  You don’t have to read the book.

The political morality of Tom Corbett

Tom Corbett, our newly elected governor, said that although members of his transition team contributed 4.6 million dollars, they will get no special treatment.  

They’ve already received special treatment; they are members of his transition team.  

Some years ago the reform group Common Cause looked at the claim that campaign contributors don’t buy votes.  The report said that most campaign contributions are not quid pro quo actions.  The campaign contributor doesn’t say, “I’ll give you a donation in return for a vote.”  The word for that is “bribe.”  Instead, the donor modestly says, “All I get is access.” 

As the report asked, “What more could you want?”  You and I don’t have access to Tom Corbett.  We can’t call him up and say, “Hey Tommie, how the heck are you?”  We won’t have dinner with him, or play golf with him, or talk to him over coffee about why the natural gas companies don’t want a severance tax.  We won’t serve on his transition team, either.  

I miss Governor Rendell already.

Lamar Smith, Judiciary Committee Chair

This is the first of an occasional series to introduce you to the new committee chairs in the House of Representatives.  Mr. Smith has said the big advantage of having a Republican majority is its ability to “issue subpoenas and find out what the Administration has been doing that the American people don’t know.”

He has been critical of Attorney General Holder for his policies regarding supposed voter intimidation by the “New Black Panther Party” [voter suppression here we come], and he doesn’t want terrorism suspects to be given Miranda rights.  

He wants to keep Guantanamo Bay open and keep people there indefinitely without any  rights.  After all, they are terrorists, right?

He wants to enforce immigration laws with mass deportations, and he calls the DREAM Act a “nightmare for the American people.”  He supports the Arizona law on immigrants.

He’s really concerned about child porn.  I’m not sure if he is concerned about the children of illegal immigrants.  I’m guessing not.

He wants to limit medical malpractice lawsuits.  He’s a Christian Scientist.

Mean People Suck

When I lived in Fairfax I often saw a car with the bumper sticker “Mean People Suck.”  I thought about that today when I heard the “Dream Act” didn’t pass the Senate.  Actually, it would have passed if the Senate had been acting according to the Constitution, since 55 Senators voted to bring the bill to the floor.  The Senate, however, has decided 60 Senators are needed for the final vote.

Imagine your parents are fleeing violence in El Salvador.  It is 1994.  They manage to sneak across the Rio Grande.  You are two years old.  You end up in Los Angeles.  You attend schools in L.A., and although you can speak some Spanish, you speak English without an accent.  You did well in grade school and high school, and you were accepted into Cal State Fullerton.  You plan to major in computer science.  You are 18 years old, and you have never been to El Salvador, don’t remember it, don’t know anyone there.

Yesterday the Senate decided (by minority vote) that you could not be a citizen.  After all, “What part of illegal don’t you understand?”  You muist be deported.

Mean people suck.

65-31

Finally, something to celebrate.  Openly gay men and women can now serve in the Marines, Air Force, Navy, Army, and Coast Guard. I don’t have anything to add, except that I am very happy.  Every Senate Democrat voted yes.  Kudos to Joe Liberman and to the Republicans who broke ranks with their bigoted colleagues.  Among those bigoted colleagues was Senator McCain.

Using the market to reduce greenhouse emissions

One of the advantages of a federal system is that states can act as laboratories.  A policy can be tried in one state (two-year community colleges in CA, gay marriage in Massachusetts, assisted suicide in Oregon) and if it works, other states or the national government might adopt the same policy.

Cap and trade, now so unpopular that President Obama no longer advocates it, is already working to reduce greenhouse gases in ten states.  That’s right--it really does work.  All six New England states, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland are members of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI.  Where’s Pennsylvania?  It is an “observer,” along with three Canadian provinces.

Permits for emissions from large power plants were auctioned in 2008, and RGGI is now in its first three year compliance period.  There have been nine auctions so far, and the states have made $729 million.  The money is supposed to be used for energy conservation and renewable energy.  

Cap and trade uses the free market to reduce pollution by setting a limit on the amount of emissions.  If a company goes over its allowance, it may buy pollution credits from another company.  Companies have an economic incentive to reduce pollution, and every few years the overall emission totals are reduced, making the credits more valuable. 

