Another year

Charlie Brown is talking to Linus.  He says, “Well, this is it....  The last day of the year and I did it again.”

Linus looks at him and says, “Did what?”

Charlie Brown replies, “I blew another year.”

Happy new year, everybody.  Don't blow it.

Elementary Center in Lehighton

I don’t live in the Lehighton School District, but yesterday’s Times News included an anonymous circular concerning a proposal to build an elementary center in that district.  The ad was sponsored by a group called REACH, which I think is short for “we’ll REACH into your pockets and extract all the tax money we can.”

The ad said the proposed center would promote equality in class size, equality in instructional time, and what was most strange, “more community opportunities.”  Since the proposal for an elementary center would result in shutting down four neighborhood schools, that last one is hard to understand.

Finally, the ad used the really bad argument of “sunk costs,” which was that since the District already spent a pile of money (evidently over a million dollars to architects, engineers, and other construction agencies), it ought to sink even more into the project.

With that kind of thinking, I’m glad I live in the Palmerton Area School District.

Alvin on the No Fly List

Alvin the Chipmunk is on the “No Fly List.”  Yes, I went to see the latest chipmunk movie.  The villain in the film is a federal air marshal, and the TSA checkers don’t come off very well either.  

When I taught the political films class at San Jose State, I interpreted “political film” very widely.  While I probably wouldn’t include the chipmunk movie, it illustrates that many Americans are tired of the airport checks they must all go through.

Imagine a film that made fun of air marshals and the TSA checkpoints in 2002.  No way.  But now they are both fair game.

By the way, Simon and Theodore are also on the No Fly list, although presumably they all can buy assault weapons, if gun dealers would be willing to sell those to a chipmunk.  I’m guessing they would.

Arms sales

In 2014, the last year for which we have the statistics, the U.S. was the top arms seller in the world.  Our take was 36.2 billion.  We controlled over half the market.  

Following the U.S. were 

Russia, at 10.2 billion

Sweden, at 5.5 billion, 

France, at 4.4 billion, and 

China, at 2.2 billion.  

Let’s hear a big cheer.  We’re #1!  We’re #1!

Chris Christie and the boy on the beach

Today the New York Times ran six pages of pictures emblematic of 2015.  One of them was that little Syrian boy lying dead on the beach sand.

I saw that, and I thought of how the governor of New Jersey doesn’t want Syrian children in his state, and I thought, you pandering son of a bitch.

Concussion

In “Concussion” Will Smith plays an immigrant doctor from Nigeria working in the Allegheny County Coroner’s office.  This doctor researched and named the condition suffered by NFL players who received repeated blows to the head in the course of their careers.

The film will make you very angry at the NFL, which knew about the injuries, kept the information quiet, and did its best to discredit the researchers and players who tried to expose the issue.

I am always amazed at the lengths to which large corporate interests will go in order to protect profits, even while they are causing great harm to people or the environment.  I am also amazed that courageous people exist who are willing to put their lives on the line to expose that harm.

Letters to Santa

#1:  I want a drum and a hook and ladder.” Signed Alfred McGann.

#2:  “Dear Santa Claus:  I am very glad that you are coming around tonight.  My little brother would like you to bring him a wagon which I know you cannot afford.  I will ask you to bring him whatever you think best.  Please bring me something nice what you think best. 

P.S.  Please do not forget the poor.”  Signed Mary McGann.

The first letter was dated 1905; the second 1907.  They were found behind chimney bricks 15 years ago by a man named Peter Mattaliano, who was renovating his fireplace in his Hell’s Kitchen residence.

He learned from research that the parents were Patrick and Esther McGann, Irish immigrants who had married in 1896.  Mr. McGann died in 1904, so at the time the letters were written, the children were being raised by their mother, a dressmaker.

From his research, Mr. Mattaliano found out that Mary had married, moved to the Bronx, and died in 1982.  This year Mr. Mattaliano took a small potted tree to Mary’s grave at Mt. St. Mary’s Cemetery in Flushing.

