From: Gregory Brown

From: Gregory Brown To: undisclosed-recipients:; Bcc: jeevac,[email protected] Subject: Greg Brown's Weekend Reading and Other Things.... 02/02/2014 Date: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 08:35:11 +0000 Attachments: Why_There's_No_Outcry_Robert_Reich_Huff Post_01_25_2014.docx; Working_on_Empty,America's_Workers_Are_Spending_Down_Savings_to_Survive_Huff Post_01_25_2014_Farai_Chideya_Huff Post_01_27_2014.docx; Hydrogen_cars_arrive_in_Washingtonr but are_we_ready_for them_JD_Harrison_TWP_02_27_2014.docx; the:Case_for Snooping_Fareed_Zakaria January_22,2014.docx; PETE_SEEGER_bio.docx; Absurd CEO_Arguments_Against_Laws_We_Take_For Granted_Huff Post+01_29_2014. docx; Tie_Opportunity_Coalition_David_Brooks_NYTJanuary_30„2014.docx; Advice_to_Plutocrat Perkins, Time to Shut Up Bill Moyers 01 31 2014.docx; Bill_Moyers_Essay, 30„2014.docx Inline-Images: image.png; image( I ).png; image(2).png; image(3).png; image(4).png; image(5).png; image(6).png; image(7).png; image(8).png DEAR FRIEND Peter "Pete" Seeger (May 3, 1919 - January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 19405, he also had a string of hit records during the early 195os as a member of the Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead Belly's "Goodnight, Irene", which topped the charts for 13 weeks in 1950. Members of the Weavers were blacklisted during the McCarthy Era. In the EFTA01141381 1960s, he re-emerged on the public scene as a prominent singer of protest music in support of international disarmament, civil rights, counterculture and environmental causes. As a songwriter, he was the author or co-author of "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" (with Joe Hickerson), "III Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)" (composed with Lee Hays of the Weavers), and "Turn, Turn, Turn!", which have been recorded by many artists both in and outside the folk revival movement and are still sung throughout the world. "Flowers" was a hit recording for the Kingston Trio (1962); Marlene Dietrich, who recorded it in English, German and French (1962); and Johnny Rivers (1965). "If I Had a Hammer" was a hit for Peter, Paul & Mary (1962) and Trini Lopez (1963), while the Byrds popularized "Turn, Turn, Turn!" in the mid-1960s, as did Judy Collins in 1964 and the Seekers in 1966. Seeger was one of the folksingers most responsible for popularizing the spiritual "We Shall Overcome" (also recorded by Joan Baez and many other singer-activists) that became the acknowledged anthem of the 196os American Civil Rights Movement, soon after folk singer and activist Guy Carawan introduced it at the founding meeting of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCO in 1960. In the PBS American Masters episode "Pete Seeger: The Power of Song", Seeger stated it was he who changed the lyric from the traditional "We will overcome" to the more singable "We shall overcome". Pete Seeger, the man considered to be one of the pioneers of contemporary folk music who inspired legions of activist singer-songwriters, died Monday. He was 94. Seeger's best known songs include "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)" and "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)." But his influence extended far beyond individual hits. His grandson Kitama Cahill Jackson told CNN that the singer died of natural causes at New York Presbyterian Hospital on Monday evening. Familiar with controversy: In a career spanning more than 70 years, Seeger frequently courted controversy. "He lived at a time when so many things hadn't been done yet, the idea of making music about something hadn't really been done,"Jackson (Seeger's grandson) said. "And now people do it all the time." Seeger's opinions didn't always sit well with authorities. "From the start, he aspired to use folk music to promote his left-wing political views, and in times of national turmoil that brought him into direct confrontation with the U.S. government, corporate interests, and people who did not share his beliefs," William Ruhlmann wrote in a biography on allmusic.com. "These conflicts shaped his career." In 2009, Seeger talked to CNN about the beginnings of his music career in the late 1930s. "I come from a family of teachers, and I was looking for a job on a newspaper and not getting one," he said in the interview. "I had an aunt who said, 'Peter, I can get five dollars for you if you come and sing some of your songs in my class.' Five dollars? In 1939, you would have to work all day or two days to make five dollars. It seemed like stealing." But Seeger said he took his aunt up on the offer. "Pretty soon I was playing school after school, and I never did work on a newspaper," he said "You don't have to play at nightclubs, you don't have to play on TV, just go from college to college to college, and the kids will sing along with you." EFTA01141382 Last days: Jackson, said the singer-songwriter had heart surgery in December to replace a valve, which had gone well and had nothing to do with his death. He said Seeger was in the hospital for six days before his death. He couldn't speak for the last three days, Jackson said, but his mind never went away and he continued to recognize people. "He was a second father to me, he was a friend, he was a best friend," Jackson said. "He was just this wonderful, genuine person." As someone who was touch by Pete Seeger's passion on behalf of needs, tolerance and acceptance of the common man when I first saw him perform at Thompson Square Park in East Greenwich Village in New York City when I was twelve years old, he left an indelible impression. Having finally met him in the late 196os, I remember going with friends to his home in Beacon, New York to find he was exactly what I could have ever hope for A real American original with no airs or pretentions with the heart of a lion who loved everyone and life itself. For this reason, in addition to being the musical guest in this week's offerings, I have also included a comprehensive biography which I urge everyone to both enjoy. One of the big uglies in America that it appears that we haven't learned from our mistakes and one of the latest examples was illuminated this week in The Huffington Post by journalist Farai Chideya in the article - Working on Empty: America's Workers Are Spending Down Savings to Survive — as a majority of people in the country are almost certainly be worse off financially than they were a decade ago. That's not allocating blame, just stating a fact. According to the Pew Research Center, in the first two years following the Great Recession, 93 percent of Americans lost net worth. Only 7 percent got wealthier. Forty-three percent of those sampled in a nationally-weighted survey recently commissioned believe this is a permanent trend. Using the online platform Survey Monkey, the author ran the 2500-respondent query as part of an ongoing book project charting how America's workers are faring, and what qualities allow people to succeed despite the daunting state of the job market. Among the sobering findings were that nearly 35% of respondents said they had spent retirement or personal savings to supplement their wages. Twenty percent relied only on personal savings; four percent on retirement savings, like an early withdrawal from an IRA or 401k, and eleven percent spent both. According to an analysis of data from the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Census Bureau by the firm Hello Wallet, in 2010, one in four Americans withdrew money from their retirement accounts. And the Transamerica Center For Retirement Studies found a third of un- or under-employed workers made early withdrawals. Even more arresting: 21 percent of those I surveyed agreed with the statement "In 2013, I borrowed money from friends or family specifically in order to pay household, medical or credit card bills." All of this adds up to some painful math: Americans, faced with stagnant wages despite pronounced gains in productivity, are spending against their future in order to live today. Here are some of the scenarios we'll see play out in the coming years: 1) Consumers Who Can't Buy (Much) America is a consumer economy, with up to 70 percent of GDP generated by spending and purchases. In 1955, the ratio of household debt to disposable income was 49 percent. By 2010, it had grown to 112 EFTA01141383 percent. In pushing to re-up the lapsed Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, affecting long-term unemployed, President Obama made two arguments -- a moral "there for the grace of God go I" plea, and a statement that money to the unemployed was immediately spent, not saved, thus aiding local businesses. Those politicians and analysts who disagree say that Americans must be willing to take lower paying jobs or relocate in order to find opportunity. That approach may work in some cases (though people who have already spent down their savings have little funds to relocate), but the case remains that jobless Americans and workers in transition cannot bolster a consumer economy. 2) Finance-Draining Retraining Job retraining is essential for many people seeking new employment. For those who return to college to reboot their career and incur educational debt, that debt (unlike credit cards) cannot be dissolved by bankruptcy. That means that some senior citizens are already finding their Social Security checks garnished to pay back educational institutions. If Social Security garnishing becomes widespread, you can bet the government may find itself having to negotiate a solution -- perhaps taking on the student loan defaults (and incurring more government debt) in order to protect seniors. In addition, as I have found during my reporting, many people are too proud to declare bankruptcy even in dire circumstances. Many spend down their retirement savings while looking for work, leaving themselves in a possible bind for their latter years. 