October 11, 2012

Harvest Of The Grapes Of Wrath

The Working Poor build castles in the sand. The Middle Class live in them. The Power Elite collect the rent. This is what happened during the drought of 2011-2013.(CBS Evening News, Sept 27, 2012)

"Turns out the U.S.’s GDP is already suffering. The Commerce Department on Thursday said the economy grew at an annualized rate of 1.3% in the second quarter, a steep drop from the first quarter’s 2% and the fourth quarter’s 4.1% — and significantly lower than the government’s earlier estimates of 1.7% and 1.5%. (This is the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s third and final take on second-quarter GDP — the one that usually doesn’t yield big revisions.)" (Shah 2012) (CBS Evening News 2012)

"The worst drought in more than half a century baked more than two thirds of the continental United States this summer and its harsh effects continue to plague the parched cities and towns of the Great Plains. More than half of Texas is having a drought that is rated severe or worse, and more than 95 per cent of Oklahoma is rated as experiencing the more serious category of extreme drought.The entire state of Kansas is rated in severe drought, with 88 per cent of the state falling into the more serious "extreme" drought category. The designation comes as farmers struggle to plant winter wheat." ((Gillam, Reuters September 27, 2012)

"The portion of the United States under 'exceptional' drought - the most dire classification - rose to 6.12 percent from 5.96 percent a week earlier. Conditions were most severe in the High Plains, with severe or worse drought levels covering 83.80 percent of the region, up from 82.81 percent the prior week, according data gathered by federal and academic climatologists that was released on Thursday. More than 24 percent of the region, which includes Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado, was in the worst level of drought, dubbed 'exceptional." (Reuters September 27, 2012)


"Because the old kind of laborers, Mexicans and Filipinos, are being deported and repatriated very rapidly, while on the other hand the river of dust bowl refugees increases all the time, it is this new kind of migrant that we shall largely consider. The earlier foreign migrants have invariably been drawn from a peon class. This is not the case with the new migrants." (Thomas 2011)

(Thomas 2011) "They are small farmers who have lost their farms, or farm hands who have lived with the family in the old American way. They are men who have worked hard on their own farms and have felt the pride of possessing and living in close touch with the land."

(Thomas 2011) "They are resourceful and intelligent Americans who have gone through the hell of the drought, have seen their lands wither and die and the top soil blow away; and this, to a man who has owned his land, is a curious and terrible pain."

(Thomas 2011) "They are descendants of men who crossed into the middle west, who won their lands by fighting, who cultivated the prairies and stayed with them until they went back to desert. And because of their tradition and their training, they are not migrants by nature. They are gypsies by force of circumstances."

(Thomas 2011) "from John Steinbeck. Grapes of Wrath. New York: Knopf, 1993, pp 264 and The Harvest Gypsies, Article I published in the San Francisco News, October 5, 1936 as found at The New Deal Network, The Harvest Gypsies."

"Texas has endured its worst one-year drought in recorded history." (Gailbraith, August 2011)

Drought is hindering agricultural production across the Midwest and has driven up corn and soy prices. Ethanol production is down, but has already taken 40% of the corn crop. Only about a quarter of national corn and soy crops are reported to be in good condition.

Fires have burned in parts of the drought afflicted Southwest, affecting millions of acres. In Missouri, as in other sections of the country, hay production has fallen precipitating livestock sales as producers are unable to feed them.

"Get used to fires -- bigger, hotter, longer fires. As William DeBuys recently wrote for TomDispatch, 'A lethal combination of drought, insect plagues, windstorms, and legions of dead, dying, or stressed-out trees constitute what some pundits are calling wildfire's 'perfect storm.' But DeBuys cautions that it's not really a 'storm' in the sense that it's not 'sudden, violent, and temporary.' No, the conditions that are feeding fire seasons are really what many scientists think will be the 'new normal." (Lohan 2012)

"If you surf the blogosphere looking for fire information, pretty quickly you’ll notice a dust devil of “facts” blowing back and forth: big fires are four times more common than they used to be; the biggest fires are six-and-a-half times larger than the monster fires of yesteryear; and owing to a warmer climate, fires are erupting earlier in the spring and subsiding later in the fall. Nowadays, the fire season is two and a half months longer than it was 30 years ago." (deBuys 2012)

