What to do with a White Elephant?

Buffalo is trying to rebuild and re-brand itself. It has sunk an incredible amount of money into the infamous “medical corridor” to bring business in. It is also trying to use the “43 North” competition to bring in entrepreneurs.

To accommodate all this potential influx of new people with money to spend (they hope) developers are looking to renovate abandoned properties, old stores, and factories and turn them into apartments of various styles. (If I hear “loft apartment” one more time I'll be a permanent fixture in the Prison Radio Project.

The one property no one really wants to touch is the old HSBC building, now named “One Seneca.” Anything to get away from the name of a downsized bank I guess. I used to call it the "Hot Sauce & Blue Cheese" building. I had no idea what HSBC really meant. Neither did most of WNY anyway.

So, what to do with this large building that is an ugly eyesore? Architecturally it from the 1970's with a style that says nothing. It is a boring skyscraper. Then again I have not seen an interesting looking skyscraper. This includes the new World Trade Center tower.

Some want to see it demolished. That would cost quite a bit because of the size of it and the asbestos that is in it. Others want to see it rehabilitated and have tax credits normally used for historic buildings and preservation used on it.

Now, I didn't get to attend the anti-Nazi rally today because a friend I was going to take got a little to worked up and that's not good for his heart and I would up sitting in an emergency room waiting on him being treated.

Now he always comes out of these situations a little loopy. (I'll be kind.) And on the drive home he began talking about the tower and he almost made sense this time.

The tower is very high up – what if the windows on the top fifteen to twenty floors or so were taken our and replaced with small wind turbines? With new developments in turbine technology, wouldn't that produce a significant amount of electricity and we wouldn't have those hideous tall turbines like the Steel Winds project. If they rotated with the wind, even better.

And what about all the homeless people? How many apartments could be made out of all those empty offices? Or apartments for use by the people that will be working in the medical corridor?

And then there are all those medical buildings going up. And this building isn't being rehabilitated for use in the corridor? Structurally it is very sound and the lower levels would be ideal for the various entities that would be involved in that enterprise.

And it's always in the sun – Could there be solar panels mounted on it somehow so that solar electricity could be generated?

I had an hour plus of this type of talk. And some of it made sense.

Especially over the Amish made cinnamon bread and pumpkin bars that I was treated to. We passed by an Amish family selling their wares on the way home. For all my trouble, free coffee and Amish treats sort of make up for telling a bunch of skinheads to take a hike across Lake Erie. I was forced to stop and buy some. I would never have heard the end of it if I didn't.

Maybe we can hear the end of all this talk about an abandoned tower and start to see something done with it that will benefit the community.

 

Whitewashing a pipeline lie

National Fuel is slowly working (buying?) its way to approval for its proposed Northern Access Pipeline. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a 487 page finding that found “no significant environmental impact” for the pipeline project.

While no the final approval that National Fuel needs, it is is bad step forward for the project.

The pipeline starts in Pennsylvania with fracked gas. There are enough reports and research out in the professional and public literature that openly states that fracking is an environmentally dangerous way to produce gas. From the water, air, and land pollution to the fires which require specially trained crews to extinguish because of all the hazardous chemicals involved in fracking – that alone should say “No” to this pipeline.

But it doesn't.

Then there is the four counties that it must cross in NY – Cattaraugus, Wyoming, Erie, and Niagara. Now if the idea that producing gas by fracking is a fantasy, the idea that a pipeline is a safe way to send gas across four counties, across farmlands and watersheds is somewhere out of dreamland. Oil and gas companies have a horrendous history of pipeline accidents. We can look at the Alaska Pipeline, the mess that was made in Michigan with the Kalamazoo spill, the Arkansas mess where fracked oil flowed like water flooding down community streets.

This pipeline would be going through farmlands that produce the food that we buy from our local grocery stores. And National Fuel expects us to believe that they can successfully monitor and mitigate any gas spill? If I were the DEA I would not be in inner city Buffalo or Rochester looking for drugs – I'd be the the offices of fuel companies looking for what drugs they are taking to come up with these disastrous plans that they can never manage to handle and always stick us with the bill for.

Then comes Pendleton and Wheatfield, where National Fuel needs to put evaporators and two compressors to remove the water from the fracked gas and then push it along its way to Canada. (You mean the tar sands of Alberta can't provide them with the fuel they need? Oh, that's right – that is for export to other countries. They still need to meet their own energy needs by importing fuel from someplace else.)

The evaporators in Wheatfield are needed to remove the chemically contaminated water from the fracked gas because Canada has a lower tolerance for water in their gas. No what is National Fuel going to do with this water? It has benzene and other toxic chemicals as well as radioactive substances in it. The Niagara Falls waste treatment plant can't clean it. Neither can any other waste water treatment facility in the US. So, it going where exactly for storage? I say in the CEO's backyard. (That and Wall Street.)

And then the running 24 hours a day compressors. Near a protected wetland area. And if one of them breaks down and spills, who is going to stop the fracked gas from flowing and clean up the mess? Again, the local fire departments are not trained to handle these types of messes. And, according to a relative of mine that works in an OSHA type capacity and is familiar with cleanup procedures of toxic spills, National Fuel lacks the crews as well – last they knew.

FERC says that the safety plans submitted by National Fuel will be enough to mitigate any problems that arise. Can we get FERC drug tested and show them the news and history of oil and gas spills in recent history? The oil and gas companies have a terrible record of handling environmental disasters and are completely incapable of handling any problems that come up.

National Fuel still has to go through air quality reviews and get approval from the US Army Corps of Engineers. Environmentalists and activists need to step up and be loud and clear that this pipeline is a pipe dream (cause that is what they are smoking) and that there is no safe way to move fracked gas across four counties in NY (And PA), plus across the Niagara River (which, if the pipeline broke would contaminate Lake Ontario and ruin some pretty nice fishing and recreational outings).

Socialists say NO to the Northern Access Pipeline.

We need to keep the oil in the soil and stop fracking with Mother Earth.

100% Renewable Energy NOW!

