MITT ROMNEY: HOW DIFFERENT WOULD HE BE FROM GEORGE W.BUSH? ROMNEY WOULD BE BUSH III. Romney Has No Personal Record OF Achievement To Run On So He Has To Attack Obama.
ROMNEY AND BUSH: PUBLIC ENEMIES ONE AND TWO
Mitt Romney doesn’t talk much about George W. Bush in fact he would like us to forget about the “Compassionate Conservative” who nearly destroyed the financial system of the country with his leadership. Nothing is said about the Bush who led us into two wars one in Afghanistan and the other in Iraq which many politicians and scholars think was unnecessary. Iraq left behind over four thousand dead and thousands of others scarred, brain damaged and debilitated for life. This doesn’t include civilian deaths and casualties which still continue in Iraq.
The Bush that believed in American supremacy so much so that we didn’t care or need the support of allies in foreign policy matters is never mentioned. (Romney thought so highly of this policy he named his recent book “No Apology” meaning no apology to foreign allies for not consulting with them on major decisions.) No mention is made of the the Bush who believed in a small regulatory government, a huge defense sector and that Medicare and Social Security should be matters for private sector investment . (After the recent bond market collapse one could guess where the retirement of millions of Americans would be if Social Security was allowed to privatize.)
Bush did expand prescription drugs for seniors to the great joy of the pharmaceutical companies. It was such a great idea that many congressional insiders rushed to buy pharmaceutical stocks so one wonders who really benefit from this. When Bush left office there were wars still raging in Iraq and Afghanistan, the National Debt which was nearly nonexistent when he took office was in the trillions of dollars, the highest it has ever been and of course an economy in collapse.
Would a Romney government be any less of a disaster, answer no. Romney believes in the same principles as Bush. Despite all the parsing on issues in the primaries and now as the general election heats up Romney is still fundamentally on the same page as Bush. There may be slight differences in degree but we would get the same policies and the same cadre of loyalist Republicans now stowed away in conservative think tanks or in industry to serve in the cabinet and other appointed government positions.
Like Bush, Romney is for small government (translate as small regulatory government.) There would light regulation of Wall Street under Romney just it was under Christopher Cox, Bush’s appointee to the chairmanship of the SEC. Thus there was no one to put the brakes on to stop the last financial bubble. The Federal Reserve under the chairmanship of Republican and freemarketeer, Greenspan while not under the control of Bush but appointed by him, refusing to use the Fed’s power to curb mortgage lending while subprime lending and securitization went beyond all rationality.
Romney is already on record in his primary speeches and his book that he would take the government back to the Bush years which enriched the top 20% the expense of the bottom 80%. Romney is one of those who benefited amassing wealth of two hundred twenty thousand dollars while paying income taxes of 15% or less while salaried working people paid in the vicinity 0f 30% or more.
He cites his business experience at a hedge fund as somehow making him more qualified to make the economy run more efficiently. Yet his work at buying and restructuring companies usually meant the loss of jobs in balance over his hedge fund career. Further when judged against other hedge fund managers like Paul Singer, Ray Dalio, James Simons, Carl Icahn, Steve Cohen or David Shaw he looks like Mickey Mouse and we haven’t even come near the likes of Warren Buffet or George Soros. He has no record to run on as a superb business man. He was a subpar business man
Romney doesn’t talk about his four years as governor of Massachusetts except to deny that Romney care, the model for Obama’s affordable health care are the same in principle. He really has nothing to talk about as governor except the health care plan that the Massachusetts Legislature created and enacted and he signed reluctantly.
When he was governor of Massachusetts employment was the worst of the fifty states. Business activity was down and economically the state went bankrupt in that there were budget deficits. Romney has no record to run on as governor. Many of the same policies he favored for Massachusetts would now be applied to the federal government. One guesses he learned nothing from his experience as governor except.
Less government, but huge defense,
Less regulation,
Free markets,
Deficits don’t matter (Reagan proved this.),
The bigger the military the better to solve problems with force and loss of life (somebody else’s rather than his or his family) rather than diplomacy.