Scenarios for higher heat-trapping gas emissions producing climate changes affecting national ability to produce food, feed, and livestock products have already come to be seen this year. "Increased heat, disease, and weather extremes are likely to reduce livestock productivity...{and} swine, beef, and milk production are all projected to decline in a warmer world". The foraging availability has already been seen to decline because of the effect of increasing carbon dioxide on plant nitrogen and protein content, whereas weeds and pests benefit. "Fruits, vegetables, and grains can suffer even under well-watered conditions if temperatures exceed the maximum level for pollen viability in a particular plant; if temperatures exceed the threshold for that plant, it won't produce seed....and....reproduce." (US Global Change Research Program Impacts 2011)

A clear parallel may be drawn that the current severe drought has much in common with the 1930s “Dust Bowl” drought as does the recent recession did with the Great Depression, and the common denominator being the present regressive congressional and election year political situation. And across the U.S., climate predictions show an ever increasing decrease in summer precip as global temps increase. Therefore, the 2012 U.S. drought has implications for weakening the current recovery while contributing to famine in the developing world. And food prices are expected to rise aproximately 5% across the board according to Dept of Agricultural estimates. But I suspect even higher price hikes.

The sunshine patriot himself R-money will be playing the crowd at the upcoming debates, while America's heartland withers away with no relief from what a Farm Bill may have provided this unusual drought and wildfire season. Some areas have been going on two years of the same oppressive conditions.

"Call it Jurassic Park or Dinosaur Train: Mitt Romney’s team of energy and economic advisers, like his energy plan, is dominated by fossil fuels. Romney’s energy team relies on the expertise of lobbyists, coal and oil industry insiders, several of whom crafted the polluter agenda of the George W. Bush administration, a trend Politico described as, “Bush-era energy policy wonks … finding a new home with Mitt Romney.” (Leber, 2012)

With more than half of United State's counties declared disaster areas as of the first of August (Muskal 2012), Congress went home on the sixth of August for an entire month, also leaving millions of people in need of food stamps in the lurch when the present Farm Bill expires (Abrams 2012). The House Teapublicans are obstructing again by inaction, in favor of deep cuts to those that need the help the most in the SNAP progam, as well as leaving be the necessary negotiations to reconcile the House farm aid version with the Senate version of the bill. If they were firefighters, this would be the equivalent of returning to the station and shutting the door to have dinner while the bells are going off.

With a quarter of the country experiencing an exceptionally severe drought that is expected only to deepen, with the government projecting that much of the spring’s record corn planting will wither away, with significant damage to soybean and wheat crops and with prices for feed at record levels, farmers and ranchers are increasingly anxious about the gridlock in Washington.” (Steinhauer 2012)

( Leonard2012) "The dysfunction doesn’t end there. Conservative activist groups also opposed the House bill, on the grounds that 'farmers and livestock owners should have known better'{ Wasson 2012}"

“The food stamp program would take a $16.5 billion cut over the next 10 years. The bill also makes changes to eligibility requirements, and the Congressional Budget Office said two million to three million people would lose their food stamp benefits. Nearly 300,000 children would also be ineligible for the free lunch program under the new bill, the budget office found. Farm programs are not spared. If Congress does not pass a farm bill by Sept. 30, more than 100 farm programs would expire.”( Nixon 2012)

"In the midst of a severe drought, the House Republican leaders are proposing to walk away from farm states and decades of precedent by not calling up the new five-year plan before the current law expires Sept. 30. (Rogers 2012)

(Rogers 2012)"Whatever its flaws, the bill promises $35 billion in 10-year savings from exactly the type of mandatory spending that Congress promised to tackle in last summer’s debt accord. But rather than disrupt its political messaging, the GOP would put it all at risk by delaying action until after the November elections."

(Rogers 2012)"No, the real reason for Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to delay the farm bill is not because there will be better answers after the election. It’s because he doesn’t like the answers he sees before."

"Democrats in the House have pledged to use every tool at their disposal to stop House Republicans from slashing $16.1 billion from food assistance programs over the next 10 years in their version of the 2012 Farm Bill (...) "These proposed cuts show a total disregard for the real impact they would have on hungry kids and families across the country," Connecticut Democrat Rep. Rosa DeLauro said at a press conference Tuesday.&quot US News, Wire Services, July 11, 2012)

(US News 2012)"DeLauro says between two to three million people would completely lose their benefits and about 300,000 kids would not be able to receive free school lunches. "These cuts are a slap in the face to millions of people trying to make ends meet," says California Democrat Rep. Lynn Woolsey."

(US News 2012)"Forty-five million Americans rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) every year. And that number has grown exponentially since late 2007 when the country dipped into a recession. The Center on Budget Policy Priorities estimates about three-quarters of SNAP participants are families with children, and more than 25 percent of homes on SNAP have a senior citizen or a disabled person under their roof."

