Politics in the Zeros

Which would you prefer?

Thomas Ware — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:21:05 +0000

This?

Or this? I propose a wager, like Pascal’s but for Climate Change Deniers: If I am wrong, I don’t lose a damned thing. If you are wrong, we all lose the only planet we know of capable of sustaining the human species, and all of our grand-children die. You want to take that bet, fool? (Ten Bears)

World’s first geothermal-solar plant opens in Nevada

Bob Morris — Wed, 23 May 2012 13:30:50 +0000

The Stillwater geothermal plant in Nevada has added a solar array and now provides 59 MW of clean, steady power. Geothermal produces power 24/7 while the solar provides extra power during the day when it is most needed.

Jerry Brown charges ahead with high speed rail and water plans

Bob Morris — Wed, 23 May 2012 05:08:30 +0000

California governor Jerry Brown is full-tilt in favor of spending $68 billion on high speed rail and $14 billion on water projects, cheerfully ignoring that California can barely keep the lights on now.

“You’ve got to build to accommodate the growth,” Brown said. “California is not stopping. We’re not some tired country in Europe.”

I completely agree. California certainly isn’t like Europe, where countries admit they have problems and are trying to solve them. California politicians like Jerry Brown would probably remain relentlessly and mindlessly perky even if a 9.0 quake dumped half the state into the Pacific Ocean.

On the day of the Facebook public offering, Brown championed California as a place of innovation, saying, “This is where they invented Facebook…. This is still the Wild West.”

The governor was quickly reminded that Facebook was invented in Cambridge, MA.

Ed Asner is now a Truther

Bob Morris — Wed, 23 May 2012 01:26:15 +0000

And KPFK, a once great radio station, announces it with truly hideous graphics and layout.

No Truther has ever been able to justify their huge leap from “there are some anomalies in the official 9/11 story” to “George Bush ordered it.”

And now Ed Asner, a dedicated warrior for the left, has jumped down that rabbit hole too.

Roseanne Barr brings attention to Green Party presidential race

Bob Morris — Tue, 22 May 2012 20:00:04 +0000

sfgate.com

Jill Stein is heavily favored to win the Green Party nomination for president. However, Roseanne Barr, famous for her 1980’s sitcom “Roseanne,” is also a candidate and her name recognition is bringing much needed attention and media focus to the race. This highlights a continuing problem that third parties and independents have. How do you get media attention and create buzz? Having a well-known actress like Roseanne Barr as a candidate certainly helps.

The Green Party presidential debate last week in San Francisco was more of a joining together than a traditional debate. Roseanne Barr and Jill Stein agreed on most everything.

Barr was controversial a few years back due to her radio show on Los Angeles radio station KPFK, a Pacifica affiliate, as some thought she focused far too much on conspiracy theories. She did not speak on those topics at the debate.

Roseanne Barr is to be congratulated for playing this campaign straight and for bringing it welcome visibility. She isn’t really running against Jill Stein and will certainly support Stein in the general election.

More about Roseanne Barr and her Green Party presidential run at IVN.

Politicians care mostly about post-election employment

Bob Morris — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:15:43 +0000

The dirty secret of American politics is that, for most politicians, getting elected is just not that important. What matters is post-election employment. It’s all about staying in the elite political class.

Bill Clinton signed the Commodities Futures Modernization Act in 2000. It gutted oversight and repealed Glass-Steagall, greasing the way for the financial bubble and collapse. He immediately began getting huge fees for speaking and is now worth about $80 million, much of it from “speaking fees.”

Barack Obama and his franchise are emulating the Clinton’s, and are speaking not to voters, but to potential post-election patrons. That’s what their policy goals are organized around.
We don’t call it bribery, but that’s what it is. Bill Clinton made a lot of money when he signed the bill deregulating derivatives and repealed Glass-Steagall. The payout just came later, in the form of speaking fees from elite banks and their allies.

Obama probably doesn’t much care if he gets reelected. He’ll be worth many millions a few years after he leaves office, and has insured his future financial well-being by sending the banks hundreds of billions and doing about what ever they demand.

Fast-growing independent political website wants writers

Bob Morris — Tue, 22 May 2012 12:45:29 +0000

The Independent Voter Network is looking for writers.

Do you want to write about politics or build readership to your website? Maybe you’re a journalism student looking to build a portfolio. If so, we want you to write for the Independent Voter Network.

IVN is part of a non-profit and focuses on high quality political content from all viewpoints with a view towards reforming a dysfunctional system. It was founded by two ex-members of the California legislature who wanted an end to gridlock and is expanding quickly nationwide.

Possible topics include politics in your home state with a view towards independents, third parties and open primaries, national and foreign policy, environmental issues, labor, civil liberties, and much more. Let me know what you’d like to write about.

