Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders says he's running for president - Houston Chronicle

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders says he's running for president - Houston Chronicle 



Like me some Bernie Sanders, alot.



"...Sanders rejected the idea his appeal is limited to voters on the left,
boldly predicting Wednesday that his message would appeal to both fellow
independents and Republicans.

Sanders... "very specific proposals" to raise taxes on
wealthy Americans and corporations, as well as offer tuition-free
education at all public colleges and universities. He touched on his
past opposition to free-trade agreements, his support for heavier
regulations of Wall Street and the nation's banking industry, and his
vote against the Keystone XL oil pipeline as a preview of his campaign.

"So
to me, the question is whose views come closer to representing the vast
majority of working people in this country," Sanders said. "And you
know what? I think my views do."

....He
noted he has "never run a negative ad in my life," but still drew a
distinction with Clinton in the interview, promising to talk "very
strongly about the need not to get involved in perpetual warfare in the
Middle East."

"I voted against the war in Iraq," he said. "Secretary Clinton voted for it when she was in the Senate."

....Sanders said he will make
money and politics a central theme of his campaign, including a call for
a constitutional amendment to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010
Citizens United decision, which he blames for unleashing a torrent of
money from wealthy donors into politics.

"What you're looking at here is a real disgrace," he said. "It is an undermining of American democracy."

Colby Wishes You a Happy Earth Day

Happy Earth Day! Below is my Earth Day note, a kind of “I Wish People Knew” meme I’m sharing today. Please see below.  Inspired by a brilliant and inspirational Kyle Schwartz writing assignment for her students: “I Wish My Teacher Knew.” http://www.syracuse.com/us-news/index.ssf/2015/04/i_wish_my_teacher_knew_denver_student_notes.html  This breaks open some walls for insight, simple and elegant. 

I hope the world starts polluting less.

I hope we can start using less water in California.

I hope conservative Republicans who own coalfields and oilfields can somehow admit climate change is manmade and real.

A 97% consensus among climate scientists confirming this is a ridiculously high consensus in any scientific field.

I hope people stop eating as much meat.

One acre of Amazon rain forest is cleared every second for raising cattle. http://www.cowspiracy.com/ Digital download only $1 on or after Earth Day.

I hope the next-generation figures out clever ways to get CO2 out of the atmosphere.

I hope the next-generation figures out clever ways to re-forest land and desalinate water without using a lot of fossil fuels and energy.

I hope kids everywhere get to play and worship religion or not without the fear of being targeted and marginalized.

I wish all religions would teach peace and tolerance first.

I want to learn more about all the world's religions and find more about what I like about the human nature and our spirit in each of them.

I hope there's less violence in video games and TV in the future.

I don't watch a lot of violent TV and movies, and I haven't for a while.

I think it's better to provide constructive entertainment and hobbies for people and to be active rather than to be passive and voyeuristic of socially negative behavior.  http://colbyallerton.blogspot.com/2012/12/hollywood-responds-to-deadly-conn.html

I wish more people would mature out of being petty and juvenile (i.e., blog replies, etc.) in their responses rather than embracing what's possibly good when happening upon new information.

Gwyneth Paltrow trying to live on food stamps for a week has created a broader conversation and consideration about how difficult that is.

But many have chosen to ridicule her for hypocrisy.

Read this woman's story about food stamps and try not having compassion.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/simchafisher/2015/04/17/the-day-i-bought-steak-with-my-food-stamps/

I think the knee-jerk reaction of wanting to immediately denigrate things outside oneself is not constructive.

I wish people in California would watch my 2-minute water valve video to easily save water in their homes. http://colbyallerton.blogspot.com/2015/04/save-water-turn-down-supply-valves.html

I wish people would all consider an electric car next time they need to purchase a car.  

A Chevy Volt driven mostly in the city can get 160 miles to the gallon (being driven just on electric batteries most of the time, up to 40 miles a trip). Many days they never burn a drop of oil.

I wish it was state law that all new homes have solar panels included in their construction.

The Keystone pipeline could actually transport water from flooded areas in the Northeast and Canada saving millions of dollars and floods and insurance damage and bring that water to the drying south and the west.

I think and others think that bringing water into these areas that need it is more important then taking out extremely difficult to extract and destructive polluting fossil fuel reserves and trudging that across our country creating spills and more of a market for an obsolete power source. I wish many things.

I wish people knew some say clean energy is already winning. That it’s a battle against entrenched greed but that we can economically save the planet’s ecosystems (and hopefully coastal cities, and many/most species, etc.). http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-04-08/clean-energy-revolution-is-way-ahead-of-schedule

I wish it's a good day for most people on the earth.

And better days for them ahead.