"We actually have until about Jan. 1 before we run into a lot of administrative problems with this bill reverting to some very high prices," says Mary Kay Thatcher, director of congressional affairs for the American Farm Bureau Federation.".(Rovner 2012)

(Rovner 2012)"That's because while the date on the law matches the federal fiscal year, the 2008 measure covers all of 2012's crops. So even if they haven't been harvested yet, things growing now are covered by the 2008 legislation. The first crop that would be affected by the new price supports 'would be next spring when we harvest winter wheat,' Thatcher says."

"Bain Capital is an investment partnership which was formed to invest in startup companies and ongoing companies, then to take an active hand in managing them and hopefully, five to eight years later, to harvest them at a significant profit.." (Corn 2012)

The point is, R-money and friends have been reaping the wrong harvest. Instead of culling voters from swing and other states that may be inclined to vote for their own preservation, the Teapublican's power elite need to be helping to mitigate the biggest agricultural disaster since the Dustbowl of the 1930s. In these times, the Teabillies are just going to reap what they DIDN'T sow, and that's the support of the American people who can still see through the dust kicked up by the Teapublican masters' TV propaganda machine.

"Extreme weather jeopardizes farmers and our food supply. Rural economies that are the backbone of the country are fragile. Our health is being threatened by a food system driven by corporate interests. We don't have a lot of time," said executive director Carolyn Mugar. "Now, more than ever before, we must grow a better food and farming system." (PRNewswire-USNewswire, Yahoo News, Sept 22, 2012)

"Right now, family farmers all across the country are facing extreme drought conditions that have devastated their crops and dried up their pastures. Many farmers have lost their crops, and with them their income for the year. For livestock and dairy farmers, the cost to keep their animals fed will obliterate their earnings. These farmers who are most at risk are the farmers who are building the local food systems that are so crucial for thriving local economies and emerging food systems." (Farmaid.org 2012)


Refs:


(CBS Evening News, Sept 27, 2012)

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7423540n&tag=showDoorFlexGridRight;flexGridModule
(Shah 2012)

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/09/27/how-drought-dragged-down-spring-gdp/

(CBS Evening News 2012)

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7423550n&tag=strip

(Gillam, Reuters September 27, 2012)

http://www.theprovince.com/technology/Effects+worst+drought+over+years+continue+plague+thirds/7311245/story.html

(Reuters September 27, 2012)

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-09-27/classified/sns-rt-us-usa-droughtbre88q1bi-20120927_1_drought-area-exceptional-drought-extreme-drought

(Thomas 2011)

http://www.intimeandplace.org/Dust%20Bowl/Reading/grapes.html

(Gailbraith, August 2011)

http://www.window.state.tx.us/specialrpt/drought/pdf/96-1704-Drought.pdf

(Lohan 2012)

http://www.alternet.org/environment/drought-blistering-temperatures-and-raging-fires-are-we-screwed-5-facts-you-should-know?paging=off

(deBuys 2012)

http://www.alternet.org/story/156446/get_used_to_the_american_west_in_flames%3A_what_living_with_the_%27new_normal%27_will_mean?paging=off

(US Global Change Research Program Impacts 2011)

http://www.globalchange.gov/publications/reports/scientific-assessments/us-impacts/full-report/climate-change-impacts-by-sector/water-resources

(Leber, 2012)

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/08/01/579101/jurassic-park-romneys-bush-era-energy-team-is-dominated-by-fossil-fuel-insiders-and-its-lobbyists/?mobile=nc

(Muskal 2012)

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-drought-strikes-over-half-of-us-20120801,0,2541774.story

(Abrams 2012)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/05/house-farm-bill_n_1652593.html
(Steinhauer 2012)

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/13/us/politics/drought-driven-voters-vent-anger-over-farm-bill.html?ref=farmbillus&_r=1&

( Leonard2012)

http://www.salon.com/2012/08/03/congress_hangs_farmers_out_to_dry/

{Wasson 2012}

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/241821-conservative-group-demands-vote-against-drought-bill

( Nixon 2012)

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/13/us/politics/house-agriculture-committee-agrees-on-farm-bill.html/

(Rogers 2012)

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/78832.html

(US News, Wire Services, July 11, 2012)

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/07/11/house-democrats-poised-to-fight-for-food-stamps-in-farm-bill

(Rovner 2012)