That this child, obviously living in poverty, could end her letter “Please do not forget the poor” is both amazing and humbling.

The full story, with Mr. Mattaliano’s picture, appeared in an article by Corey Kilgannon in the Times, Dec. 15, pp, A1, A25.

Muslims and Christians in Kenya

On December 21 a bus in Kenya carrying over 100 people was stopped by Al-Shabab militants.  The attackers tried to separate the Muslims from the Christians as a prelude to killing the Christians.  It didn’t work.

Muslim women gave Christian women their hijabs and Muslims told the attackers, “we will die together.”  In the face of this unity, the terrorists left.

The Kenyan Interior Cabinet secretary said, “We we are all Kenyans.  We are not separated by religion.”

Test case on gun laws

In 2007 the Missouri legislature repealed a requirement that all handgun purchasers had to get a permit by undergoing a background check, in person, at a sheriff’s office.

Last year the legislature dropped the legal age for caring a concealed gun to 19.  

To paraphrase Sarah Palin, how’s that working out for you?

Evidently, not so well.  The director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research found that in the six years after controls were loosened, the homicide rate was 16% higher than in the six years before.  

The share of guns linked to crimes soon after they were bought doubled between 2006 to 2010.

Of course, you can always find skeptics who argue that the statistics are flawed, that crooks will always be able to get guns, that California’s toughest gun laws didn’t stop the San Bernardino tragedy, etc., etc.

In the meantime, Congress, bowing to NRA pressure, will not permit any federal studies of homicide rates and crimes related to guns.  

Information for this post came from “Gun Killing Rise as Controls Ease Across Missouri,” New York Times, Dec. 22, 2015, p. 1, A14.  The snide comments about the N.R.A. are mine alone

Wir schaffen das

I love Angela Merkel.  Germany is accepting about one million refugees from the Middle East.  “Wir schaffen das,” Merkel’s slogan, translates “We can do this.”  Contrast this with the poop in the pants reaction of Gov. Christie or the panic of Donald Trump to accepting refugees.

The Catholic Church is proposing sainthood for Mother Teresa.  This is a mistake.  Mother Teresa, with her opposition to birth control, has set India back for decades.  Sainthood should go to Merkel, who has accepted political opprobrium by doing the right thing and helping hundreds of thousands of refugees.  She really is a saint.

Answers to last night’s quiz:

#1--Kasich actually proposed setting up a government agency to “promote Judeo-Christian values.”  Those of you who thought Kasich was a reasonable Republican candidate may want to re-evaluate.

#2--Cruz’s Harvard roommate said he would prefer someone picked from the phonebook to be President rather that Cruz.

#3--when asked what he thought of Cruz, John Boehner raised his middle finger.

#4--Trump picked a man with known ties to a Mafia-linked stock fraud scheme to be his business advisor.  God help us if he is elected president.

#5.  If you know your Bible, you know it was Jesus who said he came to bring “not peace, but the sword.”  It is in the book of Matthew.

Political quiz

Tonight at the annual holiday party for the Carbon County Democrats for Progress, party-goers took a political quiz.  The quiz had 14 questions, but I’ll only reprint five.  Answers in tomorrow’s post.

1.  John Kasich has proposed the creation of:

A.  a government agency to promote Judeo-Christian values.

B.  an EBay type auction site to sell surplus government equipment.

C.  a government bureau to catalog the birthplaces of blues musicians.

D.  a clearing house to test the strength of various strains of medical marijuana.

2.  Ted Cruz’s freshman roommate said of Cruz and the possibility of his presidency:

A.  I’ve never met a smarter guy.

B.  his praying before bed kept me awake.

C.  I always assumed he was gay.  Isn’t he?

D.  I would rather pick someone from the phone book.

3.  Asked about Cruz at a fund-raiser last spring, John Boehner responded by:

A.  turning orange.

B.  giving a thumbs up.

C.  raising his middle finger.

D.  saying, “that guy couldn’t pour piss out of a boot if directions were written on 

the heel.”

