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Cartoon for the Day

Submitted to Shelton Blog by Claude

KOCH BROTHERS AND US CHAMBER

Excerpts from:
Koch Brothers and US Chamber:
Polluting Our Earth and Our Democracies

by Bill McKibben

WI Workers and Enviros Everywhere Face Same Enemy

Among other truths made completely clear by the showdown in Wisconsin: the outsized role of the Koch brothers in American politics.

Charles and David, the third and fourth richest men in America, first gained notoriety in the fall, when a remarkable expose by Jane Mayer in the New Yorker showed how they'd funded not only the Tea Party but also the hydra-headed campaign to undermine the science of global warming, all in the service of even more profit for their oil and gas business.

But it was in Wisconsin that the down-and-dirty details of their operation began to emerge -- they'd not only funded the election campaigns of the governor and the new GOP legislature, but also an advertising effort attacking the state's teachers. They'd helped pay for buses to ferry in counter-protesters. We were even treated to the sight of new Governor Scott Walker fawning over them in what turned out to be a hoax phone call. The Kochs are right up there now with the great plutocrats of American history, a 21st century version of the robber barons.

The trouble is, they don't care. And they don't really have to care. Their business is privately held and answers to no one. Last week their spokesman said they would "not step back at all ... This is a big part of our life's work. We are not going to stop." So those of us who care about things like the climate will need to go on tracking them. But we'll also need to pay attention to their ideological twin, the Pepsi to their Koch. It's the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Unlike the Koch brothers, everyone's heard of them. That's because there's a chamber of commerce in almost every town in America -- they're the local barbers and florists and insurance guys, the folks who arrange the annual chili cook-off or the downtown Christmas lights. You know why Lindbergh's plane was called the "Spirit of St. Louis"? Because it was paid for by the by St. Louis Chamber of Commerce.

But that's not the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The U.S. Chamber is a hard-right ideological operation, which provides massive funding to conservative Republicans, including the new GOP majority in Wisconsin. If you want a sense of just how far right: Glenn Beck held a telethon on their behalf, and donated $10,000 of his money. "They are us," he said -- and an executive of the chamber called in to thank him. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent more money lobbying in 2009 than the next five biggest players combined; they spent more money on politics than either the Republican or Democratic National Committees. They're the biggest elephant in the jungle.

Despite their claim to represent three million American businesses, more than half their budget comes from just 16 companies. They don't have to identify them, but it's pretty easy to guess who they might be, since the chamber has devoted much of its time to thwarting any effort to control carbon emissions. For instance, they filed a brief with the EPA demanding they not fight global warming because "populations can acclimatize to warmer climates via a range of behavioral, physiological, and technological adaptations."

And here's the thing: Unlike the Kochs, the Chamber has some real vulnerabilities. Though thanks to the Supreme Court they can keep their secret flow of money going, their credibility depends in part on the idea that they're representing all those millions of businesses. That's why we've launched a big nationwide campaign: "The U.S. Chamber Doesn't Speak for Me." Businesses big and small are already joining in -- a thousand in the first week -- making the case that in fact capitalism can adapt to new sources of energy. Capitalism's great virtue, after all, is supposed to be nimbleness and flexibility.

Those of us who work on climate change have spent years trying to figure out why Congress pays no attention to what's clearly the most dangerous issues the earth faces. For years we thought we simply needed to explain the crisis more skillfully. But in the last year the truth is becoming clearer: Hidden in the shadows are the guys with money who pull the strings. We need to illuminate those shadows, with the Kochs and even more with the U.S. Chamber.

Link to complete article: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/11-8

HEDGES: Marching Toward Self-Annihilation

Excerpt from:
This Time We're Taking the Whole Planet With Us
By Chris Hedges

Globalization is the modern articulation of the ancient ideology used by past elites to turn citizens into serfs and the natural world into a wasteland for profit. Nothing to these elites is sacred. Human beings and the natural world are exploited until exhaustion or collapse. The elites make no pretense of defending the common good. It is, in short, the defeat of rational thought and the death of humanism.

The march toward self-annihilation has already obliterated 90 percent of the large fish in the oceans and wiped out half of the mature tropical forests, the lungs of the planet. At this rate by 2030 only 10 percent of the Earth’s tropical forests will remain. Contaminated water kills 25,000 people every day around the globe, and each year some 20 million children are impaired by malnourishment. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is now above the 350 parts per million that most climate scientists warn is the maximum level for sustaining life as we know it. [Editor’s note: The preceding sentence has been revised since this article was first published here.]

