Economics

Denying due process to people without US citizenship, residency papers, green cards or a visa is becoming a business racket for private prisons and private security (aka paramilitary) companies.

The more people are thrown into those jails, the more money the concentration camps make.

Welcome to the new American economy.

h/t American Humanity

I am sure many readers read with disgust the Supreme Court's decision to let Exxon/Mobil off the hook for the Valdez oil disaster, which devastated Alaska's coastline. This just reminds us YET AGAIN that America doesn't matter to the right wing Republicans. Only big oil companies, Halliburton and cronyism matters to these fools.

Here is a video of Alaska's Democratic Congressional Candidate, Diane Benson's, response to the recent Exxon/Valdez decision:

And here is a statement from Alaska's Democratic Senate Candidate, Mark Begich:

“The thousands of Alaskans whose lives were devastated by this disaster are hurt, once again, by this ruling," Begich said. "What we’re seeing today is another example of how Washington is out of touch with real people. The justices have sided with corporate America rather than with Alaska families who have suffered for nearly 20 years.”

Global warming is hitting us already. It is no coincidence that some of the biggest storms and an unexpected number of storms are hitting us now. Nor are food shortages coincidence...nor are they caused primarily by biofuels. Extreme weather, an expected part of global warming, is hitting us hard, damaging crops around the world. Crops are established based on a particular climate. That climate has changed and it will take time for agriculture to adapt and infrastructure to be put into place. Time and money.

Global warming isn't our future. It is our now.

I have covered how the more optimistic scientists think we have 10 years (now more like 8) to deal with global warming before we are hit with the full brunt of it. Essentially that means we have that period to mitigate the eventual effects. Keep in mind that there will be some delay before the worst happens. That relative optimism is fading. Now even some of the most optimistic scietists are realizing that the models were wrong. Global warming is hitting harder and faster than predicted. Things are WORSE than the models predicted. Jim Hansen, possibly the top global warming scientist and the head of NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Sciences (where my wife works), has revised the estimate of how long we have to act to mitigate global warming down to one year. This is our last chance right now. Time has run out to act.

08/21/2008 - 08/23/2008: Great Lakes Green 2008: Residential Green Building Conference

Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan- Amway Grand Plaza Hotel
Cost: $65.00 and up

Great Lakes Green is a partnership between Green Built Michigan, Inc. and the Michigan Association of Home Builders (MAHB). Great Lakes Green is intended to be an educational show that will generate greater awareness (among the building industry and the general public) about residential green building programs and technologies. More info here.

06/24/2008 - 06/25/2008: Embracing a Green Future – a conference for manufacturers
Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan- GVSU Eberhard Center
Cost: $445

Embracing a Green Future will teach manufacturers sustainable business practices to help them achieve triple bottom line results like these:
· A 50% reduction in energy costs - Rapid-Line, Inc.
· A 10% reduction in operating costs-H&L Advantage
· A 16-million-gallon reduction in water use, saving more than $30,000 each year-Metalworks
· A 35% reduction in metal scrap-Whirlpool, Corp.

More info here. Register for this event by Friday June 13, 2008. Please contact Natalia Powers at 616-771-0327 if you have additional questions.

About 10 minutes past 1:00pm but the post is but nevertheless:

The formal act of endorsing a candidate is generally (and properly)limited to editorial pages and elected officials whose constituents might be influenced by their choice. The rest of us shouldn't assume anyone cares. My avoidance of offering a formal endorsement until now has also been affected by the pull of old friendships and my reluctance as a teacher and commentator to be openly partisan. But my conscience won't let me be silent any longer.

I believe that Barack Obama should be elected President of the United States.

Go read the whole thing NOW.

Previously : Robert Reich didn't expect to support Obama but now he is.

No Sweat Apparel is a company I have plugged before and which I purchase clothes from. I have shoes, flip flops, shirts and pants from them. Their products are all fair trade and/or union made. Most of their stuff is good quality (though occasionally shoes wear out fast) and their flip flops are really cool, designed by Indonesian children with some of the proceeds going to fund the education of that child. All in all, a good company with cool products that are fair to workers.

