tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75004235036225185222024-03-14T11:07:06.989-05:00The SPIDERLEGS ConundrumThe Less Frequent Blogging of Spiderlegsspiderlegshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405037453394043801noreply@blogger.comBlogger6508125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7500423503622518522.post-70172246924925787372020-03-11T00:15:00.001-05:002020-03-11T00:15:24.993-05:00Self-Control Is Just Empathy With Your Future Self<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><a href="https://getpocket.com/explore/item/self-control-is-just-empathy-with-your-future-self?utm_source=pocket-newtab" target="_blank">The same part of the brain that allows us to step into the shoes of others also helps us restrain ourselves.</a></i></h3>
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<i><b><span class="publisher-name">
<a href="http://theatlantic.com/?utm_source=pocket">The Atlantic</a>
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Ed Yong</div>
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You’ve likely seen <a data-omni-click="r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'0',r'None'" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX_oy9614HQ">the video before</a>:
a stream of kids, confronted with a single, alluring marshmallow. If
they can resist eating it for 15 minutes, they’ll get two. Some do.
Others cave almost immediately. </div>
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This “<a data-omni-click="r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'1',r'None'" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/09/what-the-marshmallow-test-really-teaches-about-self-control/380673/">Marshmallow Test</a>,”
first conducted in the 1960s, perfectly illustrates the ongoing war
between impulsivity and self-control. The kids have to tamp down their
immediate desires and focus on long-term goals—an ability that
correlates with their later health, wealth, and academic success, and
that is supposedly controlled by the <a data-omni-click="r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'2',r'None'" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontal_lobe">front part of the brain</a>. But a new study by <a data-omni-click="r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'3',r'None'" href="https://www.econ.uzh.ch/en/people/postdocs/soutschek">Alexander Soutschek</a>
at the University of Zurich suggests that self-control is also
influenced by another brain region—and one that casts this ability in a
different light.
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Press your right index finger to the top of your
right ear, where it meets your head. Now move up an inch and back an
inch. You’re now pointing at your <a data-omni-click="r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'4',r'None'" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporoparietal_junction">right temporoparietal junction</a> (rTPJ). This area has long been linked to empathy and selflessness. But Soutschek, <a data-omni-click="r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'5',r'None'" href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/10/e1600992">by using magnetic fields</a> to briefly shut down the rTPJ, has shown that it’s <em>also</em> involved in self-control.
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Which makes perfect sense. Empathy depends on
your ability to overcome your own perspective, appreciate someone
else’s, and step into their shoes. Self-control is essentially the same
skill, except that those other shoes belong to your future self—a
removed and hypothetical entity who might as well be a different person.
So think of self-control as a kind of temporal selflessness. It’s
Present You taking a hit to help out Future You.</div>
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“For a long time, people have speculated that we
use the same mechanisms to reason about other people as about our
hypothetical selves,” says Rebecca Saxe from MIT. “So this new study
fits really well.”
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Saxe should know. She was one of the first
scientists to link the rTPJ to theory of mind—the ability to understand
the mental states of other people. In 2005, she and Nancy Kanwisher
scanned people’s brains while they listened to stories in which
protagonists made poor choices based on false beliefs. <a data-omni-click="r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'6',r'None'" href="http://web.mit.edu/bcs/nklab/media/pdfs/SaxeKanwisherNeuroImage03.pdf">This experiment</a>
showed that the TPJ is active specifically when people are “reasoning
about the contents of another person’s minds”—the essence of theory of
mind. This region, the duo wrote, helps people to think about thinking
people.
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At the same time, many other neuroscientists
were doing similar experiments and getting the same answers. The
consensus was striking, <a data-omni-click="r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'7',r'None'" href="http://saxelab.mit.edu/resources/papers/in_press/Saxe_RTPJChapter.pdf">Saxe later wrote</a>.
“Because there was almost no pre-existing neuroscience of theory of
mind, researchers came to the topic with unusually few preconceptions
about where to look in the brain. In those circumstances, neuroimaging
is notoriously fickle, producing many false positives and false
negatives. Yet every group that sought to identify brain regions
implicated in ToM got essentially the same answer; and in study after
study, we still do.”
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Many other studies have since expanded on those
early results. If the rTPJ is bigger, people are more likely to <a data-omni-click="r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'8',r'None'" href="http://www.cell.com/neuron/abstract/S0896-6273(12)00487-4?_returnURL=http%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0896627312004874%3Fshowall%3Dtrue">behave altruistically</a>. If the neurons within it are better-connected (and well-linked to other parts of the brain), people show <a data-omni-click="r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'9',r'None'" href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S105381191500720X">less bias towards their own in-groups</a>. If the area is stimulated by electric currents, people become better at <a data-omni-click="r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'10',r'None'" href="http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(12)01203-1">taking someone else’s perspective</a>.</div>
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And if the region is disrupted, it changes <a data-omni-click="r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'11',r'None'" href="http://news.mit.edu/2010/moral-control-0330">our ability to reason about morality</a>.
Consider a woman who poisons her friend’s coffee—if she does so
deliberately, we’d judge her more harshly than if she acted
accidentally. Intent matters, and we need the rTPJ to judge intent. When
Liane Young, one of Saxe’s former students, <a data-omni-click="r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'12',r'None'" href="http://www.pnas.org/content/107/15/6753.full.pdf">disrupted the rTPJ</a>
using magnetic fields, she found that people were more lenient towards
the deliberate poisoner, as long as her friend survived. With their
ability to gauge intent disrupted, they started looking to outcomes
instead.
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Not everything fits with the idea of the rTPJ as
a nexus for theory of mind. For example, many studies suggest that it
affects our ability to <a data-omni-click="r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'13',r'None'" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22419442">shift our attention</a>
from one part of space to another, like a technician moving a spotlight
around. “Even in my own small lab, people disagree about the function
of the rTPJ,” says <a data-omni-click="r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'14',r'None'" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/12/self-control-is-just-empathy-with-a-future-you/509726/Liane">Young</a>, now a professor at Boston College.
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If you look at the debate and relax your eyes, you can probably <a data-omni-click="r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'15',r'None'" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18466742">merge the two viewpoints into one</a>. Maybe the rTPJ is a region that redirects our attention <a data-omni-click="r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'16',r'None'" href="http://nro.sagepub.com/content/13/6/580.short">from one thing to another</a>—whether
between objects in the world around us, or between our minds and other
people’s. Alternatively, it’s likely that what we call the rTPJ is not
actually a singular bit of the brain. “There’s a lot of work suggesting
that there are different sub-regions—one of which does spatial
reorienting, and the other does perspective-taking,” says Young.
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<a data-omni-click="r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'17',r'None'" href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/10/e1600992">That’s where Soutschek’s study comes in</a>.
He specifically focused on the back half of the rTPJ—the one that’s
been more heavily linked to empathy—and disrupted it in 43 volunteers.
When that happened, the recruits became more likely to pocket a pile of
cash for themselves rather than splitting it with a partner, and
especially when the partner was a stranger. But they were <em>also</em> more likely to pick a small immediate lump of cash over a larger future one, especially when the delays were long.
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A second experiment explained why. This time,
the volunteers saw a picture of a man standing in a room with red discs
on the wall. The volunteers could see all the discs, but they had to say
how many the man in the room could see. They had to shift their
perspective to his, and they became worse at that when their rTPJ was
disrupted. What’s more, Soutschek showed that the extent of their
bias—their inability to leave their own heads—predicted both how
impulsive and how selfish they were in the earlier experiment.
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This tells us that impulsivity and selfishness
are just two halves of the same coin, as are their opposites restraint
and empathy. Perhaps this is why people who <a data-omni-click="r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'18',r'None'" href="http://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/15/">show dark traits</a>
like psychopathy and sadism score low on empathy but high on
impulsivity. Perhaps it’s why impulsivity correlates with slips among
recovering addicts, while <a data-omni-click="r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'19',r'None'" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2720191">empathy correlates with longer bouts of abstinence</a>.
These qualities represent our successes and failures at escaping our
own egocentric bubbles, and understanding the lives of others—even when
those others wear our own older faces.
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<div class="c-article-writer__bio" itemprop="description">
<em><a class="author-link" data-omni-click="inherit" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/ed-yong/">Ed Yong</a> is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he covers science. </em></div>
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spiderlegshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405037453394043801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7500423503622518522.post-44209865723390855482020-03-10T23:45:00.001-05:002020-03-10T23:45:30.424-05:00From Fish to Humans, A Microplastic Invasion May Be Taking a Toll<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><a href="https://getpocket.com/explore/item/from-fish-to-humans-a-microplastic-invasion-may-be-taking-a-toll?utm_source=pocket-newtab" target="_blank">Tiny bits of plastic have seeped into soil, fish and air, posing a threat to animal and human health.</a></i></h3>
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<a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/?utm_source=pocket">Scientific American</a>
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Andrea Thompson<br /><br /><img alt="GettyImages-1148784713.jpg" height="385" src="https://pocket-syndicated-images.s3.amazonaws.com/5e3d809c45f7b.jpg" width="640" /></div>
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<span class="caption"><span class="caption-space"> </span> <span class="caption-content"><i>Photo by Niccoló Pontigia / EyeEm / Getty Images</i>.</span></span></div>
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<source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/B7B4EC45-7FAF-4A26-B4AE872ABC0DD2CF_source.jpg?w=690&h=930&195D88F6-8439-49E3-9FAFE00A66DCD216"></source>Mark
Browne had a suspicion. He hoped the samples of dried blood taken from a
blue mussel and placed under a special microscope would tell him if he
was correct. As a fuzzy, three-dimensional image of the mussel’s blood
cells appeared, there they were, right in the middle—tiny specks of
plastic.</div>
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<source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/B7B4EC45-7FAF-4A26-B4AE872ABC0DD2CF_source.jpg?w=690&h=930&195D88F6-8439-49E3-9FAFE00A66DCD216"></source>Whereas
photos of sea turtles eating plastic bags have become the poster child
of the environmental harm wrought by humanity’s plastic waste, research
like Browne’s illustrates the scope of the problem is far larger than
the trash we can see. Tiny pieces of degraded plastic, synthetic fibers
and plastic beads, collectively called microplastics, have turned up in
every corner of the planet—from Florida beach sands to Arctic sea ice,
from farm fields to urban air.</div>
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<source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/B7B4EC45-7FAF-4A26-B4AE872ABC0DD2CF_source.jpg?w=690&h=930&195D88F6-8439-49E3-9FAFE00A66DCD216"></source>Their
size—from about five millimeters, or the size of a grain of rice, down
to microscopic—means they can be ingested by a wide range of creatures,
from the plankton that form the basis of the marine food chain to
humans. As <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es800249a">Browne’s 2008 study</a>
was one of the first to demonstrate, those plastic particles don’t
always pass harmlessly through the body. The finding “was one of those
sort of bittersweet moments,” the ecotoxicologist at the University of
New South Wales in Sydney says. “You’re pleased that some prediction
you’ve made has come true—but then you’re devastated” because of the
potentially profound ecological implications.</div>
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<source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/B7B4EC45-7FAF-4A26-B4AE872ABC0DD2CF_source.jpg?w=690&h=930&195D88F6-8439-49E3-9FAFE00A66DCD216"></source>Ingested
microplastic particles can physically damage organs and leach hazardous
chemicals—from the hormone-disrupting bisphenol A (BPA) to
pesticides—that can compromise immune function and stymie growth and
reproduction. Both microplastics and these chemicals may accumulate up
the food chain, potentially impacting whole ecosystems, including the
health of soils in which we grow our food. Microplastics in the water we
drink and the air we breathe can also hit humans directly.</div>
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<source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/B7B4EC45-7FAF-4A26-B4AE872ABC0DD2CF_source.jpg?w=690&h=930&195D88F6-8439-49E3-9FAFE00A66DCD216"></source>Browne
is one of dozens of scientists trying to sort out exactly what this
widespread, motley assortment of microplastics pollution might be doing
to animals and ecosystems. Tantalizing evidence is emerging, from the
impaired reproduction of fish to altered soil microbe communities. As
researchers accumulate more data, “we start realizing we’re just at the
tip of the iceberg with the problem,” Browne says.</div>
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<source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/B7B4EC45-7FAF-4A26-B4AE872ABC0DD2CF_source.jpg?w=690&h=930&195D88F6-8439-49E3-9FAFE00A66DCD216"></source>A Threat to Organs and Bloodstream</h2>
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<source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/B7B4EC45-7FAF-4A26-B4AE872ABC0DD2CF_source.jpg?w=690&h=930&195D88F6-8439-49E3-9FAFE00A66DCD216"></source>When
Browne experimented with blue mussels back in 2008, many researchers
thought animals would just excrete any microplastics they ate, like
“unnatural fiber,” as Browne called it—but he wasn’t so sure. He tested
the idea by placing mussels in water tanks spiked with
fluorescent-tagged microplastic particles smaller than a human red blood
cell, then moved them into clean water. For six weeks he harvested the
shellfish to see if they had cleared the microplastics. “We actually ran
out of mussels,” Browne says. The particles “were still in them at the
end of those trials.”</div>
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<source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/B7B4EC45-7FAF-4A26-B4AE872ABC0DD2CF_source.jpg?w=690&h=930&195D88F6-8439-49E3-9FAFE00A66DCD216"></source>The
mere presence of microplastics in fish, earthworms and other species is
unsettling, but the real harm is done if microplastics
linger—especially if they move out of the gut and into the bloodstream
and other organs. Scientists including Browne have observed signs of
physical damage, such as inflammation, caused by particles jabbing and
rubbing against organ walls. Researchers have also found signs ingested
microplastics can leach hazardous chemicals, both those added to
polymers during production and environmental pollutants like pesticides
that are attracted to the surface of plastic, leading to health effects
such as liver damage. Marco Vighi, an ecotoxicologist at the IMDEA Water
Institute in Spain, is one of several researchers running tests to see
what types of pollutants different polymers pick up and whether they are
released into the freshwater and terrestrial animals that eat them. The
amount of microplastics in lakes and soils could rival the more than 15
trillion tons of particles thought to be floating in the ocean’s
surface alone.</div>
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What matters most is whether these physical and chemical impacts
ultimately affect an organism’s growth, reproduction or susceptibility
to illness. In a surprising <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969718308088">study published in March</a> 2018,
not only did fish exposed to microplastics reproduce less but their
offspring, who weren’t directly exposed to plastic particles, also had
fewer young, suggesting the effects can linger into subsequent
generations. Some organisms such as freshwater crustaceans called
amphipods haven’t yet exhibited any ill effects, perhaps because they
can handle natural indigestible material like bits of rock, says Martin
Wagner, an ecotoxicologist at Norwegian University of Science
and Technology, who studied them. And some species have shown toxic
effects from microplastics exposure from certain types of plastic, but
not others, says Chelsea Rochman, a microplastics researcher at the
University of Toronto.<br />
<br />
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<source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/B7B4EC45-7FAF-4A26-B4AE872ABC0DD2CF_source.jpg?w=690&h=930&195D88F6-8439-49E3-9FAFE00A66DCD216"></source>Most
work on microplastic impacts has been done in the lab for short stints,
with only a single type of plastic, often with larger particles than
some species tend to eat, and at higher concentrations than are found in
the environment. The studies “won’t tell us about long-term ecological
consequences happening at low concentrations,” Wagner says. He is one of
several researchers starting to bridge that gap by matching animals to
the polymers and pollutants they are most likely to encounter and
incorporating the intricacies of the real world where microplastics
“won’t be the only stressor,” Wagner says. Microplastics could be a last
straw for species subject to pressures as chemical pollutants,
overfishing and climate change. “It’s just damn complicated,” Wagner
says.</div>
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<source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/B7B4EC45-7FAF-4A26-B4AE872ABC0DD2CF_source.jpg?w=690&h=930&195D88F6-8439-49E3-9FAFE00A66DCD216"></source>Inviting Chaos</h2>
<div class="body">
<source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/B7B4EC45-7FAF-4A26-B4AE872ABC0DD2CF_source.jpg?w=690&h=930&195D88F6-8439-49E3-9FAFE00A66DCD216"></source>Messy,
real-world conditions are the goal on the green lawn of a botanical
garden in Frankfurt, Germany. A row of small, identical ponds stretch
across the grass, exposed to the elements. Wagner spiked each one with
different microplastic particles—some virgin polymers, some contaminated
with pollutants—to see how freshwater insects and zooplankton fare.
