True has received a letter from Amanda Plummer about the water-skipping event in the harbor during the 4th of July and Fish Pic. Amanda's arguments seem sound to True: high attendance, jumping through the hoops to get approval, and FUN, fun fun for folks including the almighty Tourists on behalf of whom many a PC sin has now and then been committed.
Ya sure, it probably isn't that good for the fish. BUT, what about those big boats and their ballast? What about the, excuse me, detritus left behind by every single motorized vehicle? What about the city itself and its failure to clean up waste in the harbor?
Hey, we are talking about only a few hours per year at most. How much environmental damage can that do?
As for the conservation easement, which True soundly supports, that has been repeatedly violated by city and developers alike. So why pick on these little kids who just want to have a little fun?
True, it is not my idea of a fun fest, but I don't need to agree with everything that everybody wants to do. This seems relatively harmless and enjoyed by a lot of folks.
Another big issue at play here is the hubris of Homeland Security, who has now taken over the formerly friendly and service-oriented Coast Guard. They claim to own the harbor! This raises my hackles; it would never have happened when the Coast Guard was simply the Coast Guard and not an outpost of the heavy-handed Homeland Security, home of the Unitary Executive.
Plummer's letter shows that some Coast Guard personnel were willing to approve the skipping permit. This apparently got nixed at a Higher Level.
Harbor Friends, please lighten up. Coast Guard emissaries of the Homeland Deciders, please remember that WE remember you fondly as partners in protecting our harbor, not as the Heavies who Rule Jurisdictions.
-True
Showing posts with label government. Show all posts
Showing posts with label government. Show all posts
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Politics is war
Recently the media (both papers and WTIP) have nearly peed their pants over the visit by Governor Plenty-for-the-Rich. His speech was broadcast on WTIP. He was featured in photos with his oh-so-adorable wife and kid.
At the same time there were stories about the local delegates to the Dim and Repug annual love-fests.
Hey, politics is no longer a ball game, if it ever in fact was. Politics is war, at least since the 1980's when a group of Machiavellan plotters later known as "neocons" hatched up a battle plan to take over the US government permanently. Soon they also hooked up with the then-toothless "Moral Majority" and combined the advantages of wealth, power and a supposed channel to God to build a permanent one-party government. A government not of the people, by the people and for the people, but of the rich, by the rich and for the rich.
They have all-but succeeded. They have bought two presidential elections and brought to power a fool who is also a willing tool of his ultra-right, ultra-rich buddies from Yale and Texas oil.
They have decimated the middle class by outsourcing jobs and attacking unions, made college education an unaffordable luxury for many, slashed public school funding, pandered to big corporate interests to the detriment of health and well-being, created new classes of homeless people and near-poor, stacked the courts with their far-right-wing appointees, squandered the future of our children with overwhelming debt for their stupid wars-for-oil while also destroying thousands of young people's lives who idealistically wanted to serve their country after 9/11, made us the most hated people in the world, allowed and even encouraged big corporations to take over the media so the people would never get the real news, condoned torture and spying on all Americans, created a new Big Brother called "Homeland Security" that makes J. Edgar Hoover look like a pussycat, and tried to dismantle Social Security and Medicare.
Perhaps worst of all, these rich-and-powerful morons have probably doomed the earth to unmitigated disaster by denying global warming despite the melting of Artic permafrost, promoting environmental devastation in ever more invasive mining and lifting of regulations to protect air, land and water. This list actually only scratches the surface of the terrible damage done to the world by the neocons and their tame but hateful Religious Right.
This is war, war against the American people, waged by the party that controls the White House, the judiciary and even the Congress despite the 2006 election mandate to throw the suckers out. Pelosi, Reid, and the Blue Dog Dims don't have the stomach or the gumption for the hardball tactics that they COULD employ to bring democracy back to America.
Barack Obama has been voting party-line lately, too, for funding the Iraq war for another year, for giving amnesty to the big telecoms that were spying on our emails and phone calls...
I grew up in a world where the parties jousted and fenced, but had basic respect for the two-party system, the checks & balances of the Constitution, and yes, Truth, Justice and the American Way.
I was a "Nixonette" who later came to love JFK. I went to DFL bean feeds. It was all good fun in those days, until one party started assassinating the charismatic leaders of the other party.
Now it is war. Gov. Plenty has reduced taxes on the rich and replaced them with horrendous fees and sales taxes paid by the poor. He has refused to rebuild our failing infrastructure and bears direct responsibility for the 35W bridge collapse. He is angling for a high place in a McCain administration. He's a snake and also a seller of snake oil and he's looking out for Number One with every photo-op.
-True
At the same time there were stories about the local delegates to the Dim and Repug annual love-fests.
Hey, politics is no longer a ball game, if it ever in fact was. Politics is war, at least since the 1980's when a group of Machiavellan plotters later known as "neocons" hatched up a battle plan to take over the US government permanently. Soon they also hooked up with the then-toothless "Moral Majority" and combined the advantages of wealth, power and a supposed channel to God to build a permanent one-party government. A government not of the people, by the people and for the people, but of the rich, by the rich and for the rich.
They have all-but succeeded. They have bought two presidential elections and brought to power a fool who is also a willing tool of his ultra-right, ultra-rich buddies from Yale and Texas oil.
They have decimated the middle class by outsourcing jobs and attacking unions, made college education an unaffordable luxury for many, slashed public school funding, pandered to big corporate interests to the detriment of health and well-being, created new classes of homeless people and near-poor, stacked the courts with their far-right-wing appointees, squandered the future of our children with overwhelming debt for their stupid wars-for-oil while also destroying thousands of young people's lives who idealistically wanted to serve their country after 9/11, made us the most hated people in the world, allowed and even encouraged big corporations to take over the media so the people would never get the real news, condoned torture and spying on all Americans, created a new Big Brother called "Homeland Security" that makes J. Edgar Hoover look like a pussycat, and tried to dismantle Social Security and Medicare.
Perhaps worst of all, these rich-and-powerful morons have probably doomed the earth to unmitigated disaster by denying global warming despite the melting of Artic permafrost, promoting environmental devastation in ever more invasive mining and lifting of regulations to protect air, land and water. This list actually only scratches the surface of the terrible damage done to the world by the neocons and their tame but hateful Religious Right.
This is war, war against the American people, waged by the party that controls the White House, the judiciary and even the Congress despite the 2006 election mandate to throw the suckers out. Pelosi, Reid, and the Blue Dog Dims don't have the stomach or the gumption for the hardball tactics that they COULD employ to bring democracy back to America.
Barack Obama has been voting party-line lately, too, for funding the Iraq war for another year, for giving amnesty to the big telecoms that were spying on our emails and phone calls...
I grew up in a world where the parties jousted and fenced, but had basic respect for the two-party system, the checks & balances of the Constitution, and yes, Truth, Justice and the American Way.
I was a "Nixonette" who later came to love JFK. I went to DFL bean feeds. It was all good fun in those days, until one party started assassinating the charismatic leaders of the other party.
Now it is war. Gov. Plenty has reduced taxes on the rich and replaced them with horrendous fees and sales taxes paid by the poor. He has refused to rebuild our failing infrastructure and bears direct responsibility for the 35W bridge collapse. He is angling for a high place in a McCain administration. He's a snake and also a seller of snake oil and he's looking out for Number One with every photo-op.
-True
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Founding fathers and religious liberty in Cook County
Dear True,
I'm writing to comment on the troubled and sad column by Mitch Dorr in this week's News Herald, "The Death of Faith, Family and Country." I have some sympathy for Mr. Dorr, as I too recall a time in America that I think was better than today, but I'm not willing to blame the changes on "intolerant intellectuals," radical politicians, or Muslims. Also, methinks I have heard the tune he is singing before, on right-wing talk shows and in emails that sometimes come my way--such as naming Barack Obama a Muslim terrorist and other nonsense claiming to be "God's truth."
I know from Mr. Dorr's other writings that he is a good and loving family man and I don't mean to attack him in any way. But I do feel an urgent need to put forth an alternative view of religion and society.
I want to address the parts of Mr. Dorr's column about religion and try to infuse a dose of historical fact-checking. One of my personal regrets about modern society is the dismal failure of our schools to teach history. When I was a child in the 1950's we were rigorously taught to understand the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We studied the Revolutionary War and we read the speeches by Washington and Jefferson and the other so-called "founding fathers." Back then we had no problem that there were no founding mothers.
The first thing to remember is that the men who devised the Constitution were, yes, mostly Christians (in fact mostly Episcopalians) but they were even more firmly for freedom of religion, the right to worship or NOT worship as anyone may choose. They were best termed "deists" rather than Christians, however, as followers of the "Enlightenment" philosophies of Locke, Rousseau and Voltaire promoting individual liberty and equality. Of course they were referring to the equality of white men, and several were slave owners but in their time they were visionaries.