Lower taxes for the wealthy so they can create jobs,
Eliminate social welfare plans like Social Security and Medicare as they are a drag on a free economy.
Tighten up voter rolls so less people can vote or are afraid to vote and those that do vote are more likely to be wealthy thus reducing the level of democracy,
Get rid of immigrants (they don’t vote anyway),
Let students fund their own education like he never did,
Military service, that’s for someone other than himself or his family but extol patriotism as if he or his five sons fought and won in Vietnam, Iran and Afghanistan.
Does this sound like the policies of BUSH II?
THE BILL AND MELINDA GATES CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and Trayvon Martin.
Filed under: Bill Gates, DEFEND YOUR GROUND ACT, Trayvon Martin.
BILL AND MELINDA GATES SAVING LIVES IN AFRICA BUT FOUNDATION GRANTS TO ALEC MAY CONTRIBUTE AND INCREASE THE LIKELY HOOD OF VIOLENT DEATHS IN THE U.S. AS IN THE TRAYVON MARTIN CASE.
This is the Mission Statement for the Gates Foundation;
MISSION STATEMENT
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life.
Given the noble causes the Foundation has dedicated its resources to why would it grant $376,635 to the American Legislative Exchange Council(ALEC) a political/lobbying group that prepares and sponsors ultra right wing legislation that benefits its corporate sponsors at the expense of others. Donor members include tobacco, oil, pharmaceutical and others including the ultra right Koch brother’s companies. Many of these companies have direct conflicts with the Gates Foundation.
The Foundation justified the grant as an “educational” grant as stated below:
Amrerican Legislative Exchange Council
Date: November 2011
Purpose: to educate and engage its membership on more efficient state budget approaches to drive greater student outcomes, as well as educate them on beneficial ways to recruit, retain, evaluate and compensate effective teaching based upon merit and achievement
mount: $376,635
Term: 1 year and 10 months
Topic: Advocacy & Public Policy
Region Served: Global, North America
Program: Grantee Location: Washington, District of Columbia
THE CENTER FOR MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY ANALYSIS OF “ALEC” ACTIVITIES
The Center for Media and Democracy on 8/11/2011 published an analysis of eight hundred of the proposed bills and concluded that the bills are not for the public welfare but for narrow business interests of its corporate donors at the expense of the public.
Also 2011 The Nation magazine as well as many others published multiple articles describing the political/lobbying activities of ALEC entitled as follows:
The Nation Magazine. ALEC Exposed. 2011
The Nation Magazine. ALEC Exposed: Rigging Elections. 2011.
The Nation Magazine. ALEC Exposed: Business Domination Inc.. 2011.
The Nation Magazine. ALEC Exposed: Sabotaging Healthcare 2011.
The Nation Magazine. ALEC Exposed: The Koch Connection., 2011.
The Nation Magazine.ALEC Exposed: Starving Public Schools. 2011.
Nation Magazine. ALEC Exposed: The Hidden History of ALEC and Prison Labor 2011.
These were not the only articles exposing ALEC. As stated most mainstream media published articles also exposing the efforts to influence state legislators in the interest of their corporate sponsor who hold veto power over the bills and acts prepared by ALEC. ALEC prepared and lobbied for the Defend Your Ground Act passed in Florida which was involved in the Trayvon Martin death
However despite all the evidence that ALEC was a political/lobbyist organization advocating measures directly in contradiction of the Gates Foundation goals the Gates Foundation said it would go forward with its donation as the grant had already been approved. Approved by who? One wonders Bill Gates if it was himself? Or one of his employees?