Although Wagner hasn’t yet observed any overt impacts, he is
investigating whether certain organisms exhibit more subtle signs of
harm, which could have a ripple effect throughout an ecosystem’s food
web.</div>
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<source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/B7B4EC45-7FAF-4A26-B4AE872ABC0DD2CF_source.jpg?w=690&h=930&195D88F6-8439-49E3-9FAFE00A66DCD216"></source>Such
cascading impacts could happen even when individual species don’t seem
to suffer. Browne’s mussels showed no short-term ill effects but he
worries their accumulated microplastics could be transferred to animals
that eat them. “They might not be so kind to the other organisms,” he
says.</div>
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<div class="body">
<source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/B7B4EC45-7FAF-4A26-B4AE872ABC0DD2CF_source.jpg?w=690&h=930&195D88F6-8439-49E3-9FAFE00A66DCD216"></source>Like
Wagner, Browne is venturing farther out into the real world. He has
several freezers’ worth of fish and other organisms plucked from Sydney
Harbor that he will examine for ingested microplastics. His team will be
linking those to the routes by which microplastics might be entering
the harbor and looking for signs of ecological damage such as changes in
population size. The approach means animals can behave normally and are
exposed to typical environmental conditions such tides and storms, as
well as a host of other stressors such as changing ocean temperatures
and industrial pollutants. “We want a chaotic system because if
something can cause an impact in that chaotic system, above those other
stresses, we know that we really, really need to be worried about it,”
Browne says.</div>
<div class="body">
<br /></div>
<div class="body">
<source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/B7B4EC45-7FAF-4A26-B4AE872ABC0DD2CF_source.jpg?w=690&h=930&195D88F6-8439-49E3-9FAFE00A66DCD216"></source>Matthias
Rillig, a plant ecologist at Free University of Berlin, has shown how
microplastics can affect organisms by altering their environments. In a <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.8b02212">study</a>
he co-authored, soil laden with polyester microfibers was much
fluffier, retained more moisture and seemed to affect the activity of
microbes that are crucial to the soil nutrient cycle. The finding is an
early but concerning one, given that farmers around the world apply
microfiber-rich treated sewage sludge as fertilizer to agricultural
land. Rillig is also one of several scientists looking to see how
microfibers in soils might be affecting crop growth.</div>
<h2 class="body title">
<source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/B7B4EC45-7FAF-4A26-B4AE872ABC0DD2CF_source.jpg?w=690&h=930&195D88F6-8439-49E3-9FAFE00A66DCD216"></source>Full Circle</h2>
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Microplastics may threaten people more directly. A <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0194970">study published in April</a> 2018
found particles and microfibers in packaged sea salt, beer, bottled
water and tap water, making it virtually certain we are ingesting
microplastics. In bottled beverages microplastics could be infiltrating
during the bottling process; microfibers could be falling from the
atmosphere into the reservoirs that supply tap water. Even for
researchers steeped in the field, “it still comes as a shock,” Rochman
says. “It just shows that the mismanagement of our waste is coming back
to us.”<br />
<br />
<div class="body">
<source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/B7B4EC45-7FAF-4A26-B4AE872ABC0DD2CF_source.jpg?w=690&h=930&195D88F6-8439-49E3-9FAFE00A66DCD216"></source>Because
it is unethical to intentionally feed doses of microplastic particles
to humans, some researchers, like Browne, have turned to medical studies
that use particles to deliver precise amounts of drugs to specific
areas of the body to get a better sense of how easily microplastics
might move through humans. If particles are small enough, they might
migrate through the body and potentially accumulate in places like the
bloodstream. A study of hamsters injected with microplastics suggests
such particles can lead to blood clots.</div>
<div class="body">
<br /></div>
<div class="body">
<source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/B7B4EC45-7FAF-4A26-B4AE872ABC0DD2CF_source.jpg?w=690&h=930&195D88F6-8439-49E3-9FAFE00A66DCD216"></source>Humans
could also be inhaling microfibers as they fall from the sky—everywhere
from the heart of Paris to the remote Arctic. Small airborne particles
are known to lodge deep in the lungs where they can cause various
diseases, including cancer. Factory workers who handle nylon and
polyester have shown evidence of lung irritation and reduced capacity
(although not cancer), but they are exposed to much higher levels than
the average person. Stephanie Wright, a research associate at King’s
College London, is trying to better understand how much microfiber
humans are actually exposed to and whether airborne microplastics might
penetrate the lungs. She is also teaming up with the university’s
toxicology unit to examine their lung tissue collection for signs of
microfibers and related damage.</div>
<div class="body">
<br /></div>
<div class="body">
<source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/B7B4EC45-7FAF-4A26-B4AE872ABC0DD2CF_source.jpg?w=690&h=930&195D88F6-8439-49E3-9FAFE00A66DCD216"></source>Some
scientists say the focus on microplastics in humans might be missing a
larger point: People are continually exposed to plastic food and
beverage containers, which could be a much bigger source of at least the
chemicals added to plastics such as the endocrine disruptor BPA. The
potential exposure to microplastics hasn’t stopped Rochman from eating
seafood, however. “To the best of my knowledge the benefits outweigh the
costs,” she says. It could be that, as with many pollutants, there is a
threshold beyond which microplastics become toxic to humans or other
species. “We just need to try to understand what that threshold is,” she
notes.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="body">
<source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/B7B4EC45-7FAF-4A26-B4AE872ABC0DD2CF_source.jpg?w=690&h=930&195D88F6-8439-49E3-9FAFE00A66DCD216"></source>Experts
say the sheer ubiquity of the contaminant combined with the harm that
has already been observed is enough for humanity to start to clean up
its act. “There are always questions to be answered,” Rochman says, but
we have reached the point where “it’s enough information to act toward
solutions.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div class="article-author__desc t_body t_body--article">
<em>Andrea Thompson, an associate editor at Scientific American, covers sustainability.</em></div>
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spiderlegshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405037453394043801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7500423503622518522.post-54492650085841972632015-10-12T20:21:00.000-05:002015-10-12T20:21:15.746-05:00Fracking Up Texas<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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spiderlegshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405037453394043801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7500423503622518522.post-62990328947169566502015-10-04T07:21:00.000-05:002015-10-04T07:21:02.538-05:00Political Cartoons<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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spiderlegshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405037453394043801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7500423503622518522.post-65218276049217205282015-05-08T13:04:00.001-05:002015-05-08T13:04:23.469-05:00Catching Up with This Modern World...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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spiderlegshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405037453394043801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7500423503622518522.post-56517265048373794272015-04-22T22:18:00.001-05:002015-04-22T22:21:29.900-05:00Snake Oil Meteorological Prognostication Medicine Show<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="_5pbx userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">
<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_553861860ce219d26916229">
It boggles the mind that weather forecasters are able to earn a salary with their 10% success rate at predicting the weather. after our big storm on saturday, it was 'sunny all week until maybe thursday.' it's tuesday, and now they say it will rain all week, sunny 1 day, and then rain for the next 5 and a half years. these people are con artists! soulless gypsies! how do I become one of them? I want a job at which it doesn't ever seem to matter how often you are totally wrong<span class="text_exposed_show">, not because you bet lower by a few degrees what today's "high" was (obviously, it was an opiate of some sort!), but because you can claim sunny all week and then back track to "you f*ckers will never see the sun again in your lifetimes!"</span><br />
<br />
<div class="text_exposed_show" style="text-align: left;">
let me do it! i'll tell your weather lies with a pizzazz heretofore unseen in your <i>snake oil meteorological prognostication medicine show</i>!<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Sam N.</b> You could always go into politics, those guys don't even have a 10% success rate......................unless you are grading them on SCREWING us that is</blockquote>
<br />
So you think I'd make an ugly prostitute, eh? Because that's all you get with politics: a brothel full of ugly whores...with beards, all claiming to be virgins and none of them giving their name. They're similar to weather forecasters, that much is true! They dress horribly, smell like Old Spice and urine, and are drunk before sundown...in the winter, which they will fail to see. Because weather forecasters are like blind, uneducated, smelly, tasteless, prostitute gypsies doing strange things to elephants and donkeys--in order to perpetually disagree on everything. You say tomato, I say '<i>FUCK your tomato, you soulless gypsy!</i> I'll bet you can't even tell time or put your shoes on by yourself! I didn't vote for you! I didn't vote at all.'<br />
<br />
It's not like forecasting the weather, the choices are worse. The only thing they have in common is the ability with a straight face to tell whole counties they are about to die in a tornado...and then name the wrong county so the poor bastards who are really about to die aren't warned in time...or at all! half of them sitting on toilets or committing some other equally embarrassing act at which they will be found dead with the act half done. Politicians make better weathermen than weathermen. Weathermen make unforgivably insulting politicians and deserve to be run out of town on a rail they bought with taxpayer money! meanwhile, where are the stinkin' prostitutes!?!?!</div>
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<br />
<span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018112029265:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018112029265:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018112029265:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018112029265:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018112029265:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018112029265:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018125509602:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018125509602:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018125509602:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018125509602:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018125509602:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.0.$end:0:$0:0">P.S. I have many head bones. when they vibrate they lull me into a false sense of stupor, and there is nothing dumber than that! like being paralyzed and drunk while being hit repeatedly in the head with a sledgehammer, all while popping pills you neit</span></span><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018125509602:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018125509602:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018125509602:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0">her know what they are or where they came from or who gave them to you! you've been roofied by the weather gypsy sons of bitches! press the ejector button, dear god, man! quick! before it stops raining and roofies the whole city!</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018112029265:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018112029265:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018112029265:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018112029265:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018112029265:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018112029265:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018125509602:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018125509602:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018125509602:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018125509602:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018125509602:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204018125509602:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019735029839:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019735029839:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0.0.0"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019735029839:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019735029839:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0.0.0"><b>Carolyn B</b>. </span></span><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019735029839:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019735029839:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019735029839:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019735029839:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">Gypsy is a derogatory term for certain ethnic groups. Let's use GINGERS instead. You can't trust them at all.</span></span></span></span></blockquote>
<div class="clearfix" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019752990288:0.0">
<div class="" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019752990288:0.0.$right">
<div class="UFIImageBlockContent _42ef clearfix" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019752990288:0.0.$right.0">
<div class="" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019752990288:0.0.$right.0.$left">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204017536454876:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204017536454876:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0.0.0">Sam N.</span></span></b><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019745750107:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019745750107:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.0"> </span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019745750107:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019745750107:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019745750107:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">^I like your use of ethnic group over race for there is only one race and a bunch of folks who are hung up on their skin pigmentation, religion, sexual preference, politics and ad infinitum.</span></span></span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019735029839:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019735029839:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0.0.0"><b>Carolyn B</b>. </span></span><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019749750207:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019749750207:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.0"></span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019749750207:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019749750207:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019749750207:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">Exactly.It's hair color that will divide us.</span></span></span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204017536454876:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204017536454876:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0.0.0">Sam N.</span></span></b><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019752990288:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019752990288:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.0"> </span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019752990288:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019752990288:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204019752990288:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">and you can't trust the Clairol babies for sure lol</span></span></span></span></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204021542795032:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204021542795032:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204021542795032:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204021542795032:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204021542795032:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.0.$end:0:$0:0">So,
when Cher sings "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves" is she or isn't she being
redundant? If the only people I offended were just the weather gypsies,
then by god, I haven't done my job! Did I offend any prostitutes? How
about pill poppers? I was going fo</span></span><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204021542795032:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204021542795032:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204021542795032:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0">r
the trifecta. Now, about this end of the world shitstorm that was
supposed to hit at 5:00: at 5:00, to prove those weather sonsabitches
wrong, I stood in my front yard naked with a windsock hanging from my
manly manhood and a propeller cap atop my ample headbones. Do I have to
tell you what didn't happen? I was dry, my propeller cap sat motionless,
and the only thing filling my windsock was my manly manhood. Once
again, the weather gypsies, gingers, maryannes and professors, whatever
the hell pc term you crossbred, hybrid driving, WE network watching,
crunchy granola liberals want to force me to use, have lied. I advocate
assassination of anyone who calls itself a meteorologist. They have sunk
even below the lowly astrologists who at least know how to generalize
their claims so that their softheaded followers can find a tidbit on
which to latch, like a hungry baby to a fingerlong nipple.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204021542795032:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204021542795032:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204021542795032:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204021542795032:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204021542795032:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204021542795032:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204021552115265:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204021552115265:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204021552115265:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".13.1:3:1:$comment10204014474538330_10204021552115265:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">and
just how the hell did my brilliant expose on the weather lies get
turned into a discussion on hair products? what kind of bathsalts are
you devils smoking?</span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
spiderlegshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405037453394043801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7500423503622518522.post-27110525795857682772015-04-16T20:09:00.000-05:002015-04-16T20:27:54.295-05:00Fast Track to Hell: Trade Bill Officially Introduced in Congress<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="date-display-single">Thursday, April 16, 2015</span></div>
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by<i><b><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/04/16/fast-track-hell-trade-bill-officially-introduced-congress" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Common Dreams</a></b></i></div>
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</div>
<i><b>'Congress
shouldn’t throw Americans under the bus by giving up its authority over
this unprecedented giveaway to multinational corporations.'</b></i><br />
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by Deirdre Fulton, staff writer</div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"This
bill is a climate disaster, and amounts to nothing more than a
taxpayer-funded handout to corporations," said May Boeve, executive
director of 350.org, in response to the announced deal.</i></blockquote>
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The fight over <b>Fast Track</b> just got real.<br />
<br />
U.S. House and Senate leaders announced Thursday afternoon that they have <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/finance/trade/239058-senate-leaders-nearing-trade-deal">reached a deal</a> on legislation aimed at jamming the<b> Trans Pacific Partnership</b> through Congress.<br />
<br />
<span class="pullquote">"Congress shouldn’t throw Americans under the
bus by giving up its authority over this unprecedented giveaway to
multinational corporations." —Murshed Zaheed, CREDO</span><br />
<br />
The so-called Fast Track bill (The Bipartisan Congressional <i><b>Trade
Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015</b></i>, TPA-2015), which would make
it easier for President Barack Obama's administration to negotiate trade
deals by preventing Congress from amending them, includes compromise
provisions added in order to "win over" Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the
ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/17/business/obama-trade-legislation-fast-track-authority-trans-pacific-partnership.html">According to</a> the <i>New York Times</i>:<br />
<blockquote>
Senator Orrin G.
Hatch, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Representative Paul
D. Ryan of Wisconsin, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, had to
agree to stringent requirements for the trade deal to win over Senator
Ron Wyden of Oregon, the ranking Democrat on the finance panel. Those
requirements included a human-rights negotiating objective that has
never existed in trade agreements, according to lawmakers involved in
the talks. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div class="story-body-text story-content">
The legislation
would also make any final trade agreement public for 60 days before the
president signs it, and up to four months before Congress votes. If the
agreement, negotiated by the United States Trade Representative, fails
to meet the objectives laid out by Congress — on labor, environmental
and human rights standards — a 60-vote majority in the Senate could shut
off “fast track” trade rules and open the deal to amendments.</div>
</blockquote>
In a <a href="http://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-introduces-package-to-boost-transparency-oversight-enforcement-and-oregon-values-in-trade-agreements">statement</a>, Wyden—who watchdog groups had <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2015/03/30/internet-activists-park-jumbotron-near-capitol-hill-hey-ron-wyden-fast-track">targeted</a> as a key vote on Fast Track—defended his support for the bill.<br />
<br />
"Opening foreign markets, where most of the world’s consumers reside,
is critical to creating new opportunities for middle-class American
jobs," Wyden said. "I'm proud this bipartisan bill creates what I expect
to be unprecedented transparency in trade negotiations, and ensures
future trade deals break new ground to promote human rights, improve
labor conditions, and safeguard the environment."<br />
<br />
The legislation is expected to pass the Senate Finance Committee and
land on the Senate floor next week. The House Ways and Means Committee
will formally draft its version of the bill next week.<br />
Timing is important. As <i>Reuters</i> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/16/us-usa-trade-idUSKBN0N71SW20150416">noted</a> before the deal was announced on Thursday:<br />
<blockquote>
Introducing the bill this week would send a positive
signal about the Trans-Pacific Partnership ahead of a planned visit to
Washington in late April by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.<br />
<div class="story-body-text story-content">
Japan
and other TPP partners have said having fast track—which gives trading
partners certainty agreements will not be picked apart—is vital.</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="story-body-text story-content">
But clearing committees doesn't guarantee the bill's success. <i>The Hill</i> <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/04/14/bills-advance-will-grassroots-resistance-finally-overcome-fast-track-push">reported</a>
earlier this week that Democratic support for Fast Track is falling
away in the House, and senators like <b>Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) </b>and
<b>Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) </b>have argued vehemently against the legislation. </div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content">
<br /></div>
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Looking forward to what it predicts will be "one of the toughest legislative battles" of Obama's final 19 months in office, the <i>Times</i>
reports that even with the reported concessions, "the fight to get the
trade promotion bill to the president’s desk will be difficult and
emotional, badly dividing the Democratic Party’s labor base and putting<b>
Hillary Rodham Clinton</b> in a quandary. Many prominent Democrats have come
out against one of the biggest priorities of their president.
Representative <b>Sander M. Levin of Michigan,</b> the ranking Democrat on the
<b>House Ways and Means Committee</b>, was notably absent from trade
negotiations."</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="story-body-text story-content">
<i><span class="pullquote">"[TPP]
is nothing more than a taxpayer-funded handout to corporations... and
would be a giant step backwards in the fight against climate change."
