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unhappycamper
unhappycamper's Journal
unhappycamper's Journal
December 4, 2013
WTO urged to tread carefully on water
By Carey L Biron
Dec 4, '13
WASHINGTON - As government representatives gathered on Tuesday in Indonesia for what could be final negotiations towards a global trade agreement under the World Trade Organization (WTO), environmentalists and social justice campaigners urged them to specify that water resources cannot be treated as commodities.
Critics of the privatization and "financialization" of natural resources are pointing to mounting interest by multinational investors in viewing common water resources as tradable, a change that development advocates worry could impact particularly on poor and marginalized communities.
While international agreements enshrined a universal right to water (and sanitation) in 2010, international trade agreements have yet to follow suit - a gap that some say is becoming increasingly dangerous.
"Our concern is that the financialization and privatization of water is already very much a long-term goal of major multinational companies and investors," William Waren, a trade policy analyst with Friends of the Earth US, a watchdog group, told IPS.
WTO urged to tread carefully on water
http://atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/GECON-02-041213.htmlWTO urged to tread carefully on water
By Carey L Biron
Dec 4, '13
WASHINGTON - As government representatives gathered on Tuesday in Indonesia for what could be final negotiations towards a global trade agreement under the World Trade Organization (WTO), environmentalists and social justice campaigners urged them to specify that water resources cannot be treated as commodities.
Critics of the privatization and "financialization" of natural resources are pointing to mounting interest by multinational investors in viewing common water resources as tradable, a change that development advocates worry could impact particularly on poor and marginalized communities.
While international agreements enshrined a universal right to water (and sanitation) in 2010, international trade agreements have yet to follow suit - a gap that some say is becoming increasingly dangerous.
"Our concern is that the financialization and privatization of water is already very much a long-term goal of major multinational companies and investors," William Waren, a trade policy analyst with Friends of the Earth US, a watchdog group, told IPS.
December 4, 2013
Blacked Out: Could Governments just Erase Dissidents from the Internet with a Click?
By Juan Cole | Dec. 4, 2013
What if Edward Snowden was made to disappear? No, I’m not suggesting some future CIA rendition effort or a who-killed-Snowden conspiracy theory of a disappearance, but a more ominous kind.
What if everything a whistleblower had ever exposed could simply be made to go away? What if every National Security Agency (NSA) document Snowden released, every interview he gave, every documented trace of a national security state careening out of control could be made to disappear in real-time? What if the very posting of such revelations could be turned into a fruitless, record-less endeavor?
Am I suggesting the plot for a novel by some twenty-first century George Orwell? Hardly. As we edge toward a fully digital world, such things may soon be possible, not in science fiction but in our world — and at the push of a button. In fact, the earliest prototypes of a new kind of “disappearance” are already being tested. We are closer to a shocking, dystopian reality that might once have been the stuff of futuristic novels than we imagine. Welcome to the memory hole.
Even if some future government stepped over one of the last remaining red lines in our world and simply assassinated whistleblowers as they surfaced, others would always emerge. Back in 1948, in his eerie novel 1984, however, Orwell suggested a far more diabolical solution to the problem. He conjured up a technological device for the world of Big Brother that he called “the memory hole.” In his dark future, armies of bureaucrats, working in what he sardonically dubbed the Ministry of Truth, spent their lives erasing or altering documents, newspapers, books, and the like in order to create an acceptable version of history. When a person fell out of favor, the Ministry of Truth sent him and all the documentation relating to him down the memory hole. Every story or report in which his life was in any way noted or recorded would be edited to eradicate all traces of him.
Blacked Out: Could Governments just Erase Dissidents from the Internet with a Click?
http://www.juancole.com/2013/12/governments-dissidents-internet.htmlBlacked Out: Could Governments just Erase Dissidents from the Internet with a Click?
By Juan Cole | Dec. 4, 2013
What if Edward Snowden was made to disappear? No, I’m not suggesting some future CIA rendition effort or a who-killed-Snowden conspiracy theory of a disappearance, but a more ominous kind.
What if everything a whistleblower had ever exposed could simply be made to go away? What if every National Security Agency (NSA) document Snowden released, every interview he gave, every documented trace of a national security state careening out of control could be made to disappear in real-time? What if the very posting of such revelations could be turned into a fruitless, record-less endeavor?
