Weekend News Roundup: 2/20-21/09

I was disappointed to read that President Obama has taken NAFTA renegotiation of the table.  American workers are suffering because of failed “free-trade” policies.  If he wants high employment and a strong economy, protecting our workers is a primary way to get there.  This is a result of the people Obama has put into power.

Congratulations go to formor President Bush for allowing Iran to become another nuclear state.  It joins North Korea as a country that can threaten our allies for years to come, just as the War industry wanted.

Hexcel Corporation broke ground on a 100,000-sq-ft facility in north-eastern Colorado that will manufacture epoxy-resin components for wind blades.  They moved here because Vestas manufactures those wind blades at an adjacent location.  While the gas and oil industry cuts jobs in Colorado due to lack of demand for their products, the wind and solar industry enjoys new businesses and new jobs.

Another 627,000 jobs were lost in the Economy Bush Built.  Net job losses could total 700,000 for February.  Good thing corporate profits were setting records as late as last year.  I’d hate to think the economy was bad or something.

About one in four people with a mortgage owe more than their homes are worth.  One of Obama’s solutions is to force lenders to re-negotiate mortgage terms.  The lending industry, who got us into this mess in the first place, is objecting to the plan.  As usual, they’re also not proposing any kind of solution.  Doing nothing will all but destroy our economy.

David Harsanyi continues his crusade against America with his op-ed this week.  He claims taxes, extreme government spending and wealth redistribution are patriotic in an attempt to slam President Obama’s recovery plans.  In Con Fantasy Land, it seems tax reductions are now called tax increases.  Similarly, the past 8 years of keeping occupations off the budget and creating the largest government program in 30 years (that doesn’t work with its peers) went by uncommented since it was a Con “president” who proposed the “extreme government spending”.  Last but not least, Harsanyi’s characterization of wealth redistribution comes across as pathetic after we’ve seen the effects of Bush’s “tax cuts”.  Americans were sure glad to get one two grand back (the first year only) they were passed weren’t they?  Oh, except for the richest 1%.  They’re keeping hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars per year thanks to Bush’s tax cuts.  Wealth redistribution indeed.  And what’s up with this:

Yes, the same Freddie and Fannie — once implicitly guaranteed by government and now explicitly run by government — that helped, through social engineering, to push us into recession.

I wish the rest of us had figured out what the great sage Harsanyi did – Fannie and Freddie (with Cons leading them right up through the beginning of this horrible recession) were so unbelievably powerful.  Cons love their conspiracy theories.  I learned an important lesson during the Bush years.  When a Con says something, the reality is exactly opposite.

Breckenridge ski resort may not be allowed to expand onto Peak 6.  At issue is a lynx recovery plan.  It’s nice to see more honest consideration of all factors with something like this.

A Colorado constitutional rewrite is being seriously considered by more and more people.  State spending is affected by numerous, conflicting amendments.  Colorado can either lose out on education, health care and prisons or a group of adults (hopefully) can come together and implement realistic solutions.  If a Constitutional Convention is called, one potential flaw is they can rewrite any part of the Constitution they want.  It would be nice if people who were convinced government can’t operate weren’t put in charge of that government.  It simply makes no sense.

The Colorado House Agriculture Committee killed a proposal to limit the involvement of the Division of Wildlife in issuing oil and gas drilling permits.  The CDoW became involved in the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission only after a Democratic Governor was elected.  Not surprisingly, this pro-business article ony quoted a proponent of the bill.  Unlike climate change articles, where the denyers’ point-of-view in nearly sacrosant, opponents of HB-1255 didn’t get their comments published.

On a positive note for science, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory is scheduled to launch Tuesday.  The polar-orbiting satellite will measure oxygen-to-carbon ratios to indicate where carbon sources and sinks are at.  My fear is that carbon sources will be found to be larger and more prevalent than carbon sinks.  There are already indications that the warming oceans are soaking up less carbon every year, allowing the atmosphere and oceans to warm up even further.

