The Keystone XL Pipeline Fails America

by: CarolSheaPorter

Wed Feb 22, 2012 at 18:48:53 PM EST

While the economy is recovering, creating jobs is crucial, so those who support this pipeline have been touting it as a job creator, although they sure seem confused. The NH-01 Congressman wrote that the KXL project, "is expected to immediately create 20,000 American jobs, and an additional 179,000 jobs through at least 2035 once the pipeline is fully operational in 2013."  Speaker John Boehner, who just happens to have major investments in most of the oil companies that will profit from the KXL and has received money from them, says 100,000 jobs. The American Petroleum Institute claims "more than half a million new jobs" by 2035. The head of the US Chamber of Commerce, Thomas Donohue, says up to 250,000 jobs over the life of the project.

There is always a party pooper, and in this case, it is the Cornell University Global Labor Institute. In September 2011, it reported, "A calculation of the direct jobs that might be created by KXL can begin with an examination of the jobs on-site to build and inspect the pipeline. The project will create no more than 2,500-4,650 temporary direct construction jobs for two years, according to TransCanada's own data supplied to the State Department."  

Tea Party: Patriotic Moniker for Malignant Mindset

by: susaninrindge

Fri Nov 11, 2011 at 08:28:57 AM EST

Occupy Wall Street is the first manifestation of our body politics' attempt to reject this "disease" and return our system to balance.  Each eruption around the country signifies the body's attempt to rid itself of the toxicity.  A rash, a cold, a break-out!  Our system is rebelling against the destruction of our identity... what makes us America... the destruction of our morality, the suppression of our identity.

OWS events have been compared to the tea party as if both were expressing objections to the same thing.  But Tea Partiers feel estranged by the political system because of the values embedded in the New Deal.  They are objecting to distributing wealth, distributing opportunity, worker rights, and entitlement programs... safeguarding equality.  Obama embodies all of what they find objectionable  because he is an African-American (who used to be) liberal.  He went to Harvard , enabled (by his own statements) by affirmative action and went on to become President.  This is the nightmare scenario for tea partiers who hate affirmative action. His election is the manifestation of their worst nightmare.

The tea party is anti-social and immoral.  Tea party members are the people in the audience at GOP debates who cheer when they hear about people dying without health care and cheering about record numbers being executed and cheering about people being unable to find jobs. The tea party is our own NH GOP leadership. The tea party is a culture that rejects the morality of any religion in favor of social Darwinism that allows those with power to dominate those without power.  The tea party fools us by calling themselves "Republicans" and "Christians" but they are, in practice, neither.  But because they have co-opted the Republican Party and call themselves Christians, we have not seen them for who they really are.  The Republican Party is their disguise. Christianity is their Trojan horse.

Their leaders are sociopaths.  They exhibit no empathy, have no ability to put themselves in the situations of others; they lie with impunity and immunity; they think they are entitled to everything they want; they see no inter-connectedness.  The wealth disparity they enjoy and/or support is immoral and anti-social. They are not in the same boat with the rest of us; they are in the luxury yacht enjoying the good life, to which their wealth entitles them.  They are against educating our children because theirs go to private schools; they are against health care programs because they can afford to see the best doctors. They are against social programs because they simply don't care about anyone but themselves. They are against taxes for themselves because they believe they are entitled to every dime they make, no matter what the cost to people and the environment.  They are misogynists, homophobes and xenophobes.

The Koch brothers and their ilk -- billionaires who have made their money by raping the environment, polluting the atmosphere and exploiting workers -- have been providing funding for this movement since the founding of the John Birch Society. Their followers may not all represent the purest versions of founding funders, but they hang onto the dream of joining the wealthy elite.  Everyday, garden-variety Republicans (and some Democrats?) are drawn into this pathology.  Back us and gain/retain your power; defy us and lose.  Our money controls your destiny. In a combination of blackmail and co-opting, otherwise traditional politicians make deals with the devil

The political policies of the Tea Party have huge cultural and moral ramifications that are  penetrating our society. Their vision  of unfettered capitalism run amok is here.  We need to all support OWS and understand that these demonstrations will be the only way for us to reverse course. Today's political system is captive to the same money that has spawned capitalism's excesses.  

Political decisions next year have to be framed as moral and cultural choices, not just political. It's not just that GOP has blocked every initiative Obama has made; they have blocked every attempt to maintain any morality and sense of community embedded in policy.  They have curtailed the rights of women, workers, and minorities; they have undermined voting rights to favor voters who are inclined to vote for their morphed GOP; they have competed to craft the most draconian immigration policies.  Their policies expand the widening chasm between the haves and have-nots; protect banks and corporations from fair practices.

We have to help OWS give voice to this embryonic and amorphous message of rebellion against the Tea Party's immorality. This is not about policy, this is about our soul.

GOPP (Grand Old Puppet Party)

by: Lucy Edwards

Mon Apr 04, 2011 at 10:45:30 AM EDT

All Marching To The Same Drummer... Puppeteers Behind the Curtain

by: susaninrindge

Fri Mar 25, 2011 at 09:53:56 AM EDT

Earlier I posted about the ideological connection between the John Birch Society and the Tea Party movement and how the Koch family has been funding both over the past half century.  I've been on the investigative trail since then (more like stumbling, serendipitously into an information bonanza!)  What I've found is The American Legislative Exchange Council - ALEC -- the big dot in the middle of everything tea-party-ish, free-state-er-ish, whatever you want to call right wing extremism- that we are seeing play out today.

