Trees and Wealth

Tim DeChant, wrote in his blog that trees are a good indicator of income inequity in the country. This is from his post/research paper:

“[F]or every 1 percent increase in per capita income, demand for forest cover increased by 1.76 percent. But when income dropped by the same amount, demand decreased by 1.26 percent. That’s a pretty tight correlation. The researchers reason that wealthier cities can afford more trees, both on private and public property. The well-to-do can afford larger lots, which in turn can support more trees. On the public side, cities with larger tax bases can afford to plant and maintain more trees.”

He started Googling cities in the U.S. to prove his point. Here are some pics that prove his point.

West Oakland CA

Piedmont

Woodlawn

Hyde part

Bill Moyers blog said this of his research:

De Chant points out that the differences weren’t as stark in U.S. cities with tree programs in place, such as New York City which is working to double its number of trees to 1 million in ten years. Chicago has planted over 600,000 in the last 20 years (although De Chant notes that number may include replacement trees) and London is planting 20,000 new trees for the Olympics.

Bloviating Ignoramuses

In my home town there was a fella named Bloviating Ignoramus. We just called him Blo or The Ignoramus. Now Blo owned, along with the banks a good deal of the high end real estate around town. He cut a dashing figure about town, a big guy frequently seen at The Ignoramus Golf Course talking and talking and talking. He was distinguished looking if a bit odd. He was totally bald except for one hair that was approximately 300 feet long that he coiled around his head and fixed it in place with super glue. He married well and often. He was a outstanding athlete in his own mind. The Ignoramus even hosted a TV show on the local cable channel called, “Up Your Nose with a Rubber Hose

Blo liked to walk around town yelling at people “You’re tired!” At least that is what we thought he was saying; but then a lot of things The Ignoramus said, didn’t make much sense. Blo didn’t attend any church, he figured self worship was enough spiritual enrichment for himself.

The leading local conservative, Willy George, didn’t like Blo messing around in people’s business and expressing silly things so he call him a Tone Deaf Trumpeter Swan. The Ignoramus will likely sue him; he likes to sue people. This particular piece of acrimony followed Blo calling the town mayor an alien from outer space and a commie. Despite knowing the mayors earthling parents, The Ignoramus likes to say this every now and then; it used to be funny.

The Ignoramus also likes to gather all the pretty girls in town and rate them. One pretty piece of pulchritude said he had unfair raters and quit in a huff. The Ignoramus is suing her too.

Rumor has it that soon he will be suing the author of this blog and all who read it. So, be forewarned.

Thoughts of a Pacifist

Since the Vietnam conflict I have described myself as a pacifist. To clarify, a pacifist as I understand it is one who uses the minimum amount of force necessary to maintain order. They are folk who are for the most part against violence. The term was coined by a Frenchman, Emile Arnaud and adopted by peace activists at the 10^th annual Peace Congress in 1901. But obviously the concept goes back earlier than that to Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) and Jesus and others. In this era we think of Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

With that said, I have compiled a list of people who should be summarily shot. Following is such a list, though it is growing daily, these are folk on my list: All those Freshman congressman who signed the pledge never to cooperate with anyone else, and though I am reluctant to add him, John Boehner, Speaker of the House who refuses to use the term “compromise.” Another group which I will not name individually, because I do not know their names is the upper 1/10^th of the upper 1/10^th because they know nothing about sharing (I realize this will do little good because they way they have manipulated the laws of the country their funds will just be passed to the heirs with little taxing.) Along with these would be all the Plutocrats they have created to develop a country of inequity distribution of money.

Next on my lists are the hate mongers such as Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Ann Coulter; hell, just toss in the entire FOX network. They do nothing constructive but contribute to the “Winners take All” movement. Along with them I would include the boneheads who keep bringing up President Obama’s birth certificate; the last being an April 1^st hoax that some dodos took seriously. (Does a comb-over conceal an empty cranium?)

