The New Year is filled with fears and hopes for a more democratic and less corporate culture, politics and economy at the local, state, national and international levels. Here are 10 perils and prospects (5 each) to watch for...plus a personal principled promise!
PERILS
1. Increased privatization/corporatization of public assets.
The economy of our state and nation isn’t going to appreciable improve any time soon. City and State legislators and executives (Mayors and Governors) will face further financial hardships. Their choices will be cut services, raise taxes and/or sell or lease to corporations anything they think has value (i.e. roads, water/sewer systems, energy systems, parking lots, trash pickup, etc.). Privatized/corporatized public assets reduces services, increases costs, eliminates public employees and, most importantly, reduces self-determination/sovereignty/democracy — the ability of people to control their own communities
2. Further financial centralization
Too big to fail banks and other financial corporations are getting bigger, thanks in no small measure to the 2007/2008 $700 billion bailout legislation and trillions more in numerous federal assistance programs in 2009. Recently passed banking “reform” legislation in the US House of Representatives, if passed by the Senate in 2010, will tighten the economic grip and political influence of banksters. More on this is at http://createrealdemocracy.blogspot.com/2009/12/no-holiday-congressional-gift-to.html
3. Appointment of Ohio Supreme Court Justices
The PR blitz has already begun. The shield of impartiality is being constructed as 2010 begins. Ohio voters may be asked once again in November 2010 to vote on giving up their vote on how Ohio Supreme Court justices are chosen. Ohio Chief Justice Thomas Moyer is leading the charge for top-down “merit selection” of justices vs. current bottom-up voter selection. The perception (not reality of course) that political campaign contributions to judicial campaigns are more like investments leading to favorable judicial rulings is one of the major drives for the push. A limited choice will be presented — either the current corrupting big money private financing of judicial elections or the “clean and impartial” merit selection process.
4. Mid-term Congressional elections
All 435 Congressional seats are up in 2010, including 18 seats from Ohio. Where there are federal elections with lots at stake will surely be huge amounts of corporate cash. While the stock, bond, oil, and precious metal markets rise and fall, the direction of corporate investments in congressional elections head in only one direction — rapidly upward. Candidates increasingly must court new and pay attention to existing donor/investors to be viable. That’s bad news for most of the public who doesn’t contribute to political campaigns whose voices are drowned out by the voices of those representing business corporations.
5. Citizens United US Supreme Court case
In early January, it’s likely the US Supreme Court will rule on Citizens United vs Federal Elections Commission. At stake (if the court makes a sweeping ruling) is whether business corporations will be permitted to contribute/invest directly out of their corporate treasuries to political campaigns. Current law “limits” corporate contributions from employees through corporate Political Action Committees (PACs). Defining corporate contributions as “free speech” could open the door to literally unlimited amounts of corporate cash in elections — funded in part through profits from corporations that come from your purchases of their produces and services.
PROSPECTS
6. Local alternatives
There are people and groups in Ohio and elsewhere asserting their own “right to decide” right where they are which bypass big corporations and sometimes even big government. People and groups starting their own cooperatives, creating their own currencies/local exchanges, connecting with others to produce and distribute their own food, and protecting their own public assets from corporate takeover are just a few examples. This is What Democracy in Ohio Looks Like: Ohio’s Democratic/Self Determination Infrastructure (to be updated in early 2010) captures some of this. http://www.afsc.net/PDFFiles/DemocraticInfrastructureJuly09.pdf
7. Issue 2 pushback to farming out democracy in Ohio
Passage of Issue 2 in November will create the Ohio Livestock Care Board — an executive-appointed body entrusted with the regulation of animal care. Regulatory authority, thus, shifts from the legislative to the executive level. Livestock corporations love any scenario where decisions are made (a) by smaller numbers of people, (b) by those who are appointed rather than elected, and (c) by meetings less in public view. Will this be the start of a trend? Will other groupings of corporations push for more centralization and less democratic input of what exists as regulation? The shift of what amounts to corporate oversight from legislators to appointed committees or bodies under the Governor would continue. But there may be a pushback in Ohio in 2010. Groups are already brainstorming legislative and ballot initiative alternatives giving the public and our elected state representatives greater authority over the actions of livestock corporations.
8. Democratize money
Awareness is growing about “monetary policy” - how money is created, who’s in charge of its creation and supply, who profits from public and private debt. The private Federal Reserve in cahoots with banks and other financial corporations create money out of thin air with all the economic/debt and political problems connected with it. Efforts will be launched nationally in 2010 to shift money creation from corporations to the public via the federal government. Others will be focused on launching community currencies and expanding local time banks.
9. Campaign finance reform
There will be calls for real campaign finance reform in 2010. Cuyahoga County has a new charter form of government and campaign financing is one of the major issues to be decided. Injected into the discussion/debate of Ohio Supreme Court justices will be a third choice — public financing of judicial races. The same goes with federal elections — legislation, in fact, for public financing of Congressional elections has already been introduced.
10. Campaign to Legalize Democracy
A national coalition will be launched the day the US Supreme Court rules on Citizens United. The coalition will seek to educate, advocate or organize popular outrage against what the court ruling (which is expected to be antidemocratic). The coalition will also call for and initiate a proactive democratic strategy.
PROMISE
This list is not complete. It may not be the 10 most urgent or important corporate perils and democratic prospects We the People face in the New Year. They are, however, issue-areas that will be timely covered and invite actions in these postings in 2010. That’s a promise!
If any of these are important to you and you can spare a dollar or two (or 10, 20 or more!) to help the American Friends Service Committee in these perilous economic times, please send a tax deductible check or money order to: AFSC, 2101 Front St., #111, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio 44221.
Thank you.
Happy New Year!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009
The Streets or the Ballot Box?
A New Year is almost upon us. Good luck to all of you, for you will need it. Who knows what 2010 will bring? Certainly not the restoration of "normality." The system seems incapable of reforming itself, which means change, if there is to be any significant change, that is, can only come from below – in the work places, in the neighborhoods, in the streets. (But doesn't it always come that way?)
(For a glimpse of what 2010 will probably be like see Dmytry Orlov and
The rulers seek to demobilize us, as a means of immobilizing us. They want people to cease to act, to no longer go on strike or take to the streets. But such attempts have a way of coming back on them. When the workers rise up, the system's supporters are at a disadvantage. They are much less likely to get in the streets, in opposition to the revolt, than the workers who are in revolt. They believe the passive-ist ideology of their masters. Then there is the authoritarian character structure they have imbibed since birth, which encourages passivity. The authoritarian character is notable for being submissive, cowardly, sheep-like, fearful and weak. These are the last qualities on earth to encourage self-activation. Obedience is also part of the authoritarian conditioning and is a handy tool for the masters. The sheep will cheerfully do whatever they are told. But the masters have to tell them to act. In the era of the democratic facade they don't wish to be too obvious in whipping up a lynch mob against trade unionists or environmentalists.
Hate radio and TV stirs up the sheeple, it is true. If all the hate radio and False News fans were to act upon their beliefs, we would be living under a reign of terror. But, thankfully, most of their hostility is expended verbally, or on abusing their spouses and children, and rarely gets to the level of public action.
The rulers attempts to mobilize their base in an extra-parliamentary manner occurs when they are so threated by reform they take the fascist movement out of their tool box. But even then, the workers are not conquered by right-wing mobs, but by the army. We have the example of Chile where the so-called middle class protests were miniscule in comparison with the workers actions. It was the military that crushed them, not the flock of violent sheep. So too, strikes are not broken by thugs, who the workers send packing, but by state terrorism.
The ballot box is the perfect place for cowards. They can, without fear of response, vote for governmental bullies who will then carry out the attacks for them. There will be no pay-back for their votes. In the streets and workplaces, on the other hand, they risk a thrashing. The ballot is their territory, the streets are ours.
Monday, December 21, 2009
New Movements In Latin America
About a year ago I wrote about the growing anarchist movement in Latin America. Since that time new developments have occurred and I have also become aware of other groups. There is a definite tendency for individual organizations to amalgamate in new, larger federations. All the organizations listed are serious – into involvement with popular movements and the working population. While the tendencies might differ all are into an organized and programmatic approach.
Argentina
http://www.redlibertaria.com.ar/
http://www.libertario.org.ar/home.html
Bolivia
Brazil
http://www.vermelhoenegro.co.cc/
Chile
http://voznegra.entodaspartes.net/
http://feluchile.blogspot.com/
Colombia
http://www.redlibertariapmk.org/
Ecuador
http://www.hijosdelpuebloec.blogspot.com/
Mexico
http://colectivoautonomomagonista.blogspot.com/
http://congresolibertario.blogspot.com/
Peru
Uruguay
Syndicalists
http://resistenciaclasista.wordpress.com/
http://prensafob.blogspot.com/
http://www.labatalladelostrabajadores.blogspot.com/
Friday, December 18, 2009
No Holiday Congressional Gift to Banksters and Financial Industry
In this season of list making and gift-giving, US Senators Sherrod Brown and George Voinovich should do their part by making a list of changes needed to the recently-passed House bill on banking reform – which provided many plump presents to banksters and the financial industry.
