The Sound of Silence

Sunday September 11, 2011
New York City, 11am

I, like millions of other people in the country, are warching the commemoration of the September 11th memorial in New York City on television this morning. The reading of the names of the thousands of people that died on that tragic day 10 years ago is a moving reminder of the words of grief that all people and all cultures use to remember loved ones. I think it is important to remember that all people on the earth have more in common than we realize.
Peace.
jt

It is still all about Jobs

3 September, 2011
This coming Thursday evening, President Barack Obama will unveil his administration's long awaited Job Creation Proposal.  At this point little is known about its contents but many political analysts, from both the left and the right, have already filled the airways with ideas, proposals, recommendations, and solutions that they think should and should not be in it.

I believe that what most ordinary Americans want is a clear path forward to job creation.  People want the circus that is the current congress to end,  and have politicians focus on the country as a whole and not just the narrow interests they appear to represent.  The 12% favorability rating that congress shamefully holds at the moment should be an indicator that the American people want results, not posturing, intransigence, and empty rhetoric.

The President's falling poll numbers should also be an indicator that he may need to step past an ideologically-frozen Republican Party  and utilize a different strategy to break their expected impasse on his jobs initiative. Ever since Barack Obama became president republican politicians have used every slimy trick in the book to derail, slow-down, defeat, challenge, water-down, obstruct, and otherwise kill proposals set forth by this administration. And yet in the face of this the President has continued to search for bipartisanship from a GOP where the word "NO" has become their three year response to everything.

So I am hopeful that Thursday night’s speech will define a course to quickly put people back to work.   I am hopeful that both houses of Congress will put aside the narrow interests of a few  people and see the suffering of the millions of people without jobs. I am hopeful that the president will get cooperation for his ideas, but if not, that he will firmly and aggressively move forward with plans to put Americans back to work.

jt

The No Tax Pledge-Who does it serve?

25 July, 2011

I saw an editorial comment by "The Springfield Republican" on  July 22, 2011, stating that "GOP candidates today are being badgered to sign all manner of black-and-white pledges that seek to limit their available options...These pledges seek to put the candidate into a box, locking him down, ensuring that he'll support X and oppose Y, no matter what".

This was followed on Sunday July 224th in the New York Times where editorial writer Thomas Friedman stated that he had signed a pledge "...just like those Republican congressmen who have signed written promises to different political enforcers not to raise taxes or permit same-sex marriage..." except his pledge  "...is to never vote for anyone stupid enough to sign a pledge -thereby abdicating their governing responsibilities in a period of incredibly rapid change and financial stress".

As the government tries to find a solution to the debt ceiling crisis through a balanced proposal of  budget cuts and increased revenue the Republican opposition, especially in the House of Representatives, continues to demand no tax increases.  It is no coincidence that within the current congress 236 Republican House members,  2 Democratic House members, and 41 Republican Senators have signed the "Americans for Tax Reform" pledge  which requires signers to pledge never to vote for higher taxes.

"Americans for Tax Reform" is a project of conservative political activist Grover Norquist  who has been described as "a thumb-in-the-eye radical rightist", (The Nation), who is widely quoted for his comments about shrinking the size of government.

In my view, these pledges undermine a person's ability to think for themselves.  This dogmatic thinking automatically denies compromise and makes people unable to see the possibilities.  These restrictive pledges are a disservice to  the American people who want solutions to difficult problems; not intransigence.  But more than anything I want to know that elected officials are working for the benefit of the country as a whole and not just some narrow political interest.

jt

Notes on the Debt Ceiling Debate

The current debate over the deficit and the raising of the debt ceiling are very complex issues and have kept a lot of politicians busy these past few months.  Republicans and Democrats arguing in public and private.  The media adding to the confusion with a daily rehash of speculation and guesswork which presents the issues from the view of ‘what’s current’ rather than from an historical perspective which would add some substance to people’s understanding. 

The American people are a little confused about the discussions taking place between the two extremes of ‘financial doom’ and ‘don’t worry-be happy’.  But I think most people see themselves as far removed from this economic issue and have limited background information which would be helpful to making decisions.

So in an effort to clarify some of this I offer the following  points.

1. Everybody feels the United States debt is too high, about 11.9 trillion dollars. 

2. Many people feel that current tax rates are too high though they are the lowest they’ve been in years.  According to writer Pat Garofalo in a June 1, 2011 article for Think Progress; for a family of four the “average income tax rate under Reagan in 1983 was 11.06 percent.  Under Clinton in 1992, it was 9.18 percent. And under Obama in 2010, it was 4.68 percent.  In fact, in 2009, Americans paid their lowest taxes in 60 years”.

