As you and your colleagues work to come up with a solution to the economic crisis facing our country, I hope you will keep the needs of the taxpayers – and not the special interests – foremost in your mind.
I realize that the markets are vulnerable right now. However, there is too much at stake to rush to judgment. I urge you to take your time in considering the current bailout proposal, even if it means extending your session past this Friday. Specifically, I hope that any bailout bill will:
* Be completely transparent about how our tax dollars are being used.
* Include strict oversight over the actions of the Treasury Secretary, including the ability to block improper transactions before they take effect. The current proposal gives unprecedented, unlimited authority to the Treasury Secretary, and makes his decisions non-reviewable by any court of law or administrative agency. The lack of oversight is what's gotten us into this mess; Congress should not compound the problem.
* Include provisions to help families who are in danger of losing their homes avoid foreclosure. Now that the housing bubble has burst, it is not fair to ask mortgage holders to pay off inflated home prices which far exceed the real value of their homes.
* Cap the pay of CEOs of the bailed out companies. As ordinary Americans struggle to make ends meet and taxpayers are asked to shoulder this $700 billion bailout, the CEOs responsible for these problems should not be receiving million-dollar bonuses and golden parachutes.
* Ensure that, when the bailed out companies become profitable again, some portion of those profits will be returned to the public treasury. This cannot turn into a public debt for private profit situation. We, the American people should own most if not all of the stock in the companies being kept alive by our money.
This is one of those rare situations where everyone in Congress recognizes the crisis, and their responses are not pre-determined by longstanding party positions (since nothing like this has ever been contemplated before). So let's see Democrats and Republicans working together on behalf of the American people. Everyone wants to keep the economy strong and allow Americans to keep their homes, jobs, pensions, and hard-earned money. So let's put the American people first and not create windfall profits for irresponsible corporations, nor consolidate more power in the hands of the same Bush administration which failed to foresee or prevent this crisis.
Thank you.
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( 3 / 11 )I posted some more garden photos . I wrote a full blog entry but it vaporized when I tried to post, so no more for now.
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( 2.8 / 11 )I've recently started downloading Democracy Now! to my ipod, and I feel so much more informed! Watching the mainstream media, and even listening to NPR, I didn't realize that during the Republican convention, the police were violently arresting reporters along with protesters. I didn't get to hear the activists explain that they're protesting for the working poor, the uninsured and underinsured, homeless families, single mothers, and the elderly who are struggling to survive in this country. I didn't get to hear an interview with Paul Waldman, who's written Free Ride: John McCain and the Media about the way the press repeats McCain's own propaganda. I didn't get to hear about the lobbyists working on McCain's campaign, McCain's involvement in the Keating Five scandal, or the lavish private suites bought by corporations at both parties' conventions.
I had to tune into Democracy Now! for all of that, and I plan to keep tuning in. You should too!
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( 2.4 / 9 )I was shocked to read a poll yesterday that said Sarah Palin now has a more favorable rating than Obama, McCain, or Biden! Are the American people not paying attention? To be honest, I would think the revelation that her teenage daughter is pregnant would be enough to doom a Republican candidate, since they claim to be the party of family values and have morality on their side. In addition, I learned from the Wikipedia article on Palin that she herself eloped, and her first child was born only 8 months after the hasty marriage. And if you're looking for evidence of bad judgment, how about getting pregnant at age 44, then getting on a plane from Texas to Alaska after her water broke, then taking almost no time off work to care for her newborn baby? And by the way, I do have sympathy for her child having special needs, but she could have reduced the risk for this problem by getting pregnant earlier: the incidence of having Down's syndrome is 1 in 910 at mother's age 30, but reaches 1 in 28 at age 45.
Her personal judgment and parenting is one issue, but I question her ideas and actions in many areas.
The following information is from MoveOn.org:
1 Palin recently said that the war in Iraq is "God's task." She's even admitted she hasn't thought about the war much—just last year she was quoted saying, "I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq." 1, 2
2 Palin has actively sought the support of the fringe Alaska Independence Party. Six months ago, Palin told members of the group—who advocate for a vote on secession from the union—to "keep up the good work" and "wished the party luck on what she called its 'inspiring convention.'" 3
3 Palin wants to teach creationism in public schools. She hasn't made clear whether she thinks evolution is a fact.4
4 Palin doesn't believe that humans contribute to global warming. Speaking about climate change, she said, "I'm not one though who would attribute it to being manmade." 5
5 Palin has close ties to Big Oil. Her inauguration was even sponsored by BP. 6
6 Palin is extremely anti-choice. She doesn't even support abortion in the case of rape or incest. 7
7 Palin opposes comprehensive sex-ed in public schools. She's said she will only support abstinence-only approaches. 8
8 As mayor, Palin tried to ban books from the library. Palin asked the library how she might go about banning books because some had inappropriate language in them—shocking the librarian, Mary Ellen Baker. According to Time, "news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor." 9
9 She DID support the Bridge to Nowhere (before she opposed it). Palin claimed that she said "thanks, but no thanks" to the infamous Bridge to Nowhere. But in 2006, Palin supported the project repeatedly, saying that Alaska should take advantage of earmarks "while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist." 10
P.S. If you haven't seen it, check out the Daily Show clip on Palin. It's worth a watch
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=24753&id= ... jx&t=5
Sources
Read More...