3) Cobbled-Together Careers Twelve percent of the respondents agreed "I work multiple part-time jobs, but would prefer to work one full-time job." With the advent of the (still contentious) Affordable Care Act, people who don't have employer-provided insurance, Medicare or Medicaid can generally find healthcare. The cost and quality vary based on location. Part-time jobs generally offer far fewer benefits than full-time work, not only health insurance but retirement plans and greater job security. Working multiple part-time jobs also often requires additional outlays for costs like transportation, and financial savvy to account for fluctuations in income. Only 34 percent of people surveyed agree with the statement: "I believe I will have enough income (from savings, pension, or other sources) to live on comfortably during retirement." Yet Americans are still a resilient bunch. Half of Americans believe their peak earning years lie ahead of them. Half also say that they work not just for money, but for enjoyment or creativity. One question that lies ahead for America -- for the president, the Congress, business leaders and citizens -- is how to harness the creativity of the American workforce, and provide the tools eager citizens need to succeed in a volatile labor market. There is something wrong here and it urgently has to be addressed. One of the best way to address this would be an intense comprehensive country-wide jobs program. We have saved the Big Banks, Wall Street and the Big Three Automakers, then why aren't our politicians not aggressively pushing programs that would stimulate immediate jobs, and I don't mean tickle-down economics, because after more than three decades of trickle-down policies -- They Don't Work American workers need jobs and one of the easiest ways to creating these jobs would be investing in repairing the country's badly decaying infrastructure, which by the way can't be outsourced to India, China and Brazil. Because if we allow the current trend of Americans using the savings and retirement money to survive today, the problem will only become greater in the future. EFTA01141384 A friend came across this over the week end and thought that I (thus you) might enjoy it. Mark Twain is one of the country's favorite author/philosophers. Here are some of his comments on his seventieth birthday in 1905. Web sate: 1"StfAvvew.pbs.orgintarldwainAeammore/writings seventieth.html Well, if I made that joke, it is the best one I ever made, and it is in the prettiest language, too. I never can get quite to that height. But I appreciate that joke, and I shall remember it-and I shall use it when occasion requires. I have had a great many birthdays in my time. I remember the first one very well, and I always think of it with indignation; everything was so crude, unaesthetic, primeval. Nothing like this at all. No proper appreciative preparation made; nothing really ready. Now, for a person born with high and delicate instincts-why, even the cradle wasn't whitewashed-nothing ready at all. I hadn't any hair, I hadn't any teeth, I hadn't any clothes, I had to go to my first banquet just like that. Well, everybody came swarming in. It was the merest little bit of a village-hardly that, just a little hamlet, in the backwoods of Missouri, where nothing ever happened, and the people were all interested, and they all came; they looked me over to see if there was anything fresh in my line. Why, nothing ever happened in that village-I-why, I was the only thing that had really happened there for months and months and months; And although I say it myself that shouldn't, I came the nearest to being a real event that had happened in that village in more than two years. Well, those people came, they came with that curiosity which is so provincial, with that frankness which also is so provincial, and they examined me all around and gave their opinion. Nobody asked them, and I shouldn't have minded if anybody had paid me a compliment, but nobody did. Their opinions were all just green with prejudice, and I feel those opinions to this day. Well, I stood that as long as- well, you know I was born courteous and I stood it to the limit. I stood it an hour, and then the worm turned. I was the worm; it was my turn to turn, and I turned. I knew very well the strength of my position; I knew that I was the only spotlessly pure and innocent person in that whole town, and I came out and said so. And they could not say a word. It was EFTA01141385 so true, They blushed; they were embarrassed. Well that was the first after-dinner speech I ever made. I think it was after dinner. It's a long stretch between that first birthday speech and this one. That was my cradle-song, and this is my swan-song, I suppose. I am used to swan-songs; I have sung them several times. This is my seventieth birthday, and I wonder if you all rise to the size of that proposition, realizing all the significance of that phrase, seventieth birthday. The seventieth birthday! It is the time of life when you arrive at a new and awful dignity; when you may throw aside the decent reserves which have oppressed you for a generation and stand unafraid and unabashed upon your seven-terraced summit and look down and teach- unrebuked. You can tell the world how you got there. It is what they all do. You shall never get tired of telling by what delicate arts and deep moralities you climbed up to that great place. You will explain the process and dwell on the particulars with senile rapture. I have been anxious to explain my own system this long time, and now at last I have the right. I have achieved my seventy years in the usual way: by sticking strictly to a scheme of life which would kill anybody else. It sounds like an eraggeration, but that is really the common rule for attaining to old age. When we examine the programme of any of these garrulous old people we always find that the habits which have preserved them would have decayed us; that the way of life which enabled them to live upon the property of their heirs so long, as Mr. Choate says, would have put us out of commission ahead of time. I will offer here, as a sound maxim, this: That we can't reach old age by another man's road. I will now teach, offering my way of life to whomsoever desires to commit suicide by the scheme which has enabled me to beat the doctor and the hangman for seventy years. Some of the details may sound untrue, but they are not. I am not here to deceive; I am here to teach. We have no permanent habits until we are forty. Then they begin to harden, presently they petrify, then business begins. Since forty I have been regular about going to bed and getting up-and that is one of the main things. I have made it a rule to go to bed when there wasn't anybody left to sit up with; and I have made it a rule to get up when I had to. This has resulted in an unswerving regularity of irregularity. It has saved me sound, but it would injure another person. In the matter of diet-which is another main thing-I have been persistently strict in sticking to the things which didn't agree with me until one or the other of us got the best of it. Until lately I got the best of it myself. But last spring I stopped frolicking with mince-pie after midnight; up to then I had always believed it wasn't loaded. For thirty years I have taken coffee and bread at eight in the morning, EFTA01141386 and no bite nor sup until seven-thirty in the evening. Eleven hours. That is all right for me, and is wholesome, because I have never had a headache in my life, but headachy people would not reach seventy comfortably by that road, and they would be foolish to try it. And I wish to urge upon you this- which I think is wisdom-that if you find you can't make seventy by any but an uncomfortable road, don't you go. When they take off the Pullman and retire you to the rancid smoker, put on your things, count your checks, and get out at the first way station where there's a cemetery. I have made it a rule never to smoke more than one cigar at a time. I have no other restriction as regards smoking. I do not know just when I began to smoke, I only know that it was in my father's lifetime, and that I was discreet. He passed from this life early in 1847, when I was a shade past eleven; ever since then I have smoked publicly. As an example to others, and not that I care for moderation myself, it has always been my rule never to smoke when asleep, and never to refrain when awake. It is a good rule. I mean, for me; but some of you know quite well that it wouldn't answer for everybody that's trying to get to be seventy. I smoke in bed until I have to go to sleep; I wake up in the night, sometimes once, sometimes twice, sometimes three times, and I never waste any of these opportunities to smoke. This habit is so old and dear and precious to me that I would feel as you, sir, would feel if you should lose the only moral you've got-meaning the chairman-if you've got one: I am making no charges. I will grant, here, that I have stopped smoking now and then, for a few months at a time, but it was not on principle, it was only to show off; it was to pulverize those critics who said I was a slave to my habits and couldn't break my bonds. To-day it is all of sixty years since I began to smoke the limit. I have never bought cigars with life-belts around them. I early found that those were too expensive for me. I have always bought cheap cigars- reasonably cheap, at any rate. Sixty years ago they cost me four dollars a barrel, but my taste has improved, latterly, and I pay seven now. Six or seven. Seven, I think. Yes, it's seven. But that includes the barrel. I often have smoking-parties at my house; but the people that come have always just taken the pledge. I wonder why that is? As for drinking, I have no rule about that. When the others drink I like to help; otherwise I remain dry, by habit and preference. This dryness does not hurt me, but it could easily hurt you, because you are different. You let it alone. Since I was seven years old I have seldom taken a dose of medicine, and have still seldomer needed one. But up to seven I lived exclusively on allopathic medicines. Not that I needed them, for I don't think I did; it was for economy; my father took a drug-store for a debt, and it made cod-liver oil cheaper than the other breakfast foods. We had nine barrels of it, and it lasted me seven years. Then. I was weaned. The rest of the family had to get along with rhubarb and ipecac and such things, because I was the pet. I was the first Standard Oil Trust. I had it all. By the time the drug store was exhausted my health was established, and there has never been much the matter with, me since. But you know very well it would be foolish for the average child to start for seventy on that basis. It happened to be just the thing for me, but that was merely an accident; it couldn't happen again in a century. EFTA01141387 I have never taken any exercise, except sleeping and resting, and I never intend to take any. Exercise is loathsome. And it cannot be any benefit when you are tired; and I was always tired. But let another person try my way, and see where he will come out. I desire now to repeat and emphasize that maxim: We can't reach old age by another man's road. My habits protect my life, but they would assassinate you. I have lived a severely moral life. But it would be a mistake for other people to try that, or for me to recommend it. Very few would succeed: you have to have a perfectly colossal stock of morals; and you can't get them on a margin; you have to have the whole thing, and put them in your box. Morals are an acquirement-like music, like a foreign language, like piety, poker, paralysis-no man is born with them. I wasn't myself, I started poor. I hadn't a single moral. There is hardly a man in this house that is poorer than I was then. Yes, I started like that-the world before me, not a moral in the slot. Not even an insurance moral. I can remember the first one I ever got. I can remember the landscape, the weather, the-I can remember how everything looked. It was an old moral, an old second-hand moral, all out of repair, and didn't fit, anyway. But if you are careful with a thing like that, and keep it in a dry place, and save it for processions, and