I could make the case of doing away with all stupid people, especially when it comes to politics and religion who have no sense of history, no concept of political science, no understanding of macroeconomics and in essence make their belief statements based upon family tradition or using the mental process of “Fords are better than Chevys”, “John Deeres are better than (insert another tractor company of your choice; they keep changing too fast for me to keep up) and who essentially treat government like a spectator sport where you must cheer wildly and frantically, and even violently over a silly game of some sort, which has no significant meaning at all in terms of the good of society. The danger here I realize is defining who is dumb and perhaps finding myself in someone else’s definition of such.

Now I admit the inherent contradictions in the following, but I would include all those for capital punishment. This is an idea that has no helpful value at reducing crime, has taken the lives of many innocent people, and keeps alive the idea of revenge versus compassion and justice and leaves people stuck in grief. I can live with the paradox.

I also must include all those wild-eyed conservative Christian extremists who have become the Pharisees of today that Jesus condemned. Quit quoting scripture out of context and try to understand the story.

So, how can a pacifist hold such a contradictory position? Well, I figure I am already guilty of killing folk anyway, since I belong to a society that uses war for poor reasons, and uses capital punishment. Therefore I am already guilty of the crime of killing as a citizen of that society,  so, I might as well get some benefit from it.

I could go on with my lists of who should be summarily killed for being who they are, but then some dimwit might think I’m serious about this bullpucky. Everything I actually believe in runs counter to such thinking, but living in my world to turning the other cheek, doing good to those who do badly to you, returning no one evil for evil, walking the second mile, loving your neighbor as yourself…is a lonely road. So, occasionally I think of joining the majority but my counter-culture roots remain just too deep.

Good luck with your thinking in society that seems hell-bent for dumbing down.

Now as for the list of those who I think should be institutionalized so they cannot be a danger to society…

Labor Pains

I am one of those fortunate persons who produces a great abundance of kidney stones; two of the three varieties. There is the debate which is the greater pain, passing a kidney stone or giving birth. Since I can only speak to one of these experiences I’ll refrain from an opinion. Though I can identify with how Carol Burnett once described giving birth by analogy. First she said “imagine pulling your lip up and over your nose.” After a moment to consider how painful that would be, she continued, “Now imagine pulling you lip over your entire head.” Yeah, I get it.

Now to the labor pains in this country or perhaps the pain of a lack of labor pains, if you perceive labor unions as a pain.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that in the U.S.A. the percent of wage and salary workers who were union members was 11.9% or 14.8 million members. Union membership has been declining in this country since 1954.

Now let’s take a gander and unions in the world.

Rank	Countries	Amount
# 1	Sweden:	82%
= 2	Finland:	76%
= 2	Denmark:	76%
# 4	Norway:	57%
# 5	Belgium:	53%
# 6	Ireland:	45%
# 7	Austria:	37%
# 8	Italy:	35%
# 9	Canada:	30%
# 10	United Kingdom:	29%
# 11	Germany:	26%
= 12	Netherlands:	25%
= 12	Australia:	25%
= 14	Japan:	22%
= 14	New Zealand:	22%
= 14	Switzerland:	22%
# 17	United States:	13%
# 18	France:	9%
	Weighted average:	38.0%

DEFINITION: Union members as % of all employees. Figures are for 2000.

SOURCE: Figures are from the OECD. The figures are from EIRO for France, Ireland and Italy

Now you can draw your own conclusions about these numbers but it appears to me that countries with high unionization have better equitable income distribution than those with low numbers. Check out this Wikipedia reference.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equality

If you can find good resources on this subject let me know.

Well, Bowel Me Over!

This is a crappy story, yet a worthy movement with which to be involved despite the doodoo and all that crap.

Now to the point ~ more people in the world have access to cell phones than to decent toilets. NPR reports 2.6 billion people lack clean facilities which leads to diarrhea which is the 2^nd leading cause of death of children under 5. Bill and Melinda Gates are involved with the World Toilet Association. Recently there was a gathering in Seattle where the Gates Foundation presented a video, followed by journalist Rose George, author of the Big Necessity said, “Let’s talk poop.”

As bizarre as all this sounds it is a very significant problem for the world.

It also reflects the way I feel about the recent recall vote in Wisconsin; a crappy result, but so much for my sour grapes. I guess if you are full of it, money in this case, and can outspend the opposition 8 to 1 you can do well. I’m more concerned about what this means for the future.

