Week In Review, Topics Incl: NDAA, Occupy Homes, Rick Perry's Brokeback Mountain Fashion, Fox News Confuses Countries

Hello and thanks for checking in.

We have another huge week to review. Simply put, there is too much going on in the world and I'm paying attention to too much of it. Between all that's going on and my constant wrestling with what's going on in my head, it's tough to get everything into the blog. That being said, I will push on. The topics are again diverse. Most are very important items and we finish up with two of the blog's regular pinatas, Fox News and the GOP. Let's start with the bad news and we'll get progressively lighter throughout the post.

National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA): Oh boy, where to start with this one? Usually the NDAA specifies budgets and expenditures for the coming fiscal year. This year however, the NDAA includes a provision that would allow for "indefinite military detention of U.S. citizens." Without getting too wonky on this bill, the Obama administration has claimed to want to veto it, if certain language isn't changed. But, from all I've seen, the Administration is looking for stronger language. This (as was the last link) is from OpenCongress.Org.

"They’ll (the Obama Administration) take it (the bill) and recommend that Congress passes clarifying legislation in the future, which, of course, will never happen. What they oppose is the provision that would mandate that power be used for all terrorism suspects besides U.S. citizens. From the same statement:

"The Administration strongly objects to the military custody provision of section 1032, which would appear to mandate military custody for a certain class of terrorism suspects."

Within that legalese is simply this, the Obama Administration DOES NOT want a special exclusion for U.S. citizens. They would like all terrorism suspects treated the same. So, basically any of us could be Gitmo'ed. The possibility of being plucked off the streets and held without seeing a lawyer is certainly possible if this passes. Consider this in a post-Occupy world. Could any of these protesters fall under one of these vague statutes. This bill deserves it's own posting. I just wanted to let some of you know it's out there and give you the broad strokes. The link from OpenCongress.Org is really helpful, if you wanted to know more. And, there are loads of other sites on top of this one.

You're probably thinking, "Hey, I'm not a terrorist." The problem is that the language is so broad, anyone can be considered one. Here is Rand Paul (video, below) talking about the bill and some things that may make you look like a terrorist. It's worth a look. One of the characteristics of someone being labeled a possible terrorist, is missing fingers. If this bill passes, clumsy butchers may end up under surveillance.

And, adding to what Paul says, many people involved in the animal liberation and ecological activism movements have been branded as terrorists already. Theoretically, they could be detained as well. Last thing before moving on. I know I make fun of the GOP all the time. In this case, the NDAA is a bi-partisan screw job. It passed the Senate 93-7 and 406-17 in the House of Representatives. Who says Democrats and Republicans can't work together! Yay! Meh.

 This next item is not that much easier to take. In a past post, "The Endless Reach of Inequality," I talked about the findings in a book called "The Spirit Level." If you missed that post, definitely give it a look. In short, "Spirit Level" argues that large income inequality is the root cause for nearly all of society's ills. They did extensive work, some of their findings are quoted in that post. The problems they studied range from higher suicide rates, depression, gun deaths, mental illness, obesity, higher incarceration rates, etc. The list is extensive.

With all that in mind, I give you a story that is sadly redolent of the findings in the "Spirit Level." On Tuesday in Texas, after a 7hr stand-off, a mother of two shot her two children and killed herself, after being denied food stamps. One child was a 10 year old boy, the other a 12 year old girl. Both children later died from their injuries. At its core, this is the book's argument. This story ticks most of the boxes: income inequality, poverty, stories have suggested she was mentally ill, and she of course had access to a gun. She left an eerie message on her Facebook page before going to the social services office. It said quite concisely, "May die today." This is a haunting story and illustrates the need for a strong social safety net, more help for the mentally ill and better gun control.

Staying in the area of inequality, the 99% of the U.S. population, take home a smaller percentage of the country's income (compared to other industrialized countries). The full study can be seen here. From this chart, you can see that we are even behind that model of equality, ex-apartheid state, South Africa. (and yes that was sarcasm) And, how badly do you all want to move to Scandinavia now? Look at Denmark and Sweden! They have better income equality, blond chicks, fjords, Northern lights, ice hotels, and probably really good fish (just guessing on that last one)...It all sounds great though.

