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NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation Proposes to Reduce Monitoring Toxic Emissions in Tonawanda NY
The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation is swearing on a stack of Bibles (aka the Biblically long 1537 page rdSGEIS Report, Sept 7, 2011) that they will assiduously monitor the waste water containing 500+ unhealthy chemicals, including cancer promoting benzene, formaldyhyde and radioactive compounds that will be generated by hydrofracking central upstate NY. Nary a malicious molecule will escape our regulatory attention -- they say -- because we will work our DEC inspectors - presently numbering about 4 -- harder than those poor folks in China continually standing on their feet working 72 hours a week assembling iPADs and iPhones bound for the Galleria Mall in Cheektowaga NY. And if they complain, we will show them a sign identical to the Applelarian sign continuously shown to those Chinese workers: " Work hard on the job today or work hard looking for a job tomorrow" (NY Times, Jan 25, 2012). We at the NYSDEC are great motivators, buy an iPAD.
In the face of NYSDEC's enthusiasm to closely monitor the upcoming voluminous toxic hydrofracking waste water, it comes as an immense surprise to the WNY Peace Center that the NYSDEC proposes to cease operations at 2 of its 4 air monitoring sites that keep a close eye on benzene wafting into the atmosphere from a source located in an area that includes -- among other man-made structures -- the Tonawanda Coke Corporation's towering sky-high, periodically belching smoke stacks in Tonawanda NY (and please note I did see one leafless tree in that general area yesterday).
Why?
Because New York State refuses to fairly tax the wealthy and/or collect the tax from the transfer of stock, every NYS agency is looking for pennies to save. It's foreclosed, asthmatic, benzene-harboring citizens don't understand that just those two types of taxation would reverse the entire effects of the 2007 stock market crash -- and then some. In this horrifically unfair taxation setting, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation is looking under every cushion of every chair for savings. What better way to save money than to stop monitoring the industrial environmental polluters in Western NY? Gosh -- the DEC officials reason -- NYS citizens will not have a very important source of information with which to sue our industrially-based campaign-contributing corporations and NYS could not levy punitive fines against our possible future industrial employers. Our bosses -- elected officials -- will grow their campaign coffers abundantly (http://www.cacwny.org/press/JDCrane.pdf), reward us with upscale political appointments and we can retire from the state working as consultants to the industrial industries we formerly regulated collecting our NYS pensions simultaneously! Go forth, stop monitoring the air and let toxic benzene and carbon tetrachloride pore out of profitable smoke stacks into the atmosphere overlying Western NY. Thank God, New York State doesn't require us to live near the industries we regulate...
Folks, please sign the petition to stop this nonsense: http://tinyurl.com/75uj25g
More info at the Clean Air Coalition of WNY: http://www.cacwny.org/
Comparing Petitions Against The Citizens United Supreme Court Decision
The Citizens United less-than-Supreme Court decision is now 2 years old...please sign some petition about this vital topic ... somewhere... but watch out. There are a number of petitions online and Comparative Petitionology is a necessary science, particularly on this issue.
I became curious because Senators Schumer (NY) and Bernie Sanders (VT) both have online petitions regarding Citizens United...why would a senator largely supported by retirees and a senator largely supported by banking interests agree on limiting the horrific effects of the Citizens United decision? The answer: they don't, and that's clear by comparing their petitions:
Senator Chuck Schumer, Dick Durban (ILL) and Jeff Merkley (OR) combined their thoughts and came up with the following statement for their petition:
I support the constitutional amendment to give Congress and states the authority to limit corporate and special interest money in our elections.
You can read Senator Schumer's petition at: http://tinyurl.com/cn95t99
Now compare Schumer's petition with Senator Sanders' petition:
a) Corporations are not persons with constitutional rights equal to real people.
b) Corporations are subject to regulation by the people.
c) Corporations may not make campaign contributions or any election expenditures.
d) Congress and states have the power to regulate campaign finances.
Senator Sander's petition: http://tinyurl.com/78uk7eq
And the 3rd petition comes from MoveToAmend.org:
We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, and move to amend our Constitution to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.
MoveToAmend's petition: http://tinyurl.com/8abmzla
It's clear that Senator Schumer et al do not want to limit Citizens United in any way because, as they well know, Congress and the States already have the authority to limit special interest money directed at campaigns...if they only used that authority to do so.
MoveToAmend's and Senator Sanders' petitions are very close to each other, but you may want to compare them for yourself and decide.
Why hasn't Senator Schumer simply supported either Senator Sanders' petition or MoveToAmend's petitions...instead of creating his own?
Which petition would you sign?
WNY Peace Center and Occupy Buffalo in Washington DC
On January 11, WNY Peace Center and Occupy Buffalo journeyed to Washington DC to participate in Witness Against Torture's "Hungering for Justice" vigil for the prisoners of Guantanamo Bay Prison.
"Ten Years is too Long"...
