PA Nightmare - Green Dreams

When it comes to oil, gas, and fracking wells, the petrochemical industry wants you to think of green. That is the primary color of the US Dollar.

They don't want you thinking of rainbows and clear glass.

A rainbow sheen on to of water means that there is gas or oil on it.

Clear is the color of methane gas. As best as I can tell.

And they want you thinking of Texas in the movies where the oil and gas wells are huge and generally away from where people are living.

They don't want you thinking of the natural gas disaster that is Pennsylvania where there are so many oil and gas wells drilled that the state doesn't even know where they all are. That is because many off them were drilled in the first “oil boom” in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. The companies were busy drilling and no one thought that they would go bust.

Well, now Pennsylvania has a number of problems related to the oil and gas industry that it helped give birth to.

All these old wells are leaking methane – a know greenhouse gas that is four times as dangerous as carbon dioxide. Worse yet – nobody knows where the wells are, for the most part.

Some wells are obvious because of the rusting derricks that sit idle. There are many others that no one even is aware of. And they are leaking a dangerous gas and can explode. Methane is also highly flammable. Can you picture a fire starting at a well from a lightning strike in a dry forest? I'd rather not.

Since these wells are abandoned and unmapped, the people of Pennsylvania have no idea what might be happening on their property. Some wells were properly capped, but the years of neglect from companies that have gone bankrupt means that the concrete is failing. Others had dirt, garbage, or – as reported in many cases – cannonballs dumped down them. (I really don't want to be around if that well goes off.)

In addition to all the environmental problems from oil and gas spills are the health effects that unsuspecting people that live around these mystery wells suffer from – breathing problems, cancers, birth defects, and so on.

So Pennsylvania has started to try and map these wells by having fracking companies document and map all wells within one thousand feet of a new fracking site. If I understand the regulations correctly, new fracking wells need to be a certain distance from an existing well or it can't be drilled because of problems that could result from the old well being disturbed.

New York did make a good choice in banning fracking because of the damage that fracking can do to water tables and the environment.

New York needs to go further. It needs to ban the pipelines that transports fracked gas and oil from Pennsylvania to Canada and other locations.

It needs to enact more stringent laws for tanker cars that use the railways and rail yards in NYS.

It also needs to enact more stringent staffing requirements for trains that are transporting carbon bomb oil cars. Remember the disaster in Quebec? That train had only one person on it. Imagine if there was a second engineer to man the emergency brake system while the other was inspecting the train?

No matter what, the burning of fossil fuels must stop if we are to save this planet that we are living on.

New York also needs to make it easier and more affordable for home owners to put up solar panels and wind generation systems. (I dislike saying turbines because people think of that huge “Steel Wind” turbines in Lackawana. There are much smaller and more inconspicuous systems that are coming out that work well with smaller properties and urban settings.)

So while Pennsylvania is picking up the pieces from the carbon bomb that exploded over it well over 100 years ago, New York needs to either lead, follow, or get out of the way of the people that want to save the planet from the impending carbon nightmare that is waiting to explode over the whole planet.

Solar emPowered

A friend of mine is getting quite proud. After inheriting a house and settling in he is going solar.

First he is getting rid of his “oil roof” - that's what he calls the shingles (mostly tar covered) on the roof of the house. Face it: they are made of refined petroleum. And the roofing tar that has been used to patch the leaks is nothing more than … you guessed it: refined petroleum.

So his oil roof is going to become a metal roof. An off white/gray color to help keep the house cool in this era of global warming.

Once that is done: solar panels will be installed and he will be able to (mostly) cut the cord to National Grid(lock) and become more energy independent. He's looking forward to the day when Elon Musk's Tesla Corporation (or whatever he calls it, or some other company) produces storage batteries for home based solar and wind generators. Then he can pretty much go off the grid entirely.

For now he will be selling excess electricity back to National Grid(lock). Thing is, they don't want to buy it. At least at the prices that they are required to right now. For now, National Grid(lock) and other electric distributors have to buy the electricity back at retail prices. This means that what they sell it for, they have to buy it from him at. And they don't like that because it cuts into their profits.

So the electric producers and distributors can make a profit but the solar panel owning home owner can't? That's not very capitalistic.

They want to buy it at wholesale prices – what the electricity producers sell it at before the distributors apply their (excessive) mark up. Seriously. His last bill was just over $48. The delivery charges were $32. If you dig into that “delivery charge,” $17 is the basic service and then $13 is the actual delivery charge. He only used $16 worth of electricity for the entire month. (Wait until he gets married. And then add the kids.)

The power delivery companies claim that it is unfair to them to have to pay retail prices for the solar electricity because the people on solar are not using the transmission lines and are passing the costs onto other users. (Wait until the other users go solar.)

The fact is that they (the delivery companies) are a monopoly and the electric producers are also a monopoly. And they are part of the fight because anything that cuts into their monopoly status is a direct threat to their profits (and the overpaid CEO salary, benefits, and retirement packages.) Solar and wind are decentralized and, in some cases, allow people to go off the grid entirely, (You need a balance of solar and wind to do this. My friend could do this. It's windy out where he lives.) When people aren't buying their electricity, they lose money big time and there is no way for them to monopolize the sun or wind. (House based systems caught on too fast and the only thing they can do is pass legislation that prohibits housetop systems. Those laws are going to fall as natural gas prices jump and the prices of solar panels and wind turbines drop.)

There's also the claim of an unfair government subsidy. There are tax breaks and credits for home owners that go to wind and solar based projects. The monopolists should be OK with this though. Look at all the subsidies that nuclear energy has received over the years. If it weren't for us, the taxpayers, underwriting nuclear, it wouldn't exist. And for what it is worth, Once you figure in all the tax dollars that we have put into nuclear energy, it actually costs $16 or so a kilowatt hour. I don't think those figures include the costs of storing all that nuclear waste. And remember – nuclear plants are always (way) over budget and behind schedule. Both FAIR.org and Project Censored have covered this in great detail.