4.  For his senior business advisor to his real estate empire, Trump picked:

A.  Bernie Madoff

B.  his second wife.

C.  a man with known ties to a Mafia-linked stock fraud scheme.

D.  a economics professor from Princeton who preaches “supply side” economic 

theory.

5.  Which religious leader said he came to bring “not peace but the sword”?

A.  Muhammad, in the Quran.

B.  Moses, in the Book of Exodus.

C.  Jesus, in the Gospel of Matthew.

D.  Mike Huckabee, in a speech in Duluth.

Pennsylvania Public Pensions

Pennsylvania legislators are the 2nd highest paid in the nation, coming in after California.  Of course, California only has a total of 120 legislators, so the overall amount in California is quite a bit less.  At the same time, Pennsylvania has a problem with public pensions; the debt is $55 billion and growing, in part because past legislators did not put the necessary funds into the plan.

So what did our legislators do about pensions?  The Republicans tried to pass a bill that would mandate that future state employees would be forced to enter a 401(k) style benefit plan.  Employees would have a traditional pension, but it would only be half of that of current employees.

The legislators, of course, would not be part of this.  They would keep their pensions as they are.  I’m serious.  

If you look up the word “hypocrisy” in Wikipedia, it says, “see Pennsylvania Republican legislators.”

Antibiotics in livestock feed

Capitalism has no conscience.  We all know that putting antibiotics in livestock feed is a bad idea.  Both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization have warned that for antibiotics to work treating sick humans, the agricultural industry must stop using them in feed given to animals that are not sick so those animals will grow faster.

How has corporate agriculture responded?  The use of antibiotics in livestock feed has increased 3 percent from 2013 to 2014 and 23 percent in the last five years.  This according to statistics from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported by Lancaster Farming on 19 Dec. 2015, p. A17.

My advice is to buy from local butchers who can tell you they use meats that are raised free of antibiotics or go vegetarian.  

No Trump supporters here

Today Linda and I visited the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.  We saw exhibits by Josephine Pryde (where you get to ride a little train), Christopher Knowles, (where you see art made on a typewriter), and Becky Suss (the one we liked the best).

Afterward we had lunch at Baby Blues California-style Bar-B-Cue restaurant.  Linda had the chicken; I had the sausage sandwich.  Both were delicious.  The diners were mostly college students–Asian, African-American, Anglo.  As we were leaving, I said to Linda, “Do you know what was nice about this?  Not one of these people are supporting Trump.”

Gun Control

Readers occasionally ask me how I decide what to write about.  My problem isn’t that I have to search for topics.  It’s that I must decide what NOT to write about.

Tonight, for example, I could have posted about the new Star Wars movie, or the two men who were exonerated after serving 33 years in prison for setting a fire that they could not have set, or the Democratic Executive Board’s holiday party in Nesquehoning, or the Fed raising the interest rate for the first time in 10 years, or Trump’s proposal to kill children of terrorists.

Instead I decided to quote some of the statements on guns by candidates of one of the two major U.S. parties that were printed in today’s Times:

Ben Carson:  “I never saw a body with bullet holes that was more devastating than taking the right to arm ourselves away.”

Marco Rubio:  “Gun laws fail everywhere they’re tried.”  (Not true in countries that have enacted controls.)

Donald Trump:  “You’re going to have these things happen and it’s a horrible thing to behold.”

Ted Cruz:  “You get rid of the bad guys by using our guns.  We define gun control real simple–that’s hitting what you aim at.”

and Jeb! Bush this past October:  “Look, stuff happens,” and in 2003 at an N.R.A. convention.  “The sound of our guns is the sound of freedom!”  

Ted Cruz, military strategist?

Talking about ISIS in a speech in Iowa, Mr. Cruz said, “We will carpet-bomb them into oblivion.”

Unfortunately for Cruz’s credibility, the U.S.doesn’t “carpet-bomb” anyone.  Indiscriminate bombing doesn’t work, except to recruit more enemies.  