Colby

Earth Day, Obama in the Everglades, Bipartisan Effort

"In a call with reporters, Earnest emphasized the history of bipartisan support for the Everglades, crediting Jeb Bush for investing in restoration as governor. But he also implied that you can’t care too deeply about the Everglades if you don’t care about climate."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/04/obama-everglades-trip-117219.html#ixzz3Y3Mno3g8

A Woman's Story About Making Ends Meet, Hard Times, and Food Stamps

Here Shame on those who vilify anyone on food stamps, or even the concept and program of food stamps itself. Humility and honor, and humor, in her blog post.

Major Profitable US Companies Paid No Taxes in 2014. Broken. Loophole. Bullshit.

   Here   "The revenues raised from eliminating corporate tax subsidies should not be given right back to corporations in the form of tax-rate reductions," the report says. "Instead, as the vast majority of Americans understand, these desperately needed revenues should be used to address our nation’s fiscal problems and to make critically needed public investments in our nation’s future."

"...Think that's an exaggeration? Look at a new report from Citizens for Tax Justice, a Washington, D.C. group. It finds that some of nation's most famous brands have paid remarkably little to the government over the last five years. In fact, many actually enjoyed a negative tax rate: They received a nice rebate check from the U.S. Treasury."

Trans Pacific Partnership is Bad Mojo, Secret Dealing Not Benefitting Public Good

 Here  "It is one thing to play your cards close to your chest during the early stages of a negotiation. Before the Trans-Pacific Partnership is final, however, the American people and Congress should have a chance to weigh in so that changes can be made if necessary. If, as has been suggested, secrecy is out of fear that the public would not like what is in the agreement, then perhaps the administration should reconsider whether this is a good agreement in the first place." 

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article18813207.html#storylink=cpy

I Wish My Teacher Knew meme, Bursts Open Compassion

Here The cynical will start 'I wish my boss knew' threads with bad jokes.
Many will feel the kids hearts and needs in these notes, and see how powerful this little assignment is in gaining insight into a child's psyche, needs and world. We should do this for grown-ups somehow too.
I LOVE THIS IDEA. Thank you teacher Schwartz.

How much food is minimum to feed a person? We could supply this

Here This tangential to the article attached. Gwyneth Paltrow is trying to live on 'food stamps,' or really the equivalent which is like $29 dollars a day. Lots or criticism of course, but does create more conversation about this. (1) It looks every hard and sad, especially with children to feed on this amount too! Heartless that people want to reduce food stamp allotments. In our wealthy country supporting billion dollar wars it is unconscionable that a modern country would let a sizable population of it's own citizens starve or nearly starve so we could make bigger tax cuts for the wealthy, etc. (2) How much food is necessary for each person, protein and carbs and hopefully some vegetables and even sugar? I'm sure this is available on the web, and my instinct is that we could supply this for the population of hungry on the planet, by re-prioritizing expenses etc.

Desalination Plant in San Diego

New York Times decent look, pros and cons. Big cons sucking in sea life and killing fish eggs and larvae, and depositing salt back into sea. Former tricky, latter less so. Terrible precedent to kill more sea life in their already threatened ecosystem and make the sea saltier if this scales up. And the energy required to fire these plants should be as clean and renewable as possible (by further greening of the grid; because if not thoroughly green this obviously would use more fossil fuel which would make things hotter, which would create more drought, etc. That would literally mean we've made earth's major ecosystems unsustainable for life, and have caused a cascade of artificial respiration that if disrupted could create mass extinction on an uninhabitable earth.)

American Exceptionalism?

Really? Fraught with inequality, greed, racism, and environmental destruction. This an eye-opening look at a country that needs to improve, badly.

Good brain food: Clean Energy Revolution Is Ahead of Schedule - Bloomberg View

Clean Energy Revolution Is Ahead of Schedule - Bloomberg View

Great short explanation of a Carbon Tax, please pass it others

Fee and Dividend 

Thank You Mr. President

Here

Just a Handful of Headlines and Links, One Day in April, 2015

PARTIAL list of EcoWatch's Daily Email:

How Hot Would It Get If We Burned All Our Fossil Fuels?

http://ecowatch.com/2015/04/09/burn-fossil-fuels-climate-change/?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=b2ff47caa7-Top_News_4_9_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-b2ff47caa7-85935149

The answer? "A stunning 16.2 degrees. So far, since the industrial revolution, the Earth has warmed by 1.7 degrees, already causing rising sea levels, heat waves, droughts and extreme weather events."