Oppose Neo-Nazi Rally! Keep Cazenovia Clean of Hate!

WGRZ-TV reported that a racist organization has secured a permit to hold a rally at Cazenovia Park tomorrow (Saturday July 30, 2016) at 1:30 PM EST.

The Buffalo Common Council has issued a statement opposing the rally.

The organization -the White National Socialist Movement - is working to build on the momentum that the Trump movement has created for the white nationalist movement. The specific branch of the organization that is holding the rally is from Detroit. It seems that the brain damage from lead poisoning in the water is more serious than previously thought.

These racists want to re-establish the culture of pre-Civil War America where African Americans and other non-whites were subject to slavery and other brutal forms of mistreatment. They also want to send all immigrants back to the countries where they originated, or at least over the border and out of the USA. They are also opposed to non-Christian religions, such as Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, the religions of the First Nations peoples, and others.

They are also opposed to LGBTQ rights and the rights of women.

While they do have a First Amendment ability to state their beliefs, no matter how mate filled, we do not have to listen.

Nor do we have to stand by and make it possible for them to be heard.

Personally I'm looking at the weather forecast and hoping that the weather reporters are wrong – that the rain will be light, if it hits south Buffalo at all. I'd like to see a drenching for the duration of their permit.

Barring that, I'd love to see (and hear) counter protesters drowning them out.

The white nationalist movement has gained traction with the candidacy of Trump – he uses all their racist language without the code words.

We need to shut this movement down now.

It is time for democracy loving people of all shades and stripes to come out and drown out their hate speech.  It is time to remember the famous words of Martin Niemoller and act upon them.

America is a nation of immigrants from all over the world.

We achieved amazing things by learning to set aside our skin color and look at each others hearts.

Let's wear them on our sleeves as we drown out the hate.

Don't be late – stop the hate.

Cazenovia Park is a place for children to play not hate.\

Let's keep it that way.

Update: July 30 2106

300 to 12.

300 people protested for peace while 12 people spoke on Nazi ideas.

That boils down to 25 to 1 in favor of peace and justice over fear and hate.

They have First Amendment abilities.

The protesters spoke louder.

And there was a “Stop the Violence” festival at MLK Park today too.

A protest and a festival in the same day and not too far away from each other.

Parks are places for children to play.

Let's keep them safe that way.

A presidential mess

It's officially bad and a mess. Yesterday the Democrats nominated Hillary Clinton to be their presidential candidate. And the media is making a big deal about it because she is the first official female candidate of a major party for the position.

Nice to see the corporate media ignoring history and all the women who have run for president before on significantly more progressive platforms than what the Democrats are offering.

Let's face a very simple fact: This was in an article in the Nation magazine and is available on their web site and soon in the GALE on-line magazine databases. Called “Clintonism failed” in the on-line version, it was about the creation of the Democratic Leadership Council and the “third way” politics that President Clinton would use in his two terms to get elected and undermine the working class by getting the big dollar corporate donors to give to the Democrats rather than the Republicans. It worked for President Clinton. Not the working class that saw the ramming of NAFTA down their throats, the increased incarceration of African Americans and other minorities on “three strikes” convictions, and a host of other disasters like the cutting of services to the working poor.

In that article 2016 nominee Clinton declared that she was an “Eisenhower Republican.” Not a far fall from the “Goldwater Girl” that she was in the 1960's. Z Magazine has an excellent article this month on the history of Hillary Clinton and the grand disaster that she is for America.

As Secretary of State she did a terrible job with her ongoing support for the debacle in Iraq, the in an d out again in Afghanistan, the mess that is Libya, the Honduran coup that threw out Manuel Zelaya (illegally), the start of the US intervention in Syria (and support of al Qaeda, ISIS, and other terrorist groups

And the Democratic Party talks a good talk. When it comes time for the rubber to meet the road, they will sell out the working class and other groups faster than the Road Runner outraces Wiley E Coyote, Genius. We might see a few victories, like LGBTQ marriage in NY, but immigrants are still waitng for Obama to stop deporting them.

It's time for the working lass to wake up. Sanders delegates are creating a little bit of havoc in Philly and the Green Party – a group that has a more progressive social agenda but looks to make capitalism environmentally friendly – is active in Philly. But we need more than a candidate that talks nice and puts a green(er) face on corporate profits.

Socialist Action is running Jeff Mackler for President. He is a successful trial lawyer, works on the Free Mumia committee and is active in many other social justice movements (Free Leonard Peltier, Lynne Stewart, and many others.) He is the National Chairman of Socialist Action. He fought a court case in California to have their election campaigns made more democratic. (Right now the top two primary candidates have a run off in November. This means that the Democrats and Republicans can swamp the race and deny other candidates the opportunity democracy demands. Sadly, democracy and the voters lost.) He is also active in many other social justice movements – from Black Lives Matter to immigrant rights to LGBTQ rights.

Jeff is a prolific writer for the Socialist Action newspaper and has written several pamphlets as well. (A good read because of good analysis. Must be that lawyer thing working it.)

The working class can tether itself to the two faces of capitalism- the die hard Trump face or the Eisenhower Republican face – or it can go the Green route. And if you are fine with that, go for it.

But if you want to effect system change – a change from an oppressive capitalist system that pits worker against worker to a system that has workers working together top create a more just and equitable system, a system that stands in opposition to discrimination in any form against any person, a system that stops destroying this planet for the next dollar – then vote for Jeff Mackler for President and Karen Schraufnagel for Vice President this November.

Remember: It's your vote, your voice, so use it.

You have nothing to lose but your chains.

So let's get some Socialist Action going.

Buffalo Billion Blowup

The Buffalo Billion is in blow up mode. That is what I am gathering out of all the Buffalo News coverage of US Attorney General Preet Brahara's investigation of the program that is supposed to be bringing companies to Western NY and creating jobs.

332 or so. That's the total count so far. Tons of money being spent on advertising, tax breaks (basically passing the taxes onto the working class), and “other expenses.” Like what? 3 martini lunches? Limo rides from the airport? What exactly are our taxes being spent on?