They are starting a new project that ideally will help peace between Palestine and Israel. This appeals to me because during my one trip to Israel I had the chance to talk to many people and it made me realize that one major key to peace is economic prosperity. While my wife and I were there (between the assassination of Rabin but before violence broke out...and on the same trip we got engaged on Santorini in Greece and where we almost got caught in the big Turkish earthquake...) everyone, Arab and Israeli, was tensely optimistic. Everyone we talked to WANTED peace. Why? "Because it's good for business." This is the key. If people feel they have stake in peace, they will work for peace. I have written about this before and discussed companies and organizations that work to further economic cooperation and prosperity in Israel/Palestine. I also have written about another important facet of peace in the Middle East: environmental projects that can help the prosperity of all concerned.

Depending on who you ask, the Iraq war costs anything from a low $200 million, to a moderate $411 million to a whopping $720 million a day.

The American Friends Service Committee calls for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and they have put together this video describing in numbers the financial toll the war is having on the country's ability to deal with its domestic issues. When you spend $720 million in a failed war, you can't spend it in health care, schools, jobs or the current housing crisis.

Watch the video.

Well, here's a quick run down on the timeline of events that led to this disaster.

I am running out to pick up the kids, but will be back with more. I just twitted that I feel the stock market is like a really bad telenovela. So now I feel compelled to blog why. Gotta go pick up the kids first.

Healthcare is failing in America. Farmers are hurting. The poor are getting poorer. We can't fix our roads, levees and bridges. The deficit spirals out of control. We are told we can't afford to secure out ports against terrorism. And education is underfunded.

And the Iraq war is costing us $720 million per day. Wouldn't that money be spent on improving life here in America?

From the American Friends Service committee:

Bush is hurting America with this failed war based on lies and with no exit strategy. McCain has vowed to continue Bush's failed war. It is time to stop the stupidity and neglect of America by the Republican Party.

12th Native American Youth Entrepreneur Camp
July 20-25, 2008
University of Arizona campus
Tucson, Arizona

Join us at the 12th Native American Youth Entrepreneur Camp July 20-25, 2008, on the campus of The University of Arizona in Tucson.

Learn to build private-sector enterprises in Indian Country. Visit Native-owned businesses. Enjoy extracurricular activities on and off the UA campus.

Like the real world, the camp is intensive and challenging, but rewarding and fun!

During the six-day camp, students will reside on campus, eat in the Student Memorial Union, and attend classes on the UA campus.

Register by July 1.

For more information, contact Monica Agar at cortes@u.arizona.edu or call (520) 626-0664.

Tribes as Competitive Employers: Pension Plans and Federal Labor Law Standards

Friday, March 28, 2008, 10:00 – 12:00 Noon
Amy Courson, Adjunct, Associate Strickland & Strickland
Rountree Hall 204
1145 N. Mountain Ave.
University of Arizona, Tucson

This spring, the IPLP Program has scheduled a strong line-up of distinguished visiting scholars, indigenous rights advocates, and lunchtime speakers.

Reception to follow.

Tribes as Competitive Employers: Pension Plans and Federal Labor Law Standards

Friday, March 28, 2008, 10:00 – 12:00 Noon
Amy Courson, Adjunct, Associate Strickland & Strickland
Rountree Hall 204
1145 N. Mountain Ave.
University of Arizona, Tucson

This spring, the IPLP Program has scheduled a strong line-up of distinguished visiting scholars, indigenous rights advocates, and lunchtime speakers.

Reception to follow.

Colorado Renewable Energy Conference
"Renewable Energy: Fueling Prosperity"
Weekend, June 6 - 8, 2008
Pueblo Convention Center
320 Central Main St.
Pueblo, CO

With Tracks Focusing on
* Community,
* Technology, and
* Transportation

Keynote Speaker:
Congressman Mark Udall
(CO - 2)

CRES has reserved a block of rooms at the Pueblo Marriott
(110 West First St., connected to the Conference venue)
for a special rate of only $89/night ...
RESERVE YOURS NOW!

For more info, call: 303-806-5317 or email here: info_at_cres-energy.org

Colorado Renewable Energy Conference
"Renewable Energy: Fueling Prosperity"
Weekend, June 6 - 8, 2008
Pueblo Convention Center
320 Central Main St.
Pueblo, CO

With Tracks Focusing on
* Community,
* Technology, and
* Transportation

Keynote Speaker:
Congressman Mark Udall
(CO - 2)

CRES has reserved a block of rooms at the Pueblo Marriott
(110 West First St., connected to the Conference venue)
for a special rate of only $89/night ...
RESERVE YOURS NOW!