—May Boeve, 350.org</span></i></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="story-body-text story-content">
<span class="pullquote"><br /></span></div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content">
Those who oppose Trade
Promotion Authority say it would help advance industry-backed trade
deals like the TPP, which experts charge would have negative impacts on
everything from public health to workers' rights to climate change.<br />
</div>
<div class="story-body-text story-content">
"This bill is a climate
disaster, and amounts to nothing more than a taxpayer-funded handout to
corporations," 350.org executive director May Boeve <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2015/04/16/350-responds-introduction-tpp-fast-track-legislation">said</a>
Thursday. "We've seen leaked text showing that TPP would allow fossil
fuel companies like Exxon to sue any member country that dares to act on
climate, and hold up any law or regulation that hurts their bottom
line. That's an irresponsible giveaway that lets Big Oil handcuff our
political systems even more, and would be a giant step backwards in the
fight against climate change."<br />
</div>
Critics like Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2015/04/16/fast-track-introduced-hatch-bill-would-revive-controversial-2002-mechanism-faces">said</a> the deal unveiled Thursday is merely a spiffed up version of the "old unacceptable Fast Track process."<br />
<br />
Noting that the bill would still make it easier for corporations to
offshore American jobs, undermine U.S. wages by forcing Americans to
compete with Vietnamese workers making less than 60 cents an hour, and
expose consumer and environmental safeguards to attack by foreign
corporations in extra-judicial tribunals, Wallach explained further:<br />
<blockquote>
Instead of establishing a new "exit ramp," the bill
includes the same impossible conditions from past Fast Track bills that
make the mechanism to remove an agreement from Fast Track unusable. The
bill's only new feature in this respect is a new procedure that would be
usable only <i>after an agreement was already signed and entered</i>
into and that would require approval by 60 senators to take a pact off
Fast Track consideration, even though a simple majority "no" vote in the
Senate would have the same effect on an agreement. In contrast, the
1988 Fast Track empowered either the House Ways and Means or the Senate
Finance Committees to vote by simple majority to remove the pact from
Fast Track consideration with no additional floor votes required, and
such a disapproval action was authorized <i>before</i> a president could sign and enter into a trade agreement.</blockquote>
Now that the bill has officially been introduced, progressive
advocacy groups, and labor organizations opposed to Fast Track and the
TPP are gearing up for a full-court press in opposition to the
corporate-friendly trade policies.<br />
<br />
In addition to a <a href="http://www.aflcio.org/Press-Room/Press-Releases/Statement-by-AFL-CIO-President-Richard-Trumka-Stop-the-Fast-Track-to-Lower-Wages">national Stop Fast Track day of action</a>—spearheaded
by the AFL-CIO and taking place this Saturday, April 18—groups are
calling on constituents to demand their elected officials vote against
the legislation.<br />
<br />
"Congress shouldn’t throw Americans under the bus by giving up its
authority over this unprecedented giveaway to multinational
corporations," <a href="http://credoaction.com/fast-track-deal/">said</a>
Murshed Zaheed, deputy political director for CREDO, which has played a
key role in the fight against Fast Track and the TPP. "Like the
Trans-Pacific Partnership itself, the deal to grant the White House
Trade Promotion Authority was negotiated in secret behind closed doors.
It is time for Democrats in Congress to stand up to corporate shills in
Washington and do everything in their power to stop this secretive
corporate power grab." </div>
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</div>
spiderlegshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405037453394043801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7500423503622518522.post-35722826226249141052015-04-16T20:01:00.000-05:002015-04-16T20:01:27.069-05:00Largest Ever Low-Wage Worker Protest Sweeps United States<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="date-display-single">Thursday, April 16, 2015</span></div>
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by<a href="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/04/16/i-know-we-will-win-largest-ever-low-wage-worker-protest-sweeps-united-states" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Common Dreams</a></div>
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<i>'I Know We Will Win' </i></h2>
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Day of action calling for a $15 minimum wage and the right to organize reached far beyond US borders</div>
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by Sarah Lazare, staff writer</div>
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"Fast-food
workers are joining together and standing up for what’s right, and with
students, #BlackLivesMatter activists, adjunct professors, home care,
Walmart, child care, and airport services workers standing with us, we
are stronger than ever," said Terrence Wise, fast food worker in Kansas
City, Missouri.<br />
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In
what is being called the largest low-wage worker protest the United
States has ever seen, tens of thousands of fast food, laundry, home
care, child care, retail, and education employees <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/04/15/fight-15-worldwide-day-action-workers-demand-livable-wages">walked off the job or staged rallies</a> on Wednesday in more than 200 cities across the country.<br />
<br />
They were joined by workers in 35 countries on six continents, from New Zealand to Brazil to Japan.<br />
The mobilization was part of the movement for a $15 dollar minimum
wage in the U.S., which has touched off a nation-wide conversation about
poverty and inequality since fast food workers began a series of
rolling strikes and workplace actions <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/09/04/low-wage-workers-movement-flexes-its-muscles-nationwide">more than three years ago</a>.<br />
<br />
"Fast-food workers are joining together and standing up for what’s
right, and with students, #BlackLivesMatter activists, adjunct
professors, home care, Walmart, child care, and airport services workers
standing with us, we are stronger than ever," said Terrence Wise, a
father of three who works at McDonald's and Burger King restaurants in
Kansas City, Missouri, in a press statement. "I know we will win."<br />
<br />
Backed by the Service Employees International Union, Wednesday's
rallies were timed to coincide with Tax Day in the U.S., in a bid to
highlight the fact that low-wage workers are forced to rely on public
assistance to get by.<br />
<br />
Under the banner "We are worth more," protesters are calling for
living wages, as well as the right to organize in their workplaces
without intimidation and retaliation.<br />
<br />
In the streets on Wednesday, protesters made connections between
social and economic justice. From Charleston, South Carolina to
Ferguson, Missouri, protesters memorialized the lives of unarmed people
of color killed by police and brought the message of the growing Black
Lives Matter movement.<br />
<br />
"We joined the Fight for $15 because, for us, racial justice is
economic justice. We believe that Black workers have paid undeserved
debts to greedy corporations for far too long," said Charlene
Carruthers, national director for the Black Youth Project 100.<br />
<br />
A <a href="http://nelp.org/publication/growing-movement-15/">report</a>
released on Monday by the National Employment Law Project finds that
women and people of color are dramatically overrepresented in the
underpaid work-force, with over 50 percent of African-American workers,
and nearly 60 percent of Latino workers, making less than $15.<br />
<br />
Wednesday's protests called for worker justice far beyond U.S. borders.<br />
<br />
"The fast-food industry is dominated by a handful of
multi-billion-dollar global companies, so we need to have a strong,
global movement of workers pushing for better wages, better treatment
and better rights," said Massimo Frattini, international coordinator for
the International Union of Food workers in a press statement.<br />
Participants say that this movement is a matter of urgency, amid
rising inequality and plummeting wages in the U.S. and world-wide.<br />
<br />
As Andrew Olson, McDonald's worker in Los Angeles <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-minimum-wage-20150415-story.html">put it</a> in an interview with <em>The LA Times,</em> "Just because I work in fast food does that mean I should have to just scrape by in life?"<br />
<br />
Looking to the future, journalist Rana Foroohar <a href="http://time.com/3821602/minimum-wage-strikes/">argued </a>in <em>Time</em>
that the Fight for $15 is proving a powerful force. "Politicians are
going to have to grapple with this in the election cycle," wrote
Foroohar, "because as the latest round of wage protests makes clear, the
issue isn't going away anytime soon."</div>
</div>
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spiderlegshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405037453394043801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7500423503622518522.post-6469821720393287422015-03-31T11:39:00.000-05:002015-03-31T11:39:50.431-05:00Why America’s inequality conversation is such a farce <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Tuesday, Mar 31, 2015<br /><a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/03/31/it%E2%80%99s_your_own_damn_fault_why_americas_inequality_conversation_is_such_a_farce/" target="_blank"> <i><b>“It’s your own damn fault!” The upcoming campaign is supposedly going to be about inequality. Here's why it's just another plutocratic charade</b></i></a><br />
Elias Isquith <a href="https://twitter.com/eliasisquith"> </a><br />
<br />As I’ve <a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/03/13/new_york_times_poverty_blind_spot_how_nicholas_kristof_david_brooks_blew_it_this_week/">noted previously</a>, one of the stranger recent developments in American politics has been the swift arrival of a bipartisan consensus over <b>economic inequality</b>. For years and years — decades, even — the left and the right have quarreled over inequality’s very existence. But now, worrying about the maldistribution of income and wealth in the U.S. is utterly mainstream. Noting the widening chasm between the 1 percent and everyone else has become so anodyne, in fact, that even would-be presidents like <b>Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul </b>and <b>Marco Rubio</b> are doing it. It’s enough to make a longtime class-warrior think she’s winning.<br /><br />That would be a mistake. Because although the political value of inequality is different today than was the case before the <b>Great Recession</b>, it’s mainly been rhetoric — and not policy — that has changed. We may talk more than we once did about the rich are, <a href="http://www.quotecounterquote.com/2009/11/rich-are-different-famous-quote.html">as Fitzgerald wrote</a>, “not like you and me.” So far, very little’s been done on the national level to explicitly confront the problem. On the contrary, the economic recovery has been <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/low-wage-jobs-drives-economy-recovery">so full of <b>McJobs</b></a> that there’s reason to suspect the issue may only get worse in years to come. <br /><br />But if the U.S. economy is just as iniquitous as ever, and if the near-total gutting of campaign finance regulation has made the U.S. political economy almost as <b>plutocratic </b>as ever, then how do we explain the rise of inequality as a mainstream topic of conversation? If the 1 and .01 percent still wields such a massively disproportionate degree of influence over our culture as well as our politics, wouldn’t talk of class remain verboten? Shouldn’t the super-rich be telling voters and the public in general to pay no attention to the moneybags behind the curtain? <br /><br />You might think so; but that would only be true if the wealthy’s control of American politics was more direct (and ham-handed) than it actually is. As <a href="http://billmoyers.com/content/noam-chomsky-part-1/">Noam Chomsky</a> has argued, the way the wealthy and the powerful operate in a formal democracy is significantly different from how they act in an illiberal society. The discourse has its regulators and gate-keepers, of course. But rather than outright censorship, the powers-that-be in the U.S. tend to head-off opposition by setting the parameters of the debate — and doing so in such a way as to ensure their interests are never really threatened. <br /><br />Noam Scheiber’s<i> </i><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/30/business/candidates-and-wealthy-are-aligned-on-inequality.html"><i>New York Times</i> piece</a> on Monday shows us what that process looks like in the real world. What we see in his report is a donor class that’s acquiesced to inequality being a major 2016 issue, partially because they’ve succeeded so far in rendering any serious responses to the problem out of the question. As Scheiber notes, strong majorities of Americans — including Republicans— are in favor of the government taking action to address the crisis, with redistribution from the 1 percent to the rest being an especially popular response. Yet for all their talk of inequality and opportunity, none of the declared or soon-to-declare presidential candidates of consequence have provided even a general endorsement of such a plan.<br /><br />Unsurprisingly, their hesitation is shared by one significant group — donors. Citing <a href="http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/%7Ejnd260/cab/CAB2012%20-%20Page1.pdf">the invaluable work</a> of Benjamin Page, Jason Seawright and Larry Bartels, Scheiber notes that although a majority of the wealthy Chicago-area persons these researchers interviewed professed concern over inequality, too, they were dramatically less interested in any public policy solutions. “Only 13 percent of wealthy interview subjects” want to see government work to address the problem, Scheiber writes. And only 17 percent are supportive of policies that involve raising taxes on the rich.<br /><br />And it’s not just tax hikes that the wealthy are keeping off the table. While two-out-of-three Americans think the government should help citizens find a job, provided they’re willing and able, fewer than one-out-of-five of wealthy respondents agree. “Forty percent of the wealthy,” Scheiber writes, want the minimum wage to be high enough to support a family; among the general public, support for that idea nearly doubles, coming out at 78 percent. Perhaps even more telling, though, is the way the overall philosophy of the very rich permeates the public discourse at large. <br /><br />For example: According to interviews with the wealthy conducted by Fiona Chin, a Northwestern graduate student whom Scheiber describes as a Page “protégé,” the 1 percent is much more likely to believe that inequality is a byproduct of virtue and hard work, rather than any flaws in the U.S.’s economic system. The wealthy, <a href="http://www.summitwebcasting.com/webcast/09-19-14/vod3.asp">Chin says</a>, think inequality is “a story about individual hard work, effort and character.” Sure, the rich have some built-in advantages, they say. But they’re disadvantaged too; being born with means, after all, can make you less inclined to work. <br /><br />If you didn’t strike it rich in America, these 1 percenters told Chin, it’s most likely because you “didn’t take advantage of the education system.” That, of course, is a euphemistic way of saying it’s your own damn fault. And while Scheiber’s report doesn’t bring up this angle directly, it’s not hard to see how there might be a connection between the 1 percent’s focus on education and the burgeoning movement to “reform” public schooling. A grand experiment in charter schools is fine. But reducing inequality by giving money to the people who need it? Not okay. <br /><br />So we may now hear Bush — or Cruz, or Rubio, or Paul — talk about “opportunity” gaps; and we may soon listen as Clinton rails against cutting hedge fund managers’ taxes. But given the constraints the 1 percent establishes upfront, you can expect that most of the ideas to come from Bush, Rubio and, eventually, Clinton will differ little from what they would’ve proposed in the years before the Great Recession. And until they stop trying to sell the same-old policies under an inequality-themed banner, the politics of the issue will not be appreciably different. We’ll merely have transitioned from denial to a charade.</div>
spiderlegshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405037453394043801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7500423503622518522.post-24201311835098607832015-03-31T11:27:00.002-05:002015-03-31T11:27:53.200-05:00 Low-wage jobs drive the recovery<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
By Ned Resnikoff -<i><b><a href="http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/low-wage-jobs-drives-economy-recovery" target="_blank">msnbc</a></b></i> <br />
<br />It’s not uncommon to hear economics writers dismiss post-recession job growth as evidence of a <b>“McJobs Recovery.”</b> Sure, jobs may be slowly coming back, the argument goes, but not good jobs. Instead, employment growth seems to be largely concentrated in the sectors of the economy where wages are lowest. <br /><br />That argument received some empirical ballast with the release of a <a href="http://www.nelp.org/page/content/lowwagerecovery2014/">report</a> from the <b>National Employment Law Project (NELP)</b> that finds<b> low-wage industries have grown at a disproportionately high rate since the end of the recession.</b> The report’s author, policy analyst Michael Evangelist, finds that 44% of job growth since the end of the recession has been concentrated in industries where the median wage is $13.33 or less. That includes food service, retail, and administrative services (which includes jobs like security, maintenance, and janitorial work). <br /><br />This is only the most recent in a series of NELP reports on the McJobs Recovery, all of which have found similar results. Evangelist told <i>msnbc </i>the consistency suggests this might be more than a hiccup on the road back to relative prosperity. <br /><br />“Early on when we were doing these reports, we just speculated cyclical factors,” he said. “So one year into the recovery, consumer demand was growing and you’d see more growth in the<b> restaurant food service industry</b>.” But as food service continued to grow at a disproportionately high rate, NELP analysts came to see unbalanced growth as a more stable feature of the economic landscape. <br /><br />“Now we’re five years into this and these are still the industries that are growing quickly,” said Evangelist. <br /><br />Food service isn’t just one of the economy’s most fecund sectors: It’s also its most <b>unequal</b>, according to <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/americas-most-unequal-industry">another report</a> released last week by the left-leaning think tank <b><i>Demos</i></b>. In that study, <i>Demos </i>policy analyst Catherine Ruetschlin found that food services and retail had bigger<b> worker-to-CEO compensation gaps</b> than any other sector of the economy. <br /><br />The steady encroachment of low-wage jobs may help to explain why<b> median income</b> in the United States has begun to stagnate even as the wealth of the country’s economic elite soars into previously unexplored altitudes. Last week, <i>The New York Times </i>reported that America no longer leads the world in median wealth, having been <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/upshot/the-american-middle-class-is-no-longer-the-worlds-richest.html">surpassed by Canada</a> for the first time in at least decades. </div>
spiderlegshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405037453394043801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7500423503622518522.post-44070269875007526762015-03-31T10:22:00.000-05:002015-03-31T10:22:15.261-05:00 Arizona enacts law requiring doctors to tell patients abortions can be reversed <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Tuesday, Mar 31, 2015<br />
<a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/03/31/arizona_enacts_law_requiring_doctors_to_tell_patients_abortions_can_be_reversed/" target="_blank"><i><b>The law also limits public insurance coverage for abortion </b></i></a><br />
Jenny Kutner<br /> <br /><b>Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey</b> on Monday <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2015/03/30/ducey-signs-abortion-bill/70696008/">signed a controversial bill </a>to require doctors to tell women who undergo medication abortion that the procedure can be reversed, despite no medical or scientific evidence to substantiate the claim. The law also bans abortion coverage for insurance purchased through the <b><i>Affordable Care Act,</i></b> except in cases of rape or incest. <br /><br />“The American people overwhelmingly oppose taxpayer funding of abortions, and it’s no different in Arizona, where we have long-standing policy against subsidizing them with public dollars,” Ducey said in a statement.<br /><br />Arizona is already one of several states that requires doctors to acquire admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinics where they perform abortions. The new law, however, also dictates how physicians interact with patients, and was criticized by just one Republican for requiring that doctors indicate to women that medication abortion is reversible. Reproductive rights advocates have also challenged that provision of the law, calling it infantilizing. <br /><br />“It is just insulting to her intelligence to imply that she isn’t capable of making a decision and following through with that decision,” NARAL Arizona board member Gabrielle Goodrick <a href="http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2015/03/24/arizona-house-passes-anti-choice-bill-abortion-reversal-amendment/">told <i>RH Reality Check</i></a>. “We trust women can make their decisions as consenting adults.” <a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/03/31/arizona_enacts_law_requiring_doctors_to_tell_patients_abortions_can_be_reversed/"> </a> </div>
spiderlegshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405037453394043801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7500423503622518522.post-6092893814579712002015-03-30T12:48:00.001-05:002015-03-30T12:48:53.323-05:00 “A malign force in American history”: Why you should be terrified of the Supreme Court <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/03/30/a_malign_force_in_american_history_why_you_should_be_terrified_of_the_supreme_court/" target="_blank"><i> Ridiculous theories, destructive effects and evil tragedies are SCOTUS trademarks, expert Ian Millhiser tells </i>Salon </a></h3>
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Elias Isquith <br /> <br />Throughout his years as a national politician and in the White House, <b>President Barack Obama</b> has had many antagonists and foes: <b>John McCain, Mitch McConnell, Mitt Romney, Eric Cantor </b>and <b>John Boehner </b>come to mind. But despite their greater public profile, one could argue that none of these men have been quite as formidable a source of opposition and frustration as the five conservative justices on the <b>Supreme Court.</b><br /><br />Indeed, the closest Obama’s signature achievement, the <b><i>Affordable Care Act</i></b>, ever came to destruction was not in the House or in the Senate. It was behind the closed doors of the justices’ chambers, where it survived in 2012 by just one vote, and where, due to <b><i>King v. Burwell,</i></b> the latest case against <b>Obamacare</b>, it finds itself imperiled once again. The greatest threat to the Obama agenda, in other words, has manifested in the form of a purposefully opaque institution, and in the persons of five unelected conservative men.<br /><br />Unsurprisingly, this state of affairs has led many a liberal or even moderate Democrat to pull their hair and grind their teeth out of aggravation. And when compared to the Supreme Court of the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s, which most progressives think of as a source of comfort and power for society’s downtrodden, the <b>Roberts court </b>looks anomalous indeed. But what if it’s the mid-20th century court, and not that of today, which stands as the exception to the rule? What if the Roberts court is more in keeping with U.S. history than liberals tend to think?<br /><br />That’s the argument that<b> Ian Millhiser</b>, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund and the editor of <i>Think Progress Justice</i>, makes in his new book, <b><i>“<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Injustices-Comforting-Comfortable-Afflicting-Afflicted/dp/1568584563/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8">Injustices: The Supreme Court’s History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted</a>.”</i></b> As Millhiser sees it, the Supreme Court has spent most of its existence standing athwart history, yelling, Stop! From gutting the civil rights acts of the post-Civil War era to attacking business regulations to weakening protections for children, minorities and immigrants, the court Millhiser describes has much more often than not worked to return power to those in society who need it least, and abuse it most.<br /><br />Recently, <i>Salon </i>spoke over the phone with Millhiser to discuss his new book as well as his thoughts on the Obamacare case currently in front of the court, the legitimacy of the institution, and why the next presidential election will have such a large impact on whether the court of the foreseeable future is one that fights progress, or acts as its shepherd. Our conversation is below and has been edited for clarity and length.<br /></div>
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<i>The Supreme Court has been a source of controversy for a long, long time. But what was it in particular that you wanted to get across with this book?</i></h4>
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The notion that the Supreme Court has been a malign force in American history is by no means a new one. It dominated<b> President [Franklin Delano] Roosevelt</b>’s rhetoric on the Supreme Court; it was the reason why many of the liberal justices on the Supreme Court were reluctant to to vote the right way on <b><i>Brown v. Board of Education</i></b>, because they were so fearful of <b>judicial power</b> that they were afraid to exercise it. It’s only fairly recently that liberals have come to think of the Supreme Court as something we shouldn’t view with extraordinary trepidation.<br /><br />I wrote this book in large part because I think people — and not just liberals, not just people who think we should have things like child labor laws and <b>Medicare </b>— have lost an important understanding of our history. Meanwhile, people who want to dismantle a lot of the progress of the 20th century are busy building an alternative mythology about the Supreme Court that is very harmful and that we have not yet been effective in countering.<br /></div>
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<i>You mentioned how conservatives like to claim or imply that the Constitution prescribes a libertarian government. Why is that narrative mistaken?</i></h4>
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The conservative mythology I keep referring to is basically a mythology of original sin. Their narrative is that government is something that the <i>Constitution </i>was very skeptical of and everyone understood this until Franklin Delano Roosevelt came along and tried to pack the court with up to 15 Justices in order to break the back of this understanding of the <i>Constitution</i>. That moment where the court gave in and allowed the New Deal to exist, that is the original sin in the conservative narrative.<br /><br />The reality could not be more different. The reality is that George Washington, in the midst of the Revolutionary War, was tossing off angry letters saying that Congress didn’t have enough power to act and he wasn’t going to win this war if they didn’t have a more responsive national government. He and others pushed for a more expansive role of government. At the Constitutional Convention, the framers passed a resolution saying that a national government has to have full powers to do everything that the states are not competent enough to do on their own — and one thing the states aren’t capable of doing on their own is regulating a national economy.<br /></div>
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<i>Let’s move away from history for a moment to talk about the present court. Granting that the court, historically, has much more often been an enemy of progress rather than a friend, where would you rank the current Roberts Court?</i></h4>
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I think what the Roberts Court is going to be remembered as is a transitional court. The Roberts Court is really bad; <b><i>Citizens United</i></b> is terrible, and striking down the Voting Rights Act is terrible. But compared to what has come from most of the Supreme Court’s history, it’s actually a lot better.<br /><br />There are two things at play right now that are going to impact the future of the Supreme Court. At the last national conference of the Federalist Society, a very influential conservative legal group, there was a panel on rolling back anti-discrimination laws and repealing the minimum wage. This is the place where lawsuits like attacks on the <i>Affordable Care Act</i>, like Hobby Lobby, etc., are incubated and where conservative lawyers get together and refine their ideas before they get their friends on the Supreme Court to turn them into law.<br /><br />The Federalist Society, which is going to have a tremendous impact on who the next Republican president nominates for the Supreme Court, is raring for a return to the bad old days, to the era where the Supreme Court viewed its job as engaging in wholesale skepticism of business regulation. If they succeeded in getting the ear of the next president — and they did have the ear of<b> President George W. Bush</b> and previous Republican presidents — we’re going to be in for a wild ride.<br /></div>
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<i>Why else do you see this court as being transitional?</i></h4>
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The second thing to keep in mind is that there are four justices right now over the age of 76: Justices <b>Scalia</b>, <b>Kennedy</b>, <b>Ginsburg </b>and <b>Breyer </b>are all in their late 70s or early 80s. When the next president is sworn in, there will be three sitting justices in their 80s — assuming none of them leave before then— so there’s a very real chance that the next president of the United States could replace four justices.<br /><br />There’s already a fifth justice on the Supreme Court, <b>Clarence Thomas</b>, who has said that he agrees with [the pre-New Deal court's worldview] and the legal argument that was used to attack the <i><b>Civil Rights Act of 1964</b></i>; so if he got his way, we probably couldn’t have a ban on whites-only water fountains. Right now, the fact that there’s one justice who embraces this radical anti-government vision doesn’t seem all that scary. But if four more get up there, we could be on the bridge to the 19th century right now.<br /><br />At the same time, if those four justices are replaced by someone who thinks more or less the same way our current president thinks, then we could have, for the first time in my lifetime and for the second time in the Supreme Court’s history, a court that is very much interested in letting individual rights flourish, in letting voting rights flourish, and in allowing our democracy to function without having ideological justices second-guessing the decision that are made by the people and their representatives.<br /><br />One question that occurs to me now, and which has been in the discourse about the court for the past few years, is the idea of “legitimacy.” If the current court ends up tarnishing the institution’s legitimacy, that might affect how the next court can operate. But legitimacy is pretty vague concept. Do you think it’s real? Or is it one of those messy ideas we use without adequate interrogation?<br /><br />That’s a very timely question because there’s this <b><i>King v. Burwell </i></b>case in front of the Supreme Court seeking to gut the <i>Affordable Care Act.</i> If that case prevails, an estimated 10,000 people are going to die every year who otherwise would have lived. In addition to that, the legal theory they would use to gut Obamacare is not a bit of a joke; it’s a huge joke; it’s a ridiculous theory. People are very much talking right now about this question of whether we even want the Supreme Court to have this kind of power and whether they are truly legitimate if, based on such a ridiculous legal theory, they could produce such an evil result.<br /></div>
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<i>How unprecedented is it that people are talking about the court this way?</i></h4>
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The one other time when you saw serious talk about that question come up was during the Roosevelt administration, when you had this huge national crisis, the Great Depression, going on. Roosevelt was doing everything he could think of to restore economic order, and the Supreme Court kept striking it down. In the midst of that tragedy, not only were there serious questions about the court’s legitimacy, but Roosevelt went so far as to propose adding Justices to the Court in an effort, basically, to neutralize it.<br /></div>
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<i>Do you think that kind of pressure works? That the court is less radical if it feels like it’s being closely observed and will come in for significant criticism if it’s seen as overstepping its bounds?</i></h4>
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I do think it’s the case that at least certain members of the court in the past have become reluctant to do things that are both immoral … when they realize that people are looking over their shoulder — and that people are more likely to look over their shoulder when the results they would produce are particularly tragic.<br /><br />That’s why I want people to be aware of the consequences. I want people to be terrified of the Supreme Court because we’ve seen over and over again throughout history that when they go off the rails, the results are absolutely disastrous for ordinary Americans.<br /></div>
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<i>How do you feel about proposals for reforms to the Supreme Court, like changing it so justices don’t serve in perpetuity but have fixed term limits? Do you think that’s a workable solution? Or is it not really adequate to the task?</i></h4>
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I don’t think term limits are going to solve the problem, even if we manage to get them through; I think there is sort of a backhanded way to do it without a Constitutional amendment, but it would take a really long time. The fact remains that Justice Scalia is the longest-serving member of the court and he’s pretty terrible; but Justice <b>Alito </b>hasn’t been there very long, relatively speaking, and he’s even worse. I don’t think there’s a correlation between the tenure of the Justice and whether they’re a good or a bad Justice.<br /><br />One of the main things you focus on in the book is that Supreme Court decisions have real-world consequences for regular people — and they’ve often been bad. What do you think of the argument raised by some, perhaps <a href="http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120173/2014-supreme-court-ivy-league-clan-disconnected-reality">most prominently Dahlia Lithwick</a>, that the court would be more likely to understand the human stakes if it weren’t comprised of so many law school all-stars, and had more politicians, as used to happen, instead?<br /><br />I love Dahlia Lithwick; she may be the single best writer in the Supreme Court issues space. I disagree with her on this point, though. The reason why is because the court has almost always been terrible; it was terrible when you had brilliant scholarly and very dastardly men like Stephen Field leading the charge to dismantle the regulatory state, and it’s been really terrible when you had ignorant bigots like James Clark McReynolds. <a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/03/30/a_malign_force_in_american_history_why_you_should_be_terrified_of_the_supreme_court/"> </a> <br /> </div>
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spiderlegshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405037453394043801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7500423503622518522.post-45675737900390879952015-03-30T12:30:00.000-05:002015-03-30T12:33:27.538-05:00Scientology Documentary "Going Clear" debuts on HBO (videos)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/03/30/tom_cruise_is_scum_read_peoples_stunned_reactions_to_scientology_documentary_going_clear/" target="_blank">Read the public's reactions to <i><b>GOING CLEAR</b></i></a><br />
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spiderlegshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405037453394043801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7500423503622518522.post-64943274315594246882015-03-30T12:20:00.000-05:002015-03-30T12:20:19.396-05:00 Wall Street’s new student loan scheme: Subprime loans are coming to financial aid <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Monday, Mar 30, 2015<br />
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<a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/03/30/wall_streets_new_student_loan_scheme_subprime_loans_are_coming_to_financial_aid/" target="_blank"><i><b>Slimy new loan options proliferate, as Wall Street looks to do for education what it did to the economy </b></i></a></h3>
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<i><b>Jeff Bryant </b></i><br /><br /><b>Wall Street</b> wants to own your <b>education </b>destiny.<br /><br />To the old saying about “death and taxes,” you can now add another: debt.<br /><br />In fact, in contemporary America, debt is likely becoming at least as all-encompassing as the other two.<br /><br />An increasingly powerful force behind the debt explosion is not what you might expect: not cars, not homes, not healthcare. It’s education.<br /><br />Since the <b>Great Recession</b>, federal and state authorities have been <i>disinvesting </i>from their obligations to educate the citizenry. So now, <a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2015/01/06/grade-f-many-states-trail-in-college-funding-and-tuition">nearly every state spends less on higher education than it did in 2007</a>. And most states continue to <a href="http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=4213">spend less on K-12 education than they did in 2007</a>. Federal government expenditures on education are also <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2014/09/19/news/economy/federal-spending-on-children/">in decline</a>.<br /><br />So the burden of financing education has increasingly fallen on local governments and individuals, who have responded by borrowing money to pay for schooling.<br /><br />Education debt is rapidly becoming a <a href="http://billmoyers.com/2012/04/03/the-student-loan-crisis-%E2%80%93-from-cradle-to-grave/">cradle to grave</a> omnipresence – from parents taking out <a href="http://www.thewire.com/national/2012/03/kindergarten-loans-are-sad-reality-our-time/50464/">kindergarten loans</a>, to taxpayers shouldering the <a href="http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/all-narratives/investigations/where-borrowing-105-million-will-cost-1-billion-poway-schools/">ballooning costs of exotic school bonds</a>, to <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/education/218671-cradle-to-grave-student-debt-now-bankrupting-seniors">senior citizens</a> staving off bankruptcies caused by college debts.<br /><br />With edu-debt levels mounting higher and higher at every turn, cash-strapped parents, municipal governments and education institutions have turned to solutions from Wall Street.<br /><br />According to at least one <a href="http://www.westbournecapital.com.au/pdfs/2%20InfraNews%2020130103%20How%20the%20Infrastructure%20Debt%20Market%20is%20Evolving%20to%20Accommodate%20a%20Growing%20Inst%20Appetite.pdf">investment news source</a>, banks are increasingly reluctant to back infrastructure investments like schools, so the financial industry is rushing in to fill the void. “The severely restricted capacity of banks to provide long-term debt for infrastructure deals comes at a time when the need for infrastructure spending across the globe is soaring,” the report notes. “A great deal of debt will go to the bond markets. But they will not be the full solution by any means.”<br /><br />Instead, an emerging “private loan space” is introducing “a number of new vehicles.”<br /><br />An alphabet soup of new financial vehicles – SLABS, CABS, PPPs, ISAs – that’s been created in the edu-debt sphere spells disaster, as Wall Street tightens its control of how – or even whether – the nation educates its future workers and citizens.<br /></div>
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<i>Turning Students Into SLABS</i></h4>
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A lot has been written about college student loan debt, now nearly $1.2 trillion and counting. But too little attention has focused on Wall Street’s role in the run-up.<br /><br />Recall, when Wall Street speculators wanted a market for subprime mortgages, they created high-risk derivative securities that bundled the mortgages to sell as investments. The speculators have done the same for student loans.<br /><br />These<b> student loan asset-backed securities, or SLABS</b>, have a performance history that has “been very good, and investors’ rate of return has been excellent,” according to an article in <i>Wikipedia</i>.<br /><br />SLABS are “hot,” a<i> <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323293704578334542910674174">Wall Street Journal</a></i> headline exhorted its readers in 2013. “Investors are flocking to SLABS,” a more recent article on the<i> <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-woodman/student-loans-the-home-mo_b_4819232.html">Huffington Post</a></i> reports.<br /><br />A post on the blog for left-leaning advocacy Demos explains, “Before the SLABS binge, most private student loans were actually made in connection with the college financial aid office, which helped ensure students weren’t taken for a ride, or weren’t borrowing more than they needed to. Between 2005 and 2007, the percentage of loans to students made without any school involvement grew from 40 percent to over 70 percent.”<br /><br />It’s not hard to see the allure of SLABS. Student loans seem to be an endless stream of revenue as colleges and universities continue to increase tuition, economic conditions and employment transience feed the unemployed back into continuing education, and political leaders urge everyone to attend college. The income stream is nearly guaranteed to pay off because the loans are next to impossible to discharge in bankruptcy.<br /><br />A <i>Huffington Post</i> article by Chris Kirkham states, SLABS offer “seemingly unlimited growth potential at virtually zero risk. The burden of college loan repayment falls entirely on students’ backs, shielding corporations from the consequences of default.”<br /><br />Indeed, any attempt to write off the massive student debt would not only have to contend with government reluctance to lose such a profitable revenue source, but would also meet deep-pocketed opposition from the financial industry.<br /><br />But SLABS are only a subset of Wall Street’s continuously expanding <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/nyregion/MTA-targets-manspreading-on-new-york-city-subways.html">man spread</a> in the edu-debt sector.</div>
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<i>Selling Schools on CABS And Charters</i></h4>