3. A lot of people feel that current government spending is out of control but most political observers agree that the 8-years of the former Bush Whitehouse and the Republican controlled congress created much of the current debt by passing huge tax cuts, engaging in two wars that were not paid for through the normal budget process, passing a Medicare Drug Benefit program whose estimated cost continued to climb after passage, and the deregulation of financial institutions that lead to the global financial meltdown of 2008.

4. The debt also increased by the passage of the Stimulus Program which used billions of dollars to bailout financial institutions, saved the US Auto Industry, and slowed the possibility of a global financial meltdown.  The New Yorker Magazine stated in September 2010 that “by any reasonable measure, the $800-billion stimulus package passed in the winter of 2009 was a clear, if limited, success..and a recent study by Mark Zandi and Alan Blinder, economists from, respectively, Moody’s and Princeton, argues that, in the absence of the stimulus, unemployment would have risen above eleven percent and the G.D.P.  would have been almost half a trillion dollars lower. The weight of the evidence suggests that fiscal policy softened the impact of the recession, boosting demand, creating jobs, and helping the economy start growing again.

5. Since March 1962, the debt ceiling has been raised 74 times, according to the Congressional Research Service. Ten of those times have occurred since 2001  but this year there is considerable Republican opposition.

6. The Obama Administration says an agreement must be reached before August 2 in order to avoid a massive financial default on the money that the US has borrowed.   According to a May 18, 2011 article by CNNMoney,  “if lawmakers fail to raise the ceiling this year, they will have two choices, both awful.  They could either cut spending or raise taxes by several hundred billion dollars just to get through Sept. 30, which is the end of the fiscal year. Or they could acknowledge that the country would be unable to pay what it owes in full and the United States could effectively default on some of its obligations.  At a minimum, a default could hurt U.S. bonds, the dollar and investors' portfolios. "Our bond market and stock market would crash," said former Congressional Budget Director Rudolph Penner.

7. The Republicans want to solve the problem by cutting the spending on  Social Security, Medicare, Education, and other programs…  But no tax increases.

8. The Democrats, including the president, want to solve the problem by cutting spending and raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy.

9. Many of the Republican candidates running for the GOP’s presidential nomination have stated that there really isn’t any cause for alarm and that the democrats are manufacturing  the crisis as a way to increase taxes.

10. As of Tuesday 19^th of July there were about 3 different proposals to solve the problem from the Republicans, the Democrats, and some smaller political factions.

jt

Native Alaskans in the frozen north

 

A writer asked me to write something about the situation of Native Alaskans in my next blog post. Many people are familiar with different parts of the Native American history in this country but probably never knew that there are native people in Alaska. The history and treatment of native Alaskans follows many of the same characteristics of native people in the United States.  A recent example of this was  the topic of a 2010 PBS program entitled "Need to know".

Through the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA), Native Alaskans were allocated land and the ability to form for-profit corporations to govern it. This PBS episode examines whether this program, intended by Congress to help native Alaskans, has delivered on its promise. In cooperation with the Washington Post, "Need to Know" examines whether a plan to promote the welfare of the disadvantaged and disenfranchised has instead enriched non-native executives and shortchanged taxpayers.


Please use this link  to watch this short PBS episode: 　
**"From the beginnings of Russian America to the present, Alaska Natives have experienced periods of rapid change, often with tragic results such as epidemics and culture loss. But there has also been a revitalization of Native traditions and a growing grass-roots movement to consolidate self-governance at the village level."

"But contrasts between Alaska Native cultures, state and federal policies, and regional economies is only part of the story. There are also deep ideological divisions between Alaskans, particularly among non-Natives, regarding the future prospects for Native societies."

"With regard to minority rights, those who emphasize the rights and responsibilities of the individual and healthy competition between different interests are less likely to support what they perceive as privileges belonging to Alaska Natives. Those who accept the premises of the federal-tribal relationship are more willing to consider the collective rights of tribes."


"Nevertheless, many Alaska Native villages are sweeping aside the ambiguity and establishing or strengthening their own institutions: tribal courts, tribal councils and schools. Through their own actions, they are contributing to the complex evolution of minority rights in Alaska."

　
**Alaska Native languages

Language family	Language
Eskimo-Aleut	Aleut
	Alutiiq
	Central Yupik
	Siberian Yupik
	Inupiaq
Tsimshian	Tsimshian
Haida	Haida
Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit	Tlingit
	Eyak
	Ahtna
	Tanaina
	Ingalik
	Holikachuk
	Koyukon
	Upper Kuskokwim
	Tanana
	Tanacross
	Upper Tanana
	Han
	Kutchin

**AN EDITED TIMELINE OF ALASKA:

1741- Vitus Bering sights Mt. St. Elias on Alaskan mainland.

1784- First white settlement in Alaska on Kodiak Island.

1790- Aleksandr Baranov becomes director of Russian settlement


1799- Czar Paul claims Alaska as Russian possession. Baranov named first Russian governor of Alaska.