For more info, call: 303-806-5317 or email here: info_at_cres-energy.org

MREA Annual Fair
Jun 20 – 22 2008
Stevens Point, Wisconsin

The Midwest Renewable Energy Association's annual Renewable Energy and Sustainable Living Fair is the nation's largest gathering of renewable energy supporters, vendors and presenters.

Join us for the 19th annual Energy Fair June 20-22, 2008. The Fair will be held at the ReNew the Earth Institute. The ReNew the Earth Institute is located at 7558 Deer Road in Custer, WI. See the Travel and Accommodations page for mapquest details and other information.

General Energy Fair Information
Since its inception in 1990, the Energy Fair has shown 190,000 fairgoers how to change the world while having fun. Each summer the Fair transforms rural Custer, Wisconsin into the global hot spot for renewable energy education. The Energy Fair is the world’s largest renewable energy, energy efficiency, and sustainable living educational event of its kind. Please join us this year!

The Energy Fair features hundreds of workshops and exhibits all emphasizing clean energy & sustainable living and is fun for the whole family. In 2007, the Energy Fair hosted over 19,500 attendees. We hope to see you in 2008!

More info here: www.the-mrea.org

SEED Mid year conference
Apr 26, 2008
Davenport North High School, Davenport, IA

SEED ( sustainable ecological economic development ) will hold their mid year conference in April in Davenport. To register or for more information contact: richlands@earthlink.net

Gotta love when a conquistadora jumps head first into the cesspool of American Exceptionalism. Take U.S. Representative Ginny Brown-Waite, Republican of Florida, who last week decided that she would stick a finger in the eye of the Puerto Rican and Guam communities.

Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville, was complaining about parts of an economic-stimulus package when she referred to residents of Puerto Rico and Guam as "foreign citizens."

". . . The bill sends hundreds of millions of dollars to people who do not pay federal income taxes, including residents of Puerto Rico and territories like Guam. I do not believe American taxpayer funds should be sent to foreign citizens who do not pay taxes. Americans want an economic stimulus for Dunnellon, Brooksville and Clermont, not for San Juan or Hagatna. As the legislation moves forward, it must be changed to ensure that only federal taxpaying American citizens receive rebate checks."

linkage

This prompted universal condemnation from all over the place, including action by the Puerto Rican House.

In a resolution that passed unanimously, the Puerto Rico House said Brown-Waite's comments are denigrating and ignorant.

This post was not supposed to happen this way. I was supposed to give a quick and dirty, "you go girl" to Alisa Valdés Rodriguez for her smackdown of Adam Nagourney and Jennifer Steinhauer. Why? They've written one of the most poorly researched, poorly fact checked, backed by barely just one expert in Caribbean and Latin American history, anthropology or public policy race-baiting piece of drivel about how Latinos will not vote for Obama because they can't relate to his blackness.

In Obama and the Latino Vote, Alisa goes to bat :

The sloppy, inaccurate story goes on for 32 agonizing paragraphs, using the terms “black” and “Latino” as though they were mutually exclusive – which they are not. Historians estimate that 95 percent of the African slave trade to the Americas took place in Latin America.

To this day, the vast majority of people in the African diaspora live south of the U.S. border, in Latin American countries from Brazil to Colombia to Cuba and, yes, even Mexico. The song "La Bamba," in fact, was brought to the Veracruz region of Mexico by Africans enslaved to the Spanish. The song likely has roots in the Bembe (Bantu) culture from what is now the Congo. This is only a stone's throw, geographically, from the Kenya of Obama's father's birth.

How quickly we forget in this country. How brutally we refuse to learn.

The New York Times not only ignores completely the African history of Latin America by positioning "blacks" against "Latinos" as if none of us were both. To do so is enormously irresponsible because it dissolves from public consciousness the fact that African slavery was a crime committed all across this hemisphere, by colonial Europeans who spoke English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. The story also erroneously portrays Latinos as a race unto themselves - an error egregious enough to be stated in our own census bureau's definition of Hispanic as a person "of any race". Including "black".

I was supposed to expand on Alisa by going deeper into the work I have already covered here, most recently with On Why I Hate Hispanic Heritage Month and Blanquito vs. Latino or the Unbearable Lightness of Being Alberto Gonzales. I was supposed to smackdown Nagourney for his complete lack of any understanding of Latin American history, culture and politics.

And then something happened.