And the 332 jobs does not include part time jobs or “geographic transfers” - people transferred from one part of the state to WNY. I suspect that this also applies to the companies that moved from the places where they were working to the tax on our backs zones.

What do people want the government to do?

Simple: Show us the money.

Show us exactly where this money is going and why.

Instead of wasting it on large corporations and jokes like “43 North” which is about as big of a bomb right now, we could be doing something real with the money.

Like what? Look at the various groups that are working on urban farming. Yes. Urban farming. Look at the food deserts that we have in the city of Buffalo and in other areas of Western NY. There are communities where the only food is at a gas station. Essentially garbage food – obesity producing, diabetes creating crap.

We could demand that our taxes be used to help develop and expand groups like the Massachusetts Avenue Project which grows fresh fruits and vegetables and sells them to people at prices much lower than the corporate stores. It's good and fresh.

Then there was the story I saw today (July 27, 2016) on WIVB about two males that are doing horizontal farming in the basement of their University Heights house. They use much less electricity and water than a mega farm and they sell it in the food deserts. And people seem to like it. (Story not posted online yet.  As soon as I see it I will link it.)

Am I anti-farmer? Let me be clear on this: Absolutely not. I would like to see nothing more than farmers markets set up all over WNY where farmers can sell their products directly to the consumer at prices that are better for the farmer (they get more of the money) and the consumer (they get better prices).

Wait – isn't that what capitalism claims to do? Yet I have talked to several farmers that are struggling to get by on the prices that corporate America wants to pay them.

Then again, driving around in the country I stopped by a roadside stand and picked up a dozen eggs, a purple cauliflower, 5 zucchini, and 5 yellow squash for $5. Try that at your local store. I picked up a half bushel of apples for $7.50. Organically grown. No chemical pesticides or fertilizer. Too expensive. Compost – yes. Were the apple picture perfect specimens? No. Did they taste better than the store apples? Yes. Dry them out in my food dryer and I had apples for a couple of weeks in the winter. And the farmer said that he made more money from me than from the store.

So let's stop wasting our taxes on trying to sucker corporate America, Canada, or whomever to relocate to WNY. Let's put the money into helping people get what they need to live.

I saw an excellent article of cooperatives in Yes! Magazine. I believe they have a whole issue devoted to cooperatives. We need to be putting our money into them because the money we pay stays here instead of going off to Wall Street or wherever.

Cuomo and co are going to get into hot water because they are wasting our tax dollars on what is shown not to work.

Let's put our taxes into what we know works – the workers.

Second in Command

In all the talk about the upcoming shallowly covered presidential campaign (I am talking about the capitalist controlled media here), little to no attention is given to the vice presidential picks. A little fanfare is given, but they are largely ignored save for one debate and their work on the campaign trail.

We need to be concerned about the #2 position. After all, the NAFTA treaty, which undermined worker rights and made it easier for capital to do as it pleases made it through Congress because of the vote that the Vice President made. (I wonder if Al Gore thinks about the impact of NAFTA on the environment when he talks about global warming and climate change? Probably not.)

Republican VP Pence is a social conservative wet dream. He is firmly anti-choice, and LGBTQ rights, wanted to make divorce and adultery basically illegal (how does he reconcile Trump and wife #3? Good case of cognitive dissonance there), very much anti-worker rights, and a host of other nightmares for the social and economic left. I imagine his foreign policy reads like the neo conservative and neo liberal handbook. Anti-government unless it means the government forcing a conservative Christian agenda down your throat in violation of the First Amendment and economic hardship for one and all, except the 1%.

The Democratic VP candidate is a corporate shill. Senator Paine is pro “free trade” - which means capitalists are free to do as they please and the citizens of whatever country they are in have to suck it up and take it. Any challenge to corporate rule is not tolerated. He has a very neo liberal outlook on all things economic and fits in perfectly with potential Democratic nominee Clinton on any issue.

I am not going to waste much, if any time talking about the Democratic stance on social issues – those are the means that the pseudo-left Democratic party uses to lasso in (via fear) social activists who might vote for a party or candidate that would actually do something to remedy the situation. Let us face the facts – when it comes to worker rights, unions, LGBTQ people, immigrants, womens rights, and any other social issue, the Democratic party is a group of political opportunists that hook people in and use and try to control them by fear. “Look what the Republicans will do if they get into power.” Can we look at what Democrats have done to these groups when they have been in power?

In contrast, Let us look at the Socialist Action candidate Karen Schraufnagel. On the web-site is a video interview of her speaking about her activism. In the case of the video on Palestinian rights. If you search the Socialist Action archives, you will find a host of articles where she writes about her experiences in social justice and activism. She is an active member of the Minneapolis Branch, I believe she is a member of the National Committee, and is well qualified to serve in the interests of the American working class.

As this election progresses, look at the Republican and Democratic promises and then look at what the parties have done for workers. And then look what Socialist Action has in its platform. And look at how that would help workers. And take the time to read what Karen has written about the rights of people in America and around the world and the work that we need to do to liberate all.

In November vote Socialist Action. You have nothing to lose but your chains.

This is Normal? Why?

“This is normal.” Those were the words of an official of the water authority regarding the twelve breaks that have happened in Erie County so far this year. Normal? In whose world?

This is not called “normal.” Citizens need to be calling this unacceptable. Wholly, totally, and completely unacceptable. Especially since the most recent break was outside Mercy Hospital.

And the reason these water breaks are happening? Because of the volume of water being pumped through the aging and decrepit pipes. How old? Some are in the realm of a century from what I have been told. Others that are blowing out are in the realm of fifty years old.

Why is all this water being pumped? Because of the drought that we are in. It has been hot and dry in Western New York, Just ask any farmer about their crops. I wouldn't spend too much money this summer because food prices are going to go up because of the drought we are in. Before this morning's rain we were 7.78” below average for rainfall. Almost ¾ of a foot down.