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/09/19/161358170/so-what-happens-if-the-farm-bill-expires-not-much-right-away

(Corn 2012)

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/09/1985-romney-bain-harvest-firms-profits-video

(PRNewswire-USNewswire, Yahoo News, Sept 22, 2012)

http://news.yahoo.com/farm-aid-2012-people-want-good-food-family-160000912.html

(Farmaid.org 2012)

http://www.farmaid.org/site/c.qlI5IhNVJsE/b.2723627/k.9187/Disaster_Fund.htm

October 11, 2012

Letting us in on a secret

Source: Washington Post

When House Republicans called a hearing in the middle of their long recess, you knew it would be something big, and indeed it was: They accidentally blew the CIA’s cover. The purpose of Wednesday’s hearing of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee was to examine security lapses that led to the killing in Benghazi last month of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three others. But in doing so, the lawmakers reminded us why “congressional intelligence” is an oxymoron.

Through their outbursts, cryptic language and boneheaded questioning of State Department officials, the committee members left little doubt that one of the two compounds at which the Americans were killed, described by the administration as a “consulate” and a nearby “annex,” was a CIA base. They did this, helpfully, in a televised public hearing.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) was the first to unmask the spooks. “Point of order! Point of order!” he called out as a State Department security official, seated in front of an aerial photo of the U.S. facilities in Benghazi, described the chaotic night of the attack. “We’re getting into classified issues that deal with sources and methods that would be totally inappropriate in an open forum such as this.”



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-letting-us-in-on-a-secret/2012/10/10/ba3136ca-132b-11e2-ba83-a7a396e6b2a7_story.html?fb_action_ids=10151112540400617&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_ref=sm_btn_fb&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

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Another Issa witch hunt, the last of which was just intended to throw off AG Holder from enforcing the 1965 Section 5 voting suppression laws. And now because some azzhole Teapublican wants to make himself look important (Chaffetz of Utah) " lawmakers reminded us why “congressional intelligence” is an oxymoron." Here we go again. Like I keep saying, with the Tea Party Taliban, who needs enemies ?

Issa was just a car thief who figured out after being a scumbag officer that no one liked in my Army he could make more money selling car alarms.

September 23, 2012

No Pain, it's Plain His Gain.

Absolutely clinical feelings here for a deceitful corporate suit who deludes himself to be a leader instead of only a controller.

"A major reason for the Romneys' relatively low tax rate was that $5.5 million of their income in 2011 came from 'carried interest,' a form of compensation for private-equity executives that's accorded the low 15% capital-gains federal rate. (Mckinnon and Murray, September 21, 2012)

(Mckinnon and Murray, September 21, 2012) "Reflecting the complexity of Gov. and Mrs. Romney's investments, the couple reported $3.5 million in foreign income, on which they paid taxes. They also filed various forms reflecting holdings in the Cayman Islands, Switzerland, Ireland, Germany and elsewhere."

"Romney manages this low rate because he takes his payments from Bain Capital as investment income, which is taxed at a maximum 15 percent, instead of the 35 percent he would pay on 'ordinary' income, such as salaries and wages. Many tax experts argue that the form of remuneration he receives, known as carried interest, is really just a fee charged by investment managers, so it should instead be taxed at the 35 percent rate. Lee Sheppard, a contributing editor at the trade publication Tax Notes, whose often controversial articles are read widely by tax professionals, is nonplussed that the Obama campaign has been so listless on the issue of carried interest. 'Romney is the poster boy, the best argument, for taxing this profit share as ordinary income,' says Sheppard." (Shaxson, "Where the Money Lives", "Vanity Fair", Aug 2012)

(Shaxson, "Where the Money Lives", "Vanity Fair", Aug 2012) "But administrative guidance says you can do this kind of thing only if the compensation is in recognition of past services you have provided. 'This should not mean retired from the mother ship 10 years out and getting profits you had nothing to do with,' Sheppard says, adding that Romney can get away with it because of excessive 'administrative indulgences' that have allowed a 'perversion of the law in favor of a small class of overcompensated investment managers.”

Refs:

(Mckinnon and Murray, September 21, 2012)

http://professional.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444032404578010451626055738.html?mod=ITP_pageone_0&mg=reno64-wsj

(Shaxson, "Where the Money Lives", "Vanity Fair", Aug 2012)

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/08/investigating-mitt-romney-offshore-accounts

September 23, 2012

What A Schlemiel !