So, here he is proudly doing what capitalists say he should want to do, except they don't want him to do it because it hurts their profits.

I don't understand capitalists.

I want to be there when he throws the switch for the panels to start producing solar energy.

He'll be going green and the energy producing and transmitting companies will be going green as well. Green with envy.

Republican Religion

So Donald Trump met with a group of religious leader in order to win them over to his cause. Given that the Republican Party pretty much has the conservative religious vote in its pocket, this was an easy task.

Ever since President (sick) Ronald Reagan revealed the “split the left” strategy in the late 1970's, the Christian vote has been in the Republican back pocket. For those that don't remember, both the Democrats and Republicans used to support abortion prior to 1979. Reagan mentioned that the only way for the Republican Party to regain the White House and the power of the presidency was to split the left. They did this by changing their stance. So during the 1980 presidential campaign the Republicans switched from being pro-abortion to anti-choice and the conservative Christian church swallowed it up like candy and has mindlessly followed the Republican party and its talking points ever since.

And to keep the conservative Christian movement in its back pocket, they adopted and adapted the social ideology of the conservative Christian movement and happily (and rather mindlessly) spout out its talking points whenever possible. So the anti-choice, anti-homosexual, etc rhetoric of the Christian church becomes part and parcel of the Republican agenda.

Never mind that the economic agenda of the Republican party hurts those in the working class that are Christians. That can be ignored. Then again, those that are in leadership positions of the conservative Christian church are part of the 1%, so the economics don't bother them as much, if at all.

And Engels spoke about this in Socialism: Utopian and Scientific. He writes quite a bit about religion in the first chapter/section and how the capitalist class will take over the leadership in the religious movement and use it towards its own ends.

Never mind all that the Bible has in it about defending the rights of the poor. (Read the Jewish/Old Testament for that.) Or the Christian/New Testament as well. James pretty much spells it out when he writes in the 2^nd Chapter : Are not the rich oppressing you? And do they themselves not haul you off to court?

Seriously? Who is it that uses the government to throw people out of their houses with eminent domain laws? How many people have lost their houses for much less than their actual worth so that some businessman could snatch them up and build a business? Usually one that needs tax breaks and other forms of public support in order to make a profit?

And in Buffalo – who is buying up these old churches and converting them into apartments and other commercial properties? And Christians aren't outraged. (You should see the one that was turned into a Mosque. Boy do they get sore about that. And the Buddhist Temple.)

Instead of worrying about fixing economic inequality and standing up for the rights of the poor, the conservative Christian church has focused on ways of dividing, conquering, and controlling the Christian community. They focus on being anti-choice and do anything they can to put an end to a woman's right to choose. This includes all forms of violence – like murder, arson, and bombing clinics. They also waste a significant amount of time and taxpayer dollars on anti-choice legislation. And the time wasted picketing the abortion clinics, calling people murderers, etc.

They focus on homosexuality and the LGBTQ movement. Instead of getting to know them as people and treating them with the dignity as part of the creation that their chosen deity created, they vilify them, condemn them, and otherwise treat them as dirt. Well, having read the Bible (numerous times) I find more teachings against adultery than homosexuality. I don't see them focusing on that at all. Probably because of the research by Barna that shows that Christians have a higher rate of divorce than society as a whole. Reminds me of Oz - “Don't look behind the curtain!” Perhaps we should.

Then again, Jesus hung around with prostitutes and other “sinners.” Perhaps they should read those verses and follow the example? 

And they are concerned about people saying "Merry Christmas."  Never mind that most people don't even go to a Christian church in this country.  They are celebrating a secularized version off the holiday created by capitalist enterprises to get people to spend money at the economically worst time of the year.

And I could go on- the way Christians treated the First Nations peoples when they came over here as immigrants (illegal at that. I don't remember the Pilgrims having green cards.) and now how they treat immigrants from other nations. And what does the Bible say about how immigrants should be treated?

And on and on it goes. Negatively.

Look at the message of inclusion and forgiveness by Pope Francis and some of the rather progressive statements that he has made since becoming Pope. I could say more biblical. The way he states we should treat people and care for the planet is more in line with the Bible that the conservative Christians want to believe.

Then again, I've heard conservative Christians quote the Bible. Rather selectively. And often out of context.Which is a logical fallacy.  Point that out to them.  They don't seem to like it.

The First Amendment gives Americans freedom of religion. That's freedom to choose how they want to worship, if they want to at all.

Then again, in history, the first colonies in the “New World” were economic colonies. Jamestown preceded Plymouth by almost 20 years. And it was a trading post.

Economics before religion.

Now we have economics controlling religion.

Seems Engels wrote quite a bit about that.

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Retiring the Redskins

And there are people in Lackawana still arguing that the “Redskins” name should be kept.

Seriously?

It's a racist term along the lines of the N-word.

It's the equivalent of calling people of Polish descent Polacks.

And Italians Degos or Wops.

And Germans Nazis.

And Hispanics Spics, Gringos, or wet backs,

And Chinese Chinks.

And Japanese Japs.

And Jews Kikes.

And Christans Bible Thumpers or Holy Rollers. (You get a choice there.)

And Muslims/people of Arabic descent Towel Heads.

And Africans the N-word.

And so on.

Every nationality and belief system has a derogatory name that goes with it.

For the First Nations peoples it happens to be Redskin.

There's not much to write on this topic other than these people need to move on.

The name has been changed and let it go.

Then again, a friend of mine from long ago had a joke about the name of Lackawana.

He called the city Lack of Wanna.

Some people just don't want to move on.

