President Barack Obama delivered a forward-looking and effective State of the Union Address last night. His mix of principles and policies were clearly and evocatively expressed. The president's prescriptions for the country are clear and necessary, his proposals reasonable and his principles practically unassailable. By planting his flag in this firm ground, Obama has served notice that he will present a most formidable challenge to whichever Republican eventually secures the GOP presidential nomination.
Obama clearly staked out a position in favor of wider prosperity, identifying his concern with the 99% instead of the 1%. Bringing up the example of the great middle class expansion after the Depression and World War II with the promise of a decent living and retirement for those willing to work, the president made clear that the middle class has been stagnating since long before the current downturn. The "defining issue" of our time, he stated, is to "keep that promise alive." He asked whether the United States will we be a country where a few do really well while everyone else barely gets by, or rather where "everyone gets a fair shot, gets a fair share and plays by the same rules?" It's hard to see how his political foes could win an argument with the president on this.
To support this, he pointed to his rescue of the auto industry and a million jobs when the critics said to let it die. He proposed ending tax breaks for companies to outsource jobs and grant them for those who create jobs in America. He called for "no bailouts, no handouts and no copouts." He sketched out a plan to fund community colleges to train workers for two million jobs that are vacant now, and to help pressed homeowners who are barely making their payments to help qualify for refinanced loans at today's lower interest rates. He promised aid to students to afford education and incentives to universities to contain costs so people can afford to attend. He pointed out how, under his watch the U.S. has become the world's biggest natural gas producer and is pumping more oil than under his predecessor. And he called again for investments in the energies of the future rather than ceding their lead to others. He pointed out that 8 million jobs disappeared before he took office and in his first few months, and how 3 million have been created since. Again, it is difficult to see how exactly can Obama lose these arguments.
He proposed spending half the money saved in ending the Iraq War and in winding down the Afghan War to service the deficit and half to fund a major infrastructure program to provide jobs and enhance American competitiveness. Explaining things clearly and simply, Obama said, "We need to change our tax code. We can either continue to extend temporary tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires or pay for everything else. We cannot do both. The American people realize that and support what needs to be done." He called for enacting the "Buffet rule," that no one with an income of a million or more should pay less than 30% tax. At a time when average working people pay 25% to 35% while multimillionaires like Mitt Romney pay 13% to 15%, it's hard to see how an opponent beats the president by coming out against this perspective.
Infectious optimism infused the speech, along with both frequent pleas to work together and promises to fight back against senseless obstruction. "I will oppose obstruction with action and I will oppose any return to the policies that caused the problems in the first place," Obama declared. He placed himself firmly on the right side of the immigration issue, reminding congress what even George W. Bush stood for, and called for for "comprehensive immigration reform now. You are out of excuses."
The president closed with a survey of world events, pointing out his many successes in Iraq, the Middle East, in negotiating trade deals that have America on track to meet his goal of doubling exports, and in the effective diplomacy that has now isolated Iran in the world economy and will "take no option off the table" to prevent them from acquiring nuclear weapons. "For the first time in two decades, Osama bin Laden is not a threat to this country," and his organization has been seriously degraded. He also pledged strong support for Israel.
President Obama has been an effective leader despite Republican opposition and obstruction, as the State of the Union Address underscores. His ideas make sense to the majority of the American people, and will present a difficult challenge for whomever his chief opponent turns out to be. There is much more in the speech I could not address in this short synopsis. To see the entire address, click here.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
A Tragic Suicide
On Wednesday January 11 one of our College of the Sequoias students, Eric James Borges, killed himself. Yesterday a memorial in our theater drew about 250 people to celebrate Eric James's life. Though he was only 19 years old Eric James had an impact beyond his years. His death was reported by all the major U.S. networks and newspapers, and even around the world. You can see a sampling of them here.