This statement was made after it was determined that Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law was almost identical to the AlEC model act which it lobbied for passage through its corporate and active/retired politician membership. Also this same bill that was instrumental in the death of Trayvon Martin has been passed in some form by 31 states and is under consideration by other states despite the fact the Trayvon Martin killing revealed that instead of protecting people in Florida the numbers of people killed by gun death almost doubled after the act was passed
ALEC is obviously a political organization dedicated to preparing and lobbying for the passage of bills that benefit its sponsors like the Koch Brothers who disavow Global Warming among other scientific facts that might affect their companies. Its agenda is contrary to the alleged humanitarian goals of the Gate Foundation with assets of over thirty billion dollars. Then there is Bill Gate’s personal wealth which is under management by many of the same people. With so much wealth under their control maybe there is a conflict of interest between the goals of the Foundation and the goals of the Gates wealth managers who have invested in many of the companies represented by ALEC.
GATES STATEMENTS ON THE FOUNDATIONS 990PF TAX RETURN
The Gates Foundation has to submit a 990PF tax return and make it public on its web site. The Foundation’s tax return in 2010 asks the following questions which were answered and signed off on by Bill Gates on 10/26/2011. He answered no to all the questions listed below.
Statements Regarding Activities (FOUNDATION 990PF)
PART VII A
1a During the tax year, did the foundation attempt to influence any national, state, or local legislation or did it participate or intervene in any political campaign?
1b Did it spend more than $100 during the year (either directly or indirectly) for political purposes
If the answer is “Yes” to 1a or 1b, attach a detailed description of the activities and copies of any materials published or distributed by the foundation in connection with the activities.
1c Did the foundation file Form 1120-POL for this year?
1d Enter the amount (if any) of tax on political expenditures (section 4955) imposed during the year: (1) On the foundation. _____$ (2) On foundation managers ___$
1e Enter the reimbursement (if any) paid by the foundation during the year for political expenditure tax imposed on foundation managers.
2 Has the foundation engaged in any activities that have not previously been reported to the IRS?
PART VII B
5a During the year did the foundation pay or incur any amount to:
1) Carry on propaganda, or otherwise attempt to influence legislation (section 4945(e)?
2) Influence the outcome of any specific public election (see section 4955); or to carry on,
Directly or indirectly, any voter registration drives?
(3) Provide a grant to an individual for travel, study, or other similar purposes?
(4) Provide a grant to an organization other than a charitable, etc., organization described in section 509(a)(1), (2), or (3), or section 4940(d)(2)? (see page 22 of the instructions)
(5) Provide for any purpose other than religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational
purposes, or for the prevention of cruelty to children or animals?
Gates signed the return before the Trayvon Martin death and may not have been aware of the grant to ALEC at the time as the Foundation makes hundreds if not thousands OF grants. However after the Martin death his spokesman said the Foundation would not make any future grants to ALEC but would continue with funding the present grant (to run 1 year and 10 months) approved before the MARTIN death.
Maybe Gates should also file an amended tax return giving correct answers and in the future make political gifts from his personal fortune which is managed by the same group that manages the Foundations assets or divest himself as trustee in favor of a neutral trustee. One wonders if a Captain of Industry who goes to the Davos Conference every year, often to speak, can change his spots to that of a Great Humanitarian. The foundation exists to provide tax shelter for about half of his fortune and the Foundation is designed to change Gates image from a ruthless businessman to a compassionate Humanitarian. Can a leopard change its spots?
Rick Santorum: This is the man that wants to be President of the United States.
THE LAST REFUGE
The only book authored by Santorum was in 2006 or about six years ago so it is not current enough to warrant a review and it is highly unlikely he will be the Republican nominee. He was born May 10, 1958 which makes him 53 years old. Despite being on the far right of the Republican Party he may run for President again if, as the pundits predict, he will not be the Republican nominee in 2012. It also is unlikely he will be named as Romney’s running mate if Romney wins. Romney will seek a more moderate running mate in an effort to move to the center in the general election. That election is likely to be a close and bruising one.
He was born in Virginia to a clinical psychologist and an administrative nurse and raised and educated in Pennsylvania. He ultimately received a law degree from Penn State. He is Catholic and socially conservative being against same sex marriage, contraception and abortion.