Several of them spoke quite firmly on the issue of religion and government, for example:
"I believe in one God, Creator of the universe...That the most acceptable service we can render Him is doing good to His other children...As to Jesus..I have some doubts as to his divinity..."
-Benjamin Franklin
"Every man ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience."
-George Washington
"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of..."
-Thomas Paine
"Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned, yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half of the world fools and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth."
-Thomas Jefferson
"That religion, or the duty we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience."
-Patrick Henry
"The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretence, infringed."
-James Madison
(original wording of the First Amendment, 1789)
In short, the founders were clear and adamant about protecting the rights of all to worship as each one chooses. The Religious Right have made an issue of actual non-issues like worship in public schools or government buildings.
Granted, the founders never specifically forebade worship in public buildings because they never foresaw free public education for all, the great immigrations of many races and creeds that would re-make America in centuries to come, or that one day some people might feel excluded by a government display of one religious viewpoint such as the Ten Commandments. Nonetheless, they foresaw that there would be possibilities they couldn't cover, and so laid down the principle of religious neutrality in the brilliant First Amendment.
But ironically, what has been decreed in the past is subject to change under those same principles laid down by the founders.
And so, a "Unitary Executive" (anathema to the founders), a judicial system stacked to favor the rightest of the right wing, and a gutless Congress have conspired with the right-wing corporations that buy votes, that control our media and that are supported by the Christian right to perpetrate untruths about the role of religion in America.
The right to worship in government buildings and display the Ten Commandments smacks of a state religion. Or, why not the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism instead? Why not face Mecca and chant?
Mr. Dorr, it was not about keeping you from your Christian worship, at home, at church or within the community, but rather about respecting those who are not Christian that the founders had in mind when they decreed there would be no mixing of religion and government. They understood only too well how easily any religious group may drive "unbelievers" to become second-class citizens, refugees, or victims of genocide, as in recent times we were appalled to witness in Nazi Germany.
Genocide, by the way, proceeds unabated today in many parts of our lawless corporate dominated world. Our aid is urgently required and yet the Religious Right is silent.
In Cook County, Christians have many forums of expressions, unlike urban areas. There is a religion page and a column by a minister in both weekly papers and these are exclusively Christian. There are Christmas pageants and activities at school. Perhaps, you say, this does not matter because everybody in Cook County is a Christian? Not so. I am not.
On the other hand I am more than happy to read the thoughts of Christian ministers, SO LONG AS other voices are also heard equally (or at least occasionally). Such as columns about Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, or my own faith of Hinduism which embraces the teaching of the saints and sages of all religions.
And for those who can't bear to make it through the school day without prayer, you can always pray silently, pray with your heart and mind if not your mouth. Pray while taking tests or eating lunch.
The commonality among religious faiths is what tolerance is all about, and tolerance is the very foundation of a free and just society. I don't know how we can co-exist with one another in harmony without it.
If you seriously study Islam you will find its teachings not very different from those of Christianity. The Islamic fundamentalists who believe in jihad or holy war are not all that different from the Christians who slaughtered Muslims during the Crusades.
Any who kill in the name of religion are not practicing the great moral and universal truths of their faiths. The similarities have always been apparent to great religious leaders like the Dalai Lama, Pope John XXIII, Gandhi and Mother Teresa as well as humbler students of comparative religion, like my personal hero, Bill Moyers.
Shortly after reading Mr. Dorr's column, I chanced to read a speech by Moyers made at Union Theological Seminary in 2005 on receipt of the President's Medal, their highest award. Bill is a devout Christian. He begins his speech by, like Mr. Dorr, looking back to happier times when he was growing up but in a very different vein: "At the Central Baptist Church in Marshall, Texas, where I was baptized in the faith, we believed in a free church in a free state. I still do."
Bill goes on to describe the First Amendment as "a remarkable arrangement honoring 'soul freedom'--the inviolate right of each of us to believe and worship as our conscience determines, in a society that honors freedom over conformity." He sees that fundamental right at risk in the rise of a new religious movement that is based in the Republican party, well-funded and organized, and resolved on a "sectarian crusade for state power." "The religious right has become the dominant force in America's governing party," he said, and thereby also complicit in "upholding a system of class and race in which the rich thrive and the poor barely survive."
"This is the crux of the matter: to these believers there is only one legitimate religion and only one particular brand of that religion that is right; all others are immoral or wrong. They believe they alone know what the Bible means."
Bill concludes, "As I look back on the conflicts and clamor of our boisterous past, one lesson about democracy stands above all others: bullies--political bullies, economic bullies and religious bullies--cannot be appeased; they have to be opposed with courage, clarity and conviction. This is never easy. These true believers don't fight fair."
Well, this says it all to me, Mr. Dorr, and it is why I feel obliged to take issue with your view of MY country as a CHRISTIAN country while to me it is still, if precariously, a FREE country.
Sincerely,
Nancye Belding
Grand Marais
"Kindness is my religion."
-The Dalai Lama
I'm writing to comment on the troubled and sad column by Mitch Dorr in this week's News Herald, "The Death of Faith, Family and Country." I have some sympathy for Mr. Dorr, as I too recall a time in America that I think was better than today, but I'm not willing to blame the changes on "intolerant intellectuals," radical politicians, or Muslims. Also, methinks I have heard the tune he is singing before, on right-wing talk shows and in emails that sometimes come my way--such as naming Barack Obama a Muslim terrorist and other nonsense claiming to be "God's truth."
I know from Mr. Dorr's other writings that he is a good and loving family man and I don't mean to attack him in any way. But I do feel an urgent need to put forth an alternative view of religion and society.
I want to address the parts of Mr. Dorr's column about religion and try to infuse a dose of historical fact-checking. One of my personal regrets about modern society is the dismal failure of our schools to teach history. When I was a child in the 1950's we were rigorously taught to understand the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We studied the Revolutionary War and we read the speeches by Washington and Jefferson and the other so-called "founding fathers." Back then we had no problem that there were no founding mothers.
The first thing to remember is that the men who devised the Constitution were, yes, mostly Christians (in fact mostly Episcopalians) but they were even more firmly for freedom of religion, the right to worship or NOT worship as anyone may choose. They were best termed "deists" rather than Christians, however, as followers of the "Enlightenment" philosophies of Locke, Rousseau and Voltaire promoting individual liberty and equality. Of course they were referring to the equality of white men, and several were slave owners but in their time they were visionaries.
Several of them spoke quite firmly on the issue of religion and government, for example:
"I believe in one God, Creator of the universe...That the most acceptable service we can render Him is doing good to His other children...As to Jesus..I have some doubts as to his divinity..."
-Benjamin Franklin
"Every man ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience."
-George Washington
"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of..."
-Thomas Paine
"Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned, yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half of the world fools and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth."
-Thomas Jefferson
"That religion, or the duty we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience."
-Patrick Henry
"The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretence, infringed."
-James Madison
(original wording of the First Amendment, 1789)
In short, the founders were clear and adamant about protecting the rights of all to worship as each one chooses. The Religious Right have made an issue of actual non-issues like worship in public schools or government buildings.
Granted, the founders never specifically forebade worship in public buildings because they never foresaw free public education for all, the great immigrations of many races and creeds that would re-make America in centuries to come, or that one day some people might feel excluded by a government display of one religious viewpoint such as the Ten Commandments. Nonetheless, they foresaw that there would be possibilities they couldn't cover, and so laid down the principle of religious neutrality in the brilliant First Amendment.
But ironically, what has been decreed in the past is subject to change under those same principles laid down by the founders.
And so, a "Unitary Executive" (anathema to the founders), a judicial system stacked to favor the rightest of the right wing, and a gutless Congress have conspired with the right-wing corporations that buy votes, that control our media and that are supported by the Christian right to perpetrate untruths about the role of religion in America.
The right to worship in government buildings and display the Ten Commandments smacks of a state religion. Or, why not the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism instead? Why not face Mecca and chant?
Mr. Dorr, it was not about keeping you from your Christian worship, at home, at church or within the community, but rather about respecting those who are not Christian that the founders had in mind when they decreed there would be no mixing of religion and government. They understood only too well how easily any religious group may drive "unbelievers" to become second-class citizens, refugees, or victims of genocide, as in recent times we were appalled to witness in Nazi Germany.
Genocide, by the way, proceeds unabated today in many parts of our lawless corporate dominated world. Our aid is urgently required and yet the Religious Right is silent.
In Cook County, Christians have many forums of expressions, unlike urban areas. There is a religion page and a column by a minister in both weekly papers and these are exclusively Christian. There are Christmas pageants and activities at school. Perhaps, you say, this does not matter because everybody in Cook County is a Christian? Not so. I am not.
