April 24, 2015

Obama lambasted opponents of Bush/Clinton trade deals "opponents are ignorant of the benefits"

Under the auspices of the December meeting of the President's Export Council, Obama lambasted opponents of the free-trade agenda he adopted from Presidents Bush and Clinton, arguing that opponents are ignorant of the benefits of trade and admonished them to back off in their effort to oppose passage of TPA and TPP by stating: "Don't fight the last war. You already have."

http://www.manufacturingnews.com/news/2014/President-And-CEOs-Meet%20To-Pass-TPA-And-TPP-1217141.html




I'm afraid it is Obama who is ignorant, not the millions of Americans who have lost their jobs.

And he wants us to 'just trust him' on the TPP

April 22, 2015

I am a cook in the US Senate but I still need food stamps to feed my children

I am walking off my job because I want the presidential hopefuls to know that I live in poverty. Many senators canvas the country giving speeches about creating “opportunity” for workers and helping our kids achieve the “American dream” – most don’t seem to notice or care that workers in their own building are struggling to survive.

I’m a single father and I only make $12 an hour; I had to take a second job at a grocery store to make ends meet. But even though I work seven days a week – putting in 70 hours between my two jobs – I can’t manage to pay the rent, buy school supplies for my kids or even put food on the table. I hate to admit it, but I have to use food stamps so that my kids don’t go to bed hungry.

I’ve done everything that politicians say you need to do to get ahead and stay ahead: I work hard and play by the rules; I even graduated from college and worked as a substitute teacher for 5 years. But I got laid-off and I now I’m stuck trying to make ends meet with dead-end service jobs.

American voters should ask themselves: if presidential candidates won’t help the workers who serve them every day, will they really help the millions of low-wage American workers who they don’t know or see? I’m a Bible-believing Christian, just like a lot of the candidates. Scripture says to “Love your neighbor” and “Do unto to others as you would have them do unto you”. It’s a shame too few candidates follow the guidance of the book in which they say they believe.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/22/i-am-a-cook-in-the-us-senate-but-i-still-need-food-stamps-to-feed-my-children

April 19, 2015

Bulk water exports from Sitka, Alaska to California to start this summer

A company that once operated a Sitka bottled-water plant but switched its focus to bulk exports says it has confirmed customers in drought-stricken California.

“The shipment of bulk water from Sitka will become reality this summer,” Alaska Bulk Water CEO Terry Trapp said in an email. “Our company has obtained contracts for the shipment of bulk water.”

While initial shipments will be to California, markets could expand, he said in the email. “The company has been in discussion with many of the water-stressed countries around the world and expects to begin international shipments in the near future as well,” he said.

Details about how the water would be delivered are yet unclear, but one option involves a combination of large, flexible bags and cargo-shipping containers.


The water comes from Blue Lake, a 6-mile-long body of water that also provides hydropower and drinking water to Sitka. The water is so abundant that household use is not metered, and so "clean in its natural state" that filtration is not required, according to the Sitka public works department's drinking water quality report. The local government has been working for years to commercialize that liquid asset.

http://www.adn.com/article/20150414/long-anticipated-bulk-water-exports-sitka-start-summer-businessman-says

April 18, 2015

As expected, Congress is trying to fast track the TPP. Now is the time to organize and defeat it.

From Reddit
http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/3314xt/as_expected_congress_is_trying_to_fast_track_the/

What you can do as an individual

I've linked to this old thread before, but it's worth doing so again because it is my understanding that this is the best action we can take, as individuals, to affect the decisions of politicians:

How to get your senators' and representatives' attention on any issue without being a wealthy donor | Protip from a former Senate intern
https://np.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1os8rz/how_to_get_your_senators_and_representatives/

If you don't feel as though you have the time or writing skills to compose a letter to the editor with which to call out your senators and representatives, then please, at the very least, call their offices to express your opposition to the TPP.

You can find the phone numbers for your senators' offices here and those for your representatives here.

Also, work to inform others in your immediate peer group by talking about the TPP and ISDS when conversation turns to politics.

What we can do as a group

Let's start talking about direct actions that can be taken in real life to coordinate our opposition to the TPP. Obviously, most people with full time jobs can't realistically drop everything and protest 7 days a week. But why don't we pick a day--perhaps Saturday--and have weekly rallies around the country?

Feel free to amend these ideas or come up with your own, but here are some ideas that I've come up with so far:

Coordinating online activism through /r/politics, /r/technology, /r/evolutionreddit, and a sub I recently created: /r/FlushTheTPP.

Coordinating marches in DC every Saturday from the Capitol to the White House.

Holding rallies every Saturday in major cities and capitols around the country.

Organizing encampments full of labor union workers and other TPP opponents outside of senators' and representatives' private residences and state offices. Film everything (because police brutality would be a near-certainty) and refuse to leave until the TPP has been defeated.



read more and comments
http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/3314xt/as_expected_congress_is_trying_to_fast_track_the/

April 17, 2015

Alaska's Fish and Game plans to kill family of black bears- Please Help!

(In summary:Humans feed bears, humans taunt bears, humans blame bears, humans kill bears)
http://www.adn.com/article/20150416/fish-and-game-plans-kill-family-black-bears-government-hill

?itok=N2s9oGoP

Alaska Department of Fish and Game officials said Thursday that because of public safety concerns, they planned to kill a family of five black bears seen roaming through Government Hill, a densely populated neighborhood near downtown Anchorage.

Saalfeld said he was called to Government Hill on Wednesday afternoon. People had surrounded the bears, some snapping photographs with their cellphones. The bears had all climbed up a tree, he said. The sow began huffing and popping her teeth -- a defensive behavior, said Ken Marsh, Fish and Game information officer.

?itok=tVLOUUNG

“Yesterday I was very, very, very angry with my fellow human beings,” Stephanie Kesler, president of the neighborhood’s community council, said Thursday before the council’s meeting.

At the evening meeting, Saalfeld announced that Fish and Game had decided to euthanize the bears. It could not relocate them, he said. The bears could transfer disease to other populations, he said, and it was too expensive. If they moved the bears within the Anchorage area, they would probably return, he said.

Also, the Government Hill bears have been getting into trash and, he said, “We’re not going to clean up the trash problem.”

?itok=YMfKXFUu


Someone has put up a petition to stop this if anyone wants to sign
https://www.change.org/p/alaska-department-of-fish-and-game-anchorage-division-sam-cotten-commissioner-killing-the-black-bear-family-in-anchorage-is-not-the-answer-relocate?recruiter=166256299&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_facebook_responsive&utm_term=des-lg-no_src-no_msg

And if you would like to tweet the governor, who is actually really cool....
@akgovbillwalker

Thanks!

April 16, 2015

Will Hillary lead the effort to shut down the TPP in the Senate ?

If she wants the nomination, she needs to start standing up for what we want, WE the People!

All candidates need to be asked, why are you running?

Is it self serving?

Or will you pursue policies that the majority of Americans want and need to save our sinking country?