You see, Eric was a budding film maker. He had a lot to deal with in his short life, and he tried to express it in a few short films. It is reported his films on You Tube have recorded 250,000 hits. From the time he was in kindergarten, Eric was recognized as different and persecuted for it. As he said in It Gets Better, "I was physically, mentally, emotionally and verbally assaulted on a day-to-day basis for my perceived sexual orientation," Borges said. "I was stalked, spit on, ostracized and physically assaulted." After he came out, he decided to try to help others in the same predicament by joining the Trevor Project, the largest organization dedicated to preventing gay youth suicide. You can watch his heartfelt appeal to other LBGTQ youth in It Gets Better here. In it, he counsels other gay youth to weather the storms of abuse they may face, because "it does get better." How ironic and telling that he succumbed himself to the very despondency he warned against.
Eric James did not have a good coming out experience. He reported that his family referred to him as "disgusting" and "perverted," and that his mother subjected him to an exorcism in an attempt to "cure" him. Two months ago he was finally kicked out of the house. The Washington Post reports that youth who come out and are rejected by their families are eight times more likely to commit suicide than those who are accepted. You can see another of his offerings, Invisible Creatures by clicking here. It underscores the theme of the universality of love and affection.
In Eric James Borges we have lost a good and gentle soul. Our society loses far too many by crippling people's spirits with hatred and rejection, simply for being who they are. This is surely one of the great civil and human rights issues of our time. While legal and societal progress has certainly been made, Eric James's story reminds us there is still much to do. Let us each resolve to do our part.
You see, Eric was a budding film maker. He had a lot to deal with in his short life, and he tried to express it in a few short films. It is reported his films on You Tube have recorded 250,000 hits. From the time he was in kindergarten, Eric was recognized as different and persecuted for it. As he said in It Gets Better, "I was physically, mentally, emotionally and verbally assaulted on a day-to-day basis for my perceived sexual orientation," Borges said. "I was stalked, spit on, ostracized and physically assaulted." After he came out, he decided to try to help others in the same predicament by joining the Trevor Project, the largest organization dedicated to preventing gay youth suicide. You can watch his heartfelt appeal to other LBGTQ youth in It Gets Better here. In it, he counsels other gay youth to weather the storms of abuse they may face, because "it does get better." How ironic and telling that he succumbed himself to the very despondency he warned against.
Eric James did not have a good coming out experience. He reported that his family referred to him as "disgusting" and "perverted," and that his mother subjected him to an exorcism in an attempt to "cure" him. Two months ago he was finally kicked out of the house. The Washington Post reports that youth who come out and are rejected by their families are eight times more likely to commit suicide than those who are accepted. You can see another of his offerings, Invisible Creatures by clicking here. It underscores the theme of the universality of love and affection.
In Eric James Borges we have lost a good and gentle soul. Our society loses far too many by crippling people's spirits with hatred and rejection, simply for being who they are. This is surely one of the great civil and human rights issues of our time. While legal and societal progress has certainly been made, Eric James's story reminds us there is still much to do. Let us each resolve to do our part.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Attack Methane and Soot to Restrain Global Warming Fastest, Scientists Say
An interesting study on a way to reduce air pollution and restrain global warming made the news today. An international team led by Drew Shindell of NASA says that adopting existing technology in controlling methane and soot could hold back the projected temperature increase by 40% over the next 40 years while saving a likely million lives a year from lung disease.
Though there is 200 times more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, methane is 20 times more potent as a greenhouse gas. Their calculations show it accounts for 28% of the warming effect. The focus would provide a quicker impact than carbon dioxide in the short term, because the fixes are relatively easy to do. They entail 14 techniques such as "capturing methane from landfills and coal mines, cleaning up cook stoves and diesel engines, and changing agriculture techniques for rice paddies and manure collection." These practices "are being used efficiently in many places, but aren't universally adopted," said the study's lead author, Drew Shindell of NASA.