On the other hand I am more than happy to read the thoughts of Christian ministers, SO LONG AS other voices are also heard equally (or at least occasionally). Such as columns about Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, or my own faith of Hinduism which embraces the teaching of the saints and sages of all religions.
And for those who can't bear to make it through the school day without prayer, you can always pray silently, pray with your heart and mind if not your mouth. Pray while taking tests or eating lunch.
The commonality among religious faiths is what tolerance is all about, and tolerance is the very foundation of a free and just society. I don't know how we can co-exist with one another in harmony without it.
If you seriously study Islam you will find its teachings not very different from those of Christianity. The Islamic fundamentalists who believe in jihad or holy war are not all that different from the Christians who slaughtered Muslims during the Crusades.
Any who kill in the name of religion are not practicing the great moral and universal truths of their faiths. The similarities have always been apparent to great religious leaders like the Dalai Lama, Pope John XXIII, Gandhi and Mother Teresa as well as humbler students of comparative religion, like my personal hero, Bill Moyers.
Shortly after reading Mr. Dorr's column, I chanced to read a speech by Moyers made at Union Theological Seminary in 2005 on receipt of the President's Medal, their highest award. Bill is a devout Christian. He begins his speech by, like Mr. Dorr, looking back to happier times when he was growing up but in a very different vein: "At the Central Baptist Church in Marshall, Texas, where I was baptized in the faith, we believed in a free church in a free state. I still do."
Bill goes on to describe the First Amendment as "a remarkable arrangement honoring 'soul freedom'--the inviolate right of each of us to believe and worship as our conscience determines, in a society that honors freedom over conformity." He sees that fundamental right at risk in the rise of a new religious movement that is based in the Republican party, well-funded and organized, and resolved on a "sectarian crusade for state power." "The religious right has become the dominant force in America's governing party," he said, and thereby also complicit in "upholding a system of class and race in which the rich thrive and the poor barely survive."
"This is the crux of the matter: to these believers there is only one legitimate religion and only one particular brand of that religion that is right; all others are immoral or wrong. They believe they alone know what the Bible means."
Bill concludes, "As I look back on the conflicts and clamor of our boisterous past, one lesson about democracy stands above all others: bullies--political bullies, economic bullies and religious bullies--cannot be appeased; they have to be opposed with courage, clarity and conviction. This is never easy. These true believers don't fight fair."
Well, this says it all to me, Mr. Dorr, and it is why I feel obliged to take issue with your view of MY country as a CHRISTIAN country while to me it is still, if precariously, a FREE country.
Sincerely,
Nancye Belding
Grand Marais
"Kindness is my religion."
-The Dalai Lama
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Cook County: Torture is a moral and a religious issue
Who will stand against torture?
If not me, who? If not now, when? Cook County has more people of faith per capita than almost anywhere. Read this story and take it to your congregations.True
Where Is the Outrage?
by Robert Scheer
Are we Americans truly savages or merely tone-deaf in matters of morality, and therefore more guilty of terminal indifference than venality? It's a question demanding an answer in response to the publication of the detailed 370-page report on U.S. complicity in torture, issued last week by the Justice Department's inspector general.
Because the report was widely cited in the media and easily accessed as a pdf file on the Internet, it is fair to assume that those of our citizens who remain ignorant of the extent of their government's commitment to torture as an official policy have made a choice not to be informed. A less appealing conclusion would be that they are aware of the heinous acts fully authorized by our president but conclude that such barbarism is not inconsistent with that American way of life that we celebrate.
But that troubling assessment of moral indifference is contradicted by the scores of law enforcement officers, mostly from the FBI, who were so appalled by what they observed as routine official practice in the treatment of prisoners by the United States in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo that they risked their careers to officially complain. A few brave souls from the FBI even compiled a "war crimes file," suggesting the unthinkable — that we might come to be judged as guilty by the standard we have imposed on others. Superiors in the Justice Department soon put a stop to such FBI efforts to hold CIA agents and other U.S. officials accountable for the crimes they committed.
That this systematic torture was carried out not by a few conveniently described "bad apples" but rather represented official policy condoned at the highest level of government was captured in one of those rare media reports that remind us why the Founding Fathers signed off on the First Amendment.
"These were not random acts," The New York Times editorialized. "It is clear from the inspector general's report that this was organized behavior by both civilian and military interrogators following the specific orders of top officials. The report shows what happens when an American president, his secretary of defense, his Justice Department and other top officials corrupt American law to rationalize and authorize the abuse, humiliation and torture of prisoners."
One of those top officials, who stands revealed in the inspector general's report as approving the torture policy, is Condoleezza Rice, who in her capacity as White House national security adviser turned away the concerns of then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft as to the severe interrogation measures being employed. Rice, as ABC-TV reported in April, chaired the top-level meetings in 2002 in the White House Situation Room that signed off on the CIA treatment of prisoners — "whether they would be slapped, pushed, deprived of sleep or subjected to simulated drowning, called water boarding. …" According to the report, the former academic provost of Stanford University came down on the side of simulated drowning.
As further proof that women are not necessarily more squeamish than men in condoning such practices, the report offers examples of sexual and religious denigration of the mostly Muslim prisoners by female interrogators carrying out an official policy of "invasion of space by a female." In one recorded instance observed by startled FBI agents, a female interrogator was seen with a prisoner "bending his thumbs back and grabbing his genitals … to cause him pain." One of the agents testified that this was not "a case of a rogue interrogator acting on her own." He said he witnessed a "pep rally" meeting conducted by a top Defense Department official "in which the interrogators were encouraged to get as close to the torture statute line as possible."
That was evidently the norm, according to FBI agents who witnessed the interrogations. As The New York Times reported, "One bureau memorandum spoke of 'torture techniques' used by military interrogators. Agents described seeing things like inmates handcuffed in a fetal position for up to 24 hours, left to defecate on themselves, intimidated by dogs, made to wear women's underwear and subjected to strobe lights and extreme heat and cold."
In the end, what seems to have most outraged the hundreds of FBI agents interviewed for the report is that the interrogation tactics were counterproductive. Evidently the FBI's long history in such matters had led to a protocol that stressed gaining the confidence of witnesses rather than terrorizing them into madness. But an insane prisoner is the one most likely to tell this president of the United States what he wants to hear: They hate us for our values.
Robert Scheer's new book, "The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America," will be released June 9 by Twelve.
Copyright © 2008 Truthdig, L.L.C.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
The lowly lynx: fed's environment trump card
True loves the environment and also loves the Lynx, along with every other sentient creature on the planet.
But I can't help but notice that the feds don't really give a s**t about the polar bears, nearing extinction on account of global warming, the wolf who can now be shot from the air in some places with impunity, and a host of other species endanged by such atrocious practices as cutting off mountaintops to get more coal.
Ah. But, they stand firm on the lynx. In Cook County, where 90 percent of the land is publicly owned and lynx habitat protected, they are determined to regulate the rest of us and restrict our back yards. Lynx, to my delight, run through my small private forest and presumably feed upon the abundant snowshoe hare that also live here. I hope they always will feel comfortable visiting. BUT. Restrictions on whether I can build something new on my land? It makes me want to spit on those who lop the tops off moutains that have stood for thousands of years.
Or maybe they just have it in for us in Cook County. We aren't allow even limited commercial fishing on Lake Superior although conservative projections show that won't adversely affect local fish populations. The white settlers here survived by commercial fishing and our 150-year history here would never have happened without it.
Where is there any perspective? Fishing does not cause global warming, and doesn't harm anything or anybody except the unlucky fish who are caught. But protecting the lynx on private property could have devastating effects on our local economy.
But I can't help but notice that the feds don't really give a s**t about the polar bears, nearing extinction on account of global warming, the wolf who can now be shot from the air in some places with impunity, and a host of other species endanged by such atrocious practices as cutting off mountaintops to get more coal.
Ah. But, they stand firm on the lynx. In Cook County, where 90 percent of the land is publicly owned and lynx habitat protected, they are determined to regulate the rest of us and restrict our back yards. Lynx, to my delight, run through my small private forest and presumably feed upon the abundant snowshoe hare that also live here. I hope they always will feel comfortable visiting. BUT. Restrictions on whether I can build something new on my land? It makes me want to spit on those who lop the tops off moutains that have stood for thousands of years.
Or maybe they just have it in for us in Cook County. We aren't allow even limited commercial fishing on Lake Superior although conservative projections show that won't adversely affect local fish populations. The white settlers here survived by commercial fishing and our 150-year history here would never have happened without it.
Where is there any perspective? Fishing does not cause global warming, and doesn't harm anything or anybody except the unlucky fish who are caught. But protecting the lynx on private property could have devastating effects on our local economy.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
The traffic tickets charged to Maranda Weber
True recognizes the enormous community concern over the death of Dr. Ken Peterson last fall. In our posts we have expressed the opinion that charging Ms. Weber with the equivalent of a speeding ticket does not satisfy the grief and puzzlement experienced by our residents.
