Not that this is necessarily from OUR Congressman…

Dear Constituents:

 The district in which you live and which I represent in Congress is soon going to change its borders. Do not be alarmed.

 As you may know, in our system the voters do not choose the government; the government chooses the voters. Every 10 years, following the federal census, the districts of members of the House of Representatives are modified to reflect changes in the population. As strange and unfair as it seems, the power of redrawing districts for the U.S. Congress is in the hands of the state legislatures.

 The party that controls the state legislature engages in what is known as “partisan gerrymandering” — the drawing of district lines to maximize the chances that members of the controlling party will be elected to Congress. Thanks to the miracle of gerrymandering, the majority party can draw the lines so that members of the other party are a minority in most or all U.S. congressional districts in the state.

 Thank God for partisan gerrymandering. I owe my many terms as your member of Congress to the fact that our beloved district is rigged. After the 2000 Census, members of my party in the state Legislature drew the borders of my district to avoid the neighborhoods of people likely to vote against me, with limbs going out to rope in likely voters. The district goes down the highway, veers away at a right angle, wriggles through a parking lot and down an alley, flares out to take in an apartment complex and then shrinks again to avoid a suburb. Some people think the district looks like a boa constrictor that swallowed a porcupine. Others think it looks like Bart Simpson squashed by a steamroller. I think it’s beautiful.

Click here to read the entire article posted on Salon

Click here to check this one out…. It’s a hoot!

Why Dennis Kucinich is not a member of the Green Party, I’ll never know (although I sent him an e-mail asking). To check out his post explaining why he voted against it, click here.

I received an e-mail with some comments attributed to Bill Cosby. I very much like some of Bill Cosby’s premises below but I’ve taken the liberty of adding a few additional suggestions in parentheses. Enjoy! (Steve Wilkie)

 Bill Cosby has a great way of “distilling”  things. Looks like he’s done it again!

 AMERICA NEEDS A CANDIDATE WITH THIS PLATFORM!!

I HAVE DECIDED TO BECOME A WRITE-IN CANDIDATE  FOR PRESIDENT IN THE YEAR 2012.

HERE IS MY PLATFORM:

(1). Any use of the phrase: ‘Press 1 for English’ is immediately banned. English is the official language; speak it or wait outside of our borders until you can.

(Unfortunately the United States does NOT have an official language. I would propose we establish the predominant aboriginal language as the “official” language and require all school children to take it and learn it as a second language.)

(2). We will immediately go into a two year  isolationist attitude in order to straighten out the greedy big business posture in this country. America will allow NO imports, and we’ll do no exports. We will use the ‘Wal-Mart ’s policy, ‘If we ain’t got it, you don’t need it.’ We’ll make it here and sell it here!

(Including OIL!!!)

(Speaking of “greedy”, Greed will once again be recognized as one of the seven deadly sins and will no longer be the unofficial national religion. All elections will be 100% publicly financed using a strict corporate income tax. And ALL healthcare must be provided by non-profit corporations.)

(3).. When imports are allowed, there will be a 100% import tax on it coming in here.

(See #2 above.)

(4). All retired military personnel will be required to man one of the many observation towers located on the southern border of the United States (six month tour). They will be under strict orders not to fire on SOUTHBOUND aliens.

(Anyone residing within the borders without at least one-tenth native aboriginal blood will be deported to the country of the greatest portion of their genetic ancestry, or if not at least 50% genetic link to that country, to a third world country.)

 (5). Social Security will immediately return to its original state. If you didn’t put nuttin in, you ain’t gettin nuttin out. Neither the President nor any other politician will be able to touch it.

(All citizens will henceforth be required to serve two years of national service working with the elderly and disabled in lieu of military service.)

(6). Welfare. — Checks will be handed out on Fridays, at the end of the 40 hour school week, the successful completion of a urinalysis test for drugs, and passing grades.

(For Child Welfare, must be of school age. For those under school age, the parent must pass the urinalysis, and the children whose parents who do not pass the drug test, will be adopted by Mr. Cosby.)

(7). Professional Athletes — Steroids? The FIRST time you check positive you’re banned from sports … for life.

(If Mr Cosby will excuse the expression, let’s call a spade a spade: professional athletes will now 
include collegiate athletes.)

(8). Crime - We will adopt the Turkish method, i.e., the first time you steal, you lose your right hand. There is no more ‘life sentences’. If convicted of murder, you will be put to death by the same method you chose
for the victim you killed: gun, knife, strangulation, etc. 

( I might be ok with this one, provided that 75% of law enforcement activities are directed toward white-collar, corporate crime, that all our other suggestions are enacted, and that use of marijuana is legalized.)

(9).. One export of ours will be allowed: wheat; because the world needs to eat. However, a bushel of wheat will be the exact price of a barrel of oil.

(I still think #2 with my suggestion is sound.)