Besides getting that extension to doctor the charitable amount to keep the campaign pledge to a certain percentage, this shows that he probably still has those blocking accounts to shield the completely unexplained stuffed IRA that had impossible deposits from time to time.

"Mysteries also arise when one looks at Romney’s individual retirement account at Bain Capital. When Romney was there, from 1984 to 1999, taxpayers were allowed to put just $2,000 per year into an I.R.A., and $30,000 annually into a different kind of plan he may have used. Given these annual contribution ceilings, how can his I.R.A. possibly contain up to $102 million, as his financial disclosures now suggest?" (Shaxson, "Where the Money Lives", "Vanity Fair", Aug 2012)

"All we know is really that it's a big number, and we're a little bit baffled as to how it got so big,' Sheppard says.
Candidates list their assets in broad ranges, so we know Romney's retirement account is worth somewhere between $21 million and $102 million. Law professor Ed Kleinbard of the University of Southern California says that's a lot of money considering the most Romney could ever contribute to the account was $30,000 a year." (Horsley, NPR, Sept 23, 2012)

(Horsley, NPR, Sept 23, 2012) "Either Gov. Romney is sort of the modern-day equivalent of Jack and his magic beans, who somehow created a mighty beanstalk, or he took a very aggressive position with respect to valuing insider stock,' Kleinbard says."

And all those Cayman/Bermuda accounts in his so-called "blind trust" to keep running that 15% max tax rate he enjoys as "carried interest" only allowed as compensation to certain ACTIVE private-equity execs, even though he claims to have retired from Bain long ago. This IS unethical on it's face.

He's been flat out lying about the "blind trust" administrator, even though it's been publicly know that it's one and the same as his own privately retained lawyer, so he can keep the "attorney-client privilege" going to direct the accounts discreetly.

"The Romneys’ blind trust was created when Mitt was elected governor of Massachusetts. (...)The director and president of this entity is R. Bradford Malt, the trustee of the blind trust and Romney’s personal lawyer." (Shaxson, "Where the Money Lives", "Vanity Fair", Aug 2012)

(Shaxson 2012) “What Romney does not get,” says Jack Blum, a veteran Washington lawyer and offshore expert, “is that this stuff is weird.” (...) The Washington Post summarized the opinions of experts across the political spectrum by saying Romney’s disclosures were “the most opaque they have encountered.”

So Rmoney's foreign holdings are his own best examples of some of the numerous loopholes that he claims he will close to support his "revenue neutral" magic budget.

As if these shortcomings weren't comprehensible to the average voter, much less the average investor. Give me a break (too) !

Refs:

(Shaxson 2012)

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/08/investigating-mitt-romney-offshore-accounts

(Horsley, NPR, Sept 23, 2012)

http://www.npr.org/2012/07/19/157002254/tax-professionals-scrutinize-mitt-romneys-returns

September 4, 2012

On Teabillies Taking US On A Tailspin

It was suprisingly shameful that nary a mention was made about the involvement of 100k of our own sons and daughters in Operation Enduring Freedom during the media circus of the RNC convention. None. While our trainers are being shot in the back left and right by a few of the very same security forces that we are preparing to take over their own security in 2013, I heard no consideration being made for the welfare of deployed troops, returning troops, wounded warriors, or even veterans.

While its true that there are no candidates for the office of the presidency at the moment, and few, if any members of Congress have had any military service save a handful of reservists, that does not apply to our current commander in chief. President Obama is now a veteran of sorts himself, having had ultimate responsibility for the strategic intent and actions of our forces, their execution of said strategy, and their well being. And I don't believe it's time for a change of command just yet.

I lived through the Vietnam era and even participated as a very young man in the political process of dissent during the 1960s. I did not enlist until the end of that period and became an actual "Cold War Warrior" in more than one sense of the word. But I have never seen until recent history the recalcitrance of Congress to normal operations of government and the nearly complete lack of respect from elected and defacto leaders towards a sitting President. There is no such thing as "the loyal opposition" anymore in the current "War on Terror", which has now about to turn it's focus inwards instead of in distant lands.

The contrast today between the 1960s where a minority grew into a grassroots protest movement making life difficult for the administration then in power and turning the tide of public opinion into changes in policy and the present situation is one of a shift to an opposite political polarity. What implications does this have for our current government, besides a new inability to view ourselves as politically paralyzed by the radical right aligned with fundamentalist thinking ?