So we are truly astonished by the claims of Ms. Weber and her attorneys that she cannot receive a fair trial or hearing in Cook County.
Ask any citizen on the street: they will tell you that she has already had a fair hearing with the grand jury.
Many others have received similar misdemeanor tickets for far lesser offences that don't involve the death of a human being.
These traffic tickets have been consistently upheld by Judge Sandvik. True can speak to this, having been "convicted" himself of a similar offense some years ago and subjected to a lecture by the judge despite the fact that there was no harm done.
Why is Ms. Weber resisting even this mild slap on the wrist? Actions need to have consequences. Justice and reparation satisfy deep needs of human society.
So we are truly astonished by the claims of Ms. Weber and her attorneys that she cannot receive a fair trial or hearing in Cook County.
Ask any citizen on the street: they will tell you that she has already had a fair hearing with the grand jury.
Many others have received similar misdemeanor tickets for far lesser offences that don't involve the death of a human being.
These traffic tickets have been consistently upheld by Judge Sandvik. True can speak to this, having been "convicted" himself of a similar offense some years ago and subjected to a lecture by the judge despite the fact that there was no harm done.
Why is Ms. Weber resisting even this mild slap on the wrist? Actions need to have consequences. Justice and reparation satisfy deep needs of human society.
Oberstar Speaks on "Harsh Realities" of Record Diesel Prices
STATEMENT OF
THE HONORABLE JAMES L. OBERSTAR
SUBCOMMITTEE ON HIGHWAYS AND TRANSIT
HEARING ON “RISING DIESEL FUEL COSTS IN THE TRUCKING INDUSTRY”
MAY 6, 2008
THE HONORABLE JAMES L. OBERSTAR
SUBCOMMITTEE ON HIGHWAYS AND TRANSIT
HEARING ON “RISING DIESEL FUEL COSTS IN THE TRUCKING INDUSTRY”
MAY 6, 2008
I am pleased that the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit is holding this important hearing today to shed light on the reasons behind ever-escalating prices for gasoline and diesel fuel, and the tremendous impact this continues to have on the trucking industry, its drivers, consumers, and our national economy.
The price of both gasoline and diesel are currently at an all-time high. Consumers, who are squeezed by having to pay $3.61 per gallon at the pump, are hit again with escalating costs for food and other basic consumer goods, in part due to the rising costs of getting these goods to market.
The men and women in the trucking industry who bring these goods to market are also facing situations that were unimaginable just a few years ago. The cost of a gallon of diesel fuel has risen 48 percent in the past year; 78 percent in the last three years; and 166 percent since 2003. Every one-cent increase in the price of diesel fuel translates to an annual additional cost of $391 million to the trucking industry. It costs nearly $800 more for a driver to fill a standard tractor-trailer than five years ago.
As hard-working Americans struggle to adjust to the harsh realities of record fuel prices, oil companies continue to report record profits. ExxonMobil, which earned over 25 percent of the $155 billion profit enjoyed by the oil industry in 2007, reported a quarterly profit last week of $10.9 billion dollars – the second biggest quarterly profit in the history of this nation. The record for the largest quarterly profit in U.S. history is held, perhaps not surprisingly, by ExxonMobil.
Without a doubt, the gross imbalance between enriched oil companies and captive consumers must be addressed. Yet some have called for a myopic, short-term “solution” to this complex and pervasive problem by proposing to suspend the Federal gas tax for the summer months.
Leading economists have confirmed that this proposal would provide little relief to consumers while providing another multi-billion dollar windfall profit for the oil companies. This irrational proposal will bring the Highway Trust Fund to the edge of insolvency; will eliminate approximately 300,000 family-wage, highway construction jobs; will cut highway safety funding; and increase the cost of congestion.
The problem of high fuel prices is unrelated to the Federal gas tax. The 18.3-cent gas tax rate was established in 1993, when the average retail price of a gallon of gasoline was $1.05. The Federal gas tax has not changed in the last 15 years, yet the average price of a gallon of gasoline has more than tripled.
High diesel prices have also brought into sharp focus fuel surcharges in the motor carrier industry. Today’s hearing will examine the relationship among motor carriers, brokers, shippers, and independent drivers with respect to setting and collecting fuel surcharges. Currently, fuel surcharges are left to the discretion of an individual motor carrier or broker arranging for transportation, with few disclosure requirements and without any government oversight.
This lack of transparency affects independent owner-operators and drivers who often do not control if, and what amount, a broker or motor carrier charges a shipper for the rising cost of fuel. This makes it very difficult for drivers to verify whether the fuel surcharge is being passed through. When it is not, drivers are nonetheless the ones stuck paying the higher price at the pump.
I commend Chairman DeFazio for holding this hearing, and for his strong leadership on this important issue.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Treasured life, needless death, a traffic ticket
Nearly six months after the tragic death of Dr. Ken Peterson on Halloween night of 2007 on the Gunflint Trail, a grand jury has decided to charge his killer with two misdemeanor traffic offenses, tickets routinely issued by the Minnesota Highway Patrol in ANY accident, even where there is no damage to life or property.
The few facts so far released to the public (aside from the name and age of the killer, Maranda Weber, 27) provide only negatives: she was not drunk, not on drugs, and not speeding. So, how is it that she killed a man who was trying to remove a downed tree in the middle of the Trail? Hmm, it seems she was "careless."
Careless? What does that mean, a slap on the wrist, a fine of a couple hundred dollars at most?
Well, no way would I or any other driver I know be "careless" enough to slam into a tree across the road!
Dr. Peterson was an exceptional person, evidenced by his last act of trying to remove a hazardous tree blocking the Trail, but even more so by his life of giving so much to the residents of our county.
And is his death so meaningless that the county attorney has chosen not to pursue any fault? And would that be because the killer was a member of the Border Patrol?
CA Tim Scannell has obfuscated the issues, and probably influenced the grand jury (as nearly always happens) with his statement that there was no evidence for "vehicular homicide" and therefore would be no jail time.
HELLO? Jail time? Oh no way, not for a Homeland Security employee. Still, there are lots of options between jail and a traffic ticket. The community as well as Ms. Weber deserve some healing, such as community service in penance or at least some required driver training. Or at best some parole, again commonly prescribed by the courts even in cases not involving the death of a human being, a recognition that there needs to be a period where the perpetrator is held accountable for her actions by society.
True
The few facts so far released to the public (aside from the name and age of the killer, Maranda Weber, 27) provide only negatives: she was not drunk, not on drugs, and not speeding. So, how is it that she killed a man who was trying to remove a downed tree in the middle of the Trail? Hmm, it seems she was "careless."
Careless? What does that mean, a slap on the wrist, a fine of a couple hundred dollars at most?
Well, no way would I or any other driver I know be "careless" enough to slam into a tree across the road!
Dr. Peterson was an exceptional person, evidenced by his last act of trying to remove a hazardous tree blocking the Trail, but even more so by his life of giving so much to the residents of our county.
And is his death so meaningless that the county attorney has chosen not to pursue any fault? And would that be because the killer was a member of the Border Patrol?
CA Tim Scannell has obfuscated the issues, and probably influenced the grand jury (as nearly always happens) with his statement that there was no evidence for "vehicular homicide" and therefore would be no jail time.
HELLO? Jail time? Oh no way, not for a Homeland Security employee. Still, there are lots of options between jail and a traffic ticket. The community as well as Ms. Weber deserve some healing, such as community service in penance or at least some required driver training. Or at best some parole, again commonly prescribed by the courts even in cases not involving the death of a human being, a recognition that there needs to be a period where the perpetrator is held accountable for her actions by society.
True
Sunday, April 13, 2008
The helipad in the harbor
Like everybody else True was shocked to learn that the feds have decided to use the Coast Guard station to house their expanded Border Patrol.
This came about after more than a year of secrecy, rebuffs to the press who tried to find out what was going on, and a general "Up Yours" attitude as people continued to wonder where they planned to build their 10-acre compound surrounded by barbed wire fence and enclosing an underground parking bunker, a helipad, and a jail.
Turns out, the Department of Homeland Security, thanks to the machinations of the Bush administration, now owns our historic Coast Guard station. Nyaa, nyaa, too bad for us.
The PR team insists the facility will only be used for "office space." Even so, the harbor parking lot is a favorite tourist spot. Even locals like to have lunch while watching the changing landscape. As County Commissioner Bruce Martinson said, the Homeland Honchos have chosen the "worst possible" site for their military hi-jinks (apologies to Bruce, the honchos and hi-jinks are my own words not his).
But DHS's credibility is sorta in doubt here. Why should we believe what they tell us now after they have lied for so long?