Chautauquas, and World's Fairs, and so on, and disinfect it now and then, and give it a fresh coat of whitewash once in a while, you will be surprised to see how well she will last and how long she will keep sweet, or at least inoffensive. When I got that mouldy old moral, she had stopped growing, because she hadn't any exercise; but I worked her hard, I worked her Sundays and all. Under this cultivation she waxed in might and stature beyond belief, and served me well and was my pride and joy for sixty-three years; then she got to associating with insurance presidents, and lost flesh and character, and was a sorrow to look at and no longer competent for business. She was a great loss to me. Yet not all loss. I sold her-ah, pathetic skeleton, as she was-I sold her to Leopold, the pirate King of Belgium; he sold her to our Metropolitan Museum, and it was very glad to get her, for without a rag on, she stands 57 feet long and i6 feet high, and they think she's a brontosaur. Well, she looks it. They believe it will take nineteen geological periods to breed her match. Morals are of inestimable value, for every man is born crammed with sin microbes, and the only thing that can extirpate these sin microbes is morals. Now you take a sterilized Christian-I mean, you take the sterilized Christian, for there's only one. Dear sir, I wish you wouldn't look at me like that. Threescore years and ten! It is the Scriptural statute of limitations. After that, you owe no active duties; for you the strenuous life is over. You are a time-expired man, to use Kipling's military phrase: You have served your term, well or less well, and you are mustered out. You are become an honorary member of the republic, you are emancipated, compulsions are not for you, not any bugle-call but "lights out." You pay the time-worn duty bills if you choose, or decline if you prefer-and without prejudice-for they are not legally collectable. EFTA01141388 The previous-engagement plea, which in forty years has cost you so many twinges, you can lay aside forever; on this side of the grave you will never need it again. If you shrink at the thought of night and winter, and the late home-coming from the banquet and the lights and the laughter through the deserted streets-a desolation which would not remind you now, as for a generation it did, that your friends are sleeping, and you must creep in a-tiptoe and not disturb them, but would only remind you that you need not tiptoe, you can never disturb them more-if you shrink at thought of these things, you need only reply, "Your invitation honors me, and pleases me because you still keep me in your remembrance", but I am seventy; seventy, and would nestle in the chimney-corner, and smoke my pipe, and read my book, and take my rest, wishing you well in all affection, and that when you in your return shall arrive at pier No. 70 you may step aboard your waiting ship with a reconciled spirit, and lay your course toward the sinking sun with a contented heart. There is a new manufactured Conservative controversy, centered on the fact that the Obama Administration recently ordered the US Vatican Embassy to move to a more secure building and the outcry has been so intense you would think that President Obama had ordered the recreation of the Sack of Rome. "A slap on the face on 78 million Catholics in the United States" one Congressman said. "Why would our President close our Embassy to the Vatican," tweeted Jeb Bush. "Hopefully, it is not retribution for Catholic organizations opposing Obamacare." This week in the New York Times Gail Collins wrote — The Luck of the Potato* — as the above political tweets go, this is a keeper on two counts. First, we can once again marvel a Republican politician's ability to insert the Affordable Care Act into everything. Secondly, we can mark the official end of the former governor of Florida is career as the safe, sane fallback option in 2016. But American Embassy: the State Department has been trying to move it into a compound that includes the American Embassy to Italy. This will save money and improve security. Instantly, certain parties detected a plot. Two former ambassadors to the Vatican, Ray Flynn (Clinton) and Jim Nicholson (Bush), pens a blistering iPad for The Wall Street Journal in which they call the move "a colossal mistake" that would squash the Holy See's separate identity. Diplomatically, they attributed more intense feelings to others, ("... many have seen the move as a deliberate slap at the Catholic Church and the Pope; some even detect veiled anti-Catholicism.') Fast-forward too many variations of the headline "Obama Insults Catholics." The State Department pointed out that the new quarters would be in an entirely different building, with an entirely different entrance then the Italian Embassy. And that was the new Embassy will not be in the Vatican, no there is the current one. Or that of any other country. The Vatican is only two-tenths of a square mile and more than half of that is gardens. "In fact, our new location is a tenth among closer," said Undersecretary of State Patrick Kennedy. "It's a clear the management of the importance of the Holy See post," said Nicholson. Cynics must wonder why we have an embassy for the second in the first place. The total population of 800 people, which is approximately one-eighth the seating capacity of Radio City Music Hall in New York. It has virtually none of the attributes you would find in an actual country. It doesn't even have a cuisine. But, obviously nobody is going to disrespect the Vatican Walpole Frances is around. He won the world's heart but quickly doing a few things that was so obvious, it's amazing no previous poniff EFTA01141389 figured them out. Such as: if you are going to talk about the poor all the time, you should try to avoid gold furniture. Without changing any of the church is reactionary rules on contraception, homosexuality or abortion, Francis change the tone just by saying that Catholics should stop obsessing about sex. Imagine what the nuns who ran the Catholic schools in the 19505/19605 would have thought about that theory. And instead of just pleading for great a charity to what the poor, Francis who created the world needed to drop the idea that when the rich got richer everybody eventually benefited. Trickle-down economics amounted to a "crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power." Ken Langone, the billionaire co-founder of Home Depot, call Cardinal Timothy Dolan that's a rich benefactors to be rebuilding project of St Patrick's Cathedral in New York might hesitate to cough up his promise multi-million dollar donation because of the Popes attitude. Cardinal Dolan said he assured Langone the wall of Pope love the poor, "he also loves rich people." Republican budget guru Representative Paul Ryan said the Pope's apparent lack of enthusiasm for the capitalistic system was due to an unfortunate upbringing. "The guy is from Argentina. They haven't had real capitalism in Argentina," he told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Even if Francis was down on capitalism, no capitalists wanted to sound down on Francis. Meanwhile, President Obama has spent the last 5 years dodging calls for new taxes I'm protecting the insurance industry from healthcare reform. Stocks have been at an all-time high, and Wall Street hates him. As Collins wrote, "The moral is: its way easier to be pope."As this latest manufactured controversy is just another cheap-shot to discredit the President. ****** Absurd CEO Arguments Against Laws We Take For Granted EFTA01141390 Child Labor Prohibitions Will Ruin Us 'The new child labor law making the willful employment of children under the age of fourteen years a misdemeanor.. will be fought both in and out of the courts by the glass manufacturers.. who claim the glass industry will be ruined by the measure." To Fight Child Labor Law: New Jersey's Statute Will Be Opposed Bitterly by Glass Manufacturers, August 10, 1903 Without Slavery We'd Have No Cotton 'The first and most obvious effect, would be to put an end to the cultivation of our great Southern staple... Imagine an extensive rice or cotton plantation cultivated by free laborers, who might perhaps strike for an increase of wages, at a season when the neglect of a few days would insure the destruction of the whole crop. Even if it were possible to procure laborers at all, what planter would venture to carry on his operations under such circumstances?" "Slavery in the Light of Social Ethics" by Chancelor Harper EFTA01141391 8 Hour Work Days Doom The Railroads 'The railroads have estimated that it would cost them $50,000,000 a year to give the members of the four brotherhoods the eight-hour day, and they are by no means assured that other workers, such as telegraphers and switchmen will not try to come in under its benefits, thus increasing the cost still further." Railroads United In General Attack On the 8-Hour Act, The New York Times, November 16. 1916 Social Security Will Kill American Prosperity "One employer tells me this law will increase his costs between to and 15 percent. If this is added to selling prices, what will it do to sales, and hence employment? If it is taken out of the labor fund, what will it do to the purchasing power of all who work for a living, and hence to national prosperity?" Social Security: Effect of Tax on Payrolls Viewed With Alarm, by Ellis, The New York Times, November 17, 1935 Ban On Cigarette Ads Is Silly! 