He married Karen Garver in 1990 and they have had eight children one of whom died at birth. He took the fetus home to show to his other children and he and his wife slept with the dead fetus between them. They have a child born when Mrs. Santorum was 48 with a serious genetic disorder who is not expected to live beyond her first year.
Also in 1990 at the age of 32 he was elected to the U.S. House Of Representatives and in 1994 to the U.S. Senate where he served until 2006 when he was not re-elected.
While in office he supported The War On Terrorism and enhanced interrogation techniques. He also said that empty sarin and mustard gas casings from the Iran-Iraq conflict in the Nineties was evidence of weapons of mass destruction in relation for the justification for the invasion of Iraq in 2003. He disagrees with John McCain that water boarding is torture.
He is for the privatization of Social Security. He follows neoconservative thinking on foreign policy and believes that climate change is a left wing conspiracy. He is a hawk on Iranian nuclear development and would bomb them if they chose not to be transparent in their nuclear activities. He supports gun rights. He voted the Republican line on almost all issues while in office. He supported earmarks. He would repeal The Affordable Care Act as unconstitutional.
He has written that moral relativism in the seminaries led to the sex abuse scandal within the Catholic Church. He doesn’t believe in a strict separation of church and state.
In 2012 he has won more than five primary contests which means that if Romney does not get enough votes for a first ballot nomination then Santorum could be a contender for the nomination on second or subsequent ballots. His base appears to be in those states with a majority of fundamentalist Christians. However recently he lost primary elections in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington D.C.
He looks forward to winning in his home state of Pennsylvania and upcoming conservative states like Texas in May 2012.
Given the publicity gained during the nomination process and the fact that he showed strong extreme right support he is likely to be a force in the Republican Party in the future perhaps running for President again in future elections if as expected he loses the 2012 nomination.
In 2010 and the first half of 2011 his income was $1.3 million as a lawyer and advisor.
This then is the man that wants to be President of the United States.
SANTORUM AND LIMBAUGH ON CONTRACEPTION
Barack Obama: The Audacity Of Hope. Chapter Nine: Family. Book Review. THE IDEAL MODERN FAMILY
OBAMA FAMILY PORTRAIT
In this chapter Obama talks about his own experience growing up without a biological father present in the home and his present married life with Michelle and their two children, Malia, born on the fourth of July, 1998 and later Sasha born June 10, 2001. He contrasts his personal life, as he has done often in this book with his experience outside the home and with learned studies and statistics.
The fact that he only knew his biological father for a few weeks in his preadolescence years left an emotional hole in his life. This was true despite the fact he lived with his mother and her new husband in Indonesia for four years. However his stepfather, while a responsible man, was a distant one and sometimes a troubled person by the political realities of Indonesia at that time.
He also spent his later years with his grandfather, Stanley, and his grandmother Madelyn. Obama tells us that his grandparents provided a stable and loving home. Madelyn was away from the home much of the time due to fact she worked as an administrative officer at a bank. Stanley had a succession of jobs that he never succeeded at. While he and Stanley had a close relationship it was not the same as if his biological father was present in the home.
When Barack married Michelle they were both Harvard trained lawyers with good jobs. Barack had political ambitions which Michelle was doubtful about but went along with. Later when their first child was born this put added strains on the family life of a working couple, both lawyers, and one with political interests. However they were fortunate as Michelle’s mother worked close by and limited her hours so she could help the family. Later, though, when Barack’s political duties called him to Springfield Illinois, the state capital, and later to Washington D.C. the strains on the family caused by his absence was increased. However Michelle and the children adjusted to the give and take of having a politician father and their ties remained strong. Michelle and he made many sacrifices in family life and work life to make things work.
Obama points out that for most Americans marriage and family life is the most popular way of life. By the age of 45, 89% of women and 83% of men have been married at least once and married couples head 67% of households. So marriage is perceived to be the best way for personal relationships to bond and for child rearing.