Am I suggesting the plot for a novel by some twenty-first century George Orwell? Hardly. As we edge toward a fully digital world, such things may soon be possible, not in science fiction but in our world — and at the push of a button. In fact, the earliest prototypes of a new kind of “disappearance” are already being tested. We are closer to a shocking, dystopian reality that might once have been the stuff of futuristic novels than we imagine. Welcome to the memory hole.
Even if some future government stepped over one of the last remaining red lines in our world and simply assassinated whistleblowers as they surfaced, others would always emerge. Back in 1948, in his eerie novel 1984, however, Orwell suggested a far more diabolical solution to the problem. He conjured up a technological device for the world of Big Brother that he called “the memory hole.” In his dark future, armies of bureaucrats, working in what he sardonically dubbed the Ministry of Truth, spent their lives erasing or altering documents, newspapers, books, and the like in order to create an acceptable version of history. When a person fell out of favor, the Ministry of Truth sent him and all the documentation relating to him down the memory hole. Every story or report in which his life was in any way noted or recorded would be edited to eradicate all traces of him.
December 4, 2013
Nevada’s “Crescent Dune” Solar Facility will Produce Energy at Night
By Juan Cole | Dec. 4, 2013
Jared Anderson at Breaking Energy writes of technologies for solar power storage that allow the energy generated by the sun to be released at night:
Nevada’s “Crescent Dune” Solar Facility will Produce Energy at Night
http://www.juancole.com/2013/12/crescent-facility-produce.htmlNevada’s “Crescent Dune” Solar Facility will Produce Energy at Night
By Juan Cole | Dec. 4, 2013
Jared Anderson at Breaking Energy writes of technologies for solar power storage that allow the energy generated by the sun to be released at night:
“a US-based company will jump ahead of the competition next year with its molten salt storage technique.
“This technology at this size would leap-frog us into [energy] storage leaders,” Solar Reserve CEO Kevin Smith recently told Breaking Energy.
The California-based, PE-backed startup launches its flagship 110 MW concentrated solar power (CSP) project known as Crescent Dunes next year in the Nevada desert. The technology uses a tower-based approach where thousands of mirrors focus sunlight onto a single point to create heat that generates steam used to spin an electricity-producing turbine. First power to the grid is expected mid-2014.”
December 4, 2013
On the 80th Anniversary of Repeal of Prohibition, Why isn’t Marijuana Legal?
By Juan Cole | Dec. 4, 2013
Among the many reasons for the popularity of banning alcohol in the US then were the concern of industrialists such as Henry Ford for the creation of a sober, industrious working class. Prohibition was in part intended to regiment and control working people and ensure they were productive, generating profits of which the corporations captured the lion’s share. Prejudice against German-Americans and their beer-making, in the wake of WW I, played a role, as well. The massive wave of immigration from southern and eastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean (including Italians, Poles Jews and Lebanese/Syrians) also induced fears of rowdy foreign immigrants among the middle class Protestant women of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. The Ku Klux Klan was implicated in the anti-saloon movement and helped enforce prohibition, becoming a major force in states like Indiana (which it took over politically) and in the then Democratic Party. That is, Prohibition was about race and class in some large part.
The prohibition of marijuana, which had been legal most of American history, was also about race and class, and U.S. Commissioner of Narcotics, Harry Anslinger, deployed fear of Mexican immigrant labor to convince Congress to enact the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. Fear of African-Americans, white youth and jazz were also drivers of this legislation.
Despite the hysteria about immigrants and the burgeoning blue collar class, the mainstream of America abolished prohibition on December 5, 1933. Among the goals of the anti-dry politicians was to jump-start business in the early years of the Great Depression and to generate tax-revenue. (Restaurants, for instance, are seldom profitable without liquor licenses; when they are successful, they pay taxes. And covert speakeasies paid no taxes because they were illegal. In 1933 they could become legitimate bars and become part of the tax base for an impoverished city, e.g.)
Some 90% of the American population is still in the Great Bush Depression that began in 2008. Only the stockholders have really recovered. The actual unemployment rate is historically high, a fact hidden by the tinkering with the definition of unemployment. Shouldn’t we now be as pragmatic as FDR, and seek to end the Federal prohibition of marijuana, as well? It would be a boon to the economy and to a government burdened by debt. And, shouldn’t we be embarrassed, as a country with a very large and important Latino community, of the racist origins of this Prohibition? And, are we still afraid of youth and jazz?
