“In 1969, Fred Rogers appeared before the US Senate Subcommittee on Communications. His goal was to challenge proposed cuts in funding for PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.” Drastic cuts are once again being proposed by our current Congress. Please click here to help keep the exceptionally valuable resources of Public Broadcasting alive and well for the benefit of current and future generations.
In his last post Dave noted that the real reason for events in Egypt and elsewhere in the Maghreb and eastward was finite resources. That is extremely true AND if you couple that with the increasing influence of derivative speculation by those that don’t give a hoot about social cohesion AND the declining benefit to cost ratio associated with agricultural related biotechnology you have a Terrible Trio that needs to be addressed via long-term stewardship of biomass and the planet’s limited biogeochemically available elements such as phosphorus. Read the rest of this entry »
Look! Up in the sky! It’s the economic downturn! No, it’s Israel! No, it’s Islamism! No, it’s Facebook! No, it’s a lack of education! Wait… what the hell is it? What’s behind all of this crazy unrest in the Middle East? Read the rest of this entry »
So President Obama released his much anticipated budget today and I took a couple of minutes to analyze the numbers to find the winners and losers. The results will surprise those on the right and left alike (See Figure Below).
The big winners are:
1. the Natural Resource Conservation Service with respective 2011-2012 and 2010-2012 budget increases of 123% and 167%.
2. the Department of Energy with a 2010-2012 increase of 134%.
3. the Department of Transportation with 2011-2012 and 2010-2012 increases of 113% and 115%
4. a recipient near and dear to natural/environmental scientists hearts the National Science Foundation (NSF) with a 2010-2012 of 118%.
True many of these recipients could be considered liberal or dare I say the word “scientific” causes, but the fact is that there are many progressive recipients on The Big Losers list below.
The Big Losers:
1. Well we have to start with the undisputed biggest loser of them all and one you would think would be in the previous category given how often Obama, Democrats, and Republicans talk about the importance of small-business creation. The Small Business Administration is going to be 20% of what it was in 2010 in the following 2 years if Obama gets his way. This will be an interesting pivot point around which we will see whether conservatives who say Obama is anti-business fight him OR whether the small businesses of America call Obama’s bluff and the Republicans if they jump in bed with him on this one invoking his recent placating speech at Tom Donahue’s Chamber of Commerce. This country is clearly decoupling both at home and in the workplace with Too Big To Fail Military contractors, Banks, and Agribusiness clearly in the driver seat not just with Republicans but with Democrats as well. What a shame.
2. OH and then there is military family housing, which one would assume everyone would want to increase with the patriotic rheotirc booming out of MSNBC and Fox News equally. I thought we valued our warriors and their sacrifice? Guess not because military family housing is set to shrink by 25% 2010-2012.
3. Education and who – like military family housing – could argue with education? Apparently an Obama administration that has found it’s Reaganomics Religion all of a sudden. Education will be slashed by 11% and 24% between 2011-2012 and 2010-2012, respectively.
4. Finally, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will be slashed by 31% between 2010-2012.
SO WHAT IS THE POINT OF THIS BLOG? The point is that Obama has shown he is hardly a socialist, fascist, liberal/progressive populist and that with respect to the SBA we will see whether all those jokers on Capitol Hill really do care about small businesses because if the Obama administration gets it’s way the SBA will be hacked to a fifth of it’s size today.
NOW if only we could get the Pentagon to incur more than the 2011-2012 4% decline only to rise like a Phoenix the following year giving it a 2010-2012 6% increase.
If we don’t address the retirement age, tort reform, the military industrial complex leviathan, and things like Bureau of Land Management gifts to the coal/natural gas industry via infinitesimal land rents we are not being serious. Hacking away as the Republicans and Democrats are at discretionary spending, which depending on the year ranges from 10-12% of the federal budget means that honesty is in short supply in DC and that faith is winning out over rationality. What a sham I mean shame!
To our readers in Burlington, Vermont: Please save the date for the Burlington High School (BHS) screening of Race To Nowhere, March 9th at 6:30 pm.
BHS Presents: The film Race to Nowhere is a call to mobilize families, educators, and policy makers to challenge current assumptions on how to best prepare the youth of America to become healthy, bright, contributing and leading citizens. This event is FREE and open to the general public – please help spread the word. The film will be followed by a group discussion. For more information about the film, go to www.racetonowhere.com and follow links to the trailer, and related resources.
Here’s AdPopulum.net regular contributor, Ted Auch, exercising his patriotism and voicing his grievances with Burlington, Vermont’s proposed partnership with Lockheed Martin.
“You have people all around this town who want to do this work for far less money with far more efficiency. But you’re giving the money to Lockheed Martin. Shame on you people, shame on you. You have scientists who want to work in this town and you’re giving it to them,” said Ted Auch who studies ecosystem carbon fluxes.”
Here’s AdPopulum.net co-founder and regular contributor, Dave Davidson, appearing in a forum for candidates for Burlington, Vermont’s School Board. Town Meeting Day is March 1st. Please be sure to vote!