Cruz compounded his stupidity by saying he wouldn’t target civilians with his carpet-bombing, and he explained, “In the first Persian Gulf war, we launched roughly 1,100 air attacks a day.  We carpet-bombed them into oblivion for 37 days.”

No, we didn’t.  We bombed specific targets.  I have no idea where Cruz is getting this stuff, but General Paul Selva, vice chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the type of bombing Cruz was advocating was “not the way that we apply force in combat.  It isn’t now, nor will it ever be.”  Mr. Selva was speaking at a Senate Hearing entitled “U.S. Strategy to Counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and U.S. Policy Toward Iraq and Syria.”

Unfortunately, Cruz missed the hearing.  He was off campaigning in Iowa to be our next commander-in-chief.

Quotes for this posting were taken from “Ted ‘Carpet-Bomb’ Cruz,” The New York Times, Dec. 15, 2015, p. 24.

PA Infrastructure Task Force Report

Today I submitted seven pages of commentary and suggestions on Governor Wolf’s Infrastructure Task Force Report.  This is a report that looks at possible improvements on pipeline construction in the Commonwealth.

The report was put together by 12 working groups, with heavy input from the gas and oil companies.  Amazingly, the report had good suggestions on environmental issues, safety concerns, and public participation.

Unfortunately, implementation of most of the recommendations will require legislative action.  Pipeline companies are not about to spend money to make their projects less destructive unless they are forced to.  Given the substantial campaign contributions to Pennsylvania Republican legislators, we won’t be seeing any legislative action soon.  Will we, Representative Heffley?

Speeka da English?

Remember the good old days when everyone spoke English?  If you do, you might be having some memory problems. 

In the 1910 census people were asked what language they spoke.  There were 92,228,496 Americans then.  Here’s the breakdown:

German 2,759,032

Italian 1,365,110

Yiddish 1,051,767

Polish    943,781

Swedish    683,219

French    528,842

Norwegian  402,587

Spanish     258,131

Hungarian   229,094

Czech     228,738

Danish    186,345

Slovak    166,474

Lithuanian  140,963

Dutch    126,045

Slovenian   123.631

Greek    118,379

Hundreds of thousands of others, including Chinese and Japanese, were not recorded in this census.  

The World Agrees

A number of 1950s science fiction films featured a threat to our planet from Outer Space.  We would see flying saucers attacking Paris, London, Moscow, and Washington.  Nations that were at odds suddenly would work together to try to repel the attack.   The Will Smith movie Independence Day (1996) was a more recent example, and in this year’s The Martian, Chinese technology was essential to bring the American Matt Damon back to earth.

I thought about those movies when I saw today’s headline in the New York Times:  “NATIONS APPROVE LANDMARK CLIMATE DEAL.”  One hundred and ninety-five countries signed on to an agreement to cut carbon emissions.  I understand that some may cheat.  I get it that some won’t meet the terms of the agreement.  

Nonetheless, 195 nations recognize that here is a problem that calls for a global response.  In the year 2050, ISIS will be a small paragraph in history books, if not a footnote.  Global warming, on the other hand, will have reached crisis proportions.  People will wonder why more wasn’t done, but they will also appreciate that 2015 marked the beginning of a worldwide effort.  Hopefully by 2050, the agreement will have had positive results, and the planet will be on a path to healing.  

Our grandson will be 44 in 2050.  

Canada sets an example

Americans tend to make fun of our “frozen neighbor to the north.”  P. J. O’Rourke says “Very little is known of Canada since it is rarely visited by anyone by the Queen and illiterate sport fishermen.”

Richard Brenner said Canada was a country so square that even the female impersonators are women.  Mike Myers said, “Canada is a country without a cuisine.  When’s the last time you went out for Canadian?”

But how about this headline:  “Canada Welcomes New Arrivals From Syria.”  25,000 are coming in by February.

Evidently Canadians have something that Americans don’t have.  Balls.

Huckleberry Finn

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that a Philadelphia Quaker High School, Friends Central School, has decided that the “community costs” of reading Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn outweigh the literary benefits.