What is causing this drought? Man made climate change. We need to face the facts: The drought we are suffering from we inflicted on ourselves because of our addiction to carbon based fuels. (And for those nuclear nuts out there – fuel systems that are dependent upon carbon based fuels. Look it up. You will be amazed on how much oil, gas, and other petrochemicals go into the production of nuclear energy.)

In simple terms – We are doing this to ourselves. The last time the planet heated up like this scientists say it took over ten thousand years. We human beings have done it in two hundred. To quote Pogo, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

So, how do we solve this? Contrary to what the government will tell us, we have the money to fix all the aging infrastructure. It's all tied up in unnecessary foreign aid – our taxes going to take care of the needs of other countries – and useless military weapons systems, like the F-35 (that can't fly in combat) and the littoral combat ship that has a host of problems that I won't even go into here because it would take too long. Safe to say, according to critics, a low yield high explosive missile that hits one would put it out of service. How many millions of dollars for a ship that can be put out of action with less damage than a WWII destroyer?

First: socialists demand an end to all foreign aid – military and otherwise. Humanitarian aid can be sent on a case by case basis only through the UN.

Second: An end to all military weapons spending and the cancellation of Obama's $1 trillion nuclear weapons systems upgrade.

What will not be canceled are services like the VA that are necessary to take care of our service men and women. Any time there are cuts, the cuts are almost exclusive to the needs of service personnel. Socialists say no to this – Two mass shootings in the last month were committed by servicemen that needed counseling after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Had that counseling been available, would we be mourning the loss of lives in Dallas and Baton Rouge? Then again, how many police officers have served in the military and are responsible for gunning down African Americans and Hispanics? Did they need counseling after discharge?

All this money will go to the rebuilding of American infrastructure – from water mains to roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, and public libraries. Things that make this country safe and work on a day by day basis.

Furthermore – we need to address climate change or we are doing nothing more than throwing a brick in the Mississippi River thinking that will stop it from flowing.

Third: Socialists demand that all energy production and distribution be nationalized and run for the needs of the people and not Wall Street. Our energy bills would be cut by half, if not more in some cases. (Rochester Gas and Electric rates would be cut by 66%. Buffalo would see their rates drop by 50%. Other localities would see similar drops.)

Fourth: Socialists demand the immediate transition to true green energy – solar, wind, geothermal, and water turbines. Workers unemployed from the polluting hydrocarbon based systems will be retrained and put to work in setting up and maintaining this new green grid. There will be an increase in jobs because of how fast this work needs to be done. A Great Depression Era jobs creation program for the energy sector alone would wipe out a large chunk of the unemployed.

Furthermore – We need to alleviate the effects of this drought on farmers. They are suffering greatly because of Wall Street and corporate greed.

Fifth: All loans given to farmers by the government or by private institutions are to be made 0% interest, or below 1% with no late fees or penalties assessed if economic hardship can be proved.

Sixth: For the mid western states – Rather than see all that water on the Mississippi River either be pushed backwards and produce flooding in Minnesota and other states that feed into the river, build a series of irrigation canals that takes the water to farms that are in need of water because of the drought. Again, tons of jobs here building and maintaining this irrigation system. And we wouldn't be feeding all the agricultural runoff into the Gulf Dead Zone. Instead it would be going to fertilize farms and (purified) provide water for drought stricken communities.

Seventh: We need to ban the use of cancer causing chemical contaminants – like Roundup™ and Atrazine™, among so many others - which cause damage to the environment.

A socialists, and any generally decent person, knows that there are many issues related to this drought than we are suffering through. There are many causes and many solutions, some of which I have listed here.

The longer we wait to start the work solving these problems, the longer we suffer.

Erie County Water Woes

It's pretty pathetic when you think about it. Here we are in the United States and when it comes time to kick out the cash for some stupid war that will accomplish nothing useful or for some weapons system that never works as advertised, Uncle Sam has as open wallet.

When it comes time to take care of its own – its citizens – the people that actually pay the taxes that provide the money that we need for taking care of this country – Uncle Sam gets pretty stingy.Get ready for some moths to appear.

New York is not much better. Governor Cuomo is pretty open about tax breaks and credits – basically passing the corporate taxes onto the working class – for businesses in order to get them to relocate or start up here in NYS. But when it comes to fixing the infrastructure that the businesses and workers are dependent upon? Get to distraction mode.

Our good Uncle Sam and Governor are so stingy they makes Scrooge McDuck and Ebenezer Scrooge look like the Good Samaritan.

So it was no surprise to me when a water main broke (again) in Western New York. This time in Amherst and it affected a good chunk of Erie County and a part Genesee County. And Good old Senator Schumer was there to promise to deliver the goods to help rebuild the broken infrastructure.

The pipe that broke is nearly ancient and an atrocious piece of technology. It has been described as a tin can with concrete poured around it, wire wrapped around that, and then a final case of concrete around that. A Rube Goldberg design if there ever was one.

When it blew there were people that did not even know that it was unsafe to drink the water because of potential contamination. Isn't that why we pay these taxes for things like a reverse 9-11 call? I get those for missing children and other sorts of information. Why not for this? And shouldn't it apply to cell phones as well? And the media were not duly informed either from what I understand. So the radio and TV stations were slow to get the information and get it out.

But let us go to war and that will be out as soon as the first bomb is dropped or bullet is fired.

So people were drinking and showering/bathing in potentially contaminated water.

And Senator Schumer was quick t get on the scene and talk “good politics” - he made a promise to get a federal grant to help repair and potentially upgrade the water system from the near ancient mess that it is to something more modern. Detroit must still be lingering in the Democrats memories.

Either that or it is an election year and the Democrats are eager to hang onto the seats that they have and hope to cut into the Republican majority.

Then again, all the affected areas tend to be more conservative in nature and if the Democrats want to make any gains in the halls of power they need to make inroads to areas like Amherst, Williamsville, and especially Genessee County.

Who is notoriously missing? Governor Cuomo and the state representatives. They may have said something, but I have not seen anything official, so I shall leave that until I do more digging.