In the News 10/21/08

Newsweek did a piece investigating our health “care” system’s emergency rooms.  In the leading paragraph:

The modern emergency room, as most people think of it, has an emergency of its own: It’s packed, costly, noisy, and overrun by uninsured freeloaders who can’t legally be turned away once they walk through the ER doors. If you’ve actually been in an ER in the past few years, you know the first three things are true—but how much do you know about the rest of the people in the waiting room? As it turns out, they’re not disproportionately uninsured patients with nowhere else to turn. They’re more likely to be people who do have insurance.

A number of myths are taken apart in the interview with Dr. Manya Newton, an emergency physician at the University of Michigan.  Here’s just one: 85-90% of all emergency room visits are people with insurance.  The uninsured aren’t clogging the ER.

Will there be a 21st century Great Depression? With the increasing scope of the financial crisis, more people seem to think so.  Survival web sites are growing in popularity.

The impacts of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq won’t be known for years.  Already, the seeds of future problems in Iraq are being laid. John McCain likes to talk about how Iraq is one big happy country.  The truth: ascendent, new tribal leaders have been splitting up provinces into their own private fiefdoms, weakening the central government’s power and directly challenging the “democratic” system the neo-CONS put in place.   Almost 100,000 Sunni fighters are being paid by the U.S. to not attack U.S. military forces.  As Iraq’s government moves to expand its role, it has refused to accept these fighters into the official Iraqi military and police forces.  What happens when the Sunni fighters take up arms against the elected Iraqi government?  The U.S. created a situation where Iran will likely become a much stronger regional player.

The corporate media still loves Pickens’ (Insane) Plan. Switching from oil to natural gas makes no sense.  It will enrich Pickens and it will do nothing to alleviate the climate crisis. The U.S. needs to take bold steps toward zero-emission transportation.  Pickens would have us wait 10-30 years before doing so.  Meanwhile, the climate continues to be forced by humans.

The increase in families that are becoming homeless is described as ‘alarming’.  The CONServatives’ obsession with zero taxes has put state and local organizations in huge binds.  There is simply no money to appropriately address the problem.

Sound bites

I just read this over at SquareState. Part of me applauds Rep. Udall for making the trip to Afghanistan to get a better idea of what conditions might actually be like over there. Another part can’t give a shit less. It’s all words – Democratic politicians just want to make enough noise in the press to make it seem like they really care a lick about what’s going on in the region. If they really felt that Afghanistan and Pakistan posed the kind of threat they talk about, they would have forced Bush’s hand by now. But somehow, they view the situation as politically expedient for themselves as well.

And note: despite Udall’s mention of Pakistan, where was the announcement of a plan to do something about that country? A nation (with a former U.S.-supported dictator re-exerting dictatorial rule) that we arm and supply to the teeth has a governmental crisis on its hands. Oh, and they have nuclear weapons at their disposal. But where is the rebuke to our Dear Leader to stop bullshitting about Iran and get serious about Pakistan’s crisis?

Another thing that has bothered me about the Iraq/Afghanistan debacle is the amount of taxpayer dollars being funneled into the toilet. You’ve probably heard that argument before, but here’s my more personal take on it. Every dollar we spend over there is one less dollar for our single-payer health care system. It’s one less dollar for public education funding preschool through college. It’s one less dollar going to fight the greatest threat that we are facing: global warming. Folks, this planet will change in ways we can’t imagine. The Earth my children (if I ever have any) grow up in will not be recognizable to you or I today. And every dollar we waste on financing mercenaries and fraud is a dollar that should have gone to mitigate our horrendous treatment of this planet.

Every dollar we waste to fund an illegal occupation means we’ll have to waste more and more dollars to react to the next series of terrorist attacks. And we’ll face more attacks, but not for the reasons the fringe right would have you believe. We’ll be attacked again because we have a military presence in other people’s countries. And forget the bullshit that neocons spout about that’s the responsibility of being a superpower. Why shouldn’t being a superpower include supporting the will of the world’s populace? The vast majority of us just want to live our lives. Why do we continue to prop up dictators and governments hostile to their people’s interests? That’s why America’s standing in the world is in the toilet.

So stop sending out releases like this, Rep. Udall.  Or if you truly believe the words you put in them, then pay attention to the people you’re paid to represent.  Take action and show some guts.  If you don’t, why should I donate to your campaign?  Why should I vote for you?