Senator Tom Harkin will retire.  Why?  Because he's tired of the fundraising, which new senators are told should get more time than any other activity.  We think there's a solution to this problem - The AACA:  The American Anti-Corruption Act.  For details go to www.represent.us.  Our goal: to get the money out of Congress.  How to do that? A million signature sponsor drive by November, 2013.  How are we doing?  More than 330,000 already.  Click the link to read what Tom Harkin has to say in this Mother Jones article.

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/01/tom-harkin-retire-senator-fundraise-money

Projecting Power In The Philippines?

Here's a US Navy ship (a minesweeper!) stuck on a coral reef where it doesn't belong en route to a nation, Indonesia, that almost certainly doesn't want it.  This is called "projecting power".  Stopping this sort of thing could save us a good deal of money.

How Much Military Is Enough?

This article from the January 28, 2013 New Yorker, is one of the very best on the subject of military spending.  It tells the story of the War Department since 1789, the long period of isolationism that lasted until World War II, and newly growing calls for limits to spending and military power projection.  Well worth the read.

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2013/01/28/130128crat_atlarge_lepore

Come to Washington February 17

350.org and many other organizations are assembling what may be the largest environmental rally in America's history.  Sunday, February 17.  For details go to www.forwardonclimate.org .  For busses, go to equateam.com or megabus.com.  The latter has service from 30th Street Station Philly to Union Station, Washington, for about $25 round trip.

Brandywine Peace First Friday Film

"THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS."    Friday, February 1, 7 pm.  1001 Old Sproul Road, Springfield.

Harry Reid Kills Filibuster Reform

This is the trouble with Congress.  Instead of bringing the filibuster reform bill to the floor for a rousing debate, the two party leaders go off by themselves and concoct a deal.

http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Harry-Reid-Mitch-McConnel-in-General_News-130124-5.html

Anti-gun Rally In Harrisburg January 23

The anti-gun group, Heeding God's Call, is sponsoring a bus to the state capitol Wednesday, January 23.  Click on the link for reservation details and to see the stunning tee-shirt display at Chestnut Hill College commemorating the hundreds of Philly people killed by guns this year.

http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=78ec0d0fe719817883b01c35b&id=9eea0b9bf8&e=2c80bf8116

All About Conspiracy Theories

So now there's a conspiracy theory about the Sandy Hook massacre [10,000,000 hits on YouTube!].  In this article Rob Kall talks about theories since 9/11.  My favorite is the one about conspirators in Kenya who, at the birth of Barack Obama, hoodwinked the Honolulu daily newspaper into running a birth announcement putting the event on Oahu.  Talk about foresight?  A very good book about conspiracies is "Among the Truthers: A Journey Through America's Growing Conspiracist Underground" by Jonathan Kay.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/A-Conspiracy-Conspiracy-Th-by-Rob-Kall-130118-855.html

Krugman: Stop Worrying About The Debt

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/18/opinion/krugman-the-dwindling-deficit.html?ref=opinion&_r=0

Krugman: How To Fix The Great Recession

In case you missed this outstanding conversation, here's your chance to sit back and enjoy Paul Krugman and Bill Moyers talking about how to fix the Great Recession.  And by the way, the next time someone tells you they're worried about the National Debt, ask them why? 

http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-paul-krugman-on-why-jobs-come-first/

How To Save $198 Billion Per Year

 

Our friends at New Priorities Network suggest these quick and easy cuts to military spending.

Pentagon items we can cut

“We’re Not Broke: A commonsense guide to avoiding the fiscal swindle while making the United States more equitable, green, and secure” (Institute for Policy Studies, December 12, 2012) recommends these military spending cuts as part of an $881-billion-a-year budget balancing plan. IPS says we should “Right-size the Pentagon to make the United States and the world more secure…. without hurting our national security largely by ending the war in Afghanistan, scaling back the sprawling network of over­seas U.S. military bases, and scrapping ob­solete and wasteful military programs” (p. 1).

Proposed reforms	Potential annual savings ($billions)
End the U.S. war in Afghanistan	86
Eliminate one-third of the U.S. military bases in Europe and Asia	10
Eliminate military waste and unnecessary weapon systems:
Drastically reduce the nuclear warhead arsenal as a major step on the path to nuclear abolition	20
Stop R&D and procurement of unnecessary weapons	9
Eliminate two active Air Force wings and two carrier groups that are not needed to address current and probable future threats	8
Achieve savings from eliminating inefficiencies to reduce overall mili­tary spending, rather than increasing other Pentagon expenditures	28
Scale back outsourcing to military contractors by 15 percent	40
End Foreign Military Financing	5
Total	$198 billion a year

Recent studies from the right, left, and center propose similar savings.