Still 50% of all first marriages end in divorce and although the divorce rate is declining there is still a significant number of one parent households with children. Beyond that some people prefer not to marry but to cohabitate and have children. In 2006 36% of children lived in households without their biological father.
In the case of African American woman the marriage rate has fallen from 62% to 36% and 34% of all African American children live in single parent households as compared with 23% of white children.
Statistically married people live happier, wealthier and longer lives. Children of single parent families are more likely to drop out of school and become teen parents. Also children who live with their biological mother and father do better in school and life than those who live in step families or families that cohabitate.
Teen pregnancy has dropped 28% since 1990 but still 25% of all out of wedlock pregnancies are by teens. And teen mothers are more likely to have more out of wedlock children as they get older. Also teen sex education advocating both abstinence and methods of contraception has helped in avoiding unwanted pregnancies and lowered the abortion rate.
Marriage education workshops help to keep marriages together and encourage unmarried couples to form a more lasting relationship on an official basis.
Obama advocates that the biologically related family is the best way for families to survive in societies where often both parents work to meet financial necessities and see that their children do well in school and grow up to be responsible citizens.
For those families that can’t afford preschool or babysitters and other necessities, then the government should assist and make it possible for their children to graduate from high school and go on to a trade school or college. Also the government should see that other social needs are met like health care for all in order to create a more stable society.
Barack Obama: The Audacity Of Hope. Chapter Eight: The World Beyond Our Borders. Book Review. Foreign Policy And Its Evolution From Isolationist To Globalization.
THE RISE OF TERRORISM AND GLOBALIZATION HAS HAD PROFOUND CONSEQUENCES FOR AMERICANS
In this chapter Obama discusses the history of foreign policy. He notes that George Washington counseled against foreign entanglements. Indeed we mostly didn’t during the late Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase and the Country was concentrated on expanding its borders from coast to coast. In 1898 we fought the Spanish American War and annexed Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines. President Monroe had declared the Monroe Doctrine regarding foreign intervention in the affairs of Central and South America. However America remained distant from World affairs until World War I. Then we became a World power and took our place on the World stage. President Wilson played a major if not a decisive role in the Treaty of Versailles and formed the League Of Nations but our Senate failed to ratify the treaty and we never became a member.
After World War I we withdrew from World affairs and let our military languish. During this time we saw the rise of Fascism in Japan and Germany and Communism in Russia.
World War II led us back on the World stage. Afterwards We took an active role in the rebuilding of Germany and other countries in Europe and also Japan. We formed security and trade alliances around the World to contain the Soviet Union and the threat of World Communism. We watched as colonialism faded and our European Allies turned to Democratic Socialism while we remained a Capitalistic Democracy. The World divided into to The Democratic Nations, Communist Nations and the Third World composed usually of the poorest of nations.
We had a blue water navy which kept the sea lanes open and we built a massive military force armed with nuclear weapons to keep the threat of Communism at bay.
Up until this time the threats to our country came from other countries. The Soviet Union collapsed from our external pressure and the internal flaws of Communism. The Soviet Union being the greatest World producer of oil saw the price of oil drop to about $10 a barrel and the Soviet Union no longer had the economic resources to sustain its empire and it collapsed no longer to be a super power.
During the 1990’s under Clinton we were the World’s sole superpower, but failed to take adequate note of the rise of terrorist enemies who were not organized on a country basis. They fought an asymmetric type of warfare different from the clash of armies like we saw in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. We had to change our military and intelligence services to confront the threat of bombing and killing against randomly selected targets.
In addition to terrorism we now face a new nuclear threat by rogue states like North Korea and Iran who in the case of Iran also support terrorist groups.
We are the sole superpower in the World, in 2006 our defense budget was more than the next 30 countries combined, and the world looks to us to solve its problems. Under Bush II we had a go it alone attitude which alienated many of our long time allies.