It is rather disturbing that we have such old infrastructure in this country and how much it places our citizens and the economy at risk. Look at all the businesses that had to close because of the loss of water. And the workers that will not be paid because they were not working.

Look bigger – look at all the ageing and breaking infrastructure and how many jobs could be created and kept going for quite a long period of time if the United States and NYS were to get serious about rebuilding the day to day infrastructure that people need in order to work and live.

Socialists understand that home comes first. The government has a responsibility to take care of its citizens and their needs.

Socialists demand:

-the end of all foreign and military aid (humanitarian excepted) to oppressive dictatorships and other anti-democratic forms of government

-a massive infusion of money into local and state infrastructure projects, not limited to water supply, but roads, bridges, and other necessities as determined by locality

-an infusion of money into better communication technology to keep our citizens safe from local environmental threats

These are our citizens and we need to do better than what we witnessed this week.

Capitalists argue over their Crises

The RNC in Cleveland is over (thankfully) and the pillar of hot air that was spewing out from over that city is now dissipating. Hopefully this means that this heat wave is going to be over soon.  (Yet another cause of global warming - politicos talking.)

What is not over and won't be over is the two capitalist parties arguing over the crises that they created.

Speeches in Cleveland focused on the problems that America is facing and who is to blame.  Republicans want to blame the Democrats for everything under the sun,  such as:

The deficit: Well, in the 1980's President Reagan tripled it. President GHW Bush added more to it. President WJ Clinton knocked it down on the backs of the poor and middle class. And then the President (sic) GW Bush jacked it up to the sky with unfunded tax cuts, two + wars in the Middle East, and unfunded insurance mandate, and other misguided policies that made the rich richer and everyone else worse off than before. President Obama just followed in GW Bush's footsteps with the bailouts of the banks and Wall Street, more wars (undeclared), and the Un affordable Care Act (which forces Americans to buy insurance from private insurance companies).

And top that off with the world's most expensive military with weapon programs and systems that don't work at all – the anti-missile system, the F-22, the F-35, the USS Gerald Ford (a sitting duck of a non-working aircraft carrier), the littoral combat ship, and so many other boondoggles.

So, who is to blame for the deficit? Looks like the two capitalist parties to me.

Then there is the issue of jobs. Are jobs being created or lost? Well, low paying jobs without benefits are being created. I'm talking about minimum wage jobs at fast food restaurants, home health service aides, cleaners, and other menial task jobs. There are jobs being created that do have high salaries and benefits, but you need a college degree for that and, well, college tuition is going up faster than inflation. That rules out most people's ability to go to college to get those jobs.

And jobs are being lost. Through NAFTA (signed into law by Democratic President WJ Clinton) and CAFTA (Signed into law by President (sic) GW Bush) and a host of other so called “free trade” agreements. The only thing “free” about these trade agreements is the capitalist's ability to move to where labor costs are the lowest and the ability to escape tariffs. Among a host of other benefits for the capitalist corporations and their owners.

So, who is to blame for the jobs crisis? Looks like the capitalist parties to me.

And then there is the military. The world's most expensive military. Republicans claim that it is weaker now than ever before. Well, before the disastrous invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq it may have been pretty strong. But America went head long into the graveyard of empires (Afghanistan) and foolishly into a second war (Iraq) based on the flimsiest of pretences (non-existent WMDs) under the Bush administration. President Obama is re-escalating Iraq and Afghanistan, dragged us into Libya – where we created an international disaster and crisis, supported the crushing of democratic uprisings in Egypt, Bahrain, and Yemen, and is now working to drag us into Syria. This is on top of expanding the military's work in Africa with the development of AFRICOM and sticking our noses into Somalia, Nigeria, and other places.

All that is on top of expanding NATO and threatening Russia with war games on the Russian border.

America is weaker militarily because of the capitalist parties going overboard on actions that, if they listened to President George Washington, we wouldn't be involved in. Remember that “entangling foreign alliance” thing? Seems to me like this is it.

So we have two arsonists arguing over who set a house on fire.

At the same time they are stopping the fire fighters from getting into put out the blaze.

Third parties are kept out of the media by the capitalist owned press. The same capitalists that created this mess that we are in.

If we want to address these problems, we need:

-a single payer health care plan that would cost us 3% of our income rather than the 13% we pay now

-implement fair tax plans that eliminate loopholes for the wealthy

-to cut wasteful military spending on weapons systems that don't work and reign in cost over runs

-close all foreign military bases and bring all troops home now

-cancel all “free movement of capital” trade agreements 

-implement a $15 minimum wage now for all workers and cut excessive wages & benefits for the 1%

-expand worker owned & run cooperatives to reduce and end unemployment

-shut down Wall Street & distribute all profits to the workers and unemployed

And so many other policies and practices.

Read the SocialistAction 2016 Platform for a more complete list of socialist ideas that need to be implemented to end the capitalist crises that we are locked in.

Join us in winning the fight against the capitalist controlled parties and their contrived and created crises.

Socialism NOW.

Which side of the coin?

I had a discussion yesterday with a gentleman who tried to feed me the lie that Iran wants to build a nuclear weapon and that President Obama gave it to them. This is in spite of the fact that Mossad (Israel's version of the CIA) openly stated that Iran's scientists do not want to build a bomb and are only doing the work for nuclear energy and medicine. I believe the article that I read and the radio/TV news stated that the Mossad infiltration went up to the highest levels of the Iranian government.

And then there is that claim that Iran stated that they wanted to wipe Israel off the map. Even though that phrase is no where in the Persian. According to Persian scholars and political scientists that are familiar with the Farsi language state that what the Zionist leader Netanyahu claimed the speech said has that phrase nowhere in it. Nowhere. The phrase “liberate al Quds” is deliberately being mistranslated as a call for genocide. (FYI: al Quds is the Arabic name for Yerushalayim – Jerusalem for those working with an English translation.) Again, this is according to articles in various news magazines and a variety of TV and radio interviews.