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( 1 / 1 )Surprise, surprise, Walmart is promoting itself as a green company while its actual efforts have been pathetic. They will make the efficiency changes that immediately save them cash, but refuse to put solar panels on most of their stores. The story is similar in Canada, according to an article Carl found.
He also found this article on various stores getting into solar panels. Kohl's has panels on 43 stores already. Go Wisconsin! But Whole Foods seems to be lagging behind, although their website shows they have a few solar projects.
Take action on the following alert from the Center for Biological Diversity:
Wal-Mart, the largest private purchaser of electricity in the United States, claims that environmental sustainability is among its chief goals. The retailer's much-hyped sustainability initiatives include being supplied by 100-percent renewable energy. Going green is how Wal-Mart's now branding itself.
Except, of course, when it comes to taking more than token action to meet its renewable power objectives.
If Wal-Mart covered the roofs of its stores with solar panels, the resulting solar acreage would roughly equal the size of Manhattan, an island of 23 square miles. But with more than 4,000 Supercenters, Discount Stores, and Sam's Clubs, Wal-Mart has only proposed to install solar panels on 22 of its stores. In other words, after claiming for years that it wants to be supplied completely by renewable energy, Wal-Mart has not even come close to reaching 1 percent of this goal.
Wal-Mart is skirting California law and refusing to incorporate cost-effective features like solar panels in new stores throughout California.
The California Environmental Quality Act requires that new projects in California adopt all feasible measures to lessen the significant impacts of their greenhouse gas emissions. There is simply no good reason for Wal-Mart to refuse to incorporate solar panels into its store designs. That's why the Center for Biological Diversity is taking the massive corporation to court for its failure to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions generated by new proposed Wal-Mart Supercenters in the Golden State.
Please sign our petition to Wal-Mart calling for it to follow the law and live up to its sustainability goal. And please forward this email to as many people as possible, so that the retail giant will hear loud and clear how many of us are outraged by its hypocritical business practices.
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( 3 / 5 )I picked the first pepper and cucumber from the garden today! I'm so glad it's working out.
I put down the corn gluten meal on Saturday. The granulated WOW looks and smells a lot like dry cat food, and I know corn meal gluten is used in some pet foods. I was worried the neighborhood pets would come eat it up, but that hasn't happened.
We don't have a spreader so I sprinkled it on by hand, and it didn't go as far as I thought. I used up pretty much the whole 20 pound bag and I didn't even cover the whole lawn. I watered twice on Sunday morning and then turned off the sprinklers until Wednesday, because the directions said the soil needed a drying period.
I can't tell yet if it's working, although the number of new weed sprouts around the native plants seemed fairly low this morning. I'm wondering how much the granules need to break down to be effective.
If nothing else, it's supposed to work as a fertilizer.
The plants in the garden are so big now, it's hard to see the ground in some places to see if there are weeds growing.
Weeding the lawn, on the other hand, is going much slower than expected. I've been pulling sorrel from almost the same patch of lawn for over a week now!
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( 2.8 / 11 )The beauty and diversity of the Olympic parade of nations tonight was somewhat spoiled for me by the appearance of the men-only Saudi Arabian delegation. I was pleased that the announcers at least mentioned Saudi Arabia's oppression of women, but for me the obvious question was not asked: How can they be allowed to participate in the Olympics at all? There is no reason why a country that has enslaved 50% of its population should be granted the acceptance of the international community. The announcers were tossing around the phrase of the Olympic ideal pretty freely, but no one explained how denying women an equal role in society fits into that ideal. No nation that prevents women from living full lives should be allowed to compete in the Olympics.
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( 2.6 / 8 )If you're wondering why I haven't been blogging much lately, it's because I've been outside weeding. The new garden takes a lot of attention. A couple of the petunias look stressed, but otherwise all of the plants are doing great. As for the rest of the lawn, I'm hoping someday it will be grass with a few weeds instead of weeds with a few blades of grass.
The roses are doing great too. Navid found where the rrigation line was disconnected from the sprinkler head, so the roses will be getting more water from now on. The strip of lawn around the outside now gets water only every third day, which is plenty for the natives we've planted so far. We hope to get up to Las Pilitas nursery again soon and plant some more.
Carl helped find a new organic weed control product, corn gluten meal. My bag of WOW organic pre-emergent arrived a few days ago and I plan to spread it on Saturday. The corn gluten meal also acts as a fertilizer. I'll report back on the results.
I also tried a neat trick on the weeds in the sidewalk cracks--boiling water! Needless to say it's completely non-toxic, and works like a charm. And I managed not to scald myself in the process.
I've got two new pictures up on the gallery and I'll try to add more. Enjoy!
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( 1 / 1 )I got this video in an email from MoveOn.org:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDIAsS9VXiM
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( 3.1 / 31 )Did you know that the California state legislature is considering cutting $1.4 billion dollars from the public transit budget? And they want to do it now, when more people than ever are turning to mass transit as the affordable alternative to filling up their gas tanks! Mass transit makes sense for people and the environment. Tell the legislature not to cut funding for public transportation:
http://calpirg.org/action/world-class-p ... nsit-cuts2
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