Hannah had posted about the prison in Berlin not being staffed due to lack of funds.  That reminded me of the prison construction lobby that I had read about in Arizona and how they were lobbying for laws in Arizona that would basically create more potential inmates (e.g. immigration, stiffer sentences, etc).  Obviously building prisons had become privatized, while staffing them was still a responsibility of the State.  I wondered who built the prison in Berlin which led me to Judd Gregg, who gained funding for the prison; The New York Oldcastle Precast Modular Group, which received the contract to build the modular elements making up the prison; and the Corrections Corporation of America which lobbies Congress for stiffer sentences, etc across the country to keep populations high in our prisons, which, as we know, are no longer run by the States, but by private corporations.  There was a big push to build prisons and keep them filled with newly-minted criminals; but, alas, no funds to man the prisons...  Wha' Happened?  Did they forget to privatize corrections officers?  Oh, yes, those pesky unions. Well, at least somebody gets rich  building the prisons. But I digress... Back to ALEC,...

A little more poking around and I discovered that the prison lobbying group,CCofA, has strong ties to another group, The American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC, which I now realize is behind not just prison-friendly laws, but the entire legislative effort in this country to bring about the fundamentalist conservative agenda we are now seeing unfold from one coast to the other.  ALEC is the hub in the middle of the Koch brothers wheel of American fortune and we, the states, are each another spoke.

The ALEC was founded in 1973 by Henry Hyde, Paul Weyrich* and lou Barnett.  It's goal for the last 40 years has been to draft "model bills" that conservative legislators can introduce in the 50 states. I believe there are federal laws being drafted as well. Any legislator at any level of government can join for about a hundred bucks. Regular people or private companies can join for thousands.  It looks like there are at least about  a dozen or so major topic areas where members can get technical support on issues as they seek to ram through legislation that supports the agenda of the far-right wing.  These topics include the following large headings but cover many topics related to fiscal and social policy:

Critical State Fiscal Reform
Cutting Crime and Budgets
EPA's Regulatory Train Wreck
Expanding the Law under the New Restatement of Torts
Federal Relations
Prison Overcrowding
Restore the Balance
States Triumph over Federal Mandate
Sunshine in State Attorney Contracts

More on ALEC

ALEC has drafted hundreds of bills.  They are available online, but only to members. The website claims that in each legislative cycle, its members introduce 1000 pieces of legislation and that around 18% of these bills are enacted into law. (One stellar success was the 2010 anti-immigration law in Arizona.)  ALEC holds national conferences where the hot legislative topics of the day are covered and strategies developed for getting legislation passed at the national and state levels.

It's been increasingly apparent over the last few months, that there must be some coordination going on for so many states to be pushing virtually the same legislation at the same time.  Making the connection to the John Birch Society began to pull back the curtain revealing a world of forces behind this highly orchestrated fever of radical right wing activity.

ALEC has been very successful at flying below the radar.

A professor at the University of Wisconsin, William Cronon, is now being harassed by ALEC because he has brought to light their affiliation with Scott Walker and the WI legislators. Cronon was a favorite history professor of Josh Marshall, the editor of Talking Points Memo and is featured today on TPM's home page. Cronon's story led me to much of the detailed material I've uncovered today.

The Koch family provides large grants to support the work of ALEC and its partners across the country.  So, the way I see it, ALEC provides the know-how and technical support to get laws passed that further the agenda of the far right, exemplified by the Koch's and all their minions, whether they be dressed as tea bags or not.

Some obvious questions for us:
Are Kelley Ayotte/Charlie Bass/Frank Giunta  members of ALEC?
What is the relationship of our NH House/Senate leadership with ALEC?
How can we combat this very well-financed, complex and comprehensive onslaught from the right?
They have been working toward this since Goldwater was defeated.  Now is their time...
Unless we do something.
Will demonstrations be enough?

*Weyrich co-founder of the Heritage Foundation (a conservative think tank) and the idea man who gave Jerry Falwell the concept of the moral majority. Wyerich also actually helped to found many other organizations including: the Council for National Policy (CNP) (an organization strategically aligning social conservatives), the Free Congress Foundation (an association of conservative activist organizations), and National Empowerment Television (a cable TV network, also known as America's Voice, designed to mobilize the conservative grassroots).

The Missing Link?

by: susaninrindge

Sat Feb 26, 2011 at 08:50:28 AM EST

The society says it is anti-totalitarian, particularly anti-socialist and anti-communist. It seeks to limit the powers of government and defends what it views as the original intention of the U.S. Constitution, which it believes is based on Christian principles. It opposes collectivism, including wealth redistribution, economic interventionism, socialism, communism, and fascism. The society opposed aspects of the civil rights movement in the 1960s because of its concerns that the movement had communists in important positions - for instance, in the latter half of 1965, the JBS produced a flyer titled "What's Wrong With Civil Rights?"

One of the founding members was Fred Koch,founder of Koch Industries, one of the largest private corporations in America.

Now that the red menace is no longer, they still have a crsytal clear agenda. I'd like to try to do a match-up of the DNA of our local tea party favorites and JBS principles espoused over the years.

Celebrating Failures

by: hannah

Fri Oct 08, 2010 at 05:59:37 AM EDT

Well, it is possible to shrug it all off as a corporate fetish with failure, as I suggested earlier today, but the fact is that stuff we're not supposed to notice is going on behind the curtain -- stuff like financial fraud to cover up fraud.