First Florida, Now Wisconsin, Bans the Words ‘Climate Change’

 This is Orwell's 1984. Really, striking words, even a critical scientifically-proven mechanism, from state language? This will be a shameful milestone in America's history, when people will look back and find some of the most narrow-brained idiots in modern history. 

http://ecowatch.com/2015/04/09/florida-wisconsin-ban-words-climate-change/?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=b2ff47caa7-Top_News_4_9_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-b2ff47caa7-85935149

Secret Videos Expose Chevron’s Corruption in Ecuadorian Oil Spill

Read about "...decades of contamination in the Ecuadorian Amazon." Oil companies, 'trust us, trust us (wink)." Haha, not.

 http://ecowatch.com/2015/04/09/chevron-whistleblower-leaks-videos/?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=b2ff47caa7-Top_News_4_9_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-b2ff47caa7-85935149

Dramatic Increases of Cancer-Causing Radon in PA Homes Linked to Fracking 

Does this need a caption, or comment?

I've already blogged about the short-sighted, thirsty, destructive, prolonging-our-obsolete-polluting fossil-fuel binge nastiness of fracking a good bit here

http://ecowatch.com/2015/04/09/radon-linked-to-fracking/?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=b2ff47caa7-Top_News_4_9_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-b2ff47caa7-85935149

Longish, Great NYT Article on the California Drought, Invoking the Popular Mythology of Unlimited Growth

Here

On California's 3-Year Drought, and Agriculture's Protected Thirst and Growth

Here Lots of protectionism here. Doesn't seem kosher that taxpayers subsidize water for Big Ag, and will need to take the hit on penalties at home and decreased use too. And what if it doesn't rain for awhile, the current rainfall is within the range of our new normal? Some changes and re-prioritizing need to be made, as per the article. Regulations and ground-water protection critical, immediately.

David Roberts on Franzen, from Grist

Here David Roberts provides memorable insight into and even compassion for a knucklehead -- Franzen, sort of a faux-eco defeatist, giving up on the climate to underscore his love of birds. What a tool.

Joe Romm's analysis and admonishment, and offering real facts in Think Progress, here

Colby Shows You One Easy Way to Save Water: Turn Down Supply Valves Under Counter

Trans_Pacific Partnership, TPP: It's SO Bad -- that even members of Congress are Shocked

It's SO Bad -- that even members of Congress are Shocked 

[...]

    Under the accord, still under negotiation but nearing completion, companies and investors would be empowered to challenge regulations, rules, government actions and court rulings -- federal, state or local -- before tribunals organized under the World Bank or the United Nations.

The WikiLeaks analysis explains that this lets firms "sue" governments to obtain taxpayer compensation for loss of "expected future profits."
Let that sink in for a moment: "[C]ompanies and investors would be
empowered to challenge regulations, rules, government actions and court
rulings -- federal, state or local -- before tribunals...." And they can
collect not just for lost property or seized assets; they can collect
if laws or regulations interfere with these giant companies' ability to
collect what they claim are "expected future profits."

[...]


The tribunals that adjudicate these cases will be made up of private-sector (i.e., corporate) attorneys. [...]

Sign the petition telling science museums to kick Koch off the board!

Sign the petition telling science museums to kick Koch off the board! 


"Oil mogul David Koch sits on the board of our nation’s largest and most
respected natural history museums, while he bankrolls groups that deny
climate science.



Sign this petition to the Smithsonian and the American Museum of
Natural History: It’s time to get science deniers out of science
museums. Kick Koch off the board!"



True. At the rate they're going, the Koch's will make nature history. Signed.

Water Conservation: Links on Ways to Conserve Water

Water Conservation: 25 ways to conserve water in the home and yard | Eartheasy.com 



http://wateruseitwisely.com/100-ways-to-conserve/



http://wateruseitwisely.com/5-easy-ways-save-water/



http://www.forbes.com/sites/houzz/2015/03/31/11-ways-to-save-water-at-home/

California drought: Gov. Jerry Brown issues water rules - CNN.com

California drought: Gov. Jerry Brown issues water rules - CNN.com 



Lowest California snowpack reading since they started the annual test over 50 years ago.



On the same day Antarctica got the hottest it's ever been recorded.



And we (1) spin detachedly, avoid, people lie, and the slow-motion catastrophe continues. While (2) some of us are plugging holes in the dyke, a few at a time, hoping (1) wake up and help.

Antarctica hits 63.5 degrees Fahrenheit as Mitch McConnell promises to sabotage global climate pact

Antarctica hits 63.5 degrees Fahrenheit as Mitch McConnell promises to sabotage global climate pact 



Headline says it all. But details in story at link.

Sign and send the petition: Did the Koch brothers use your name to oppose net neutrality? 

Sign and send the petition: Did the Koch brothers use your name to oppose net neutrality?

Sign the pledge: Don't buy these Koch products

Sign the pledge: Don't buy these Koch products



Avoid Angel Soft, Brawney, Quilted Northern, Lycra, Zee napkins,  and Dixie Cups. Don't support the Koch brothers.