Politics Plus

This is just a quick note to tell you I arrived safely in Salem.  After the bus trip and long meetings, I’m quite tired.  But the Motel (see below) is comfortable, and I’ve gotten some sleep.  Tomorrow will be a 12+ hour day.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:28 (average 4:24).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

I’m writing for tomorrow and starting early to get the jump on a very busy day.  Tasks include a trip to the barber shop, putting the files I’ll need to take to Salem on a DVD, firing up the notebook computer long enough to make sure it’s fully charged and updated for my prison volunteer trip, and cleaning the kitchen area thoroughly, so as not to leave a mess behind.  Day 43.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:18 (average 6:18).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Reuters: The U.S. power sector must cut carbon dioxide emissions 30 percent by 2030 from 2005 levels, according to federal regulations unveiled on Monday that form the centerpiece of the Obama administration's climate change strategy.

The Environmental Protection Agency's proposal is one of the most significant environmental rules proposed by the United States, and could transform the power sector, which relies on coal for nearly 38 percent of electricity.

Gina McCarthy, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said on Monday that between 2020 and 2030, the U.S. amount of carbon dioxide the proposal would reduce under the plan would be more than double the carbon pollution from the entire power sector in 2012.

Imagine what could have been done with cooperation from Congress.

From Robert Reich: I spent several days in New York last week with students from around the country who were preparing to head into the heartland to help organize Walmart workers for better jobs and wages. (Full familial disclosure: My son Adam is one of the leaders.)

Almost exactly fifty years ago a similar group headed to Mississippi to register African-Americans to vote, in what came to be known as Freedom Summer.

Call this Freedom Summer II.

The current struggle of low-wage workers across America echoes the civil rights struggle of the 1960s.

Today, as then, a group of Americans is denied the dignity of decent wages and working conditions. Today, just as then, powerful forces are threatening and intimidating vulnerable people for exercising their legal rights. Today, just like fifty years ago, people who have been treated as voiceless and disposable are standing up and demanding change.

Like Robert Reich, The Reich on the left, not the Republican Reich on the right, I fully support Freedom Summer II.

From Huffington Post: Asked whether she would be running for president in 2016, Elizabeth Warren framed the coming debate as one of defining values at a critical moment. She stopped short of committing to or rejecting a White House bid, and her answer will likely further speculation about a Warren candidacy.

In an interview with The Huffington Post that will air in full on Monday evening, Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, was asked about the promise in her book that she was "fiercely determined to do everything I can to help us once again be the America that creates opportunities for anyone who works hard and plays by the rules." She was also questioned about her warning that "we're running out of time."

I do not think Warren will run for the Democratic nomination, but if she does, she will have my full support.

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I’m writing for tomorrow, the beginning of a new and busy month.  I’m feeling quite tired and have pain in my back, leg and shoulder.  It took physical therapy to get all three going at once.  ARGH!  Day 41.

Late Update:

I missed an entire sleep cycle tonight.  I did not attend the Starlight Parade.  It attended me.  From my window: (Inside to outside at night gives horrid quality).

Parades tend to be a bit noisy.  I never knew that above a parade is much louder than at it.  The people got noisy with fireworks and air horns before 6:00 PM.  It started at 8:30.  It lasted until after 11:00.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:03 (average 4:19).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: After a report from the Yale Center on Climate Change Communication showed that the term “climate change” elicits relatively little concern from the American public, leading scientists are recommending replacing it with a new term: “You will be burnt to a crisp and die.”

Other terms under consideration by the scientists include “your cities will be ravaged by tsunamis and floods” and “earth will be a fiery hellhole incapable of supporting human life.”

Scientists were generally supportive of the suggestions, with many favoring the term “your future will involve rowing a boat down a river of rotting corpses.”

Has Andy understated what it will take for Republicans to give up their Koch-sucking denial?

From Daily Kos: On May 22, The Campaign for America’s Future gave a conference on The New Populist Majority. The keynote speaker was Elizabeth Warren. The conference confronted the meme that the US is a "center-right" country.

Most interesting to me was the fact that they obtained poll results from "the 1%."

If you didn’t think Republicans are waging class warfare, think again.

From Alternet: This week, Bill [Moyers] speaks to Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz, who argues that we must reform the tax code and stop subsidizing tax dodgers. A recent report by Americans for Tax Fairness suggests that corporate taxes are near a 60-year low — and that’s partially because corporations have become adept at not paying their share.

Here’s a list of 10 tax-dodging corporations excerpted from the Americans for Tax Fairness report.

Bank of America runs its business through more than 300 offshore tax-haven subsidiaries. It reported $17.2 billion in accumulated offshore profits in 2012. It would owe $4.3 billion in U.S. taxes if these funds were brought back to the U.S.

Citigroup had $42.6 billion in foreign profits parked offshore in 2012 on which it paid no U.S. taxes. It reported that it would owe $11.5 billion if it brings these funds back to the U.S. A significant chunk is being held in tax-haven countries.

ExxonMobil had a three-year federal income tax rate of just 15 percent. This gave the company a tax subsidy worth $6.2 billion from 2010-2012. It had $43 billion in offshore profits at the end of 2012, on which it paid no U.S. taxes.

I just gave you the top three corporate criminals. Click through for the other seven.

Cartoon:

I’m writing for tomorrow.  Physical Therapy was grueling, especially on top of walking a mile and a half on the way to and from, including a side trip to the bank.  I think it will take at least a day to get over the pain.  This will be tomorrow’s only article.  We’ll have to see about Saturday, because, If I can, early tomorrow morning I’ll be taking on the most dreaded of all my chores.  Day 39.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:43 (average5:10).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: "Your dead kids don’t trump my Constitutional rights"

Conservative sensitivity at its finest, courtesy of Samuel "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher [Republican delinked].  Speaking in a time of great tragedy, Wurzelbacher’s only response to a grieving father discussing his son’s right to live is that the be all and end all is the right of Americans to be armed to the teeth without any regulation.

There is a time, a place and a manner for such discussions.  He could easily wait several days.  He could just as easily frame his ideas in less crass terms.  He could choose to use words that will not rub salt in open wounds.  He decided not to engage in such behavior, which, unfortunately, is nothing new for him.

Joe is not a plumber. Joe is not even a Joe. He IS a Republican. Need I say more?

From The New Yorker: President Obama raised eyebrows with his West Point commencement address Wednesday by offering a defense of his controversial foreign-policy doctrine of not invading countries for no reason.

Conservative critics were taken aback by Obama’s speech, which was riddled with incendiary remarks about only using military force for a clearly identified and rational purpose.

Obama did not shy away from employing polarizing rhetoric, often using words such as “responsible” and “sensible” to underscore his message.

Harland Dorrinson, a fellow at the conservative think tank the Center for Global Intervention, said that he was “stunned” to see Obama “defend his failure to engage the United States in impulsive and random military adventures.”

LOL Andy!! In a word, spot-on!

From NY Times: President Obama will use his executive authority to cut carbon emissions from the nation’s coal-fired power plants by up to 20 percent, according to people familiar with his plans, and will force industry to pay for the pollution it creates through cap-and-trade programs across the country.

Mr. Obama will unveil his plans in a new regulation, written by the Environmental Protection Agency, at the White House on Monday. It would be the strongest action ever taken by an American president to tackle climate change and could become one of the defining elements of Mr. Obama’s legacy.

Kudos. I’d hate to be the one to have to wash the stains from the Koch Boys’ underwear over this one.

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