Obama in 2006 saw the future of Foreign Policy as we being the World leader but we would seek the consensus of our Allies and others in any action we undertook military or otherwise. When action was under taken we would try to form a consortium of countries involved in the problem as we have done in dealing with N. Korea and Iran on nuclear problems and with our Allies in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Since the World is a much smaller place now because of technologies like the internet and jet travel we cannot rely on the two oceans to protect us from foreign violence. Also with the advent of Globalization the World is more united on an economic basis. Obama sees the rising economic power of China as an opportunity to broaden trade and improve the welfare of other people. However he notes that billions still live on a subsistence level without adequate schooling, medical services, sanitation, food and other services we take for granted in the West. That is the challenge to bring these poor countries into the orbit of the trading nations of the World so they can improve their livelihood and also make the World a safer place to live. It is in the back alleys of these third world countries that terrorist plots are hatched and because of unsanitary conditions new diseases and viruses’ emanate that threaten the rest of the World including the United States. (About 20% of the World controls 82% of the wealth and the lowest 40% share about 5 or 6 %.)
Barack Obama: The Audacity Of Hope. Reclaiming The American Dream; Chapter Seven: RACE; Book Review. Racism Leads To Joblessness Which leads to Gangs, Drugs, Crime And The Decline Of The Inner City.
BLACK MEN IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
In this chapter Obama looks at the current status of race in America. Because of the 1966 Civil Rights Act and programs like Affirmative Action and the Unearned Income Tax Credit and other programs Blacks have made economic advances as well as other minorities most notably Latinos. However while legal equality has mostly been achieved by Blacks social acceptance and equality has lagged behind.
While many Blacks have become educated professionals and moved to the suburbs the majority of Blacks are stuck in the inner cities where crime, drugs, unemployment, teenage pregnancy and childbirth mortality rates are still much higher in comparison with whites and other minorities.
The inner cities are declining because the blue collar manufacturing jobs that once supported the blacks who lived there are vanishing as a consequence of Globalization and the industries still here have modernized so they need fewer workers to manufacture their products. This is why unemployment is so high in the inner cities and as a consequence a feeling of hopelessness exists among young Blacks. This leads to gangs, drugs, crime, teenage pregnancy, and a high rate of school drop outs. Thus this has become a self repeating downward cycle which at the present has become acute.
Blacks are often the last hired and the first fired. As a Senator he is called to vote on bills making it easier for businesses to hire undocumented workers or for undocumented workers to become documented. However when he looks at the statistics on Black unemployment he questions his conservative colleagues why they sponsor such bills. The answer is that their small business supporters prefer illegal or undocumented workers because they are cheaper and since they are not citizens, less apt to assert their rights for benefits when they are injured or apply for unemployment benefits if they are discharged.
Obama believes that laws compelling employers to pay equal pay to undocumented or non citizen employees would help alleviate Black unemployment. (One has to ask if Blacks have a competitive advantage of citizenship, speaking the language and being born in the United States why they would not take the available jobs that Latin’s and others come long distances to take, far from their cultural roots and with the handicap of not speaking English?)
Obama believes that by limiting undocumented workers, continuing and strengthening the unearned income tax credit, providing better schools and more diligent police work these would go a long way towards eliminating black inner city poverty and the downward spiral it causes.
Over time the poverty in the inner cities would be eliminated and the cost to society would be less. At the present time inner city unemployment stands about one third for Black men. Also one in three Black men can expect to go through the criminal justice system at some time in their lives. While some of these men are hardened criminals most are not and if they had an opportunity to find a job with sufficient income to support a family the other problems would decrease in time. It is well established that the two parent nuclear family is the most successful at raising children that grow up to lead successful lives, marry and raise children of their own. He believes given a chance Blacks would better themselves. He believes racism even with all the protections against it is the cause of Black unemployment as well as the willingness of undocumented immigrants to work for less are a significant cause of Black unemployment.