(10). All foreign aid, using American taxpayer money, will immediately cease and the saved money will help to pay off the national debt and, ultimately, lower taxes. When disasters occur around the world, we’ll ask the American People if they want to donate to a disaster fund, and each citizen can make the decision as to whether, or not, it’s a worthy cause.

(Unless Congress officially declares war, as outlined in the constitution, all servicemen and military operations outside the borders of the United States will be dismantled and returned to American soil.)

(11). The Pledge of Allegiance will be said every day at school and every day in Congress.

(”Under God” will remain, but must either include Adonai, Allah, Yahweh, Jehovah, Bhagwan, Ishvara,  Maheshvara, Shiva, Parameshvara, Paramatman, Para Brahman, Adi Purusha,  Vishnu Krishna,  Rama, Waheguru, Ek Onkar, Satnam; and Nirankar; or In lieu of the preceding list, individuals may instead add at the end: “for goodness sake! Amen.” Genuflection is optional.)

(12). The National Anthem will be played at all appropriate ceremonies, sporting events, outings, etc.

(”the bombs bursting in air” will be replaced by “the bombs landing on the ground and also killing unarmed innocent civilians”.)

My apology is offered if I’ve stepped on anyone’s toes ……..nevertheless…… GOD BLESS AMERICA.

( I prefer Tiny Tim’s version, “God Bless us, everyone!”)

Sincerely,
Bill Cosby (Steve Wilkie)

I attended the second hearing in Port St Joe and hear more glowing reports about how clean & green the proposed biomass plant will be.

I know in this day and age that it is fashionable to criticize the role of government . But I hope we don’t need to be reminded that there us an appropriate role for our elected officials to protect the majority from the designs of the few who are rich and powerful. Ostensibly, we are no longer subject to the whims of kings and lords but have elected officials whose duty it is to watch out for the welfare of the common citizen; and not to simply do the bidding of those who would take our money and run.

The hearings were an opportunity for the average person to come and express his or her wishes and to plead a their case to their elected representatives, not to simply to listen only to the representatives who have spent much time already pleading their case. ANd the members of the Commission should not simply rubber stamp the proposals of those who would take the money and run as others have.

Commissioner Traylor had apparently already made up his mind, even before the application had been submitted. He stated at the first meeting that nothing had been presented to change his mind.
I pointed out at the second hearing how difficult it is to contest information in a application that hasn’t been submitted yet.

When I heard the glowing statements of BG&E at the first meeting I was indeed startled by what a wonderful Clean, Green project this will be! It seems to me the last time I heard such overwhelming support for an idea was when the US government & major media decided how wonderful it would be to invade Iraq because Sadaam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

Commissioner Traylor apparently had not heard anything of what had been presented at the first meeting to cast doubt on the wisdom of the proposed power plant.

He didn’t hear that the proposed ‘Green” project is not green.

He didn’t hear that the proposed “Clean” project was not clean.

He didn’t hear any of the presentation by Dr Ron Saff regarding the negative health effects due to particulate contamination in excess of that by a coal fired plant?

He didn’t hear that whatever the air quality application includes, does not include all facets of the operation, and does not address emission from the 50 - 60 trucks driving in and out of the plant daily.

He didn’t hear that there will be an impact on ground water quality from the 6-700,000 gallons of water needed per day for cooling.

He didn’t hear anything about the handling of ash in settling ponds.

He didn’t hear that the experience of those people from Tallahassee in dealings with BG&E were less than honest?

He didn’t hear that the subsidies currently in effect are a big reason for the push to get this done now and are one of the biggest facator in making a Biomass plant economically viable.He didn’t hear that the ozone levels in this area already merit an F grade or that the proposed plant will contribute to further air quality depletion?He didn’t hear any of that!

Here is some of what he apparently did hear:

The long term health effects of asthma & cancer on the children of Gulf County are apparently worth it in exchange for the economic impact of 24 long term jobs.

It is apparently more important to find a cure to cancer than it is to worry about the preventing the causes of cancer.

The impact of rising sea levels is not the concern of the County Commission as long as the people of Gulf County get their short term economic gain.

The presentations of BG&E representatives are more credible than the expressed opinions of the Tallahassee Commissioners who came to the opposite conclusions than those you obviously have already made before the hearings have even been concluded.

Biomass plants will likely not attract as many kooks as a nuclear plant therefore the biomass plant must be a better alternative.

Here is some additional information that you probably won’t hear about the proposed operation:

According to some studies that compare biomass to coal,  CO2, No2, and particulate matter emissions will be 50 to 100% higher than coal. Sustainable doesn’t necessarily make it clean or green.

Cancer rates in Bay County are some of the worst in the United States, a biomass plant won’t do anything to improve that. Particulate emissions are NOT benign, particularly because of the accumulation of heavy metals and other carcinogens from the many years of emissions from the Arizona Chemical Plant, and the Paper mill. Over the years these harmful emissions have been absorbed by the trees and other vegetation growing in this area. When woodchips from these trees are burned these toxins will be released in the particulate emissions released by the plant. Burning biomass generated in this area will not be 100% clean.

