John Stewart

I watch very little television.  I know lots of people say that, but I really watch very little.  Shows come and go, and I never see even one episode.  I do watch the Weather Channel (I have a thing for Stephanie Abrams) and an occasional quarter on Monday Night Football, but that’s about it.

On the other hand, I do read.  Today I read that John Stewart on the Comedy Central channel attacked cable tv for overemphasizing the “issue” of President Obama postponing his job speech by one day.  Stewart pointed out that approximately 20 questions at Obama’s press conference were about postponing the speech, and only nine were about the contents of the speech.  

Stewart is the only person I know who eviscerates Fox News, explains the silliness of television “news” in general, and has occasional in-depth interviews where real issues are discussed.  If he were on a little earlier, I’d watch him every day.  He is the one tv personality I fully endorse.  Well, one of two.

Admiring China

I am fully aware that China is not an admirable country in many ways.  The Chinese execute even more people that the U.S., dissidents disappear, and pollution and worker safety laws are often ignored.  On the other hand, China does have that one-child policy that not only helps China, but the entire globe.

Here's another admirable Chinese policy.  The government has decided that the Chinese are buying too many cars.  According to an article in the September 5 New York Times, Lu Shize, director of air pollution control at the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said "...for the auto industry to develop, we should not try to sell more, but to improve the units sold."

The Chinese government has decided to emphasize fuel savings and technical progress rather than boosting sales.

The W.P.A.

Today’s Morning Call featured an Allentown man who is trying to save Works Progress Administration projects in the area.  Two of the projects pictured--a stairway and an amphitheater--look good seventy years after they were built.  Across America we are still using literally thousands of W.P.A. projects.  The Wild Creek Reservoir, a half mile from my house, is one of them.

 What a concept--the government hired the unemployed to build things.  Today we’d call it “infrastructure,” but those men (almost all were men) made a lasting contribution to this country, did useful work, and received a weekly paycheck to spend.

A mantra of the Republicans is that government can’t create jobs.  Really?  Two weeks ago I stopped by the Political Science Department at East Stroudsburg University to see if they were hiring for the spring.  The department chair told me to forget it--almost every adjunct was laid off and nobody was hiring.  Elementary and high school teachers are being laid off.  Today I read the Post Office is proposing the elimination of 125,000 jobs.  We are trying the Republican idea of austerity, just like we did under Herbert Hoover.  The results are the same.

I don’t know what the President will be proposing in his jobs speech, but if it is something the House of Representatives must pass, he may as well cancel the speech.   

It was said of the Czars of Russia that they forgot nothing, and they learned nothing.  That’s a good description of the Republican members of Congress.  

Redneck Festival in Weissport

Linda and I set up a booth at the Redneck Festival in Weissport yesterday and today.  This is the fourth year for the festival.  At the first festival, in September 2008, we ran a booth entitled “Rednecks for Obama.”  That was the week McCain picked Palin for his running mate, and we did very well--we registered over 20 Democrats and had orders for yard signs from five counties.

We now set up as the “Yaller Dog Democrats.”  The phrase comes from an old Missouri expression that says”  “I’d rather vote for an old yaller dog than for a goddam Republican.” 

Incidentally,  the term “redneck” was used as a label for small farmers, often sharecroppers, whose necks were red from working in the fields all summer.  Historically, most were Democrats.

Anyway, in two days our volunteers registered two Democrats, two independents, and one Republican.  I think the Republican booth did much better--bigger space, more volunteers, more literature, and more enthusiasm.  Perhaps this is not true of all Democrats, but right now some of us are feeling discouraged.

By the way, the back of my neck is red, and that doesn’t come from any tanning salon.  I’m legit.

Sen. Toomey, the Lehigh River, and government regulations

My friend George attended the Toomey event at Penn’s Peak on Thursday.  After Toomey’s appearance, he sent the following email to Sen. Toomey:

During your opening comments, you related your family’s recent outing on the beautiful Lehigh River.  Unfortunately you are too young to remember the river when it was loaded with acid mine water, coal dirt, and sewage.  I do.  As a kid growing up in Lehighton I was never allowed to go into the water for my safety.  Thanks to the EPA that created many rules and regulations that you now want to gut, we now have this beautiful river.  

Without those regulations, the borough of Jim Thorpe would be a ghost town.  Instead we have a thriving economy with many local small business that support many families.  Imagine where we would be without the government regulations that cleaned up this river. 

I hope Sen. Toomey takes my friend’s email to heart.  I, too, can remember the first time my Dad and I rafted from Jim Thorpe to Lehighton.  Raw sewage was coming out of the outflow pipe at Jim Thorpe.  It was not a great experience.  Thank goodness for government regulations.  

Resenting the poor

Earlier this week the New York Times editorial, entitled “The New Resentment of the Poor,”  discussed the push by Republicans top make everyone pay income taxes, including our poorest citizens.

Republicans like Eric Cantor, the House Majority leader (and the same guy who opposes disaster relief unless it is off-set by spending cuts elsewhere) think that poor people who make less than $20,000 a year should pay some income tax.

I found this hard to believe.  Maybe some Republican congress members might think this, but surely the average American wouldn’t want to punish poor people in America.  Then I heard a person (I didn’t seem him, because I had my back turned) ask Sen. Toomey at his Penn’s Peak appearance, “Don’t you think every American should pay income tax?  If you pay tax, you have a stake in the system.”

I have two comments.  First, when Warren Buffet pays a lower tax rate then one of his office workers, that is ______.  (Insert past tense “f-word” at this point.)

Secondly, poor people are already paying taxes, including payroll taxes, sales taxes, and gasoline excise taxes.

This sentiment should not have surprised me.  It is always easier to attack those below us than to fight those above us.  

Toomey visits Carbon County

While we were waiting to get in, I became embroiled in an argument with a Tea Party guy about my age who was anti-union.  He said he was an American individual and didn’t need a union.  I asked him if he really thought an individual Wal-Mart worker could bargain with Wal-Mart.  He said if he did a good job, he would get a raise.  I asked him how he could be so old and have learned so little.  People around us stepped back and looked uncomfortable.  The older I get, the nastier I get.  The problem is that I am just too old to put up with such crap.

I wasn’t allowed to take my small poster into the event.  The poster said, “Class warfare is raging in America, and our class ain’t winning.”  The security guy, who was dressed all in black and looked like a typical bouncer, said he was working for Penn’s Peak.  I asked him if I could bring in a gun, and he said “No.”  So much for the Second Amendment.  

I spent the entire event in the last row with my chair turned around and my back toward Toomey.  I did hear Toomey attack the NLRB, the EPA, the Health Care Reform, and the  stimulus.  Here’s a guy who made his money in currency manipulation presenting himself as a big expert on the economy.  He doesn’t represent people like me.  He represents oil companies, banks, and corporations.  He is a right-wing ideologue, willing to put people’s health and lives at risk in service to his corporate bosses.