I was about ten years old when I read Huckleberry Finn.  The part of the book that had the most impact on me was when Huckleberry, who had been raised in the South, knows that if he doesn’t turn in Jim, a runaway slave, he will go to hell.  That’s what he has been taught.  He weighs turning in his friend against going to hell.  

I don’t remember the exact words (it was a long time ago), but Huck decided not to turn in Jim and exclaimed, “All right, then, I’ll go to hell.”  

That made a deep impression on me.  You do what you think is right.  I think a good teacher can explain the racial slurs, and I also think 11th graders are smart enough to deal with them.

Guns and abortions

Gail Collins today reported on a bill recently introduced into the Missouri House of Representatives by Rep. Stacey Newman.  Missouri has put so many restrictions on abortion that it has only one clinic remaining in St. Louis.  Ms. Newman’s bill would put the same restrictions on gun purchases that Missouri currently imposes on women who want an abortion.

For example, there is a 72 hour waiting period before you can purchase a firearm.  You must travel at least 120 miles from your home to purchase a firearm.  You must listen to a lecture about the medical risks associated with firearms.  You must view pictures of people with firearms wounds.

In Missouri most legislators call themselves “pro-life.”  Interestingly, both Kansas City and St. Louis are ranked in the top ten American cities for firearms deaths.

Ms. Newman does not expect her bill to pass. 

Why fighting ISIS is so difficult

Thomas Friedman wrote an excellent explanation of why the U.S. will have a problem defeating ISIS.  All of our potential allies in the region would like to get rid of ISIS, but it is not their first priority.

The Kurds:  They want their own country.  They aren’t about to help liberate the rest of Iraq to benefit the Iraqi government.

The Turks:  They have been bombing the Kurds more than areas held by ISIS.

The Iranians:  They don’t like ISIS, but they worry more about moderate Sunnis take over ISIS territory; they could threaten Iran’s allies in Syria.

Putin:  He doesn’t like ISIS, but he is even more interested in keeping Assad in power.  Russia bombs moderate rebels as much as ISIS.

Saudi Arabia:  doesn’t like ISIS, but right now is involved more in Yemen, trying to crush the rebellion there.

Iraq:  has lost territory to ISIS but is still divided between Sunnis and Shiites.

The one thing we don’t want to do is get into a big war with U.S. troops.  We did that in Iraq, and the repercussions have not ended.  And if we did get into a war on the ground, guess who will fight it.  They won’t be troops from the 1%.  Ted Cruz and Donald Trump won’t be going.  Men and women from the bottom of the U.S. economy will be doing the fighting, just like they did in Iraq and Vietnam. 

Just once I’d like to hear these tough-talking war mongers call for a universal draft.

Nun shoots deer

Sure, there rare more important things to post about.  Obama’s speech on ISIS.  Trump’s racist remarks.  The climate summit.  Clinton’s economic proposals.

However, I don’t think there is any one group of people, including people who fly confederate flags or anti-abortion fanatics, who annoy me as much as animal rights idiots. 

A nun in the Erie Diocese of Pennsylvania shot a ten-point buck on the first day of this year’s buck season.  She posted a picture on Facebook of her holding the deer by the antlers on the back of a pickup truck.  

According to a front page article in today’s Morning Call, “animal rights” people took offense and post comments, some of which were vulgar.

These are the same idiots who oppose Australian efforts to reduce the feral cat population.  They think in terms of individual animals rather than species preservation.  They have no understanding of ecology.  They don’t get that an expanding deer population means the extinction of both plants and animals that depend on those plants.  

The nun who shot the deer understands.  She says she views hunting as a spiritual endeavor and a form of conservation.  I don’t get the first part of that, but as an environmentalist, I certainly understand the second part.  Animal rights people just don’t get it.

The New York Times v. Sullivan

Did you ever wonder why I can say all those mean things about Jerry Knowles and Doyle Heffley and Lou Barletta and not get sued.  OK, first of all, in a libel suit, truth is always a defense, so when I say that Knowles is the dumbest representative in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, he would have to prove otherwise.  (He can’t.)