Oklahoma is already starting to suffer the consequences of it's tough new anti-migrant workers law :

People are just picking up and leaving :

PARK HILL, Okla. — Autumn had arrived in eastern Oklahoma, and workers at the sprawling Greenleaf Nursery were prepping for deadly frosts. They needed to ship plants, erect greenhouses and bunch trees together to protect them against the cold.

But in late October, about 40 employees disappeared from the 600-acre nursery about an hour's drive from Tulsa. "Some went to Texas, some went to Arkansas," nursery President Randy Davis says. "They just left."

Why did the workers, all immigrants, flee? "Those states don't have 1804," Davis says.

Because most legal residents are children of undocumented parents:

Supporters of 1804 say the state will benefit from illegal immigrants leaving. "That's money in our pocket," says Carol Helm of Immigration Reform for Oklahoma Now.

Not all of those leaving Oklahoma are in the USA illegally. "I've lost two housekeepers out of a staff of 12," says Joe Geis, general manager of the Sleep Inn & Suites in Edmond. "They were here legally, (but) they have family" members who were not.

Immigrant activist Blanca Thames says she has helped more than 1,000 families prepare power-of-attorney papers to protect children in case parents are deported. Many illegal immigrants have U.S.-born children who are citizens.

Yesterday I blogged about the current crop of suburban ghost towns, and how the middle class "goal posts" have been moved so far away from where my parents had them, that I really need to find a different word to what exactly is my current social class.

Well, the Wall Street Journal published Income-Inequality Gap Widens just this morning :

The wealthiest 1% of Americans earned 21.2% of all income in 2005, according to new data from the Internal Revenue Service. That is up sharply from 19% in 2004, and surpasses the previous high of 20.8% set in 2000, at the peak of the previous bull market in stocks.

The IRS data go back only to 1986, but academic research suggests the rich last had this high a share of total income in the 1920s.

This, by the way is not actual wealth. This is just income gap. If we considered actual capital holdings, we the non-wealthy are even more screwed and deeper in the proverbial debt hole than before.

The IRS data don't identify the source of increased income for the affluent, but the boom on Wall Street has likely played a part, just as the last stock boom fueled the late-1990s surge. Until this summer, soaring stock prices and buoyant credit markets had produced spectacular payouts for private-equity and hedge-fund managers, and investment bankers.

This diary was originally written once the lessons of Hurricane Katrina had sunk in a bit. This week is the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Two years ag...I remember watching on the weather channel as a category 5 hurricane was bearing down on the Gulf Coast and thinking, "THAT is going to be really bad."

But no one in the Bush Administration seemed to think that. They thought about celebrating John McCain's birthday, buying shoes in NYC, vacationing...while one hell of a hurricane was bearing down on America's Gulf Coast.

The people of America's Gulf coast didn't matter to the Bush Administration. Those people we watched die of neglect in New Orleans died because Republican America considered them insignificant...worthless...useless.

I think the political strength of any group comes down to three things: money, votes and volunteerism. These three things win elections, so they get the attention of both political parties. The low voter turnout among blacks is a problem, and I think this low voter turnout hurts the community. Neither party puts that large a premium on the black community because of this low voter turnout. Of course it is more complicated than that--there are vested interests that don't want a change in the status quo. But imagine the effect it would have if there was a nearly 100% voter turnout in the black community. In some areas like NYC and Virginia, for example, this would make the black community very important in elections and their needs would become higher priorities for both political parties.

I originally posted this on the Daily Gotham earlier in the week.

Mark Twain said there are lies, damn lies and statistics and his adage applies to unemployment measurement. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes six unemployment metrics monthly, each referred to in ascending order of inclusiveness of the unemployed as U-1, U-2, etc.

The measure reported by the media as the unemployment rate that severely undercounts the unemployed is referred to as U-3. The U-3 rate is obtained by dividing the narrowest definition of the unemployed by the work force.
The U-3 definition does not include whom the BLS calls discouraged and marginal workers, those who want a job but have given up the search because market conditions and personal experience indicate the process is futile.

U-6 Unemployment counts the marginal and discouraged plus those seeking full time employment but can only find part time work. The Federal Reserve tracks what it defines as the Augmented Unemployment rate, which I’ve read is equivalent to U-6 less part time workers. I couldn’t find any Augmented Unemployment releases on the Fed site and despite major data inclusion differences, some bloggers have used U-6 and the Fed’s stat interchangeably.

