July 21: Global Warming - What every person needs to know

In the second hour, Charles Rice, distinguished K-State Professor of Soil Microbiology and President, Soil Science Society of America, joins us for a discussion of what science knows about global climate change - and it isn’t what the corporate media is saying! Contrary to what the US media and the New York Times in particular has been saying, there is not disagreement in the scientific community on this topic. Global warming is happening and it could drastically alter life as we know it. Rice also gives a report on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) meeting preparing for the 5th Assessment Report which took place this past week in South Korea.

Additional Links/Resources:

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Help Fight Climate Change - The Nature Conservancy

The Basics of Global Warming - Environmental Defense Fund

Climate Change - the Environmental Protection Agency

What is Global Warming - The National Geographic Society

Global Warming - National Resources Defense Council

The Heat Is On: The Climate Crisis, The Cover-up, The Prescription, by Ross Gelbspan

The Heat is On website.

World Social Forum 2011

Community Bridge opens this week with Jim Hamilton and Gwethalyn Williams for a discussion of this weekend’s youth experimental theatre project at the Manhattan Arts Center. Then Mallory Knodle joins host Christopher Renner for a discussion of the World Social Forum that took place in February in Dakar, Senegal.

Additional Links/Articles:

Experimental Theatre Workshop

World Social Forum 2011 Dakar - in pictures, The Guardian UK, February 9, 2011.

World Social Forum activists buoyed by fall of Egypt and Tunisia regimes, Liz Ford, The Guardian UK, February 14, 2011.

Climate Justice Declaration at World Social Forum 2011


Axelrod claims Bush saddled Obama with a big deficit, PolitiFact.com, January 2010.


Bush Administration "the Least Fiscally Responsible in History," Budget Hawk Says, Aaron Task, Newsmakers, March 31, 2010.


Bush Era Tax Cuts Increased Budget Deficit, Joshua Sanders, The Economy in Crisis, August 188, 2010.

GOP Cuts To Food Aid For Seniors And Food Banks Equals One Day Of Bush Tax Cuts For Millionaires, Pat Garofalo, Think Progress, June 14, 2011.

Study: Bush Tax Cuts Cost More Than Twice As Much As Dems' Health-Care Bill, Susie Madrak, Crooks and Liars, September 9, 2009.

MP3 File

Public Transportation Implementation Meeting Thursday @ 4:00 pm

As a follow-up to last Thursday show featuring Anne Smith and Commissioner Karen McColluh, I want to remind Community Bridge listeners to attend the Thursday's joint City/County meeting beginning at 4:00 pm in the County Commission Room, 115 North Fourth Street. 

As Anne Smith announced on the show the topic for this meeting is the Transit Implementation Plan.  Newly elected city commissioners Matta and Bulter need to know there is support in the Manhattan community for the proposed plan.  One way to demonstrate your support is to be in attendance at this meeting. 

As reported in the Monday's Manhattan Mercury, the Flint Hills Area Transportation Agency has received a grant from KDOT to fund two fixed bus routes in Manhattan.  The grant includes $400,000 in federal funds and $144,000 in state funds as well as money to replace a bus and to fund administrative services ($40,000).  The only funding left for aTa to secure is a $54,000 match from the City.  If the City won't provide the match, aTa, and thus all of Manhattan, will lose the grant and the implementation of the fixed routes will be delayed.

The new commissioners - Matta and Bulter (who are Tea Party activists) - have indicated they intend to closely watch the city's finances and cut spending.  However their ideology is likely to blind them to the needs of the working poor in Manhattan as well as university students and anyone else who does want to have to pay $4.00 a gallon for gas to drive their cars and the basic premise that government is to serve the people.

What better way to serve our community than by bringing state and federal tax dollars back into your community?  Especially when these tax dollars that will go to some other community, if we don't find a way to provide the match.  Thus setting our community back at a moment that is critical for the quality of life we have come to expect and enjoy in Manhattan.

