Bad News on the Environmental Front

The Obama administration is proposing to open large swaths of offshore areas to drilling for oil.

The proposal — a compromise that will please oil companies and domestic drilling advocates but anger some residents of affected states and many environmental organizations — would end a longstanding moratorium on oil exploration along the East Coast from the northern tip of Delaware to the central coast of Florida, covering 167 million acres of ocean.

The administration claims this move is an opening measure in a broad appeal

help win political support for comprehensive energy and climate legislation.

Anyone thinking the oil companies are going to appeased by this bribe is not looking at recent history. Corporate culture is not about supporting the environment but is all about making money and more money.

The move for more drilling looks to be one more energy boondoggle in the same range as "clean coal" and increased use of nuclear power. We have a long way to go in this fight.

Peace.

A Bit of Dem Backbone Showing

The ink on the new healthcare bill was not yet dry when corporations began to cry about the costs to them. And the GOP took hold immediately to tout the purported costs and potential job losses. As usual the truth is yet to be told.

But the reality is less striking than the enormous figures indicate.

When Part D was enacted in 2003, it contained a number of heavily criticized boondoggles for big businesses, but one such loophole offered companies subsidies to continue providing prescription drug benefits to retirees...and made those subsidies tax deductible.

Fast forward to 2010, the newly signed health care bill doesn't end the subsidies, or change the fact that those subsidies are tax free--it simply ends companies' ability to deduct them.

In preparing for the hit, though, companies have summed up the permanent cost of this tax change and plan to write it down all at once. Now, conservatives are citing that overall cost to suggest that these companies will have to bear a billion dollar burden every year. And, of course, the kicker is that this change will not take effect under the terms of the law for three years.

Dems are holding the corporations and Repubs to the truth but will the public hear any of the facts? Time will tell.

Republican Hypocrisy

From the Wilmington News Journal:

Republican hypocrisy continues to be evident as the health care bill care bill is signed into law.

After complaining first the law was too long, conservative voices began to rant about the law being too short. After pushing hard to get the sort of reforms they desired and watching Democrats move to the right, conservatives voted against the bill. Not one single Republican in the House of Representatives voted to support health care for Americans. How will Republicans explain this vote? Under the Bush administration, the Congressional Budget Office was touted as reliable in its estimates of costs for programs the Republicans desired. Now with the same office saying health care reform will save money for the nation, the same conservative voices are lifted in criticism and opposition to the analysis.

Will the hypocrisy never end? When will the American public awaken to the twisted half truths and outright lies being put forth today by too many voices on the fringes of conservative politics? When will the media begin to seek truth and facts instead of simply repeating the words of any voice available? We live in a time of great change. Only by facing facts and speaking truth will we move forward as a member of world society.

Jerry Northington

Actions speak much louder than words. All one need to is to follow the Republican actions to see the lies that come from their mouths at regular intervals.

Peace.

Who Are the Tea Party Members?

From Quinnipac:

Looking at voters who consider themselves part of the Tea Party movement:

* 74 percent are Republicans or independent voters leaning Republican;
* 16 percent are Democrats or independent voters leaning Democratic;
* 5 percent are solidly independent;
* 45 percent are men;
* 55 percent are women;
* 88 percent are white;
* 77 percent voted for Sen. John McCain in 2008;
* 15 percent voted for President Barack Obama.

Peace.

Airport Security

A recent poll from the Pew Research Foundation says 74% of Americans favor airport scanning that full body imaging that can see through clothing.

Among liberal Democrats, 61% favor the use of full-body scans while 32% are opposed, the lowest level of support within any political group.

For some of us privacy issues outweigh the small gains to be made in security. For the most part all these scanning and searching techniques are fluff and really do not improve security at all.

Peace.

An Open Letter to Conservatives

For any who may have missed the posting, Russell King has a most fine rant over at Talking Points Memo.

You're going to have to come up with a platform that isn't built on a foundation of cowardice: fear of people with colors, religions, cultures and sex lives that differ from your own; fear of reform in banking, health care, energy; fantasy fears of America being transformed into an Islamic nation, into social/commun/fasc-ism, into a disarmed populace put in internment camps; and more. But you have work to do even before you take on that task.

Your party -- the GOP -- and the conservative end of the American political spectrum has become irresponsible and irrational. Worse, it's tolerating, promoting and celebrating prejudice and hatred. Let me provide some expamples -- by no means an exhaustive list -- of where the Right as gotten itself stuck in a swamp of hypocrisy, hyperbole, historical inaccuracy and hatred.

If you're going to regain your stature as a party of rational, responsible people, you'll have to start by draining this swamp:

What follows is one of the finest summations of Republican Party failures and lies to be found anywhere today. Enjoy.

Peace.

U.S. Pulling Funding from Virtual Border Fence

The boondoggle that is being developed in Texas and across the southwest US as a "virtual border fence" is at last being reconsidered.

The U.S. government is pulling $50 million in funding from a problematic "virtual fence" meant to secure stretches of the Mexico border and is freezing additional funding for the project pending review, authorities said on Tuesday.

The building has been one cost overrun after another with multiple failures along the way. The time has come to pull the plug once and for all on this mess.

The solution to our immigration problems is not going to be found in efforts to seal our borders. That is an effort which may well be impossible at any cost. Real solutions are best found in open borders with more freedom to travel. If people are allowed to enter the nation, work a time, and return to their homes we are much less likely to see long term residents without appropriate documentation. Today if people get in the country they are reluctant to leave as return may be impossible.

And the drug wars are another entire problem without any regard to immigration issues. The list goes on and on but in no case is an electronic border a reasonable course to take.

Peace.

Tea Party Group Posts Stock Photos to Suggest Racial Diversity

In a big to promote conservative values Clarence Thomas' wife has started her own branch of the tea party. Not to be daunted by their failure to attract real members of diverse racial origins the website has stock photos instead.

Will duplicity ever end with those folks? What ever happened to honesty in our nation?

Republican Healthcare Fail

--John Sherffius

How many more must die before we change this system?

Peace.