The Battle Against Public Broadcasting

Sarah Palin said while discussing the issue on Fox News: "NPR, National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, all those kind of 'frivolous' [quotes and bold bloggers editing] things that government shouldn't be in the business of funding with tax dollars — those should all be on the chopping block as we talk about the $14-trillion debt that we're going to hand to our kids and our grandkids ... Yes, those are the type of things that for more than one reason need to be cut."

Yes. Those are the types of things that need to be cut. Like the influence of the Billionaire Kock Brothers who are behind the Tea Party and all their Minions. Like the fact that Corporate America owns America, and the intellectual giants of the Tea Party someone think that if the Billionaires are spared from paying taxes, eventually they will be too. (Or more ridiculously yet, that when They, the [Tea party] People become million- and billionaires, then they won't have to pay taxes.) Other People (the Liberals, the 'Coloreds' and everybody else but Them) will take care of paying the way for "Loyal Americans." This is the heartless and souless beliefs of the so-called "Legacy" People: i.e. the "Original Americans" meaning White Landowning Gentry.

Yes, the Far Right believes that Everybody Else (but Them) should pay taxes so they don't have too.

So, taking away NPR/PBS is about not funding "frivolous things." Right?

No. it's about trying to make NPR defunct so that the "frivolous" broadband radio and television blocks currently 'misused' by Public Broadcasting can then be bought up and used for 'usefull' purposes: like andditional channels for FOX News and other Right Wing Media Outlets.

It's about castrating investigation into the highjacking of democracy by the Billionaires, deleting any 'unnecessary' investigation of Right Wing activities, and last but not least, "fair and balanc[e]"ing the rest of the news waves for Right Americans.

Hold on to your freedoms, because they are about to be annulled.

Nuclear "Option" in Meltdown Status! Scramm it!

"Nuclear Power! So cheap it won't even be measurable!" screamed the Voice back in the 1950's and 60s'. Along with the (radioactive) nugget: Safer than Coal or Gas!"

With the power plant in Japan breached, lacking electricity to get water into the containment vessels of tow (our of five) reactor cores, this stands as the largest nuclear disaster in history. Larger than both Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. Of course, this was due to the massive earthquake, but it was built on a known (and quite active) fault line, guaranteeing that sooner or later...

And this reactor is not the only reactor in the world built on a fault line. There are several others, including those in California. These are just accidents of monstrous proportion waiting to happen, also sooner rather than later.

Let's return to those thrilling days of yesteryear...

Nuclear power was sold to the American People as both safe and cheap. That spent fuel rods hav e to be kept in water that is costantly filtered and refreshed, wasn't part of the propaganda. Neither was the billions of dollars that went into developing the technology by the US Government, not the Private Industry that would profit from this "cheap" energy source.

And as to the waste byproducts... That was a whole nother prospect.

Not only are the reactor cores in full breach in Japan, but the spent fuel rods 'isolated' in on-site storage tanks are also in danger. If not constantly cooled, they would still have enough fissionable material (in the quantities stored) to start an uncontrolled chain reaction as well.

If the US Governement had spent a mere fraction on the solar and other alternative power possibilities, the cheaper alternatives to Nuclear, Coal and (especially Liquified) Natural Gas, those sources would be online and generating power in the quantities that were once touted for Nuclear. And solar panels don't go critical, either.

Bake Sale for Billionaires

Welcome to those thirlling days of Yesteryear! Where the Rich were Rich because God Blessed them (even though they were cursing the Not Rich). If the rest of the Country is Poor, that just means that they need to pull themselves up by the bootsraps, and get some Gumption, by God!

Now let's take you to to our radio show in progress. (What's that? What's a Radio? You know, those things you listened to before you had the Internet and iPods and Mp3 players, oh my? I know; that's so last Century.)

The Poor:

Let's have a moment of silence here... for the poor Billionaires of This Country. Seems that they don't have enough money in their bank accounts.

I know! Let's have a Bake Sale for Billionaires! They don't seem to have enough money, poor dears. Well, we'll give them even more of Ours! Whaddaya say, Kids? Aw, come on...

Those Poor Billionaires are going to bed hungry.

Yeah. Hungry for more. MONEY, Power. By Gosh, I guess they don't have it all just yet. I guess we'll have to help them out.

The Rich:

Whaddaya mean, we don't have ALL your money yet? That's not enough in my book!

Poor People? We don't have any Poor People in this Great Country of Ours, do we? [pause for brilliant idea here] Oh, you mean the Welfare Cheats?! The Under-Taxed Class. Yes. They should pay their taxes, by Gumption!