California is poised to adopt more stringent cap and trade regulations than RGGI.  The  problem with adopting cap and trade by state or region is noted in an article in today’s New York Times.  A polluting industry can simply move out of state. 

Amazingly, cap and trade was originally a REPUBLICAN idea. According to Governing magazine, however, 86 of the 100 freshmen Republicans elected to Congress in November are opposed to any climate legislation that would increase government revenue.  How can this many stupid people be elected in one year?

The RGGI program is complicated, but you can read more about it in the December issue of Governing or check out the official RGGI website at <www.rggi.org>.  

Lead shot

     “Eat lead.”  That was an old line from long ago cowboy movies, usually snarled by the bad guys just before the gun play started.

     Unfortunately eating lead has become a hazard to wildlife and occasionally to humans because of the ammo used in hunting.  If you shoot a duck with lead shot and the duck is not recovered, chances are a scavenger will find the duck and eat it.  The higher up you go in the food chain, the more lead is accumulated and the more harm to wildlife.  Environmentalists who hunt are aware of the problem and use copper shot.  

     In some areas lead shot has been banned.  It has not been allowed in southern California for years because of danger it posed to the condor, a large endangered carrion eating bird.  Why hasn’t it been banned everywhere?

     Because the National Rifle Association regards any attempt to ban lead ammo as some sort of government conspiracy against the 2nd Amendment.  The NRA is a large organization which needs to keep its treasury full so it can buy elections and threaten members of congress and state legislators.  A simple and easy policy that would benefit the environment is used to scare members as a way to keep donations flowing.

     It is important to hunters to recognize that the NRA is not interested in hunting.  It is really not interested in anything except power. So join your local sportsmen’s association.  Keep your membership in your local Rod and Gun club.  And tell the NRA that it can put its next “oh oh, they plan to seize our guns” fundraising letter where the sun don’t shine.

Compromise?

Retiring Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Keith McCall told a group of Palmerton Area Democratic Club members on Tuesday night that he was aware that the Pennsylvania legislature was becoming more and more polarized.  Legislators who wanted to solve problems and move the state forward were being replaced by ideologues who had no interest in compromise.  Legislators scored points not by being reasonable, but by holding fast to their positions.  Compromise was seen as a dirty word, synonymous with selling out.

Speaker McCall also noted that news coverage contributed to the dearth of bipartisan cooperation.  He said that when the cameras were rolling, legislators played to the audience rather than trying to find common areas of agreement.  

It occurred to me that had cable news been covering the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, the Constitution as we know it would never have seen the light of day.  The large states advocating the Virginia Plan would not have considered the New Jersey plan, and the Connecticut Compromise would have been regarded as caving in by supporters on either side.  Meeting behind closed doors probably would have doomed the work of the convention before it even started.

Polls indicate that respondents say they want bipartisan cooperation, but the results of the November election would indicate otherwise.  The loudest, mort ideological, most strident candidates coasted to victory.  Look at my own congressional district, where the racist Lou Barletta easily beat the mainstream and reasonable Paul Kanjorski.  Voters say they want compromise.  Then they elect extremist candidates.  There is a disconnect here, and I don’t get it.

Sestak coverage

In an earlier post I discussed the visit to Carbon County by defeated Senatorial candidate Joe Sestak.  I noted that it was extremely rare for a losing candidate to appear after the election to thank his volunteers, and that Sestak was planning to visit every Pennsylvania county.

An alert reader noted that the Sestak visit was featured in the Standard Speaker, on the national political website Politico.com, and on a website devoted to Pennsylvania politics (grassrootspa.com). These are three substantial news outlets, none based in Carbon County, which thought the Sestak visit rated coverage. 

The Times News, which is based in Carbon County, finally covered the visit today--sort of.  The paper ran a picture of Mr. Sestak with a number of his supporters.  Actually, that is more than I was expecting from a newspaper that runs long-winded articles on politics written by a tea bagger who knows less about the Constitution than most students taking an introductory American government class.  The Times News also features every move of the Lehighton 9/12 group with front page articles and full-color illustrations.  In light of the Times News editorial policy, I guess we should be thankful that Mr. Sestak’s tour was even mentioned.

