Month: January 2015

One phrase, being uttered by Republican campaigners for public office can be wholeheartedly supported on both sides of the aisle: “grow the economy.” It is a phrase you are likely to hear over and over from Republican candidates. However, based on experience of the past six years, it would be nice if at least one candidate would tell us just what they propose to do to accomplish it.

With all of the fussing and fighting about the Keystone XL, it is remarkable how little has been said about the environmental risk involved. When the issue is raised, the proponents of the project point to the millions of miles of pipeline already in use in America and the number of years they have been operating. You will notice they do not add the words: “without incident.” Google “oil pipeline leaks”, and be ready for a lot of information. But you will probably not hear about the recent pipeline leak into the Yellowstone River, nor a status report on the Kalamazoo River leak, an old one that demonstrated the additional difficulty of trying to clean up tar sands oil in particular, which, being heavier than clear sweet crude, sinks to the bottom of the river. Do you think a reporter who dared to research and write a comprehensive report on this subject would have very good job security in today’s corporate –controlled media?

Headline, main news section, Santa Cruz Sentinel, January 14, 2015 : “ GOP presses attack on Obama agenda”. Wouldn’t you think, after years of doing absolutely nothing except attacking Obama’s agenda, and seeing nothing constructive come of it, and now with the world watching, couldn’t Republicans come up with some kind of a plan to address the country’s ills?

Those of you who thought something might change as a result of the 2014 elections can now disabuse yourselves of that notion. The last six years have seen all the blame for all the world’s troubles laid squarely at the feet of Pres. Obama. Now that he is no longer running for office, shouldn’t the opposition’s barbs be aimed elsewhere? You might think so, but the leading opposition candidate just stated otherwise. According to Mitt Romney, just about everything wrong in the US (and the world, for that matter) were caused by the policies of “this president”. Not a word about relentless obstruction, or the campaign to hate Obama, or a Congress that simply refused to govern.