'The Tobacco Advisory Committee, representing the manufacturers, called the ban unjustified and said it would not solve the question of smoking and health. A spokesman said that all cigarette advertising was brand advertising and that there was little or not evidence that this had increased the consumption of individual smokers." The Cigarette Companies Would Rather Fight Than Switch by Elizabeth 13. Drew, The New York Times, May 4, 1969 Cigarette Taxes Will Kill Small Business Owners "Re-enactment of the city's 1-cent-a-package tax on cigarettes will defeat its own purpose by driving thousands of small retailers out of business, the finance committee of the City Council was told yesterday at a public hearing." City Urged To Drop Its Cigarette Tax, The New York Times, June 16, 1939 EFTA01141392 Minimum Wage Laws Will Hurt Old People 'The first ill effect of raising the minimum wage to the standard of the average wage would be to cause the weak, slow, and the aged--and especially unskilled young women and girls--to fall by the wayside. These classes of workers are always a drain upon the employer, for the overhead charges of a factory are just as great whether the places be occupied by good, quick workers or poor, slow ones, therefore a smaller output of the latter causes a loss by raising the percentage of these overhead charges. An advance in wages... adds to this loss and forces the employer to discharge the sub-average, giving preference to strong workers who already earn the minimum." The Minimum Wage: Should Worthy Laborers Be Sacrificed to Establish It? by Marcus M. Marks, The New York Times, March 25, 1913 Seatbelts Laws Shouldn't Be Legislated 'The auto industry's Big Three told congress today that the public should be educated to use auto safety seat belts and not forced into it by legislation." Car Makers Oppose Law On Seat Belts, The New York Times, August 8, 1957 Bill Moyers and Michael Winship posted this week — Advice to Plutocrat Perkins: Time to Shut Up! — There's a rule of thumb in cyberspace etiquette known as Godwin's Law, named after Mike Godwin, the Internet lawyer and activist who first came up with it. A variation of that law boils down to this: He who first compares the other side to Nazis loses, and the conversation is at an end. Unless you're billionaire Tom Perkins, who seems dedicated to digging a deeper and deeper hole for himself. By now you're probably heard about Perkins' infamous letter to The Wall Street Journal (whose editorial page is the rich man's Pravda of class warfare) in which he wrote: EFTA01141393 "I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its 'one percent,' namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the 'rich...' This is a very dangerous drift in our American thinking. Kristallnacht was unthinkable in 193o; is its descendant progressive' radicalism unthinkable now?" It's astonishing how ignorant (not to mention crude and cruel) the very rich can be. Surely, one of his well-paid retainers could have reminded Mr. Perkins that Kristallnacht was the opening salvo in Hitler's extermination of the Jews, the "night of broken glass" in 1938 Germany and Austria when nearly a hundred Jews were murdered, 30,000 were sent to concentration camps, and synagogues and Jewish-owned business were looted and destroyed, many of them burned to the ground. If Perkins thought his puny point survived the outrageous exaggeration, he was sadly mistaken. Web site: http://youtu.be/VuxoS6tHEag Nonetheless, after a stunned world responded, venture capitalist Perkins went on Bloomberg TV to apologize for using the word "Kristallnacht" but not for the sentiment of his letter. "I don't regret the message at all," he said. "Any time the majority starts to demonize the minority, no matter what it is, it's wrong and dangerous and no good comes from it." Perkins also said that he has family "living in trailer parks," but bragged like some cackling James Bond villain that he owns "an (Li:plane that flies underwater" and a wristwatch that "could buy a six- pack of Rolexes." That watch, on prominent display during the Bloomberg interview, seems to be a Richard Mille, a charming little timepiece that can retail for more than $300,000. At that price, a watch shouldn't just tell you the time, it should allow you to travel through it, perhaps back to the Gilded Age or Versailles in 1789, just as the tumbrils rolled in. Here in the office, our $85 Timex and Seiko watches have crossed their hands over their faces in shame. The fact that this isn't a bigger outrage, is an outrage in itself. If Jessie Jackson, Reverend Wright, Hillary Clinton or President Obama had made similar statements they would be so demonized that Bora Bora or Antarctica wouldn't have been far enough way. And for this insensitive idiot who is a billionaire that flouts his "street creds" as having family living in trailer parks, he is an obvious example why trickle-down economics doesn't work. Especially when every homeboy's first dream after signing his first NBA contract or receiving his first residual check from his record company or corner drug dealer making his first major drug sale, the first thing that they do is buy their Mothers a new home and employ their family members and posse so that they too can make it out of the "trailer park." Hopefully Mr. Perkins will become the social and business piranha he deserves and exiled to the gulag of irrelevance. This is my Rant of The Week WEEK's READINGS EFTA01141394 With three years left on his second term in Tuesday's State of the Union speech president Obama signaled what he plans to focus on with the remaining his remaining time in office. In a strong State of the Union address the President delivered a center-left message without alienating the center-right of the country. He called on Congress to pass an extension of the long-term unemployment benefits, to raise the country's minimum wage, to do something about climate change when to stop endlessly ridiculous votes to kill the Affordable Care Act. He touted the need for equal-pay for women, saying it's time to do away with the workplace policies that he said belongs in a madman episode. While the cornerstone of the speech was strengthening the middle class and building ladders of opportunity for all Americans. He warned Congress that if they don't act he will take executive action in areas that he could. And when it comes to national security, he warned Congress and both parties to not obstruct diplomacy with Iran and that the country move off of "this permanent war footing" around the world I saw it as a strong message deliver by the President who is willing to do whatever he can, with or without Congress, to help the American people. It was a very American speech what a populist tone. I'm sure that they are people in the president's own party who will be disappointed with the modesty in the speech as it didn't include any grand bargains or major programs that the opposition could rally against, as 'overreaching' or 'expansion of Big Government'. No better example of Republican intense hatred of the President, is that prior to the address Rep. Randy Weber, R-Texas tweeted, "On floor of house waitin on 'Kommandant-In-Chef ... the Socialistic dictator who's been feeding US a line or is it A-Lying?" — from Republicans who immediately dismissed the speech as fluff, with one Congress person asking, "Where was the beef" While representatives of the Tea Party Movement characterized the President as the biggest disaster that has ever happened to the country. Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, the face of the national tea party Tuesday night, delivered the movement's response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech, pinning the widening wealth gap on the president's policies and touting the ideas of a new generation of leaders, including himself and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. There is gridlock in Washington, DC and it isn't because the President hasn't tried to reach across the aisle to Republicans in Congress and elsewhere. Conservatives conveniently forget/ignore that that, "when Obama first came into office, the head of the Senate Republicans said, my number one EFTA01141395 priority is making sure president Obama's a one-term president." There was never a sense of working together with the President among Conservative Republicans, as a horde of Republican leaders demanded a copy of the long-form of Obama's birth certificate as a way to delegitimize him as a credible candidate and then President. There is a universal belief in the Republican Party that they can run against Obamacare. But you have to ask why? Because where I come from if something is broken you try to fix it, not cheer for its failure. 2,Photo I understand that during his first term the President had to play his cards close to the vest to make sure that he wasn't marginalized like one-term Presidents, Jimmy Carter and Bush 41. But having achieved a number of major accomplishments from enacting the first new healthcare legislation in fifty years, reversing a 800,000 monthly job loss to 46 straight months of job growth and 8.2 million new private sector jobs, got the country out of the senseless Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, enacted policies that saved the American banking sector, Big Three Automakers, stopped the free-fall of the financial market with stocks doubling in the last four years, killed bin Laden, decimated Al Qaeda, turned around the housing crash, got rid of Qadaffi without puffing American boots on the ground, kept the country out of potential armed conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere to mention a few I understand that after five years of NO from Republicans in Congress, the President has decided to go- it-alone. Still this doesn't mean that he won't be able to achieve more, because there is a real possibility that a Comprehensive Immigration Bill can be signed, the minimum wage will be raised and the Affordable Healthcare Act become cemented, much like Medicare and Medicaid. And God forbid, with several more mass shootings, even the most starched supporters of the NRA might embrace some sort of gun- control reform. For me, President Obama knocked the ball out of the park with Tuesday's State of the Union speech. Not because it was one of his best, but because he artfully tacked to the middle (instead of presenting new tantalizing targets) for Republicans who believe that by denying him any victory they can marginalize him. President Obama Tuesday's State of the Union speech has put Republicans on noticed that if they continue to the Party of No, they will find that they themselves are marginalized. As Conservative columnist, David Brooks pointed out this week in an opt-ed in The New York Times -- The Opportunity Coalition -- instead of being the lame-duck that pundits are prophesizing, the President should use the next three years as a period of liberation uninhibited by the need to please donors, to cater to various Congressional constituencies and to play by Washington rules over the next few years he is free to think beyond legislation, beyond fund-raising, beyond the necessities of the day-to-day partisanship. He will have the platform and power of the presidency, but, especially after the midterms, fewer short-term political obligations. This means he will have the opportunity to build what he could have used over the past few years: An Opportunity Coalition. He'll have the chance to organize bipartisan groups of mayors, business leaders, legislators, activists and donors into permanent alliances and institutions that will formulate, lobby for, fund and promote opportunity and social mobility agendas for decades to come. President Obama began his career as an organizer. His mobility agenda floundered because the governing majority he needed to push it forward does not exist. He now has the chance to remedy that, to organize, to convene, to build, and to make life a lot easier for the next swimming in the race. EFTA01141396 One of the current biggest scandals plaguing the Obama Administration are the ongoing news reports in the international media revealing operational details about the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and its international partners' global surveillance of foreign nationals and U.S. citizens. The reports emanate from a cache of top secret documents leaked by ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden. In June 2013, the first of Snowden's documents were published simultaneously by The Washington Post and The Guardian, attracting considerable public attention. The disclosure continued throughout the entire year of 2013, and a significant