In the spirit of the 10 days of Christmas (sincere apologies to non-followers of the Holiday), here are 10 suggestions that Senators Brown and Voinovich should add to their list…and make sure to check twice…before sliding down the Congressional chimney onto the Senate floor to argue on behalf of taxpayers and citizens.
1. Cap bank size. Banks too big to fail are too big to exist. Period. The five largest financial institutions, among the major players in the financial crisis, hold about 50% of all deposits and 95% of all derivatives in the US. The House bill provides a cap but none of these would be affected. The cap should be drastically lowered. The largest banks should be broken up. Sherrod and George should lock arms and like any good holiday chorus sing in harmony, “Chop from the top!”
2. Revoke corporate charters of banks. The stories have been legendary – the banking corporate Scrooges received tens of billions in public bailout money but didn’t do what they were supposed to – make loans. Instead, they gave themselves bonuses and bought other banks, making them even too bigger to fail. Are you kidding me? Enough! My hunch is that most bank charters somewhere say that at least a teeny weenie part of their mission is to make loans. Banks that failed to fulfill their mission should have their charters revoked and put out of business. While Sherrod and George might shiver as if caught in a cold winter’s wind at the prospect of such a radical notion, they should be reminded that corporate charter revocation has a rich tradition in Ohio. It was, after all, 2 REPUBLICAN attorneys general more than a century ago that sought to revoke the Standard Oil Corporation (the largest corporation of its day) for violating the terms of its charter. Ohio courts and the legislature revoked dozens of other corporate charters. The same call…and follow through…should be made from the Senate floor.
3. Federal take-over of insolvent banks. Banks shouldn’t be bailout out but taken over. The post Savings and Loan debacle era resulted in the Prompt Corrective Action law (US Code Title 12, Chapter 16, Sec 1831o) REQUIRING insolvent banks be taken over to protect taxpayers. Both the Bush and Obama administrations have simply ignored the law. Isn’t it time to enforce a law already on the books that if followed would have saved taxpayers tens of billions of dollars?
4. Create a federalized system of banks. This is controversial to those who believe the government shouldn’t be involved at all in the banking business. Ellen Brown in the Web of Debt presents a strong case, however, for the creation of local branches of a federalized banking system. The branches could come from FDIC takeover of insolvent banks. She says these banks could serve both depository and credit needs. Interest rates would be less (or none at all) than those under corporate, for-profit banks. If interest in charged, some of it after expenses would go the US Treasury to be used in place of taxes.
5. No 5 golden rings…or golden parachutes to banksters. Banks that received bailout funds of any form of public support shouldn’t be allowed to provide their executives any pay raises.
6. Jail for those responsible for financial crisis. It was reported this week a man was sent to prison for 4 years for stealing $5. How much time has anyone served for stealing from taxpayers, pensioners and homeowners trillions of dollars? Where has the Justice Department been? The Senate should call for investigations and prosecutions.
7. Eliminate fractional reserve lending of banks. Banks now can lend many times more than what they actually have in their vaults. This means default of only a small percentage of loans result in an inability of banks to cover their losses –resulting in bank insolvency. Increasing reserve requirements to 1:1 (meaning banks can only loan out what they actually have – what most people probably believe is how banks work) would end this nonsense.
8. Separate boring commercial from exotic investment banking. The financial firewalls contained in the 1932 Glass-Steagall Act, passed after the stock market crash but repealed in 1999, need to be re-imposed.
9. No loopholes on derivatives. None of the $680 trillion worth of derivatives should be exempt from transparency and regulation. A modest tax on each speculative transaction could generate over $1 trillion. Purely speculative derivatives should fall under state gambling laws. On the other hand, banning derivatives altogether, at least the most speculative ones that are nothing more than flat-out gambles, would be a swell gift under our national economic tree.
10. No regulatory powers for the Federal Reserve. The quasi-private Fed regulating private banks is a profound conflict of interest. How is providing regulatory authority to an entity hostile to previous regulations which allowed the financial industry to engage in their speculative rampage a “reform”?
Changing the House-banking bill in these ways wouldn’t completely transform the financial system from being naughty to nice. It would, however, protect taxpayers, strengthen the economy and protect, if not expand, what left of our democracy.
Call Senators Brown and Voinovich
Sherrod Brown DC 202-224-2315 / Cleveland 216-522-7272
George Voinovich DC 202-224-3353 / Cleveland 216-522-7095
In the spirit of the 10 days of Christmas (sincere apologies to non-followers of the Holiday), here are 10 suggestions that Senators Brown and Voinovich should add to their list…and make sure to check twice…before sliding down the Congressional chimney onto the Senate floor to argue on behalf of taxpayers and citizens.
1. Cap bank size. Banks too big to fail are too big to exist. Period. The five largest financial institutions, among the major players in the financial crisis, hold about 50% of all deposits and 95% of all derivatives in the US. The House bill provides a cap but none of these would be affected. The cap should be drastically lowered. The largest banks should be broken up. Sherrod and George should lock arms and like any good holiday chorus sing in harmony, “Chop from the top!”
2. Revoke corporate charters of banks. The stories have been legendary – the banking corporate Scrooges received tens of billions in public bailout money but didn’t do what they were supposed to – make loans. Instead, they gave themselves bonuses and bought other banks, making them even too bigger to fail. Are you kidding me? Enough! My hunch is that most bank charters somewhere say that at least a teeny weenie part of their mission is to make loans. Banks that failed to fulfill their mission should have their charters revoked and put out of business. While Sherrod and George might shiver as if caught in a cold winter’s wind at the prospect of such a radical notion, they should be reminded that corporate charter revocation has a rich tradition in Ohio. It was, after all, 2 REPUBLICAN attorneys general more than a century ago that sought to revoke the Standard Oil Corporation (the largest corporation of its day) for violating the terms of its charter. Ohio courts and the legislature revoked dozens of other corporate charters. The same call…and follow through…should be made from the Senate floor.
3. Federal take-over of insolvent banks. Banks shouldn’t be bailout out but taken over. The post Savings and Loan debacle era resulted in the Prompt Corrective Action law (US Code Title 12, Chapter 16, Sec 1831o) REQUIRING insolvent banks be taken over to protect taxpayers. Both the Bush and Obama administrations have simply ignored the law. Isn’t it time to enforce a law already on the books that if followed would have saved taxpayers tens of billions of dollars?
4. Create a federalized system of banks. This is controversial to those who believe the government shouldn’t be involved at all in the banking business. Ellen Brown in the Web of Debt presents a strong case, however, for the creation of local branches of a federalized banking system. The branches could come from FDIC takeover of insolvent banks. She says these banks could serve both depository and credit needs. Interest rates would be less (or none at all) than those under corporate, for-profit banks. If interest in charged, some of it after expenses would go the US Treasury to be used in place of taxes.
5. No 5 golden rings…or golden parachutes to banksters. Banks that received bailout funds of any form of public support shouldn’t be allowed to provide their executives any pay raises.
6. Jail for those responsible for financial crisis. It was reported this week a man was sent to prison for 4 years for stealing $5. How much time has anyone served for stealing from taxpayers, pensioners and homeowners trillions of dollars? Where has the Justice Department been? The Senate should call for investigations and prosecutions.
7. Eliminate fractional reserve lending of banks. Banks now can lend many times more than what they actually have in their vaults. This means default of only a small percentage of loans result in an inability of banks to cover their losses –resulting in bank insolvency. Increasing reserve requirements to 1:1 (meaning banks can only loan out what they actually have – what most people probably believe is how banks work) would end this nonsense.
8. Separate boring commercial from exotic investment banking. The financial firewalls contained in the 1932 Glass-Steagall Act, passed after the stock market crash but repealed in 1999, need to be re-imposed.
9. No loopholes on derivatives. None of the $680 trillion worth of derivatives should be exempt from transparency and regulation. A modest tax on each speculative transaction could generate over $1 trillion. Purely speculative derivatives should fall under state gambling laws. On the other hand, banning derivatives altogether, at least the most speculative ones that are nothing more than flat-out gambles, would be a swell gift under our national economic tree.
10. No regulatory powers for the Federal Reserve. The quasi-private Fed regulating private banks is a profound conflict of interest. How is providing regulatory authority to an entity hostile to previous regulations which allowed the financial industry to engage in their speculative rampage a “reform”?
Changing the House-banking bill in these ways wouldn’t completely transform the financial system from being naughty to nice. It would, however, protect taxpayers, strengthen the economy and protect, if not expand, what left of our democracy.
Call Senators Brown and Voinovich
Sherrod Brown DC 202-224-2315 / Cleveland 216-522-7272
George Voinovich DC 202-224-3353 / Cleveland 216-522-7095
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
The Smoking Gun of the Drug Wars?
Always “follow the buck” I say. I have long believed that the people who are most shrill in their denunciation of treating addiction as a health problem and of decriminalization have some financial reason to be in favour of the black market in drugs. It is also obvious that with the illegal drug trade running in excess of $300 billion per year, the usual suspects – the bikers and mafia – must be bit players only. Someone else is raking in the bulk of the cash. Mike Ruppert claimed it was the banking system, laundering the drug money through front companies and injecting it into Wall Street. Now those who are on the take, dismiss Mike as a “conspiracy theorist” , but they will have a lot more trouble dismissing the following:
Drugs money worth billions of dollars kept the financial system afloat at the height of the global crisis, the United Nations' drugs and crime tsar has told the Observer.
Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said he has seen evidence that the proceeds of organised crime were "the only liquid investment capital" available to some banks on the brink of collapse last year. He said that a majority of the $352bn (£216bn) of drugs profits was absorbed into the economic system as a result.
This will raise questions about crime's influence on the economic system at times of crisis. It will also prompt further examination of the banking sector as world leaders, including Barack Obama and Gordon Brown, call for new International Monetary Fund regulations. Speaking from his office in Vienna, Costa said evidence that illegal money was being absorbed into the financial system was first drawn to his attention by intelligence agencies and prosecutors around 18 months ago. "In many instances, the money from drugs was the only liquid investment capital. In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system's main problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor," he said.
I Googled this story – not a single US or Can paper seems to have picked it up. Hmm. Wonder why? Don't want to blow your scam?
This story is from the Guardian and brought to my attention by Rusty Idols.
Rights of gas drillers vs people before Ohio Legislature
A message from an Northeast Ohio artist-activist who I’ve worked with on other issues. Please act on this issue TODAY!
Dear Friends,
We need your help to protect our residential neighborhoods in NE Ohio from gas well drillers. During the fall, two revisions to current State law were introduced in the State Senate. The weaker bill of the two, known as SB165, was passed out of committee last week; it will likely be voted on by the full Senate early this week. Please ask your Senator to vote for several amendments. We expect SB165 to pass, but the more senators who vote to amend it, the more it strengthens the hand of our supporters in the House when the bill is presented and discussed there early next year.
So, I am asking you to
1. Write or call your senator to amend or vote “no” on SB 165 because it does not substantially change the oil and gas permitting laws of Ohio, give us control over our own lives, or adequately protect our environment. Even if you don’t live in northeast Ohio, please write to your Senator so he/she knows that there are concerned citizens throughout Ohio who care about this law. Feel free to include background information when you write.
E-mail the sample letter below to your friends all around Ohio and ask them to write their Senators, urging them to help us make changes to this bill.
Please send letters to the five Senators whose E-mail addresses are listed below. We think they may be persuadable. We need your help to fight the powerful lobby of the oil and gas industry that contributes well over a million dollars each year to try to persuade Ohio’s senators to vote with them. Be hopeful! You can make a difference! An e-mail campaign like this helped to save our state parks from being drilled!
THANK YOU!
Linda Butler, Mayfield Village, OH 44040
Sample letter:
Dear Senator_______,
During the next few days, SB165 will be voted on in the Senate. This bill may determine the safety of oil and gas drilling in Ohio for the next decade. Unfortunately it is sorely lacking in the sorts of changes that will protect homeowners and residents, protect drinking water sources, or protect the environment from the known hazards caused by drilling. To achieve these protections SB 165 at a minimum should be amended
A. to increase setbacks to a far greater distance than the proposed 150 feet;
B. to allow homeowners to have the right to refuse to have a hazardous industrial oil and gas operations in their neighborhoods or near their homes; and
C. to return control over the locating of oil and gas wells to local communities by requiring State regulators to abide by local zoning ordinances which determine appropriate land use throughout the State.
Thank you for refusing to pass SB165 without additional amendments.
Sincerely,
Your name, address zip code and (phone number)
If you don’t know your senator please go to Google and look up “Ohio State Senate”
On the left, please type in your zip code and you will find the name of your senator.
I. First, please write to your senator wherever you live. You will help our cause. Do it today!
II. Please write to these persuadable senators who may help our cause
Sen. Nina Turner (D), Cleveland (ward 2), Euclid, S Euclid
Fax 614-664-6164, Tel 614-466-4583, email, SD25@maild.sen.state.oh.us
Sen. Tom Sawyer (D), S and SE Summit County and Portage County
Fax 614-466-6660, Tel (614) 466-7041, e-mail SD28@maild.sen.state.oh.us
Sen. Tom Patton (R), Bay Village, Rocky River, Westlake, Fairview, N. Omstead, Berea, Olmstead Falls, Strongsville, N. Royalton, Broadview Hts., Brecksville, Chagrin Falls, Moreland Hills, Hunting Valley, Pepper Pike, Mayfield Hts, 7 Hills, Lyndhurst, Independence, Valley View, Walton Hills, Oakwood, Solon, Glenwillow
Fax 614-466-7662, Tel (614) 466-8056, e mail: SD24@senate.state.oh.us
Sen. Shirley Smith (D), Cleveland (e of Cuyahoga River), East Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, Cuyahoga Heights, Brooklyn Heights, Newburgh Heights
Tel (614) 466-4582; Email SD25@maild.sen.state.oh.us
Sen. Kevin Coughlin (R), Cuyahoga Falls, Brunswick, Medina, Hudson, Boston Hts, Twinsburg, Macedoina, Sagamore Hills, Corthfiield Center, Peninsula, Bath, Monroe Falls, Silver Lake, part of Stow
Tel. 614-466-4823; Email SD27@senate.state.oh.us
III. Why not write these NE Ohio senators? Senators Grendell, Cafaro, and Miller already support our bill. Please write to thank them! Unfortunately Sen. Morano voted against our alternative bill (SB196) in the Senate’s Natural Resources Committee. But who knows, you may get her to change her vote in the Senate. Why not try!
Sen Tim Grendell (R) Highland Hts, Mayfield Village, Mayfield Hts, Gates Mills and Geauga and Lake Counties; Tel (614) 644-7718 Email SD18@senate.state.oh.us
Sen. Capri Cafaro (D), Minority Whip Ashtabula and Trumbull Counties;
Tel (614) 466-7182; Email SD32@maild.sen.state.oh.us
Sen. Dale Miller (D), Lakewood, Lindale, Brook Park, Middleburg Heights, Parma Hts. Parma and Cleveland on the west side of the Cuyahoga River
Tel (614) 466-5123; Email SD23@maild.sen.state.oh.us
Sen. Sue Morano (D) Huron & Lorain counties and part of Seneca
Fax 614-466-4120, Tel 614-644-7613 e-mail: SD13@maild.sen.state.oh.us
Resources:
For further information: NEOGAP website: www.NEOGAP.ORG
Short local films by Linda Butler about this subject are on UTube under “Earthophiles”
Ohio Environmental Council website: www.theOEC.org
Background
In 2004, a bill was passed in Ohio that dramatically changed oil and gas well regulation throughout Ohio. Who cares? I admit that I didn’t even know about it until drillers attempted to drill four wells near me in Mayfield Village--1 2, 4, and 6 blocks from my house! 20 volunteers rose up to defend ourselves from the drillers; we worked tirelessly to fend off proposed wells in our village, but other communities were not so fortunate. Gates Mills now has 45 residential gas wells; and Broadview Heights has 65 oil wells in residential areas.
A new form of drilling technique allows companies to extract oil and gas from shale formations in the eastern half of Ohio that were previously inaccessible. Using this technique known as “fracking.” drillers drill down to an underground shale formation about 3500 feet below the surface and ignite an underground explosion that breaks up the shale. Then brine and other undisclosed chemicals are thrust into the shale under high pressure to further damage the shale’s structure. This technique releases gas, and oil, but we do not know its future ramifications. We do know that it can seriously contaminate drinking water supplies by polluting underground water sources with toxic chemicals and hazardous waste products. Under current law, gas wells can be drilled without regard to watershed issues (the EPA does not regulate gas drilling until there is a spill!). New York recently passed a law to prevent gas drilling near NYC’s reservoir, fearing contamination of NYC’s water supply.
Imagine this; it’s true! Ohio’s 2004 law
1. Eliminates the ability of local zoning laws to control whether or not gas wells can be in the middle of residential neighborhoods.
2. Even though the oil companies must put together drilling units of 20 acres, they can force property owners who dissent to join those “pools” through “mandatory pooling.”
3. Drillers frequently lie or use pressure tactics to persuade residents to sign drilling leases;
4. Drillers can drill within 100 feet of a house—even if the owner does not want a well near his/her home;
5. A person who lives next door to a gas well can expect his/her home will lose at least 10% of its value just by being close to a well. Who wants to buy property next door to a gas or oil well?
Two years ago an accident occurred in Bainbridge Township (near Chagrin Falls) that alerted us all to the dangers of drilling. A driller bored through a local aquifer seeking gas; the gas seeped into the aquifer irreparably polluting the wells of 43 homes. One of the homes exploded at night blasting its 85-year-old occupants out of bed. This caused home values to drop by more than a 60%!
Since 2007, NEOGAP, a grassroots group, has been fighting for better laws. A weak new law known as “SB165” will be voted on in the next week. SB165 may be approved “as is” or amended by the Senate. The Governor is supporting the bill in part because it increases state revenues. Although the new bill contains increased enforcement powers for the regulators in Columbus, it contains no provisions that would give local residents control over placement of wells in residential neighborhoods. It limits drillers to five requests for mandatory pooling per year, but does nothing to end intimidation. It increases minimum setbacks from 100 to 150 ft from homes—but this distance is still far too close to homes for a hazardous industrial activity.