• “Reasonable Defense,” from the Project on Defense Alternatives, would reduce U.S. presence in the world by 40 percent and save more than $550 billion over 10 years.
• The Stimson Center’s “New U.S. Defense Strategy for a New Era” identifies cuts close to $1 trillion over 10 years, which is almost 20 percent of the 10-year defense budget plan.
• The CATO Institute, Taxpayers for Common Sense, Center for American Progress, and Bowles-Simpson Commission have all called for deep cuts in defense spending ranging from $350 to $590 billion beyond the cuts already in place.

The consensus is: Pentagon spending can be substantially cut without making us unsafe – and it should be.

 

Murkowski Steps Forward

Alaska Republican Senator Murkowski is now in favor of Super Pacs disclosing their donors.  She is the first Republican to do so.  The million-signature drive for the American Anti-corruption Act will cause others to join her. Go to www.represent.us.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/14/opinion/one-republican-steps-forward.html?ref=opinion&_r=0

He was right!  Social Security has its own revenue stream and has nothing to do with the Federal discretionary budget and its deficit.

The Trillion Dollar Coin

Whose picture on the coin?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/opinion/krugman-coins-against-crazies.html?_r=0

Anybody Talking Climate Change Denial Lately?

The Sunday morning talk shows don't talk about it, but try talking climate change denial to an Australian.  It seems nobody is talking much denial these days.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/eugene-robinson-climate-change-evidence-before-our-eyes/2013/01/10/c3ff3448-5b6c-11e2-88d0-c4cf65c3ad15_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions

A Letter To The Editor 1/10/2013

Cut spending to Pentagon first

Published: Thursday, January 10, 2013

To the Editor:

The middle class dodged most of the bullets from the Battle of the Cliff, but the guns from the promised negotiations on spending cuts are squarely aimed at us. The President has expressed a willingness to reduce spending on popular programs like Medicare and he’s still talking about “entitlement reform,” which means cuts to Social Security. Republican lawmakers are salivating at the prospect of getting these cuts.

Where in all this chatter is a mention of cuts to the bloated Pentagon budget? Numerous reports in the last couple years document that $100 billion/year could be safely cut from military spending, with hundreds of costly overseas bases as the chief culprits of over-spending. Cutting $100 billion/year would just about eliminate the federal deficit.

Effective job creation is the best long term solution to the budget deficit, and studies document that military spending is the least effective way to create jobs. Education, health care, renewable energy, and yes, even tax cuts create more jobs than giving money hand over fist to the war profiteers, as we do now. Military spending has almost doubled in the last decade. It’s no coincidence that jobs have declined.

Let’s flip this script: first cut the Pentagon. Remember, Social Security has added not one dime to our deficit.

Jane Swift Dugdale

Bryn Mawr

Bill Moyers and Paul Krugman will be talking about the fiscal cliff and the debt ceiling and other things economic on "Moyers & Co" this Sunday at Noon in Philly on Channel 12, WHYY-TV.  Not to be missed.  Click on the link if you'd like to submit a question for their consideration.

http://billmoyers.com/2013/01/04/your-turn-got-a-question-for-economist-paul-krugman/

On Gun Control

New Jersey Governor Christie and others have said that to avoid recurrences of the Newtown massacre we must accomplish a laundry list of reforms: magazine sizes, mental health, violence in movies and games, drug abuse, etc.  Nothing should be done until everything can be done.  This is an old debating ploy called "letting the perfect be the enemy of the good."  In other words, let's not do anything until we can do everything and do it perfectly.  It seems to us that control of assault semi-automatic weapons and large ammunition magazines can be accomplished quickly and easily and will certainly curtail the madness even if nothing else (no matter how worthy) is done.  Let's get on with it.

Rep. Barbara Lee Cuts The Budget

Barbara Lee knows where the money is buried, and she spells it out in this Roll Call article.

http://www.rollcall.com/news/solving_the_fiscal_impasse_starts_and_ends_at_the_pentagon-220653-1.html?pg=1

Robert Reich On "Entitlement" Hoax

Robert Reich, one of our favorite former Secretaries of Labor, on the nonsense being bandied about on cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Hoax-of-Entitlement-Re-by-Robert-Reich-130107-451.html

Another Inquirer Letter 1/8/13

The middle class has dodged most of the bullets from the Battle of the Cliff, but the guns from the promised negotiations on spending cuts are squarely aimed at us.

The president has expressed a willingness to reduce spending on popular programs like Medicare, and he’s still talking about entitlement reform, which means cuts to Social Security. Republican lawmakers are salivating at the prospect of getting these cuts.
Where in all this chatter is any mention of cuts to the bloated Pentagon budget? Numerous reports document that $100 billion a year could be safely cut from military spending, with hundreds of costly overseas bases as the chief culprits of overspending.

