Author Archives: Hawk

Hey, Climate Change Deniers, Deny This!

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You simply don’t want to make changes to our economy because you’re selfish. You’re a bunch of angry anti-government, “conservatives” who want to be able to drive your gas-guzzling cars. You want to leave your energy-gobbling incandescent lights on all night, keep your thermostats at 72 degrees in the summer and crank them up to 78 degrees in the winter.

You want to burn carbon and pollute the planet like your parents and your parents’ parents. You want to continue to use up a disproportionate share of the planet’s resources – to hell with the environment. You want to continue to carry your groceries in plastic bags because it’s too much trouble to remember the reuseable ones. You want to use disposable everything because it’s too much work to recycle. And you certainly don’t want Al Gore and a bunch of pointy-headed liberals to tell you what you can and can’t do.

You look at the findings of the scientific community and scoff. After all, you won’t be around to suffer the consequences if the scientists are right.

Who cares if the glaciers are melting at an alarming rate? Who cares if the planet’s CO2-consuming forests are dwindling? Who cares if hundreds of species are becoming extinct? (You’ve seen plenty of videos of them on Animal Planet and Discovery Channel anyway. Right?) Who cares if our sources of fresh water are disappearing or becoming polluted?

Think I’m exaggerating? In my community of mostly retirees, this is the attitude I hear all the time. The only environment that concerns these people is the condition of the golf course. Of course, it’s terrible that those poor people in Louisiana, Alabama, Oklahoma, Iowa and Kansas are suffering more floods and severe weather. But the weather is cyclical. It’s God’s will. (Until it affects them or their families.)

I find this degree of selfishness insufferable. Don’t you climate change deniers ever ask yourself, What if the scientists are right? What will happen to my children and grandchildren and all of the millions of young people I don’t even know?

What makes the position of the deniers so unfathomable is that, rather than disrupt our economy, climate change legislation could be good for it. Providing real incentives for the development of solar, wind, wave, biofuels, nuclear and other alternative energies could provide tens of thousands of new manufacturing jobs in the U.S. We could create even more jobs by developing new infrastructure to recharge electric cars and to develop high-speed rail. We would have cleaner air and water. And we could stop sending billions of dollars to places like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and even Iran. We might even avoid a few wars.

Seriously, folks, what do we have to lose?

Yes, I know you deniers don’t like change. I know it would be painful to admit that the liberals are actually right. And I know that the heads of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly would likely explode. But that, alone, would leave the planet a better place.

© LaMaster Propaganda – All rights reserved.

Brewer And McCain Telling Racist Lies For Political Gain.

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You know how Gov. Jan Brewer and teabagger wannabe, John McCain, talk about the “illegal immigrant crisis” in Arizona? You know how they portray the state as the most dangerous in the nation as a result of illegal immigration?

Well, I hate to get in the way of a good political campaign theme, but the facts tell a very different story.

Truth is, violent crime has been dropping in AZ for decades. In 2009, violent crime was the lowest since 1983. And property crimes were the lowest since 1968. Some crime wave, huh? By comparison, for 2007, there were 177 more violent crimes in Sarah Palin’s Alaska than in Arizona. And there were 241 more violent cimes in neighboring Nevada.

In Nogales, AZ which sits on the border with Mexico, there were 23 violent crimes in 2000 and only 19 in 2009. In fact, the Sheriff of Pima County, Clarence Dupnik, has been quoted as saying “…the border has never been more secure.” Statistics back that up. According to a report in the Arizona Republic, there are nearly 10 federal agents per mile of Arizona border – more than any time in our history. And President Obama just dispatched more than 500 National Guard troops to the Arizona/Mexico border – twice what Gov. Brewer requested. Yet she continues to say that the current administration has done nothing to curb illegal immigration and violence along the border!

Brewer and McCain also imply that illegal immigrants commit a disproportionate percentage of crimes. Although the state and federal government do not track the number of crimes committed by illegals, there is one indication that’s another lie. In Cochise County, which borders Mexico, only 4 percent of the crimes are committed by illegal residents – roughly equal to their proportion of the population.