1818 Russian navy assumes authority in Alaska.

1867- The sale of Alaska by Russia to United States - which rightfully belonged to neither .

1880 Gold discovered near Juneau.

1906- Act Authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to allot homesteads to the natives of Alaska.

1906- Alaska Native Brotherhood founded the first modern Alaska Native organization.
　
1914- Ben Benson, who as a boy 13 years old, designed Alaska’s flag, was born of an Aleut mother at Chignik. Upon the death of his mother in 1918, the orphaned boy and his younger brother were sent to the Jesse Lee Home at Unalaska.


1924- Indian Citizenship Act grants citizenship to Native Americans, including Alaska Natives, without terminating tribal rights and property.


1931- Control of education among the Natives of Alaska was transferred to the Office of Indian Affairs. Became known as the Alaska Indian Service.

1945- Alaska passes a law ending legal segregation in Alaska.

1959- Alaska Statehood Act includes provision to not take lands of Native peoples.

1961- Alaska Natives organize to protest "Project Chariot" - a plan to use nuclear weapons to blast an artificial harbor into existence in Northwest Alaska.

1962- The Tundra Times established, the first state wide newspaper devoted to representing the views and issues of Alaska Natives.

1966- Alaska Federation of Natives formed in Anchorage, Alaska.
1971- Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act becomes law. ANCSA

1972- The Marine Mammal Protection Act becomes law with the important provision that Alaska Native would be able to continue traditional use of marine mammals.

1974- A lawsuit filed against the state of Alaska on behalf of a 14-year-old Yupik student, Molly Hootch, (Tobeluk vs. Lind) for not providing local secondary schools in villages, led to dramatic changes. Due to the lack of secondary schools in rural Alaska, village students had to be sent to Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding schools in southeast Alaska or other western states.

1987-8 A total of 7,781 Alaska Native students were enrolled in bilingual education programs, the majority located in the Yupik and Inupiaq regions. A major obstacle to providing bilingual education is the shortage of Native speakers. According to one linguist, most Alaska Native languages (with perhaps the exception of Yupik) are spoken by few or none under the age of 40. It must also be mentioned that rural education remains dominated by non-Natives. Only 2.8 per cent of all teachers in the state are Alaska Native, and the percentage of Alaska Native school administrators is even lower.

1991 Amendments to ANCSA take affect .

No more Republican help needed

Yesterday in New Hampshire Republican White House hopefuls blamed everything wrong in the United States on President Obama. From the economy and unemployment, to the recently passed Health Care bill this lack luster group of talking heads all had criticism of the current administration. But they never talk about their role in getting us to this point.

But in a Hampshire Gazette editorial on Monday June 13, 2011 "Credit for the national debt", written by Representative Richard Neal, the truth becomes clear.

"On Jan. 20, 2001, when President George W. Bush took over from President Clinton, the Congressional Budget Office estimated the total budget surplus for 2002-2011 would be $5.6 trillion. But in 2001 President Bush aided by a Republican controlled Congress, proposed and passed a $1.6 trillion tax cut. The true cost of this tax cut soon became $2.2 trillion.

The other major expenditure contributing to our budget deficit was the engagement in two wars, Iraq and Afghanistan. The total for these wars cost well over 1.4 trillion dollars and by the time George Bush left office on Jan. 20, 2009, the surplus had turned into a $10.6 trillion debt, setting a record for debt for any administration. Pursuing two wars and massive tax cuts is the reason. "


Since the 2008 election, President Obama has actively tried to pass legislation which would address the issues of high unemployment, healthcare, the economy, education, financial reform, social security, the wars, and other domestic issues.

The Republicans, to their discredit, have blocked, slowed down, filibustered, mislead and, in whatever other ways possible, have voted against bills in the House and Senate that would have aided ordinary people struggling in this recession.
Jt

The Palin tempest in a teacup

Lately Sarah Palin has been in the news commenting, or rather rewriting the history, on Paul Revere's midnight ride through Massachusetts.  Without spending alot of time on this, suffice it to say that she offered up  her own version of the purpose for Revere's ride which of course runs contrary to history.

The point here is not whether she understands anything about the history of the American Revolution.  The point is the "media's" absurd fascination with everything she says in the hope of hearing her say if she will run for president. 

In my opinion thats not going to happen.  Sarah Palin is not a politician.  She quit her job as Governor of Alaska because she found something more exciting.  She found that being on the stage, speaking with a funny accent, telling homespun feel good stories, making a few jokes, deriding her opponents (mostly democrats), and an occassional wink could make her more money than being the governor of the frozen north.  End of story!

Sarah Palin is a performer that some people find interesting. She enjoys the spotlight and the attention but in  a recent poll of likely Republican voters the majority said they would not vote for her if she ran for president.  I think the news media needs to move on.

You betcha.

jt