We need your support for amendments to the present bill. The more senators who vote to amend this bill, or vote against SB 165, the more likely Ohio’s House will add important additional changes in 2010.
If you do one thing, please write to your senator. It will take less than 5 minutes.
Thank you for your help! Linda Butler, photographer, Mayfield Village, OH 44040
Dear Friends,
We need your help to protect our residential neighborhoods in NE Ohio from gas well drillers. During the fall, two revisions to current State law were introduced in the State Senate. The weaker bill of the two, known as SB165, was passed out of committee last week; it will likely be voted on by the full Senate early this week. Please ask your Senator to vote for several amendments. We expect SB165 to pass, but the more senators who vote to amend it, the more it strengthens the hand of our supporters in the House when the bill is presented and discussed there early next year.
So, I am asking you to
1. Write or call your senator to amend or vote “no” on SB 165 because it does not substantially change the oil and gas permitting laws of Ohio, give us control over our own lives, or adequately protect our environment. Even if you don’t live in northeast Ohio, please write to your Senator so he/she knows that there are concerned citizens throughout Ohio who care about this law. Feel free to include background information when you write.
E-mail the sample letter below to your friends all around Ohio and ask them to write their Senators, urging them to help us make changes to this bill.
Please send letters to the five Senators whose E-mail addresses are listed below. We think they may be persuadable. We need your help to fight the powerful lobby of the oil and gas industry that contributes well over a million dollars each year to try to persuade Ohio’s senators to vote with them. Be hopeful! You can make a difference! An e-mail campaign like this helped to save our state parks from being drilled!
THANK YOU!
Linda Butler, Mayfield Village, OH 44040
Sample letter:
Dear Senator_______,
During the next few days, SB165 will be voted on in the Senate. This bill may determine the safety of oil and gas drilling in Ohio for the next decade. Unfortunately it is sorely lacking in the sorts of changes that will protect homeowners and residents, protect drinking water sources, or protect the environment from the known hazards caused by drilling. To achieve these protections SB 165 at a minimum should be amended
A. to increase setbacks to a far greater distance than the proposed 150 feet;
B. to allow homeowners to have the right to refuse to have a hazardous industrial oil and gas operations in their neighborhoods or near their homes; and
C. to return control over the locating of oil and gas wells to local communities by requiring State regulators to abide by local zoning ordinances which determine appropriate land use throughout the State.
Thank you for refusing to pass SB165 without additional amendments.
Sincerely,
Your name, address zip code and (phone number)
If you don’t know your senator please go to Google and look up “Ohio State Senate”
On the left, please type in your zip code and you will find the name of your senator.
I. First, please write to your senator wherever you live. You will help our cause. Do it today!
II. Please write to these persuadable senators who may help our cause
Sen. Nina Turner (D), Cleveland (ward 2), Euclid, S Euclid
Fax 614-664-6164, Tel 614-466-4583, email, SD25@maild.sen.state.oh.us
Sen. Tom Sawyer (D), S and SE Summit County and Portage County
Fax 614-466-6660, Tel (614) 466-7041, e-mail SD28@maild.sen.state.oh.us
Sen. Tom Patton (R), Bay Village, Rocky River, Westlake, Fairview, N. Omstead, Berea, Olmstead Falls, Strongsville, N. Royalton, Broadview Hts., Brecksville, Chagrin Falls, Moreland Hills, Hunting Valley, Pepper Pike, Mayfield Hts, 7 Hills, Lyndhurst, Independence, Valley View, Walton Hills, Oakwood, Solon, Glenwillow
Fax 614-466-7662, Tel (614) 466-8056, e mail: SD24@senate.state.oh.us
Sen. Shirley Smith (D), Cleveland (e of Cuyahoga River), East Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, Cuyahoga Heights, Brooklyn Heights, Newburgh Heights
Tel (614) 466-4582; Email SD25@maild.sen.state.oh.us
Sen. Kevin Coughlin (R), Cuyahoga Falls, Brunswick, Medina, Hudson, Boston Hts, Twinsburg, Macedoina, Sagamore Hills, Corthfiield Center, Peninsula, Bath, Monroe Falls, Silver Lake, part of Stow
Tel. 614-466-4823; Email SD27@senate.state.oh.us
III. Why not write these NE Ohio senators? Senators Grendell, Cafaro, and Miller already support our bill. Please write to thank them! Unfortunately Sen. Morano voted against our alternative bill (SB196) in the Senate’s Natural Resources Committee. But who knows, you may get her to change her vote in the Senate. Why not try!
Sen Tim Grendell (R) Highland Hts, Mayfield Village, Mayfield Hts, Gates Mills and Geauga and Lake Counties; Tel (614) 644-7718 Email SD18@senate.state.oh.us
Sen. Capri Cafaro (D), Minority Whip Ashtabula and Trumbull Counties;
Tel (614) 466-7182; Email SD32@maild.sen.state.oh.us
Sen. Dale Miller (D), Lakewood, Lindale, Brook Park, Middleburg Heights, Parma Hts. Parma and Cleveland on the west side of the Cuyahoga River
Tel (614) 466-5123; Email SD23@maild.sen.state.oh.us
Sen. Sue Morano (D) Huron & Lorain counties and part of Seneca
Fax 614-466-4120, Tel 614-644-7613 e-mail: SD13@maild.sen.state.oh.us
Resources:
For further information: NEOGAP website: www.NEOGAP.ORG
Short local films by Linda Butler about this subject are on UTube under “Earthophiles”
Ohio Environmental Council website: www.theOEC.org
Background
In 2004, a bill was passed in Ohio that dramatically changed oil and gas well regulation throughout Ohio. Who cares? I admit that I didn’t even know about it until drillers attempted to drill four wells near me in Mayfield Village--1 2, 4, and 6 blocks from my house! 20 volunteers rose up to defend ourselves from the drillers; we worked tirelessly to fend off proposed wells in our village, but other communities were not so fortunate. Gates Mills now has 45 residential gas wells; and Broadview Heights has 65 oil wells in residential areas.
A new form of drilling technique allows companies to extract oil and gas from shale formations in the eastern half of Ohio that were previously inaccessible. Using this technique known as “fracking.” drillers drill down to an underground shale formation about 3500 feet below the surface and ignite an underground explosion that breaks up the shale. Then brine and other undisclosed chemicals are thrust into the shale under high pressure to further damage the shale’s structure. This technique releases gas, and oil, but we do not know its future ramifications. We do know that it can seriously contaminate drinking water supplies by polluting underground water sources with toxic chemicals and hazardous waste products. Under current law, gas wells can be drilled without regard to watershed issues (the EPA does not regulate gas drilling until there is a spill!). New York recently passed a law to prevent gas drilling near NYC’s reservoir, fearing contamination of NYC’s water supply.
Imagine this; it’s true! Ohio’s 2004 law
1. Eliminates the ability of local zoning laws to control whether or not gas wells can be in the middle of residential neighborhoods.
2. Even though the oil companies must put together drilling units of 20 acres, they can force property owners who dissent to join those “pools” through “mandatory pooling.”
3. Drillers frequently lie or use pressure tactics to persuade residents to sign drilling leases;
4. Drillers can drill within 100 feet of a house—even if the owner does not want a well near his/her home;
5. A person who lives next door to a gas well can expect his/her home will lose at least 10% of its value just by being close to a well. Who wants to buy property next door to a gas or oil well?
Two years ago an accident occurred in Bainbridge Township (near Chagrin Falls) that alerted us all to the dangers of drilling. A driller bored through a local aquifer seeking gas; the gas seeped into the aquifer irreparably polluting the wells of 43 homes. One of the homes exploded at night blasting its 85-year-old occupants out of bed. This caused home values to drop by more than a 60%!
Since 2007, NEOGAP, a grassroots group, has been fighting for better laws. A weak new law known as “SB165” will be voted on in the next week. SB165 may be approved “as is” or amended by the Senate. The Governor is supporting the bill in part because it increases state revenues. Although the new bill contains increased enforcement powers for the regulators in Columbus, it contains no provisions that would give local residents control over placement of wells in residential neighborhoods. It limits drillers to five requests for mandatory pooling per year, but does nothing to end intimidation. It increases minimum setbacks from 100 to 150 ft from homes—but this distance is still far too close to homes for a hazardous industrial activity.
We need your support for amendments to the present bill. The more senators who vote to amend this bill, or vote against SB 165, the more likely Ohio’s House will add important additional changes in 2010.
If you do one thing, please write to your senator. It will take less than 5 minutes.
Thank you for your help! Linda Butler, photographer, Mayfield Village, OH 44040
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Tribute to John Logue
John Logue, a pre-eminent educator and practitioner for economic democracy in Ohio and around the world, passed away December 9.
Obituary at:
http://obits.cleveland.com/obituaries/cleveland/obituary.aspx?n=john-logue&pid=137219284
Scholars are often not very adept at translated their ideas and ideals into reality while social doers can often be not well grounded in the theories and history of what they’re creating.
John was adept at applying theory and practice to an arena that must be widely expanded in our unsustainable corporate-dominated economy – ownership by workers of the place of their employment.