(This is hard to believe when the writer is half Black went to Harvard Law and became President of the United States. Perhaps he is different from most Blacks whose ancestors arrived here by force after being captured by Black raiders and then sold to British merchant seaman for transport to the United States and elsewhere where they wee resold into slavery. Also Obama’s parents did not have roots in slavery. One was a white PhD and the other a Black Harvard trained economist from Kenya, neither they or their ancestors had slavery in their past but came here of their own free will looking for an education or a better life. Also he was raised in Hawaii by white grandparents who saw to it that he went to an elite college preparatory school in Hawaii where there is little racism in a melting pot society.
He came of age after most of the legal restrictions against racism had been won by others. So in this chapter he is omitting cultural factors in assessing black unemployment like Blacks will not accept work, usually menial, that Latinos and other immigrants will or their ancestors never came here voluntarily looking for opportunity and work but were brought here by force after being sold into slavery by competing tribes in their homeland. Also there is a a belief held by some Blacks that current society owes Blacks for the their ancestors slavery. However they never stop to consider that over six hundred thousand Northern soldiers died in the Civil War and that hundreds of thousands lost limbs or were wounded in other ways. So any alleged debt, if there was a debt was paid in blood long ago. Other groups notably the Irish in the 1800′s and more recently the Jewish, Koreans and the Americans of Japanese descent have survived and prospered after severe discrimination.
The psychological blows to the Black communities self esteem brought on first by slavery and then the subsequent decades of racism and now that current society is responsible for there welfare are also part of the explanation why statistically Blacks are at the bottom of the heap.)
THE TRUTH ABOUT RED LIGHT CAMERAS
Robert Redford’s Reiteration Of The Facts Surrounding The Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline From The Huffington Post/Green.
Robert Redford’s Reiteration Of The Facts Surrounding The Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline From The Huffington Post/Green.
If Natural Gas Recoverable From Shale Is Sufficient To Meet The Electricity Needs Of The U.S.For The Next Century, Why Do We Need Tar Sands Oil With Over Twice The Carbon Footprint Of Gas? Edsopinion.
Robert Redford Actor, director, and environmental activist re; Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline : Joe Nocera’s op-ed in the New York Times yesterday deserves a response and a reiteration of the facts surrounding the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. President Obama rejected the pipeline’s permit last month when the GOP, in a political stunt, forced his hand to approve it without even the final route evident. Let’s put the rhetoric aside, and simply focus on the facts. Nocera wants us to believe that approving this pipeline is a matter of national security. He also seems to think that we should all be kicking ourselves because the Canadians are flaunting a tar sands sale trip to China. Nocera might ask himself how likely this oil is really to go to China from Canada if Keystone XL is not built. He might ask why the oil companies are looking to bring tar sands almost 2000 miles south rather than just send it across British Columbia for export to Asia. The answer can be found in the deep and fierce opposition to a new tar sands pipeline in Canada — especially by the First Nations of British Columbia. In fact, those First Nations this week sent letters to President Hu of China and to the Chinese people letting them know their tar sands grievances in advance of Prime Minister Harper’s trip this week. The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline would not make the United States of America safer. Why? It would not make us safer, because the majority of the processed oil was already scheduled for export to foreign countries. That’s’ right, this Keystone XL pipeline’s Canadian tar sands oil would have no positive impact whatsoever on America’s national security. Canada wanted to send the dirtiest oil on the planet through the heart of America so that they could access export routes. And they proposed getting there by bringing the pipeline right over the Ogallala Aquifer, one of America’s most important repositories of fresh water. Along the route, Democrats and Republicans alike opposed it. Nocera never mentioned that a first pipeline just like the proposed Keystone XL, built by the same foreign company, TransCanada, had over 12 spills in the U.S. (30 if you count Canada) in just its first year of operation. Some of those spills have yet to be cleaned up. It’s kind of like last month when Nocera waxed poetic under the headline “BP Makes Amends,” extolling the virtues of the oil giant. In it, when referring to the Gulf shoreline, he said, “The beaches are sparkling,” when in fact, in the first 10 days of this year some three tons of tar balls have washed up on the beaches of Alabama