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Much less attention has focused on how government and education institutions are becoming more and more saddled with debt.<br /><br />According to the website <i><a href="http://www.governing.com/gov-data/municipal-cities-counties-bankruptcies-and-defaults.html">Governing.com</a></i>, “Many local governments across the U.S. face steep budget deficits as they struggle to pay off debts accumulated over a number of years. As a last resort, some filed for bankruptcy.”<br /><br />School district bankruptcies are occurring with alarming frequency, <i><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/05/28/stateline-states-school-districts-bankruptcy/9667691/">USA Today</a></i> reported last year. “<a href="http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fi/ir/first1314.asp">California</a> saw a record number of school districts in fiscal distress in 2012; currently, eight school districts have negative certifications, meaning that based on current projections, the school districts will not meet their financial obligations for fiscal 2014 or 2015. Another 41 school districts may run out of money by fiscal 2016.”<br /><br />California schools trying to stave off insolvency have increasingly turned to the financial sector for help. Writing at the Web of Debt blog site, <i><a href="http://ellenbrown.com/2015/02/20/swimming-with-the-sharks-goldman-sachs-school-districts-and-capital-appreciation-bonds/">Ellen Brown</a></i> explains how financial brokers have promoted “something called ‘<b>capital appreciation bonds’ (CABs)</b> as a tool. … CABs have now been issued by <a href="http://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/economics/item/14435-capital-appreciation-bonds-delaying-the-inevitable">more than 400 California districts</a>, some with repayment obligations of <a href="http://www.ocregister.com/articles/bonds-379193-capital-appreciation.html">up to 20 times the principal advanced</a> (or 2,000 percent).”<br /><br />Adding to the edu-debt burden is the rush to finance charter schools. Recently, the <i><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-10-21/charter-schools-borrow-at-record-pace-led-by-texas-muni-credit?utm_content=buffere9c0f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer">Bloomberg</a></i> news agency reported, “US charter schools are issuing a record amount of municipal debt … The institutions, privately run with public funding, have sold $1.6 billion of securities in 2014.”<br /><br />Charter schools are <a href="http://www.nbc4i.com/story/24778722/nbc4-investigates-taxpayers-left-holding-bill-for-charter-schools">notorious for closing suddenly</a>, often on very short notice, leaving school districts holding the bag for the remaining costs and outstanding debts. Over 65 percent of the time, charter school closures are due to financial problems or “mismanagement,” according to research quoted in the<i> <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/21/charter-schools-closure_n_1164104.html">Huffington Post</a>.</i><br /></div>
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<i>A Plague Of PPPs</i></h4>
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In higher education, the recent announcement that <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/23/education/sweet-briars-imminent-closing-stirs-small-uprising-in-a-college-idyll.html">Sweet Briar College</a> in Virginia would have to close due to financial insolvency stunned current and former students. But Sweet Briar’s imminent demise is likely just the first of many more college financial failures to come, according to a recent Op-Ed by a former Department of Education official Dennis Cariello in <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/education/230282-allow-universities-to-restructure-themselves-through-bankruptcy">The Hill</a>.<br /><br />Cariello points to a recent study by Bain & Co. that concludes over 60 percent of American colleges and universities are on an “unsustainable financial path” or at financial risk.<br /><br />To a considerable extent, Sweet Briar was done in by bad loan arrangements made with the private financial sector. As an expert for the <a href="http://www.nextnewdeal.net/millennial-pulse/sweet-briar-dilemma-will-predatory-lending-take-down-more-colleges">Roosevelt Institute</a> explains, “It is closing because it signed some terrible deals to get what must have felt like ‘needed’ money at the time.”<br /><br />Is Sweet Briar “the canary in the coal mine?” the Roosevelt piece asks, and points to the University of California system, the University of Michigan, and American University that are also examples where “banks are certainly making obscene profits … and passing debt on to students through increased costs.”<br /><br />A report from <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/04/10/public-universities-will-take-more-debt-states-decrease-spending-capital-projects%20https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/04/10/public-universities-will-take-more-debt-states-decrease-spending-capital-proj">Inside Higher Education</a> explains the extent of the financial wheeling-and-dealing in public higher ed. “Burdened by aging campuses, several years of backlogged maintenance projects, increased competition for students (and the tuition revenue that comes with them), and little hope that states are going to fund the construction they need, either through appropriations or by issuing their own debt, public colleges and universities are likely to issue their own debt to finance the renovation of their facilities.”<br /><br />Among the many options public universities are considering for funding are more “<b>public-private partnerships [PPPs]</b>, whereby private developers get the capital to construct facilities and then universities strike long-term leases to occupy the space.”<br /><br />No doubt, these long-term PPPs present other opportunities for the financial industry to divert public money to private debt holders who can further capitalize on the venture by securitizing the debts, sticking education institutions – and therefore, students and taxpayers – with unsustainable levels of debt.<br /><br />With SLABS, CABS, PPPs already in the mix, it’s hard to see how the plague of edu-debt schemes could get any worse. But it can.</div>
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<i>Investor Impunity Enforced by ISAs</i></h4>
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The ultimate solution in the private edu-debt sphere emerged recently when conservative ex-governor of Indiana, now president of Purdue University, <a href="http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2015/03/17/daniels-asks-congress-try-alternative-student-loan/24911835/?hootPostID=%5B%22%5B%274e2adda21076d0c7a2c52c284dfad1e1%27%5D%22%5D">Mitch Daniels</a> proposed to the U.S. Congress that, “Instead of taking out a traditional college loan, students would have the option of finding an investor – possibly a Purdue alum – to finance their degree in exchange for a share of their future income.”<br /><br />Daniels is not the only proponent of these arrangements. According to the reporter, Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former House Rep. Tom Petri from Wisconsin introduced legislation last year to help create the legal framework for these kinds of schemes. The bills did not advance.<br /><br />But like what so often happens, quirky proposals from conservatives that appear like blips on the outer edge of the crazy radar, actually have a huge think tank machinery behind them. As a report from <a href="http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/daniels-proposes-students-trade-future-income-for-investor-paid-college/article_9d46eea5-8190-582e-972d-1c027ad95da4.html">an Indiana news outlet</a> explains, the financial vehicles Daniels alluded to are what’s known in the biz as<b> Income Share Arrangements (ISAs)</b>. The reporter sourced the concept of ISAs to 1955 and University of Chicago economist Milton Friedman, the god of right-wing privatization advocates.<br /><br />Beth Akers, a fellow with centrist think tank <a href="http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2014/10/16-income-share-agreements-akers">Brookings</a>, has argued ISAs should “play a role” in financing student loan debt. She posits that the central problem with higher education is there is “almost no incentive” for students to choose schools and courses of study that pay off down the road in terms of lucrative salaries. A broad market for ISAs could change that by enabling students to “collateralize their financing with future earnings, just as home buyers collateralize their mortgage with the house itself.”<br /><br />“Income share agreements … are quietly gaining a following among critics of the nation’s staggering student-debt problem,”<i> </i><a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2014/04/income_share_agreements_instead_of_taking_out_loans_students_sell_stock.html"><i>Slate</i>’s Alison Griswold observes</a>. “New companies such as Upstart, Pave, and Lumni have turned to the investing-in-people model.”<br /><br />Griswold points to a study from the conservative <a href="http://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/-investing-in-value-sharing-in-risk-financing-higher-education-through-inome-share-agreements_083548906610.pdf">American Enterprise Institute</a> which argues, “Because ISA investors earn a profit only when a student is successful, they offer students better terms for programs that are expected to be of high value and have strong incentives to support students both during school and after graduation. This process gives students strong signals about which programs and fields are most likely to help them be successful.”<br /><br />It’s not at all hard to imagine what this would lead to – academic programs where students are financially “incentivized” to pursue what investors prefer rather than follow their imaginations and ideas. Even if they do take the incentive route, they run the risk of a lifetime of indentured servitude to their financial backers should the market for their chosen career turn sour after they graduate.<br /><br />The consequences of such a financial arrangement are harmful to businesses too. Want to be that creative writing major that ends up in the marketing field, or that botany student who pursues food and wine retailing? Forget it. The system run by ISAs will likely never incentivize outliers in our employment system that often end up being the drivers of problem solving and creativity in business.<br /><br />What’s worse, instead of student debt getting “collateralized,” as the Brookings fellow put it, what really becomes the collateral is not a thing, like a house, but a person: the student herself.<br /><br />One can easily see how a speculative market where math or science majors are tossed onto the gambling table with students who pursued art or humanities studies would play out, and what could have propelled a student’s choices when they’re still teenagers – a quest for personal development and intrinsic reward – becomes a lifelong liability regardless of personal attributes.<br /><br />The ramifications of a higher education system financed by these kinds of debt mongers would be catastrophic as it worked into K-12, as it surely would.<br /></div>
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<i>Are Children Just Numbers?</i></h4>
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When Wall Street influence trickles down to K-12, there’s certainly a market opportunity awaiting.<br /><br />Advocates in the K-12 arena who insist on running every student through a battery of standardized tests every year have given – either unwittingly or intentionally (does it matter?) – the financial industry a huge gift by decreeing that student scores on standardized tests should define students’ learning “output.” Now, everything monetarily related to a child’s education – operations budgets, teacher salaries, classroom costs, government funds, grant money – can be related to a test score output.<br /><br />This in effect turns student learning – and by extension, the students themselves – into a commodity that can be speculated on. In a financial environment populated with ISA investors, students then become like pork bellies or yen, and schools get turned into test-preparation factories, ignoring subjects and skills that are not assessed.<br /><br />That could be what Wall Street wants, an education system focused on spitting out products that fit into pre-conceived business models, while less money goes toward educating those “other kids.” But is that really what the rest of us want?</div>
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spiderlegshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405037453394043801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7500423503622518522.post-24729853619519384642015-03-16T13:41:00.000-05:002015-03-16T13:41:58.304-05:00 A Police Gadget Tracks Phones? Shhh! It’s Secret <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
By MATT RICHTEL<b><i> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/16/business/a-police-gadget-tracks-phones-shhh-its-secret.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1" target="_blank">NYTIMES</a> </i></b><br />
MARCH 15, 2015 <br /><br />
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A <b>powerful new surveillance tool</b> being adopted by police departments across the country comes with an unusual requirement: To buy it, law enforcement officials must sign a nondisclosure agreement preventing them from saying almost anything about the technology.<br /><br />Any disclosure about the technology, which tracks cellphones and is often called <b>StingRay</b>, could allow criminals and terrorists to circumvent it, the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/federal_bureau_of_investigation/index.html?inline=nyt-org">F.B.I.</a> has said in an affidavit. But the tool is adopted in such secrecy that communities are not always sure what they are buying or whether the technology could raise serious privacy concerns.<br /><br />The confidentiality has elevated the stakes in a longstanding debate about the public disclosure of government practices versus law enforcement’s desire to keep its methods confidential. While companies routinely require nondisclosure agreements for technical products, legal experts say these agreements raise questions and are unusual given the privacy and even constitutional issues at stake.</div>
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<br />“It might be a totally legitimate business interest, or maybe they’re trying to keep people from realizing there are bigger privacy problems,” said Orin S. Kerr, a privacy law expert at George Washington University. “What’s the secret that they’re trying to hide?”<br /><br />The issue led to a public dispute three weeks ago in Silicon Valley, where a sheriff asked county officials to spend $502,000 on the technology. The Santa Clara County sheriff, Laurie Smith, said the technology allowed for locating cellphones — belonging to, say, terrorists or a missing person. But when asked for details, she offered no technical specifications and acknowledged she had not seen a product demonstration.<br /><br />Buying the technology, she said, required the signing of a nondisclosure agreement.<br /><br />“So, just to be clear,” Joe Simitian, a county supervisor, said, “we are being asked to spend $500,000 of taxpayers’ money and $42,000 a year thereafter for a product for the name brand which we are not sure of, a product we have not seen, a demonstration we don’t have, and we have a nondisclosure requirement as a precondition. You want us to vote and spend money,” he continued, but “you can’t tell us more about it.”<br /><br />The technology goes by various names, including StingRay, <b>KingFish </b>or, generically, <b>cell site simulator</b>. It is a <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=stingray+cell+phone+simulator&espv=2&biw=1006&bih=607&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=zxX6VI79Ioa4yQTGuILgDA&ved=0CAkQ_AUoBA">rectangular device</a>, small enough to fit into a suitcase, that intercepts a cellphone signal by acting like a cellphone tower.<br /><br /><b>The technology can also capture texts, calls, emails and other data, and prosecutors have received court approval to use it for such purposes.</b><br /><br />Cell site simulators are catching on while law enforcement officials are adding other digital tools, like video cameras, license-plate readers, drones, programs that scan billions of phone records and gunshot detection sensors. Some of those tools have invited resistance from municipalities and legislators on privacy grounds.<br /><br />The nondisclosure agreements for the cell site simulators are overseen by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and typically involve the<b> Harris Corporation</b>, a multibillion-dollar defense contractor and a maker of the technology. What has opponents particularly concerned about StingRay is that the technology, unlike other phone surveillance methods, can also scan all the cellphones in the area where it is being used, not just the target phone.<br /><br />“It’s scanning the area. What is the government doing with that information?” said Linda Lye, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, which in 2013 <a href="https://www.aclunc.org/our-work/legal-docket/aclu-v-doj-stingrays">sued the Justice Department</a> to force it to disclose more about the technology. In November, in a response to the lawsuit, the government said it had asked the courts to allow the technology to capture content, not just identify subscriber location.<br /><br />The nondisclosure agreements make it hard to know how widely the technology has been adopted. But news reports from around the country indicate use by local and state police agencies stretching from Los Angeles to Wisconsin to New York, where the state police use it. Some departments have used it for several years. Money for the devices comes from individual agencies and sometimes, as in the case of Santa Clara County, from the federal government through Homeland Security grants.<br /><br />Christopher Allen, an F.B.I. spokesman, said “location information is a vital component” of law enforcement. The agency, he said, “does not keep repositories of cell tower data for any purpose other than in connection with a specific investigation.”<br /><br />A fuller explanation of the F.B.I.’s position is provided in two publicly sworn affidavits about StingRay, including one filed in 2014 in Virginia. In the affidavit, a supervisory special agent, Bradley S. Morrison, said disclosure of the technology’s specifications would let criminals, including terrorists, “thwart the use of this technology.”<br /><br />“Disclosure of even minor details” could harm law enforcement, he said, by letting “adversaries” put together the pieces of the technology like assembling a “jigsaw puzzle.” He said the F.B.I. had entered into the nondisclosure agreements with local authorities for those reasons. In addition, he said, the technology is related to homeland security and is therefore subject to federal control.<br /><br />In a second affidavit, given in 2011, the same special agent acknowledged that the device could gather identifying information from phones of bystanders. Such data “from all wireless devices in the immediate area of the F.B.I. device that subscribe to a particular provider may be incidentally recorded, including those of innocent, nontarget devices.”<br /><br />But, he added, that information is purged to ensure privacy rights.<br /><br />In December, two senators, Patrick J. Leahy and Charles E. Grassley, <a href="http://www.leahy.senate.gov/download/12-23-14-pjl-and-ceg-to-doj-and-dhs1">sent a letter</a> expressing concerns about the scope of the F.B.I.’s StingRay use to Eric H. Holder Jr., the attorney general, and Jeh Johnson, the secretary of Homeland Security.<br /><br />The Harris Corporation declined to comment, according to Jim Burke, a company spokesman. Harris, based in Melbourne, Fla., has $5 billion in annual sales and specializes in communications technology, including battlefield radios.<br /><br />Jon Michaels, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, who studies government procurement, said Harris’s role with the nondisclosure agreements gave the company tremendous power over privacy policies in the public arena. <br /><br />“This is like the privatization of a legal regime,” he said. Referring to Harris, he said: “They get to call the shots.”<br /><br />For instance, in Tucson, a journalist asking the Police Department about its StingRay use was given a copy of a nondisclosure agreement. “The City of Tucson shall not discuss, publish, release or disclose any information pertaining to the product,” it read, and then noted: “Without the prior written consent of Harris.”<br /><br />The secrecy appears to have unintended consequences. <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/secrecy-around-police-surveillance-equipment-proves-a-cases-undoing/2015/02/22/ce72308a-b7ac-11e4-aa05-1ce812b3fdd2_story.html">A recent article</a> in The Washington Post detailed how a man in Florida who was accused of armed robbery was located using StingRay.<br /><br />As the case proceeded, a defense lawyer asked the police to explain how the technology worked. The police and prosecutors declined to produce the machine and, rather than meet a judge’s order that they do so, the state gave the defendant a plea bargain for petty theft.<br /><br />At the meeting in Santa Clara County last month, the county supervisors voted 4 to 1 to authorize the purchase, but they also voted to require the adoption of a privacy policy.<br /><br />(Sheriff Smith argued to the supervisors that she had adequately explained the technology and said she resented that Mr. Simitian’s questioning seemed to “suggest we are not mindful of people’s rights and the Constitution.”)<br /><br />A few days later, the county asked Harris for a demonstration open to county supervisors. The company refused, Mr. Simitian said, noting that “only people with badges” would be permitted. Further, he said, the company declined to provide a copy of the nondisclosure agreement — at least until after the demonstration.“Not only is there a nondisclosure agreement, for the time being, at least, we can’t even see the nondisclosure agreement,” Mr. Simitian said. “We may be able to see it later, I don’t know.”</div>
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spiderlegshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405037453394043801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7500423503622518522.post-74658239906842493962015-03-16T12:43:00.001-05:002015-03-16T12:43:27.071-05:00Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="vcard author fa-user"><span class="fn">Michael Snyder</span></span> <span class="date updated fa-clock-o"><a class="" href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2015/03/nearly-at-full-employment-10-reasons-why-the-unemployment-numbers-are-a-massive-lie/" rel="bookmark" title="7:00 am"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2015-03-10T07:00:46+00:00"><i><b>Freedom Outpost</b></i><br />March 10, 2015</time></a></span> </div>
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On Friday, we learned that the official “unemployment rate” has
fallen to 5.5 percent. Since an unemployment rate of 5 percent is
considered to be “full employment” by many economists, many in the
mainstream media took this as a sign that the U.S. economy has almost
fully “recovered” since the last recession. <br />
<br />
In fact, according to the <b><i>
Wall Street Journal</i></b>, some Federal Reserve officials believe that “<a alt=" Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie " href="http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2015/03/06/some-fed-officials-think-the-u-s-economy-is-already-at-full-employment/" target="_blank" title=" Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie ">the U.S. economy is already at full employment</a>."