Founder of the Ohio Employee Ownership Center at Kent State University, Logue assisted more than 10,000 workers in more than 70 firms in Ohio and elsewhere to gain greater direct control of their workplace.
Worker-owned firms aren’t likely to move off shore, exploit employees, or bleed their companies to pay executives exorbitant bonuses. Rather, they provide workers power to control their own workplaces – all the while operating in the “free market.” Worker ownership is thus a third category of economic institution – neither corporate which are controlled by management and stockholders or state which is owned and run by the government.
Logue organized over the years several delegations of diverse participants to the Mondragon region of Spain to witness first-hand the incredible network of hundreds of worker-owned cooperatives which employ 100,000 employees. A recent visit included representatives of the Cleveland Foundation and others from the area desperate to find a way to bring back to life an inner city that corporations had abandoned and government handouts had failed to empower. The result was the launch in October of a network of employee-owned cooperatives to employ area residents, give them power over their own economic lives, and provide needed goods and services to area hospitals and universities.
I sat near John at the announcement of the first of those cooperatives, Evergreen Laundry. True to his graceful and humble form, he wasn’t up front with the politicians, hospital and university presidents or supporting non-profit heads. He sat back in the audience almost intentionally trying to stay away from the limelight. That was John.
Several months ago, we launched an educational campaign to help activists and concerned citizens better understand the sources and solutions to the global economic crisis. I invited John to speak about worker ownership at a program in Cleveland, saying the audience might not be very large. He didn’t care. He showed up and provided an incredible in-depth, intelligent, clear and hopeful description of how our economy could be transformed if only public incentives (loans, grants, subsidies, tax breaks, etc.) favored employee-owned and cooperative businesses at even a fraction that they currently favor large corporations. And it did with humor, respect and a genuineness that was disarming no matter what preconceived notions one possessed. That was John.
Martin Luther King said once in response to the incompleteness of sit-down strikes of the south: what good is it to have the right to sit down in a restaurant if you can’t afford to buy a hamburger. The point was racial justice doesn’t go very far without economic justice.
Logue might have understood a corollary today; the realization of real political democracy isn’t possible without real economic democracy. Business corporations and wealthy individuals under our current economic rules and institutions amass ever-increasing wealth which distort, if not demolish, the ability of citizens without money either directly or through their elected representatives to shape public policies.
Worker owned businesses and cooperatives are different economic institutions – more democratic ones that provide workers the ability to become owners and exert their own economic power.
That may have been why as a political science professor he worked so hard for economic democracy. Greater economic power is connected to greater political power.
That was John.
Obituary at:
http://obits.cleveland.com/obituaries/cleveland/obituary.aspx?n=john-logue&pid=137219284
Scholars are often not very adept at translated their ideas and ideals into reality while social doers can often be not well grounded in the theories and history of what they’re creating.
John was adept at applying theory and practice to an arena that must be widely expanded in our unsustainable corporate-dominated economy – ownership by workers of the place of their employment.
Founder of the Ohio Employee Ownership Center at Kent State University, Logue assisted more than 10,000 workers in more than 70 firms in Ohio and elsewhere to gain greater direct control of their workplace.
Worker-owned firms aren’t likely to move off shore, exploit employees, or bleed their companies to pay executives exorbitant bonuses. Rather, they provide workers power to control their own workplaces – all the while operating in the “free market.” Worker ownership is thus a third category of economic institution – neither corporate which are controlled by management and stockholders or state which is owned and run by the government.
Logue organized over the years several delegations of diverse participants to the Mondragon region of Spain to witness first-hand the incredible network of hundreds of worker-owned cooperatives which employ 100,000 employees. A recent visit included representatives of the Cleveland Foundation and others from the area desperate to find a way to bring back to life an inner city that corporations had abandoned and government handouts had failed to empower. The result was the launch in October of a network of employee-owned cooperatives to employ area residents, give them power over their own economic lives, and provide needed goods and services to area hospitals and universities.
I sat near John at the announcement of the first of those cooperatives, Evergreen Laundry. True to his graceful and humble form, he wasn’t up front with the politicians, hospital and university presidents or supporting non-profit heads. He sat back in the audience almost intentionally trying to stay away from the limelight. That was John.
Several months ago, we launched an educational campaign to help activists and concerned citizens better understand the sources and solutions to the global economic crisis. I invited John to speak about worker ownership at a program in Cleveland, saying the audience might not be very large. He didn’t care. He showed up and provided an incredible in-depth, intelligent, clear and hopeful description of how our economy could be transformed if only public incentives (loans, grants, subsidies, tax breaks, etc.) favored employee-owned and cooperative businesses at even a fraction that they currently favor large corporations. And it did with humor, respect and a genuineness that was disarming no matter what preconceived notions one possessed. That was John.
Martin Luther King said once in response to the incompleteness of sit-down strikes of the south: what good is it to have the right to sit down in a restaurant if you can’t afford to buy a hamburger. The point was racial justice doesn’t go very far without economic justice.
Logue might have understood a corollary today; the realization of real political democracy isn’t possible without real economic democracy. Business corporations and wealthy individuals under our current economic rules and institutions amass ever-increasing wealth which distort, if not demolish, the ability of citizens without money either directly or through their elected representatives to shape public policies.
Worker owned businesses and cooperatives are different economic institutions – more democratic ones that provide workers the ability to become owners and exert their own economic power.
That may have been why as a political science professor he worked so hard for economic democracy. Greater economic power is connected to greater political power.
That was John.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Child Trafficking and Pedophilia in British Columbia
Given that authoritarian hierarchies, such as those found in the corporate and governmental spheres, tend to attract psychopathic and narcissistic personalities, given that many (most) in authority hold those beneath them in utter contempt, given that their life's “work” consists in bullying and exploiting those weaker than themselves, a tendency toward pedophilia should come as no shock. Indeed, one ought to be surprised if the wealthy and powerful did not have this tendency.
The following article exposes pedophilia among the powerful, and the attempts at cover-up here in BC.
Child Trafficking in Beautiful British Columbia
By Kevin Annett
In April of 1994, two lawyers, Renate Auger and Jack Cram, are dragged from a Vancouver courtroom, assaulted, and eventually disbarred after naming two Supreme Court judges as participants in a child prostitution ring based in the elite Vancouver Club at 915 West Hastings street .
A 1998 report by UNESCO on International Child Trafficking names Vancouver as one of three major centers for child prostitution in the world, along with Bangkok and Rotterdam.
In the early hours of October 14, 2000, an aboriginal reporter named Noel watches as two children no older than eight are loaded into a stretch limousine on the Squamish Indian reserve and driven to the back door of the Vancouver Club. Noel waits for hours, and when the children emerge, he tries to speak to them, but is assaulted from behind and his tape recorder disappears.
In the fall of 2001, an investigator named Rob Nicholson publishes a book entitled “Stolen Innocence”, in which he documents extensive child trafficking and pornography by social workers, lawyers and policemen connected to the Ministry of Children and Families (MCF). Nicholson proves that the MCF continually places foster children in homes of known and even convicted pedophiles.
On March 12, 2006, a woman named Annie Parker tells the author that she had been abducted by Vancouver policemen and used in something called “The Hooker Game”, in which both women and children are drugged and filmed while being sexually assaulted and sometimes even killed.
A war of terror on the innocent is going on as you read this, not far from your home, under the trendy façade of Vancouver’s happy image. Yet it is a war hidden from most people, and nowhere to be seen in the consciousness and agendas of “progressive” minded people in Vancouver.
Carol Martin is an aboriginal woman who works as a crisis counselor at the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre in Vancouver . To her, the abduction and trafficking in children is just an extension of what her people have been suffering for centuries.
“More of our children are being taken from us every day, and put in white foster homes where the abuse is just as bad as it ever was in residential schools. Every day we hear cases of the government placing little kids in homes of pedophiles and abusers. Nothing’s ever done about it. And even our own kids are being criminalized by the system at a young age, to give cops the excuse they need later to pick them up and abuse them. That’s all got a name: genocide.”
Rudy James is a Tlingit native elder from Alaska who helped preside at the first independent Tribunal into Indian residential schools, held in Vancouver in June of 1998. At this event, Rudy heard first-hand testimonies from survivors of child trafficking in B.C.
“I was shocked when I heard how widespread the child trafficking is in many of the northern Indian villages” Rudy described shortly after the Tribunal.
“We had two separate groups of Indians tell us that their chiefs and councilmen at two villages near Bella Bella and Powell River were actively trafficking local children to wealthy Americans and Canadian military personnel. This was happening apparently with the full knowledge of the local RCMP detachment in both towns, and in one case, even clergymen from the United Church were involved.”
The word on the street is even more explicit. Marion is a middle aged sex trade worker who is a veteran of “the stroll” along east Hastings street , where disappearances are a common occurrence. For years, she has watched as children are procured according to a well-organized and protected system involving wealthy predators.
“The going rate for a young child is $1500 these days. Foreign tourists will ask for a young virgin, of either sex, and the younger the age, the more they’re willing to pay. It’s watched over by the Vancouver cops, who get a cut. But it’s run by an international network; Vancouver ’s just one spoke in the wheel. I hear it’s got a direct tie to Thailand and the child sex trade there.”