What's this? They don't have any jobs? Well, that's not Our Fault, is it? They just need to go out and get a Job. This is America, where everyone should work (so they can continue to pay Our Taxes for Us). Isn't there a McDonalds or Walmart close by for them to work in? That's what we made those jobs for.

What's that, you say? You're saying this isn't funny? Well, how about Wisconsin? The Demoncrats leave the State in order to not rubber-stamp our fully elected Tea Party Guvner's plan to slash and burn the State Budget. That's not fair! They're Criminals, Criminals I tell you! Get those arrest warrants out already and bring them back to do Our Civic Duty! What do they think this is? A Democracy?

Talk about the "Nuclear Option"...

At a time when our world is teetering on the brink of ecological collapse (yes, I know it's a bright sunny day out there probably as you read this), the Republicans are out to kill off legislation that was hard won and will be hard to get back once they have decimated it.

Other global competitors (especially China) are playing to win this race for a clean energy future, and we should be working together to create the 21st century technologies that will help us grow our stagnant economy, cut pollution even further, and end our over-addiction to oil and other fossil fuels; instead of working against our own good. If China can have clean air standards, why can't the US?

Instead, some in Congress seem more interested in taking us back to the19th century, where you couldn't see for the coal smoke in most major cities. Or even as late as the 1980's, where I'm told that the wir was so thick with pollutions some days, you couldn't see the end of your block.

The latest proposal by Wyoming Senator John Barrasso is  attempting to gut the EPA AND every other federal agency from using the Clean Air Act AND any other environmental law to do anything about reducing America's clean air and climate pollution. After thirty years of improvements, the Republicans want to take us back to the Bad Old Yesteryears.

And just for good measure, it would also preempt state climate actions. Please tell me where these legislators who have in the past been so pro "States Rights" can justify this nonsense?

A similar proposal by West Virginia Senator Jay Rockefeller would halt EPA actions to reduce carbon pollution for at least two years. These proposals are part of a coordinated pro-polluter assault on America's clean air standards that would reverse important progress we've made to cut pollution and promote innovation.

The 21st century will be a clean energy century. If Congress refuses to fulfill its responsibility to pass a strong climate and energy bill, it should at least get out of the way of progress.

I strongly urge you to oppose the Barrasso "Do ABSOLUTELY Nothing on Climate" bill, the Rockefeller "Do Nothing for Two Years" bill, and all bills like them. It's time to respond with courage and fortitude.

[Taken in part from an Environmental Defense Fund letter to be found @
http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=1025 ]

Ah, the Creative Life!

In the last two months, I have finished off almost a dozen short stories, started three novellas, wrote a ten page short video script for two friends, and ordered my comedy skits into reasonable expectations of one day getting up on stage with them and becoming a Comedy Star.

In the last two months, I have also gone without a lot of the Holiday Cheer that most others in our society expect to have during the Christmas and New Years season. I have also spent most of it on friends couches and floors, filling out another dozen works of fiction known as Employment Applications, which have large gaps in the history of, due to bouts of writing and acting which, unfortunately, I cannot acknowledge in this town because it is the kiss of death in finding employment.

As soon as those sidelines come out of me, it's time for the interview to have been over two minutes prior. Never mind that I've spent much of the last two years looking for work, or hopping back and forth from here to the East Coast in search of work, the admission of Things Other Than Gainful Work is enough to sink the prospect.

So yes, I can brag of my great creative strides, while at the same time severely lacking in the basic necessities.

Ah, The Creative Life! It chose me, not I it. It is who I am, regardless of any other aspect of my life. For Better or Worse.

Hey! Doesn't that sound like a marriage?

Step Right Up! Getcher Politician! Unlimited Time Offer!

This is sort of The Devils Bargain, part two, wherein Corporate America is Old Scratch getting Politicians to sell their souls (hey, wait! is that a contradiction?). Will Politicians in this new age of chicanery start acknowledging their Corporate Overlords with "brought to you by..." messages at the end of their ads? Or how about wearing proudly the logos of their Corporate Sponsors on their jackets, like the NASCAR's do?

Why not? As long as they're going to be bought and sold to the highest bidder, they might as well be proud of it. After all, NASCAR drivers are. Do they really think that the (left leaning) public interest groups (probably next on the Corporate Supreme Court  hit list no doubt) won't be able to find out?