Our plutocracy is flourishing at the expense of our democracy. It used to be that unions could keep the ultra wealthy in check, but with unions pretty much busted, thanks in part to our governor, that part of checks and balances is gone. But even if union had more that 12% of the population in membership, it still would be a spending war and that is of little benefit to anyone aside from the media. We need to find some way of being able to cap campaign spending, but as long as it is working for the moneyed folk there seems little hope of change.

Crap!

Big Glup vs. Being Green

George Will, my favorite conservative, attacked N.Y. Mayor Bloomberg for limiting the size of soda drinks linking it to environmental issues of the liberal heavy handedness over private behavior. Bad Bloomberg whose action will likely have the impact of a gnat attack a BP oil rig.

But I could not help myself from thinking, in that light, does the rich have the right to destroy the planet to gain short term profits for themselves?

I fail to understand the conservatives’ apparent aversion to stewardship of the earth; it would seem in would be in character to promote such a cause. But then there is the money part.

Michael Winship writing in Bill Moyer’s blog noted that last week the Associated press reported a ”troubling new milestone.” It seems that carbon dioxide which is a heat trapping gas which leads to global warming has reached 400 parts per million in the Arctic. Scientists believe it has not been at that level in 800,000 years. Or, we are in real trouble mainly because of the burning of fossil fuels: coal and oil.

While this is going on Republicans in the House oppose the military seeking alternative fuels if they are more expensive that fossil fuels. Why is that? For one thing oil and gas interests have donated 88% of the political contributions to Republicans; $18 million apparently buys a good deal of influence.

Now we have all seen those seemingly altruistic advertisements on TV by ExxonMobil, GE, ConocoPhillips, BP and the like bragging about how good they are in seeking good things for the public, but they spend their money supporting anti-climate action lawmakers. The real bonehead law recently was by the North Carolina legislature writing a law that would require sea level estimate to be based on historical data only to avoid the likelihood of the sea rising about a meter by the end of the century.

Frankly I’m quite surprised that someone has not proposed fracking sites along the San Andreas Fault line. Think of the money that could be made when California falls into the ocean and the new coast would be ripe for building. So a few million would have to die, it would be good business for the wealthy wouldn’t it?

Romney gets it as he condemns Obama’s green-energy program using false and twisting facts. See  http://factcheck.org/2012/06/romneys-solar-flareout/                            It’s about the economy isn’t it?

A Puzzle Wrapped in Riddle wrapped in a Mystery

The title of this piece is how one of the authors of a new book Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer – And Turned It’s Back on the Middle Class describes their magnificent work about how the incomes between the majority of our citizens and the richest of the rich reached that point. Most of us know the numbers by now that the top 1% of the top 1% in this country have half the wealth of this country. Also these ultra rich are pretty much in control of the government which many now call a plutocracy rather than a democracy.

The authors, Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson (Hacker is a professor of political science at Yale and Pierson is also a professor of political science at the University of California, Berkley) talk about how foreign trade, financial globalization, changes in technology in the workplace, and the highly educated at the top, which are usually blamed for our inequitable situation are not the real culprits in the saga, rather it is American winner-take-all politics that has created this winner-take-all economy.

They go back to the 1970’s when a Democratic president and congress (Lyndon B. Johnson) made major changes that transformed politics. It really takes off under the Reagan administration when big business and conservative ideologues deregulated all they could, cut taxes for the rich and labor unions were defeated as major players in politics. It continued under Bushes as well as Clinton. It comes to a head during the Obama administration.

In essence winner-take-all politics shows how the political system has been hijacked by the rich at the expense of the middle class. They also theorize how democracy might be rebuild to serve the interests of the many rather than the few.

This is not a quick read as I have discovered but a very worthwhile and important book in understanding what has happened in our country. The Christian Science Monitor poses the question while reviewing the book as to how Republicans and Democrats are behaving like Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq.

Their numbers can be mind numbing such as 2009, a good year for Wall Street when the 38 top firms earned 140 billion. Goldman Sacks paid its minions $600,000 per person.

I encourage you to read and you will find reviews all over the internet. You can even listen to the authors themselves on YouTube and the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=547d2Ge_j2o