The combined effects would, according to their computer modeling, reign in the projected warming to 1.3 degrees Celsius instead of 2.2 degrees, and increase crop yields by 150 million metric tons a year. CO2 accounts for 48% of man-made global warming, soot 16% and methane 14%. CO2 is definitely the main long-term culprit and must be reduced as part of any effective solution, but it stays in the air a long time, while methane and soot disperse more rapidly. Choking off their infusion into the air would mitigate their contributions to the greenhouse effect quickly. No matter what is done on CO2, which is produced primarily by burning oil and coal and by deforestation, what is already in the atmosphere will take many decades to be absorbed by natural processes.
Though there is 200 times more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, methane is 20 times more potent as a greenhouse gas. Their calculations show it accounts for 28% of the warming effect. The focus would provide a quicker impact than carbon dioxide in the short term, because the fixes are relatively easy to do. They entail 14 techniques such as "capturing methane from landfills and coal mines, cleaning up cook stoves and diesel engines, and changing agriculture techniques for rice paddies and manure collection." These practices "are being used efficiently in many places, but aren't universally adopted," said the study's lead author, Drew Shindell of NASA.
The combined effects would, according to their computer modeling, reign in the projected warming to 1.3 degrees Celsius instead of 2.2 degrees, and increase crop yields by 150 million metric tons a year. CO2 accounts for 48% of man-made global warming, soot 16% and methane 14%. CO2 is definitely the main long-term culprit and must be reduced as part of any effective solution, but it stays in the air a long time, while methane and soot disperse more rapidly. Choking off their infusion into the air would mitigate their contributions to the greenhouse effect quickly. No matter what is done on CO2, which is produced primarily by burning oil and coal and by deforestation, what is already in the atmosphere will take many decades to be absorbed by natural processes.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Republican Candidates Hit Romney
Things have gotten lively in New Hampshire the last couple of days. In the Republican primary there tomorrow Mitt Romney is widely expected to win (see New Hampshire polling info) in a state that borders Massachusetts, where he once was governor. The rest of the field is angling for second place. Still, the unRomneys have taken a break from savaging each other and are now turning their fire on the frontrunner.
Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman and Rick Perry have all lashed out at Romney. Word is out that Gingrich's "unaffiliated" Super PAC has received a $5 million gift from Las Vegas tycoon Sheldon Adelson to hit Romney for destroying jobs during his days as CEO of Bain Capital. Romney didn't help himself any on this score by today declaring, "I like being able to fire people who provide services to me."
The real dynamics of this may play out in South Carolina, where Romney currently polls about 10 points ahead of Santorum and Gingrich. For the conservatives to have a chance, they really need to narrow the field. Huntsman doesn't figure to be much of a factor in South Carolina and it will likely be Perry's last stand. If Romney can hang on there, winning against a crowded field with 30% of the vote, his inevitability campaign may well start to run the table and effectively lock things up in February. On the other hand, if Perry, Huntsman and one of the others drops out after that, the survivor might have a chance to get Romney in a one on one and start to come up with a win here and there.
Either way, it certainly is interesting to see conservative Republican pols smacking a fellow GOPer for being a heartless businessman willing to sacrifice the livelihoods of regular workers to pad his own profits. If this seems a productive line of attack for them to take in a Republican primary campaign, just imagine what nominee Romney would likely face from the Democrats in a national campaign.
Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman and Rick Perry have all lashed out at Romney. Word is out that Gingrich's "unaffiliated" Super PAC has received a $5 million gift from Las Vegas tycoon Sheldon Adelson to hit Romney for destroying jobs during his days as CEO of Bain Capital. Romney didn't help himself any on this score by today declaring, "I like being able to fire people who provide services to me."
The real dynamics of this may play out in South Carolina, where Romney currently polls about 10 points ahead of Santorum and Gingrich. For the conservatives to have a chance, they really need to narrow the field. Huntsman doesn't figure to be much of a factor in South Carolina and it will likely be Perry's last stand. If Romney can hang on there, winning against a crowded field with 30% of the vote, his inevitability campaign may well start to run the table and effectively lock things up in February. On the other hand, if Perry, Huntsman and one of the others drops out after that, the survivor might have a chance to get Romney in a one on one and start to come up with a win here and there.