On the 80th Anniversary of Repeal of Prohibition, Why isn’t Marijuana Legal?
http://www.juancole.com/2013/12/anniversary-prohibition-marijuana.htmlOn the 80th Anniversary of Repeal of Prohibition, Why isn’t Marijuana Legal?
By Juan Cole | Dec. 4, 2013
Among the many reasons for the popularity of banning alcohol in the US then were the concern of industrialists such as Henry Ford for the creation of a sober, industrious working class. Prohibition was in part intended to regiment and control working people and ensure they were productive, generating profits of which the corporations captured the lion’s share. Prejudice against German-Americans and their beer-making, in the wake of WW I, played a role, as well. The massive wave of immigration from southern and eastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean (including Italians, Poles Jews and Lebanese/Syrians) also induced fears of rowdy foreign immigrants among the middle class Protestant women of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. The Ku Klux Klan was implicated in the anti-saloon movement and helped enforce prohibition, becoming a major force in states like Indiana (which it took over politically) and in the then Democratic Party. That is, Prohibition was about race and class in some large part.
The prohibition of marijuana, which had been legal most of American history, was also about race and class, and U.S. Commissioner of Narcotics, Harry Anslinger, deployed fear of Mexican immigrant labor to convince Congress to enact the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. Fear of African-Americans, white youth and jazz were also drivers of this legislation.
Despite the hysteria about immigrants and the burgeoning blue collar class, the mainstream of America abolished prohibition on December 5, 1933. Among the goals of the anti-dry politicians was to jump-start business in the early years of the Great Depression and to generate tax-revenue. (Restaurants, for instance, are seldom profitable without liquor licenses; when they are successful, they pay taxes. And covert speakeasies paid no taxes because they were illegal. In 1933 they could become legitimate bars and become part of the tax base for an impoverished city, e.g.)
Some 90% of the American population is still in the Great Bush Depression that began in 2008. Only the stockholders have really recovered. The actual unemployment rate is historically high, a fact hidden by the tinkering with the definition of unemployment. Shouldn’t we now be as pragmatic as FDR, and seek to end the Federal prohibition of marijuana, as well? It would be a boon to the economy and to a government burdened by debt. And, shouldn’t we be embarrassed, as a country with a very large and important Latino community, of the racist origins of this Prohibition? And, are we still afraid of youth and jazz?
December 4, 2013
L.A. Times exposes Cardinal Mahony’s decades-long pattern of shielding child-abusing priests
By Scott Kaufman
Tuesday, December 3, 2013 11:32 EST
The Los Angeles Times has published an exhaustive account — based on over 23,000 pages of internal documents from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles — of the former Archbishop of Los Angeles’s complicity in the Catholic Church’s child abuse scandal.
The article documents Roger Mahony’s involvement at all levels of the attempted cover-up of priests who molested children, beginning with the day in December 1986 when Father Michael Baker confessed to Mahony that he had molested two boys.
According to Mahony in a video deposition, his initial reason for not reporting Baker to the police was that “you only call the police when you’ve victims that you can talk to,” because “the suspected child abuse form” contains “a big section about each victim and the victim’s parent, so you, obviously, if you can’t fill out the form, you can’t send it in.”
Instead of reporting Baker to the police, he had him sent to a church-run clinic in Jemez Springs, New Mexico, where they “treat pedophilia.” When abusers were sent to therapists outside the church, Mahony and his aides selected ones they knew would not report the abuse to authorities.
unhappycamper comment: Having lived in Boston since 1973. I watched the Boston Archdiocese unwind due to pedophilia. Our Cardinal at the time, Bernard Law, ended up flying to and staying at the Vatican. Will Roger join Bernie?
With our new Pope, this may not be a slam dunk.
L.A. Times exposes Cardinal Mahony’s decades-long pattern of shielding child-abusing priests
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/03/l-a-times-exposes-cardinal-mahoneys-decades-long-pattern-of-shielding-child-abusing-priests/L.A. Times exposes Cardinal Mahony’s decades-long pattern of shielding child-abusing priests
By Scott Kaufman
Tuesday, December 3, 2013 11:32 EST
The Los Angeles Times has published an exhaustive account — based on over 23,000 pages of internal documents from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles — of the former Archbishop of Los Angeles’s complicity in the Catholic Church’s child abuse scandal.