Individuals can download the information packet at the following link:  http://www.ci.manhattan.ks.us/DocumentView.asp?DID=1989

Clippings for 13 March 2011

Scott Walker's Real Agenda in Wisconsin

Michael Hudson and Jeffery Sommers report for the Guardian UK: "On Wednesday evening, in a veritable Night of the Long Knives, Wisconsin's integrity was brutally murdered on the floor of the state Capitol in Madison. On 9 March, integrity and trust built up over a century was obliterated as Wisconsin state senators quickly reversed course and cleaved its budget "repair bill" in half. Financial items require a quorum, thus, collective bargaining was split off from the budget repair bill and voted on separately so as to permit its being voted on now. Even so, this still broke the state's open meeting law requiring 24 hours' notice to ensure transparency. Instead, the Wisconsin senate Republicans pulled out this new legislation without advance notice and began voting, leaving only a stunned Democratic legislator, Peter Barca, to read the open meeting law out loud to prevent the senators from voting. The senate voted over his objections anyway."

Governor Walker’s Coup D’Etat
Robert Reich writes on his blog: "Governor Scott Walker and his Wisconsin senate Republicans have laid bare the motives for their coup d’etat. By severing the financial part of the bill (which couldn’t be passed without absent Democrats) from the part eliminating the collective bargaining rights of public employees (which could be), and then doing the latter, Wisconsin Republicans have made it crystal clear that their goal has had nothing whatever to do with the state budget. It’s been to bust the unions."

'America Is NOT Broke': Michael Moore Speaks in Madison, WI -- March 5, 2011
Michael Moore writes on his blog: " America is not broke. Contrary to what those in power would like you to believe so that you'll give up your pension, cut your wages, and settle for the life your great-grandparents had, America is not broke. Not by a long shot. The country is awash in wealth and cash. It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks and the portfolios of the uber-rich. Today just 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all Americans combined."

Recommended Audio: New Deal 2.0 - Is the US Broke?

Bryce Covet writes for New Deal 2.0: "With the budget battle raging on, cries that the US’ finances are ruined are growing to a fever pitch. So Marshall Auerback bravely headed into the lion’s den (aka Fox News) to explain some basic accounting rules. Is the US broke? Marshall says no: 'We’re not really broke because the US government, by constitutional mandate, is the sole issuer of the currency. It can always create dollars.'"

Wisconsin Senate Leader Admits Union-Busting Bill Is about Defeating Obama

Megan Carpentier reports for Raw Story: "State Sen. Scott Fitzgerald (R), the Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader, must have forgotten his talking points while appearing on Megyn Kelly's Fox News show. This afternoon he admitted on-air what many liberals have long-suspected: rescinding collective bargaining rights from state workers is Wisconsin is as much about the 2012 presidential election as Wisconsin's 2011 budget shortage."

Wisconsin Firefighters Spark "Move Your Money" Moment
Mary Bottari writes for PR Watch: "On the day that the bill passed the Wisconsin Assembly effectively ending 50 years of collective bargaining in Wisconsin and eviscerating the ability of public unions to raise money through dues, a new front opened in the battle for the future of Wisconsin families. Bagpipes blaring, hundreds of firefighters walked across the street from the Wisconsin Capitol building, stood outside the Marshall and Ilsley Bank (M&I Bank) and played a few tunes -- loudly. Later, a group of firefighters and consumers stopped back in at the bank to make a few transactions. One by one they closed their accounts and withdrew their life savings, totaling approximately $190,000. After the last customer left, the bank quickly closed its doors, just in case the spontaneous 'Move Your Money' moment caught fire."

The Corporate/GOP Attack on America's Middle Class

Jim Hightower comments for Truthout: "The most revealing comments by politicians are rarely revealed. This is because they're made in unrecorded conversations, when politicos let their guard down. However, in a recent sting, blogger Ian Murphy recorded a revealing phone call he made to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Murphy pretended to be David Koch, the far-right-wing billionaire who pumped more than a million dollars into Walker's election last year. The governor is very busy, but he spent 20 minutes regaling the fake David Koch with details of his effort to kill the collective bargaining rights of state workers."