Either way, it certainly is interesting to see conservative Republican pols smacking a fellow GOPer for being a heartless businessman willing to sacrifice the livelihoods of regular workers to pad his own profits. If this seems a productive line of attack for them to take in a Republican primary campaign, just imagine what nominee Romney would likely face from the Democrats in a national campaign.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
2012 New Year's Wish List
Here's my wish list for 2012.
1. For you, dear readers, health, and love and harmony with all your family and friends.
2. A major breakthrough in cancer treatment.
3. A big drop in the unemployment rate.
4. A serious reduction in the number of wars going on in the world.
5. Continued progress in human freedom.
6. The end of the rule of many more tyrants.
7. The growth of a greater spirit of tolerance in world societies, based on the concepts of letting other people believe what they want and be who they are.
8. A global change of heart on the issue of women's equality, especially in those societies that treat women the most oppressively.
9. Continued reduction in the crime rate.
10. Politics that puts human needs before ideology or the demands of moneyed interests.
11. A real international commitment to end the scourges of hunger, disease and pollution.
12. A spiritual awakening of the kind that will increase human happiness and contribute to the realization of the rest of the wishes listed here.
1. For you, dear readers, health, and love and harmony with all your family and friends.
2. A major breakthrough in cancer treatment.
3. A big drop in the unemployment rate.
4. A serious reduction in the number of wars going on in the world.
5. Continued progress in human freedom.
6. The end of the rule of many more tyrants.
7. The growth of a greater spirit of tolerance in world societies, based on the concepts of letting other people believe what they want and be who they are.
8. A global change of heart on the issue of women's equality, especially in those societies that treat women the most oppressively.
9. Continued reduction in the crime rate.
10. Politics that puts human needs before ideology or the demands of moneyed interests.
11. A real international commitment to end the scourges of hunger, disease and pollution.
12. A spiritual awakening of the kind that will increase human happiness and contribute to the realization of the rest of the wishes listed here.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Misbegotten Iraq War Ends
After eight years and nine months America is finally out of the Iraq War. The last convoy of 110 heavily-armored vehicles and some 500 soldiers, churning through the desert under a heavy umbrella of attack helicopters and fighter jets, crossed the Kuwait border in the predawn dark yesterday. After nearly nine years of trying to pacify the country and win hearts and minds, that description of the exit probably tells us all we need to know about the extent of our success.
We have all heard of the human cost, including 4,487 American dead and 32,226 wounded, (90% of the total coalition losses), and between 103,000 and 159,000 Iraqi deaths. In addition to this is the direct monetary cost of $802 billion, with the indirect costs perhaps bringing the total as high as $3 trillion over the years, considering such factors as 20% of the wounded have brain or spinal injuries or that 30% of the 1 million U.S. troops who served there have manifested serious mental health issues. These are the kinds of costs that never seem to get factored into a decision to go to war, and that will endure and have to be paid for over a span of decades.
Just as important as these considerations, though, are the questions raised by this misbegotten adventure that Americans now say was a mistake by an overwhelming margin. The United States for the first time initiated a war-attacking and invading a country-that had not attacked the U.S. or its allies first. The American government at least exaggerated and arguably even manufactured the evidence justifying the war. The decision for war appears to have been determined by the principals in the Bush Administration even before it took office based on ideological presuppositions, and was not spelled out to the voting public as a likely policy of the candidate upon which the electorate could in part base its election decision. The press failed in its duty to investigate the facts and properly inform the American people about the veracity of the claims being made. Instead, much of it allowed itself to be cowed into silence or support by political pressure. The estimates of the human and monetary costs of the war, its duration, and the reaction of the Iraqi people were all absurdly misrepresented by the top officials of the U.S. government and its spokespeople. And the legislative branch cooperated in eviscerating fundamental Constitutional liberties that have yet to be fully restored.