Here is one possible reason: the new satellite surveillance system being imposed as we speak on every citizen in the "Homeland" and described in this week's Washington Post...This could mean there doesn't have to be so many night surveillance flights or Border Patrol staff riding herd on people who don't look like us: the satellite sees all. Are you out on your deck on a summer eveing, enjoying the Milky Way, and perhaps entertaining a friend? Big Brother will take note.
Still, True is not so sure there won't be a high fence around the Coast Guard station and worries about tourists finding their way to our beloved Artist's Point without DHS harassment.
They do it because they can. The community can't stop them. They are the Deciders. They own the property.
This came about after more than a year of secrecy, rebuffs to the press who tried to find out what was going on, and a general "Up Yours" attitude as people continued to wonder where they planned to build their 10-acre compound surrounded by barbed wire fence and enclosing an underground parking bunker, a helipad, and a jail.
Turns out, the Department of Homeland Security, thanks to the machinations of the Bush administration, now owns our historic Coast Guard station. Nyaa, nyaa, too bad for us.
The PR team insists the facility will only be used for "office space." Even so, the harbor parking lot is a favorite tourist spot. Even locals like to have lunch while watching the changing landscape. As County Commissioner Bruce Martinson said, the Homeland Honchos have chosen the "worst possible" site for their military hi-jinks (apologies to Bruce, the honchos and hi-jinks are my own words not his).
But DHS's credibility is sorta in doubt here. Why should we believe what they tell us now after they have lied for so long?
Here is one possible reason: the new satellite surveillance system being imposed as we speak on every citizen in the "Homeland" and described in this week's Washington Post...This could mean there doesn't have to be so many night surveillance flights or Border Patrol staff riding herd on people who don't look like us: the satellite sees all. Are you out on your deck on a summer eveing, enjoying the Milky Way, and perhaps entertaining a friend? Big Brother will take note.
Still, True is not so sure there won't be a high fence around the Coast Guard station and worries about tourists finding their way to our beloved Artist's Point without DHS harassment.
They do it because they can. The community can't stop them. They are the Deciders. They own the property.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Here's a pretty mess!
Reprise: Developer mania once seen in downtown Grand Marais is alive and well on Lutsen Mountain. True is reminded of the neocon power domination philosophy so eloquently stated by Karl Rove (or was it Darth Cheney?): You just push and push and keep pushing until you get stopped.
So it is on Lutsen Mountain. The rich owners who here shall remain nameless wish to turn the moutain into an Aspen-like city of huge buildings (55 plus feet high) and infrastructure paid for by the government (as in "public-private partnership" meaning public subsidies of private enterprise) and utterly destructive of the moutain's steep-slope land with its limited soil on bedrock, and the Poplar River watershed that supports all life within its domain.
The nameless management has shamelessly advocated for a new one-percent sales tax that will like the proverbial straw break the backs of us poor folks already suffering from huge new costs for food, energy, gas and health care.
Says Leroy Halberg, water and septic inspector for Cook County, "No one is lookiing at the overall picture, the cumulative effect of development on the watershed."
A recent letter was sent to the Lutsen town board from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Minnesota Department of Health. In part this letter read, "We are starting to question whether the area can sustain such increased pressure on its water resources without impacts to human health and the environment. Currently there are 14 noncommunity wasterwater treatment systems in the area and all of this water is obtained from aquifers that have limited capabilities for providing drinking water."
In case y'all haven't noticed, neocons in the years since Reagan have increasingly de-clawed regulation; all the more remarkable that two Minnesota regulatory agencies have the courage to send a letter like this to challenge the corporate-owner dominated Poplar River Management Board.
There will be public meetings between the PRMB and the county coming up to consider wastewater treatment and drinking water safety.
Folks, turn out! Or failing that, write letters or emails or call your West End Commissioner Bruce Martinson.
Do you think Lutsen Mountain makes a profit from its disregard of the Poplar watershed? Does the Pope shit in the woods?
So it is on Lutsen Mountain. The rich owners who here shall remain nameless wish to turn the moutain into an Aspen-like city of huge buildings (55 plus feet high) and infrastructure paid for by the government (as in "public-private partnership" meaning public subsidies of private enterprise) and utterly destructive of the moutain's steep-slope land with its limited soil on bedrock, and the Poplar River watershed that supports all life within its domain.
The nameless management has shamelessly advocated for a new one-percent sales tax that will like the proverbial straw break the backs of us poor folks already suffering from huge new costs for food, energy, gas and health care.
Says Leroy Halberg, water and septic inspector for Cook County, "No one is lookiing at the overall picture, the cumulative effect of development on the watershed."
A recent letter was sent to the Lutsen town board from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Minnesota Department of Health. In part this letter read, "We are starting to question whether the area can sustain such increased pressure on its water resources without impacts to human health and the environment. Currently there are 14 noncommunity wasterwater treatment systems in the area and all of this water is obtained from aquifers that have limited capabilities for providing drinking water."
In case y'all haven't noticed, neocons in the years since Reagan have increasingly de-clawed regulation; all the more remarkable that two Minnesota regulatory agencies have the courage to send a letter like this to challenge the corporate-owner dominated Poplar River Management Board.
There will be public meetings between the PRMB and the county coming up to consider wastewater treatment and drinking water safety.
Folks, turn out! Or failing that, write letters or emails or call your West End Commissioner Bruce Martinson.
Do you think Lutsen Mountain makes a profit from its disregard of the Poplar watershed? Does the Pope shit in the woods?
Sunday, March 23, 2008
A man's house is his castle?
The feds are spying on us, our phone and email conversations, and we can't get a driver's license or a post office box without providing our physical address location. What happens to that information? For a fee, anybody on the Internet can get it....
So True was dismayed to find another privacy leak courtesy of Cook County. ANYBODY, that's right, anybody, can pull up your name, property identification number, taxpayer information, property information and assessed property value.
Who lobbied for this Big Brother privacy invasion? Realtors? Collection agencies? Or maybe the NSA (for those of you who don't know: the NSA spies on all of us, all of the time, with no oversight, thanks to Bush, Cheney, Rove, et al who nonetheless delete all of their own computer hard drives so we can't find out what THEY are doing about, say, torture memos, firing of federal attorneys who don't agree with them, big big payouts to crony corporations, lies to the media, to name only a few of their crimes....)
Please, dear Cook County, DON'T make it easier for anybody to invade my privacy. And WHY are you only announcing this new travesty of individual rights after the fact?
True
So True was dismayed to find another privacy leak courtesy of Cook County. ANYBODY, that's right, anybody, can pull up your name, property identification number, taxpayer information, property information and assessed property value.
Who lobbied for this Big Brother privacy invasion? Realtors? Collection agencies? Or maybe the NSA (for those of you who don't know: the NSA spies on all of us, all of the time, with no oversight, thanks to Bush, Cheney, Rove, et al who nonetheless delete all of their own computer hard drives so we can't find out what THEY are doing about, say, torture memos, firing of federal attorneys who don't agree with them, big big payouts to crony corporations, lies to the media, to name only a few of their crimes....)
Please, dear Cook County, DON'T make it easier for anybody to invade my privacy. And WHY are you only announcing this new travesty of individual rights after the fact?
True
The Creechville dilemma
In 1909, J.S. Creech opened his sawmill operation at a 12-man camp on Elbow Lake near Maple Hill, during a time that logging was bringing new local jobs to the pioneer settlers. His 1,300 acre parcel along the Elbow River was the source of his timber. Within a few years Creech hired only locals for his logging operations.
Today, 99 years later, his descendants Leroy and Barbara Creech are opposing annexation of Creechville by the city of Grand Marais. "We can't afford to live here now," Leroy Creech told WTIP reporter Barbara Jean Meyers in an interview. "When they charge us more, how will we afford that? ... We don't need the water and sewer."
The county has declined to support the annexation by the city after hearing concerns from Creechville residents. Commissioner Bob Fenwick says it is a tough choice; although property values will go up tax increases will in some instances more than double, not including the new sewer and water assessments.
There are no villains in this story. The city has been working toward the annexation project for years now at the request of some Creechville residents. They did go through a public process and did get approval for the project. However, property owners like Creech didn't realize that everyone would be required to sign on, not only those who wanted city water and sewer.
It's hard for True to imagine what it would be like for a pioneer family to be driven out of their century-old home because they can't afford to pay for amenities that they don't need.
Mayor Larsen told WTIP in an interview that the project will benefit all sewer and water users by spreading out the cost, and that the city is applying for grants to help those who need assistance. The grants could be jeopardized if the project is held up.
Here is True's idea: Don't look now but in the last 20 years or so onsite wastewater treatment technology has skyrocketed. Yes, the city ought to provide sewer and water for those who want it, but it also ought to allow new onsite cluster system technology as an option for those who can't afford to buy in. The townships of Tofte and Lutsen are looking at cluster systems with small waste package plants. Grand Marais ought to look to 21st century options for those who can't afford city taxes, sewer and water. Honor your elders and your pioneers, folks!