And now it seems that the Conflict of Interest with "The Supremes" grows deeper. Justice Thomas'  wife has been a paid "consultant" to the Heritage Foundation and other Right Wing groups that are behind the Buying and Selling of America.

Now the Members of the Supreme Court are supposed to be above reproach. They are also supposed to recuse themselves when cases come before the Court in which they have a vested interest: such as Virginia Thomas receiving payment from, and helping to found another, organization (or two) with which the Court is in active litigation involving said organization.

The main backers of most of the Far Right and their actions (from the Tea Party to "Citizens United" are two oil baron brothers, the Kock (pronounce Cook) brothers, who BTW are funding a Billionaires Retreat on how to finish taking over the country this weekend in Palm Springs. Both Justices Scalia and Thomas have spoken at these retreats in the past  Considering that the Koch brothers created "Citizens United," that is so clearly a Conflict 0f Interest that the whole "Citizens United" case would be thrown out -- except in this case, the Supreme Court is the last place a case goes in this country. Oh, well, so much for democracy.

So, Fart Proudly*, I say! Step right up (or is that Step Right up?) and stand proud for who you represent. The American People? Hell, no. Only the disembodied Corporate ones (you know? the ones recognized by Law as living forever?) however. No need to acknowledge those "Little People" ever again. They don't count, anyway.

[* The title of an essay by Benjamin Franklin.  "Fart Proudly, because you're an American." (When once that name, American, actually meant something.]

The Scourge of The Scooter

You see the ads for The Scooter Store on TV when you're watching late night or some of the cable channels, where they say that "You may qualify for a Scooter at no cost to you!" (What they don't say is that the government picks up the hefty cost of $10,000 adding to the burden of health care

My, how far disability has come!  Curb cuts, disability access on busses and in most newer buildings... It's a far cry from the older days when  people with disabilities were kept hidden from view or only taken out to doctors appointments or to say in the back yard on a sunny day. We live in a society that is increasingly stratified not only by race and money, but also by the gap between the (in some cases) very abled, (mostly  among the obsessively gym-going among us [the more well to do in most cases]) and the disabled community (those recognized as disabled and needing to have wheelchairs as well as those who because of weight or other physical issues may need then soon).

So you might say that the Scooter — the motorized one-stick-does-all carts — are a good thing. And for certain populations of the disabled, they are. For individuals with MS (I know two) and the extreme Elderly, they are. It's a good time for the mobility of those individuals who are still active in their minds, even if their bodies do not function as well as they would like.

But then there are those who make the transition from walking to the Scooter because it's easier to do. For some of those, active exercise might be of better prescription than taking the (apparently often) step to full dependence on having a chair that they are bound to.

Studies are showing use of the scooter type device increases cardiovascular functioning (when the body is not moving for long periods of time)1 that, once someone has made that choice, the lack of activity is not only not helpful, but leads to a quick decline in physiological functioning leading to an earlier death than might have been.  In these cases, it might have been better for these individuals to remain actively mobile until their functioning declines to the point of no return. Giving up is a sure way to give in.

The more active physically we stay, in other words, the longer our lives and the lesser our declines, leading to better quality of life. Some people manage to stay as active as they can until the day they die. In my church recently, a prime example of this was a "young" woman of 103, who got up and danced an an event. She was a shining example of what it means to grow old gracefully and live longer.

Before I go any further however, I should point out that I am not biased against the disabled in this case. I myself am physically disabled, owing to a work accident that I had in my early thirties. At that time, I was determined that, even with my doctors admonitions  that I was going to be crippled by arthritis in my knees by the time I am the age I am now aside, I was determined to be active and to recover as much as I could.

I wanted to be like that 103 year "old" woman and not be confined to a chair or scooter any sooner than I had to be. So far, I have been able to remain quite abled, doing things like dancing and hiking that I "shouldn't " be 'abled' to do by this time. I want to life my life to the fullest until that possibility is firmly retreating from my grasp.

And that is answer I would like to be giving to all that are able and active: to have the best possibility of quality of life is to remain active. "Do not go gentle into that good night..." but go actively. Don't fall prey to the idea that you don't have ability and mobility until your body tells you "no more." You don't have to be 'disabled' even at 100, unless your physical condition demands it.

Leave the Scooter and the Wheelchair until then.

1("Effect of Motorized Scooters on Quality of Life and Cardiovascular Risk"   www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20185015)

p.s. as I finish writing this, I've just found out that the fitness/nutrition guru Jack LaLanne has died. He is said to have exercised right up to his death yesterday... At the age of 96.