All these factors are crucial, because although they have at this point at long last achieved widespread acknowledgement by the American people, there is every reason to question whether or not the nation has learned a lesson that will last into the future. Now that the national firewall against aggressive war has been breached, will a recurrence become less likely or more? Now that an Administration has demonstrated the ease with which supposition and fear can be exploited to dupe and stampede the institutions of democracy and the American people into rash action, will this provide a cautionary check against or a road map for new abuses? If the latter, then the thousands of fallen will truly have died in vain.
We have all heard of the human cost, including 4,487 American dead and 32,226 wounded, (90% of the total coalition losses), and between 103,000 and 159,000 Iraqi deaths. In addition to this is the direct monetary cost of $802 billion, with the indirect costs perhaps bringing the total as high as $3 trillion over the years, considering such factors as 20% of the wounded have brain or spinal injuries or that 30% of the 1 million U.S. troops who served there have manifested serious mental health issues. These are the kinds of costs that never seem to get factored into a decision to go to war, and that will endure and have to be paid for over a span of decades.
Just as important as these considerations, though, are the questions raised by this misbegotten adventure that Americans now say was a mistake by an overwhelming margin. The United States for the first time initiated a war-attacking and invading a country-that had not attacked the U.S. or its allies first. The American government at least exaggerated and arguably even manufactured the evidence justifying the war. The decision for war appears to have been determined by the principals in the Bush Administration even before it took office based on ideological presuppositions, and was not spelled out to the voting public as a likely policy of the candidate upon which the electorate could in part base its election decision. The press failed in its duty to investigate the facts and properly inform the American people about the veracity of the claims being made. Instead, much of it allowed itself to be cowed into silence or support by political pressure. The estimates of the human and monetary costs of the war, its duration, and the reaction of the Iraqi people were all absurdly misrepresented by the top officials of the U.S. government and its spokespeople. And the legislative branch cooperated in eviscerating fundamental Constitutional liberties that have yet to be fully restored.
All these factors are crucial, because although they have at this point at long last achieved widespread acknowledgement by the American people, there is every reason to question whether or not the nation has learned a lesson that will last into the future. Now that the national firewall against aggressive war has been breached, will a recurrence become less likely or more? Now that an Administration has demonstrated the ease with which supposition and fear can be exploited to dupe and stampede the institutions of democracy and the American people into rash action, will this provide a cautionary check against or a road map for new abuses? If the latter, then the thousands of fallen will truly have died in vain.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Republican Field: Can Any of Them Win?
Saturday night six Republican hopefuls met in Des Moines for their latest debate. You can read the full transcript here. There will likely be only one more such encounter before the Iowa caucuses, the first official test of strength in the nomination process, are held on January 3, 2012.
Newt Gingrich, as the new front runner in the polls, came under attack from his fellow competitors, as did Mitt Romney. See polling data here. Though he lied several times to obfuscate his former record of support for such measures as climate cap and trade and an individual mandate to buy health care, and drew belly laughs trying to explain his eight-figure K Street lobbying haul as simple "private sector free enterprise," most observers felt Gingrich held his own well enough to retain his late momentum toward victory in Iowa. See the Fact Check report on instances of untruthfulness in the debate here. Suffice it to say this field did not win any awards for accuracy last night.
What stands out more than anything at this time are the glaring deficiencies of all the remaining Republican candidates. One-time front runners Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry, along with Rick Santorum, have sought to appeal to the conservative Evangelical Christian vote. Yet Bachmann's and Perry's stumbles have evaporated their following, while Santorum has yet to be able to generate any. None of these three gives evidence of being ready to assume the office they seek.
Jon Huntsman, a fellow who tries to talk sense, suffers the handicap in the Republican electorate of being a former appointee of the Obama Administration as Ambassador to China. Though he is actually quite conservative, the former Utah governor also suffers from sounding far too reasonable when GOP primary voters are howling for red meat rhetoric. Huntsman also gets stuck with being identified as the second-fiddle "other Mormon" in the field behind Mitt Romney.