They want to live in an idealized past that never existed.

Just because someone doesn't say that something hurts doesn't mean that it doesn't.

Then again, First Nations people have been saying that for a long time.

We were never listening.

It is time to retire the Redskins name. Across the board and permanently.

Either that or change the name of every sports team in a community into a derogatory name for that community.

Your choice.

Biosolid Battle

Wheatfield is standing up against a wrong headed decision by NY over the use of biolsolid waste as a fertilizer.

Biosolid waste is the result anaerobically treated human waste. The result is two environmentally destructive products – methane gas which is burned to produce electricity and a semi-solid waste that the producers want to sell as fertilizer for crop fields. (I accidentally typed “crap fields” there. All things being considered, knowing how farmers fertilize their fields, it's closer to the truth.)

Wheatfield resident Monica Diegler has it correct when she states that farmers have a “right to farm, not a right to pollute.”

Biosolid waste is an environmental pollutant. They have been tested by several researchers and have been found to be loaded with heavy metals (a known cancer causing agent) and medical waste. (Know all those drugs that doctors pump into us in the form of injections and pills? Or bodies don't just absorb them. They expel as much as 90% of it through urination and defecation. Do you really want someone else's erectile dysfunction drug? Or birth control pill? Or pain killers? )

Remember: Whatever we put on the ground goes into our food.

I want organically grown safe food.

Those in Wheatfield that are fighting against the use of biolsolid waste are on the right side of history and we need to support them with everything that we have: From helping to pay for the legal team that is fighting against the court's decision, to providing pro-bono legal support, to picketing the meetings and the farm that wants to use biosolid waste as fertilizer. (The name of the farm is in the Buffalo News. Let them take the heat for publishing it.)

As eco-socialists we demand and end to the use of biosolid waste as fertilizer and the expanded use of organically produced fertilizer instead. (Think compost from fruits and vegetables. It's safer to make and use and is much friendlier to the environment and nature. As well as people.)

Action Alert: National Fuel Rate Hike Meeting

The State of NY Public Services Commission has called for a hearing on the proposed rate increase for Nation Fuel and the delivery of natural gas.

Why? According to all the news on the gas glut the price of natural gas is as cheap as it's going to get. It could go lower. Depends if the capitalists want to destroy the environment by fracking any more.

And the gas is a crappier quality of gas if it is the fracked gas. I recently had my stove repaired because some components were having problems associated with a “low quality” of gas. I mentioned to the repairman (he was a male) that it could be propane derived from fracking wells and his face just lit up like he had an “A-HA” eureka moment.

And why do the rates need to be increased? Because Nation Fuel is a Wall Street owned company and Wall Street is demanding more profits.

Right. Higher profits on crappy quality gas that is ruining people's appliances.

First of all, all utilities should be owned by the communities that they serve. They should be run and owned by the people, for the people.

Second, we should be looking into renewable energy for electricity because of the current state of the global warming crisis. California is in a five year (? or is it six now?) drought and the Mid-West is getting pretty bad too. (Maybe they should run irrigation off the Mississippi river? All that fertilizer runoff from upriver could fertilize the farmland down river instead of feeding the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone.) So we need to stop drilling for oil, gas, and fracking wells.

Third spawns off of the second line – All energy producers should be owned and run by all the people that they serve, not Wall Street. They should be publicly owned and run, not private for profit enterprises.

So, if you are a National Fuel customer and receive your gas from them, go to the meeting on June 28, 2018 at either 4 PM or 7 PM at the Town of Amherst Municipal Building (AKA the Towm Hall) and let them kNOw your opinion on paying more money for a cheaper quality and crappier gas.

Coop Economy

People ask me what I think a socialist economy would look like. I say that parts of it would look like the new food coop that is in East Aurora and the Breadhive bakery on 402 Connecticut Street.

Both places are worker owned and worker run cooperatives. The profits from the operations do not go to outsiders that don't work there or to Wall Street. The profits go to the workers. And the only way to own “shares” in these workplaces is to bean employee. (That goes for the Breadhive. I'm not entirely sure how the food coop works. It does sound enticing though and it's not too far from where I live. My bigger question is does it have a decent organic section?)

And since the workers are part owners, they make all the decisions on how the workplace is to be run and so on. I have a book on coops called”Democracy at Work” by Richard Wolff. I've seen a few presentations by him on YouTube and heard a few podcasts. He's an actual Marxist economist that advocates for worker owned companies and cooperatives.

This is the exact opposite to places like General Motors, Ford, Tops, or any gas station or restaurant/fast food joint where the owner runs the place and everyone is told what to do. All the profits go to to the owner and investors. Very few employees in those places can invest int hem because they don't get paid enough.

Then again, worker owned and worker run cooperatives have a better track record when it comes to absences, quality of work, and worker involvement because the worker is more interested in seeing the business succeed.

Are these places exempt from competition? No. If I don't like the food I'm being served I won't return. In the case of the supermarket, if they don't have what I want, I'll shop elsewhere. All the “rules” of economics apply. Supply and demand determine prices and ordering. (Hopefully.) Competition will still exist between different organization serving the same need. The difference is where the profits go. To the workers – who often live locally and spend locally which, in turn, builds the local economy – or to some private investor out somewhere in else where land where. And that money does nothing for the local economy.

So, if you are hungry for a bite, check out the Breadvive. If you want groceries, check out the East Aurora Coop or the Lexington Coop (soon to be two locations from what I understand.)

The big bosses aren't really interested in feeding us or freeing us.

That and do you really want to know what is in that McD's, BK, or other chain food meat?

We called it “mystery meat” in college.

It's a mystery as to what it really is.

Just Ban Biosolids

The more I read about biosolids, aka “sewer sludge,” the more disgusted I get.