portion of the full cache of the estimated 1.7 million documents was later obtained and published by many other media outlets worldwide, most notably The New York Times (USA), Der Spiegel (Germany), Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia), 0 Globo (Brazil), the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (Canada), Le Monde (France), L'espresso (Italy), NRC Handelsblad (the Netherlands), Dagbladet (Norway), El Pais (Spain), and Sveriges Television (Sweden). In summary, these media reports have shed light on the implications of several secret treaties signed by members of the UKUSA Agreement in their efforts to implement global surveillance. For example, Der Spiegel revealed how the German Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) transfers "massive amounts of intercepted data to the NSA", while Sveriges Television revealed that the Forsvarets radioanstalt (FRA) of Sweden is continuously providing the NSA with intercepted data gathered from telecom cables, under a secret treaty signed in 1954 for bilateral cooperation on surveillance. Other security and intelligence agencies involved in the practice of global surveillance include those in Australia (ASD), Britain (GCHQ), Canada (CSEC), Denmark (PET), France (DGSE), Germany (BND), Italy (RISE), the Netherlands (AIVD), Norway (N/S), Spain (CNI), Switzerland (VDB), as well as Israel (ISNU), which receives raw, unfiltered data of U.S. citizens that is shared by the NSA. The disclosure provided impetus for the creation of social movements against mass surveillance, such as Restore the Fourth, and actions like Stop Watching Us and The Day We Fight Back. Domestic spying programs in countries such as France, the UK, and India have also been exposed. On the legal front, the Electronic Frontier Foundation joined a coalition of diverse groups filing suit against the NSA. Several human rights organizations have urged the Obama administration not to prosecute, but protect, "whistleblower Snowden": Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Transparency International, and the Index on Censorship, inter alia. On June 14, 2013, United States prosecutors charged Edward Snowden with espionage and theft of government property. In late July 2013, he was granted asylum by the Russian government, contributing to a deterioration of Russia—United States relations. On August 6, 2013, President Obama made a public appearance on national television where he reassured Americans that "We don't have a domestic spying program" and "There is no spying on Americans". Towards the end of October 2013, the British Prime Minister David Cameron warned The Guardian not to publish any more leaks, or it will receive a DA-Notice. Currently, a criminal investigation of the disclosure is being undertaken by Britain's Metropolitan Police Service. In December 2013, The Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger said: "We have published I think 26 documents so far out of the 58,000 we've seen." The extent to which the media reports have responsibly informed the public is disputed. In January 2014 U.S. President Barack Obama said that "the sensational way in which these disclosures have come out has often shed more heat than light" and critics such as Sean Wilentz have noted that many of the Snowden documents released do not concern domestic surveillance. From 2001 to 2011, the NSA collected vast amounts of metadata records detailing the email and intemet usage of Americans via Stellar Wind, which was later terminated due to operational and resource constraints. It was subsequently replaced by newer surveillance programs such as EFTA01141397 ShellTrumpet, which "processed its one trillionth metadata record" by the end of December 2012. According to the Boundless Informant, over 97 billion pieces of intelligence were collected over a 3o-day period ending in March 2013. Out of all 97 billion sets of information, about 3 billion data sets originated from U.S. computer networks and around goo million metadata records were collected from German networks. Several weeks later, it was revealed that the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) of Germany transfers massive amounts of metadata records to the NSA. On June 11, 2013, The Guardian published a snapshot of the NSA's global map of electronic data collection for the month of March 2013. Known as the Boundless Informant, the program is used by the NSA to track the amount of data being analyzed over a specific period of time. The color scheme ranges from green (least subjected to surveillance) through yellow and orange to red (most surveillance). Outside the Middle East, only China, Germany, India, Kenya, and the United States are colored orange or yellow. Snowden has been variously called a hero, a whistleblower, a dissident, a traitor, and a patriot. Snowden's "sole motive" for leaking the documents was, in his words, "to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them." The disclosures have fueled debates over mass surveillance, government secrecy, and the balance between national security and information privacy. Seven months after the NSA revelations began, Snowden declared his mission accomplished, citing the international debate sparked by his leaks. A federal judge in December 2013 ruled that the government had "almost certainly" violated the US Constitution by collecting metadata on nearly every phone call within or to the United States. Ten days later, a different federal judge ruled the surveillance program was legal, raising the likelihood that the constitutionality of the program would ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court. In early 2014, numerous media outlets and politicians issued calls for leniency in the form of clemency, amnesty or pardon, while others called for him to be imprisoned. He is considered a fugitive by American authorities who have charged him with espionage and theft of government property. He lives in an undisclosed location in Russia and continues to seek permanent asylum. As recently as this week Snowden and his operatives (because I don't believe that he is acting alone) are still releasing sensitive documents to justify their claims that the NSA and its fellow cohorts around the world have abused the rights of citizens and leaders home and abroad, and calling attention to this abuse is their patriotic duty. I would almost believe it if he hadn't fled to Putin's Russia where government overreach is normal. Whatever your belief journalist Fareed Zakaria wrote an interesting article this week — The Case for Snooping — saying that although many liberal critics say that President Obama's speech on the NSA didn't go far enough, they are wrong. Obama's liberal critics say his speech on NSA didn't go far enough on intelligence reform. Why they're wrong. In his speech, Obama defended the essential structure of U.S. surveillance activities. He argued that the National Security Agency is not a rogue outfit that it plays by the rules and is staffed by patriotic men and women. But in an important admission, he also made clear that after 9/11, the NSA and American intelligence efforts in general went too far. Talting advantage of its unique technological capabilities, the U.S. government did whatever it could, rarely asking whether it should. The President proposed some new checks on decisions to collect data and new constraints on how it is stored and when it can be accessed. The speech annoyed liberals and conservatives suspicious of government overreach, but reaction from the left has been more anguished. Many voices have begun arguing that Edward Snowden's revelations show that U.S. intelligence operations have run amok and are illegal and unconstitutional and that Snowden deserves to be pardoned and treated like a hero. The factual basis for every one of EFTA01141398 these claims is weak. A large number of Snowden's revelations involve not domestic surveillance but foreign intelligence operations, a standard role for U.S. spy agencies. They show, for example, that the U.S. government is spying on the Taliban and Pakistan. They show that the NSA is spying on foreign leaders like Germany's Angela Merkel and top aides to Brazil's Dilma Rousseff. Now, you might regard some of these choices as wise and others as mistaken, but there is nothing unprecedented about countries spying on foreign leaders. Obama conceded too much when he promised not to eavesdrop on a host of them. Foreign governments will certainly not return the favor and stop what is often a relentless effort to spy on America's top officials and CEOs. There is a gaping hole in the left's understanding of U.S. intelligence work. The U.S.—its government, businesses and people — is under massive, sustained surveillance from and infiltration by criminals, terrorists and foreign governments. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff pointed out recently that since 2011, cyberattacks on America's critical infrastructure — chemical, electrical, water and transport systems — have risen seventeenfold. The National Nuclear Security Administration, which is responsible for the country's nuclear power plants, reported in 2012 that it faces to million cyberattacks every day — that's 3.65 billion in one year. Every major bank and corporation, from Bank of America to Goldman Sachs to the New York Times, faces almost continuous efforts from abroad to penetrate its networks, mine its data, disrupt its procedures and steal its secrets. The effects can range from disruption of transactions to systemic damage that feels more like a military invasion. It would be impossible to defend against these attacks without allowing intelligence agencies to spy on foreign governments and groups abroad. But it is also crucial that the NSA and others have some ability to enter into telecommunications systems at home to track cyberattacks, figure out where they come from and render them ineffective. Former Justice Department official Jack Goldsmith notes that the New York Times objects to foreign cyberattacks yet wants the NSA to shut down its surveillance at home. In fact, he writes in the New Republic, "To keep our computer and telecommunication networks secure, the government will eventually need to monitor and collect intelligence on those networks using techniques similar to ones the Times and many others find reprehensible when done for counterterrorism ends." We all live, bank, work and play in a new parallel world of computer identities, data and transactions. But we do not seem to realize that this enormous freedom of activity in the cyberworld, as in the real world, has to be defended. Just as the police need basic information about your life and activities, the government will need information about the cyberworld. As General Keith Alexander, the NSA's director, has pointed out, there is no way to defend these systems without getting into them in the first place. In "Federalist No. 51," father of the American Constitution James Madison wrote (along with Alexander Hamilton) that in setting up a government, "the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself." That