Naive supply side economics fans and the heartless and often evil advocates of cutting the wealthy’s taxes as a means to kill the beast of New Deal and Great Society programs love to brag that the historically low recent unemployment numbers (April’s seasonally adjusted U-3 was 4.5 percent) are evidence that their tax policy scam truly does trickle down to those who are not tax cut direct material beneficiaries. Despite those wishing to give handouts to Gates and Buffett’s (who personally don’t even want the cuts) spin, the economy just isn’t that robust. The seasonably adjusted April U-6 numbers, which are a much more accurate economic suffering barometer than what the media regularly announces, increased to 8.2 percent.

I have written before about the myth of Republican fiscal responsibility. Simply put, the government is run better under Democratic control or split control (with both parties having a say) than when Republicans are dominant. This is most easily seen with this graph:

On state levels also, you have a better shot of getting a balanced budget under moderate Democrats than under Republicans.

But what about the accusation, made by Al Gore regarding Bush's then proposed tax cuts for the very wealthy? Was Al Gore right that Bush's economic policies will only help the very rich? Jerome a Paris over at Daily Kos presents a graph that proves Al Gore pretty much right. During the period of maximal Republican dominance, when trickle down economics were once again applied to the US economy, growth helped only the richest Americans.

Here's the graph:

Median wages (the wage that half of Americans earn more than, and half earn less than...in other words the MIDDLE wage, not the average wage) stagnated despite economic growth. Most Americans earned the same wage that they did before the period of growth.

I was surprisingly inspired by John and Teresa Heinz Kerry’s new book, This Moment on Earth, coming out March 26th, 2007. This inspiration snuck up on me around the third chapter. Prior to that, I found the book good, well worth reading, but a little bit like just one more book outlining what humans are doing wrong. Starting around the third chapter I realized I was referring to the book in several conversations and several blog diaries and that several of the people and organizations featured in the book I mentally filed away as worth looking into for future political connections, diaries and general research.

In short, almost without my realizing it, John Kerry’s book was getting into my brain and inspiring me. The book starts a bit dull but by the end is excellent.

My earliest impression, from the press material that arrived with the book and from the introduction, was that this book promised something really new and welcome. The book was billed as the next step in the evolution of the environmental debate. I was ready for a book that took as given the problems and focused primarily on solutions. Having been through way too many “debates” online where I yet again outlined the very clear scientific evidence for global warming only to have yet the same false claims that global warming was some kind of scam or myth (these claims are never backed up by scientific evidence of any substance), I really was ready to have a book that moved beyond that.

I have had several interesting discussions around here about global warming. Of course we get the foolish denial lobby drones who yammer “it’s a myth” despite the overwhelming scientific evidence, and I merely deal with them with a slap down, fools that they are. But there also is the legitimate discussions of what can we do—as a society, as individuals. We have a 10 year window according to top scientific and economic experts coming at the question from different angles. We have a 10 year window.

I have expressed how one of my main motivators for personal action is my son. I would say my step-daughter as well, and that is also true. By my son is 2…and completely dependent on my for everything, so the need for me to care and act based on that care is so striking with my baby. So I look at my son and feel a huge responsibility. I consider the 10 year window to MITIGATE global warming’s effect on my son’s world. It is already too late to stop the effects. We would have to have acted when scientists first were telling us we should act. But we didn’t. So we now have a 10 year window to mitigate.

The analogy I use is I consider my great-grandparents and grand parents who worked hard so their children would have a better life. I feel I must work hard to give my children a life that isn’t significantly worse than mine. That is where we are, starkly and realistically. There are huge hurdles, but also huge opportunities.

I, Liza Michelle Sabater-Tirado, am the father of Anna Nicole Smith's daughter, Dannielynn.

It was a freak accident of telepathic autogenesis that made me the father of Anna's daugher. Seriously. Since the father of my children doesn't want more kids, I was using all my mental abilities to immaculately conceive the baby girl I want so much. Unfortunately my powers got transferred to Anna Nicole.

I am not here to start a campaign. I am here to start a conversation with our country.

She was introduced by Tobias, treasurer to the DNC. Booooring. Then he said her name, the room went ape shit. Seriously.

Clinton has just said that more people went bankrupt last year than graduated from college ... there was a collective, OH! from the audience.

Her message is all about economics, about how people are going bankrupt, that there is no middle class, that jobs being lost to China.

Uh-oh ... people are heckling Clinton over the "non-binding" resolution.

