Politics Trumps Environment

29 Sunday Apr 2018

Posted by in Environment, Global Warming

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I just watched a NOVA documentary on Climate Change. It went from 1824’s experiment to reasoning that something in the atmosphere caused the Earth to be warm to John Tindal’s 1864 proof that carbon dioxide was the reason. Methane is 30 times more powerful and with warming climate, the oceans are warming and put out more water vapor, hence more powerful hurricanes and typhoons. It was an in-depth proof that it is happening and how are causing it. Antarctic deposits of 800,000 year old gas in ice tell us we have more CO2 in the air today than anytime during that period. The documentary leaves no room for dispute.

What is astounding is who sponsored this documentary. The first NOVA documentary on climate change caused David H. Koch (yes, one of the brothers) to threaten to pull support from Public Television if they supported Climate Change programs. He sponsored this absolute confirmation study. David and Charles Koch and their billionaire anarchist cohorts directly and through their many “charitable” organizations fund Climate Change Deniers. They use the denying as a wedge issue between the two parties and inside the Republican Party. They have turned it into a litmus test for their support.

Since David Koch knows we are causing it, his reason for support for the denying groups is solely political. Instead of working to mitigate the coming disaster, they want to create an anarchist group to blame the American government for not handling the disasters. Their father taught them to hate a strong national government or any organized labor group. Just as the NRA has some gullible people’s life force, the Koch Brothers use climate denying as their hook!

Heroes of the Past

29 Sunday Apr 2018

Posted by in U.S. Civil War, U.S. History

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In going through a drawer, I found my old Confederate battle flag I bought about sixty years ago. I think it was probably a woman’s head scarf. I became interested in the Civil War because family legend says I have ancestors who fought on both sides. One story is the rebel was on Lookout Mountain as the other tried climbing it. Both survived the war.

My paternal ancestors never had slaves and neither did the vast majority of men who fought for the Cause. My paternal lineage came from England in the late 1600s. He settled in North Carolina Colony and his grandson fought with Frances Marion (the Swamp Fox) earning him a land pension in Southern Illinois Territory. His grandsons fought on both sides in the Civil War. They had no slaves but one believed in state’s rights and the other sided with the government. Just as we were taught in high school, it was over their interpretation of the federal overreach. Sound familiar?

My best friend’s ancestors lived in the Deep South, didn’t have slaves, and fought for the South. Today we know the economics of slavery was collapsing and would probably have ended in two or three decades. I understand the people whose ancestors were slaves may see the Civil War differently than many of us. My Southern side sees it as a war of aggression against the South by Northern invaders just as an earlier ancestor fought against the British. Both sides fought for their beliefs in a bloody heroic battle with mostly stupid tactics and strategy. We see the northern generals (Some had owned slaves and didn’t believe in freeing them) and southern generals (Many didn’t have slaves) as heroic soldiers fighting for their own country,.

Few of our national heroes weren’t flawed and some where crooks. Judging them with today’s standards is wrong.

Illinois Taxes Not Too High

17 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by in Illinois Finances, Illinois Taxes

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Using my trusty 2015 reference book, I find Illinois does not have the highest income tax rate. Our current rate is 4.95%. The rate is modified because of all the deductions reducing the taxable income other states don’t have. Some states have a graduated tax so for this comparison. I used married, filing jointly, and $70,000 from the federal adjusted gross income.

These are the twenty-seven states with taxes higher than ours: Alabama – 5%. Arkansas – 7%, California – 8%, Connecticut – 8%, Delaware – 6.6%, Georgia – 6%, Hawaii – 7.6%, Idaho – 7.4%, Iowa – 8.98%, Kentucky – 5.8%, Maine – 7.95%, Massachusetts – 5.15%, Minnesota – 7.05%, Mississippi – 5%, Missouri – 6%, Montana – 6.9%, Nebraska – 6.84%, New York – 6.45%, North Carolina – 5.75%, Oklahoma – 5.25% Oregon – 9.9%, South Carolina – 7%, Utah – 5%, Vermont – 6.8%, Virginia – 5.75%, West Virginia – 6.5%, and Wisconsin – 6.27%. Many of those lower than us are suffering through budget crisis as are some of the above. Some of the lower ones have other sources of income from oil, gas, and mining.

Some of the above rates are based on AGI, others on gross. Most have no deductions or exemptions.

Our current Governor wants to reduce our rate to 4.70% when we still have a billion in overdue bills. The challenger wants to try to amend the Constitution to allow a graduated tax. Both ignore the pension debt.

The best way to change the tax income is to tax all state pensions at the current rate when the checks are sent out. This would mean those living in or out of Illinois would pay the tax. The pensions were earned here and should be taxed here. Taxing pensions is legal. It only takes guts from the people we send to Springfield! It would raise taxes on my family also.