And for those that are unaware, biosolids are sewer sludge. It's sewage from waste treatment plants that is treated and turned into methane. After the processing for methane, they have this sludge left over that they (the capitalists that are trying to make money any way they can without regards to consequences) have to dispose of. So they market it as fertilizer for fields that farmers own.

And I am plowing through the articles that have been posted as comments (thank you to the postees. I always like learning more about topics that interest me. Anything to increase information and education.) and I get more and more turned off and disgusted by the sewer sludge.

“An open letter ...” talks about all the chemical and biological contaminants that are in the sludge that the capitalists don't want tested. Nothing like a little heavy metal with your dinner. And pharmaceuticals, flame retardant (in case the chili or chicken wings are too hot?) That and the PCBs, which have been for as long as I can remember, dioxin “cogeners (that sounds safe. Dioxin reminds me of Love Canal. Not anyplace I want to take a boat cruise.) That and the polybrominated diphenyl ethers. From my high school chemistry class, that just doesn't even sounds safe. And what we spray on the land goes into our food. None of that sounds tasty.

Speaking of that, animals that eat food that is grown in this sewer sludge has a negative effert on animal fertility (Eating meat grazed…) . Fewer healthy eggs in the females. Fewer healthy eggs equals fewer animals. And more problems and costs for farmers which they pass onto us. So in the long run no one is really saving any money.

And the phthalates, which we know causes early puberty in females and other hormonal problems.

And PCBs act as an endocrine disruptor, impairs fertility, and raises the risk for cancers and other immune system disorders. These add up to more hidden and long term costs. Not paid by the manufacturer though. We pay those out of pocket.

And the more I read the more disgusted I get.

And then there is the runoff problem. We have a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico that is going to get as large as the state of Connecticut. And it's called dead because there is nothing living in it. The water is just that toxic. No one is allowed to sail in it and sea life just stays away. The cause? Runoff from farms – agricultural waste. I'm sure there is industrial waste in it too.

We also have the toxic algae bloom in Lake Erie on the western side that is progressively moving eastward. The cause? Agricultural runoff. And the lawmakers re beating their heads into a wall to try and find a way to contain it.

And how many times have I heard on the news that beaches in Erie and Niagara or Orleans Counties are closed after a rainstorm because of high bacterial counts from sewer over runs? Too many. And they (the capitalists) want to take the sewage and spray it on our croplands.

Not to mention that methane is a greenhouse gas that is (at least) four times as dangerous to the atmosphere as regular carbon dioxide. And when burned to produce electricity it also contributes to global warming. (There's really no winning with methane no matter what you do with it.)

So yes, as an eco-socialist I stand in solidarity and in a united front with organizations, farmers, and communities that are fighting against the use of sewer sludge as fertilizer.

We must work together to ban the use of sewer sludge and have the companies that manufacture it pay for the environmental clean up of land and water systems contaminated by it.

And if the company happens to go bankrupt, just send the bill to everyone that worked in management and put it against their credit rating.

And pro-rate it. The more they made, the more they pay.

Ban the biosolids.

Say NO to sewer sludge.

It's just sick.

Mass shooting vs terrorism?

One week ago we were all shocked as a gunman walked into a night club frequented by the LGBTQ community and (evidently after several hours of being there) opened fire with an AR-15 assault rifle and (supposedly) pistols.

And he checked social media during it all to see if he was getting his “15 minutes of fame” in.

News reports were very interesting. First they reported the event as a “mass shooting.” When it was found out that the shooter was a Muslim the story shifted to an act of “terrorism.

All because he was a Muslim.

But the gunning down of Edward Tiller in the entry way of the church that he attended was a “murder.” Not an assassination. Not “terrorism.” Just murder.

The bombings of abortion clinics are not acts of terrorism. They are just bombings. Or acts of arson when someone breaks in and sets the place on fire.

And the backpack bomb that was found on the parade route of a Martin Luther King parade? A hate crime. BTW: It had bolts, nails, and other items that were soaked or treated with rat poison. That makes it harder to stop the bleeding so the wounded people pretty much bleed to death. That's not terrorism though.

And the African American churches that are burned. And Mosques. And Sikh Temples. This isn't terrorism. We can call it a “hate crime” though. Doesn't sound as bad.

And all these cases the perpetrators are white and the victims are not. They are other races.

So why do mass murders by whites get called “mass shootings” while attacks by non-whites, and especially Muslims, get immediately labeled as terrorism?

What is the rubric that is used by the government and media to maker this distinction?

I call the event of June 12 a mass shooting by a deranged individual.

Terrorism is the daily prejudice and problems that the LGBTQ community faces on a daily basis as they try to live their lives in a society that refuses to accept them.

Juneteenth and so far to go

Today (June 19^th) we celebrate the Juneteenth Festival – A celebration og the end of slavery in the United States. Or so we want to believe.

This day marks the end of the Civil War and the day (approximately) on which slaves in Texas learned that they were free and celebrated. It spread.

So African American slaves received freedom from slavery that they and we fight to keep them free from. Because there are still those that do not see those of African descent as being equal to those of European descent. (Sad to say in America today there are those that still want “white only” areas and laws.)

So the African slaves were freed by decree of Washington DC and those opposed to the Africans receiving their freedom worked overtime to get them back into the conditions of slavery and deny them the rights that they deserve as American citizens.

I'm thinking of the sharecroppers. I'm thinking of the chain gangs in prison.

In the 1900s I'm thinking of separate but equal. And those that fought against school integration. First by separate but equal. And when that failed, by sending their children to private schools. And others by moving into suburbs and creating suburban districts that have next to no minority communities. Even though in some of them all it takes is the crossing of a street and you go from suburbia and into a city.

