SeniorJunior

In this greatest of nations, how about this? In Michigan, one in eight residents now receives food stamps. Imagine. 13% of Michiganders on food stamps . Now that is pitiful. Good job, Bushie.

DARN IT (With an apology for my inconsistent adds and updates to this thang - for all those regular readers, of course!) Mostly I have been moved by ... what? Incredulity - outrage - at stupidity, irresponsibility, greed and the whole corrupting influence of unbridled partisanship ... to write something. Not always, of course, but mostly. The last couple of months have had so MUCH of that bad stuff, that I guess I have been sort of strangled as to what to grouse about. But here goes again. The Good Old NEW YORK TIMES editorial this Sunday morning reminded me of just how stupid, counterproductive and downright crappy the GWB Administration is. Stubborn George continues to insist that his torture-justifying lawyer pal Steven Bradbury be his appointee to run the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. (As I'm sure you know) Bradbury wrote all those "Torture's legal. It's OK," then "It's OK to ignore the law that makes it illegal" memos. He has abs...

“Keeping Our Word,” “Trustworthiness,” and Other Corporate Myths I guess I’m grumpy most about hypocrisy. While the Right spins “values” into political gold, appealing to the righteousness gene in Americans, they spin a parallel theology, the holiness of “the market.” So it’s time (again and again) to look at actions, not words. Is the market actually self-correcting? Do market excesses and dishonesties actually fix themselves when the cop isn’t on the beat? Apparently not. In the Weekend Edition of The Wall Street Journal, two stories leap off the pages and slam into my hypocrisy button. 1. Corporations have been trying to save money by screwing their older employees by “freezing” their pension plans. Congress (a reluctant cop) tried to stop the vicious practice, but they did an inadequate job. Plus the offended corporations did what they do best, bribed the cops. According to the WSJ article , “Employers responded with a volley of lobbying, en...

More " Ethanol, Schmethanol " Video fans... Here's a powerful little documentary on the human price of ethanol. Look down the list of vids on this site and prepare to have your soul rocked. I don't like the idea of Bloomberg running for prez as an Indy... But I like his website and his news channel. Both are straight-ahead, no hype and competent.

THE OTHER OIL SHOCK Asymptotic Short Sightedness I love "asymptotic," the word. Maybe most people say "through the roof" or "scary growth" or "to the moon!" (Thank you Ralph Cramdon .) Here are some asymptotic graphics: See how those lines shoot up, faster and faster as time goes by? That's asymptotic, baby. Any fool can see that eventually they go almost straight up, right past disaster into the catastrophere . These are from a NYTimes online article about another pending disaster resulting from short term thinking: "Hydrocarbons bad. Biofuels good." Never mind the inevitable impact on the cost of food. Never mind that irreplaceable forests will be destroyed to plant more palm oil trees. Never mind that more people will starve and the net effect on the environment will be negative. Never mind thinking a little ahead of the nose on your face. (I guess I'm angry. Dang.) You faithful readers of the Duffst...

Making Liquid Gold Back in October, this blogster offered the BIG FOUR solution package for the pending water crisis. (Put your hand on a water faucet and believe ... because it's true and maybe the scariest result of coming climate change.) In short, those four solutions are: 1. Drip irrigation on a huge scale for agriculture. 2. A national pipeline system for redistributing flood water. 3. Catch and store every drop of rainwater that hits our roofs. 4. Desalination of sea water on a huge scale. This week in the Wall Street Journal was a great article about the technological and financial progress toward large scale desalination . Not "huge" yet, but promising. I like their graphic. (You might conclude this plant is run on pure solar power - it's not, but it should be... plus wind, geothermal and, heck, I'll say it, nuclear*. Anything but hydrocarbon energy.) Ring our sea-to-shining-sea country with bigger and better desalination plants, (sequestering t...

Where Has John Gone? Have you noticed a sudden drop in the amount of coverage in the "mainstream media" of John Edwards? To the casual viewer it looks like the Democratic nomination contest has become strictly Obama vs. Clinton. The populist theory about the Populist Candidate is that he has stepped over the line in his criticism of "Big Business, the corporations that own and control most of Congress these days." So sayeth John Edwards, loud, clear and long. So those corporations - which own a lion's share of the mainstream media - have just sent down the word to their media minions to start ignoring him. Dang. Now we read that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is going to raise another $60 million specifically to fight any populist, "anti-business" candidates for President. Guess who has top billing in that fight? Here's the way the match-up looks: John Edwards, Populist /// Thomas Donahue, Pres U.S. C of C Under Donahue, the U.S. Chamber has b...