is the balance we have to strike, in cyberspace as anywhere else. In a world where Google monitors your every search and then enables advertisers to target associated ads and aggregators from Peoplemart to zillow.com are compiling your information to either upsell you or sell to others -- to credit bureaus that aggregate and sell your information to anyone. -- to Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites trying to monetize your information. -- to store camera that follow shoppers throughout a mall. -- to advertising on digital signage that is directed to your specific profile we are being monitored every day by corporations that would make Big Brother's snooping look passive in comparison. We should know that every keystroke, posting, call, email or tweet is being monitored by some organization, private or public and to single out the NSA, misses the EFTA01141399 point that we are living in an age where technology has taken away privacy in ways that we never notice and we are just in the infancy of this paradigm. My father had a saying, "everything has a price" and the price for national safety is the intrusion on our privacy, and for the NSA to be affective it has to be ahead of the curve, which means aggressive. So for you who think that the President didn't go far enough, like Zakaria, I think that you are wrong especially when you are not the one who has to defend the charge that something should and could have been done to stop a terrorist attack. And if you don't think so Remember gin, The Arab Spring and Benghazi. Because dots can't be connected until information is accumulated, sometimes the shotgun approach is necessary. One of the greatest challenges in America is the ever growing inequality and one of country's greatest champions of the Middle Class trying to address this injustice is Robert Reich, American political economist, professor, author, and political commentator who served in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and was Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997. This week in The Huffington Post under the title - Why There's No Outcry - asking why don't we have a revolution in America, or at least a major wave of reform similar to that of the Progressive Era or the New Deal or the Great Society. Middle incomes are sinking, the ranks of the poor are swelling, almost all the economic gains are going to the top, and big money is corrupting our democracy. So why isn't there more of a ruckus? Web Link: http://www.youtube.com/watchN=9REdocfie3M The answer is complex, but three reasons stand out. First, the working class is paralyzed with fear it will lose the jobs and wages it already has. In earlier decades, the working class fomented reform. The labor movement led the charge for a minimum wage, 4o-hour workweek, unemployment insurance, and Social Security. No longer. Working people don't dare. The share of working-age Americans holding jobs is now lower than at any time in the last three decades and 76 percent of them are living paycheck to paycheck. No one has any job security. The last thing they want to do is make a fuss and risk losing the little they have. Besides, their major means of organizing themselves -- labor unions -- have been decimated. Four decades ago more than a third of private-sector workers were unionized. Now, fewer than 7 percent belong to a union. Second, students don't dare rock the boat. In prior decades students were a major force for social change. They played an active role in the Civil Rights movement, the Free Speech movement, and against the Vietnam War. But today's students don't want to make a ruckus. They're laden with debt. Since 1999, student debt has increased more than goo percent, yet the average starting salary for graduates has dropped to percent, adjusted for inflation. Student debts can't be cancelled in bankruptcy. A default brings penalties and ruins a credit rating. To make matters worse, the job market for new graduates remains lousy. Which is why record numbers are still living at home. Reformers and revolutionaries don't look forward to living with mom and dad or worrying about credit ratings and job recommendations. EFTA01141400 Third and finally, the American public has become so cynical about government that many no longer think reform is possible. When asked if they believe government will do the right thing most of the time, fewer than 20 percent of Americans agree. Fifty years ago, when that question was first asked on standard surveys, more than 75 percent agreed. It's hard to get people worked up to change society or even to change a few laws when they don't believe government can possibly work. You'd have to believe in a giant conspiracy to think this was all the doing of the forces in America most resistant to positive social change. It's possible. of course, that they intentionally cut jobs and wages so much as to cow average workers, buried students under so much debt they'd never take to the streets, and made most Americans so cynical about government they wouldn't even try to for change. But it's more likely they merely allowed all this to unfold, like a giant wet blanket over the outrage and indignation most Americans feel but don't express. Change is coming anyway. We cannot abide an ever-greater share of the nation's income and wealth going to the top while median household incomes continue too drop, one out of five of our children living in dire poverty, and big money taking over our democracy. At some point, working people, students, and the broad public will have had enough. They will reclaim our economy and our democracy. This has been the central lesson of American history. Reform is less risky than revolution, but the longer we wait the more likely it will be the latter. ****** The Biggest Stereotype Of Every State In America In 1 Map ;;;Embedded image permalink As someone who grew up loving maps, I found a wonderful map on The Huffington Post created by Amazing Maps stereotyping all 50 U.S. states with on word. Thanks to the Twitter account @AmazingMaps, we now have an idea of how the Internet stereotypes all 50 U.S. states. When a search phrase like "Why is Illinois so..." is typed into Google, the search engine autocompletes the sentence with the word that people most commonly write in the search bar next. In this way, Google autocomplete may reveal the deeply held assumptions the public holds about a state. In the case of Illinois, the result was "corrupt." Clearly, the Rod Blagojevich scandal clearly has made an impact. @AmazingMaps found the autocompleted phrases for all 5o states. Apart from Ohio, which was dubbed "important" presumably because of its influence as a swing state in presidential elections, and Oregon ("good') or Colorado ('fit"), it's hard to call any of these results a compliment. Nebraska is apparently "boring." Georgia is "backwards." Pennsylvania is "haunted." Rents in California, New York, Hawaii, New Hampshire and Alaska mo have people thinking those states are too "expensive." A good few (South Carolina, Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky and West Virginia) were autocompleted as "poor." With Sarah Palin as a former Governor of Alaska, "expensive" would not be the first word that would come to my mind and labeling Georgia as "backwards" shows that the map is flawed, at least when it comes to Georgia. ****** EFTA01141401 Mazda i-ELOOP Brake Energy Regeneration System Regenerative braking systems, which convert kinetic energy from a slowing car into electricity, are nothing new. However, until until now, they have been reserved for hybrid and electric vehicles. Now, Mazda has introduced the world's first regenerative braking system built for cars with a standard combustion engine, generating electricity that can be used for things like air conditioning and audio without burning extra fuel. If you use computer technology as comparison, the fact that automakers can claim with a straight face that a 3o miles per gallon car is fuel efficient is laughable if it wasn't so ridiculously sad. Think about it; an iPhone has more computing power than a top of the line IBM 360 main-frame computer (in a 700 square foot computer room) 45 years ago. So a fuel efficiency that has gone from 10 mpg to 30 mpg during the same period is beyond laughable. Using Intel co-founder Gordon E. Moore's maxim "Moore's Law" that the number of transistors on integrated circuits doubles approximately every two years. This prediction has proven to be accurate, in part because the law is now used in the semiconductor industry to guide long-term planning and to set targets for research and development. Today the capabilities of many digital electronic devices are strongly linked to Moore's law: processing speed, memory capacity, sensors and even the number and size of pixels in digital cameras. All of these are improving at roughly exponential rates as well. This exponential improvement has dramatically enhanced the impact of digital electronics in nearly every segment of the world economy. Moore's law describes a driving force of technological and social change in the late loth and early 21st centuries. The period is often quoted as 18 months because of Intel executive David House, who predicted that chip performance would double every 18 months (being a combination of the effect of more transistors and their being faster). The poster child for fuel efficiency today is Tesla Corporation and its battery operated electric cars, which are both sexy in addition to fuel efficient. With a EPA range of 265 miles on a single charge, acceleration of 0 to 6o in 5.4 seconds and a top speed of 125 mph both the Tesla Model S and Roadster EFTA01141402 are truly fuel efficient cars and a major breakthrough in fuel efficiency. Recognizing this and $4 a gallon prices, automakers around the world have jumped on the fuel efficiency bandwagon. Most fuel efficient cars rely on regenerative braking systems, which convert kinetic energy from a slowing car into electricity, are nothing new. However, until now, they have been reserved for hybrid and electric vehicles. Now, Mazda has introduced the world's first regenerative braking system built for cars with a standard combustion engine, generating electricity that can be used for things like air conditioning and audio without burning extra fuel. ■ 1-ELOOP System Components Variable voltage alternator Responding to voltage level charges in the capacitor. the alternator automatically vanes its voltage (between 12V and 25V) in order to smoothly transfer electricity to the capacitor. Electric Double Layer Capacitor r- 12-V battery An electncity storage device similar to a battery. but it does not involve a chemical reaction. ATypa Display 8 bard:AP a e Fe FT El Ir e )40 I i-ELOOP activation is indicated (on the Muni Information Display. MID). Energy flow in the i•ELOOP system is shown on the MID. indicabng the amount of regenerated energy and the charge remaining in the capacitor. Drivers tan choose between two visual displays. (Information displayed) 0 Amount of regenerated