Please view a video produced and wonderfully edited by Occupy Buffalo Media documenting the vigil in Lafayette Park, opposite the White House. It starts off with an interview with Coordinating Board member Valerie Niederhoffer...views of Occupy Washington DC at Freedom Plaza and ends with a host of great speeches about Gitmo prison. Nicely done video! Thank you Occupy Buffalo!
http://www.occupybuffalo.org/2012/01/19/new-video
Please sign the ACLU's petition to close Guantanamo Bay Prison: https://secure.aclu.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=close_guantanamo
And while your at it, give a few bucks to Witness Against Torure: http://2012.witnesstorture.org/
They are the folks who spearheaded this wonderful event in Washington DC as they have for several years....
Guantanamo Bay Prison - 10 Years and Counting...
On January 11, twenty-two people from Occupy Buffalo and six from the WNY Peace Center journeyed in two vans to Washington DC to take part in Witness Against Torture's vigil in Lafayette Park, opposite the White House. We joined about 1,000 other vigilers. Mimicking the garb worn by the first Guantanamo Bay prisoners 10 years ago, approximately 200 people dressed in orange jumpsuits and black hoods -- with hands behind their backs -- walked from the White House towards the Supreme Court. Joining them were 800 others walking behind.
At both ends of the walk, many attorneys representing the unfortunate folks at Guantanamo Bay prison told sad tails of their unsuccessful attempts to gain freedom for their tortured clients.
The event brought attention to the fact that our prison in Guantanamo Bay has been holding people without charge for 10 years; that three prisoners died on January 9, 2006 following dryboarding - a controlled suffocation technique invoked by stuffing cloth down the throats of prisoners (the government claimed the 3 prisoners committed suicide simultaneously each using an identical method); that 171 detainees are still held at that prison, with 89 prisoners cleared for release by the military and intelligence communities (but still held prisoner by Congressional fiat); that the oldest prisoner is 86 and the youngest is 13; there were 6 detainee suicides in 10 years; that 771 prisoners have been held there since 2002 with 600 released during that time; that it costs us $800,000 per prisoner per year to hold them, 30 times the cost of state-side civilian prisons; that Obama has not released one prisoner in the past year; only 6 prisoners in 10 years have been convicted by military commissions and another 6 remain charged by military commissions awaiting trial; the remaining 165 prisoners still there are being held without charge (see ThinkProgress.org, Nov. 10, 2011).
Folks, if the original evidence was really that good 10 years ago, the prisoners would have been charged, tried, sentenced and released by now. Why are they being held now?
The quality of the evidence against the prisoners can be gleaned from the following: Lakhdar Boumediene was held 7 years, suspected of plotting to blow up the American embassy in Bosnia. Bosnia's highest court exonerated him years ago, but US military held him anyway. His case went to our Supreme Court who ruled in June 2008 that Lakhdar does indeed have access to our court system. In November 2008, moments before a federal judge was to hear the evidence -- including the secret evidence Boudieme has never heard -- the government abandoned its claim that Boumediene plotted to blow up our embassy. The judge ordered Lakhdar released. He now lives in France with his family (Jan 8, 2012 NY Times).
When lies become evidence, it's no wonder they need a separate legal system to hold these "terrorists". And with the National Defense Authorization Act recently signed into law on New Years Eve, the military -- if they arrest you -- gets to decide which legal system, if any, you are entitled to. As a result, we now risk having prisons run by the military within the U.S. sporting Guantanamo Bay style detention of US citizens, notwithstanding President Obama's signing statement.
But there is good news for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. In spite of being in legal limbo for 10 years, in spite of torture -- Gitmo prisoners are less likely to commit suicide than prisoners in the Erie County Holding Center in Buffalo NY. In the past 4 months, there have been 3 suicides at the Buffalo facility (Buffalo News, Dec. 28, 2011), and between 2005 and 2010 there were 7 suicides at that prison (ProPublica.org, March 2010; Buffalo News, Aug 1, 2010), for a total of 10 suicides over a 6 year period. Between 2002 and 2008 -- a period of 6 years -- there were only 4 publicly acknowledged suicides at Guantanamo Bay (Wikipedia; Google suicides Guantanamo Bay). While no Guantanamo Bay suicide information seems to be available for the past 3 years, current conditions at both prisons seem to be such that prisoners are 2.5 times less likely to commit suicide in Guantanamo Bay than in tropical Buffalo NY. Maybe it's yet another torturous effect of global warming...
The 22 Occupy Buffalo travelers are the real heroes in this trip. They traveled to Albany the day before to do some lobbying and journeyed back to Buffalo arriving 4 hours before the 2:30 AM start of the trip to Washington. Between the trips to Albany and Washington DC, these folks were on the go for 44 continuous hours. Please honor their commitment to social justice by attending one of their general assemblies, and thanking them.
Correction: In December 14, 2011 Weekly News, I stated Congresswoman Louise Slaughter voted for the National Defense Appropriations Act (NDAA). I was incorrect. Louise voted against it mentioning some of the issues I mention above. We should thank her for her vote. My apologies to Congresswoman Slaughter.