And as far as the world is concerned, it does have an improved opinion of the last 4 years of diplomatic progress we've made. But its now beginning to have serious doubts about our corporate corruption that nearly fatally infected Europe. International fears exist of a possible return to the bumbling of the Bush years, whose deregulatory philosophy and lack of enforcement fostered the great recession that rippled worldwide. Is it "deja vue all over again" ? A return to the unsophisticated 1950s and it's regressive social mores ?

The "sunshine patriot" who wraps himself in the flag is the most highly suspect villian in the new order of things since the 2010 midterm elections. Few politicians have had such a deleterious effect on the security of our nation from within, completely antithetical to the hysterical claims of infilitration by "communists and Muslims" as has been charged in the media.

"{Max} Blumenthal says that his book {Republican Gomorrah:Inside the Movement That Shattered the Party} is inspired by the work of psychologist Erich Fromm, who asserted that 'the fear of freedom propels anxiety-ridden people into authoritarian settings'. Blumenthal says (...) that in his view a 'culture of personal crisis' has defined the American 'radical right'. Blumenthal's conclusion in the 365 page book is that 'those who wrap themselves in the flag fear freedom the most' because of their own personal demons and insecurities, making them 'pathologically supportive of an authoritarian state' that can provide them with the 'emotional security of being a cog in a white Christian hierarchical machine." (Wikipedia 25 August 2012) (NPR Reviewed 2009)

Individually, the Tea Party freshmen have been largely unqualifed and unproductive legislators. They simply band together in misguided shallow ideological common causes that may be as fiscal conservatives with blinders on, unable to understand or apply the basic economic principles or anything but trickle down theory or budget slashing, or as social conservatives attempting to roll us back before Roe v. Wade.

The instabilty created by recalcitrance has damaged our national security by the supposed sword of Damacles hanging over the defense budget, even though the cuts would be hardly more than 10-14 %, creating more claimed uncertainty in the defense industy. It has damaged our credit rating worldwide at a time when it is least desired. It has put our air, ground, rail, and sea travel at risk by inadequately funding infrastructure projects and refurbishing our air traffic control system in a timely fashion. It has prevented us from producing a comprehensive jobs act to put millions back to work now and in the future, which is one reason why the economists and others who keep calling for a WPA/CCC type of jobs program are ineffective because there is not the political will for such a well meaning initiative.

More over, the resistance to proven scientific facts of global climate change are delaying not only the repair, but also the preparation for what is needed for our economy to survive and flourish by adapting to such changes. Critical infrastructure is at risk such as energy, where power production and transmission limitations and cyclical storm damage threaten the national grid.

Athough the intense lobbying that was infecting our political system as witnessed by such notorious figures as Jack Abamhoff was always a reform touted as necessary by even conservatives such as Sen. McCain, that reform has grown impossible now due to the SCOTUS "Citizens United" decision.

What has happened since that fateful decision is that the elite corporate structure has developed its lobbying efforts into campaigns of mass distraction past even the Superpacs into the realm of "Dark Money" funding that is completely anonymous.

The problems of financing reelection, election of compliant corporate syncophants, and opposing anyone else who appears that they can't be bought has ballooned into a crisis that threatens the validity of our democratic system. The only countermeasure that will work now is to produce a Constitutional Amendment(s) in opposition to the power elites that have backed the American people into this corner. And strengthen the Voting Rights Act of 1965 section 5 to preempt voter suppression, since it's now clear that Jim Crow has expanded his habitat to northern states in addition to his usual Southern haunts.

Hopefully the American people will come out fighting beginning on November 6th, or we'll be in a tailspin, not an economic recovery. This is no time for a change of command at the top, and now we know for certain from whom we need "to take the country back" from. And it's not the current administration. Its the 112th Congress.

The 1% has no qualms about hoarding their money and claiming indecision and uncertainty is to blame. They'll just collect the interest in the new "renters" economic system, which is no longer real capitalism. Fiscal conservatism will just continue the trend and tamp down any rise in demand. But it's "a demand economy, stupid", and you keep nailing the coffin shut on the American dream.

Illustrative Link of Plans to Fix the Economy Compared:

http://www.nextnewdeal.net/rortybomb/visual-guide-conflicting-theories-about-how-fix-economy

Refs:

(Wikipedia 25 August 2012)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Blumenthal

(NPR Reviewed 2009)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112683449

August 30, 2012

This is a normal planned transit

Sorry to bust your bubble, but this movement is most likely pre-planned and part of an exercise. Not only that, but the port is poorly maintained due to a highly corrupt regime that mooring many ships there would not be as feasible as one might think:
"On 10 July 2012 it was reported that warships from three Russian fleets had left their home ports for exercises in the Mediterranean Sea. The ships from the Northern, Baltic, and Black Sea fleets were all to make calls at the Russian naval base in the Syrian port of Tartus. The Soviet-era facility is operated under a 1971 agreement by Russian personnel. Since 1992 the port has been in disrepair, with only one of its three floating piers operational. The Navy maintenance site near Tartus is the only Russian foothold in the Mediterranean. Russian navy commanders have long been calling for the expansion and modernization of the Tartus base."