The article documents Roger Mahony’s involvement at all levels of the attempted cover-up of priests who molested children, beginning with the day in December 1986 when Father Michael Baker confessed to Mahony that he had molested two boys.
According to Mahony in a video deposition, his initial reason for not reporting Baker to the police was that “you only call the police when you’ve victims that you can talk to,” because “the suspected child abuse form” contains “a big section about each victim and the victim’s parent, so you, obviously, if you can’t fill out the form, you can’t send it in.”
Instead of reporting Baker to the police, he had him sent to a church-run clinic in Jemez Springs, New Mexico, where they “treat pedophilia.” When abusers were sent to therapists outside the church, Mahony and his aides selected ones they knew would not report the abuse to authorities.
unhappycamper comment: Having lived in Boston since 1973. I watched the Boston Archdiocese unwind due to pedophilia. Our Cardinal at the time, Bernard Law, ended up flying to and staying at the Vatican. Will Roger join Bernie?
With our new Pope, this may not be a slam dunk.
December 3, 2013
A B-2 bomber drops a B61.
Congress, Obama Admin ‘Duck & Cover’ On Nuclear Modernization
By Bob Butterworth on December 02, 2013 at 5:01 PM
When talking about nuclear policies and programs, defense leaders often emphasize that “the Cold War is over.” But given a chance to explain what is strategically different and how policies and programs need to be changed, they duck and cover.
Take, for example, a recent congressional hearing on the B61 nuclear bomb. The Defense and Energy Departments want Congress to approve plans for rebuilding the weapon, principally to replace its four remaining variants with a single new model, called the B61-12.
If deployed with the addition of a tail kit assembly from the Air Force, the new version should be more accurate and have a “modest” standoff capability. There has been no official statement of anticipated yield, but observers anticipate a variable yield similar to that of the B61-4 (.3 to 50 kilotons).
The B61 is made to order as a case study of in-depth deliberations about post-Cold War nuclear policies and programs. Since entering the inventory in 1966, the weapon has been modified into several versions, most of which are capable of being dropped from several types of fighter and bomber aircraft. The different weapons deliver yields reportedly ranging from .3 kilotons to about 340 kilotons. B61 has been the material embodiment of the US nuclear commitment to NATO. During the Cold War it was intended to be used both to blunt a large conventional attack by the Warsaw Pact and to trigger escalation to intercontinental nuclear war. Since the Cold War it has remained in Europe, in reduced numbers, perhaps due more to alliance politics than requirements of deterrence.
Congress, Obama Admin ‘Duck & Cover’ On Nuclear Modernization
http://breakingdefense.com/2013/12/congress-obama-admin-duck-cover-on-nuclear-modernization/A B-2 bomber drops a B61.
Congress, Obama Admin ‘Duck & Cover’ On Nuclear Modernization
By Bob Butterworth on December 02, 2013 at 5:01 PM
When talking about nuclear policies and programs, defense leaders often emphasize that “the Cold War is over.” But given a chance to explain what is strategically different and how policies and programs need to be changed, they duck and cover.
Take, for example, a recent congressional hearing on the B61 nuclear bomb. The Defense and Energy Departments want Congress to approve plans for rebuilding the weapon, principally to replace its four remaining variants with a single new model, called the B61-12.
If deployed with the addition of a tail kit assembly from the Air Force, the new version should be more accurate and have a “modest” standoff capability. There has been no official statement of anticipated yield, but observers anticipate a variable yield similar to that of the B61-4 (.3 to 50 kilotons).
The B61 is made to order as a case study of in-depth deliberations about post-Cold War nuclear policies and programs. Since entering the inventory in 1966, the weapon has been modified into several versions, most of which are capable of being dropped from several types of fighter and bomber aircraft. The different weapons deliver yields reportedly ranging from .3 kilotons to about 340 kilotons. B61 has been the material embodiment of the US nuclear commitment to NATO. During the Cold War it was intended to be used both to blunt a large conventional attack by the Warsaw Pact and to trigger escalation to intercontinental nuclear war. Since the Cold War it has remained in Europe, in reduced numbers, perhaps due more to alliance politics than requirements of deterrence.