When I read the Torah it states in the book of Sh'mot (Exodus) “Do not give false evidence against your neighbour.” (Jewish Publication Society translation.) And yet this false information lives on in the mouths, minds, and hearts of people today. Specifically people who want to impose a religious dictatorship over this country and others – be it some rabid form of Christianity or the Torah as interpreted by questionable scholarship.

When I asked the gentleman about what al Quds was he firmly stated “This conversation is over.” And he meant it rather forcefully. I remember doing that when I was a die hard conservative Republican. It meant that I was losing the debate/discussion and that the other person knew more about the subject than I did and I did not want to lose. Yet by saying that phrase I inherently lost because I failed to gain new knowledge and grow. I also lost the respect of the other person.

And then there was the Twitter exchange I had with someone this morning about the lie of Iran and nuclear weapons. Israel has submarines (German made) equipped with nuclear armed cruise missiles and this is OK. Israel has F-16s capable of making the flight to Iran with a nuclear weapon and this is OK.

Iran has nothing but the nuclear technology that the United States gave them when they were a client state and it is limited to enriching uranium to 20% (usable only for nuclear power and medicine) and foreign nations (Russia, France, China and other members of the international community) have the responsibility of dealing with the waste and oversight of the nuclear project.

And I'm supposed to be scared of them?

I have never personally been threatened by anyone from Iran. Zionist Jews in America? Yes. Christian Zionists in America? Yes. Any Iranians or Muslims? No. Yet I understand that there are religious zealots in all faiths that want to impose a dictatorship based upon their interpretation of their chosen faith upon all peoples. In my experience I have not been threatened by a Muslim ever.

People are entitled to their religious beliefs. As a Christian and a socialist I will stand up for anyone's religious beliefs because my ability to practice my faith is dependent upon them being able to practice theirs. I will adamantly stand against any person trying to impose their faith onto another person or group of people.

People are not entitled to make up their own facts and spread lies about other people. That flies in the face of every religion and faith that I have looked into.

We have the problems that we have with Iran because the United States did not respect the democratically elected government of Iran in 1953. We – the USA and Great Britain – engineered a coup that led to the establishment of a brutal dictatorship and enabled the dictatorship to remain in power until 1979, when the Iranian Revolution happened.

With that revolution, not only was a brutal dictatorship thrown out, but a new one was put into power. On top of that moderate and democratic forces were also driven from Iran.

And any threats against Iran strengthen the power and support of this dictatorship over the nation. Out of fear.

And the people want peace and democracy.

In college I studied the Shoah (Misnamed the Holocaust. A “holocaust” is a scared offering to a deity. What the Nazis did was beyond murder – not a religious offering.) To this day still find what was done to Jews, homosexuals, the Roma, people of Slavic descent, political prisoners, and many others horrifying and reprehensible.

And then I see those that were persecuted becoming an international bully and their neighbours feeling unsafe and threatened by their rhetoric and actions. I find that equally as reprehensible. The bullied has become the bully instead of more compassionate.

The Iranian people deserve the democracy that they were denied by the United States and Great Britain in 1953. They deserve more than a bland and lame apology for what was done to their nation from 1953 to 1979.

They deserve justice and reparations.

Justice means those responsible for the crime against the Iranian people – that being the CIA and MI-6 – be opened up to open and public investigation and all programs that a threat to a nation's democratic rights be shut down. Anyone responsible for crimes against the nation needs to be brought to trial with the full cooperation and support of the US and British governments. And civilian oversight put over these programs so that these types of crimes never occur again.

Furthermore – those companies that profited from Iranian oil and other national resources must compensate the Iranian people for the resources stolen from their land. With interest and an ownership stake in the corporation.

At the same time – those persecuted by the Nazis deserve justice. And the world has been pursuing that.

At the same time, Israel will never know peace until until it actually practices what is in the Torah. Yeshua (Jesus/Isa) was asked what the greatest commandment is. He responded that man should love the Lord with all his heart, soul, and strength. The second greatest commandment is like the first: Love your neighbour as yourself.

Israel will never know peace until it does for the Palestinian people what it wanted the world to do for them during the Nazi oppression and Shoah. The Palestinian people deserve the right to return to the houses and land that they lived in and farmed for centuries in peace next to Jews that lived in the same region. (OK the crusades were an exception to this peace.) In the book of Yechez'el (Ezekiel) when the Messiah finally establishes his kingdom the Jew and the Goyim/Gentile will live together in peace in that land - side by side.

The state of Israel that we have today was not created by the Messiah and certainly has no peace on either side of any wall or fence. No peace. No safety.

Socialists support freedom and democracy for the Iranian people against a religious dictatorship.

Socialists support freedom and democracy for the Palestinian people against a religious dictatorship.

Socialists say “Never again” and mean it because we suffered in the same prisons and were murdered as well.

Socialist know that no one will ever be free if anyone is living in fear.

Socialists demand the destruction of all nuclear weapons and the closing and destruction of all nuclear weapons plants in the world and the transition to green energy sources.

We will all have peace for all or no one will have peace.

We all win or we all lose.

Which side of the coin do you want to be on?

Thoughts on Dallas, Baton Rouge, et al

I've been trying to grasp why the shooters in Dallas and Baton Rouge did what they did – mass violence against an other that they saw as oppressing them.

Understanding never implies justification. It means I want to crawl inside their minds and try to see why they did what they did.

Let's face it – when the founding fathers saw that they had no recourse against the British, they resorted to violence. We call it the Revolutionary War. Things didn't go so well in the second round – the War of 1812 wasn't so glorious.

The Civil War was a result of the southern states saw that they had no recourse over the issue of slavery. It was on the way out no matter what. They chose to give it up the hard way and have been fighting against the results of the Civil War ever since. We call it “Jim Crow.”

We were lied into World War I by Woodrow Wilson's propaganda machine to fight a people that did not want to fight us.

The only way to end World War II was violence,  or never to have stuck our noses into World War I.

Every time we perceive a threat to us and our “way of life” we respond with violence.

Look at what we did to the First Nations peoples. We did it so well that Adolf Hitler modelled the concentration camps used to attempt exterminate the Jews after them.