Don’t expect any police or legal intervention to stem or even investigate such child abuse and trafficking in B.C. According to Rob Nicholson, the Attorney General’s office is itself implicated in this organized pedophilia.
“In the case of two convicted pedophiles, a Dr. Gossage and a Mr. Benest, a school Principal, the B.C. Attorney General’s office through a special prosecutor, Peter Leask, protected these child rapists and ensured that compliant judges imposed a media ban to protect their identities and reputations. Leask had also served as the attorney for Gossage. Such direct collusion between pedophiles and the government has gone unchallenged.” (August 2002)
According to a retired RCMP special investigator in Vancouver who requests anonymity, child pornography and trafficking is continually on the rise because of judicial toleration of violence against children, as indicated by constantly minimal prison sentences for convicted child sex offenders. To quote the RCMP official,
“The unofficial policy and official practice is to look the other way when children are raped. It’s just not considered much of a crime to violate a child. That climate encourages pedophiles to act with impunity.”
With the approach of the Olympics and the influx of wealthy tourists into Vancouver, the trafficking in children will only increase. According to Carol Martin,
“We’re not only going to see 5000 people made homeless by the Olympics, but a lot more women and kids disappear. Whenever the tourists show up, our people go missing.”
What is to be done?
In a culture like ours, where people are commodities and children are traditionally seen to be originally sinful, child abuse cannot help but be endemic. But what is less obvious is the fact that pedophilia in Canada is actually being organized and protected by the very institutions of state and church that pose as protectors of children.
The Catholic, Anglican and United Church of Canada, for instance, have been legally absolved by the government of any wrongdoing for the torture and death of more than 50,000 children in their Indian residential schools: a travesty of justice that nevertheless has proceeded without protest or comment from most Canadians.
Such mass indifference to a crime against humanity in our midst is more than telling. For one wonders how child prostitution, trafficking and murder can ever be eradicated from our midst when the foxes are still in charge of the chicken coop; and while the right of adults and institutions to violate and destroy innocence continues to go unchallenged and unpunished.
A Cowichan native on Vancouver Island whom I’ve known for years once told me that, before the coming of the whites, his people had a simple way to deal with anyone who harmed a child in their village.
“A group of warriors assigned to the job would take the offender out into the forest, and you’d never see him again. For us, our children were sacred, and we had a zero toleration for whatever might harm them: because we knew that if the next generation was crippled, our people had no future.”
Perhaps it’s time for such simple tribal wisdom to prevail in "Beautiful British Columbia", where men with money and power continue to run amok over the lives of the innocent.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Media Democracy In Argentina
In an effort to democratize radio and TV, which till now had entirely been in the hands of corporations, the government has passed a new law for the media. The previous law had been put in place by the fascist dictatorship, you know the one that murdered at least 30,000 people. With the new regulations, one third of media licenses will be corporate, one third public and one third for non-profit associations. This is a big shot in the arm for cooperative and community media. The corporate monopolies are whining that this extension of media freedom is actually a suppression of freedom. But we have come to expect this sort of propaganda, after all, freedom is only supposed to be for the wealthy and powerful. Note the lack of complaint from these same corporocrats during the dictatorship. To read the complete story in Marie Trigona's excellent blog, see http://mujereslibres.blogspot.com/2009/10/community-on-airwaves-end-to_4683.html
Friday, December 4, 2009
Vote For Molly's Blog!
Molly's Blog (see http://mollymew.blogspot.com/2009/12/blogging-its-that-time-of-year-again.html ) like last year, is in the running for 'Best Political Blog' at the Canadian Blog awards . I urge you to go ( http://cdnba.wordpress.com ) and vote for Molly! (And if you haven't seen the blog you ought to – it really is first rate.) See
Thursday, December 3, 2009
World's Dumbest Criminals?
I got this phishing expedition sent to me. Not only was it a plain email message – no attempt to imitate Yahoo, but it was full of grammatical mistakes. (underlined)
Attn: Account User,
This is in conjunction with Gmail and Yahoo Account Users,we are having congestions due to the anonymous registration of yahoo accounts so we are shutting down some Yahoo Account and your account was among those to be deleted.We are sending you this email so that you can re-confirm your account information to enable us upgrade your account from been deleted. If you are still interested to use your Yahoo Account kindly re-confirm your account by filling the space below.
* User name: ...............................
* Password: ................................
* Date of Birth: ...........................
* Country Or Territory: ....................
After following the instructions in the sheet, your account will not be interrupted and will continue as normal. Thanks for your attention to this effect. We apologize for any
. Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his/her account after three days of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently.
Sincerely.
Yahoo! Account Services.
Kindly reply to:
Monday, November 30, 2009
Ideology As a Form of Madness
A person is deemed insane if they are delusional, that is if what they believe has no connection whatsoever with the real world around them. An important contemporary form of delusion is the pseudo-science of economics, most especially its neo-classical form, dominant these last three decades.
The latest Monthly Review in an article titled “The Paradox of Wealth and Environmental Destruction” has a number of quotes which show just what raving nut cases these “economists” are.
Oxford “economist” Wilfred Beckerman in his book Small Is Stupid (who is stupid?) claimed that if US agricultural output fell 50% it wouldn't mean very much since it only represents 1.5% of the US GDP. Hence global warming wouldn't have much of an effect.
Thomas Schelling a Nobel prize winning “economist” wrote along similar lines- Agriculture is practically the only sector of the economy affected by climate and it only contributes a small percentage ... of national income. If agricultural productivity were drastically reduced by climate change, the cost of living would rise by one or two percent, and at a time when per capital income will have doubled.
It never occurred to these idiots that if you decreased the food supply by 50% prices of food would shoot way up and millions of the most vulnerable would starve.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Battle in Seattle, against Banks and for Democracy
Ten years ago this week I marched with labor activists and environmentalists (dubbed “Teamsters and Turtles”) and indigenous people from across the world against the corporate policies of the World Trade Organization.
The famed “Battle in Seattle” that shut down the meetings wasn’t at its core about the police vs. demonstrators or even about free vs. fair trade. It was about the power and rights of people and their elected representatives to set labor, consumer, environmental and commercial laws vs. the power of transnational corporations to abolish those laws and prevent new ones from being enacted.
The WTO’s agenda of trade liberalization and deregulation (i.e. fancy words for abolishing democratically-enacted laws passed by nations, states and regions) includes not only cars, toys, clothing and other stuff manufactured in one nation and shipped to another. Very relevant to today, it also includes a Treaty enacted under the WTO called the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), which has gutted banking, financial, and insurance rules across the planet over the past decade.
Virtually unpublicized in the corporate press, WTO’s financial deregulation provisions under GATS locked in domestically, and exported internationally, the model of extreme financial service deregulation that most analysts consider a prime cause of the current global economic crisis.
Worse still, the final statement from the recent G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh called for completion of the next round of WTO negotiations (the Doha Round) that would further financial deregulation at the same time that the G-20 nations called for financial reregulation.
What further deregulation would transnational financial corporations like to see under the next round of WTO negotiations? According to Public Citizen, they include:
- No limits on size of financial firms or operations
- Reduced controls on risky new products and services from foreign financial firms – such as any next generation of credit default swaps and collateralized debt obligations that fueled the financial crisis.
- A standstill on reregulating financial sectors
- Difficulty in regulated financial transactions from corporations in tax haven offshore nations
- Eliminating differences in regulations between local, state and federal governments
- Reducing accounting regulations of banks and financial corporations
- Issuance of a list of 70 grounds to challenge any new banking and financial laws passed by governments.
At the very time when governments around the world are responding to more than a decade worth of banking and financial liberalization and deregulation, the World Trade Organization and its corporate globalization agenda wants to cut regulations further, giving banking and financial institutions more power and rights.
Ten years after the “Battle in Seattle” is the battle in Congress – to press our elected representatives to push for an exit from the WTO and all other misnamed “free trade” agreements that serve corporate interests at the expense of people, the planet, and self-governance.
The famed “Battle in Seattle” that shut down the meetings wasn’t at its core about the police vs. demonstrators or even about free vs. fair trade. It was about the power and rights of people and their elected representatives to set labor, consumer, environmental and commercial laws vs. the power of transnational corporations to abolish those laws and prevent new ones from being enacted.
The WTO’s agenda of trade liberalization and deregulation (i.e. fancy words for abolishing democratically-enacted laws passed by nations, states and regions) includes not only cars, toys, clothing and other stuff manufactured in one nation and shipped to another. Very relevant to today, it also includes a Treaty enacted under the WTO called the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), which has gutted banking, financial, and insurance rules across the planet over the past decade.
Virtually unpublicized in the corporate press, WTO’s financial deregulation provisions under GATS locked in domestically, and exported internationally, the model of extreme financial service deregulation that most analysts consider a prime cause of the current global economic crisis.
Worse still, the final statement from the recent G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh called for completion of the next round of WTO negotiations (the Doha Round) that would further financial deregulation at the same time that the G-20 nations called for financial reregulation.