True
Today, 99 years later, his descendants Leroy and Barbara Creech are opposing annexation of Creechville by the city of Grand Marais. "We can't afford to live here now," Leroy Creech told WTIP reporter Barbara Jean Meyers in an interview. "When they charge us more, how will we afford that? ... We don't need the water and sewer."
The county has declined to support the annexation by the city after hearing concerns from Creechville residents. Commissioner Bob Fenwick says it is a tough choice; although property values will go up tax increases will in some instances more than double, not including the new sewer and water assessments.
There are no villains in this story. The city has been working toward the annexation project for years now at the request of some Creechville residents. They did go through a public process and did get approval for the project. However, property owners like Creech didn't realize that everyone would be required to sign on, not only those who wanted city water and sewer.
It's hard for True to imagine what it would be like for a pioneer family to be driven out of their century-old home because they can't afford to pay for amenities that they don't need.
Mayor Larsen told WTIP in an interview that the project will benefit all sewer and water users by spreading out the cost, and that the city is applying for grants to help those who need assistance. The grants could be jeopardized if the project is held up.
Here is True's idea: Don't look now but in the last 20 years or so onsite wastewater treatment technology has skyrocketed. Yes, the city ought to provide sewer and water for those who want it, but it also ought to allow new onsite cluster system technology as an option for those who can't afford to buy in. The townships of Tofte and Lutsen are looking at cluster systems with small waste package plants. Grand Marais ought to look to 21st century options for those who can't afford city taxes, sewer and water. Honor your elders and your pioneers, folks!
True
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Poor Lynddie England, chump and poster child of bad soldier
The MSM vilified Lynndie England as the evil incarnate of Abu Ghraib after the world looked on in horror at the photos of her tormenting prisoners. Poor dumb Lynddie admitted her guilt and said she knew she was wrong and got sent to jail despite the obvious sexual abuse by her superior officer (namely, she was preggers with his kid).
It boggles the mind that the press could demonize this subnormal child-woman for obeying the orders of her bosses while exonerating the Commander-in-Chief who made it all happen, who now admits with pride that he authorized torture of the "hardened terrists." You surely know who I am talking about? The "mission accomplished," "heckuva job, Brownie" guy? Yep, the buck stops with him.
Lynndie recently gave an interview. She's really mad at the press (well, who isn't?) But for Lynndie they are entirely to blame for the whole scandal that damaged America in world opinion, and why is that? Why, because stuff like the Abu Ghraib torture is just doing business as usual in the Army but the people can't be expected to understand that. They need to be protected from the truth.
Lynndie, poor boobie, took the rap like a good soldier but she is really pissed because the press didn't go along with the Big Lie that her "superiors" bamboozled her into pleading guilty for.
What a mug! She doesn't even get it, that her latest admisison about torture-as-usual is the most damning evidence we have that we need to look way up to the top of the food chain for the real perpetrators of the horrors at Abu Ghraib and Gitmo and all those secret detention sites in countries that don't fool around denying that they torture, and torture, and torture.
Thanks, Lynndie, for helping us get the big picture
It boggles the mind that the press could demonize this subnormal child-woman for obeying the orders of her bosses while exonerating the Commander-in-Chief who made it all happen, who now admits with pride that he authorized torture of the "hardened terrists." You surely know who I am talking about? The "mission accomplished," "heckuva job, Brownie" guy? Yep, the buck stops with him.
Lynndie recently gave an interview. She's really mad at the press (well, who isn't?) But for Lynndie they are entirely to blame for the whole scandal that damaged America in world opinion, and why is that? Why, because stuff like the Abu Ghraib torture is just doing business as usual in the Army but the people can't be expected to understand that. They need to be protected from the truth.
Lynndie, poor boobie, took the rap like a good soldier but she is really pissed because the press didn't go along with the Big Lie that her "superiors" bamboozled her into pleading guilty for.
What a mug! She doesn't even get it, that her latest admisison about torture-as-usual is the most damning evidence we have that we need to look way up to the top of the food chain for the real perpetrators of the horrors at Abu Ghraib and Gitmo and all those secret detention sites in countries that don't fool around denying that they torture, and torture, and torture.
Thanks, Lynndie, for helping us get the big picture
Friday, March 07, 2008
To the GM Park Board: Government Ethics 101
One of the biggest problems with having two local papers in Cook County is that neither one can devote adequate resources to the big issues. The Park Board meetings, for example, often get bypassed entirely.... it has been True's experience that these folks want to encourage the rich and get rid of the middle class who now support Rec Park with their huge fees for utilities and space for their RVs....
So, the latest brouhaha is the decision to add nine (count em, nine) new docks to the present marina of 16 slips. By True's calculations this is an increase of MORE THAN HALF (56 percent) without, as far as True knows, any public process.... The new slips obscure the lake view of North House and the Hjordis. It looks like a hostile takeover by the downtown Bidness interests from where I sit....These guys compare our tiny harbor to MegaMarina Bayfield. They think the big bucks are just waiting to descend on Grand Marais, despite recent studies that rich yacht owners are on the decline. Wheareas our loyal Rec Park tenants have stayed year after year despite knockout increases in fees. Hello, Grand Marais? The rich will see us as a "slapdash" town and won't want to be bothered to stay here. Too totally funky. So, why do we care? The ordinary folks, the working folks and the middle class, love us. They are our bread-and-butter, our biggest fans.
Bidness doesn't like North House because they pay their way and yet they still make money, they draw in tourists from all across America, and they are committed to sustainable development of the harbor. Bidness couldn't care less about sustainability so long as they can sell more gas to the rich s---ers who want to dock here but don't want to pay their fair share like the rest of our tourists who pay for lodging and meals or the RV Park folks who pay horrific fees to retain their spaces...
Worst of all are the statements by board member Carol Backlund and Recreation Area Assistant Manager Dave Tersteeg. True is appalled that they just don't get it, that conflict-of-interest means DO NOT VOTE. Ya shure, anybody can express an opinion. Carol, Dave, do your worst... but DO NOT VOTE. Hello, you think your opinions are valuable? Duh.... so is everybody else's opinion, but the rule goes that if you have even the slightest interest in the decision you DO NOT VOTE.
Civics and Government appear to be low on the list of classes for Cook County students.
The ultimate decision about extra slips in the marina should be considered in terms of its impact on existing businesses and the environment, as well as the view shed that visitors expect during their holidays. NOT NOT because anybody might even conceivably profit from additional slips....
It is no wonder that the neocons who control the government slash away all legal challenges to their limitless power: The Sheep are putty in the hands of the Wolf.
True's fave paper is not the Star and yet they had the story this time.
So, the latest brouhaha is the decision to add nine (count em, nine) new docks to the present marina of 16 slips. By True's calculations this is an increase of MORE THAN HALF (56 percent) without, as far as True knows, any public process.... The new slips obscure the lake view of North House and the Hjordis. It looks like a hostile takeover by the downtown Bidness interests from where I sit....These guys compare our tiny harbor to MegaMarina Bayfield. They think the big bucks are just waiting to descend on Grand Marais, despite recent studies that rich yacht owners are on the decline. Wheareas our loyal Rec Park tenants have stayed year after year despite knockout increases in fees. Hello, Grand Marais? The rich will see us as a "slapdash" town and won't want to be bothered to stay here. Too totally funky. So, why do we care? The ordinary folks, the working folks and the middle class, love us. They are our bread-and-butter, our biggest fans.
Bidness doesn't like North House because they pay their way and yet they still make money, they draw in tourists from all across America, and they are committed to sustainable development of the harbor. Bidness couldn't care less about sustainability so long as they can sell more gas to the rich s---ers who want to dock here but don't want to pay their fair share like the rest of our tourists who pay for lodging and meals or the RV Park folks who pay horrific fees to retain their spaces...
Worst of all are the statements by board member Carol Backlund and Recreation Area Assistant Manager Dave Tersteeg. True is appalled that they just don't get it, that conflict-of-interest means DO NOT VOTE. Ya shure, anybody can express an opinion. Carol, Dave, do your worst... but DO NOT VOTE. Hello, you think your opinions are valuable? Duh.... so is everybody else's opinion, but the rule goes that if you have even the slightest interest in the decision you DO NOT VOTE.
Civics and Government appear to be low on the list of classes for Cook County students.
The ultimate decision about extra slips in the marina should be considered in terms of its impact on existing businesses and the environment, as well as the view shed that visitors expect during their holidays. NOT NOT because anybody might even conceivably profit from additional slips....
It is no wonder that the neocons who control the government slash away all legal challenges to their limitless power: The Sheep are putty in the hands of the Wolf.
True's fave paper is not the Star and yet they had the story this time.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Stop that spying or I'll give you something to spy about!
True,
Who still believes in the sanctity of the home? Or would you believe a person's house is her castle? Does anybody else care that satellite spying on our every email and phone conversation has just been okayed by the US Senate?