Simon Johnson: "A Healthy Financial System Cannot Be Built on the Expectation of Bailouts"
Simon Johnson blogs on The Baseline Scenario: "The financial crisis is not over, in the sense that its impact persists and even continues to spread. Employment remains more than 5 percent below its pre-crisis peak, millions of homeowners are still underwater on their mortgages, and the negative fiscal consequences - at national, state, and local level - remain profound."

Military Cutbacks Won't Fix Deficit
Paul Krugman, Krugman and Co.: "I am baffled by the argument that the United States can incur big savings by ending the war in Afghanistan and, more generally, by cutting bloated defense budgets. I've mostly been hearing this from liberals, and indeed this is a variation of a debate that has continued for years. Now, I am not endorsing our current levels of defense spending. The nation's military buildup following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was outrageous. The United States was hit by a handful of men wielding box-cutters (or something similar - I am aware that's not certain), and we responded by buying a lot of heavy tanks and later invading a country that had nothing to do with the attack."

Rasmussen Poll: Majority Want U.S. Troops Out Of Afghanistan Within A Year
Amanda Terkel reports for The Huffington Post: " On the same day that Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that America would continue to have a military presence in Afghanistan beyond 2014, a new poll finds that the majority of Americans want all U.S. troops withdrawn within one year. The polling firm Rasmussen, whose surveys are often accused of having a decidedly conservative tilt, finds that for the first time, a majority of likely voters want the U.S. government to set a timetable to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan within one year. Within that group, 31 percent want troops to come home immediately. In September 2010, just 43 percent of likely voters wanted a one-year timeline."

GOP Budget Cuts Would Lead to Furloughs at Tsunami Warning Centers, Undermining Their "Ability to React"

Kevin Donohoe, ThinkProgress: "Congressional Republicans' 2011 budget would slash funding for government agencies directly responsible for issuing tsunami warnings and severely reduce the government's capacity to track and respond to these disasters, the president of the union that represents employees of the National Weather Service told ThinkProgress today in the wake of the tragic tsunami in the Pacific. The House Republican budget, which was rejected by the Senate this week, would have cut funding to NOAA - the agency directly responsible for tsunami monitoring and warning - restricting the government's ability to respond."

Anti-Nuclear Groups Warn of Fallout at Japanese Plant
Suvendrini Kakuchi reports for IPS: "Heightened tension on Saturday after a blast at a nuclear facility in Fukushima, 150 kilometres north of Tokyo, eased off after the government reported that the danger had been overstated. But anti-nuclear experts continued to express concern. 'There are many areas that remain unclear in the government's explanation, which is why we cannot accept that the coast is clear,' Professor Hiroaki Koiwa from the Research Reactor Institute at the national Kyoto University told IPS."

Recommended Audio: Democracy Now - Naomi Klein: “My Fear is that Climate Change is the Biggest Crisis of All”

Award-winning journalist Naomi Klein has been reporting on global warming and the climate justice movement for years. “My fear is that climate change is the biggest crisis of all,” Klein says. “If we don’t come up with a positive vision of how climate change can make our economies and our world more just, more livable, cleaner, fairer, then this crisis will be exploited to militarize our economies, to create fortress continents. And we’re really facing a choice. What we really need now is for the people fighting for economic justice and environmental justice to come together.”



Palin Falsely Claims Domestic Drilling Is "The Solution" To High Gas Prices
Media Matters for America provides the following research: "Fox News contributor Sarah Palin claimed that "the solution" to rising gas prices is "to drill here and drill now" and argued that recoverable oil and natural gas in the Arctic could make the U.S. "energy independent." In fact, experts have said expanding domestic production of fossil fuels would not shield the U.S. from volatility in the global price of oil."