What further deregulation would transnational financial corporations like to see under the next round of WTO negotiations? According to Public Citizen, they include:
- No limits on size of financial firms or operations
- Reduced controls on risky new products and services from foreign financial firms – such as any next generation of credit default swaps and collateralized debt obligations that fueled the financial crisis.
- A standstill on reregulating financial sectors
- Difficulty in regulated financial transactions from corporations in tax haven offshore nations
- Eliminating differences in regulations between local, state and federal governments
- Reducing accounting regulations of banks and financial corporations
- Issuance of a list of 70 grounds to challenge any new banking and financial laws passed by governments.
At the very time when governments around the world are responding to more than a decade worth of banking and financial liberalization and deregulation, the World Trade Organization and its corporate globalization agenda wants to cut regulations further, giving banking and financial institutions more power and rights.
Ten years after the “Battle in Seattle” is the battle in Congress – to press our elected representatives to push for an exit from the WTO and all other misnamed “free trade” agreements that serve corporate interests at the expense of people, the planet, and self-governance.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Olympic Torch Protest - the so-called marble throwing incident.
I have waited 3 weeks to do this story to see if anything new came up – so far nothing, so here goes...
On the night of the anti-Olympic protest the Victoria TV station was screaming about “cowardly protesters throwing marbles at police horses” and that “a young man with a back pack full of marbles had been arrested.” This way they drummed up hate among the sheeple against a rather successful protest.
Then the Times Colonist got in the act too with a similar line. Funny thing, the story then dropped out of sight.
Even odder was the fact that no one was arrested. Surely if the police had gotten their hands on someone who tried to throw marbles at them, they would be dragged off bleeding to the hoosegow.
Odd too, is the idea that NO2010 would somehow endorse such a stupid, counter-productive tactic. Of course they didn't.
Turns out no one actually threw any marbles, rather they were dropped. But then it gets muddy. Who did it and why did they do it?
There are a number of different viewpoints. First two letters to the Times Colonist:
Just a note on the 'marble fiasco'. Maybe the media could take a second and follow-up on their so-called 'sources' (the police, and a woman who found a handful of marbles on the street) on marble THROWING. Being at the protest, I saw what happened with the marbles. None were thrown. Someone had them in his pocket (I would like to know why, but since carrying marbles is not a crime, I didn't feel it necessary to ask), his pocket broke and they FELL OUT. A number of us stopped to pick them up, and because we were afraid of being separated from the group, we weren't able to get them all. Many thanks to the woman who got the rest. I would like to see one person step forward that actually SAW anyone throw anything at the horses, because from my perspective, it didn't happen. Stop being lazy reporters, and do your job. Lover of Horses Nov 2
"Protesters also threw marbles at the feet of horses used by the Vancouver police mounted squad."
This is a lie. I was there when the marbles were released, at one of the intersections on Cook Street where we stopped for ten minutes or thereabouts. My friend and I commented on what a stupid thing that is, dropping marbles onto the street so that the horses, already enslaved and wishing they were in a warm barn somewhere, might slip on them. Others nearby expressed similar comments. We were at the back of the crowd, where I stayed for most of the route, and there were several police officers within earshot. It was clear that the officers were made aware of the marbles. The horses passed without incident.
It wouldn't surprise me to learn that the marbles were released by agents provocateurs, who have been proven (and those from Montebello may actually go to jail for inciting violence) to be planted into crowds for the purposes of disrupting otherwise peaceful acts of civil disobedience. Janine Bancroft Nov 2
Global Television weighs in on Nov 3:
Anti-Olympic protesters say it was not them, but the police themselves, who threw marbles at police horses during the Olympic torch rally in Victoria Friday. They say a police "provocateur" planted among the demonstrators did so to discredit them.
The police, meanwhile, say the allegation is ridiculous.
"The public saw marbles coming from the crowd -- and Victoria police officers saw it," said Sgt. Grant Hamilton of Victoria police.
Tamara Herman, an organizer for the group No2010, said one of the protesters saw someone who was not part of their group drop marbles in the roadway.
Herman said she could not name the witness or offer other details. Nevertheless, she contends that a plainclothes police officer was trying to discredit the protesters.
"The Integrated Security Unit [responsible for Games security] stated they wouldn't rule out using provocateurs. Organizers at the back of the march saw someone they didn't recognize dropping a bag of marbles," Herman said.
The Martlet (U Vic paper) gets it partly wrong:
Despite fears of a potential police crackdown on protesters, there were no arrests. The only visible attempted violence came when some protesters- who were not known to No-2010 organizers- threw marbles at the feet of the seven horses being ridden by the mounted squad The Martlet Nov 23
What really happened? Some kid who plays marbles had his pocket split? Police agent provocateur? Or could it be a free lance provocateur? Don't put it past the far right to do such a thing. One thing for certain is that the media will seize upon any incident real or imagined to intimidate and discredit the forces of progress.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Aphorisms
The following aphorisms are the result of my 64 years on this planet.
Ninety percent of human problems are artificially created.
To find a traitor, look for a flag-waver.
Few are more naive than the self-styled pragmatist or realist.
If it is something we want, they take forever. Something they want and it's rammed through in hours. Something we want and there is not enough money, something they want and the purse is wide open.
Capitalism is the state socialism of the rich.
If you think everything in government, the media and the economy is a racket, you will be correct in most cases.
To find the source of a problem, ignore the excuses and follow the buck.
Two little words will make many an Anglo Canadian don a bed sheet - “Indian” and Quebec.
If a desire for vengeance is the chief negative trait of Americans, hypocrisy is the chief Canadian trait.
The worst Satanists are those who think they are Christians.
Few people consciously lie, most live in a state of denial.
Kill someone and they call you a murderer. Kill ten people and they call you a monster. Kill a million people and they call you Mr. President.
“Democracy” is the right to chose which of two similar parties will bully and exploit you.
Our rulers will kill as many people as they find necessary in order to maintain their wealth and power.
Free enterprize has nothing to do with freedom.
Free trade is the freedom of corporations to control the global economy.
Few freedoms are universal. One person's freedom may be another's slavery. One person's slavery may be another's freedom.
The poor and the powerless are always deemed responsible for their acts. The wealthy and powerful are rarely so.
Contempt of court? Few institutions are more worthy of contempt.
People are enslaved through ignorance of their own history, which is why it is not taught in schools.
A true skeptic has an open mind. A pseudo-skeptic is a believer, but of the negative kind.
If you want to do something, do it. Don't let anyone tell you to do otherwise. Many lives have been ruined by people not following their true will.
People are motivated by hope for a better life, which is why the system and its toadies spare no energy in seeking to kill hope.
State socialism is an oxymoron, just like capitalist democracy.
Nothing exists in isolation. Thus, everything you do ultimately effects everyone and everything else. Live your life accordingly and suffering will be minimized.
The fragmented, disconnected world-view is the viewpoint of the stupid. Wisdom consists in seeing the underlying unity.
Nothing is free, everything comes at a price, that which is human effort.
The spiritual consists of metaphors. The foolish take those metaphors literally, and are thus guilty of idolatry.
All creative acts are acts of rebellion.
Everyone has heard of Beethoven. Who has heard of his critics?
No god punishes us. We punish ourselves.
To the eye of eternity, even the worst human being is but a fleck of foam on a vast ocean.
Considering yourself “saved” is the worst example of the sin of pride.
If competitiveness and a desire to dominate were the major aspects of human nature, early humans would not have survived a week.
True leadership is by example. Coercing people into doing your bidding is not leadership, but the attribute of a school yard bully.
Capitalism regulates what should be left unregulated and leaves unregulated what should be regulated.
Humanity will be liberated when it realizes the dominator minority is criminally insane and treats it accordingly.
If we simply must have rulers, let them be worthy of us.
If people understood the logic of argument, most politicians would be laughed off the podium. This is why logic is not taught in our schools.
Socialism is the simplest thing in the world - those who do the work own and control their places of work. The complication arises from all the false definitions that have been foisted upon the word.
The commandment says, “Thou shalt not kill.” It does not say “Thou shalt not kill except when some sleazy politician or greedy corporation boss says its OK to kill.
Outside the human, evil does not exist in the world. Attributing evil to the non-human world is a form of psychological projection.
Given the right conditions all people will act in a brutal manner. Given the right conditions all people are capable of altruism.
The ultimate reason for the proliferation of conspiracy theories is systematic lying on the part of governments, corporations and the mass media. To eliminate conspiracy theories, eliminate lying.
Human reality is one of shadings of gray, of contradictoriness and complexity, and only the stupid reduce everything to black and white.
Every person who trumpets how rational they are, displays some gaping irrationality, obvious to everyone but themselves.
One cannot deny the importance of reason, yet a person completely devoid of the non-rational would be merely a machine of flesh and blood.
Genocide of the First Nations should surprise no one, given the attitudes of the era. One would be more surprised had genocide not occurred.
Private property is absolutely sacred... unless it is the property of First Nations, people of colour or the poor. Then it is free for expropriation.
Let's not be too hard on the Germans. The Nazis only took the racist, social Darwinist and eugenicist ideologies dominant in Europe and North America to their logical extreme.
All cults require as a condition of membership, the acceptance of some irrational belief. If you affirm this belief now, you are more likely to swallow any lie, no matter how outrageous, later on.