Oh ya I know the argument, that only the bad guys have anything to hide. NOT. I have my private thoughts to hide. I have my friends, my memories, my saints, my sins, my longings and hopes and dreams and fears to hide from a merciless Big Brother who would shred the American Dream for the sake of imperial domination, for the sake of oil and wealth and limitless power.
Well, then, scumbags aka elected officials, put this in your pipe and smoke it:
As a person of peace I am the enemy of the United States who stands for endless war. Enemy, enemy, enemy. USA equals Evildoer, evildoer, evildoer.
Ah so, you spy on me? OK then I will spew out all that stuff you are looking for and dare you to come and get me:
F**k Bu$hco. Death to the Repuglican agenda. Impeach Bush and Cheney and put them in jail. End Torture and arrest all those who condone or practice it. Let you be judged and sentenced to your own wicked and cruel torments of others, like the old fairy tales where the baddies were dragged behind a team of horses in a nail-studded cask. YOU ALWAYS PAY FOR WHAT YOU DO, or so I wish.
Nya nya nya, You Can't Catch Me I'm the Gingerbread Man...... by the time you head to my Castle I will be so out of here, out of this friggin country where I was born but no longer belong....
Anonymous
Who still believes in the sanctity of the home? Or would you believe a person's house is her castle? Does anybody else care that satellite spying on our every email and phone conversation has just been okayed by the US Senate?
Oh ya I know the argument, that only the bad guys have anything to hide. NOT. I have my private thoughts to hide. I have my friends, my memories, my saints, my sins, my longings and hopes and dreams and fears to hide from a merciless Big Brother who would shred the American Dream for the sake of imperial domination, for the sake of oil and wealth and limitless power.
Well, then, scumbags aka elected officials, put this in your pipe and smoke it:
As a person of peace I am the enemy of the United States who stands for endless war. Enemy, enemy, enemy. USA equals Evildoer, evildoer, evildoer.
Ah so, you spy on me? OK then I will spew out all that stuff you are looking for and dare you to come and get me:
F**k Bu$hco. Death to the Repuglican agenda. Impeach Bush and Cheney and put them in jail. End Torture and arrest all those who condone or practice it. Let you be judged and sentenced to your own wicked and cruel torments of others, like the old fairy tales where the baddies were dragged behind a team of horses in a nail-studded cask. YOU ALWAYS PAY FOR WHAT YOU DO, or so I wish.
Nya nya nya, You Can't Catch Me I'm the Gingerbread Man...... by the time you head to my Castle I will be so out of here, out of this friggin country where I was born but no longer belong....
Anonymous
Friday, February 08, 2008
Toxic Government Report Uncovered - CommonDreams.org
Link to this Truthout report of a report the government refuses to publish about toxic contamination in the Great Lakes, including Duluth harbor. In the story, there's also a link to excerpts from the report itself. This is scary not only because it's endangered health and safety of Americans and Canadians but also because the government would rather not let us know.
Toxic Government Report Uncovered - CommonDreams.org
Toxic Government Report Uncovered - CommonDreams.org
Monday, February 04, 2008
Go to your precinct caucus (if you can)!
Dear True,
Coming of age in the fabulously hopeful 1960's I learned that the precinct caucus in Minnesota is the true way to grassroots politics. It's a nice idea. And I urge anyone who can to go to the Super Tuesday caucuses here in Cook County tomorrow night. There won't be another opportunity to choose the presidential candidate for your party.
Being much older now, I don't have such good night vision to be driving around on icy roads and highways. Being a resident of Cook County now I have only one place to go for my precinct caucus, and if I go I probably won't be able to get back home given the weather predictions and my remote location.
So! Is it fair, is it right, to deny the many homebound citizens of our 60-mile long county the chance to choose the next presidential candidate? We don't have taxis. Our Arrowhead bus doesn't run at night. And those of us who are most marginal are the very ones who need to let the pols know who we want to have a chance to vote for.
Minnesota, you need to do better. In the early glory days of Bean Feeds and long speeches by HHH, when most of us could drive or take the bus, it seemed good. Now I would like to demand an absentee ballot for my presidential choice, who happens to be Barack Obama. I am not a Hillary basher and would love for a woman to be the next prez, but she is just way too far to the right for me. She gets megabucks from the megacorporations and she is fuzzy about Iraq where we are pouring trillions of treasury dollars down a sinkhole and by the way generating bitter hatred against us, when we could be investing in desperately needed infrastructure.
Anonymous
Coming of age in the fabulously hopeful 1960's I learned that the precinct caucus in Minnesota is the true way to grassroots politics. It's a nice idea. And I urge anyone who can to go to the Super Tuesday caucuses here in Cook County tomorrow night. There won't be another opportunity to choose the presidential candidate for your party.
Being much older now, I don't have such good night vision to be driving around on icy roads and highways. Being a resident of Cook County now I have only one place to go for my precinct caucus, and if I go I probably won't be able to get back home given the weather predictions and my remote location.
So! Is it fair, is it right, to deny the many homebound citizens of our 60-mile long county the chance to choose the next presidential candidate? We don't have taxis. Our Arrowhead bus doesn't run at night. And those of us who are most marginal are the very ones who need to let the pols know who we want to have a chance to vote for.
Minnesota, you need to do better. In the early glory days of Bean Feeds and long speeches by HHH, when most of us could drive or take the bus, it seemed good. Now I would like to demand an absentee ballot for my presidential choice, who happens to be Barack Obama. I am not a Hillary basher and would love for a woman to be the next prez, but she is just way too far to the right for me. She gets megabucks from the megacorporations and she is fuzzy about Iraq where we are pouring trillions of treasury dollars down a sinkhole and by the way generating bitter hatred against us, when we could be investing in desperately needed infrastructure.
Anonymous
Friday, January 25, 2008
New Border Crossing Rules May Cause Problems
Op-Ed jusst in from Rep. Oberstar:
New Border Crossing Rules May Cause Problems
Friday, January 25, 2008
In just a few days, it will become more confusing to cross the border between the U.S. and Canada or Mexico. Because the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is not ready to implement the new Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), DHS is moving ahead with a temporary system to screen travelers and commerce at our border crossings.
Here is what travelers need to know about the new requirements that take effect on January 31:
A passport is a good investment if you travel between the U.S. and Canada on a regular basis. For the last year, U.S. airline passengers have needed a passport to fly to Canada or Mexico, and passports will soon be one of the key documents accepted for travel by land. Regardless of the new system that DHS implements, a passport will serve as absolute proof of your U.S. citizenship.
I am disappointed with the way that DHS has developed this temporary screening process. According to a recent report by the General Accountability Office, DHS does not have the resources or manpower to make the plan work smoothly. I am concerned this will result in long lines at the border that will hamper the movement of people and goods and harm the economies of border communities like International Falls.
I have signed a letter with my congressional colleagues to request that DHS suspend its interim program. DHS should focus its resources to implement the new WHTI and developing an alternative, efficient document for those who cross the border frequently.
The current system that allows travelers to make an oral declaration of citizenship gives border agents the ability to use their common sense and experience to screen people. Border agents used this very system to catch the terrorists who were planning the Millennium Plot in Seattle in 2000.
The new WHTI must preserve this ability of our Customs and Border Patrol agents to draw on their judgment and experience. It must quickly identify travelers who do not pose a threat, so resources can be used more effectively. DHS must devise a system that strikes the right balance between protecting our national security and ensuring the economic vitality of border communities.
New Border Crossing Rules May Cause Problems
Friday, January 25, 2008
In just a few days, it will become more confusing to cross the border between the U.S. and Canada or Mexico. Because the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is not ready to implement the new Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), DHS is moving ahead with a temporary system to screen travelers and commerce at our border crossings.
Here is what travelers need to know about the new requirements that take effect on January 31:
- Adults traveling to Canada or Mexico will need a government-issued photo ID as well as proof of citizenship.
- To satisfy this enhanced travel requirement, you can present a passport or you can use your driver’s license plus your birth certificate.
- Children under the age of 18 are only required to have a proof of citizenship such as a birth certificate.
- There are also exemptions for members of the U.S. armed forces traveling on orders and youth and school groups.
- For more information, visit http://travel.state.gov before you leave the U.S.
A passport is a good investment if you travel between the U.S. and Canada on a regular basis. For the last year, U.S. airline passengers have needed a passport to fly to Canada or Mexico, and passports will soon be one of the key documents accepted for travel by land. Regardless of the new system that DHS implements, a passport will serve as absolute proof of your U.S. citizenship.
I am disappointed with the way that DHS has developed this temporary screening process. According to a recent report by the General Accountability Office, DHS does not have the resources or manpower to make the plan work smoothly. I am concerned this will result in long lines at the border that will hamper the movement of people and goods and harm the economies of border communities like International Falls.