Then there is the voucher movement, which allows parents to take their school taxes and use them to send their children to private schools. While the vouchers don't cover the entire cost, the families that do that have the money to cover the rest of the tuition. Minority families don't and are stuck in underfunded public school districts.

So, have we really wrecked separate but equal? Or have we just watched it morph into something else?

And then there are the African Americans that are in prison. The US houses 25% of the world's prison population. Most of them are minorities. And when they serve their sentences (provided they are able to. Look at sentencing disparities between Africans and other races) they face many hurdles to reintegrating into society. They are banned from public housing. In some states they are ineligible for public assistance. And try to get a job when you have a criminal record. (Ban the Box!)

There are states (22 I believe) that deny convicted felons the right to vote. This overwhelmingly affects African Americans. I say that if the state is going to deny you the right to vote – you don't have to pay taxes. That's local, state, federal, school, property, sales, inheritance, or any of the numerous fees that the government assesses. It's called “Taxation without representation.”

And there are states where, if you are a convicted felon, you lose the right to own a firearm. Where's the NRA on that one?

Then there's voting rights. White areas – voting is easy. Areas that serve African Americans and minorities? Get in line and wait. And wait. And wait some more. Some people wait over nine hours to vote. If I wait five minutes I'm lucky.

And that's not all on voting either. Look at all the hurdles and problems that minorities face when they are trying to register to vote. Picture ID, statement of residence, and a whole slew of other hurdles. It's designed to deny them their rights.

Let's go into the work place where African Americans work in the lowest paying sectors of the work force. $15 Now would be a pay raise for them. Of course the 1% will parade people like Herman Cain, Condi Rice, Colin Powell and others that have “made it.” And athletes and music stars. Just work hard enough and you'll make it. Not with the deck stacked like it is now.

And on that note, most successful African Americans are in the field of entertainment – music and sports. Where they have been kept for centuries. Duke Ellington and others were great musicians that could play in the best hotels and concert halls. And then spend the night in “Black only” hotels. They were probably not five star establishments.

And look at the “Negro Leagues.” (An insulting name at that.) Those men were statistically as good as any white player, and many of them better. And how long were they denied entry and access into the Major Leagues?

Of course there is “Black History Month.” In February no less. The shortest month. And all we get are the sterilized histories of African Americans. I await the day that I see some short blurb on corporate TV on how Martin Luther King Jr spoke out against the Vietnam War (he was correct) and how he was fighting for worker's rights to organize into unions when he was gunned down.

I'm not holding my breath.

There's the infamous shooting and beatings of African Americans. Tamir Rice comes to mind, along with so many others. And the NRA has the “Stand your Ground” law which basically allows whites to shoot blacks because they “felt threatened” by them. Yes, in America “Walking while Black” is a crime. Especially if you have Skittles(TM) and a bottle of tea. But if you are black and use a firearm to defend yourself against an attack, the NRA is nowhere to be found.

And we await justice for India Cummings and so many others that have died in police custody. Under suspicious circumstances. Though I have a small amount of hope that Shaun Porter might see some justice because a police officer had a conscience.

And I could go on. I feel like I am “Blacksplaining” because I am white of Eastern European descent. When my ancestors came over from Europe they were ostracized and put down. Eventually they were accepted as the next wave of immigrants came from a different region.

African Americans and those of African descent have never received acceptance in the 400+ years of this country.

Juneteenth is the celebration of the end of slavery.

I can imagine how much better this celebration will get when those of African descent are finally accepted as equals in this society.

Loft-y Ideals

I'm tired of all the news stories about the loft style apartments that are going up in Buffalo. Seriously. Why is this news? And why should I care?

So some developer bought some dilapidated property (with a tax break mind you) and turned it into something that they can make a profit off of.

And the news media is making a big deal of it because of the “medical corridor” that is being built all over downtown. And the people that are going to be working there need a place to live. And living in Buffalo would be convenient for them, so lets sell of beat up properties for a song and let private developers rehab them so that all these outsiders have a nice place to live.

And then there is Buffalo's White Elephant. Everyone knows this beast. It is so prominent that whether you are flying, driving, or arriving by bus you see this thing. One Seneca Tower. (Why did they have to name it after a First Nations tribe?) It is projected to cost over $200 million to clean up. And then add on the renovation costs and the tax breaks that we are going to have to shell out. (Not just Buffalo and Erie County. All of NY will be shelling out money for this because Albany will undoubtedly throw some cash at it or give whatever businessman buys this beast a tax break as well. Who knows. Federal money might just appear too.)

As an aside, we give out all these tax breaks. Is that why we are so broke?

Then there are the forgotten. The poor. The 4700 people that have applied for housing assistance or to live in public housing. And I'm not going to mansplain (½) the “We feel like Buffalo's forgotten people” article that Susan Schulman and Dan Herbeck wrote. Read it yourself and wonder how and why this happens?

All the federal and state cut backs on housing because the Democrats have to look “tough” when dealing with poverty. And Republicans never met a social program that they didn't want to cut or eliminate because they (supposedly) cost too much.

Never mind that stable housing cuts down poverty and crime rates. And other social problems as well. When those problems go away, other costs diminish as well.

I just find it repulsive that we, as a so called “Christian nation” spent over $700 million on a fighter plane that never worked and was (thankfully) canceled (The F-22). Don't get me started on the F-35. (The only plane that catches fire when the engines start.)

And President Obama want to spend over $1 trillion updating a weapons system that we have not used since World War II and (hopefully) will never use again because it is so hazardous to the user and the target. (The intended and unintended.) I'm talking about nuclear weapons.

And all the money we have wasted on wars in the Middle East. Iraq. Afghanistan. Libya. Now Syria. And our other misguided foreign interventions in Yemen, Somalia and other parts of Africa, and whatever the CIA is doing in Venezuela.