More importantly, I have New York Times v. Sullivan (1964) on my side.  Today the Times ran an obituary for an attorney on the losing side in that case.  Prior to Sullivan, Southern states had libel laws that allowed public officials to sue newspapers that reported on their activities.  Sullivan was the Montgomery, Alabama, Public Safety Commissioner who said he was defamed in an advertisement that ran in the Times.

Sullivan won in Alabama courts, but the case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.  The Court ruled 9-0 (this was decades before Scalia, Roberts, and Thomas) that “the First Amendment protects the publication of all statements, even false ones, about the conduct of public officials except when statements are made with actual malice (with knowledge that they are false or in reckless disregard of their truth or falsity).”

Spotlight

One of the most depressing features of modern American society is the decline of the daily newspaper.  Whenever I hear someone say, “I get my news on the Internet,” I wince.  Many students told me this during my last few years of teaching, and they knew almost nothing of current news.  Cat videos, yes.  Facebook posting, yes.  Hard news, not so much.

I was reminded again of the importance of investigative journalism when we saw “Spotlight” tonight.  It follows a group of print reporters for the Boston Globe who uncovered the child abuse scandal in the Catholic Church in which church officials knew about pedophile priests and did nothing except move them around and hush things up.

Boston is a very Catholic town, and most of the Globe’s subscribers were Catholic, but the paper did the job newspapers are supposed to do, which is to uncover the truth and make it known to the public. 

Incidentally, the Boston Cardinal who knew all about the pedophile priests was promoted to a position in Rome.

Ted Cruz, Wartime President?

So here is brave Ted, telling us the country needs a “wartime president.”  He’s not afraid of ISIS.  Unfortunately, the little weasel is afraid of the N.R.A., as are Christie, Rubio, and the whole pathetic lot of them.  

Christmas "doorbuster" special at Cabela's

You too can become a mass killer.  For only $524.99 you can be the proud owner of a semiautomatic tactical rifle, with a 16” chrome-moly steel barrel, available with 10 or 30-round magazines.  You know, the kind you use for hunting squirrels.

Worried that they won’t sell you the rifle because you are on the no-fly list.  No problem.  You say you are on the terrorism watch list.  No problem.

Incidentally, go for the 30 round magazines.

If you threw away your paper, I’ll save the circular for you.  It’s in the same Times News with the front page story about the San Bernardino killing.  It’s also the issue with the comment by Jeremy T. Glaush about how determined killers will use other weapons if denied guns, like a lead pipe.  I wonder how many more would have died in San Bernardino had the killers been armed with lead pipes.  Scary to think about.

Mass shootings, every day

In the U.S., on average, a mass shooting occurs every day.  A “mass shooting” is defined as one in which at least four people are injured or killed from gun fire.  According to a front page article in today’s Times, 462 people have died and 1,314 have been injured in mass shootings so far this year.

A spokesman for the group “Everytown for Gun Safety” noted that while 14 people were killed in San Bernardino, probably another 88 people died from gun violence in the U.S. the same day.

We do nothing.  In fact, if you are on the terrorism watch list, you are not restricted from buying guns.  You might not be able to fly, but an AK47 or an Uzi shouldn’t be a problem.

You will know us by the company we keep

The Pennsylvania Republican Party is using Donald Trump for a fundraiser to be held in New York.  This is the man who has made fun of a handicapped reporter.  Who has demonized Muslims.  Who has called for the deportation of 11 million people.  Who knows nothing about foreign policy.  Who has cheated thousands of students who signed up for his “Trump University.”  Who has stiffed hundreds of creditors by declaring serial bankruptcies  

Instead of shunning him, Pennsylvania Republicans see a him as a way to raise funds.  Has Sen. Toomey repudiated this?  Not to my knowledge.  Has Heffley repudiated this?  Not to my knowledge.  This is despicable, but I guess the money they hope to make is too good to turn down.

I cannot remember an American political party sinking this low.