December 3, 2013
Europe rights court hearing on secret CIA prisons
By GREG KELLER, Associated Press
Updated 6:38 am, Tuesday, December 3, 2013
STRASBOURG, France (AP) — Europe's human rights court shone a rare public light Tuesday on the secret network of European prisons that the CIA used to interrogate terror suspects, reviving memories and questions about the "extraordinary renditions" that angered many on this continent.
At Tuesday's hearing, lawyers for two terror suspects currently held by the U.S. in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, accused Poland of human rights abuses. The lawyers say the suspects fell victim to the CIA's program to kidnap terror suspects and transfer them to third countries, and allege they were tortured in a remote Polish prison.
The case marks the first time Europe's role in the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" of terror suspects reached the European Court of Human Rights. The program, which occurred at the height of former President George W. Bush's war on terrorism, upset many Europeans.
All the prisons were closed by May 2006. Interrogations at sea have replaced CIA black sites as the U.S. government's preferred method for holding suspected terrorists and questioning them without access to lawyers.
Europe rights court hearing on secret CIA prisons
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/crime/article/Europe-rights-court-to-hear-of-secret-CIA-prisons-5029775.phpEurope rights court hearing on secret CIA prisons
By GREG KELLER, Associated Press
Updated 6:38 am, Tuesday, December 3, 2013
STRASBOURG, France (AP) — Europe's human rights court shone a rare public light Tuesday on the secret network of European prisons that the CIA used to interrogate terror suspects, reviving memories and questions about the "extraordinary renditions" that angered many on this continent.
At Tuesday's hearing, lawyers for two terror suspects currently held by the U.S. in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, accused Poland of human rights abuses. The lawyers say the suspects fell victim to the CIA's program to kidnap terror suspects and transfer them to third countries, and allege they were tortured in a remote Polish prison.
The case marks the first time Europe's role in the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" of terror suspects reached the European Court of Human Rights. The program, which occurred at the height of former President George W. Bush's war on terrorism, upset many Europeans.
All the prisons were closed by May 2006. Interrogations at sea have replaced CIA black sites as the U.S. government's preferred method for holding suspected terrorists and questioning them without access to lawyers.
December 3, 2013
Trial begins in legal challenge to no-fly list
By PAUL ELIAS, Associated Press
Updated 5:23 pm, Monday, December 2, 2013
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — An eight-year legal odyssey by a Malaysian university professor to clear her name from the U.S. government's no-fly list went to trial Monday in federal court in San Francisco.
Rahinah Ibrahim claims she was mistakenly placed on the list because of her national origin and Muslim faith. She has fought in court since her arrest at San Francisco International Airport in January 2005 to clear her name.
~snip~
Ibrahim's lawyer is barred by court orders and national security provisions from delving too deeply into the inner-workings of the government administration of its suspected lists of terrorists.
Federal prosecutor Lily Farel told the judge the government could not respond to any of Ibrahim's claims because of national security interests.
Trial begins in legal challenge to no-fly list
http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/Trial-begins-in-legal-challenge-to-no-fly-list-5028823.phpTrial begins in legal challenge to no-fly list
By PAUL ELIAS, Associated Press
Updated 5:23 pm, Monday, December 2, 2013
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — An eight-year legal odyssey by a Malaysian university professor to clear her name from the U.S. government's no-fly list went to trial Monday in federal court in San Francisco.
Rahinah Ibrahim claims she was mistakenly placed on the list because of her national origin and Muslim faith. She has fought in court since her arrest at San Francisco International Airport in January 2005 to clear her name.
~snip~
Ibrahim's lawyer is barred by court orders and national security provisions from delving too deeply into the inner-workings of the government administration of its suspected lists of terrorists.
Federal prosecutor Lily Farel told the judge the government could not respond to any of Ibrahim's claims because of national security interests.
December 3, 2013
Employers step in to prevent worker burnout
By DANICA KIRKA
Associated Press
Dec 3, 6:18 AM EST
LONDON (AP) -- Volkswagen turns off some employees' email 30 minutes after their shifts end. Goldman Sachs is urging junior staff to take weekends off. BMW is planning new rules that will keep workers from being contacted after hours.
This surge in corporate beneficence isn't an indication that employers are becoming kinder and gentler: It's about the bottom line. After years in which the ease of instant communication via e-mail and smartphones allowed bosses to place greater and greater demands on white-collar workers, some companies are beginning to set limits, recognizing that successful employees must be able to escape from work.