It's ingrained in our culture. Look at the literature we feed our children. Starting in elementary school on up.

Look at the “blockbuster” Hollywood movies – violence solves all. Chuck Norris, Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, Steven Segal, Jean Claude van Dam, and the list goes on.Sylvester Stallone anyone?

When the United Sates feels threatened – it sends in the military, which it goes out of its way to glorify in the news, in the movies, and pretty much everywhere you look.

If the US has a problem with a country and they don't want to “listen to our voice of reason” - in come special forces and the drones.

In high school or in college and don't have the money to complete your degree or even get started? Join the military.

So I was not really surprised when I read & heard that both shooters were African American and Iraq or Afghanistan war veterans. They were doing what we trained them to do – kill the people that they saw were a threat to their safety.

In this case it was their fellow Americans. And they were police officers.

Given how the police treat African Americans and the reported (and I wonder how much goes unreported) violence against them – in particular the heavily reported street executions of African Americans - left them with only one response. And it's what America always does when it feels threatened. They – and America- resort to violence.

Sad to say, it's part of our country's psyche. And if we want the killing to stop than as a society we need to stop glorifying the use of violence as a solution to every problem that comes along.

British police are taught de-escalation tactics in response to hostile individuals. They have a lower mass shooting rate (statistically measured) than we do. Maybe we could learn something from them?

Maybe we could learn something from Jesus and the Bible? (His name is/was actually Yeshua/Joshua. Jesus is a bad translation of the Hebrew to Greek to Latin to English.) After all, I hear so many conservatives and Bible thumpers say that this is a Christian nation. Well, prove it. Get out of those pews and do some loving towards “the least of these.” Jesus/Joshua said to “love one another (as he) loved us.” Well, show me the love. I hear it from the pulpit on Sunday and nothing like it on Monday through Saturday. (BTW: That's where it matters the most and I must say that there are people that practice peace and love.  The Quakers come to mind  There are others I'm sure.)

We need to change as a society and go beyond the words of condemning violence. Yes, sometimes we need a strong military to put down someone like Hitler. That is an exception.  We should never use it as a rule.

But it was violence that got us into this hole in the first place.

And more violence is never going to get us out of it.

And in Cleveland we have what is being called “Four Daze of Rage” as the Republicans anoint Trump as their presidential candidate. Hillary – another war hawk will be anointed in Philadelphia (the city of brotherly love – how ironic) not soon after.

Somehow I have no hope that this change will come from above.

So we have to do it at the bottom and work our way up – putting out of power those that embrace violence and putting into power those that seek alternatives to the mindless violence that has put us into this never ending nightmare.

I fell angry and sad for the victims of police violence.

I feel angry and sad for the police that have been gunned down in the last two weeks.

I feel angry and sad for the shooters that saw no other way because we as a society taught them no other way.

I feel angry and sad that we failed all of them by failing to show them a better way.

They all are the victims of our failed violent society and culture.

When will we ever learn?

Will we ever learn?

Where have all the flowers gone?

Long time passing.

July Socialist Action Newspaper is out

It's that time of the month when revolutionary minded individual that are serious about change (not the change that President Obama promised and never delivered) pickup their Socialist Action newspaper and begin reading a worker written news stories and calls for action and justice.

This month we feature articles on:

-The SocialistAction Presidential campaign – Comrades Jeff Mackler and Karen Schraufnagel are running and we include articles on the announcement, a brief platform statement, and an interview with Jeff on his run for the presidency. Karen has a good interview on YouTube. Also an analysis of the Sanders campaign.

-News on the immigration front and the slap in the face to immigrants that the Supreme Court delivered

-An analysis of the Orlando violence

-A statement on the austerity budget imposed upon Puerto Rico by Congress. (Who says the US isn't a colonial power? Independence and debt forgiveness for Puerto Rico!)

-An article on abortion rights victory

-Labor news. (We are a labor party. Let's count our victories and see where we need to fight.)

-An analysis of the situation in Syria.

-A book review on “To the masses.” Always good to understand history so that we repeat the successes and avoid the mistakes.

-A movie review on “The free state of Jones.” A good movie on unknown history.

-News from our Canadian comrades

-An analysis of “Brexit.”

-Environmental news on pipeline protests. The harder we make it for the carbon based economy to succeed, the more likely we are going to be able to see a green energy (not nuclear either) revolution.

If you are interested in reading all this worker written news – subscribe asap!

If you are motivated enough by this work to join a revolutionary socialist party – now is the best time to do so.

Liberation first starts in your mind. You can continue to get information from the 1% controlled media – or you can step away from the polluted mainstream media and take a dive into an independent socialist news service.

The choice is yours.

Blue pill or red?

The 1% are afraid of the red one.

Mindless Violence

Add to the list of victims: Nice. 

What happened in Nice wasn't very nice.

And boomerang violence in Baton Rouge. At least that is what I think it is. Revenge shooting for the murder of Alton Sterling.

There are three police dead, three others are wounded, and one shooter dead. Two other shooters are “out there” somewhere. Baton Rouge is on edge and stressed out.

I do not know what the shooters intended to accomplish. Outrage? That exists. Now more at the shooters than the police that shot Alton Sterling dead.

Sympathy? For Alton Sterling – not enough existed for him before he was shot. Now that there are three dead police and three more wounded, on top of the Dallas shooting, the police – the armed force that carries out the in-state oppression of capitalism – are receiving plenty of sympathy. Somehow I do not think that is what the shooters wanted.  Neither would have Alton is my guess.

Justice? Vigilante shooting will never achieve justice. Then again, the system rarely indicts police officers when they field execute an African American, So the system needs reform. I sincerely doubt that much, if any, reform will take place under the spiral of violence that is occurring in this country. More likely we are moving towards a state of martial law which will make it harder for those of us that want to change the system make the changes.

And please note that phrase: change the system.

I refuse to talk about reforming “the system.” The capitalists in charge will make slight reforms that are aimed at appeasing the oppressed. As long as they (the oppressed) are looking at the puppets on the strings and not the masters pulling the strings, they (the oppressors) will be happy.