As I mentioned previously, Congresswoman Kathy Hochul and Congressman Brian Higgins did vote for the NDAA.
Peace,
Charley
Statement on the Debt-Ceiling Western New York Peace Center, Inc.
August 4, 2011Wayne Alt, Chair, WNY Peace Center Coordinating Board of Directors Charley Bowman, Interim Executive Director, WNY Peace Center
With 15 million Americans out of work (1) -- the highest number since the Bureau of Labor Statistics has kept records -- with another 10 million working part time looking for full time work (2), with state governments cutting 577,000 employees over the last 4 years (3), with wars in Afghanistan and Iraq whose annual costs are the equivalent of the total annual debt of all 50 states (4), with an average 60% annual increase in war spending since 2001 (5), with 11,000 teachers laid off in New York State in 2011 (6), with 36 librarians fired in 2010 from the Buffalo and Erie County Library System (7), with 5,000 people in the Buffalo NY metropolitan area earning their living as debt collectors (8), with 23% of U.S. children -- 17 million -- living in food-insecure households in 2008 (9), with 45.7 million Americans receiving SNAP/Food Stamps in May 2011 (10), with a record number -- 3.1 million -- millionaires in the U.S. owning a combined wealth of $11.6 trillion dollars (11), with tax rates for wealthy Americans at their lowest in 20 years (12), with Exxon-Mobil paying zero income tax on a profit of $19 billion (13), with Bank of America receiving a refund of $1.9 billion while making a profit of $4.4 billion (13), with "...major banks producing the major portions of their profits, not by lending, but by gambling in stock trades using taxpayer dollars" (14)........,
President Obama and Congress decided -- in effect -- there is not enough pain. We must give up government spending equivalent to $2.6 trillion over 10 years (15).
Their logic is: we must lay off millions of more workers in order to get our financial house in order. Equivalently, there will be cheaper U.S. labor, and a decreased standard of living.
All these cuts are unnecessary. The bulk of our debt problem arises from two sources: the Bush II tax cuts on the wealthy ($1.8 trillion) and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq ($1.5 trillion) (16).
This means there are two other ways to achieve our goal of cutting $2.5 trillion: 1. stop the wars and gain $1.5 trillion over 10 years and, 2. raise taxes on the wealthy --- to 1999 tax rates, and gain $1.8 trillion over 10 years.
Of course, if we placed a miniscule 2.3% tax on the combined wealth of those 3.1 million millionaires we could achieve the same goal in 10 years.
The WNY Peace Center supports the immediate ending of all wars and increasing tax rates on the wealthy to solve our debt problem. Let's put Americans back to work in peaceful jobs.
Sources
1. Figures for 2010: http://www.bls.gov/cps/
2. the real unemployment rate? 16.6%, by Mary Engel MSN Money. http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/learn-how-to-invest/The-real-unemployment-rate.aspx
3. State Budget Cuts in the New Fiscal Year are Unnecessarily Harmful, by Erica Williams, Michael Leachman, and Nicholas Johnson1, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, July 26, 2011. www.cbpp.org. 7-26-11sfp.pdf Page 4.
4. Compare Slide #4 at http://www.cbpp.org/slideshows/?fa=stateFiscalCrisis with Table 1 from http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33110.pdf; also see www.costofwar.com
5. The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11. by Amy Belasco, March 29, 2011. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33110.pdf
6. Teacher tenure proves bittersweet, by Sandra Tan, Buffalo News June 18, 2011
7. Book weeding, changes stir debate at Central Library, by Mark Sommer, Buffalo News, January 21, 2011.
8. Pay Up, by Jake Halpern, New Yorker, October 11, 2010.
9. How Improving Federal Nutrition Program Access and Quality Work Together to Reduce Hunger and Promote Healthy Eating. by Heather Hartline-Grafton, Federal Research and Action Center, February 2010. www.frac.org.
10. http://frac.org/reports-and-resources/snapfood-stamp-monthly-participation-data/
11. U.S. Has Record Number of Millionaires, by Robert Frank, Wall Street Journal's Wealth Report, June 22, 2011
12. http://www.cbpp.org/images/4-13-11TopTenTaxCharts4.jpg
13. Bernie Sanders on The Ten Worst Corporate Tax Avoiders: It's Time for Them to Pay up Buzz-Flash Blog. 03/27/2011 http://blog.buzzflash.com
14. Elizabeth Warren, interviewed by Art Levine, Elizabeth Warren Warns: Taxpayers Are Involuntary Investors" in "Shaky" Banks, Risk-Taking Firms'. www.truthout.org. November 25, 2009.
15. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities statement by Robert Greenstein. August 1, 2011.www.cbpp.org. 8-1-1-bud-stmt.pdf
16. How the Deficit Got This Big, by Teresa Tritch, NY Times, July 23, 2011. See the graphics.
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