"Had I been the President in 2002, I would not have gone into war".

"If this Congress doesnt end the war, in 2009 as president I will".

She is talking about her experience with the health care bill project and is talking about how she learned from that experience.

She is talking about her "life time of experience" and about "knowing a thing or two about winning campaigns".

She's just given a whole laundry list of her accomplishments ... "We can elect the first woman president ... We can stop global warming ... We can stop the genocide in Darfur ... we can end the war in Iraq ... "

And the crowd goes wild ... to the best song yet (as per Michael) of any of the campaigns. I unfortunately have no idea what the song is, but it's interesting how all these candidates have "a song".

Drum Major Institute has just released a 21-page long analysis (in blog parlance this would be a fisking), of George W. Bush's State of the Union Address. I have no idea if they did this last year but the velocity with which they've put this together is unprecedented.

I am reprinting only the Introduction to the report, which you can read online at DMI on the 2007 State of the Union or download as a PDF here.

-------------------------------------------

Introduction | DMI’s 2007 State of the Union Analysis
DMI Staff

There was little for current and aspiring middle-class Americans in tonight’s State of the Union Address.

On the domestic front, which is the concern of this report, President Bush wavered between promoting ideologically driven experiments to fix our most pressing problems and offering such detailed proposals that the larger challenges were obscured.

When it came to health care, the President opted to push an aggressive ideological agenda on the backs of middle-class Americans, offering “market-based” proposals that treat health care as if it were any other commodity and fail to address the real reasons behind its ballooning costs. On the economy, the President wants to reduce the deficit while maintaining his tax cuts that favor the very wealthy.

[Note: Promoted by mole333]

In order to help educate the public and build community around the theme of "People Before Profit", we need your help. Beginning February 10 with "The Corporation" we are planning a series of nationwide house parties, each of which will be followed by a 30 minute conference call with the filmmakers, authors and/or subject matter experts.

We are honored that Professor Joel Bakan, author of "The Corporation" and others will be joining us for the event.

Over the next several months, the alonovo.com house party film series mission is to help people understand how ExxonMobil, Wal*Mart, Halliburton, Enron, General Motors, Union Carbide Kimberly-Clark and others that put the pursuit of profit above all else, harm society, the environment and our resources. We will be presenting films from Hello Cool World, Brave New Films, MoneyTalks, Ashoka and others that offer compelling independent media that is either edgy or inspirational, and all related to corporate behavior.

As egregious corporate behavior is a theme that impacts all of us, I would be personally grateful if you could help us with visibility for the event. If you could help promote the series to your community it would be of great value to your constituents. If you are able to help us we would be happy to list your organization as an event co-sponsor or major co-sponsor and provide a link back to your site, or an educational campaign you may have developed which is aligned with the film or film series.

Over at Feministe's No racism here, no sir!, Jill Filipovic is continuing a discussion about race, welfare and class at Jane Galt's blog that was based on another of Jill's posts : A Conservative Trifecta: Fat-shaming, welfare-state-hating, and victim-blaming.

I haven't asked Jill, but it seems she is doing some really interesting work at NYU Law that has led her to write now some really interesting posts about race and class. The conservative trifecta post is brilliant because it really deconstructs all the conservative bull around discussions of welfare; in particular the "work for food" rhetorical scam around welfare.

Yet ... and yet. I am always disatisfied with discussion like these.

As Jill rightly points out, poverty is almost always falsely equated with race. Yet, I feel the next step is to ask why is it necessary to propagate the myth that social class is somehow only the product of biology? Why is it important to have an Polish-American kid from Far Rockaway believe that doors will open to him just because his skin is "white" and his hair is maybe two shades away from a dirty blonde?

Hence, the discussions offered by naysayers end up being about why they should not blamed with having been borh with white skin. For example, one of her commenters, Henry, wrote some of the following :

I have no problem with welfare per se (although I’d prefer it be done at the state level as opposed to the federal level). My issue is with the idea that it’s my responsibility to provide for the poor, as opposed to an act of voluntary virtue, and that somehow I’m a selfish prick because I feel that I should have as much control over the money I earn as possible. I’m all for private charity, and the more, the better. The idea that I owe anyone anything is ridiculous. I didn’t cause poverty, I haven’t exploited anyone, and no one gave me or my family anything. My father worked 10-12 hour days turning a wrench for everything we had, and I’ve worked my whole life. Yet somehow, those of you who support using the power of the state to steal from some people to give it to others are more virtuous than people who give money privately. Which is nice, as it allows everyone to feel morally superior without affecting their wallet directly.