And I could list so many more things that we waste money on. And we do nothing for the least of our society. Or make it sound like it's too much of a burden to do.

And all they want is to be able to do is to be able to live in dignity.

Yet, because they are poor and (from my understanding) mostly minority, they don't fit the image that the Mayor's office is trying to project about Buffalo being in recovery.

And yet they are the people who need help recovering from the bad hand that they have been dealt.

Plus there is the rumor that the Perry Street Projects are where a new stadium for the Bills might go.

So why bother fixing it up.

Again, we sacrifice the poor for the image of the city.

Is this the picture we want to look at?

Updated:  I added the  link for the story.  I just remembered it.  My bad.

A Fair Trial?

Shaun Porter's case gets stranger by the day. Not him. The Buffalo Police & the Mayor's Office.

They don't want to release the video of Shaun being shoved and thrown around because they want to guarantee the accused, Buffalo PD Officer Matthew Jaskula a “fair trial.”

That is one of the excuses being used to keep the video securely locked up and safe from public viewing. That and the Federal investigation that is being done. I can buy the request by William Hochol to keep the video out of public view until he is done with his investigation. I can mostly buy that provided they do a massive PR campaign roll out of the video. Which they won't If it is released, it will be done on a Friday or during a heavy news day when there are more “pressing” news stories to cover. (The video is out. It was just swept under the rug. I can hear the media now ...)

The other line? No seriously.

We've all seen this on TV. Choose your favorite local (or national) corporate news program and look at the reporting when they have a video of a crime being committed and they want the publics help in solving the crime. When (presuming) the police nail the person (or persons) in the video and accuse them, the accused have their names and faces splashed all over the airwaves (and newspapers) and (immediately following) is the video of the crime that they are accused of committing.

Good old “trial by TV.” Always guarantees the accused will be convicted.

Unless, of course …..

Race comes to mind. Jaskula is white. Would the videos be out for all to see if he were Asian, Hispanic, or African American?

And then there is class. Jaskula is most likely middle class in his income. If he were poor, would the video be out? Or if his victim were wealthy?

And the gender question. If he were a female or LGBTQ, would the video still be protected?

I watch the news and I see pictures of people that are arrested all the time for drugs, sex crimes, drugs, you name it. If there was a vehicle accident or an arson or other property damage, that will be shown with it,

What really makes this case so special that it needs such heavy protection?

Or is it all the bad publicity that the Buffalo PD has received over the past year with police assaults, broken cell phones from people recording police actions, and all the problems in the Erie County Holding Center.

In any event, if any fairness is needed, the police need to be treated just like the rest of the public when they are nailed doing something wrong.

Even more so because our taxes are paying their salaries and we have to pay for any lawsuits that result from their misbehavior. And the settlement comes out of our pockets too.

So, let's have a little fairness. Roll out the video.

Socialist Action Running Candidates for President

This will be a busy year for Socialist Action.

We are having our convention soon where we draft our next political resolution and policy statements for the next two years.

And I just received an announcement that we are fielding candidates for the President and Vice President of the US.

SA National Secretary, Jeff Mackler will be our presidential candidate and National Committee member and Twin Cities branch organizer, Karen Schraufnagel, will be our vice presidential candidate.

I do not have a platform statement yet, however Americans now have as a choice a revolutionary socialist ticket that understands their problems and understands that the only way to solve them is to end the capitalist regime that rules our country and ruins the world.

As I get more information I will post it.

If you want status quo ante bellum (the same $#!+ after the election)  look to the Democratic and Republican parties.

If you are looking for solutions to the economic, social, ecological, racial, LGBTQ, foreign policy, and any other problem in society that we are facing,  look no further than the Mackler-Schraufnagel ticket.

It is our ticket out of this mess we're in.

Problems in the Halls of Justice

America has a justice problem and we all know about it.

First there is your social class. Face it, rich people are treated much differently and better than the (ever disappearing) middle class and poor. Money talks, so to speak.

Then there is race. There is no argument here that white people are treated differently than everyone else. Asians might get treated better than Hispanics. And everyone gets treated better than African Americans. Jim Crow still exists in the hall of justice, or injustice as the case may be.

Then there is next divider: Gender. Males are treated differently than females and LGBTQ individuals.

Police are sworn to protect and serve. Nice half a sentence. Whom are they supposed to be protecting?

In the case of India Cummings, it seems to be themselves. We are how many months after her death and only now is there being an autopsy on her body. And at that, they are bringing in the coroner from Rochester, NY to do the autopsy because Buffalo and Erie County seem to be drowning in opioid deaths.

Seriously? They have to do a full blown autopsy to determine if an opioid killed someone? I have a student that is in jail and the night he was apprehended after a lengthly police chase (in car and on foot) they determined (by blood test) that he was high on marijuana and that he had been drinking alcohol. Now, why can't the coroner's office do a blood test to see if opioids are in the blood stream and ask the police if fowl play is suspected? Just my rant for a little common sense. Either that or cut some salaries in government offices and hire a few more coroners.

And the Buffalo News reports today (June 16 2016) that prisoners asked the police officer on duty to get India some medical treatment because (in their words) “she needed it.” The officer responded that he “knew how to do his [expletive deleted] job.”

And we still don't know how much of India's incarceration is on video or how many witnesses there are to what happened to her.

Smells like a cover up to me.

Some one is trying to hide something.

Shaun Porter may have benefited from what happened to India. Because of all the negative publicity, press, and protests a lieutenant on duty took action the night Shaun was assaulted while in police custody and he received the appropriate medical care.

Furthermore, charges are pending against the officer that assaulted him and two other officers are on unpaid administrative leave for not intervening when they saw Shaun being mistreated.