Execution without trial

The United States has targeted a U.S. citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki, for assassination.  Mr. al-Awlaki’s father sued to prevent the U.S. government from killing his son, but the suit was dismissed by U.S. District Court judge John Bates.  Mr.al-Awlaki, who is hiding out ion Yemen, is fair game.

Justice Bates, while upholding the right of the U.S. government to do this, was troubled by the policy.  According the the New York Times, Justice Bates asked, “Can the Executive order the assassination of a U.S. citizen without first affording him any form of judicial process whatsoever, based on the mere assertion that he is a dangerous member of a terrorist organization?”

We trust President Obama.  We assume that Mr. al-Awlaki is deserving of execution.  But wait.  Suppose Sarah Palin is president.  Suppose she targets the founder of WikiLeaks?  We are dealing with a dangerous precedent here.  We need some sort of review--something like the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which has been set up to review wiretaps of foreign agents.   

No president--even President Obama--should have absolute power to order the death of an American citizen without some kind of judicial oversight.  

Sources

Sometimes when I’m walking down the street, people stop me and say, “Poorroy, how do you know so much?”  I have a few suggestions on how to get past the din and clatter of the 24 hour news cycle.

The New York Times.  You can read it on-line, but that gives me a headache.  I also like a crossword puzzle on paper, so I drive four miles every day to Monroe County to buy the paper at the Kresgeville Deli.  The Times covers stories with the old-fashioned journalistic idea that the editorials should be on the editorial page, the opinion pieces should be on the OpEd page, and news should be reported straight.  It is still the best newspaper in America.  [Full disclosure:  I own a pitifully small amount of stock in the New York Times company.]

The Nation.  A weekly magazine of opinion on the liberal side of the political spectrum.  The Nation has been around since the Civil War, and it is pro-labor, pro-environment, feminist, and  supportive of civil rights and civil liberties.

Dissent.  Dissent is a democratic socialist quarterly.  [Note:  democratic socialists like the British Labor party of the German Social Democrats believe in change by peaceful electoral action.]  I hesitated to mention this one because the articles tend to be long, somewhat dry, and very analytical.  Still, you get a perspective you won’t find in People magazine.

I also recommend Lancaster Farming (a weekly newspaper that is great for mid-Atlantic agricultural news and surprisingly pro-organic and environmentalist), the Atlantic, Harpers, and the Pennsylvania Game News.  

Finally, here is what you should not do.  You should not watch network news, cable news, or the Sunday morning opinion shows.  Not CBS, not Fox, not MSNBC, none of it.  The only reason to watch any television is for Stephanie Abrams on the Weather Channel.  

A visit from Joe Sestak

     Today Congressman Joe Sestak stopped at the Lions’ building on Mill Street in Nesquehoning to thank his supporters.  Bill O’Gurek, Carbon County Commissioner, noted just how rare it was for a losing candidate to thank volunteers after the election.  Mr. Sestak is visiting all 67 counties in Pennsylvania to thank his supporters and campaign volunteers.  (Mr. Sestak lost the U.S. Senate race by less than one percent to Pat Toomey, who outspent him by millions of dollars.)

     Billy O’Gurek, chair of the Carbon County Democratic Party, introduced Mr. Sestak to the supporters who came out to hear him. The gathering included committeemen and women, row officers, and precinct walkers recruited by the Lehighton office.  

     In his remarks, Mr. Sestak noted that the Democrats could have explained their policies better; he stated that misperceptions about the health care bill were not countered quickly enough.  He also told the group that he supported the compromise tax bill currently before the House because it helped lower and middle income people and would stimulate to the economy.  

     I left that meeting wondering how a man of integrity who spent almost his entire life in public service could lose to a man who spent almost all of his life shilling for the richest people in America.  Joe, I am so sorry you lost.

What's important

Rep. Peter King (Rep., NY) has called the recent WikiLeaks “terrorism.”  According to the New York Times, Sarah Palin called for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be hunted as an “anti-American operative with blood on his hands.”  The leaker of the files should be executed, according to Mike Huckabee.

One of the documents leaked exposed the intense diplomatic pressure the U.S. brought to bear on Germany for trying to prosecute CIA operatives who kidnapped a German citizen, took him to a secret prison in Afghanistan, tortured him for months, and finally dropped him by a roadside in Albania.  (The CIA evidently had mistaken him for another man with a similar name.)