That leaves the two current leaders, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. Romney's Achilles' heel is certainly his reputation as a serial flip-flopper. Gingrich and the others have zeroed in on this, and were he to win the nomination you can rest assured the Obama campaign would have a field day on this score. He is competent to be president, but comes across as rather a patrician wimp, strangely reminiscent of the forty-first president, George H. W. Bush. He might be the most electable general election candidate in the GOP primary field, but he is viewed as too moderate by the typical Republican primary voter.
Newt Gingrich assuredly knows enough to be president, and now has a sizable lead among likely GOP voters in all the national polls. Yet he too has major weaknesses. He has reversed course on the issues perhaps even more than Romney, if that is possible. He is mean and shoots from the hip like a talk radio pundit, making outrageous statements often at odds with reality. His ethics lapses are the stuff of legend. And Gingrich has made over $100 million as a K Street Washington lobbyist for firms the Tea Party excoriates for "crony capitalism." This has all come after he was drummed out of the House Speakership and fined $300,000 by an ethics committee run by his own party in 1998. As Joan Walsh of Salon writes of Newt, "even his baggage has baggage."
Though President Obama should be regarded as vulnerable given the slow recovery of the economy, this field of GOP challengers will be challenged indeed to beat him come next November. And their biggest obstacles might well be themselves.
Newt Gingrich, as the new front runner in the polls, came under attack from his fellow competitors, as did Mitt Romney. See polling data here. Though he lied several times to obfuscate his former record of support for such measures as climate cap and trade and an individual mandate to buy health care, and drew belly laughs trying to explain his eight-figure K Street lobbying haul as simple "private sector free enterprise," most observers felt Gingrich held his own well enough to retain his late momentum toward victory in Iowa. See the Fact Check report on instances of untruthfulness in the debate here. Suffice it to say this field did not win any awards for accuracy last night.
What stands out more than anything at this time are the glaring deficiencies of all the remaining Republican candidates. One-time front runners Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry, along with Rick Santorum, have sought to appeal to the conservative Evangelical Christian vote. Yet Bachmann's and Perry's stumbles have evaporated their following, while Santorum has yet to be able to generate any. None of these three gives evidence of being ready to assume the office they seek.
Jon Huntsman, a fellow who tries to talk sense, suffers the handicap in the Republican electorate of being a former appointee of the Obama Administration as Ambassador to China. Though he is actually quite conservative, the former Utah governor also suffers from sounding far too reasonable when GOP primary voters are howling for red meat rhetoric. Huntsman also gets stuck with being identified as the second-fiddle "other Mormon" in the field behind Mitt Romney.
That leaves the two current leaders, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. Romney's Achilles' heel is certainly his reputation as a serial flip-flopper. Gingrich and the others have zeroed in on this, and were he to win the nomination you can rest assured the Obama campaign would have a field day on this score. He is competent to be president, but comes across as rather a patrician wimp, strangely reminiscent of the forty-first president, George H. W. Bush. He might be the most electable general election candidate in the GOP primary field, but he is viewed as too moderate by the typical Republican primary voter.
Newt Gingrich assuredly knows enough to be president, and now has a sizable lead among likely GOP voters in all the national polls. Yet he too has major weaknesses. He has reversed course on the issues perhaps even more than Romney, if that is possible. He is mean and shoots from the hip like a talk radio pundit, making outrageous statements often at odds with reality. His ethics lapses are the stuff of legend. And Gingrich has made over $100 million as a K Street Washington lobbyist for firms the Tea Party excoriates for "crony capitalism." This has all come after he was drummed out of the House Speakership and fined $300,000 by an ethics committee run by his own party in 1998. As Joan Walsh of Salon writes of Newt, "even his baggage has baggage."
Though President Obama should be regarded as vulnerable given the slow recovery of the economy, this field of GOP challengers will be challenged indeed to beat him come next November. And their biggest obstacles might well be themselves.
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