But how can this possibly be? It certainly does not square with
reality. People that have been struggling with
unemployment for years and that still cannot find a decent job. <br />
<br />
So what in the
world is going on? How can the government be telling us that we are
nearly at “full employment” when so many people can’t find work? <b>Could
it be possible that the government numbers are misleading?</b><br />
<br />
The official “unemployment rate”<b> (U3)</b> has become
so politicized and so manipulated that it is essentially meaningless at
this point. The following are 10 reasons why…<br />
</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="entry-content" style="text-align: left;">
<strong>#1</strong> Since February 2008, the size of the U.S.
population has grown by 16.8 million people, but the number of full-time
jobs has actually <strong>decreased <a alt=" Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie " href="http://econimica.blogspot.com/2015/03/amazing-math-from-bureau-of-labor.html" target="_blank" title=" Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie ">by 140,000</a>.</strong><br /><br />
<br /><strong>#2</strong> The percentage of working age Americans that have
a job right now is still about the same as it was during the depths of
the last recession. Posted below is a chart that shows how the
<b>employment-population ratio</b> has changed since the beginning of the
decade. Does this look like a full-blown “employment recovery” to you?…<br />
<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://cdn5.freedomoutpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Employment-Population-Ratio-2015.png"><img alt="Employment-Population-Ratio-2015" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-36172" height="265" src="http://cdn5.freedomoutpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Employment-Population-Ratio-2015.png" width="400" /></a></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="entry-content" style="text-align: left;">
<strong>#3</strong> The primary reason for the decline in the official
“unemployment rate” is the fact that <b>the government now considers
millions upon millions of long-term unemployed workers to “no longer be
in the labor force."</b> Just check out <a alt=" Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie " href="http://uncovermichigan.com/content/23351-americans-participating-labor-force-reduce-multi-year-lows" target="_blank" title=" Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie ">the following numbers</a>…
<blockquote>
The number of Americans participating in the labor force
has been on a decline for the past few years.<b> Nearly 33 percent of the
Americans above age 16 are not part of the workforce, the highest number
since 1978. </b>The<b> Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)</b> report issued recently
has found <b>92,898,000 Americans above age 16 not a part of the labor
force of the country as on February 2015.</b> When President Obama took over the office in January 2009, nearly
80,529,000 Americans were not a part of the labor force. The number has
increase <strong>by nearly 12 million</strong> over the last few years.
</blockquote>
<br /><strong>#4</strong> Over the past couple of years, the<b> labor force participation rate</b> in this country has been hovering <a alt=" Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie " href="http://cnsnews.com/news/article/ali-meyer/628-labor-force-participation-has-hovered-near-37-year-low-11-months" target="_blank" title=" Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie ">near mutli-decade lows</a>…<br /><blockquote>
The labor force participation rate hovered between 62.9
percent and 62.7 percent in the eleven months from April 2014 through
February, and has been 62.9 percent or lower in 13 of the 17 months
since October 2013. Prior to that, the last time the rate was below 63 percent was 37
years ago, in March 1978 when it was 62.8 percent, the same rate it was
in February.
</blockquote>
<br /><strong>#5</strong> When you add the number of “officially
unemployed” Americans (8.7 million) to the number of Americans “not in
the labor force” (92.9 million), you get a grand total of <strong>101.6 million working age Americans that do not have a job right now</strong>. Does that sound like “full employment” to you?<br />
<br /><strong>#6</strong> The quality of our jobs continues to decline. <b>Right now, only <a alt=" Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie " href="http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/44-percent-u-s-adults-employed-30-hours-per-week" target="_blank" title=" Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie ">44 percent</a> of U.S. adults are employed for 30 or more hours each week.<br />
</b><br /><strong> #7</strong> Millions upon millions of Americans have been
forced to take part-time jobs because that is all they can find, and
wages for American workers are at depressingly low levels. The
following numbers come directly from <a alt=" Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie " href="http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/netcomp.cgi?year=2013" target="_blank" title=" Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie ">the Social Security Administration</a>…<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">
-39 percent of American workers make less than $20,000 a year.<br />
<br />-52 percent of American workers make less than $30,000 a year.<br />
<br />-63 percent of American workers make less than $40,000 a year.<br />
<br />-72 percent of American workers make less than $50,000 a year.</blockquote>
<br /><strong>#8</strong> The average duration of unemployment for an unemployed worker is still <a alt=" Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie " href="http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/UEMPMEAN" target="_blank" title=" Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie ">about twice as long</a> as it was just prior to the last recession.<br />
<br /><strong>#9</strong> Most Americans feel as though the Obama administration has done little to nothing to help the middle class. Just consider <a alt=" Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie " href="http://dailysignal.com/2015/03/05/poll-post-recession-economic-policy-hasnt-helped-poor-middle-class/" target="_blank" title=" Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie ">the following poll numbers</a>…<br /><blockquote>
<a alt=" Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie " href="http://www.people-press.org/2015/03/04/most-say-government-policies-since-recession-have-done-little-to-help-middle-class-poor/" target="_blank" title=" Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie ">According to a new poll by the Pew Research Center</a>,
Americans see government policies under the Obama administration as
having mostly benefited wealthy people, large corporations and financial
institutions.<br /><br />
Seventy-two percent of respondents said government policies have done
little or nothing to help the middle class, and 65 percent said they
have done nothing to help the poor. Sixty-eight percent said the
policies have done nothing to help small businesses.<br /><br />
Meanwhile, 45 percent said the policies have done a “great deal” to
help large banks and financial institutions, 38 percent say they have
helped large corporations, and 36 percent say they have helped the
wealthy.<br />
</blockquote>
<br /><strong>#10</strong> If the unemployment rate was calculated
honestly, we would all be talking about the horrific “unemployment
crisis” that we were currently enduring. According to John Williams of <a alt=" Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie " href="http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/unemployment-charts" target="_blank" title=" Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie ">shadowstats.com</a>, the real unemployment rate in the United States right now is <b><a alt=" Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie " href="http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/unemployment-charts" target="_blank" title=" Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie ">above 23%</a></b><b>.</b></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.shadowstats.com/imgs/sgs-emp.gif?hl=ad&t=1425656206" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.shadowstats.com/imgs/sgs-emp.gif?hl=ad&t=1425656206" height="255" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="entry-content">
U.S. politicians and the <b>corporate mainstream media</b> are attempting to convince us that everything is just fine. But what they are telling us simply does not match the cold, hard reality on the streets.<br />
<br />
And since the talking heads on television are proclaiming that we are
nearly at “full employment," that just makes millions upon millions of
Americans that can’t seem to find work no matter how hard they try feel
even worse than they already do.<br />
<br />
If jobs are “easy to get," then those that are chronically
unemployment must have “something wrong” with them. That is the message
that we are being given. If the mainstream media says that
unemployment has gone way down, then anyone that is still unemployed
must be really “lazy," right?<br />
<br />
When you are unemployed for an extended period of time, it can really
suck the life right out of you. It can be really tempting to believe
that you are viewed as a failure by your family and friends. And for
the government to lie to us like this just makes things even harder.<br />
<br />
If you are unemployed and can’t find a job right now, I want you to
understand that you are caught in the midst of a long-term downward
economic spiral which is going to get a lot worse.<br />
<br />
When the government tells you that we are in a “recovery," they are lying to you. And when the government tells you that things are about to get a lot better, they are lying to you.
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><b><a alt=" Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie " href="http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/nearly-full-employment-10-reasons-unemployment-numbers-massive-lie" target="_blank" title=" Nearly At ‘Full Employment’? 10 Reasons Why The Unemployment Numbers Are A Massive Lie ">Source</a></b></i></span><span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
spiderlegshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405037453394043801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7500423503622518522.post-78746728580104023262015-03-16T12:23:00.000-05:002015-03-16T12:23:09.545-05:00Tackling The Real Unemployment Rate: 11%<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Louis Efron - <a href="http://www.forbes.com/" target="_blank"><i>Forbes</i></a></b><br />
<br />
Imagine being served your poolside drinks by a lawyer, or getting your chicken sandwich delivered by an experienced marketing professional. The first is a friend of mine, the second my waitress a few weeks ago. Both lost jobs due to economic downturns at their organizations. Both took available work to pay the bills while looking for new positions in their chosen professions.<br />
<br />
My friend and the waitress are victims of a massive but hidden problem called <b>underemployment</b>. Watching falling unemployment numbers being reported at <span class="datavalue">5.5</span>%, down from nearly 10% four years earlier, is simply <b>misleading</b>.<br />
<br />
Despite the significant decrease in the official<b> <a href="http://www.bls.gov/">U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics</a> (BLS) unemployment rate</b>, the<b> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">real</span> unemployment rate</b> is over double that at<b> 11%</b>. This number reflects the government’s<b> “<a href="http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm">U-6</a>” </b>report, which accounts for the full unemployment picture including those “marginally attached to the labor force,” plus those “employed part time for economic reasons.”<br />
<br />
<div class="zemanta-img">
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 680px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="English: Bureau of Labor Statistics measuremen..." class="zemanta-img-configured" src="http://blogs-images.forbes.com/louisefron/files/2014/08/670px-us_unemployment_measures-svg.png" height="300" title="English: Bureau of Labor Statistics measuremen..." width="400" /></div>
<div class="wp-caption-text" style="text-align: center;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics measurements U1, U2, U3, U4, U5 and U6. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)</span></b></i></div>
<div class="wp-caption-text">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
“<b>Marginally attached</b>” describes individuals not currently in the labor force who wanted and were available for work. <b>The official unemployment numbers exclude them,</b> because they did not look for work in the 4 weeks preceding the unemployment survey. In February, this marginally attached group accounted for <span class="datavalue">1.052</span> million people. To put that in perspective, there are currently 8 states in the U.S. with populations smaller than <span class="datavalue">1.052</span> million.<br />
<br />
<span class="datavalue">302</span>,000 discouraged workers – workers not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them – are included within the list of marginally attached people. Another <b>6.635 million</b> were not considered unemployed because they were employed part-time for economic reasons. Those people are also called <b>involuntary part-time workers</b> – working part-time because their hours were cut back or because they were unable to secure a full-time job.<br />
<br />
When you look at state populations – using the 6.635 million – the number represents more than the population of all but the 14 states with the highest populations.<br />
<br />
These numbers mean the U.S. has over 7 million workers only marginally engaged in their work situation.<br />
<br />
They don’t contribute their full potential to their households, the economy or society in general. While reporting a low, declining unemployment number may comfort people, we can’t ignore the millions of workers feeling the pain of the real unemployment number of 11%.<br />
<br />
Dan Diamond’s <i>Forbes</i> article, <a class="exit_trigger_set" href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/dandiamond/2013/07/05/why-the-real-unemployment-rate-is-higher-than-you-think/"><i>Why The ‘Real’ Unemployment Rate Is Higher Than You Think</i></a> highlights another disturbing fact that compounds the challenge: <b>The longer you’re without a job, the less likely you’ll get called back for an interview.</b> By the eighth month of unemployment the callback rate falls by about 45%. The article concludes<b> “many employers see these would-be workers as damaged goods.”</b><br />
<br />
These same people could be contributing greatly to the economy. Instead, they are spending their days trying to secure employment or working in unfulfilling part-time jobs while depleting their savings and 401K’s to supplement their income. Or worse yet, living off their credit cards just to survive.<br />
<br />
The answer to these challenges is not solely job creation, but <b>creating the <i>right </i>jobs to maximize a labor force.</b><br />
<br />
Here is the solution:<br />
<br />
<i><b>Quality Over Quantity</b></i><br />
<br />
Getting people back to work is good, but if the quality of their employment is down or the money earned insufficient you create other problems:<br />
<ul>
<li>unsatisfied and disengaged workers</li>
<li>low productivity and work quality</li>
<li>high turnover and operating costs</li>
<li>financial, social, and household strain</li>
</ul>
To create <i>quality </i>jobs there must be an accurate window into the people needing work, not just programs in place to retrain highly skilled and experienced workers for low-skilled jobs. Retraining should be available, but for those truly desiring a new career. There must be an effort by employers to fully utilize and capitalize on the talents their potential employees can bring to their organizations.<br />
<br />
When interviewing candidates – or evaluating your current workforce – look beyond the role they are pursuing or filling. Assess what else they can deliver for your organization. What skills and experiences are they not using in their current role? Is there a way to expand their current jobs to include and leverage missed opportunities? Paying attention to what is on a candidate’s and employee’s resume, closely observing their work, and asking good questions about other contributions they feel they can make are effective ways of performing this assessment.<br />
<br />
Post assessment, work-sharing and job rotation programs provide employees a chance to apply unused but valuable experience and to contribute at higher levels.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><b>High-Skilled Jobs Promote Healthy Economies</b></i><br />
<br />
While governments may believe low unemployment is the key to economic success, it has not proven true. In 24/7 Wall St.’s article <a href="http://247wallst.com/special-report/2012/04/25/nine-countries-where-unemployment-does-not-exist/"><i>Nine Countries Where Everyone Has A Job</i></a>, a highlighted 2012 study concluded: <b>“only a minority of the countries with low unemployment actually have a healthy economy where middle-class jobs are abundant.”</b> These middle-class, higher skilled jobs tend to have a greater impact on innovation, productivity and improved efficiency.<br />
<br />
After World War II, Europe’s economy recovered quickly despite its destroyed factories and infrastructure. This was primarily due to maximizing and strategically leveraging the experienced workforce.<br />
<br />
Unlike investing in machines – which need replacing over time – human knowledge becomes stronger and more valuable the more it is used and developed. Highly skilled people grow weaker and become less valuable to our economy when they spend their days looking for work or occupied in jobs that don’t further develop and hone their capabilities.<br />
<br />
A product designer spending 40 hours a week pondering and developing new products – plus getting additional training – will become more creative, knowledgeable and innovative. He/she will also add further value to their organization the more they work in their job.<br />
<br />
An assembly line worker instructed to repeat the same required task over and over has little room to add more value to him/herself or their organization. Except for their own assertively offered suggestions, that worker may only add value when their task alters as a result of innovations from higher-skilled workers. While the product designer can help other product designers around him or her get better; the assembly line worker may again be limited by the job and unable to effect change in the same way.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><b>Innovation First</b></i><br />
<br />
In the early 1900s, economist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Schumpeter">Joseph Schumpeter</a> coined the term “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_destruction">creative destruction</a>” – occurring when something new destroys something older. When an organization creates a new product or finds a better way of doing something, it can eliminate its competition. The invention of the personal computer is a great example of this. Many mainframe computer companies became obsolete when the personal computer arrived. On the other hand, that creation allowed new organizations and jobs to develop.<br />
<br />
The invention of photography revolutionized the world, eliminating some professions, but creating many new ones. Before photography, some prisons employed “recognizing officers” – people who identified repeat offenders. With cameras obtainable and affordable, photographers replaced the recognizing officer to process mug shots of each prisoner.<br />
<br />
Schumpeter asserted that the “process of creative destruction is the essential fact about capitalism.” It is ebb and flow; a recreation or a rebirth sustained by constant innovation. As new ideas come to life, so do new industries, organizations and jobs. To keep innovative people working, organizations and governments must create jobs for them and invest in their progressive ideas.<br />
<br />
Governments and organizations that create quality, high-skilled jobs focused on innovation will yield more of the right jobs, engage their entire workforce, and ultimately create a diversity of jobs at all levels. Creating such jobs is key to economic growth and sustainability. This, in turn, will fulfill the needs of the underemployed who desperately want to make a difference to their communities and the world.<br />
<br />
If a country loses its most educated and skilled people to other countries due to a lack of fulfilling jobs, that economy will stagnate.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><b>Facing Reality</b></i><br />
<br />
Technology will change the jobs we do.<br />
<br />
While secretaries, telephone operators, word processors and typists were rapidly disappearing between 2000 and 2010, employment in computer systems design and related services grew by a healthy 18% around the same period (<a href="http://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-2/careers-in-growing-field-of-information-technology-services.htm">BLS</a>). The emerging sector even withstood the recent recession losing only 1% of its workforce during the downturn. From 2003 to 2013, BLS reported 37 percent employment growth in the IT industry.<br />
<br />
Highly skilled innovators that dream-up and advance our future will create new jobs and industries. The more high skilled jobs there are, the lower both unemployment and underemployment will become.</div>
spiderlegshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405037453394043801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7500423503622518522.post-11025087123066837022015-03-16T11:47:00.000-05:002015-03-16T11:47:37.458-05:00 Robert Reich: Why Americans Are Fucked and Europeans Are Not<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><b>The U.S. economy is picking up steam but most Americans aren’t feeling it.</b></i></div>