Currently, we have a sizable readership which is growing substantially. IVN is indexed by Google News and ranks for a number of high traffic search terms. We are active across social media platforms and will be rolling out multimedia in the immediate future. Voices are amplified on the Independent Voter Network, as we appeal to a broad and growing range of the American electorate.

There’s no quota for articles. Original content is preferred. Paraphrasing with a link back to an original article is fine too.

There is a chance that new writers who publish regularly on IVN will be paid although they haven’t worked the details out yet.

I’m the Western Rgional Editor. You can contact me at bob@ivn.us or here.

TSA: Out in left field

Pat H — Tue, 22 May 2012 09:00:19 +0000

Shadowlight Theater poster, 1963. Milton Glaser

The TSA keeps on keeping on. Between May 4th and 10th, 2012, here’s what they found on the roughly 10 million air passengers* in US airports during that period.

Firearms: 30 - 29 loaded; 1 unloaded
1 artfully concealed prohibited item found at checkpoints

TSA’s homepage posted this link to the story of one of their employees who helped thwart an abduction on his way to work at the Dallas/Ft Worth airport. Good on him.

At the TSA Blog, the find of the week was a disassembled gun and ammunition found in a three of a child’s stuffed animals, one of which was Mickey Mouse.

This is just another example that threats can appear anywhere and this is why our Officers take a closer look at everything. It’s also an example that shows that even though we’ve made changes to how we screen children 12 & under, the security process is still just as effective.

Meanwhile in Salt Lake City, a Savannah Barry, diabetic sixteen-year-old girl with her physician’s letter in her hand, was coerced into undergoing a full body scan which damaged the software in her $10,000 insulin pump.

“I was like, ‘Are you sure that I can go through with this insulin pump? It’s not going to hurt the pump at all?’ And she was like, ‘No, no, you’re fine.’ So I went through with my pump. Some part of me knew that it wasn’t OK, but when someone in a position of authority is telling you it is, you think that it’s right,” said Barry.

Although TSA policy clearly states that diabetics can travel with their insulin and have the right to opt for a pat-down, there have been ongoing problems and according to a staff attorney for the American Diabetes Association training in the field has been lacking.

Finally, Bruce Schneier explains what’s wrong with profiling people at airports.

Any bureaucracy that processes 630 million people per year will generate stories like this. When people propose profiling, they are really asking for a security system that can apply judgment. Unfortunately, that’s really hard. Rules are easier to explain and train. Zero tolerance is easier to justify and defend. Judgment requires better-educated, more expert, and much-higher-paid screeners. And the personal career risks to a TSA agent of being wrong when exercising judgment far outweigh any benefits from being sensible.
The proper reaction to screening horror stories isn’t to subject only “those people” to it; it’s to subject no one to it. (Can anyone even explain what hypothetical terrorist plot could successfully evade normal security, but would be discovered during secondary screening?) Invasive TSA screening is nothing more than security theater. It doesn’t make us safer, and it’s not worth the cost. Even more strongly, security isn’t our society’s only value. Do we really want the full power of government to act out our stereotypes and prejudices? Have we Americans ever done something like this and not been ashamed later? This is what we have a Constitution for: to help us live up to our values and not down to our fears.

*Note: My very conservative estimate based on number of passengers reported by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics for January 2012, the most recent month available.

Renewable energy substantially cuts water use

Bob Morris — Tue, 22 May 2012 03:00:08 +0000

Power generation accounts for 39% of water usage in the US. Coal, natural gas, and nuclear power plants use the most amount of water while renewable energy like wind and solar photovoltaic use the least. Increasing competition for water coupled with current droughts make it all the more important to devise new ways to create electricity without using nearly as much water.

Opflow, a journal of the American Water Works Association discusses this and more in a thoughtful publication “How Can We Avoid the Coming Power Struggle for Water?” One way is by using renewable energy

Read more about how renewable energy uses less water than traditional energy.

Eve of Destruction for the Eurozone

Bob Morris — Mon, 21 May 2012 22:15:52 +0000

Andy Carling, writing in New Europe.

Our leaders have, on left and right, pushed for an unregulated financial market, not realizing that if you let a bunch of psychopathic coke fiends loose with everybody’s money, it will end in tears.

Oh, I think our leaders knew quite well what a unregulated financial system would lead to, which would be vast enrichment for themselves and their class paid for by everyone else.

Eurozone crisis explained

A consequence of the EU response… was to create a vacuum of leadership, allowing Germany and France to dictate a policy of brutal austerity over 500 million people.
Pushing austerity and savage budget cuts has led the citizens to feel that they are the ones being punished – and it does feel like punishment – for the sins of the bankers and the political establishment.
You can’t build a lasting union if the poor and powerless are the ones who pay for the incompetence and worse, of the rich and powerful.

In a book about Vegas in the 1950′s, the authors quote a FBI agent who said, the mobsters aren’t smarter than everyone else , it’s just that they’ll do things the rest of us won’t. I would say that applies to most of the international banking system. And they are the enemies of the rest of us.