So, as it turns out, you have little to fear from illegals by coming to AZ. And though I believe we must do even more to curtail illegal immigration, there are many other things of more pressing concern for our state – like Arizona traffic. There were 1066 traffic deaths in the state for 2007. But many of the same people who are screaming about illegal immigration have demanded that the state remove its photo radar cameras which target those who speed and run red lights. Now those people are scary!

Where Are The Climate Change Deniers Now?

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Last winter, those who refuse to accept the science of climate change used the blizzards in Washington, DC and New England to “prove” their point that global warming doesn’t exist. By that same logic, shouldn’t those people be sounding the alarm for global warming now? After all, much of the U.S. has suffered through weeks of extreme hot weather.

It would appear that the only “proof” they will accept is something that supports their own uninformed opinion.

Who Are We Afraid Of? (Part II)

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It was recently announced that the U.S. military budget ($692 billion for FY 2010) now exceeds military spending by all other nations combined. That’s right. We now spend more on defense than all 194 of the other countries in the world! And that doesn’t even include the money we spend on Homeland Security, or most of the money we spend on intelligence gathering. (A recent expose’ by the Washington Post reported an estimated 854,000 people work in the secretive information gathering business in the U.S. No one knows how much money is being spent on the endeavor.)

There can be only two conclusions from that data: We are the most powerful nation in the world. And we are the most paranoid; maybe with good reason.

According to Wikipedia, “as of March 31, 2008, U.S. armed forces were stationed at more than 820 installations in at least 135 countries.” Of course, we have large numbers in the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq. But we still have 52,440 in Germany, 9,660 in Italy and 35,688 in Japan more than 60 years after WWII. We have 28,500 in the Republic of Korea more than 50 years after the Korean Conflict. We have 9,015 in the United Kingdom (are we expecting a repeat of our Revolutionary War?), 47,236 in East Asia, 3,362 in North Africa … the list goes on.

Given the state of our economy, what could possibly justify the expenditures? If they’re not needed, we’re wasting an incredible amount of money. And if they are, we need to change our foreign policy, because we must be the most hated people on Earth.

Shirley Sherrod Story Reveals Much About Both Republicans And Democrats.

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When a right wing blogger edited a speech by a USDA worker describing an event that took place more than 20 years ago, he made it appear that she had committed a racist act against a troubled white farm family.

Of course, Fox Noise Channel and other right wing media megaphones jumped on the opportunity to make yet another charge that the Obama Administration favors blacks over the long-oppressed white majority (sarcasm intended).

When confronted with the Fox Noise story, Secretary Vilsack immediately asked for her resignation. Even the NAACP censured her. However, one day later, the unedited video was released showing that Ms. Sherrod had simply (and graciously) been using the story of her long ago, racist reaction to make an object lesson that racism against any group has no place in our society.

So why not use Ms. Sherrod’s story as an object lesson for 21st century politics?
It is, after all, very revealing about our weaknesses. It reveals the mean-spirited and deceptive practices of the right wing. It reveals the lack of journalistic standards being practiced by Fox (and the much higher standards of CNN and MSNBC). It reveals the weak knees of Democrats whenever they are confronted by right wing charges. And it reveals the human tendency to believe the worst about someone even before we know the facts.

We should all vow to do better in the future.

$3.4 Trillion Reasons To Not Vote Republican In November.

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According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), that’s the amount tax cuts being proposed by Republicans will add to the national deficit over 10 years.

The proposed tax cuts include permanently extending the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts which represent $2.3 trillion. Of course that’s just an estimate. But the CBO found that the unfunded Bush tax cuts, which primarily benefit the wealthy, added $539 billion to the deficit in 2005 alone.

On top of that deficit-ballooning idea, Republicans want to eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax along with Estate Taxes and Gift Taxes which, according to projections, will add another $1.1 trillion to the deficit over 10 years. Again, these tax cuts are aimed at benefitting the wealthiest part of our society.

Just to be clear, the $3.4 trillion would be added to the annual deficit over the next ten years and the effect on the total national debt would be cumulative. In other words, they would likely add another $3.4 trillion to the national debt each and every decade after their passage!

In case you’ve been living in a vacuum, the people promoting these tax cuts are the very people who claim to be so concerned about adding to the deficit that they’re willing to filibuster the extension of unemployment benefits for people who are out of work.

What’s particularly fascinating about this debate is that the Republican leaders don’t think cutting revenue will have an impact on the deficit.