Alright, we made it! Now for the good/ uplifting news:

Washington DC is seeing major protests this week, another is happening as I type this actually. But, they have used really creative ways to disrupt the way things run in DC. Here are pictures from Tuesday, day 2 of this protest. They waited outside members of Congressional offices, for their representative. Over 60 were arrested for blocking K Street (the main home of large lobbying firms). Loads of videos are out there, just You Tube search "Occupy K Street", if you wanted to see the scene. And, as I write this post (Thursday night), some have crashed the Chamber of Commerce holiday party and made a human red carpet. Quick aside: I love all this. I'm ready to burn 2012 vacation days to get to some of this stuff. I just think it's amazing.

This has been the best part of the Occupy movement for me. They have shown a great ability to shift and change tactics. The authorities have no idea where they will pop up. The irony is, it was simpler before these idiot mayors kicked them out of the parks. You at least knew where they were. And, that leads me into the next story.

December 6 saw different tactics, compared to the happenings in DC. They morphed into a group called "Occupy Homes." Occupy Homes literally broke into an East New York foreclosed home, that had been vacant for three years, and made it livable for a homeless family. They checked with neighbors and local lawmakers to get their support. There was a large march prior to arriving at the house. And, it all commenced with a large block party to welcome the family. This type of direct action will force the banks to take some kind of action with these homes, either taking a big loss on principal to make it attractive to resell or rent to these families. This house in particular, is valued at 378K, but Bank of America want 600K for it. As of posting, some occupiers are staying with the family in case of police raid and others, including new neighbors are on call to push back against any police response. Pretty badass. And, just search "Occupy Homes" on YouTube, if you wanted to see other vids. Tuesday was a nationwide day of action. I just happened to follow this one closely. Meet the family!

A couple more quick things and I'll let you go. I mentioned at the start, that Fox is one of the blog's pinatas. If I'm honest, they are any liberal's punching bag. This week they got caught using video from riots in Greece and tried to pass them off as Russian unrest. The video they used is complete with palm trees and at one point you see Greek lettering on a building. The building was the National Bank of Greece. You can't make this stuff up. You'd think someone would recognize it. I guess "Fox News" is officially an oxymoron now. I feel bad for any Fox viewer that now travels to Moscow looking for a beach.

- Rick Perry did an amazingly desperate campaign ad where he has come out against gays in the military. I guess he's forgotten that the country doesn't care anymore. Someone on the 'net, noticed he's wearing the same jacket as the "Brokeback Mountain" guy and produced this photo mash-up. I LOVE THE GOP. You can't script this kind of idiocy.

See you next time,

James

Week In Review, Topics Include: NDAA, Gingrich Tax Plan, West Port Shutdown On & The Icelandic Recovery

Hello to all and thanks for checking in.

We had another big week and there is so much to get to. We had yet another GOP Debate. Unbelievable right? When I saw it on, I thought it was a re-run. I think there are more GOP Debates this year than total episodes of "Seinfeld." It ended at 11pm last night (Thursday). So, if anything crazy happened, I may post some of my tweets from the night, by midday Friday. We also had what may be the end of one of our base Constitutional rights, multiple port shutdowns and slowdowns on the West Coast, my point on the climate change debate was illustrated, the Year in Review from Google, and how Newt Gingrich wants to give all the money in the country (maybe even the world), to the top 0.1% of the population. Let's get to it.

National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) : 

I mentioned the NDAA in last week's post. In short, it gives the government the right to indefinitely detain Americans without trial or due process, if they are suspected of terrorist activities. So, Guantanamo Bay is now open to Americans. I mentioned in last week's "Week In Review" that the White House was threatening to veto the bill. However, like everything else with Obama, he backed off that original stance. As I mentioned in that last post, the veto threat was in place if there was a special carve-out or distinction for U.S Citizens. The wording of the bill was changed to remove that stipulation, so now US citizens can be treated the same as anyone else who is deemed a terrorist. The Guardian (from the UK) did a great job with this. Check out their piece on the NDAA here. And, if you have not heard of this until now, don't blame yourself. There has been what amounts to a media blackout on this topic. It seems that you have to leave the US, to find out what is happening here. I've been using independent/overseas sources to keep up with this story. At the time of posting, the bill awaits Obama's signature. Here's hoping that there will be enough pressure from the outside to force a veto. There are marches planned for the next couple of days to the White House. Many petitions have been circulated online as well. Fingers crossed on this one, but I'm not hopeful.