Vice-Presidents

17 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by in U.S. Vice-President

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Remember the powerful vice-presidents. Whether or not the reader liked them they were a true partner or leader of their president. They were given powerful jobs and were usually in the photos with their president.

Al Gore was the co-brain for Clinton. Both were very intelligent people. His first job was to figure out how to make the government more efficient. Moving information around by computer was siloed. Each group or department spoke its own language and information couldn’t be transferred to another silo. Today that seem archaic but Gore saw the need for a common system. He had a budget which he used to hire the early internet invention. “Father of the Internet” maybe.

Dick Chaney was “the brain” of the Bush II administration for the first six years. Cheney was to vet the people Bush thought would be good VPs. Cheney dumped them all and talked Bush into giving the office to him over Bush I’s advice. Cheney filled all the jobs with his friends so he could run policy and the government. Bush II finally put him in the closet.

Joe Biden had decades of political skill and friendships in Washington complementing Obama’s novice Senate experience. Biden was the go-to guy to handle political liaison and a great representative for foreign meetings and discussions. A potential 2020 nominee.

Mike Pence was a help in Trump’s transition and helped to get some knowledgeable, stable advisors into the White House. Those advisors are fired or left and Pence is seldom in the pictures with Trump. Is it because Trump can’t share a picture, policy divisiveness, or is Pence trying to keep his head down until 2020 or impeachment?

Syria’s Tar Pot

17 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by in Middle Eawst Conflicts

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Syria is the most dangerous conflict in the world. President Assad is fighting the rebels and Isis. We are working with the Iraqi Army. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard colonels and generals are working with the Shia Militias. We are also supporting the area’s best troops — the Kurds.

The Kurdish homeland is Northeastern Syria, Western Turkey, Northern Iraq (no fly zone), and Western Iran. We have had the Kurd’s back since Saddam gassed them. Turkey did little to hinder ISIS in getting supplies and people across their border because they were killing Kurds. Turkey has recently attacked the Syrian Kurds west of our Kurds battle line and says our Kurds are next.

The Iranians have pulled over 2,000 of their Lebanese Hezbollah troops to fight the Syrian rebels. This allowed Assad to let the Iranians send munitions across Syria. Israel has bombed some of the convoys but thousands of short range missiles have gotten through to Lebanon and Gaza.

Russia has supported Assad with weapons and “Mercenaries” to prop him up. They fight side-by-side with the Syrian Army and in one instance against an American advised Kurd unit. The Americans called in air and artillery support killing over 200 Russians. In return for support the little Russian base has been greatly increased in size, troops, and power.

We have set up a protected “Refuge” area in Southeast Syria funded by Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. American air power destroyed a Syrian force about to attack the “Refugees.”

Our April 13/14 missile attack was done after telling the Russians and Syrians where and when so nobody got hurt in hitting empty buildings and bunkers. It was a symbolic attack in an extremely complicated area where a bigger war can easily happen.

Trump Plays Poker with China

08 Sunday Apr 2018

Posted by in Trade Agreements, U.S. Economy

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I like to play seven card stud. The game is dealt with two cards down (hole), then four up, and the seventh down. Betting occurs with each card after third card is dealt. A good player reads the other players, their cards, and their playing. Watching the other players allows a person to evaluate the odds of their cards beating the other players’. An experienced player will seldom bluff because it will give away strategies. Boasting and then folding shows a lack of skill. Instead of constantly bluffing it’s better to fold a weak hand.

Donald Trump, the businessman, tried to bluff his way into many deals and then walked away when he couldn’t get his way. He went forward with several deals and later declared bankruptcy. These bankruptcies were through his many limited liability companies. He made money upfront while vendors and investors lost their investment.

President Trump is now playing poker with China using tariffs as chips. The President’s hole cards are weak and each up card is weak too. He raises the bet with each bad card to continue the bad bluff. The Chinese have two powerful hole cards should they need to use them. One is China could break the sanctions with North Korea. The other hole card is their two trillion dollars of U.S. Treasury notes. China could threaten to sell a discounted hundred billion on the days before we auction our debt. We may not find buyers for ours or have to pay more interest increasing the deficit and debt.

China’s up cards are strong because we need to sell our products to them and they can buy them cheaper elsewhere. For instance we sell a quarter of our soybeans to China. Tariffs mean Brazil, Argentina, and Chinese farms in Africa take up the slack. Each additional tariff means China digs in deeper and the China’s Xi can’t lose face. Xi doesn’t bluff and Trump does!

What Am I?

05 Thursday Apr 2018

Posted by in Politics

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I get a lot of feedback on my opinions. Most are from the right but nearly as many from the left. I claim the center which is where a person should be with views toward both sides. I try to use facts as the basis for my opinions even when they are not stated.

I often call experts (not text, e-mail, FaceBook, Tweet, or any other son-verbal communication) to get information that I use to form my opinion. I have consulted physicians, astronomers, climatologist, military, senators, state and federal agencies, and friends with experience and special knowledge on a topic.