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<em>By</em> <em>Robert Reich</em>
/ <a href="http://www.robertreich.org/" target="_blank"> <i><b>Robert Reich's Blog</b></i></a> </div>
<div class="story-date">
<em><span class="field field-name-field-date field-type-date field-label-hidden"><span class="field-items"><span class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single" content="2015-03-15T09:55:00-07:00">March 15, 2015</span></span></span></span></em></div>
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<em><span class="field field-name-field-date field-type-date field-label-hidden"><span class="field-items"><span class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single" content="2015-03-15T09:55:00-07:00"> </span></span></span></span></em></div>
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<a class="comments disqus-comments" data-disqus-identifier="node/1033303" href="http://www.alternet.org/comments/economy/robert-reich-why-americans-are-screwed-and-europeans-are-not#disqus_thread"></a></div>
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The U.S. economy is picking up steam but<b> most Americans aren’t
feeling it.</b> By contrast, most European economies are still in bad shape,
but most Europeans are doing relatively well.<br />
<br />
What’s behind this? Two big facts.<br />
<br />
First,
<b>American corporations exert far more political influence in the United
States</b> than their counterparts exert in their own countries.<br />
<br />
In
fact,<b> most Americans have no influence at all.</b> That’s the conclusion of
Professors Martin Gilens of Princeton and Benjamin Page of Northwestern
University, who <a href="http://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mgilens/files/gilens_and_page_2014_-testing_theories_of_american_politics.doc.pdf">analyzed</a> 1,799
policy issues — and found that<b> “the preferences of the average American
appear to have only a miniscule, near-zero, statistically
non-significant impact upon public policy.”</b><br />
<br />
Instead, <b>American
lawmakers respond to the demands of wealthy individuals (typically
corporate executives and Wall Street moguls) and of big corporations </b>–
those with the most<b> lobbying prowess and deepest pockets to bankroll
campaigns.</b><br />
<br />
The second fact is <b>most big American corporations have
no particular allegiance to America.</b> <b>They don’t want Americans to have
better wages.</b> Their only allegiance and responsibility to their
shareholders — <b>which often requires lower wages to fuel larger profits
and higher share prices.</b><br />
<br />
When <b>GM </b>went public again in 2010, it <a href="http://www.gm.com/content/dam/gmcom/COMPANY/Investors/Corporate_Governance/PDFs/StockholderInformationPDFs/Annual-Report.pdf">boasted</a> of
making 43 percent of its cars in place where labor is less than $15 an
hour, while in North America it could now pay “lower-tiered” wages and
benefits for new employees.<br />
<br />
<b>American corporations shift their
profits around the world wherever they pay the lowest taxes</b>. Some are
even morphing into foreign corporations.<br />
<br />
As an <b>Apple </b>executive <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?_r=0">told </a><em>The New York Times</em>,<b> “We don’t have an obligation to solve America’s problems.”</b><br />
<br />
I’m
not blaming American corporations. They’re in business to make profits
and maximize their share prices, not to serve America.<br />
<br />
But because
of these two basic facts – their dominance on American politics, and
their interest in share prices instead of the wellbeing of Americans –<b>
it’s folly to count on them to create good American jobs or improve
American competitiveness, or represent the interests of the United
States in global commerce.</b><br />
<br />
By contrast, big corporations
headquartered in other rich nations are more responsible for the
wellbeing of the people who live in those nations.<br />
<br />
That’s because<b>
labor unions there are typically stronger than they are here</b> — able to
exert pressure both at the company level and nationally.<br />
<br />
<b>VW</b>’s
labor unions, for example, have a voice in governing the company, as
they do in other big German corporations. Not long ago, VW even <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2014/11/19/the-strange-case-of-the-anti-union-union-at-volkswagens-plant-in-tennessee/">welcomed</a> the <b>UAW </b>to its auto plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. (Tennessee’s own politicians nixed it.)<br />
<br />
Governments
in other rich nations often devise laws through tri-partite bargains
involving big corporations and organized labor. This process further
binds their corporations to their nations.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, <b>American
corporations distribute a smaller share of their earnings to their
workers than do European or Canadian-based corporations. </b><br />
<br />
And top U.S. corporate executives make far more money than their counterparts in other wealthy countries.<br />
<b>The
typical American worker puts in more hours than Canadians and
Europeans, and gets little or no paid vacation or paid family leave</b>. In
Europe, the <a href="http://20somethingfinance.com/american-hours-worked-productivity-vacation">norm</a> is five weeks paid vacation per year and more than three months paid family leave.<br />
<br />
And
because of the overwhelming clout of American firms on U.S. politics,
Americans don’t get nearly as good a deal from their governments as do
Canadians and Europeans.<br />
<br />
Governments there impose higher taxes on
the wealthy and redistribute more of it to middle and lower income
households. <b>Most of their citizens receive essentially free health care
and more generous unemployment benefits than do Americans.</b><br />
<br />
So it shouldn’t be surprising that <b>even though U.S. economy is "doing better," most Americans are not.</b><br />
<br />
The
U.S. middle class is no longer the world’s richest. After considering
taxes and transfer payments, middle-class incomes in Canada and much of
Western Europe are <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/upshot/the-american-middle-class-is-no-longer-the-worlds-richest.html?abt=0002&abg=0">higher</a> than in U.S. The poor in Western Europe earn more than do poor Americans.<br />
<br />
Finally,
when at global negotiating tables – such as the secretive process
devising the<b> “Trans Pacific Partnership” trade deal</b> — American
corporations don’t represent the interests of Americans. They represent
the interests of their executives and shareholders, who are not only
wealthier than most Americans but also reside all over the world.<br />
<br />
Which
is why <b>the pending Partnership protects the intellectual property of
American corporations — but not American workers’ health, safety, or
wages, and not the environment.</b><br />
<br />
The Obama administration is
casting the Partnership as way to contain Chinese influence in the
Pacific region. The agents of America’s interests in the area are
assumed to be American corporations.<br />
<br />
But that assumption is
incorrect. American corporations aren’t set up to represent America’s
interests in the Pacific region or anywhere else.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Either we lessen the dominance of big
American corporations over American politics. Or we increase their
allegiance and responsibility to America.</b> </span></i></blockquote>
<br />
What’s the
answer to this basic conundrum?<b> Either we lessen the dominance of big
American corporations over American politics. Or we increase their
allegiance and responsibility to America.</b><br />
<br />
It has to be one or the
other. <b>Americans can’t thrive within a political system run largely by
big American corporations — organized to boost their share prices but
not boost America.</b></div>
spiderlegshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405037453394043801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7500423503622518522.post-25392524895850546552015-03-16T11:25:00.000-05:002015-03-16T11:25:28.494-05:004 Numbers That Prove America Is a Deeply Messed Up Place <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: cyan;"><i><b>And no matter which party is in control, they sell their fuzzy bullshit numbers like they are real, meanwhile in this "resurgent" economy, more and more people are suffering while the wealthy increase their wealth in obscene amounts.</b></i></span><br />
<br />
<div class="teaser">
<div class="field field-name-field-teaser field-type-text-long field-label-hidden">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>The mainstream media rarely publishes facts like this.</b></i></span></div>
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<div class="byline economy">
<em>By</em> <em>Paul Buchheit</em>
/ <i><b><span class="field field-name-field-sources field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden"><span class="field-items"><span class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/economy/4-numbers-prove-america-deeply-messed-place" target="_blank">AlterNet</a></span></span></span></b></i> </div>
<div class="story-date">
<em><span class="field field-name-field-date field-type-date field-label-hidden"><span class="field-items"><span class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single" content="2015-03-15T17:04:00-07:00">March 15, 2015</span></span></span></span>
</em></div>
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<a class="comments disqus-comments" data-disqus-identifier="node/1033319" href="http://www.alternet.org/comments/economy/4-numbers-prove-america-deeply-messed-place#disqus_thread"></a></div>
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</div>
<br />
There's something perversely wrong with a society that creates <b>$30
trillion in new wealth while putting six million more children on food
stamps.</b><br />The mainstream media rarely publishes facts like this.<b> The super-rich keep building up <em>their own numbers</em>,
</b>as quietly as possible. And our leading members of Congress have little
need for numbers, except for<b> budget cuts and the strings of zeros at
the end of their campaign contributions.</b><br /><br />But numbers have the power to reveal the dramatic fall of the middle class over the past 35 years.<br />
<br /><br /><b>1</b><i><strong>. 138,000 Kids Were Homeless while 115,000 Households Were Each Making $10 Million Per Year</strong></i><br /><br />Recent <a href="http://usagainstgreed.org/20150316_Analysis.txt">data</a>
has shown that the<b> richest .1% (115,000 households) have each increased
their wealth by an astonishing $10 million per year.</b> As they counted
their money on a frigid night in January, <b>138,000 children, according to
the <a href="https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/ahar-2013-part1.pdf">U.S. Department of Housing</a>, were without a place to call home.</b><br />
<br /><br /><strong>2. <i>The Average U.S. Household Pays $400 to Feed and Clothe Walmart, McDonalds, and Other Low-Wage Workers</i></strong><br /><br />The <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/safety-net-savings-from-raising-minimum-wage/">Economic Policy Institute</a>
reports that $45 billion per year in federal, state, and other safety
net support is paid to workers earning less than $10.10 an hour. Thus
the average <a href="http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html">U.S. household</a> is paying about $400 to employees in <a href="http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2012/01/art5full.pdf">low-wage industries</a> such as food service, retail, and personal care.<br /><br />Walmart's well-advertised $1 raise will cost the company about <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/19/us-walmartstores-results-idUSKBN0LN1BD20150219">$1 billion</a> a year. Its profits last year were about <a href="http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/104169/000010416914000019/wmt13114ars.htm#s7DDBA116E1AD46E7CA2E10834B1D24EF">$25 billion</a>.<br /><br />The sordid tale gets even worse, as told by a<i> </i><a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/making-sense/biggest-scam-bankrupting-business-middle-class/"><i>PBS</i> report</a>:
Walmart has spent about $6.5 billion per year on stock buybacks to
enrich investors, approximately the same total annual amount billed to
taxpayers for food stamps, Medicaid, housing, and other safety net
programs for the company's underpaid employees.<br />
<br /><br /><strong>3. <i>As $30 Trillion in New Wealth was being Created, the Number of Kids on Food Stamps Increased 70%</i></strong><br /><br /><b>Before
the recession, 12 out of every 100 American children got food stamps.
After the recession, 20 out of every 100 American children got food
stamps.</b><br />That's nearly a <a href="http://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2015/cb15-16.html">70 percent increase</a>, from 9.5 million kids in 2007 to 16 million kids in 2014, at the same time that U.S. wealth was growing by over <a href="http://usagainstgreed.org/20150316_Analysis.txt">$30 trillion</a>. Even with that incomprehensible increase in wealth our nation was not able to ensure food security for millions of its <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/28/kids-on-food-stamps_n_6564740.html">most vulnerable</a> citizens.<br />
<br /><br /><strong>4.<i>
Despite the Decline in Food Security, the Food Stamp Program was Cut by
$8.6 Billion and the Money Paid to Corporate Agriculture</i></strong><i><br /></i><br /><b>As
more and more children go hungry, the largest agricultural firms
continue to take taxpayer money to supplement their billions in profits</b>.
The 2014 farm bill <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/02/12/the-bachelor-billionaires-and-the-problem-with-farm-subsidies-for-the-rich/">cut</a> $8.6 billion (over the next ten years) from the food stamp program, of which nearly <a href="http://blogs.usda.gov/2011/06/24/fact-vs-fiction-usda%E2%80%99s-supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program/">half</a> of all participants are children. Meanwhile, <a href="http://mercatus.org/publication/bloated-farm-subsidies-will-2013-farm-bill-really-cut-fat">$14 billion</a> is annually paid out to the largest 10 percent of farm operators.<br />
<br /><br /><i><strong>Beaten Up, Broken Down</strong></i><br /><br />The mainstream media <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/02/09/new-evidence-half-america-broke">highlights</a> the "resurgent economy," the booming stock market, and the drop in unemployment. But the stock market has enriched only about <a href="http://www.nationofchange.org/shocking-redistribution-wealth-past-five-years-1388413951">ten percent</a> of America, handing them <a href="http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/the-shocking-redistribution-of-wealth-in-the-past-five-years/18390-the-shocking-redistribution-of-wealth-in-the-past-five-years">millions of dollars</a> since the recession, <b>while the newly available jobs are <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/ccap/2015/01/06/enemy-of-the-people/">well below</a>
the skill levels of college-trained adults and often without health
care and retirement benefits.</b><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Too many once-prosperous Americans are
beaten up and broken down, waiting in vain for our elected leaders to
stop the redistribution of our national wealth.</b></i></span></blockquote>
<br />
<br />
</div>
spiderlegshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405037453394043801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7500423503622518522.post-82660139953983237372015-03-16T05:38:00.000-05:002015-03-16T05:38:10.536-05:00SCOTUS vs the ACA<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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spiderlegshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405037453394043801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7500423503622518522.post-73516146817796850392015-03-15T08:22:00.000-05:002015-03-15T08:22:34.219-05:00Coca-Cola's 'Simply Orange' Juice Is Anything But...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="byline"><span class="vcard author">Julia Weeman -<i><b> <a href="http://chicagoist.com/2013/02/10/simply_orange_is_anything_but.php" target="_blank">The Chicagoist</a></b></i></span></span><span class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </span></div>
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<span class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="2013_02_10.png" class="image-none" height="249" src="http://chicagoist.com/attachments/Julia%20Weeman/2013_02_10.png" width="400" /> </span></div>
<br />
<br />
Many people choose<b> Simply Orange </b>juice because they believe it is a less
processed, more natural choice than other brands. However, a new
investigation by <i><a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-31/coke-engineers-its-orange-juice-with-an-algorithm#p1" target="_blank" title="Opens in a new window">Bloomberg Businessweek</a></i> shows that it is a "<a href="http://www.theatlanticwire.com/business/2013/01/who-wants-nice-tall-glass-coca-colas-algorithmic-orange-juice/61667/" target="_blank" title="Opens in a new window">hyper-engineered and dauntingly industrial product.</a>"
<b>Coca-Cola</b> owns Simply Orange, which is made using a process they call
<b>Black Book</b>. Since juice production is full of variables, including a
peak growing season of only 3 months, this methodology was created to
produce consistent orange juice year round. They won't tell anyone how
exactly the Black Book formula works, but the consultant who designed
it, Bob Cross of <i>Revenue Analytics,</i> shared it with <i>Bloomberg
Businessweek.</i><br />
<br />
Black Book is an algorithm that includes data about consumer
preferences and the 600 flavors that make up an orange. <b>Coke </b>matches
this data to a profile detailing acidity, sweetness, etc. so that they
can blend batches to replicate the same taste and consistency. Black
Book also incorporates external factors, such as weather patterns,
anticipated crop yields, and cost pressures to allow Coke to plan ahead
and ensure they have supplies on hand.<br />
<br />
Coca-Cola's Brazilian partner, <b>Cutrale</b>, processes the oranges, which
are grown to Coke specifications. Satellite imaging allows them to order
growers to pick their fruit at the best time, as determined by Black
Book. The fresh-squeezed juice is stored in Cutrale's silos and
transported via a 1.2 mile underground pipeline to Coke's packaging
plant, where it is flash-pasteurized. It is then piped to storage tanks
where it is slowly agitated and covered with a nitrogen gas blanked to
keep out oxygen, which has been <a href="http://gizmodo.com/5825909/orange-juice-is-artificially-flavored-to-taste-like-oranges" target="_blank" title="Opens in a new window">sucked out of the juice</a>, as it will cause it to spoil.<br />
<br />
The batches from different crops and seasons are separated, based on
orange type, sweetness, and acidity. Blend technicians follow Black Book
instructions, adding <b>natural flavors </b>and <b>fragrances </b>captured during
squeezing back into the juice to make up for the flavor lost in
processing. "When the juice is stripped of oxygen it is also stripped of
flavor providing chemicals. Juice companies therefore hire flavor and
fragrance companies, the same ones that formulate perfumes for <b>Dior </b>and
<b>Calvin Klein</b>, to engineer <b>flavor packs</b> to add back to the juice to make
it taste fresh. Flavor packs aren’t listed as an ingredient on the label
because technically they are derived from orange essence and oil. Yet
those in the industry will tell you that the flavor packs, whether made
for reconstituted or pasteurized orange juice, resemble nothing found in
nature," <a href="http://civileats.com/2009/05/06/freshly-squeezed-the-truth-about-orange-juice-in-boxes/" target="_blank" title="Opens in a new window">explains Alissa Hamilton</a>, author of <b><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Squeezed-About-Orange-Agrarian-Studies/dp/0300164556" target="_blank" title="Opens in a new window">Squeezed: What You Don't Know About Orange Juice</a>.</i></b><br />
<br />
If you're looking for an all-natural orange juice experience, free of
algorithms and flavor packs, your best bet is to juice it yourself, go
to a juice bar, or take Hamilton's suggestion and enjoy a whole Valencia
orange instead.<br />
</div>
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spiderlegshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405037453394043801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7500423503622518522.post-30321415189375617512015-03-09T11:55:00.000-05:002015-03-09T11:55:14.792-05:00Your Internet Friends Are Real<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.newrepublic.com/article/121183/your-internet-friends-are-real-defense-online-intimacy" target="_blank"><b>Let’s Really Be Friends</b></a><br />
<i><b>A defense of online intimacy </b></i><br />
<br />
<b>By Kyle Chayka<i> The New Republic</i></b><br />
<br />
<div class="TEXT-ALIGNLEFT-NOINDENT">
<span class="MALL-INTRO char-style-override-1"><span class="dropcap">I</span>n </span><span class="MALL-INTRO char-style-override-2">1997</span><span class="MALL-INTRO char-style-override-1">, a writer and web </span><span class="MALL-INTRO char-style-override-1">developer </span>named Paul Ford walked into a sushi restaurant in midtown Manhattan to meet a group of strangers. These were bloggers<span class="em">—</span>a term not yet widely in use<span class="em">—</span>who, along with Ford, formed a tight-knit vanguard of individuals publishing personal writing online. Ford had been building experimental personal websites since 1993, and had made a name for himself online with his lyrical missives on programming esoterica and New York dating mishaps. He’d never met the other bloggers <b>IRL (<span class="ITALIC-PUBLICO char-style-override-3">In Real Life</span></b>, a phrase that likely had even less currency then than blogger). He was excited to finally get the chance to do so.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="TEXT-ALIGNLEFT-INDENT">