Senate Minority Dimwit, Mitch McConnell is on record for saying, “There’s no evidence that the Bush tax cuts actually diminished revenue. They increased revenue.”

Hmmm…if you believe that, maybe you should try this experiment at home: If your household expenses exceed your income, then look for a job with a lower salary. According to McConnell, fellow Senate Dimwit, Jon Kyl, and other Republicans, that will reduce your debt!

That’s the kind of thinking that took us from an economy that generated 22 million jobs and a budget surplus in the Clinton administration to an economy that almost entirely collapsed under the Bush administration and gave us a huge deficit.

Yeah, who wouldn’t want to put those people in charge again?

Another Fox Feargasm.

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Heard about the new “Black Panthers?” Have you heard that three members of the Black Panther Party allegedly tried to intimidate voters in one Philadelphia precinct in 2008; one with a police-style baton? Have you heard that the Department of Justice refused to press charges against the individuals involved and, instead, banned the individual with the baton from Philadelphia polling places until 2012?

Of course, the “fair and balanced” nitwits have gone ballistic. They claim that it demonstrates racism by President Obama and his administration. And they have the “news” story on a loop, repeating it hourly.

Nevermind that there are no accusations that these members committed acts of violence or kept anyone from voting. And nevermind that, for decades, white supremacists have intimidated African-Americans to keep them from voting. Indeed, in 2000, there were many reported instances of voter intimidation in Florida to keep African-Americans from voting for Al Gore. And as many as 10,000 registered voters were denied their right to vote in several Florida counties. Where was the outrage by Fox Noise then? Where were the indictments by the Bush administration? Where was the outrage by Fox when their viewers appeared at Congressional forums with threatening signs and assault rifles? And what if the Obama administration had indicted teabaggers for trying to intimidate Congressional representatives?

It appears that the Faux News treatment of the Black Panthers story is merely intended to create more fear toward President Obama amongst the uninformed, the misinformed and the unintelligent.

While the actions of a few people in Philadelphia are deplorable, they are nothing new. And they certainly don’t warrant 24/7 media coverage. But then, neither did the Fox Feargasm that led to the closing of ACORN.

Fox led its viewers to believe that ACORN had helped “steal” the 2008 elections and that employees of ACORN provided advice to a “pimp” and a “prostitute.” After several investigations, it’s now clear that the only prostitution was by the producers of the videos and the idiots on Fox who sold their integrity in order to attack an organization they viewed as a political opponent.

Based on Fox’s version of the news, one can only wonder when, or if, its audience will ever realize that the network that claims to be “fair and balanced” is neither.

© LaMaster Propaganda – All rights reserved.

What’s The Real Reason There Are More Women In The Workplace?

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For the past several years, there has been much publicity over the increase of women in the workplace. The hiring of women has greatly outpaced the hiring of men in certain jobs. Advertising, marketing, healthcare, and many other industries are becoming dominated by women. The statistics would lead you to believe that the U.S. has finally become gender equal.

But before you begin applauding American corporations for their enlightment, you may want to consider another, not quite so flattering, reason for the change. In their never-ending quest to increase profits and pump up stock prices, corporations may simply be hiring more women because they can pay them less.

That’s right. American corporations have cut employee-related costs by increasing productivity, automating production lines, and shipping high-paying jobs overseas where workers are paid less and receive virtually no benefits. Many have hired illegal immigrants to replace workers at the lowest end of the pay scale. They’ve utilized independent contractors to replace full-time office workers in order to avoid paying Social Security, health care benefits, disability insurance and unemployment insurance. They’ve even come up with ways to use the Internet to pare the cost of marketing, advertising and design. So what’s left?

Women have always been able to do most jobs as well as men (and many better). But their salaries have long been suppressed. (A recent study found that female attorneys in elite law firms were paid an average of $66,000/year less than their male counterparts.) So why not take advantage of them once again?

Hiring more women is a sign of progress toward gender equality. But the reason for it is not necessarily one that corporations should be proud of.

AZ now stands for Assinine Zealots.

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For the past 15 years, Arizona Republicans have cut taxes for corporations and the wealthy in an attempt to intentionally bankrupt the state. At the same time, they’ve transferred funds through tax credits to private and parochial schools while hacking away at public school funding. And as the state’s population blossomed, they did little to expand the economy, choosing to rely instead on home building and tourism.