A federal prosecutor, William Hochol, is investigating the case and there is a chance that Shaun Porter may see some justice because of what happened to him. The officer that assaulted him could see up to ten years in prison. The two other officers should face some sort of discipline. (I hope.)

The sad part is all three officers are white and I'm not holding my breath for any sort of a long sentence.

The fact of the matter is that we are lucky we are seeing what we are seeing.

And the only reason we are seeing this is because people got loud.

Perhaps we need to get louder so that India can get justice.

Then again, we need another system of justice that sees African Americans whites, Hispanics, and Asians, males, females, and LGBTQ as the same before the law.

That's going to take a revolution.

And it is one that that the system is going to try at all costs to stop.

Net Neutrality Victory

We won a victory over the telecommunications giants in the latest battle over Net Neutrality recently.

Note the key word is “battle.”

Our victory came in the form of court decision from the US Court of Appeals in Washington DC. They ruled (correctly) in a 2-1 decision that the Internet is a utility and not a luxury.

What does this mean?

It means that the telecom giants can not charge web-site operators in order to have their site content stream and load faster on an person's computer.

The telecom giants want to be able to charge sites a fee in order to have their content load faster. They also want to play digital censor – they want to be able to decide for themselves what content to load fast and what to basically block.

So, Verizon or AT&T could load Amazon faster and slow down YouTube to the point of not being usable.

Or they could load corporate news fast and basically block FreeSpeech TV, Link TV, Telemundo, or the Socialist Action web-site.

This is wrong and the court properly decided that all content is equal and that the telecom giants could not charge more for speed. They had to treat all content the same.

They also determined that the Internet is a necessity and not a luxury. Consider the number of jobs and careers that are dependent upon the Internet.

And consider what would happen to the economy if Internet access was restricted.

Now, on the correct side of history are capitalist organizations that I do not particularly like. And I shall not name them to avoid giving them free advertising. But also organizations like the Internet Archive and other sites that give us access to great information that help us make our lives better.

So, right now we won this battle.

The telecoms have promised to take this fight to the Supreme Court.

Let's meet them there, dusted off and ready to let the door hit them where (the deity of your choice or evolution) split them and keep the Internet free and open to all.

Biosolids Battle

The NYS Department of Agriculture has a problem with Wheatfield.

They don't like the ban on biosolids that the town has imposed.

So the Department struck it down because they claim the law unreasonably restricts farmers in their use of “legal” fertilizers.

Note the word in quotes: legal.

Legal does not mean safe.

A refresher: biosolids are created by using human created sewage and anaerobic digesters. The digesters are used to create methane (a highly dangerous greenhouse gas) and leaves the biosolids as a byproduct.

Well, the companies that create this waste want to do something with it, so they claim that human waste is no different than animal waste when it comes to using it as fertilizer.

Except for the fact that the human waste is loaded with all sorts of drugs and chemicals that cows, pigs, chickens, and other farm animals don't ingest.

I worked on a farm in high school. We never gave cows birth control pills, erectile dysfunction drugs, anti-depressants, aspirin, acetaminophen, or any other pain medication. Or any of a host of medications that humans take.

And yet the waste is supposed to be equivalent and OK to use.

To that I (and the people of Wheatfield) say “Bull$#!+.”

The farm that wants to use the waste sounds like a CAFO: a contained animal feeding operation. For those not in the know, this is a factory farm where the animals spend their entire day in a stall and are fed very expensive to grow GMO corn, alfalfa, and of course the ever being cut grass and hay.

Simply put, this a group of farmers that bought into the capitalist lie about how to run their farms (against the laws of common sense) and are now seriously in debt and have to do something to pay off all the money they owe. So they want to use cheap crap as fertilizer without regard for the consequences to their herd or their customers.

I could go off more on CAFOs but there are plenty of good films and organizations that do a much better job than I do.

This law is an environmental law and not a law on farming, as the Department of Agriculture weakly notes. As this crap is spread onto the fields, can the farmers guarantee that the biolsolids will not wash onto other farmers' land or onto adjacent properties? Can the farmers guarantee that the biosolids will not wash into local streams and wind up in Lake Ontario?

The answer to this is “No.”

So therefore, because the manufacturing firm can not guarantee that their product, the biosolds, can not be contained to the property that it is being used on, it should not be used at all.

I know farmers that do not spread manure around the streams on or near their property because they do not want the waste to wash into them. (Know that algae bloom in Lake Erie? Farm run off is the #1 contributor to it.)

Responsible farms know to do this and know to use only what is safe.

The firms that manufacture biosolids do not like their product to be tested because they are afraid that it will be deemed unsafe.

Well, maybe it is and we, the people that have to live with the consequences of their decisions, don't want unsafe products or practices around our homes.

If they want to prove it safe: The owners of the firms can use it on their properties first and only eat foods grown on (or in) it.

Somehow I doubt they will go for that.

And neither should we.

Cause of Orando Shooting

In 1953 the United States and Great Britain (What makes them so great?) overthrew the democratically elected government of Iran. When the lie that was used was discovered, the Iranian peoples began rising up to retake the country that was theirs. (BTW: They are still fighting to overthrow a repressive regime and install a democratic government.)

In 1968, because of the instability that was developing in Iran, the US government overthrew the democratically elected government of Iraq. We all know what a warm and fuzzy person Saddam Hussein was.

In the 1970s, over Cold War fears, the United States supported insurgents that were opposed to the democratically elected government of Afghanistan. These insurgents, funded by Saudi Arabia and other religious extremists, became the core of Al-Qaeda. They succeeded in the 1980's in driving out the Soviet Union and exporting terrorists wherever the US stuck its nose in the Middle East.

We destabilized Somalia and Al-Qaeda expanded their network into Africa.

In 2001 the United States jumped full bore into Afghanistan and began the longest war in American history. (I am teaching students that were born in 2001. They have known nothing but war all their life. “Peace” in some form would be alien to them.)