"Industry is now responding," said Cary Cooper, a professor of organizational psychology and health at Lancaster University, who says the imperative to be constantly reachable by iPhone or tablet is taking a toll on the work delivered at the office. "Employees are turning up, but they're not delivering anything."
After seeing colleagues lose their jobs during the Great Recession, workers are more inclined to come in to work, even when sick, surveys show. After hours, physical presence is replaced by the next best thing - a virtual one. Many employees fear switching off, instead deciding to work on vacation, during dinner and in bed with the help of smart phones, laptops and tablet computers.
Employers step in to prevent worker burnout
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_BATTLING_BURNOUT?SITE=VANOV&SECTION=BUSINESS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULTEmployers step in to prevent worker burnout
By DANICA KIRKA
Associated Press
Dec 3, 6:18 AM EST
LONDON (AP) -- Volkswagen turns off some employees' email 30 minutes after their shifts end. Goldman Sachs is urging junior staff to take weekends off. BMW is planning new rules that will keep workers from being contacted after hours.
This surge in corporate beneficence isn't an indication that employers are becoming kinder and gentler: It's about the bottom line. After years in which the ease of instant communication via e-mail and smartphones allowed bosses to place greater and greater demands on white-collar workers, some companies are beginning to set limits, recognizing that successful employees must be able to escape from work.
"Industry is now responding," said Cary Cooper, a professor of organizational psychology and health at Lancaster University, who says the imperative to be constantly reachable by iPhone or tablet is taking a toll on the work delivered at the office. "Employees are turning up, but they're not delivering anything."
After seeing colleagues lose their jobs during the Great Recession, workers are more inclined to come in to work, even when sick, surveys show. After hours, physical presence is replaced by the next best thing - a virtual one. Many employees fear switching off, instead deciding to work on vacation, during dinner and in bed with the help of smart phones, laptops and tablet computers.
December 3, 2013
Kaine optimistic about deal to lessen defense cuts
By Bill Bartel
The Virginian-Pilot
© December 3, 2013
NORFOLK
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine told workers at a Norfolk shipyard on Monday that he's optimistic a budget deal can be struck in Washington to lessen the impact of automatic defense cuts that threaten Navy ship repair contracts next year.
But the Virginia Democrat cautioned that the repair industry, which employs thousands in Hampton Roads, remains vulnerable.
"I'm not saying that ship repair won't see any belt-tightening," Kaine told workers at BAE Systems Ship Repair near the Norfolk riverfront. "We're going to be doing belt-tightening across all the accounts because we've got a $17 trillion deficit."
~snip~
The senator said he came to the shipyard, which he last visited as governor more than four years ago, to collect "good ammo" that he can use to help persuade others in Congress to replace or lessen the impact of sequestration. The automatic cuts begun earlier this year require $1.2 trillion in across-the-board reductions, with half from defense and half from domestic programs.
unhappycamper comment: Is Sen. Kaine saying that the five billion dollars that Congress from SNAP food programs OK but the Pentagon is too important?
I don't like warmongers.
Kaine optimistic about deal to lessen defense cuts
http://hamptonroads.com/2013/12/kaine-optimistic-about-deal-lessen-defense-cutsKaine optimistic about deal to lessen defense cuts
By Bill Bartel
The Virginian-Pilot
© December 3, 2013
NORFOLK
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine told workers at a Norfolk shipyard on Monday that he's optimistic a budget deal can be struck in Washington to lessen the impact of automatic defense cuts that threaten Navy ship repair contracts next year.
But the Virginia Democrat cautioned that the repair industry, which employs thousands in Hampton Roads, remains vulnerable.
"I'm not saying that ship repair won't see any belt-tightening," Kaine told workers at BAE Systems Ship Repair near the Norfolk riverfront. "We're going to be doing belt-tightening across all the accounts because we've got a $17 trillion deficit."
~snip~
The senator said he came to the shipyard, which he last visited as governor more than four years ago, to collect "good ammo" that he can use to help persuade others in Congress to replace or lessen the impact of sequestration. The automatic cuts begun earlier this year require $1.2 trillion in across-the-board reductions, with half from defense and half from domestic programs.
unhappycamper comment: Is Sen. Kaine saying that the five billion dollars that Congress from SNAP food programs OK but the Pentagon is too important?
I don't like warmongers.
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