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/syria/tartous.htm

With regards to the cargo traffic, other Syrian ports are also used for Russian weapons and other cargo as you will see in the above article.

"Chirkov said on Monday Russia has no plans to abandon its naval base in Tartus.
The Russian Navy needs the base to provide maintenance and technical support to Russian warships in the Mediterranean, as well as those on an anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, he said."

"Black Sea Fleet commander Rear Admiral Alexander Fedosenkov said on Thursday Russian warships in the Mediterranean are preparing for naval drills due in September, and are not carrying out any military tasks in Syria."

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/russia/2012/russia-120728-rianovosti01.htm

http://serpline.blogspot.com/2012/07/syrian-crisis-unpredictability.html

August 22, 2012

The Devils Going Down To Tampa

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Tampa hosts a raucous pirate party every year called Gasparilla, where I'm certain the R-money crowd would feel right at home. But not this year. Of note, Dan Senor has been appointed to the personal staff of Pirate Ryan:

"Under real-world rules, Dan Senor should not be anywhere near Mitt Romney‘s foreign policy inner circle. This is the man who, as spokesman for the disastrous Bush Administration reconstruction effort in Iraq, told a group of reporters, according to Imperial Life in the Emerald City by the Washington Post‘s Rajiv Chandrasekaran, “Off the record, Paris is burning. On the record, security and stability are returning to Iraq.” If there is a foreign policy moment in the past 20 years with which an adviser should not be prominently associated, it is the 2003 Paul Bremer era in Iraq, during which Rumsfeldian incompetence and willful ignorance produced an era-defining foreign policy failure" (Calabresi 2012).

No, this year, while over half of America's counties are declared disaster areas, with the most wildfires in history burning across the West, and the entire heartland is suffering drought as bad as the Dustbowl of the thirties with much of our food and commodity crops in ruin, the Teapublican obstructionists that have blocked feeding the poor and helping the producers with a Farm Bill are going down to Tampa for their Circus Maximus. Hope you enjoy the double digit food price increases next year, see ya.

“Unlucky birds settled on the Capitol, houses fell in numerous earthquakes and the weak were trampled by the fleeing crowd." ~ Tacitus

What will they do there ? Well, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell will head the GOP platform committee (AP 2012). And welcome to the "Rape Party", where now even Barry Goldwater looks like a liberal feminist in retrospect. Ryan and his intellectually stunted House partner Todd Akin are Ultrasound Congressmen just as the Virginian Governor was, and still is. They co-sponsor anti-abortion bills like the third bill introduced in the 112th Congress as well as the 212th bill, and name some post offices. Nothing so useful as a workable jobs bill. So don't expect too much. Some hot air escaping from the hair bag "Jersey Barrier" Gov. Christie, who's loved for his Soprano's style buffoonery, picked as the keynote speaker. And some confirmations from the far right radical wing nuts, that's about it. And some assorted "entertainment" (Alvarez 2012).

“Todd who spoke out in defiance
With Ryan has an alliance
After he loses
Hope he ne'er chooses
To teach reproductive science”
~ Blitzschnell (Huffpo)

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Akin's defense: "She Blinded Me With Science"
“Todd, hollering and hooting
Against victims seems to be rooting
It shows the harm
To use the funny farm
In Senate candidate recruiting”
~ Blitzschnell (Huffpo)

Some other indications of what direction besides right turns this strange party will be making, are to survey two more of Pirate Ryan's circle of neocon advisors:
"Matthew Scully is considered to be one of the preeminent Republican speechwriters of the past decade, from his work for George W. Bush and Dick Cheney during the 2000 presidential campaign to his speeches for Sarah Palin four years ago. {John} McConnell, who works with Scully, is a Yale Law grad. He rose to prominence during the Bush years, where he served as one of Bush 43’s top writers. He also penned many speeches for Vice President Cheney, with whom he remains close" (Costa 2012).