and Mississippi. But I digress. Throughout his entire column, he gives not a whiff of mention to a clean energy future or economy or so much as a nod to the viability of any alternative form of energy. Even though it’s a fact that clean energy investments can create four times as many jobs as similar investments in fossil fuel energy. In fact, when it comes to jobs and the Keystone XL pipeline, the State Department estimated it would create only 20 permanent jobs and about 5-6,000 temporary construction jobs… not the hundred thousand jobs proponents of the tar sands pipeline have been citing. The Keystone XL pipeline doesn’t deliver on jobs or national security, it jeopardizes public health and safety and the president was right to reject it. And tar sands are not just “a little dirtier” than traditional crude as Nocera notes. Producing synthetic crude oil from tar sands generates three times the global warming pollution and the extraction process uses vast amounts of energy and water. I would be remiss if I didn’t call attention to Nocera’s calling out of “all right-thinking environmentalists” who oppose his other panacea, natural gas. Call me what you will but I don’t believe any of us should turn a blind eye to how it’s accessed or to the many documented cases of big oil and gas companies blasting unidentified toxic chemicals deep into the earth in people’s back yards, eventually poisoning groundwater and ruining lives and communities. Nocera says that he guesses the president really wanted to approve the Keystone XL pipeline and implies President Obama would have approved it if it weren’t an election year. I think the president ruled in the national interest after assessing the real facts in the matter of this ill-conceived Canadian pipeline.
Barack Obama: The Audacity Of Hope. Chapter Six: Faith; Book Review. Law And Faith.
THE OBAMAS ATTEND CHURCH
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution are the basis for religious independence in the United States. However when it comes to religion citizens hold differing opinions on how the government should deal with certain practices. Some want school prayer, others prefer marriage to only be between heterosexual couples and others would make abortion illegal. This creates divisions among voters, some who are described as social conservatives who generally follow Evangelical Christian principles or conservative Catholic principles.
More religiously liberal or secular citizens may or may not have different opinions regarding these highly emotionally charged issues which include prayer in government supported education or medical care involving the distribution of contraceptive information and devices as well as abortion and abortion information. These problems find their way into politics and create another dividing line between voters in addition to those who are economic liberals or conservative economically.
Those who are social liberals are not always economic liberals and vice versa. Obama states that he was raised as a Christian although his mother and grandparents were not regular church goers. His father, whom he saw little of, was raised a Muslim but by the time he married Obama’s mother he was a confirmed Atheist. However his mother looked at religion in a detached anthropological way rather than with any fervent commitment.
When he went to Chicago to work as a community organizer among church groups he saw that religion was a sustaining part of the life of many people he met. Eventually he too accepted Christianity as a part of his life and was baptized. However he also took note of the fact that Christianity accepted the good as well as the bad hoping to better the lives of each through faith.
Alan Keyes a, Harvard educated black man whom the Republican Party selected to run against him when he ran for the Senate, was both a social conservative, an economic conservative and with strongly held Christian beliefs that permitted no other point of view other than the religious values he held.
While Mr. Obama is against gay marriage he believes that the Constitution permits abortion and therefore it is legal and should remain so. This belief was heresy to Mr. Keyes who said Obama’s faith was adulterated and he was not a true Christian.
Thus when conservative Christians assert themselves politically to instill their values in our laws it creates friction between the more tolerant Liberals who believe that Constitutional principles tie our hands on issues like school prayer or abortion. Thus while faith is an important part of American life for Democrats as well as Republicans there are those who would use its tenets for partisan purpose to undermine our Constitution which is a secular document which also permits the establishment of any lawful religion and the right to the free exercise of one’s lawful religious beliefs.
However Church and State are separate and one should not meddle in the legitimate affairs of the other. The Constitution was intended to keep religion separate from government after the founders had witnessed the wars and turmoil religious differences had created in Europe and from which many citizens or there forbears had emigrated to the United States to escape and find religious freedom
Subscribe