Peter King's Radicalization Hearings, Explained

Tim Murphy reports for Mother Jones: "On Thursday (March 10), Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, will hold hearings on what he calls the "radicalization" of members of the American Muslim community. King, who has previously called for the New York Times to be tried for treason and for WikiLeaks to be listed as a terrorist organization, has never shied away from confronting terrorist threats wherever he sees them—but this time he's struck a nerve. He's been denounced by the ACLU and Democratic rivals—who have compared him to Joseph McCarthy. His own party, meanwhile, has been conspicuously silent. So who's going to speak on Thursday? And what are they going to say?" Photo: Pete Marovich/Zuma

Muslim-American Terrorism Down in 2010
Emily Badger reports for Miller-McCune: "The number of Muslim Americans involved in terrorist threats declined in 2010 from the previous year, although you wouldn't know that from the tone of a congressional hearing scheduled for Thursday on 'the extent of radicalization of the American Muslim community.' Committee chairman Rep. Peter King, a Republican from New York, has been planning the hearing for months, partly as a response, he says, to the lack of cooperation some law enforcement officials have complained of within the Muslim-American community. Civil liberties groups and Muslim leaders, meanwhile, are decrying what looks like the singling-out of a minority group in a congressional setting that recalls McCarthyism."

Recommended Audio: Rachel Maddow - Pulling Back the Curtain on Political Puppetmasters
AlterNet reports: "Monday (March 7), Think Progress released a video that showed Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown slavishly fawning over David Koch and begging him for money. "Your support during the election, it meant a ton. It made a difference and I can certainly use it again," said Brown on the tape.  Brown's gross display of subservience is only the latest reminder of the right-wing billionaire brothers' shockingly outsized influence on our politics. Over the past year, progressive journalists, including AlterNet's Adele Stan, have documented the Koch brothers' role in promoting the conservative agenda, from helping fund the Tea Party movement to supporting Gov. Walker's union-busting efforts in Wisconsin. Thanks to a prank in which blogger Ian Murphy posed as David Koch in a phone call to Governor Walker, the Koch brothers have become more visible than ever. Signs calling Walker a "Koch-conspirator" and, more bluntly, a "Koch-whore" have proliferated at pro-labor rallies in Wisconsin and throughout the country. "  Read complete article here.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Koch Brothers Increased Wealth by $9 Billion Last Year As They Fund Laws to Make Working Class Poorer

Mark Karlin reports for Buzzflash at TRUTHOUT: "Based on a recent Forbes survey, Rachel Maddow revealed that while Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is stripping away the financial security of workers, the Koch brothers increased their wealth by $9 billion last year. Together, Maddow notes, they would rank as the fourth-wealthiest person ($44 billion) in the world."

Conservative Corporate Advocacy Group ALEC Behind Voter Disenfranchisement Efforts
Tobin Van Ostern reports for Campus Progress: "The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative organization linked to corporate and right-wing donors, including the billionaire Koch brothers, has drafted and distributed model legislation, obtained by Campus Progress, that appears to be the inspiration for bills proposed by state legislators this year and promoted by Tea Party activists, bills that would limit access of young people to vote."

Recommended Audio: Senator Waxman - 'All That Seems To Matter Is What Koch Industries Think'

Anti-Gay State Senator’s Secret Gay Life Is Revealed In Bribery Indictment
John Cook reports for Gawker: "Carl Kruger is a Democratic state senator from Brooklyn. His vote against gay marriage last year was crucial in stopping the measure in New York. Funny thing: He lives with his gay lover, who's the bagman in their bribery racket. Yesterday, a criminal complaint against Kruger was unsealed in federal court in the southern district of New York, lifting the veil from what must be one of the most satisfyingly convoluted and brazen cases of self-loathing gay political figures in our time."

Marking 100 Years of International Women's Day

Katrina vannden Heuvel comments for The Nation: "With right-wing assaults on women’s rights and reproductive health growing fiercer (and more sensational) by the day, we can all draw strength from the committed struggle women from around the world have waged in pursuit of full gender equality. The Nation has a long history of championing woman-friendly policies and standing firmly behind the feminist principles that have revolutionized the role of women in our society. That’s why today at The Nation we are proud to mark the 100th International Women’s Day by not only highlighting the achievements of women, but also reflecting on ways we can effectively face the many challenges that still lie ahead."