energy 0 Charge remaining in the capacitor DC/DC convertor 0 Energy flow (charge/discharge) Converts the voltage of electricity from the capacitor (max. 25V) to 12V in order to supply power to electric components. But the new potential breakthrough is hydrogen technology — a car that runs on hydrogen gas, spits nothing but water vapor out the tailpipe, and can take you from Washington to New York City on a single tank. But after a long and bumpy road from futuristic concept car to real-world production vehicle, the first mass-produced hydrogen-powered cars will hit dealerships this spring in the United States, and they are on display this year in auto show across the country. The key much like with electric cars and access to charging stations, is access to hydrogen refueling stations. Manufacturers such as Toyota, Honda and Hyundai — the latter of which will soon begin selling its first hydrogen-powered vehicle in parts of California where fueling stations already exist — say this new propulsion system tackles the age-old pollution problems of standard gasoline engines without many of the limitations that have held back the market for battery-powered and other alternative fuel vehicles. On board the vehicles, hydrogen and oxygen are combined in a fuel cell, causing a chemical reaction that yields electricity to power the car. The only other byproduct is water, which comes out the tailpipe as steam — so, no greenhouse gases, just like the plug-in hybrids and electric cars already on the road today. And while some processes used to extract hydrogen for fuel usage do emit greenhouse gases, research has shown that the overall "well-to-wheel" carbon footprint is lower for hydrogen-powered cars than for electric plug-ins and other alternative fuel vehicles. Meanwhile, filling up at a hydrogen pump takes a few minutes, compared to several hours for even the fastest of electric charging stations. And fuel cells can be scaled to power trucks and sport utility EFTA01141403 vehicles, whereas experts say it is currently difficult to stack enough batteries to power cars much larger than a sedan. Most importantly, though, hydrogen-powered cars can travel upwards of 3oo miles on one tank, giving consumers the same range they have grown accustomed to with gas engines. Conversely, the market for plug-ins continues to be limited by the fact that all but the most expensive models can travel no more than 100 miles on a full charge. Indeed, as the area's network of electric charging stations has become denser, electric vehicle sales in the Washington region have ticked up from around 150 last year to more than 600 in the past 11 months, according to data from the Washington Area New Auto Dealers Association. Still, that represents less than half of 1 percent of all cars sold in the region during that period. "Drivers want larger cars, especially here in the United States, and they want to be able to drive further without refueling,"Mike O'Brien, Hyundai's vice president of corporate and product planning, said in an interview. "So while we think there will always be a place for battery-powered electrics in our fleet, they'll always be supplemental vehicles, not ones that can displace combustion engines." With so many advantages to hydrogen, why are we so much further down the road on an electric charging network than we are on hydrogen fueling stations? It comes down to federal funding and the current administration's evolving stance on hydrogen. During his first few years in office, then- Energy Secretary Steven Chu openly questioned the viability of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, at one point stating that it would require several "miracles" to make that dream a reality, including better ways to produce and store hydrogen and more affordable fuel cells. Under his watch, the Energy Department cut by more than half its funding for fuel cell research, while at the same time pouring additional resources into cultivating an infrastructure of electric charging stations for plug-in vehicles. Not long afterward, Shell closed the only commercial hydrogen station in the District, located on Benning Road, along with another three pilots it had been built in New York. On the East Coast, it looked like the end of the road for hydrogen cars. Only three years later, though, Chu acknowledged that he had changed his mind about hydrogen, pointing to new techniques developed to extract hydrogen from natural gas as well as improvements and cost reductions in automotive technology. Toyota executives, for instance, say they have reduced the cost of hydrogen vehicles by 95 percent in the past decade, mostly by bringing down the size of the fuel cells and by finding new, less expensive materials with which to build the tanks. At that point, though, the United States had already fallen behind the likes of Japan, Germany, Sweden, South Korea and the United Kingdom, all of which have made considerable government investments in hydrogen infrastructure and already have dense refueling networks. Now in catch-up mode, and now under the watch of Obama's second-term Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, the United States has started to invest more money back into hydrogen. In May, the agency launched H2USA, a public-private collaboration between fuel suppliers, automakers, government agencies and clean technology groups to coordinate research and map out a plan for a hydrogen infrastructure. "It's not the kind of problem the federal government is going to solve on its own, or that state governments or the industry are going to solve on their own; it really needs a team effort," David Danielson, head of the department's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, said at the auto show last week. He added that H2USA members will put forth several recommendations for the agency and other stakeholders in the next few months. EFTA01141404 Moniz, said the department is taking a close look at steps that have been taken at the state level in California, where, sparked by public investments under former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and accelerated by legislation signed by Gov. Jerry Brown (D), a cluster of nine hydrogen stations have sprouted around Los Angeles. Over the next decade, the state will invest an additional $200 million to reach 100 stations by 2024. Money for the program comes from vehicle registration fees, meaning drivers are footing much of the bill for the infrastructure. Some private stakeholders, such as Toyota, which is planning on bringing its first hydrogen-powered car to the United States starting next year, have taken steps to speed up the process. The company partnered with the University of California, Irvine to fund research to determine how far apart to build hydrogen stations to make refueling practical for the largest number of potential buyers. If they want to sell the cars on the East Coast, some say carmakers will need to make those same investments here. "The first companies to sell a hydrogen fuel cell car are going to have to do some work like Nissan did with the Leaf," said Joe Taylor, training director at Ducats Automotive Group, a privately owned collection of more than 20 local dealerships. "That was the first mass-produced all- electric car, and before they did it, they worked with other groups to help build the start of an infrastructure and put charging stations in some of their dealerships." While automakers say they are willing to invest in research, they are unlikely to dive much further into the fuel production and gas station business, even if it means waiting longer for the infrastructure they need to start selling hydrogen cars in new markets. Who would have to step up? Instead, the onus will likely fall on existing hydrogen producers, technology firms and other investors. A small Connecticut-based company called SunHydro, for example, has started planting the first seeds in the Northeast, building its first hydrogen fueling station in central Connecticut in 2010 and recently starting construction on another just outside of Boston. Hydrogen is generated on site at both stations using energy from solar panels on the roof to electrolyze water. Purchased a few years ago by Tom Sullivan, who made his fortune with Toano, Va.-based hardwood flooring company Lumber Liquidators, SunHydro initially planned to build a chain of stations that would allow hydrogen cars to travel from Maine to Miami. However, Sullivan said he later realized that building a central hub of stations was a more practical path for hydrogen cars, and he hopes to start with a dense network around Boston. Once in place, if hydrogen cars start selling in the Northeast, the network would likely sprout satellite stations that he thinks would spread quickly to New York, and then down to Washington. In order for hydrogen cars to be a real option in this area, though, Sullivan estimates we would need at least a dozen stations in the region. And without cars to fill up at his existing pumps up north, he says there is little incentive to move forward, as each station costs a couple million dollars to build and needs roughly 100 vehicles locally to make it economically viable. "We need more cars to make it worthwhile, that's the bottom line," he said. Meanwhile, Hyundai, Toyota and Honda representatives all say they are eager to bring their cars to market on this side of the country — just as soon as they see hydrogen stations sprout on the East Coast. It leaves both sides at a stalemate, waiting for the other to jump first. Some are hoping that's where the H2USA partnership will step in with funding or other incentives to get the early stages of a fueling network off the ground. "In California, they provided a walking bridge across the river for investors during this period where there are not yet enough hydrogen cars on the road," O'Brien said. "It would be great to see that model expanded or duplicated at the state or federal level." EFTA01141405 When will this all happen? With a little more push from elected officials, carmakers and fuel producers say they could have hydrogen-powered vehicles rolling out of dealerships in this region in as little as three or four years. It's not going to happen overnight, but it will happen," Sullivan said. think, realistically, we are a few years away from seeing hydrogen-powered cars in this region." I would like to end this week's readings with the Bill Moyers Essay: When Congressmen Deny Climate Change and Evolution - The Republicans are either right out of the Dark Ages or they are so owned by special or religious interests that they are willing to deny that it is raining in the middle of a hurricane. No place is this any more evident with the issue of Climate Change. Every publishing climate scientist in the world agrees that global warming is man-made, as does every scientific body in the world that deals with climate change. There has been no debate about global warming and its terrible threat to humanity in the scientific world for years. And the solution, renewable energy, is just as clear. But for some