Lovely isn't. That's compassionate conservatism for you. This guy represents the common apolgists for economic apartheid. To him, whiteness is part of a Darwinian natural selection that he has not control over. It would never occur to this guy to go back through history and see how whiteness has been constructed in his country as a socio-economic tool of opression.

Here's what I have to say about that:

Russia has cut off Oil to western European countries, including a NATO member.

Link to BBCnews Headline: Russia oil row hits Europe supply

Quote:

Russia has cut oil supplies to Poland, Germany and Ukraine amid a trade row with its neighbour Belarus.

End quote.

As US policy has been at a stand still for how many decades? Since the 1970's ?

Why has the US not been building safe efficient modern Nuclear reactors as a bridge to keep the Grid powered and reduce dependence on oil?

France has a long history of operating plants safely. China is ordering new plants as fast as possible. Obviously while these folks have solved their own versions of waste handling, ours still sit in barrels on the shores of Lake Michigan (last I knew).

The US is and has been playing ostrich. Is it because the NIMBY crowd and Environmental Lobby influence are stronger voices than an economic and national defense voice of reason?

Were our decisions based on artificially low oil prices which falsely skewed the cost benefit equations to the point where on the one hand our grid is on the verge of collapse, our existing plant base (both fossil fuel and nuclear) are significantly aged, and the lag time to bring new plant resources on line is burdensome?

The last time Russia used oil as an economic weapon was in the dead of winter, during a Cold Snap. At least this time the temps are milder.

So what do we think about The School That Oprah Built?

Not many hand-picked groups of 150 girls have $40 million standing behind their learning . . .

I heard about it on National Public Radio yesterday, and then today Newsweek arrived and Favorite Daughter read it to me in the car. Quite the personal project. It reminds me of

So what do we think about The School That Oprah Built?

Not many hand-picked groups of 150 girls have $40 million standing behind their learning . . .

OK folks, I offer a chance to be heard and influence the conversation.

In today’s world we have some difficult energy related circumstances. In the Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning business, the Engineers who work behind the scenes to design build and maintain our buildings and energy infrastructure are working hard to ensure a safe, healthful and sustainable future for us to enjoy.

HVAC for our air conditioning is a major if not dominant portion of the load on our electrical grid. The grid for purpose defined as both Electrical Generation and Distribution. The sad fact is very few new power plants have been built in the last decades, so while electrical demand has increased greatly, the legacy generation base has aged with no significant replacement of these generating resources. On top of that the distribution systems that include high tension cables, transformer stations, local transformers and all the relays sensors and automated controls that go into making it all flow are also aging. Coupled with that is the regular mundane maintenance of clearing trees and brush along the power lines which although manageable, costs a fair amount of money. We should make note that part of the root cause of the Great East Coast / Midwest Blackout (just a name I invented) was caused by lack of proper tree maintenance.

We should also not forget the California draconian regulation that led to the rise and fall of Enron, and the rolling blackouts of the not to distant past.

Venezuela is one of Bush's favorite bugbears. I am surprised we haven't heard some form of domino theory focused on Venezuela and Bolivia as the new Vietnam and Laos in the war against Communism.

Hugo Chavez is quite intentionally riding a wave of anti-Bush/anti-American sentiment to achieve political power. He may well fit the definition of Demagogue as the Greeks originally envisioned it. I have heard mixed things about him regarding Jews and don't know where the truth lies. Certainly his tendency to favor anyone who is anti-American, Iran's theocracy included, seems as misguided as the Republican policy of supporting Afghan extremists, including people who became part of al-Qaeda, against the Soviets, Saddam Hussein against Iran, and any petty dictator who gives us lip service against anyone we don't like.

But there are things we don't hear about Venezuela that tell a different story from what Bush tells us.

Venezuela has had several elections, including a no-confidence vote against Chavez, in Venezuela since Chavez won the presidency. Chavez and his supporters have been gaining in support as time goes by and each and every election has been declared fair by every respectable international agency that has monitored them. I have heard no credible claims of election fraud.

I have heard some accusations of censorship and met a man who seems to feel he is a victim of such censorship. I cannot judge that. But it is clear that Venezuela does have an active opposition that seems to operate without the kind of oppression we see in places like Colombia or in Chile under Pinochet or Peru under Fujimori, people we LIKED and supported. Venezuela seems at least as democratic and free as the majority of nations that America has actively supported.