Instead of all this anger directed at the messenger, shouldn’t we be a tad upset about what is done in our name.  Kidnapping, secret prison, and torture by an agency of the U.S. government presumably acting on our behalf is not just reprehensible, it is evil.  Let’s not shoot the messenger.

Why 60?

     Many of the same Republicans who talk about a return to the first principles of the Founding Fathers are quite willing to subvert the Constitution whenever it suits their purposes.  If you read the Constitution, you will note that most actions taken by Congress require a majority vote.  Quick reminder:  a plurality is more votes than anyone else; a majority is 50% plus one.  

     The Founders did resort to an extraordinary majority on certain occasions.  The Constitution did not go into effect until nine of the thirteen states approved, constitutional amendments required approval by 3/4s of the states, and vetoes could only be overridden by a 2/3rds vote, to mention three examples.

     Today 57 U.S. Senators voted to overturn “don’t ask, don’t tell” and allow gays to serve in the military.  The Senate has 100 members, so 57 is way more than half.  Nevertheless, under present Senate rules, 60 Senators seem to be needed for any law to be approved.  We are not talking about a “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” type filibuster.  Just about every damn action in the Senate requires 60 yes votes.

     This is not part of the Constitution.  This is not something the Founding Fathers decreed.  This is a problem of current Senate rules, and why the Senate adopted them when the Democrats had the votes to change those rules is beyond my understanding. Forget small-d democratic rule.  This is rule by minority, and it undermines the legitimacy of the U.S. Senate.

How Republicans Think

Our newly elected Senator Pat Toomey likes the the fact that President Obama accepted tax cuts for the rich.  However, he is bothered by the extension of unemployment benefits, which he says need to be offset by other spending cuts. 

 This guy will be Pennsylvania’s senator for six years.

Election reform

In its first year of operation, one of the priorities of the Carbon County Democrats for Change was election reform.  Among our desired changes were an easier absentee ballot system, election day registration, and the possibility of early voting.  

Now New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is calling for these same changes in his state’s voting laws.  He isn’t asking for election day registration, but he is pushing for moving the deadline for registration closer to election day.

The absentee ballot process in Pennsylvania seems to be geared to reducing the number of voters.  If you are out of town on business, you can get one, but if you want an absentee ballot for medical reasons, you need to list your doctor and his or her phone number and address.  I helped a number of senior citizens fill out absentee ballot applications, and the doctor requirement is a problem.  First of all, most senior citizens have more than one doctor.  Secondly, if you are like me, you know where your doctors are located, but you don’t know the actual street address.  

The best system is--if you want an absentee ballot, for whatever reason (it’s cold in November, you can’t drive because of cataracts, you just don’t like to leave the house), that should be enough.  A voter shouldn’t even need an explanation to request an absentee ballot.

I should point out that. according to a recent study, early voting tends to depress turnout.  The excitement of election day is lacking, and many campaigns actually start cutting back on their ads weeks before the election day.  Even if we put a hold on that particular reform, however, later registration and an easier absentee ballot procedure would certainly increase turnout.

The problem is that most state legislators like the system under which they were elected.  If you won your election under the existing rules, why would you want to change them?  In addition, many Republican politicians like a low turnout, since in most elections the higher the turnout, the more Democrats vote.  Once again, the right action is not the one our legislators will support.

A lesson from Reagan

Soon after Ronald Reagan took office, the air traffic controllers threatened a strike.  President Reagan said that if they did strike, he would fire them.  The air traffic controllers, understandably, thought he was bluffing.  After all, if they went on strike and he fired them, air travel would be messed up for months.  Reagan couldn’t afford that.  So they went on strike.

And he fired them.

Air traffic was messed up for months.  Flights were disrupted.  New controllers had to be trained.  But what did we learn from that?  We learned that if Reagan said he would do something, he would.

Right now I am wishing that President Obama had some of Reagan’s attitude.  The Republicans won’t extend tax cuts for the middle class unless the rich people also get their tax cuts extended.  Fine.  Don’t extend the tax cuts for anybody.  I’ll pay more willingly if I know that rich will also be paying more.  I’m tired of the continuing class warfare in this country where the people on the bottom always lose and the top two percent always win.  