In 2003 we expanded our Middle Eastern war effort with the invasion of Iraq and gave Al-Qaeda the foothold in Iraq that Saddam Hussein had denied them for so many years. From Iraq they expanded and splintered off into many other organizations. ISIS, more appropriately Daesh, is one of the splinter groups that formed as a result of the Iraq invasion.

On Sunday we all became too painfully aware of the terrorism that is almost a daily occurrence in the Middle East as a result of the US government's misguided foreign policy.

The shooter, a child of Afghani parents, was heard to say “Stop bombing my country” several times as he murdered LGBTQ people in Orlando.

And the US media and government was quick to portray this as an ISIS directed attack on America.

Let's take another view: This attack was the consequence of the United States government's misguided Middle East foreign policy.

Had democracy been able to flourish in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, and other Middle Eastern and African nations, would the shooter have had a complaint?

Would any of these terrorist organizations exist?

Socialists stand in opposition to the violence of US foreign policy that has created all these terrorist groups.

Socialists also stand in opposition to the terrorists and their misguided ideology which has them attacking innocent civilians.

Socialist support pro-democracy groups that stand for the right of self-determination of peoples.

We stand for peace and brother (and sister) hood with oppressed peoples everywhere.

The people that were at the Pulse dance club on Sunday morning were out to have fun and spend time with friends.

They did not want or need to become what they are now: The latest victims of US foreign policy.

An excellent article on Orlando from the SA web site

Comrade Anne Montague wrote an excellent article and analysis that was posted on the Socialist Action website today.

Title:  We are all Orlando

I will let it speak for itself.  She is an excellent writer and always gives a good analysis.

And on a side note:  On Sunday I said that the Orlando tragedy would be used to justify more foreign military action.

Well,  Shillary & the Trumpet have already called out for military action against ISIS for the terrorism that was committed by the lone gunman.

Great.  More death and destruction.

When will they ever learn?  An eye for an eye leaves everybody blind.

June Socialist Action Newspaper is Out!

Yes, it's a Tuesday (after a very bad Monday) and those useless Regents exams are in session.

So, my week is just about shot with mind numbing test taking, scoring, and paperwork that will show that the Board of Regents and US Department of Education have no clue about how education really works.

What will save my brain cells from jumping out of my ears a logarithmic rate?

The June Socialist Action Newspaper arrived in the mail today.

And the lead/feature article is on the demise of the Sanders movement in the 2016 election and its impact on the electorate and the country.

Furthermore, there is a good selection of Labor news: $15 Now actions, the Verizon Strike, education news, and other Labor briefings and actions.

And then the ever important civil rights trials of government entrapment of Muslims and court actions against them.

In International News we receive a well written analysis of the Brazilian coup and a short update on the Wall Street and US government imposed Puerto Rican debt crisis.

Now, I wish I could make this event every year, but I settle on the videos. (These are always good to listen to and watch.) Our Canadian Comrades hosted “Socialism 2016” and they give us a nice summary of the talks and events. We also receive other updates on Canadian events and actions.

And last, but not least in any way, news on the climate and climate actions. (Let's face it – if the climate goes, we go. You can't breathe money…..)

If this interests you, go to the Socialist Action web-site and subscribe to ournewspaper. Written by socialist activists for activists.

While you are at it – sign up for our weekly electronic newsletter and keep caught up on recent additions to the web-site and excellent articles from around the web. (Bonus – this is free!)

And if all this excites you – join!

Workers of the world unite. You have nothing to lose but your chains.

Any a bunch of bourgeois oppressors.

And yes, I feel the brain cells calming down and climbing back into their proper places now.

All is as well as it can be under a capitalist regime.

Teach for Failure

Now I have to find the article in the Buffalo News. And they hid it quite well. I'll probably find it easier on their web-site by searching for “Teach for America.” It'll pop up almost as fast as the profits that private charter schools make.

It's a “filler” article that the News used to fill a small corner of a page, so it's unlikely to catch your attention.

And it is about Teach for America – the private corporation that claims it can prepare a willing candidate to be a qualified school teacher in six to eight weeks. This is compared to the one year (actually two college semesters) of instruction and practice (aka the “placement:” eight weeks at one school and six weeks at another) that school teachers normally receive.

The article reported that Teach for America would be at Lafayette High School for another two years and that the candidates would be serving in the English Department. There was a small spiel about race and what have you in order to make the program sound better that it really is.

The big deal: Lafayette High School was targeted for closure and “realignment” in one of Superintendent Kriner Cash's “Turnaround Schools.” Lafayette is designated as the “International School” with programs to serve English Language Learners and others.

The bigger deal: Lafayette was targeted because of poor English Language test scores.

Aside from the fact that the school serves students that immigrated from other countries and that they do not speak English very well, if at all, do you think that they are not learning English because they don't have a teacher that knows how to teach English to them?

Remember: In Teach for America, you receive the training and are sent out to work in a school for two years and then you are done and gone. That's it. Any professional teacher will tell you that it takes three to five years to hit your stride as a teacher. These teachers will be out in two and replaced. What type of learning are students supposed to do under these circumstances?

So Lafayette High School has seen new a new English teacher every two years. And the students aren't learning English well enough to score decently on the mandated standardized tests. Do you think that the Buffalo News would make a big deal that they do not have a stable English program because of itinerant Teach for America members? (I refuse to call them teachers because they do not have a NYS Teaching Certificate or a degree from an accredited program in teaching for their core area.)

No because it does not fit the Buffalo News' agenda of union ad teacher bashing and pro-privatization.

I find it interesting that they let that article slip into the paper where anyone who read it and was aware of the Buffalo City schools' problems would be able to play “Connect the Dots.”