Many bloggers think of Lou Dobbs as a wanker. I have always thought of him as a markets journalist with more than a few interesting things to say.

Can I hear a witness for "faith-based free trade"? Oh yeah, baby, preach it! :

Eye-glazing stuff, international trade. But the consequences of faith-based free-trade will be eye-popping in the disaster it wreaks on our economy and working Americans. The facts are anything but dull: For 30 consecutive years the United States has run a trade deficit, and our trade deficit has surged to record highs in each of the past four years. Our monthly deficits have reached record levels in two of the past three months.

Our current account deficit -- the broadest measure of international trade -- is on track to approach $1 trillion this year. And our current account deficit is almost 7 percent of our nation's gross domestic product, considerably above the threshold at which Federal Reserve studies have acknowledged our economy must make policy adjustments or face major financial crisis. We're borrowing about $3 billion a day just to pay for our imports, and our trade debt now stands at $5 trillion.

We will no longer have to be patient to see the impact of these faith-based policies in free trade. Signs are already beginning to mount that a reckoning is nearing. Our trading partners in Europe are counseling "vigilance" in the currency markets, as their anxiety rises with the value of the Euro against the dollar. For the first time, the Chinese government is publicly expressing its concern about the more than $1 trillion it holds in reserves.

But most disturbing of all are the comments of new Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who said in London Tuesday, "A strong dollar is clearly in our nation's interest and I feel very good today about the strength of the U.S. economy," as the U.S. dollar hit a 20-month low against the Euro. Treasury secretaries are not paid for their candor, but Paulson's rejection of our current reality won't bolster his credibility with either our trading partners or the new Democratic-led Congress.

Source

When I travelled earlier this year to Amsterdam and walked into an H&M store, I was hit by the painful realization that having dollars in my pocket didn't and couldn't get me far in the European city. A sweater that costs me 39 dollars in the US costs me 39 euros in Holland. Fair trade for a bargain seeker? Of course not.

It's Sunday morning. Imagine you are in the church of culturekitchen. Now imagine this is our collection plate.

Let's talk about money.

Believe it or not but we don't make more money with more traffic. We make more money with more people going into the advertisers sites through our ads.

I have been tracking for the past few months how Google handles the CTR (click-through rate) for this site. Unfortunately, with Google I have no control over what I can charge for advertisng. They impose the click-thru rate on the site. How do I know they are pricing click-thrus on our site? I have a widget running on Firefox that allows me to track the CTR for Adsense.

I have noticed that we get penalized for getting more traffic but not more click-thrus. Yup. If traffic goes up, then Google reduces the amount per click we get. So for example, we were doing more than $1/click last month. We have 50% more traffic this month, so they've downgraded our CTR to $.060.

Now, you have to understand : I am not asking you to endlessly click through their ads. I will actually get thrown out of the Google Adsense program if I request that from you. It is explicitly state in their Terms Of Service agreement.

What I am asking you to do is something a bit different; especially since, if traffic does increase, I can charge more money through our BlogAds.

At BlogAds, we set the price. The more traffic one of my sites gets, the more I can charge for advertising.

Do you get the conundrum? On the one hand, more traffic but less clicks looses us money from Google Adsense. Yet more traffic translates into higher adspace pricing through BlogAds.

So what I am asking you to do? Help us increase the quality of the traffic to our site.

By the time you read this post, I may be already on my way to Harlem to have lunch with over 30 bloggers of colors in this gorgeous Sunday morning. After the whole Clinton thing (about which I will be posting my final thoughts tonight), Donald Agarrat of Preboot decided it was time to revive the Brown Bloggers meetup Nichelle and I used to put together almost 2 years ago.

And so with a good excuse in hand, la negra had her hair and nails done. La negra, after all, has to look her best because, deep down inside la negra enjoys being a very shallow and superficial person.

Well, so there I am at the nail salon, having survived an eyebrow wax that saved me from looking like Ugly Betty

... and, OMFG, have you seen the show? It totally rocks and I am so writing a review next ... Anyhow ... where was I? Oh ... right ...

So I am sitting there at the pedi chair, enjoying a lovely massage when I hear this woman SCREAMING to the owner (one of two actually, but she was alone yesterday night). This woman was