Tea baggin' blame game

Two weeks ago I submitted a letter to the editor to the Pantagraph (or Slantagraph, as I like to call it, our very conservative-leaning local paper in Bloomington-Normal), defending undocumented immigrants from attacks by the right-wing. You can find the letter, along with its discussion forum, via this link. From these debates online, including others involving other letters and articles, I couldn't help but notice that there is some dislike of big corporations out there. But this fledgling perspective is dwarfed by the blame game directed at people who are by no means the problem. Many contributors have bought into the blame game promoted by FOX News and other corporate media outlets. Top in the people to blame for our society's problems:

---undocumented immigrants (or as racists and xenophobes put it, the "Mexican invasion"; they definitely top the list for right-wing ire)

---teachers (heaven forbid that they want decent working conditions and pay, after all they already have their summer's off!)

---teacher unions (by promoting a decent standard of living for teachers, they are stealing our money, and thus "destroying the public system of education in the U.S"!)

---liberals (they're after our money and guns!)

---socialists (Obama is a socialist! He wants to redistribute the wealth. Never mind that he was elected by Wall Street and has pro-corporate policies.)

---traitors (If you think differently than me, or don't love the flag more than humanity as a whole, you are a traitor. "How does it feel to be a traitor, Corey?" By your definition of traitor, GREAT!!!)


I imagine that these views are characteristic of the Tea Baggin' movement, which if they had better organization and competent leadership, would represent a threat. Now they are just one more obstacle, albeit huge, to building a decent country and world.

Corporate news drops the Honduras story

CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, Bloomberg, all of these outfits are corporate-owned. Given their economic power and control of the media, their political interests get favored in the news. Worse, they decide what is news, and given our corporate culture in the U.S., it is mostly what people end up hearing.

This reality is always there, but the extent of the corporate news bias never ceases to amaze me. The most recent surprise was the rapidity that the major news outlets have dropped the Honduras story. With Iran, when U.S. oil interests are at stake, the story of an oppressed political opposition lasted weeks and continues. With Honduras, a story that involves a murderous military coup against a popularly elected leader, and one that might involve players here in the U.S., well.... that doesn't count as a news item. But the resistance there continues, and it is getting reported on, just not on CNN.

Are there alternatives? Yes, many, mostly on the Internet, and in many leftist mags and newsletters. One good place to start, however, is Democracy Now! news with Amy Goodman. I'm extremely appreciative that they exist and can even be found on the Dish Network on Free Speech TV, channel 9415.

Environmental destruction under Obama

A blogger friend of mine, Carl, pointed out the astounding juxtaposition of these news stories on Democracy Now (5/18/09). Taken separately and together, it wasn't a good day for the environment.

General Electric Begins Dredging Hudson River
General Electric has begun dredging for PCBs in the Hudson River, twenty-five years after the contamination was deemed a federal Superfund site. GE discharged as much as 1.3 million pounds of PCBs into the Hudson before PCBs were banned in 1977. The contaminated sediment will be transported by train to a hazardous waste site in Andrews, Texas, near the New Mexico border. The Sierra Club in Texas has opposed the plan. Neil Carman said, “All they’re doing is relocating toxic waste. They’re moving a problem from one location to another [and] creating problems for future generations to solve.” While GE is paying to clean up the river, the company is still challenging the constitutionality of the Superfund law in federal court.

Obama Taps GE Attorney to be Nation’s Top Environmental Litigator Meanwhile, President Obama has tapped a top attorney at General Electric to be the nation’s top environmental litigator. If confirmed, Ignacia Moreno would lead the Justice Department’s efforts to enforce environmental laws and defend federal regulations in lawsuits. Her selection has concerned many environmental groups. Frank O’Donnell of Clean Air Watch said, “It seems as if she has spent maybe more time defending polluters than prosecuting them.”

Obama Administration OKs New Mountaintop Removal Permits
In other environmental news, the Obama administration has given the green light for forty-two more mountaintop removal permits, dealing a victory for the coal industry. Mountaintop mining involves blowing off the tops of mountains to get at the coal underneath. (Democracy Now! 5/18/09)

On the issue of the Ignacio Moreno pick for top environmental litigator, the New York Times (5/15/09) has a good story and also reports the concerns held by the environmental groups.

Obama's decision on the mountaintop removal permits should be seen in light of a campaign speech made in Lexington, Kentucky on August 27, 2007. The following report of that speech is published on Barack Obama's website:

He said the country also needs a forward-thinking energy policy, and he alluded to his disapproval of the coal mining process of mountaintop removal.

"We're tearing up the Appalachian Mountains because of our dependence on fossil fuels," he said, sparking loud applause.

One view is that Obama is facing pressure from the polluting industries and capitulating. The industry is powerful, no doubt, but I tend to think that Obama is and was a corporate politician and acting accordingly.