An example is when one climate denier wrote in that the sun was expanding and that was the reason for our climate getting warmer. I knew it was ridiculous but I talked with an astronomer at Adler Planetarium who laughed so hard he gasped for air. As most students in my 1960s high school science class knew, the earth’s orbit is about 93 million miles because of the oval orbit. It is an average of 94.5 and 91.4 million miles. We have gotten more accurate but the sun is probably the same size as when humanity left Africa.

I also use the World Almanac but not Wikipedia or any other subjective or fake social media sites designed to cater to those siloed people who are so easily manipulated. Another source is the people themselves. I try not to use President Trump as an official source because he seldom is right with facts and can change those facts around within hours. To him real news facts come from the script writers on FOX. Even then he screws those stories up.

The left doesn’t like my immigration stance and the right doesn’t like my stance on paying off debt before tax cuts. Seeing both sides of an issue is something Americans have forgotten how to do.

Famous Last Words

05 Thursday Apr 2018

Posted by in Politically Correct, Politics, Uncategorized

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Over the many years I have been watching American politics I have seen people say many things they should not have said. Often these self-inflicting wounds have killed their political ambitions. I remember Governor Gary Hart saying he didn’t fool around and if reporters didn’t believe him they should follow him. One did and took pictures of him cavorting with some women on a boat called “Monkey Business.” It cost him the lead in the presidential primary.

Obama made an offhand remark about Pennsylvania people being gun and religious nuts or something to that effect t. It did not go over well. Hillary Clinton made some off-script comments that may have cost her the election. Senator Edmund Muskie made a derogatory comment about Canadians by using the word Canucks (That’s the name of a Canadian Hockey Team) that was twisted against him. It cost him the New Hampshire’s primary.

Of course omissions can sink a candidate, too. Remember when Governor Rick Perry forgot the fourth cabinet post he would eliminate. “Oops” was the famous last words from him.

Sometimes a president says something wrong or lies and is caught. Reagan’s comment on Irangate was beyond credibility causing him to publicly apologize (sort of).

President Trump seldom gets his facts correct or just makes them up as he adlibs. Perhaps his truest statement which I am sure will be used thousands of times is his story before this year’s CPAC meeting. I quote: “You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in.” How more honest can he be?

Cheap D.C. Housing

05 Thursday Apr 2018

Posted by in Vacationing

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I am planning our last trip to Washington D.C. and I am glad rents are going down substantially. The last time we were there was about twenty years ago. Our room in a small franchise hotel was about 80 dollars a night. No meals or a kitchen were included. In fact it was only one regular sized room.

Since I like to plan our trips and costs down to the dollar, do I figure we can rent a very nice two bedroom apartment in a very nice neighborhood for FIFTY dollars? When EPA Secretary Scott Pruitt did it, the EPA’s inspector general said it was the common rate. So instead of staying in the historic Watergate Hotel for over 200 dollars a night for two nights, we could stay a week with another couple splitting the common rate of FIFTY dollars a night for two weeks. If we cooked our own meals as Pruitt and his intern daughter did, we could stay another week for free!

The only problem is time. I don’t know of anyone who would want to stay for more than a few days in D.C. if they didn’t have a really good reason. Maybe we could stay in the White House on almost any weekend since the temporary residents are usually away. Since it is an old building, maybe it would be less than FIFTY dollars!

Do Illegals Count

03 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by in Illegals

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The most contentious political question for April may be whether or not illegals should be counted by the 2020 Census. Both sides have valid bi-partisans arguments. We already know this: 12 million in California, Texas, New York and Florida; 1.7 in Los Angeles County, 750,000 in Houston area, 622,000 in Miami-Dade County, 568,000 in Cook County, and 484,000 in Queens County, N.Y.; 107 Congressional Districts have over 10% non-citizens of which 86 Districts are Democratic.

The NO side says illegals should not be getting public support of any kind or representation in local, state, or federal government. This is a real issue in Illinois with each current U.S. Representative District being approximately 700,000. Politically, it means the loss of one Illinois District and financially, the loss of millions we spend on medical, food subsidies and other expenditures. The loss would also affect other federal reimbursements done on a per person basis.

The YES side says illegals should be counted because they live, work and spend here. Most state laws require medical attention be given, food subsidies, and children educated. All this is expensive. It would affect the DCCA kids (administration says one million) not being counted because the plan being floated holds off citizenship for five years. Until Congress passes a realistic and much needed visa law, we greatly need those millions to do the very low paid, dangerous, and low skilled work. They break their backs picking vegetables, losing fingers and souls in meat packing plants, busing tables, cleaning houses, and raising rich kids.

Our way of life would be much more expensive if labor could be found to do the work, and with fewer conveniences without them. On this issue I am straddling a very high political fence. Since we treat them like slaves, maybe we should count them as three-fifths citizens.