Feb 2009
blah blah Middle Class blah blah
02/22/2009 17:06
I checked out the Vice President’s MiddlleClass Task Force, because it’s always hovering there on the top right of the screen at whitehouse.gov. I read Jared Bernstein's introductory blog post. (he’s the Executive Director and Joe Biden’s chief economic advisor) It was all well and good, as far as it went. But that was the problem.
35,000 people have already emailed the Task Force with questions and comments, so i went ahead and left mine. I think they're trying to paper over the big rift in American society. It isn't the split between the rich and the middle class, who often see eye to eye (as an example, the recent CNBC rant about not wanting to help fix the housing crisis). The big problem in America is the split between the rich/middle alliance (the administration and its main allies) and the working class.
The government and the media can pretend all they want that "the poor" are just people who've lost their “middle class” jobs. But I think deep down they know this isn't true, and at some point they're going to have to deal with the fact that they not talking to working people. Because the Repubs are going back to race-bating, using country and now hip-hop music to try to fool working-class people into thinking that just because the Dems can't see them, the Repubs are the party of the workers. That is a big mistake. It will come back to bite the administration and the Dems in general. They're institutionalizing the new class war.
Wind in NH!
02/15/2009 20:43
On the way to watch the horse skijoring at the 93rd annual Newport NH winter festival (longest-running winter fest in the US), we happened upon these really cool windmills in Lempster, NH.
Went online to find out what’s up, and I really couldn’t find out a lot of good information, because the web was swamped with BS from a group that calls itself the “Industrial Wind Action Group.” Apparently these folks are up in arms at the idea that America is going to pollute its environment with wind energy stations.
No, REALLY.
Their website says “Industrial Wind Action Group seeks to promote knowledge and raise awareness of the risks and damaging environmental impacts of industrial wind energy development. Information and analysis on the subject is available through its website, www.windaction.org.” I wonder where they get their funding…
It’s clear where they get their science, though. From the people who brought you the arguments for “Clean Coal.” The folks against the turbines on Lempster Mountain were supposedly afraid a turbine blade would break loose and land in granny’s bedroom. Hmm…I wonder how they’d feel about a coal-fired plant or a nuke in their neighborhood. Oh wait, that’s the difference! Those dirty, dangerous power plants are always in someone else’s neighborhood. Not to mention those nasty mines. When you think about the number of people we’ve gotten used to dying for the coal power industry, it makes the whining of the anti-wind folks sound a little weak, doesn’t it?
In any case, they got it done somehow. In spite of the fake environmentalists and concerned grandchildren who tried to block it. Way to go, Lempster!
Went online to find out what’s up, and I really couldn’t find out a lot of good information, because the web was swamped with BS from a group that calls itself the “Industrial Wind Action Group.” Apparently these folks are up in arms at the idea that America is going to pollute its environment with wind energy stations.
No, REALLY.
Their website says “Industrial Wind Action Group seeks to promote knowledge and raise awareness of the risks and damaging environmental impacts of industrial wind energy development. Information and analysis on the subject is available through its website, www.windaction.org.” I wonder where they get their funding…
It’s clear where they get their science, though. From the people who brought you the arguments for “Clean Coal.” The folks against the turbines on Lempster Mountain were supposedly afraid a turbine blade would break loose and land in granny’s bedroom. Hmm…I wonder how they’d feel about a coal-fired plant or a nuke in their neighborhood. Oh wait, that’s the difference! Those dirty, dangerous power plants are always in someone else’s neighborhood. Not to mention those nasty mines. When you think about the number of people we’ve gotten used to dying for the coal power industry, it makes the whining of the anti-wind folks sound a little weak, doesn’t it?
In any case, they got it done somehow. In spite of the fake environmentalists and concerned grandchildren who tried to block it. Way to go, Lempster!