I have signed a letter with my congressional colleagues to request that DHS suspend its interim program. DHS should focus its resources to implement the new WHTI and developing an alternative, efficient document for those who cross the border frequently.
The current system that allows travelers to make an oral declaration of citizenship gives border agents the ability to use their common sense and experience to screen people. Border agents used this very system to catch the terrorists who were planning the Millennium Plot in Seattle in 2000.
The new WHTI must preserve this ability of our Customs and Border Patrol agents to draw on their judgment and experience. It must quickly identify travelers who do not pose a threat, so resources can be used more effectively. DHS must devise a system that strikes the right balance between protecting our national security and ensuring the economic vitality of border communities.
###
Monday, August 06, 2007
The Soft Underbelly of the Democratic Party - CommonDreams.org
Since the vote by Congress to support warrantless spying on all Americans, the blogosphere has been buzzing. Hmm, Minnesota "Nice" folks don't like Minnesota Mad Belding; they prefer to sit back and ignore the evil around them while making nasty cracks at the people who speak out.
Even the stuffy New York Times is with Belding on this one, though not using the "H" word. Oh my goodness, how NOT nice.
The frustration is not being listened to by any of the three branches of government which are supposed to check and balance each other. The Rage is that the Congress has given retroactive approval to the crimes of Bushco.
True
Read this Common Dreams post; others will follow:
The Soft Underbelly of the Democratic Party - CommonDreams.org
Even the stuffy New York Times is with Belding on this one, though not using the "H" word. Oh my goodness, how NOT nice.
The frustration is not being listened to by any of the three branches of government which are supposed to check and balance each other. The Rage is that the Congress has given retroactive approval to the crimes of Bushco.
True
Read this Common Dreams post; others will follow:
The Soft Underbelly of the Democratic Party - CommonDreams.org
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Minnesota Mad: Disgust and rage
Dear True,
No, not love and happiness, not today. I have nothing but disgust and rage for the politicians of this country, ALL of them (well, almost).
As for Mr. No New Taxes Pawlenty, he bears a great share of the responsibility for the lives lost and maimed in the Minneapolis bridge collapse, not to mention the fear and terror of the rest of us who must entrust our lives to structurally unsound bridges, having vetoed a major transportation bill in 2005 that would have addressed the state's aging road infrastructure.
As for the evil cowboy Mr. Photo Op Bush, he bears an even greater burden of this guilt, having squandered the resources paid by taxpayers in the assumption that they will be spent to keep bridges and levees and roads and waterways and sewers and .... well, everything we depend on for life and health, safe. No, better to spend a couple trillion dollars killing off people in Iraq and destroying THEIR infrastructure completely, so his Texas cronies continue to reap megaprofits from oil and get no-bid private contracts to run the war. Who gives a flying fuck that the people of Baghdad don't have any water? That Iraqis working with Americans have separate (presumably not equal) bathrooms and meals? That millions are homeless thanks to the devastation wrought by the US, that people are starving, that there is no electricity for most of the day in devastating heat? Who cares? They are only Iraqis, as one US soldier said.
As for the Congress, shame. They bear the responsibility to reign in a rogue administration, protect the Constitution, and make laws that promote the general welfare. But what do they do? They sling impeachment off the table when the constitutional crimes of this administration challenge our three-tiered government to the very core, and then they proceed to knuckle under to every illegal and outrageous demand made by Bushco. The latest: a secret FISA panel decided Bush's wiretapping was illegal and so what does Congress do? They pass a law to make it legal. I for one am sick of knowing I have no private communications unless I meet someone somewhere where there are no phones, computers, or mail and even then who knows what those satellites are picking up?
It's a sad, sad world but the worst is that it doesn't have to be that way. The American people want good government, good schools, good health care, good communities, good infrastructure, a clean and safe environment, retirement security ... and they are paying enough to get it. Even without new taxes, which in Minnesota is totally stupid because we will pay one way or another.
Us poor people pay so much in fees and sales taxes that we trump even the biggest billionaire who actually does pay tax (if any) in terms of percentage of income. However, almost any of us would gladly pay more to save the lives of loved ones and protect the world for future generations. As for Bushco, he lavishly rewards the richest of the rich, not only with absurd tax cuts but also with his shadow government which pays them billions in contracts that are scrutinized by none. Many of these contracts usurp the lawful function of government, such as intelligence gathering and military forces, and unlawful ones as well, such as murder, torture, rape and spying.These bad politicians, and that includes nearly all of them, know that people don't like what they do. They receive thousands and millions of emails, phone calls and petitions daily from people who feel they must speak out. Bush apologist Sen. Coleman responds with a knee-jerk blip but never a word on any issue. All elected officials in this mega-media, mega-business and mega-shadow government age depend on the millions these people pay them. Who will stand up to the coal industry, the nuclear industry, big oil, when they are major campaign contributors? All the major candidates are beholden to the big multinational corporations and media, without whom they could never be elected. (Except maybe John Edwards who is getting a rilli-rilli-bad media rap....)
Finally, the American people have allowed these travesties to happen. Democracy means that the grass roots don't get mowed down, even if all their heroes are assassinated: John and Bobby Kennedy, MLK, John Lennon, and YES, our beloved Paul Wellstone.... I don't have a nanosecond of doubt that they were removed by the Rich Repug Reich.
Hate and rage.
Nancye Belding
Grand Marais
No, not love and happiness, not today. I have nothing but disgust and rage for the politicians of this country, ALL of them (well, almost).
As for Mr. No New Taxes Pawlenty, he bears a great share of the responsibility for the lives lost and maimed in the Minneapolis bridge collapse, not to mention the fear and terror of the rest of us who must entrust our lives to structurally unsound bridges, having vetoed a major transportation bill in 2005 that would have addressed the state's aging road infrastructure.
As for the evil cowboy Mr. Photo Op Bush, he bears an even greater burden of this guilt, having squandered the resources paid by taxpayers in the assumption that they will be spent to keep bridges and levees and roads and waterways and sewers and .... well, everything we depend on for life and health, safe. No, better to spend a couple trillion dollars killing off people in Iraq and destroying THEIR infrastructure completely, so his Texas cronies continue to reap megaprofits from oil and get no-bid private contracts to run the war. Who gives a flying fuck that the people of Baghdad don't have any water? That Iraqis working with Americans have separate (presumably not equal) bathrooms and meals? That millions are homeless thanks to the devastation wrought by the US, that people are starving, that there is no electricity for most of the day in devastating heat? Who cares? They are only Iraqis, as one US soldier said.
As for the Congress, shame. They bear the responsibility to reign in a rogue administration, protect the Constitution, and make laws that promote the general welfare. But what do they do? They sling impeachment off the table when the constitutional crimes of this administration challenge our three-tiered government to the very core, and then they proceed to knuckle under to every illegal and outrageous demand made by Bushco. The latest: a secret FISA panel decided Bush's wiretapping was illegal and so what does Congress do? They pass a law to make it legal. I for one am sick of knowing I have no private communications unless I meet someone somewhere where there are no phones, computers, or mail and even then who knows what those satellites are picking up?
It's a sad, sad world but the worst is that it doesn't have to be that way. The American people want good government, good schools, good health care, good communities, good infrastructure, a clean and safe environment, retirement security ... and they are paying enough to get it. Even without new taxes, which in Minnesota is totally stupid because we will pay one way or another.
Us poor people pay so much in fees and sales taxes that we trump even the biggest billionaire who actually does pay tax (if any) in terms of percentage of income. However, almost any of us would gladly pay more to save the lives of loved ones and protect the world for future generations. As for Bushco, he lavishly rewards the richest of the rich, not only with absurd tax cuts but also with his shadow government which pays them billions in contracts that are scrutinized by none. Many of these contracts usurp the lawful function of government, such as intelligence gathering and military forces, and unlawful ones as well, such as murder, torture, rape and spying.These bad politicians, and that includes nearly all of them, know that people don't like what they do. They receive thousands and millions of emails, phone calls and petitions daily from people who feel they must speak out. Bush apologist Sen. Coleman responds with a knee-jerk blip but never a word on any issue. All elected officials in this mega-media, mega-business and mega-shadow government age depend on the millions these people pay them. Who will stand up to the coal industry, the nuclear industry, big oil, when they are major campaign contributors? All the major candidates are beholden to the big multinational corporations and media, without whom they could never be elected. (Except maybe John Edwards who is getting a rilli-rilli-bad media rap....)
Finally, the American people have allowed these travesties to happen. Democracy means that the grass roots don't get mowed down, even if all their heroes are assassinated: John and Bobby Kennedy, MLK, John Lennon, and YES, our beloved Paul Wellstone.... I don't have a nanosecond of doubt that they were removed by the Rich Repug Reich.
Hate and rage.
Nancye Belding
Grand Marais
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