So what are they doing now that both industries have collapsed? In addition to raising sales taxes (in my locale, the current rate is 10.5 percent on all purchases) and further slashing funding for public schools (funding that already ranked 51 out of 50 states), they’re blaming our problems on illegal immigrants.

For centuries, oppressive regimes around the globe have deflected criticism by blaming minorities. Of course, illegals are in no position to defend themselves. They have no ability to vote. By necessity, they don’t even want to admit their status.

So instead of trying to create new jobs in Arizona or even eliminate government waste, the Republican–dominated Legislature and Governor Jan Brewer deflect attention from their abysmal performance by villainizing illegals. Even the wannabe teabaggers, John McCain and Jon Kyl have gotten into the act. They falsely claim that Phoenix ranks 2nd in the world for kidnappings. They falsely claim that most of the undocumented workers are drug dealers or mules. They falsely claim that the Obama administration refuses to take action to seal the border. And they falsely claim that undocumented workers contribute nothing to the state’s economy while flooding social services.

The truth is that undocumented workers contribute a great deal to the state’s economy through hard work, purchases and taxes. Many pay income taxes, Social Security taxes and Medicare taxes despite the fact that they will never benefit from them. All rent or purchase homes. They also pay sales taxes on purchases of cars, appliances, furniture, clothing and food. And now that SB1070 has been passed into state law, those contributions are fleeing the state putting even more stress on the state’s economy. Home values continue to drop. Owners of apartment buildings report record vacancies. Employers in numerous industries report that they are having difficulty filling jobs. On top of that, thanks to SB1070, cities and groups around the country have cancelled meetings and conventions in our state. Even if they aren’t directly boycotting Arizona, many don’t want to become embroiled in the controversy.

Of course, there are angry, old white people from other states who have organized a few “buycotts” in Arizona. Indeed, a group from Texass recently sent a busload of rednecks to Phoenix in support of SB1070. They spent a day touring the city admiring the soutwestern architecture and culture ending with a rally in, of all places … a Mexican restaurant.

America, Right or Wrong?

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When I was in college at the height of the Vietnam “War”, I was considered an unpatriotic “Commie” for simply questioning U.S. military involvement in a land on the other side of the globe that had not attacked or threatened our nation. I was told, even by my parents, that it shouldn’t matter to me; that I should be proud to fight for our flag no matter how I personally felt about our nation’s actions. Ironically, the only family members who seemed to understand my point of view were those who had served heroically in WWII.

Remembering that ugly period in our nation’s history (and in my life) recently caused me to look at today’s political debate in a new way. I realized that there are many issues that separate liberals from conservatives – education, taxes, greed, religion and the circumstances of our childhoods, to name a few. But the notion of so-called American “Exceptionalism” may be the most divisive of all of the issues that separate us.

Most often, those on the political right believe that patriotism can only be demonstrated by supporting our nation’s every action (of course, the exception is whenever a Democratic President is in office). They could care less about how our nation is viewed globally. They despise the United Nations. They take offense at criticism from other nations. And they’re even more angered by criticism from within. They believe America’s Founding Fathers were Christian saints, and that the Constitution was obviously created through divine providence.

On the other hand, those on the political left are more likely to think globally. We find it difficult to accept bullying, dishonesty and greed – from our nation or any other. We despise poverty. We cherish education. We care about human rights. We’re willing to admit when our nation and its corporations are wrong. Instead of being angered by criticism, we try to understand the opposing viewpoint and change our own if necessary. We believe that it’s the duty of a patriot to call attention to our nation’s errors; to speak truth to power. We understand that the Constitution is a living, breathing document that was flawed (given its denial of voting rights to women and African-Americans) and can be improved. And we believe the Founding Fathers were generous, caring, insightful and prophetic men. But we accept the fact that they were mortals nonetheless.

These contradictions, I believe, are at the very heart of most of our political disagreements. Unfortunately, these beliefs are so firmly entrenched, there’s little we can do to change them. All we can do is to try to understand them and, as progressives, try to frame our arguments keeping these differences in mind.

© LaMaster Propaganda – All rights reserved.