Don't Forget To Pack Your Earplugs:

The manufacturer of the Long Range Acoustic Device or LRAD has record sales this past fiscal year, it was up 57% from last year. Seems like police departments are loading up. So, if you make your way to a large protest bring earmuffs, ear plugs, cotton balls, BOSE noise canceling headphones and be on the lookout. Silver linings on the US becoming a police state? This company is based in San Diego. So, purchasing LRADs create American jobs!! Hopefully, we can keep protesting our way out of this recession. As an aside, did you know that tear gas is made in Jamestown, Pennsylvania? As I find more of these, I'll pass them on. But, it seems like, you can get any item needed to brutally crush protesters within our borders. USA! USA! USA!

Climate News:

Just on Tuesday, I posted something I written on what I felt was missing from the climate discussion. Check it out here, if you haven't seen it. I'm really proud of it. My main point was that spreading the message to somewhat curtail meat-eating (I know the whole world won't go vegetarian) is seldom mentioned. Just yesterday, an article was published that talked about the dangers of Arctic methane being released in our atmosphere. The article states that thanks to permafrost melting in the Arctic, forecasts of climate change could be 2.5 times worse than the already released estimates. Going back to the meat-eating point, worldwide livestock population causes the emission of 80 million metric tons per year. With that said, it remains absent, as one of the potential solutions, from nearly all the climate change articles I see. I mentioned in Tuesday's post, that methane is 70 times worse than CO2 over a 25 year period. Excluding this fact from the discussion simply makes no sense to me.

How To Come Out Of A Crisis, Nordic Style:

Kudos to Iceland. They are coming out of their banking crisis the way you should. A couple of weeks ago (I just found this out), they arrested the CEO of one of their banks. Imagine that? In the US, about 5,000 people have been arrested for protesting said banks. And, 2 more quick things on Iceland. They deserve a book written about them, not just a post. After their banking collapse, they let the banks fail and expanded their social safety net. The Icelandic economy is showing growth that outpaces the rest of the world. They also have re-written their own constitution. The people of Iceland were able to make massive demands of their government, force resignations, new elections, etc. Since Iceland doesn't have an army, the citizens couldn't be brutalized like here or in Middle Eastern nations. That is the VERY short version of the Iceland story. Give them a look when you have a chance. They even used social media to crowd-source their new constitution, during the drafting process. Amazing stuff.

Port Shutdown Round-Up: 

December 12th saw an attempted shutdown of West Coast shipping ports. The aim was to shine a light on the plight of truck drivers connected with the shipping companies and dock workers working on these ports. Apparently, Goldman Sachs has gotten their hands into the import market as well. The ports are called "Wall Street On The Water." Through deregulation and union bashing, these workers lead a very tough existence. I did not know this, prior to the protest. But, many don't have health insurance. The truck drivers are not employees of the shipping companies. They are technically "independent contractors." Because of that, they pay for their own fuel for the trucks, there is no workman's compensation, very little time off, and other cruel working conditions. The success of the protest was hit and miss up and down the coast. I can tell you they did succeed in raising awareness. I had no idea of any of this prior to the shutdown attempt. Most posts did experience slowdowns. Oakland's port was shutdown for the better part of 24 hours. Seattle's port had long delays and clashes with the cops. Here's a video from the local Seattle news and they look in on a couple of other ports, in this clip.

Republicans Are Coming For It All: 

During the week, Newt Gingrich released his tax plan and, spoiler alert, it proportionately benefits wealthy citizens. I'm still at a loss why anyone votes Republican. Maybe it's an aspirational vote. Maybe they inwardly say, "If I win the lottery tomorrow, this is how I want to be treated." Other than that, I'm stumped. His plan was a complete joke. There are approximately 130,000 people in the top 0.1 percent of taxpayers in the US. With the Gingrich plan, they would have a tax cut of 1.9 million dollars per year. If you assume the Bush tax cuts continue, and add the Gingrich cut, their taxes are lowered by 2.3 million per year. Anyone making $40,000-1,000,000 would pay a higher tax rate than someone with an INCOME (not wealth) of over 1 million dollars per year.

Google's Year In Review:

A fitting way to finish, the Year In Review, just released yesterday from Google. I'm not ashamed to say there were a few tears here at Hub Headquarters. Year in Reviews are my Kryptonite, they always get me. Enjoy and keep the Kleenex nearby.

 See you next time,

James