In my college studies of the Russian Revolution of 1917, I read about the events that led up to the revolution. Not just the earlier attempts that Lenin made before he and Trotsky fled Russia, but all the way back to the 1820s. The Imperial Russian government had a policy in which they dealt with uprisings and rebellions – repression and reform. After some violent action – bombing or assassination – they would use the state police to repress those responsible and then institute enough of a reform to appease the masses so that they would not rise up. At the end of the day, the Imperial Russian government remained in power, the masses were docile, and the revolutionaries were thwarted.

Lenin called this mindless violence ultra-leftism. Those that took part in the bombings and assassination attempts thought that if they took some sort of violent action that the masses would rise up and and overthrow the government. As stated above, all they did was undermine the revolution.

Lenin worked within and without the system. He helped to create a revolutionary socialist party that educated and prepared “professional” revolutionaries for the day of the revolution. They were well versed in theory (something I doubt those that committed the violence today have any of) and action. They knew that they needed a “critical mass” of people to support them from across the peasants (farmers today), workers, and the military & police.

These professionals went out and educated the people through unions and other social organizations. (You'd be surprised to know how revolutionary the church was.) So the masses were developing a consciousness of their situation and why it was that way. They knew that the only way to change their situation in life was to change the system. So in 1917 they had two revolutions. The first put the Imperial government out of power and replaced them with a democratically elected government. The second revolution put this government out of power when it was clear that the only thing that the government was going to do was continue the Imperial government's agenda.

Hence land, bread, and peace. Land for the peasants. Bread (food) for the urban masses. Peace for a conscripted military force that was being chewed up in a war that nobody understood. Everybody understood the call and enough people were educated and radicalized to be able to carry out the revolutionary call.

Here in America we do not have anything like that. We have plenty of angry individuals that are willing to engage in violence against their direct oppressors. But they are merely throwing a brick in the Grand Canyon thinking that it is going to somehow stop the Colorado River from running through it. The masses have little in the way of consciousness that helps them to understand why these events are happening. So they get outraged at those that commit the violence, but do nothing to change the system that creates the crisis of violence in the first place.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Socialists are opposed to the violence that is being carried out against African Americans and other minority groups (Muslims, Hispanics, LGBTQ, and others) and the boomerang violence that is being committed against the police.

Socialists demand:

-An end to racism in the police force and all law enforcement agencies.

-A federal level law that ends “stop and frisk” laws that unfairly target African Americans and other minority citizens. (It's called the Fourth Amendment. Get a warrant.)

-Community control over police forces. It has been shown to reduce violence against all people and reduce police violence against citizens.

-A requirement that the police live in the communities that they are going to work or that police recruits be drawn from the community where they live and that they work in those communities while they are in law enforcement.

-The creation of a non-political and independent investigator and prosecutor to address instances of police abuse and violence.

-An end to the capitalist economic and social system that creates lines of control that separate and segregate workers against themselves.

This mindless violence is never going to achieve the revolution that will end the oppression that we all live under. We need a revolutionary minded and conscious working class that will rise up against the whole system and bring the real change that will end this cycle of violence.

Workers of the world unite.

You have nothing to lose but your chains.

Light Rail Solutions

Occasionally the Buffalo News prints an article that has a solution of merit. Today's news (July 15, 2016) carries such an article. It's on the first page of Section B. Not front page where it belongs. But still.

It involves tearing down that unsightly Skyway and building a light rail line – really just allowing light rail to run on existing lines and then extending it up into a central point in Buffalo. The DL&W Terminal is mentioned. I could also see the Central Terminal being brought back to its former glory (or something near it) as a central hub of this line.

And while we are at it, let's extend light rail to Niagara Falls and out through Amherst and Williamsville?(It could even run underground so that they would not have to deal with trains on Main Street.)

Mass transit, such as light rail, has many advantages over cars. First there is no hassle about parking or finding a parking space. My friends that have bus passes even note the free park and ride locations. (OK. UB is overly crowded but LaSalle is often wide open. And the park and ride over by the Eastern Hills Mall id often open as well.) And the cost of parking downtown is ridiculous. The cost of a Metro Pass alone is paid for in a week of downtown parking.

Second is the cost of gas, which bounces up and down worse than a kid in a bounce house at a birthday party. The cost of a pass is low when one looks at the cost of that.

Third, of course is the environmental impact. Buses are running greener and light rail runs on electric that comes from Niagara Falls. (Nothing greener than water turbine generated electricity. I'll even take wind turbine or solar.)

Fourth – for us union folk – is that bus drivers and mechanics are all union jobs. Those are good wages and benefits.

I can go on about how much I think the idea needs to be pursued.

It needs to be expanded even more than what I mentioned above.

We have the rail lines that are slowly being abandoned to the south towns. Let's reinvigorate then with passenger lines down Route 400 all the way to Arcade and Elicottville the the regional skiing hubs. Also down the 90 / Thruway to Dunkirk, Olean, and Jamestown.

Lets get it going up to Niagara Falls and over to Canada. Also over to Rochester. Even Batavia.

If sufficient lines were rehabilitated and opened up people would use them, My friend tells me about the Arcade & Attica Railroad and how people line up to ride on that train. Granted it's an old steam engine and it has a historical appeal. Still, travel by train/rail/whatever you want to call it is more efficient in many ways over travel by car or other singular gas based travel. Add WI-fi to the lines and t just became even more engaging for those that would rather surf the web than watch the scenery out then windows.

Add a dining car and it just became even more attractive. I can count on one hand how many times I go driving on the 400 or anywhere without a snack or cup of coffee/tea going (or at least packed) and that adds to the difficulty of driving and increases the possibility of an accident.  Light rail and mass transit reduces that possibility.

And I can go on about the need to expand light rail and mass transit across our urban centers and region.

This is one time that I agree strongly with Congressman Brian Higgins.

My disagreement is that he doesn't go far enough in the desire to expand light rail.

Hopefully he has a desire to expand it further and just hasn't released the idea publicly.