January 14, 2015

Bernie Sanders: Passing Keystone XL Means A 'Significantly Less Habitable' Planet

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/14/bernie-sanders-keystone-pipeline_n_6470716.html

As the Senate prepares to vote on whether climate change is real as part of the proposed Keystone Pipeline bill, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) strongly believes “it’s a good idea” for President Barack Obama to veto the bill.

“Unless we get our act together, the planet that we’re going to be leaving to our kids and grandchildren will be significantly less habitable than the planet we have right now,” Sanders said in an interview with MSNBC on Wednesday.

“I think it’s a good idea for the president, Congress, and the American people to listen to the overwhelming amount of scientists who tell us loudly and clearly that climate change is one of the great planetary crises that we face,” Sanders said. He insisted that we must face the “devastating problems” caused by climate change and...



How about, filibuster the goddamn thing?!
We cannot afford this.

It is complete insanity to allow Keystone XL. I keep hearing about ‘Climate Change’ as the reason to not build this suicide machine. This is important for the long term (maybe not so long term) however, there are very immediate, and ‘hand-to-mouth’ reasons, for not allowing this stupidity. These are centered around Fresh Water. Specifically the Ogallala Aquifer

Fresh Water is a requirement for survival,
Canadian Oil is not a requirement for survival.
Profits of Corporations and Billionaires are not a requirement for survival.
A few temporary jobs and 35 permanent jobs is not a requirement either – sorry to the 35

ALL Pipelines leak.

The Ogallala Aquifer
Crosses 8 states
IS the Fresh Water supply for 82% of the 2.3 Million people in the area
27 percent of the irrigated land in the United States overlies and uses the aquifer
Is about 30 percent of the ground water used for irrigation in the United States
It would take hundreds to thousands of years of rainfall to replace the groundwater in the depleted aquifer. Certain zones of the aquifer are now empty; these areas will take over 6,000 years to replenish naturally through rainfall.

Once this aquifer is poisoned
30% of the crop production of the United States will end – permanently.
Millions of people will be forced to abandon these areas and relocate.

There are probably many additional points to be made here, but the ones listed should be more than enough to make any rational person just a bit nervous. It scares the shit out of me.

January 14, 2015

GOP Failed Experiment With Trickle-Down Economics; Kansas Governor Could Raid The School Budget

Let’s see, Trickle down (your leg) fails miserably and predictably. And rather than bring taxes on the fat cats back up to where they NEED to be, we’ll steal from the kids and the future of the State and Nation. Hmmm…. PERFECT!


Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) is reportedly getting ready to propose some form of revenue increases as part of a plan to fix the nearly $900 million budget hole his tax cuts created for the state. But whatever cracks are emerging in his anti-tax facade, the conservative governor’s response to the budget crisis is more likely to focus on spending for the state’s already flailing schools.

“Revenue didn’t come in quite as was projected,” chief of staff Jon Hummel told the Wichita Eagle [snip]

Brownback’s State of the State address Thursday will outline how he plans to both cover a $200 million shortfall in the current fiscal year and fill an additional $648 million gap in next year’s projections,[snip]

None of this means the diehard conservative will reverse course or even make small concessions to critics who have warned for years that his trickle-down tax cuts would harm the Kansas economy, [snip]

Kansas Association of School Boards Associate Executive Director Mark Tallman said that would be a high-risk strategy with many complex moving parts, and no guarantee of turning up savings. [snip]

[link:http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/01/13/3610739/kansas-brownback-budget-crisis-preview/|
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/01/13/3610739/kansas-brownback-budget-crisis-preview/ ]