When Ford arrived at the restaurant, however, he froze with anxiety. “I was 22 and the Internet was new and everyone was sitting around a table chatting and laughing,” Ford told me. “Who went to parties where no one knew each other?” He stood just inside the door and surreptitiously watched the group clustered around a table. “I left after ten minutes.”</div>
<div class="TEXT-ALIGNLEFT-INDENT">
<br /></div>
<div class="TEXT-ALIGNLEFT-INDENT">
This incident remains as strikingly plausible today as it did two decades ago. Relationships that travel from the Internet to the nondigital world, or navigate a space somewhere in between, have retained that same patina of weirdness. The stigma associated with online friendship, that persistent doubt that “real” intimacy can only be created via physical encounter, has not faded. Even in this, the Age of <b>Social Media</b>, when virtual interaction populates almost every facet of daily existence, online friendships are still viewed with suspicion. But they shouldn’t be. The time has come to obliterate the false distinctions between digital ties and the ones that bind us in the physical world. Our lives on <b><i>Twitter </i></b>and <b><i>Tumblr </i></b>are today a real part of our real lives. Everyone is an <b>Internet friend</b>.</div>
<div class="TEXT-ALIGNLEFT-INDENT">
<br /></div>
<div class="TEXT-ALIGNLEFT-INDENT">
John Suler, in his 2000 book <a href="http://users.rider.edu/%7Esuler/psycyber/psycyber.html"><i><span class="ITALIC-PUBLICO">The Psychology of Cyberspace</span></i></a>, wrote that people “tend to separate their online lives from their offline lives.” But this is far less true today. With the launch of<i><b> <a href="http://www.friendster.com/">Friendster</a></b></i> (2002); <i><b><a href="https://myspace.com/">MySpace</a></b></i> (2003); and, in 2004, the global behemoth <i><b>Facebook</b></i>, distinctions between friendship online and off grew more ambiguous. People had to decide which of their friends and acquaintances<span class="em">—</span>many of whom they had not been motivated to see in years<span class="em">—</span>they should befriend digitally. <i>Facebook </i>in particular, with its early reliance on college e-mail accounts for membership, has tied digital identity more firmly to the IRL iteration.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="TEXT-ALIGNLEFT-INDENT">
The perception that online relationships are somehow less real than their physical counterparts exemplifies what Nathan Jurgenson, a New York-based sociologist and researcher for the messaging platform <b><i> Snapchat</i></b>, calls “digital dualism.” Contemporary identities and relationships are no more or less authentic in either space. “We’re coming to terms with there being just one reality and digital is part of it, not any less real or true,” Jurgenson said. “What you do online and what you do face-to-face are completely interwoven.”</div>
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<span class="MALL-INTRO char-style-override-1"><span class="dropcap">T</span>he first mainstream internet communities<span class="em">—</span>and</span> thus some of the earliest virtual friendships<span class="em">—</span>didn’t emerge until the late ’80s, when commercial traffic was allowed online via private Internet service providers like <b><i>The World</i></b>, which launched in Massachusetts in 1989. Early online social groups were largely restricted to specific-interest cliques that hewed to the medium’s nerd origins. <b><i>Usenet</i></b>, an e-mail and file-sharing client created to sort news by subject, first launched in 1980; the <i><b><a href="http://www.well.com/">WELL</a></b></i>, a dial-up bulletin-board system co-founded in 1985 by hippie futurist and editor of the utopian <i><span class="ITALIC-PUBLICO">Whole Earth Catalog</span></i> Stewart Brand, became a popular gathering point for Grateful Dead fans. <b> IRC</b>, or <b>Internet Relay Chats,</b> were likewise segregated along topical channels, like #anime or #hardware or #geek. The platform peaked in the 1990s with<b> Eris Free Network</b>, and today is largely reserved for illicit hacker groups with a need for anonymity.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="TEXT-ALIGNLEFT-INDENT">
In this early period, crossover from the digital world and into the real one remained rare, in part due to suspicion of the semi-anonymous nature of the Internet itself. “You don’t tend to find deep relationships online,” Douglas Rushkoff, the tech writer and thinker, told me. “And if you look for them you could easily get catfished,” Rushkoff said. (<span class="ITALIC-PUBLICO char-style-override-3">Catfish </span>[noun]: “Someone who pretends to be someone they’re not using Facebook or other social media to create false identities, particularly to pursue deceptive online romances.” See<b><i> Urban Dictionary.</i></b>) For those who have grown up on the Internet, the expectations of honesty in response to the existential chat query<b> “A/S/L?” (Age/Sex/Location)</b> might be low. But this may not remain the case.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Online traffic in the United States increased by more than 1,000 percent between 1999 and 2003. A by-product of this growth was a narrowing of the digital divide. Enough people were online that your real friends might well know your online-only ones, who could then be mentally reclassified simply friends-of-friends. IRL meetings became less suspect. Web communities, meanwhile, began to leave the vertical depths of niche interest and join the mainstream. In 1999, a web designer named Matthew Haughey launched<i><b> <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/">MetaFilter</a></b></i>, a general-interest online forum that is still active today. <i>MetaFilter </i>was designed to help users share links of compelling posts (cat videos!) from across the wider Internet. It also became known for its then-unique penchant for physical <b>meetups</b>. “The meetups were half shy nerds and half relatively normal people,” said Rusty Foster, a developer who founded a contemporaneous (and now largely defunct) community called<i><b> <a href="http://www.kuro5hin.org/">Kuro5hin</a></b></i>, which skewed toward a nerdier audience. Foster has since referred to his site as a “gated dysfunctional community.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="TEXT-ALIGNLEFT-INDENT">
The first <i>MetaFilter </i>meetup happened in 2001, after an earthquake in Seattle. Discussion of the natural phenomenon as it happened caused the members to notice that they lived in close proximity to each other. Once it was safe to go out, they decided to gather at a bar. It went so well that Haughey soon devoted a section of his site to planning such events. Haughey attended his first meetup at a Belgian <i><span class="char-style-override-4">frites</span></i> spot in San Francisco in 2002. “I was incredibly nervous, because I didn’t know anyone,” he said. But his fears proved misplaced. “It was really a great experience. One of the guys had the greatest username: Fishfucker. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="TEXT-ALIGNLEFT-INDENT">
Fishfucker turned out to be a really nice dude.” Meetups eventually became big business. In 2002, a start-up called <b><i><a href="http://www.meetup.com/">Meetup</a></i></b> was launched that managed online social circles with an IRL component, charging group organizers for added features. The site now boasts over 180,000 <i>Meetups </i>with focuses ranging from New Age philosophy to “geek physique.” (The Internet’s ability to convene niche cultures has never flagged.)</div>
<div class="TEXT-ALIGNLEFT-INDENT">
The anxiety still lingering around Internet friendship is a legacy of a particular antiquated conception of online life<span class="em">—</span>a sense that “the Net,” like jetpacks and the Segway, was going to be a lot cooler than it has proven to be. The 1980s-era techno-utopian vision of “cyberspace” as a separate, and perhaps even pure, <span class="ITALIC-PUBLICO">Matrix</span>-style realm of glowing tubes and binary code was a false one. “At no point was there ever a cyberspace,” Jurgenson said. “It was always deeply about this one reality.” The Internet is shopping for knitted caps and sharing coupons for bad meals and enduring comments from sexist strangers. It has always included an element of real life difficulty, and the primordial web denizens knew it. Now, the rest of us do, too. We once fetishized cyberspace as sexy and revolutionary. Today it’s just normal.</div>
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<div class="TEXT-ALIGNLEFT-NOINDENT">
<span class="MALL-INTRO char-style-override-1"><span class="dropcap">O</span>nline friendships make it clear<span class="em">—</span>and forgive the</span> debt to <i>Facebook</i><span class="em">—</span>that the way we friend now has changed. Intimacy now develops in both digital and physical realms, often crossing freely between the two. If we accept the equal value of virtual friendships to their IRL analogues (perhaps even doing away with the pejorative acronym), we open ourselves up to a range of new possibilities for connection.</div>
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<br /></div>
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“The Internet represents a broadening of the spectrum of relationships we can have,” Jenna Wortham, a <i><span class="ITALIC-PUBLICO">New York Times Magazine</span></i> writer known for the prolificacy of her online social life, told me. “I have lots of online-, <i><b>Gchat</b></i>-only friendships and I love them. I’m very comfortable with the fact that I don’t know [these people] in real life and I don’t have any plans to.” The merit of these friendships lies in their mutability<span class="em">—</span>in your pocket, on your screen, in your living room. Discarding the distinction between real and virtual friendship does not doom us to a society in which tweets, chat, and e-mail are our only points of contact. It just means that the stranger we meet every day on the other side of our screens will no longer be a stranger, but someone that we know and trust. <span class="ENDSLUG"><br />
</span></div>
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spiderlegshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405037453394043801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7500423503622518522.post-81166715508512999652015-03-08T20:57:00.001-05:002015-03-08T20:57:44.631-05:00Glorp<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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spiderlegshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405037453394043801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7500423503622518522.post-79519220938511192552015-03-08T20:50:00.001-05:002015-03-08T20:50:07.012-05:00Since the City of Denton Banned Fracking, Texas GOP Moves to Pre-empt Local Control <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />Sunday, 08 March 2015<span class="itemDateCreated"></span><span class="itemAuthor">By Candice Bernd, <b><i><a href="http://truth-out.org/news/item/29485-since-the-city-of-denton-banned-fracking-texas-gop-moves-to-pre-empt-local-control#" target="_blank">Truthout</a></i></b> | Report </span><br />
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<span class="wf_caption" style="display: inherit; max-width: 638px;"><span style="display: block; margin-top: 3px; max-width: 640px; text-align: left;">Carol
Soph, a board member of the <b>Denton Drilling Awareness Group</b>, the
driving force behind Denton's fracking ban, speaks with Rep. Phil King
about her concerns regarding a bill he introduced in response to the
Denton ban that would gut cities' ability to introduce similar measures
or regulations. King is this year's national chair of the <b>American
Legislative Exchange Council.</b></span><span style="display: block; margin-top: 3px; max-width: 640px; text-align: left;"></span><span style="display: block; margin-top: 3px; max-width: 640px; text-align: left;"> </span></span><br />
"I do feel very strongly that air-quality measures and the
engineering and scientific issues of oil and gas should be regulated at
the state level, where the expertise is," Texas Rep. Phil King
(R-Weatherford) told a group of North Texans Monday, March 2, during a
meeting in his Capitol office about a bill he introduced that would
create barriers to a city's ability to regulate the oil and gas
industry.<br />
<br />
The room was largely filled with people from Denton, which passed
Texas' first ban on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) within city limits.
Since the ban passed last fall in a landslide victory, state lawmakers
connected to the oil and gas industry and to the <b>American Legislative
Exchange Council (ALEC) </b>have introduced a number of bills aimed at
undermining local democracy, ostensibly to prevent other cities from
following Denton's lead.<br />
<br />
Activists, however, says these bills would effectively kill local
democracy so that citizens would lose the ability to introduce ballot
referendums, and local governments would be unable to regulate industry
to protect the health and safety of residents.<br />
<br />
"The reason that we're here is because the state did a terrible job.
That's why the opposition [to oil and gas drilling] is growing," said
Sharon Wilson, a Gulf coast organizer with Earthworks, in response to
King's assessment.<br />
<br />
King continued to assert his confidence in state oil and gas
regulators and told the group he plans to move forward with his bills.
One of the bills would allow the state to reject a municipal ordinance
and the other would require a city to assess the tax revenue cost of any
attempt to regulate oil and gas.<br />
<br />
At the March 2 meeting, about 40 residents from Denton, Dallas,
Arlington, Mansfield, Grand Prairie and Pantego expressed concerns about
the state-level regulatory lapses that brought Denton to the point of
banning fracking. These lapses are driving many other <a href="http://www.texasobserver.org/railroad-commission-denton-fracking-ban/" target="_blank">cities across the state </a>to make their local oil and gas regulations stronger.<br />
<br />
As a resident of Denton myself, I watched the city <a href="http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/27014-why-there-s-a-real-chance-my-texas-town-might-ban-fracking" target="_blank">struggle for more than five years </a>to
regulate the oil and gas industry's activities within city limits. Yet
oil and gas companies refused to follow many of the rules the city
adopted when it revised its gas drilling ordinance in 2013, claiming
instead that their drilling activities were grandfathered under old
rules. Finally, Denton was left with no other option but to ban fracking
entirely in 2014, delivering a blow to the industry in a city on the
same shale where the drilling technique was pioneered in the '90s.<br />
<br />
Years earlier, Denton City Council members had instructed residents
to take their concerns about gas drilling to Austin, telling many of my
neighbors that their hands were simply tied at the local level.
Residents took their advice and traveled to Austin multiple times, but
rather than finding the help they were seeking, Austin lawmakers at the
time sent representatives of the Denton Drilling Awareness Group (DAG)
back to Denton, telling them explicitly that it was a local issue. Now,
as it turns out, they seem to be changing their minds.<br />
<br />
"We did work on [regulating drilling] at the state level, and Phil
King and Myra Crownover and Tan Parker did everything they could to
undermine getting anything passed at the state level," said former Fort
Worth Rep. Lon Burnam, who now works for Public Citizen, referring to
Denton County representatives. "So they've kind of reaped what they
sowed."<br />
<br />
King's bills are part of a wider strategy emerging in
Republican-dominated state legislatures this year to curtail
municipalities' regulatory authority, including their ability to pass
local ordinances and citizen-led ballot referendums. The legislation
often comes at the behest of industries that stand to lose money because
of regulations initiated in the municipalities where they operate.<br />
<br />
According to<i> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/24/us/govern-yourselves-state-lawmakers-tell-cities-but-not-too-much.html?_r=0" target="_blank">The New York Times</a></i>,
eight states led by Republicans have prohibited municipalities from
passing paid sick day legislation in just the past two years. Other such
pre-emption laws have barred cities from raising the minimum wage and
regulating the activities of landlords. This year, Arkansas passed a law
that blocks a city's ability to pass anti-discrimination laws that
would protect LGBT people, and bills introduced in six states this
session would follow Arkansas' lead.<br />
<br />
Many industries, including, most prominently, the restaurant industry
and oil and gas interests, are working together this year through ALEC,
which generates "model" legislation that advances the interests of its
corporate members throughout state legislatures. Rep. King is serving as
ALEC's national chair this year and introduced his two pre-emption
bills with Denton's fracking ban in mind.<br />
<br />
King denied that his role in ALEC had anything to do with the
introduction of his pre-emption bills and said the bills were not model
legislation created by ALEC. The organization's corporate funders <a href="http://www.texaswatchdog.org/2011/07/corporate-money-from-american-legislative-exchange-council/1311281958.column" target="_blank">have contributed</a> tens of thousands of dollars to King over the years.<br />
<br />
Two other bills filed in Austin this session would go even further
than King's in gutting local regulatory power: One would prevent any
city or county in Texas from banning fracking, and another would
effectively kill home rule authority (a city's ability to pass laws to
govern itself) so that cities cannot pass local ordinances.<br />
<br />
State lawmakers and the oil and gas industry isn't just responding to
the blow delivered to fracking interests in Texas, but also hoping to
beat back frack bans nationally. Bans on hydraulic fracturing passed in
local municipalities across the nation during midterms elections. Those
bans, and in particular, Denton's ban - have created a backlash from the
oil and gas industry and conservative statehouses in the United States.<br />
<br />
Last month, the <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/02/18/tragic-decision-top-ohio-court-takes-away-local-power-ban-fracking" target="_blank">Ohio Supreme Court ruled</a>
that only the state - not cities or counties - has the authority to
regulate oil and gas drilling, effectively killing a municipality's
ability to ban the drilling practice. But in other states, judges have
ruled exactly the opposite, such as in New York's Supreme Court, which
in July decided that local governments did have the authority to ban
fracking. In another case in Pennsylvania, a court ruled that cities
have the authority to regulate fracking, but not to outlaw it.<br />
<br />
"The reason all these [pre-emption] bills are being filed is [state
legislators are] in a state of shock, because the people of Denton
conducted an electoral revolution and passed this [fracking ban], and
now they are reeling from it," Burnam said.<br />
<br />
Dentonites and other North Texans living on top of the Barnett Shale
formation are fighting a state and industry attack on their right to
determine what's best for their communities. They point out the
hypocrisy of conservative lawmakers in Austin who rail against so-called
"Big Government" at the federal level while simultaneously attempting
to strip small municipal governments of their power.<br />
<br />
The grassroots activists have also been quick to point out
conservative lawmakers' duplicity when it comes to property rights. They
have largely framed their arguments at the state Capitol in those terms
because state representatives often ignore other valuable environmental
and health concerns.<br />
<br />
"The whole ALEC team, led by Phil King, is more considerate of the
property rights of corporations than they are the property rights of
homeowners and individuals, and this is what this battle is really
about, because in Texas, the overriding law is deferential treatment to
the subsurface mineral right owners over the surface homeowners," Burnam
said.<br />
<br />
This contradiction was front-and-center during anti-fracking
activists' meeting with Sen. Craig Estes about the bill he introduced,
which mandates that cities compensate mineral owners if they pass
regulations that cut into potential mineral profits.<br />
<br />
The activist group argued that mineral owners' rights to extract
minerals and earn profits from them conflicts with the property rights
of homeowners, because the industrial process of fracking can create
property damage and decrease property values, as well as prevent
homeowners from enjoying their property due to light, noise and air
pollution created by fracking.<br />
<br />
Dentonites are also continuing efforts to defend their city's
fracking ban at the local level. DAG members, with the help of
Earthworks, are intervening in two court cases brought against the city
by the Texas Oil and Gas Association and Texas' General Land Office,
which argue the city's ban violates the Texas Constitution. The Denton
groups asked that the cases be moved to Denton County from Travis
County, and the court agreed.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, Dentonites <a href="http://www.dentonrc.com/local-news/local-news-headlines/20150303-drilling-debate-continues-for-council.ece" target="_blank">continue to testify</a>
at City Council meetings as council members once again work to revise
the city's drilling ordinance, which will become the last word on
drilling regulations if the city's ban is overturned in court.</div>
spiderlegshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02405037453394043801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7500423503622518522.post-84592967216195729462015-02-27T08:49:00.000-06:002015-02-27T08:49:01.567-06:00This Modern World<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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