Given the nature of life a century ago, given the time that is needed for the generations to work through such insanity, is it any wonder we have serious problems today?
An explanation is not the same as an apology, though bigots like to pretend this is so.
That every situation has a cause or reason for its existence other than innate virtue or innate evil, ought to be a trite observation, but the statement needs constant repetition in the Fox News era.
Socialists are as envious of the wealthy as a man with intestinal parasites is envious of his tape worms.
The economy exists to serve the people, the people do not exist to serve the economy. This should be elementary, but it is not.
That you "consented" to being an employee is a sick joke. The choice is narrow - either voluntary slavery or starvation. Of course, if the only choice available is being beaten with a broomstick or beaten with a 2 by 4, people will always favor the broomstick, but it doesn't mean they necessarily enjoy getting beaten.
Envy and fear are the chief motivations of the poor person with right-wing views.
The word economics is a synonym for ideology.
Where science agrees with popular prejudices, everyone is for science. Where science disagrees with popular prejudice, people reject and condemn it.
The central problem of the left - you win all the arguments but then still convince no one, for most people's beliefs have an irrational basis.
Not pursuit of wealth, but a desire to dominate is the chief motivation of the rulers. Wealth is only the means to that end.
People with Dark Age ideas about biology, geology or physics are happy to have their lives saved by the practical results of that same biology, geology and physics.
The problem with the economist's claim that humans are motivated by self interest is that self-interest is taken in its narrowest and most limited sense – immediate material gratification. But self-interest also includes clean air, community, security and culture, aspects which require a long-term view, not found among those corporate apologists.
What exactly do conservatives wish to conserve? The true conservers are found on the left. They seek to protect community, culture, the small farm and the environment from the predatory conservatives.
Climate change deniers will be the first people to yell for help when they are subject to the disastrous effects of the climate change they deny.
Conventional politics – the stupid led by the psychopathic.
All states, no matter how seemingly benevolent, ultimately rest upon a foundation of violence.
Peasants or hunter-gatherers never freely give up their land. Their property is expropriated by outsiders through violence or the threat of violence.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
6 Ways Corporations Profit from War
The Obama administration will soon decide on sending tens of thousands of additional troops into Afghanistan
-- further expanding a war and occupation with no end in sight.
Why the US engages in war after war, decade after decade is due to no single reason.
A major reason is profit earned by various business corporations that influence government policies – corporations that benefit both abroad and at home from war during every step of the process. The same is true for other nations as well.
There are 6 major ways business corporations profit from war.
1. Control of strategic resources. Gold, silver and slaves (defined as property not persons) used to be the preferred resources of pillagers. Today oil, natural gas, and other physical resources (water in the future) are the aim of business corporations to either control or gain access to. US- and UK-based transnational energy corporations initiated the drive for war in Iraq for oil and in Afghanistan for natural gas. It’s hardly surprising that Exxon-Mobil, Chevron and other energy corporations have enjoyed record profits over the last several years.
2. Building weapons. Plans, tanks, guns, bullets, food, and bases are among the many items supplied to governments by Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics and other military contractors to wage wars and indefinitely occupy foreign countries. Military contractors benefit from “cost-plus” contracts – contracts that guarantee a certain percentage profit. The more expensive the military item, the greater the profit.
3. Waging wars. No longer are government-paid troops the only soldiers waging wars and occupying cities and villages. The Iraq war saw an explosion of business corporations receiving US government contracts to hire soldiers. Paid mercenaries provide an ever-increasing role in fighting “enemies” and protecting people and property.
4. Reconstruction. After corporate-made bombs blow up buildings, governments pay other corporations, such as Bechtel corporation, to rebuild buildings. Sometimes it’s the same corporations (i.e. Halliburton corporation). This cycle is akin to those who criticized some New Deal depression-era programs of paying people to dig holes and then to fill them back in. The military economic prime-pump equivalent, however, is no myth but is much more lethal and expensive.
These are the more obvious ways business corporations profit from wars and occupations. There are 2 other paths to profits that are not as widely acknowledged – but at least as devastating economically and democratically to nation-states.
5. Debt. Waging wars costs more money that what governments have in their treasuries. This requires taking out loans. This takes the form of selling government bonds that are purchased by central banks (the Federal Reserve in the case of the US) and private banks. The government allows banks to literally create money out of thin air to purchase US Treasury notes. Governments are on the hook for not only the principle of the loans but interest. Thus, banks profit from receiving interest payments and whatever principle may be repaid for money they never had to begin with. This is profit of glorious proportions to banking corporations. Wars, thus, create government dependency to banks – which explains why throughout history banks have encouraged Kings and other royalty to war with each other. Governments lose sovereignty when they lose their ability to shape their own budgets. More of our federal budget goes to debt service each and every year. Not all of US debt is war-incurred – the trillions for bank bailouts is another major cause. But the truth remains the more money set aside for war that can’t be paid for yields more debt…and bank profits. This was the reason President Lincoln scorned British and US banks and created interest free US money, called Greenbacks, to pay for the Civil War – saving billions in interest payments that would have been paid to banking corporations.
6. Privatization/corporatization of domestic public assets. Greater public debt eventually leads to an inability to fund domestic needs. Governments are left with two choices – raise taxes or sell off public assets to fill budgetary holes. If debts soar due to further war spending and too-big-to-fail bank bailouts, we can expect to see a massive sell off of public assets to business corporations – with massive corporate profits and loss of public control. The drive to “privatize” social security and Medicare are likely to intensify as our federal debt explodes. Financial corporations eager to invest our retirement savings in the market and insurance corporations more that willing to set up private health savings accounts would be huge winners.
Wars are costly in many ways to most of us here and abroad – but oh so profitable for a very few.
-- further expanding a war and occupation with no end in sight.
Why the US engages in war after war, decade after decade is due to no single reason.
A major reason is profit earned by various business corporations that influence government policies – corporations that benefit both abroad and at home from war during every step of the process. The same is true for other nations as well.
There are 6 major ways business corporations profit from war.
1. Control of strategic resources. Gold, silver and slaves (defined as property not persons) used to be the preferred resources of pillagers. Today oil, natural gas, and other physical resources (water in the future) are the aim of business corporations to either control or gain access to. US- and UK-based transnational energy corporations initiated the drive for war in Iraq for oil and in Afghanistan for natural gas. It’s hardly surprising that Exxon-Mobil, Chevron and other energy corporations have enjoyed record profits over the last several years.
2. Building weapons. Plans, tanks, guns, bullets, food, and bases are among the many items supplied to governments by Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics and other military contractors to wage wars and indefinitely occupy foreign countries. Military contractors benefit from “cost-plus” contracts – contracts that guarantee a certain percentage profit. The more expensive the military item, the greater the profit.
3. Waging wars. No longer are government-paid troops the only soldiers waging wars and occupying cities and villages. The Iraq war saw an explosion of business corporations receiving US government contracts to hire soldiers. Paid mercenaries provide an ever-increasing role in fighting “enemies” and protecting people and property.
4. Reconstruction. After corporate-made bombs blow up buildings, governments pay other corporations, such as Bechtel corporation, to rebuild buildings. Sometimes it’s the same corporations (i.e. Halliburton corporation). This cycle is akin to those who criticized some New Deal depression-era programs of paying people to dig holes and then to fill them back in. The military economic prime-pump equivalent, however, is no myth but is much more lethal and expensive.
These are the more obvious ways business corporations profit from wars and occupations. There are 2 other paths to profits that are not as widely acknowledged – but at least as devastating economically and democratically to nation-states.
5. Debt. Waging wars costs more money that what governments have in their treasuries. This requires taking out loans. This takes the form of selling government bonds that are purchased by central banks (the Federal Reserve in the case of the US) and private banks. The government allows banks to literally create money out of thin air to purchase US Treasury notes. Governments are on the hook for not only the principle of the loans but interest. Thus, banks profit from receiving interest payments and whatever principle may be repaid for money they never had to begin with. This is profit of glorious proportions to banking corporations. Wars, thus, create government dependency to banks – which explains why throughout history banks have encouraged Kings and other royalty to war with each other. Governments lose sovereignty when they lose their ability to shape their own budgets. More of our federal budget goes to debt service each and every year. Not all of US debt is war-incurred – the trillions for bank bailouts is another major cause. But the truth remains the more money set aside for war that can’t be paid for yields more debt…and bank profits. This was the reason President Lincoln scorned British and US banks and created interest free US money, called Greenbacks, to pay for the Civil War – saving billions in interest payments that would have been paid to banking corporations.
6. Privatization/corporatization of domestic public assets. Greater public debt eventually leads to an inability to fund domestic needs. Governments are left with two choices – raise taxes or sell off public assets to fill budgetary holes. If debts soar due to further war spending and too-big-to-fail bank bailouts, we can expect to see a massive sell off of public assets to business corporations – with massive corporate profits and loss of public control. The drive to “privatize” social security and Medicare are likely to intensify as our federal debt explodes. Financial corporations eager to invest our retirement savings in the market and insurance corporations more that willing to set up private health savings accounts would be huge winners.
Wars are costly in many ways to most of us here and abroad – but oh so profitable for a very few.
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