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that the measurement could reach 541 to 970 ppm by 2100. At that point huge parts of the planet, beset with overpopulation, droughts, soil erosion, freak storms, massive crop failures and rising sea levels, will be unfit for human existence.

Link to complete article:
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/this_time_were_taking_the_whole_planet_with_us_20110307/

DOE Approves Downtown Shelton Air Monitor

Simpson emitting in downtown Shelton, WA USA

Encourage City of Shelton to Move This Project Forward

Submitted to Shelton Blog by Katherine Price Mason County Progressive

A few months ago Robert Moody of the Olympic Region Clean Air Agency (ORCAA) left a message on my telephone message machine that downtown Shelton was going to get an ORCAA monitoring station. Encourage the City of Shelton to Move This Project Forward

I recently left a message for Mr. Moody checking on the status of that project. Mr. Moody again left a message on my home phone that progress is being made toward placing a monitor downtown. He reported that the Department of Ecology has approved the choice of a site, and that it is now at the City of Shelton for their comment. With any luck we will have a monitor downtown by the end of this month, which is pretty close to the timeline Mr. Moody had anticipated.

For those who do not live, work or do business downtown Shelton, a monitor for downtown may not seem like a big deal.

For those of us who do live, work and/or do business downtown, it is the first step toward protecting ourselves from a double-dose of air pollutants as Simpson/Solomon inches its way toward a permit for a second biomass incinerator right in our downtown business district.

I wish to express my gratitude to Mr. Moody, ORCAA and Ecology for moving forward with this project. We air-breathers have become pretty cynical about our government agencies lately, as well as our elected officials.

To have ORCAA provide us with a monitoring station downtown takes some of the sting out of the treatment we are receiving at the hands of others.

May I suggest we all call the City of Shelton on Monday to encourage them to move this project forward as soon as possible.

I can hardly wait to have a monitor downtown to give the citizens of Shelton an opportunity to see what is already happening to our air as a result of the existing Simpson plume.

Keep it light,

SHELTON BLOG NOTE:

CONTACT: City of Shelton
Phone: 360.426.4491
Fax: 360.426.1338
Email: cityhall@ci.shelton.wa.us

Photo by Christine

Which is it? The Best or Worst of Times?

OUR LEADERS ARE NOT ON THE SAME PAGE

Submitted to Shelton Blog by Katherine Price Mason County Progressive

It seems like only yesterday the Mayor of Shelton, and Mason County Commissioner Lynda Ring-Erickson were quoted in Mason's County's faux "news" paper, the Journal, telling us how good things are in Mason County.

I was a little sceptical of their enthusiastic report, since it conflicted with reality, but modern politicians don't really give a lot of weight to things like facts. To the modern politician, facts are in the same category as citizens: pesky, bothersome and to be ignored whenever possible.

Today, just a few weeks after learning that things in Mason County are great, along comes the Port of Shelton newsletter (Portside) to rain on my parade! The Port advises us that their number one priority is business development that creates jobs and that this position is necessary because, according to Portside:

• Over 42% of our workforce goes to another county to get their pay check
• Unemployment is 10.3% (7.4 Kitsap and 7.5% Thurston Counties)
• 33% of Mason County adults earn less than $25,000/year vs. 18.7% state wide
• In 2007 17.9% of the adults experienced food insecurity vs. 11% state wide
• In 2007 Mason County per Capita income was 29.9% below the state average

It is interesting to note that the last two "facts" are for 2007. Very likely these numbers are even worse for 2011. How do these facts (if indeed they are facts) square with the Mayor and Commissioner Ring-Erickson telling us that things in Mason County are just great? They don't.

Our elected officials need to get on the same page if they do not want to confuse the citizens: either things in Mason County are great, as reported by such trusted officials as the Mayor of Shelton and Mason County Commissioner Lynda Ring-Erickson, OR things in Mason County are really bad, as reported by such trusted officials as Hupp and Wallitner.

So, my question to our elected leaders is this: Is this the best of times or is this the worst of times? They really cannot have it both ways...can they?

Cartoon for the Day

Submitted to Shelton Blog by Claude Mason County Progressive