Do Something to Shake It UP Pick a Democrat who will keep the campaign alive, kicking and a little crazy (without really hurting any of the candidates). Pick a Republican who represents the best of what Republicans once were. OK... Even though I thought the old SeniorJunior would not endorse anyone, it looks like I really do. If I look back over the stream of thought in this blog, I can't help but notice that one Democrat seems to be mad at all the people I'm mad at: Big Hedge Funds, Big Chemical, Big Oil, Big Retail, Big Insurance, Big Media, Big Moralists and the Big Lobbyists for all of them. Global Warming Denyers, Poor Consumer Regulation, and all the other flat-earthers go in the list as well. And who, you ask, might this Dem candidate be? Why... JOHN EDWARDS, of course. PIX CREDIT NOTE: I REALLY LIKE THEM ALL, THEM DEMS. I'LL SUPPORT AND WORK FOR WHOEVER WINS. But... Giving Edwards the win in Iowa will shake things up. The populist tone of the election will ...

Four Body Blows to a Staggering Presidency This morning's NY Times and Washington Post front pages features four stories documenting the gross failures of the Bush Administration (and its enabling Congress). Economic, foreign and domestic failures stack on the stinky pile Prez Bush is leaving for his successors to try to clean up. ECONOMIC NY Times : Fed Shrugged as Subprime Crisis Spread Some excerpts: Today, as the mortgage crisis of 2007 worsens and threatens to tip the economy into a recession, many are asking: where was Washington? An examination of regulatory decisions shows that the Federal Reserve and other agencies waited until it was too late before trying to tame the industry’s excesses. Both the Fed and the Bush administration placed a higher priority on promoting “financial innovation” and what President Bush has called the “ownership society.” “The Federal Reserve could have stopped this problem dead in its tracks,” said Martin Eakes, chief executive of the center (f...

Me, John Edwards, John Conyers and Dennis Kucinich All four agree that the way to a fair and universal health plan for America is to DO AWAY WITH FOR-PROFIT HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES. We don't want "socialized medicine" with the government running the health biz. We don't want health care to be "free." We want every penny to be paid by the recipients of the care, just on a progressive ability-to-pay, non-profit insurance basis. The House Bill (HR 676) that describes this approach is called "The New Medicare" or "Medicare for All." (If Edwards were still in the Senate, I betcha there would be a Senate Bill.) OK, great idea . Over some years, we gradually phase out the for-profit insurance companies, and transition to the Medicare-like system with tiny administrative costs comparatively. Nearly all the health care money goes to actual health care providers. What a concept! Inherent in this plan is an absolutely HUGE news story ...

YEA! Improved Meds for Fearless Travel Science News (One of my favorite magazines) reports that there is a patch now for greatly reducing your chances of getting bowel bombed on your next trip to a 2nd or 3rd world destination. In case you need reminding about how Vengeful Montezuma can really be, read this . My image of a really bad case Pix source If you are a subscriber to Science News , read this . (If you are not, become one. It's a great weekly that will make you scientifically literate overnight.) Since the announcement of this marvelous breakthrough came at " at a meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene" in Philadelphia, I reckon it's not really on the market yet, but start bugging your doctor and your pharmacist for your early adopter rights. Have a nice trip.

PICK ON THE LITTLE GUY (...Because there are no lobbyists for them - and they can't make huge politcal contributions. And Republicans have no regard for the little guy these days.) NOTE: Food stamps, perhaps the logo for the littlest guys, are dwindling just as the need is growing. Purchasing power for most salaried and hourly employees is flat or diminishing. Veterans (overwhelmingly "little guys") with PTSD are under-diagnosed and under treated. Veteran care in general is a mess. Private "contractor" soldiers get paid ten times as much as soldiers in our voluntary armed services. 40+ million Americans have no health insurance. Health care costs are hyper-inflating. Over a third of our health care dollars go to insurance companies' administration, executive salaries and shareholder profits. (Insurance companies have A LOT of lobbyists and make HUGE political contributions.) National Institutes of Health are losing federal funding. Plus the ...