Other reports document that military spending is the least effective way to create jobs. Education, health care, renewable energy, and, yes, even tax cuts create more jobs than giving money hand over fist to the war industry, as we do now.
Let’s flip this script. First, cut the Pentagon. Remember, Social Security has added not one dime to our deficit.

Jane Swift Dugdale, Bryn Mawr

Get Rid Of Congressional Corruption!

This sort of thing goes on all the time, and many Americans consequently have that sinking feeling that the Congress is mired in corruption, and it is impossible to effect any reform because of the activities of lobbyists and interest groups.  A group of concerned citizens, www.represent.us, is starting a petition drive to collect a million signatures by the end of 2013 demanding passage of the American Anti-corruption Act [http://anticorruptionact.org].  You can also deliver copies of the signatures to your Congressmen with the understanding that if the Congressman does not sponsor the act, you and the signatories will work for his defeat in the 2014 primaries and general election.  The Act will seriously restrict the actions of lobbyists, will forbid Congressmen or their aides to accept a job with a lobby until seven years after leaving Capitol Hill, will limit Super PAC coordination and contributions, will end secret money, and will strengthen the Federal Election Commission's ability to enforce the rules.  You can print out your own copy of Represent.us's Action Handbook which contains information about the Act and signature collecting sheet.  Why not print it out and start collecting signatures?  We need to get rid of the corruption, and you can do it!

Bill Moyers On Gun Control

Take five minutes and listen to what Bill Moyers has to say about the gun lobby.

http://billmoyers.com/segment/bill-moyers-essay-the-gun-lobbys-firepower/

Inquirer - January 4, 2013

Now that the ship of state has navigated the fiscal shoals, Republicans in Congress are sharpening their knives to make some spending cuts, and you know those cuts will come from Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Sixty percent of our discretionary budget goes to the Pentagon, and if you believe that's not trimmable I have a very nice bridge in Brooklyn I could let you have. Just start by thinking about 1,000 overseas bases now run by the Pentagon. For what? Just imagine what it costs us. Remember that a base is not just a base: it is an entire community with dependent housing, schools, officers' clubs, bowling alleys, and more. And we have a thousand of them! Let's make cuts there, and not in Grandma's retirement pennies. Walter Ebmeyer, Bryn Mawr, 484-380-2222.

Hi Walter. I agree with everything in your letter.

We have to end corporate welfare for the defense industry. I recently read about a tanker plane that the Air Force already has enough of that Congress is still forcing them to take. The parts are manufactured in 44 states. Obviously, the 88 senators from those states plus House members in the districts where the parts are manufactured are not going to vote to stop production of those planes. I have heard of similar incidences dating all the way back to the 1960's.

The cost of the unnecessary Iraq war is estimated at 2 trillion (a trillion borrowed and spent + interest on the debt + life time health care for the seriously wounded). Add to this another 500 billion for Afghanistan. We absolutely cannot continue to fight endless land wars one after the other.


Allan Kamph
Downingtown

Hello Sweden!

We are delighted at the large number of people in Sweden reading our blog these days.  We are also mystified.  Please comment on why you are visiting.

What Was The Worst Congress?

In the 34th Congress, a House member walked onto the Senate floor and beat the tar out of Senator Sumner of Massachusetts with his cane.  Was that the worst Congress or was the 112th?  Gail Collins makes it all clear.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/opinion/collins-looking-forward.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130103

A Letter To "Inky"

Dear Editor:

The middle class has dodged most of the bullets from the

Battle of the Cliff, but the guns from the promised negotiations on spending

cuts are squarely aimed at us. As you

report, the President “expressed a willingness to reduce spending on popular

programs like Medicare…” and he’s still talking about “entitlement reform,”

which means cuts to Social Security.
Republican lawmakers are salivating at the prospect of getting these cuts.

Where in all this chatter is a mention of cuts to the

bloated Pentagon budget? Numerous

reports in the last couple years document that $100 billion/year could be

safely cut from military spending, with hundreds of costly overseas bases as

the chief culprits of over-spending.
Cutting $100 billion/year would just about eliminate the federal

deficit. Other reports document that

military spending is the least effective way to create jobs. Education, health care, renewable energy,

and yes, even tax cuts create more jobs than giving money hand over fist to the

war industry, as we do now. Military

spending has almost doubled in the last decade. Effective job creation is the best long term solution to the

budget deficit.

Let’s flip this script:
first cut the Pentagon.
Remember, Social Security has added not one dime to our deficit.

Sincerely,

Jane Swift Dugdale

284 S. Roberts Rd.

Bryn Mawr, PA 19010

610 527 4170