reason the Republican are in total denial when it comes to science. To become a teacher, a doctor, or even to drive a car one has to pass test(s) for competency. Yet the Chairman of the Congressional Committee for Science, Space and Technology not only denies Climate Change but publically says that the Earth was created in six days six thousand years ago. Web Site: http://billmoyers.com/segmSers-essatongressmen-deny-climate-change-and-evolution/ PRINT TRANSCRIPT BILL MOYERS: The battle never ends. And the choices we make in democracy often pit religious or partisan beliefs against scientific evidence that contradicts them. And beliefs can be stubborn, hard to give up. They even determine which facts we choose to accept. Partisans, especially — and who among us is not sometimes a partisan — will twist the facts to fit their preconceived notions. So, when people do stupid things, journalists and politicians included, cherished beliefs are often driving them, sometimes right over the cliff. As people in recovery say, denial is not just the name of a river in Egypt. And that's what makes it dangerous. Right now, two powerful belief systems have converged to counter facts staring us right in the face. Just as the number of Americans who question the science of evolution has gone up, so too has the number who deny that global warming is happening, and that human activity is causing it. This, at a time when the global scientific community is more certain than ever that you and I, and everyone else, are helping to turn up the heat and seal our fate. And here's the scary political reality: on both fronts, evolution and climate change, radical right Republicans have made denial a litmus test. You can see it EFTA01141406 embodied in this man, Paul Broun, Republican congressman from Georgia, and a physician with strong religious beliefs: PAUL BROUN: I've come to understand that all that stuff I was taught about evolution, and embryology, and Big Bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of hell. And it's lies to try to keep me and all the folks who are taught that from understanding that they need a savior. You see there are a lot of scientific data that I found out as a scientist that actually show that this is really a young earth. I don't believe that the earth's but about 9,000 years old. I believe it was created in six days as we know them. That's what the Bible says. BILL MOYERS: And when he took on the science of global warming, his fellow Republicans in the House of Representatives enthusiastically applauded: PAUL BROUN on CSPAN: Now we hear all the time about global warming. Well, actually we've had a flat line temperatures globally for the last eight years. Scientists all over this world say that the idea of human-induced global climate change is one of the greatest hoaxes perpetrated out of the scientific community. It is a hoax. BILL MOYERS: Not true, simply not true. Up to a point, we might agree that Representative Broun's personal beliefs are his own business, even when he is telling the extremist John Birch Society that this entire concept of man-made global warming is a conspiracy to, and I'm quoting, "destroy America." But remember, this man is chairman of oversight and investigations for the Science, Space, and Technology Committee of the United States House of Representatives, passing judgment on public policy and science. God help us. My opinion is the "Duck Dynasty Wing" of the Republican Party has taken over the GOP, and they're not about to retreat in their war on science and common sense. Chad Brown Brown resigned his position as Polk County Republican Party of Iowa Co-Chair in August of 2013. Increasingly in Republican circles, activists, leaders and politicians are more interested in saying what the far right of the party wants to hear than doing anything to change "Grand Old Party". It has gotten to the point that activist, political leaders and politicians in the GOP are increasingly throwing around hateful slurs, offensive remarks and taking the most extreme positions to outdo each other to establish their conservative street creds. As a result, in the past two decades, the Republican Party has been the party of subtraction. When I was growing up in the 195os and 1960s, the GOP strived to become a big tent. It stood behind the ideals of Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Eisenhower because they stood for freedom and justice for all. As a result, professionals like my father, a black doctor, were proud to be Republican, working with the likes of Nelson Rockefeller, Jacob Javits, Kenneth Keating and later John V. Lindsey to make the country better for all Americans. For the past fifty years, Republicans appear to be hell bent to pushing a war on common sense. It is a party that now hates government, especially the Federal Government. Other than being hawkish in defense matters, GOP officeholders and candidates have been vocal about puffing measures in place that are harmful to education, ranging from shutting down the Department of Education to eliminating state funded early childhood education. If this were to happen, all children will be led on EFTA01141407 the path to mediocrity. The same is true for healthcare, the social safety net and immigration policies. Our families deserve better. The hateful rhetoric of Iowa's Rep. Steve King should be an embarrassment to the GOP, as his latest comments may have permanently damaged the party's standing with Latinos and fair-minded Iowans. Yet the leaders in the Iowa GOP refused to stand up to him, only offering bland disapproval. The GOP was founded on the ideas of expanding the rights and freedoms of Americans, but today it seems only interested in protecting the interests of rich, white men. Today, it is estimated that more than 97 percent of scientists have affirmed that climate change is a man-made problem, yet GOP leaders still claim it to be a hoax. While a majority of Americans believe that the country needs common sense gun regulations that will help protect children and adults from deranged gunmen, the GOP fights any and all new regulations. You would think that Republican leaders feel an obligation to make the United States a better place for all Americans. But more and more, they only believe this for white people or minorities that blindly support the white ruling class. GOP leaders across the country in pursuit of ideology purity have compromised any values that would make them a Big Tent Party, refusing to take a stand against the extremists in the party. How else can one explain that Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA), chairman of oversight and investigations for the Science, Space and Technology Committee of the US House of Representatives, who says evolution is a lie "straight from the pit of hell" and climate change, a hoax has not been castigated by the GOP leadership? THIS WEEK's QUOTE "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; ...who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." —Theodore Roosevelt BEST VIDEO OF THE WEEK Values We Learned Growing Up I can't believe we made it. Web Link: http://vimeo.corn/52231459 EFTA01141408 By: Bart Mitchum 1 year ago If you grew up in the 1950's through the i98o's this is a tribute to you making it to adulthood. This is for when you hear a 2O, a 3o, or even a 4o "something" sneer and say "old school" in a negative manner. Many of the great values and lessons learned from "old school" watch above linked video. WONDERFUL PERFORMANCE THIS IS A SCENE THAT WAS NOT SHOWN DURING THE OSCAR CEREMONIES. ABSOLUTELY SPECTACULAR! Web Link: hnp://wwwiwitvid.com/embed.php?guid=L558O8autoplay=0 THIS WEEK's MUSIC EFTA01141409 Pete Seeger, the man considered to be one of the pioneers of contemporary folk music who inspired legions of activist singer-songwriters died this week. Seeger's best known songs include "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)" and "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)." But his influence extended far beyond individual hits. In a career spanning more than 70 years, Seeger frequently courted controversy. "He lived at a time when so many things hadn't been done yet, the idea of making music about something hadn't really been done," Jackson (Seeger's grandson) said. "And now people do it all the time." Seeger's opinions didn't always sit well with authorities. "From the start, he aspired to use folk music to promote his left-wing political views, and in times of national turmoil that brought him into direct confrontation with the U.S. government, corporate interests, and people who did not share his beliefs," William Ruhlmann wrote in a biography on allmusic.com. 'These conflicts shaped his career." In 2009, Seeger talked to CNN about the beginnings of his music career in the late 1930s. "I come from a family of teachers, and I was looking for a job on a newspaper and not getting one," he said in the interview. "I had an aunt who said, 'Peter, I can get five dollars for you if you come and sing some of your songs in my class.' Five dollars? In 1939, you would have to work all day or two days to make five dollars. It seemed like stealing." But Seeger said he took his aunt up on the offer. "Pretty soon I was playing school after school, and I never did work on a newspaper," he said "You don't have to play at nightclubs, you don't have to play on TV, just go from college to college to college, and the kids will sing along with you." "He was a second father to me, he was a friend, he was a best friend,"Jackson (Seeger's grandson) said. "He was just this wonderful, genuine person." With this said I invite everyone to enjoy the music of one of America's national treasures, Mr. Pete Seeger Pete Seeger — Pete Seeger — Pete Seeger — Pete Seeger — Pete Seeger — Pete Seeger — Pete Seeger — Pete Seeger — Where Have All The Flowers Gone -- http://youtu.baffinu6ao If I Had A Hammer -- httpilyoutu.be/ujzKk 4WBsE Guantanamera http://youtu.behE.ItIcloyBzg Turn Turn Turn -- http://youtu.be/q7 .4mf7o This Land Is Your Land -- http://youtu.be/HE4Hok8TDgw Garden Song (Inch by inch) -- httmayoutu.be/w iltE2F7CM We Shall Overcome -- httpillyoutu.be/QhnPVP23rzo Forever Young -- http://youtu.beiEzyd4oloap Pete Seeger/Arlo Guthrie - You Gotta Walk That Lonesome Valley -- http://youtu.be/BcbqCssiBUe Pete Seeger, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee - Down by the Riverside -- http://youtu.be/IgeDUog5u E Pete Seeger - Michael Row The Boat Ashore -- httpillyoutu.be/pd 5-2kCzfs Pete Seeger & Johnny Cash — Worried Man Blues -- http://youtu.be/NliblIVJOnw Pete Seeger — Rye Whiskey -- httmavoutu.be/qFSAciEihWe EFTA01141410 Peter Seeger & Buffy Sainte-Marie — Cindy -- http://youtu.be/Y8 gmoliCUeE Pete Seeger & Donovan — Colours -- littp://youtu.be/LoG3FUZGeM Pete Seeger, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee — Rock Island Line -- http://youtu.be/6bSQKOGD8AU I hope that you have enjoyed this week's offering and wish you and yours a great week Sincerely, Greg Brown Gregory Brown Chairman & CEO GlobalCast Partners. LLC WIrk CIS.CO111 EFTA01141411