You will not hear anything about the Environmental Protection Agency proposed Endangerment & Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases under section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act issued on Friday April 4 2009; which describes the harmful effects of greenhouse gases on the environment, because those have not been finalized yet.

But according to the EPA studies, while half of the CO2 emissions can be taken up by the oceans & terrestrial vegetation over the course of the next 30 years, another 30% will not be removed from the atmosphere for several centuries and the remaining 20 percent will only decay over many thousands of years.

According to the EPA, the heating effect caused by the human-induced build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere conveys a 90-99 percent probability the cause of the observed global warming over the past 50 years.

The effects of the groundwater contamination is not being addressed in the permitting process because the permitting addresses only air quality.

Even though no one single action can solve or rectify the problem of greenhouse gases and global warming, your actions, when coupled with a series of other actions can have an impact.

Some at the last meeting asked what other alternatives exist? Certainly conservation is one. Natural gas plants do not use foreign sources of energy and would be a cleaner alternative, even a coal fired plant would be cleaner burning. (If the county is looking for economic development, perhaps a nuclear waste storage facility to handle the waste from recently approved Levy Plant would generate more economic benefit for our children!)

The Green Party advocates use of alternative energies such as wind solar and geothermal. We would certainly encourage the development of green technologies. But sadly this biomass plant is not one of them. Gulf County is one of the most economically hard hit regions in the state. The biomass industry thinks this gives them permission to turn this beautiful area into a dumping ground, and most folks don’t have the resources to fight them.

As I recall someone mocked the idea of an 80 foot rise in sea level if global warming continues unabated. It reminded me of the story of Noah & the flood. It also reminded of the 15^th verse of 2^nd Chapter of Genesis: “Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and to keep it.”

A lot of misinformation was thrown about at the meeting to discuss the proposed Biomass Plant at Port St Joe last night. Starting with the presentation by BG&E representatives and culminating in the opinions of a number of local supporters of the plant, the proposed project was consistently portrayed as “being A Green project” & having little, if not beneficial, effects on the environment.

While I do not claim to be an expert by any means, I was quite taken aback by the persistent claims of BG&E representatives to portray the plant as “Green” and environmentally benign. The plant was described as cleaner than coal, and no attention was paid to the generating of greenhouse gases by those proposing the plant.

The last time I heard such glowing support for such an obviously wonderful idea was just before the United States invaded Iraq in response to Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction!

There were numerous residents of Tallahassee who had driven all the way to Port St Joe to present their experiences with BG&E officials when BG&E tried unsuccessfully to build a plant in Hosford in Leon County.

The local residents are understandably concerned about the economic issues facing the people of Gulf County since the closure of the paper mill a number of years ago, and with the recent announcement of the impending closure of the Arizona Chemical plant in may of this year. However, the long term future would be much better if they could bring in jobs that are more environmentally friendly than a biomass plant which produces tons of greenhouse gases and particulate pollution that will affect the people of that county for many years to come.

I was able to get in a few words but many of the comments by me and by others were quickly dismissed by locals hungry for some positive economic news.

To read a good editorial on the problems with biomass plants, click here.

Single Payer Rally in DC Today!

Click here to check out the Green Party Links to info re: Single Payer Health Insurance

The wealthy certainly can get their message across. Watch the national news on TV (nobody reads the papers anymore!) and you’d think the wealthiest individuals are the only ones keeping this old economy afloat!  All I hear is that the way to ruin the economy is by taxing the wealthy. “They’re the ones that create the jobs!”, they say…

“What jobs?” I say… “Afloat”???

Our labor creates wealth. Not capital. The wealthy steal their wealth from those who work.

I spoke to the American Government class at Gulf Coast Community College last week and afterward was bombarded with questions from a couple of students… Well not really bombarded with questions… Bombarded with rhetorical questions that the students really didn’t let me answer, because they were too busy  answering their own questions with FOX News rhetoric to listen to any answers… very disappointing. Animated, but disappointing.

Burnie Thompson was there again. He asked how many thought we could improve the economy by taxing the wealthy. I was one of only a couple to raise my hand. Who else CAN we tax??? You can’t get blood out of a turnip.  The wealthy are the only ones with any money left!!!

Burnie went on to contradict the basic premise of Keynesian economics by stating that government doesn’t spend everything it gets, because the administrative costs don’t count as spending… And he says that a libertarian is a democrat that’s ever read an economics textbook!!! Hogwash. (He obviously doesn’t know what a multiplier effect is.) But he does get his own radio talk show.

I ran into a really great little article by David Sirota: The Attack of the 1-Percenters. Check it out. The mainstream media should put out more of this.