Besides, if the tax cuts end, the deficit will be reduced and the effect won’t be all that great anyway.  Don’t take my word for that--read Paul Krugman’s column in the New York Times today.  I don’t want to compromise.  I don’t want to be reasonable.  I want some lines drawn in the sand.

Hooray for Utah

Although the scenery is breathtaking, Utah has not my favorite state.  It's reliably Republican, full of conservative Mormans, and I was stopped once for weaving on I-80 while crossing the salt flats.  (I was reading the New York Times.)  Nevertheless, I have just signed on to the "Utah Compact," a statement on immigration that shows what reasonable people who actually want to solve a problem can do.

The first of the Compact's five principles says that "immigration is a federal policy issue between the U.S. government and other countries--not Utah and other countries."  If only my new congressman, Lou Barletta, knew this.  The first principle then asks for federal laws to protect borders.  OK, I can live with that.

I will not quote the entire compact (although it is short), but here is the fifth principle:  "Immigrants are integrated into communities across Utah.  We must adopt a humane approach to this reality, reflecting our unique culture, history and spirit of inclusion.  The way we treat immigrants will say more about us as a free society and less about our immigrant neighbors.  Utah should always be a place that welcomes people of goodwill."

If you want to read the entire compact, go to <utahcompact.com>.  By the way, the Church of the Latter Day Saints is not a signatory, but it has given its approval to the Compact.  Perhaps Arizona, which borders Utah, can take a lesson.

Symbolic politics

The Symbolic Uses of Politics, written by Murray Edelman (U. of Illinois Press, 1964), is considered a political science classic.  Edelman argued that much of what passes for government policy is simply and purely symbolic, adopted to make citizens think that government is responsive or proactive.  Citizens themselves often are perfectly happy with the symbolic policies, believing that meaningful action has been achieved.

We’ve had a number of examples of this kind of politics in the past week.  When Representative Doyle Heffley issues a press release saying that he won’t accept a pay raise, that is symbolic politics. It has a negligible effect on the Pennsylvania budget, but it makes people feel good about Heffley.  What a mensch--won’t accept a raise.

President Obama has given us another example.  He announced that the pay of federal workers will be frozen for the next two years.  The effect on the federal budget is comparable to Heffley’s action.  It is sheer symbolism.  

Unfortunately, it also isn’t very bright.  First, many federal workers are Democrats.  Why irritate them?  Secondly, it gives aid and comfort to the Republicans by implying that federal workers--men and women who patrol the national parks, inspect poultry, run the soil conservation service, check work place safety, and carry out thousands of other jobs every day--are somehow to blame for the deficit.  Third, most people see it for what it is--an attempt to act like a deficit hawk without really reducing the deficit.  If President Obama really wants to have an effect on the deficit, he should hold the line on extending tax cuts for the rich.

Judge Not

I’ll bet no more than one in a hundred people could name a Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice.  I know I couldn’t before last Sunday, when the New York Times editorialized against Chief Justice Ronald Castille.  The Times pointed out that Mr. Castille accepts gifts from attorneys and other plaintiffs with cases before the Supreme Court.  The Chief Justice noted that he is doing nothing illegal, since he reports all of his gifts.  In Pennsylvania that is enough.  

Who made up such a rule?  Why, none other than the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.  The Pennsylvania court policy violates the ABA’s “Model Rules of Judicial Conduct,” but evidently in Pennsylvania we don’t need no stinkin’ rules of judicial conduct.

When legislative or executive personnel are charged with corruption, they are brought before the judiciary.  What do we do when the judiciary is corrupt?

Glenn Beck in Nigeria?

Nigeria's polio vaccination drive was hurt by journalists spreading rumors that the vaccine was really a method to sterilize Muslim girls, according to a recent article in the Science section of the New York Times.  According to the Times, the program's demise actually led to a polio outbreak that spread to a number of surrounding countries.

When I read that, I thought, thank goodness people in the U.S. aren't that stupid.  Then I remembered the brouhaha over "death panels."

Enough Already with Rickie

More Morning Call news from Manchester, New Hampshire.  Failed former U.S. Senator Rickie Santorum called the founder of Wikileaks a terrorist, proving once again: (a)  the editor of the Morning Call has no idea of what constitutes real news; (b) the people of New Hampshire deserve our sympathy; (c) Rickie Santorum needs a time out.