"Without explicitly banning puppets, the city of Tampa has essentially declared them illegal in the RNC event zone, which covers most of the downtown area.'Their components are not allowed inside the event zone,' said Andrea Davis of the Tampa Police Department.
No sticks, strings or masks allowed.
So, no puppets.
'Also their heads have been used to hide weapons and other matter, fecal matter,' she said" (Anton
2012).

"Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes" (I fear Greeks even those bearing gifts). "That's a suppression of civil liberties," protests one Philadelphia puppeteer" (Spak 2012). Several Teapublican puppets will be speaking at the convention, such as Huckabee, and the voter suppressor Governors of Ohio and Florida.
Read the legal precedent on which the Pennsylvania judge based his approving decision on the voter ID law. It's the northern equivalent of Jim Crow laws. I kid you not. And listen to one of the Ohio Governor's chief advisors telling us to quote him on denying black voters opportunity to vote.

Then reconsider how anyone who's voting for this "crew" can be still proud to be an American. Proud to permit corporations to ship American jobs and capital overseas, proud to starve the poor and feed the rich, proud to avoid taxes by burying it in foreign strongboxes around the world, proud to help Red states in performing old style racist voter suppression and legislating national socialist type "Enabling Laws" to deny women's reproductive rights. R & R have more in common with Iranian fundamentalists that they claim to despise, and organized crime that they strive to emulate, than with any "regular Joe".

Refs:
(Calabresi 2012)

http://swampland.time.com/2012/07/30/the-man-behind-romneys-israel-trip/#ixzz244r7N6Zc

(AP 2012)

http://politics.heraldtribune.com/2012/08/19/party-platforms-to-avoid-bold-statements/

(Alvarez 2012)

http://politics.heraldtribune.com/2012/07/27/tampa-strip-clubs-ready-to-welcome-republican-convention/

(Costa 2012)

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/314247/paul-ryan-s-circle-robert-costa

(Anton 2012)

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/elections/political-puppets-popular-with-protesters-not-police/1243174

(Spak 2012)

http://www.newser.com/story/151160/ahead-of-rnc-tampa-bans-puppets.html

August 4, 2012

Rmoney's Three Ring Circus: Returns And Raising Taxes On The Regular Guy

Willard "MIttens" R-money is by now bewildered and again scrambling for cover. The world is not bowing to his demands, and he's being required to "compete" in enough "markets" simultaneously to make his head spin, which must be a frightening thing for the model mogul CEO that needs to be the one in complete control at all times.

http://blog.uloop.com/2012/tufts/mitt-romney-candidate-or-ceo/28907/

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/27/139972333/can-romney-stay-the-course-as-the-ceo-candidate

In the main center ring of this circus atmosphere, mounting pressure to do the obvious that would deflate the demands for his tax returns is having no effect on his recalcitrance. Its only raising the collective eyebrows of most of the electorate not already considering him dieifed and infalible.

"What's behind door number one ?", they ask. Mittens is considering himself to be publicly damned if he does, but he's doomed if he doesn't. What dark secrets lie undisturbed by the light of day in those returns ? The country can only wonder all the way until November about this enigma wrapped in a puzzle. This, the only presidential candidate in history to be in possession of a Swiss bank account, much less all the other secreted contents in the Caymans and Bermuda.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/04/tax-tips-mitt-romney-april-17

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/06/us-usa-campaign-romney-computers-idUSTRE7B500X20111206

On the left, Mittens has been trying to appear to be just like the rest of us, ever more the "common man", the all-American Horatio Alger story, when we all know he was born with a silver spoon. This is not the "American exceptionalism" that the conservatives are promoting as social example, of the true "job creator", that myth is transparently false in Mitten's trasncendence to the nouveau riche. Witness his family's dressage business, taken to Olympic heights, with their eighth steed.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#48476676

It's one of the minor tragedies of this search for the holy grail of American politics and power that the R-monies could have made themselves attractive, even adorable, but alas, it's far too late now.

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And on the right, his cruelest cut of all, his proposed tax cut for the wealthiest of the power elite at the expense of the entire middle class, the wealthier the better. For whom the bell tolls ? It tolls for thee, Sir R-money, in the court of public opinion.

July 28, 2012

The Blunderbuss Businessman's Dark Agenda

One might be led to believe Romney's ramblings are incoherent enough to conform with his own mysterious undefined & uneducated foreign policy planks, but I smell a rat, in fact a whole ratpack:
Barbarians At The Tea Party

July 26, 2012

Relevance to my last blog post for this scary group

With regards to: Jihadist Aims In A Failed Islamic Nation-State's Civil War Armed With Chemical Weapons ?