In Defense of NPR
Bill Moyers and Michael Winship write for Truthout: "Come on now: let's take a breath and put this National Public Radio (NPR) fracas into perspective. Just as public radio struggles against yet another assault from its longtime nemesis - the right-wing machine that would thrill if our sole sources of information were Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and ads paid for by the Koch Brothers - it walks into a trap perpetrated by one of the sleaziest operatives ever to climb out of a sewer."

Clippings for 14 February 2011

Obama Budget Seeks Deep Cuts in Domestic Spending

Jackie Calmes reports for The New York Times News Service via Truthout: "President Obama, who is proposing his third annual budget on Monday, will say that it can reduce projected deficits by $1.1 trillion over the next decade, enough to stabilize the nation’s fiscal health and buy time to address its longer-term problems, according to a senior administration official. Two-thirds of the reductions that Mr. Obama will claim are from cuts in spending, including in many domestic programs that he supports. Among the reductions for just the next fiscal year, 2012, which starts Oct. 1, are more than $1 billion from airport grants and nearly $1 billion from grants to states for water treatment plants and similar projects. Public health and forestry programs would also be cut."

House Republicans to Propose Deeper Budget Cuts
Lisa Mascaro reports for the L. A. Times: "On the heels of an uprising by rookie Republican lawmakers, House leaders Friday will unveil a new budget proposal that instructs appropriators to slice deeper to reduce the 2011 budget by the $100 billion the GOP promised voters last fall. The new proposal is expected to produce steep cuts and may require job losses in government agencies, putting some elected officials in the difficult position of choosing between fiscal austerity or employment opportunity as the nation continues to struggle with high unemployment during the economic recovery."

G.O.P. Ignores Jobs Crisis, Targets Theoretical Crisis

Zachary Kolodin writes for New Deal 2.0: "Millennials have spent their entire political lives waiting for America to get over the culture wars of the 1970-1990s and deal with our urgent problems. President Obama took a big step in the right direction by addressing America’s health care access problem through major reform. Now, the Republican Congress has taken its turn by announcing that it will attempt to avert a crisis through $2.5 trillion in spending cuts with H.R. 408. Unfortunately, faced with two “crises,” the GOP chose theory over reality. On the one hand, the US has a long-term budget problem — over the next thirty years or so, the rising costs of Medicare and Medicaid will cause unprecedented national debt, which will impair growth and stability. On the other hand, the US has an urgent jobs crisis right now. Millions of Americans find themselves out of work and completely strapped. An entire generation of young people trying to start families finds itself without stability and without an outlet for their remarkable energy."

Blueprint: Ensuring Job Security by Protecting Workers

Progessive States Network writes: "Ask voters in any state what single issue concerns them the most, and the answer is likely to be the same: the economy and jobs. More than two years removed from a crisis that caused the greatest economic downturn in generations, Americans with a job still feel as vulnerable as ever, while those out of work through no fault of their own worry every day about finding an increasingly scarce commodity: a good job that will allow them to provide for their families." Graphic source: Institute for Policy Studies

Obama Assertion: FBI Can Get Phone Records Without Oversight
Marisa Taylor reports for McClatchy Newspapers: "The Obama administration's Justice Department has asserted that the FBI can obtain telephone records of international calls made from the U.S. without any formal legal process or court oversight, according to a document obtained by McClatchy. That assertion was revealed — perhaps inadvertently — by the department in its response to a McClatchy request for a copy of a secret Justice Department memo. Critics say the legal position is flawed and creates a potential loophole that could lead to a repeat of FBI abuses that were supposed to have been stopped in 2006."

More Troops Lost to Suicide

John Donnelly writes for Congress.org: "For the second year in a row, the U.S. military has lost more troops to suicide than it has to combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. The reasons are complicated and the accounting uncertain — for instance, should returning soldiers who take their own lives after being mustered out be included? But the suicide rate is a further indication of the stress that military personnel live under after nearly a decade of war."

Why Hershey's Chocolate Isn't My Valentine
Titania Kumeh reports for Mother Jones: "As far as sweet confections go, chocolate tops my list. But the sourcing reality of some mass-produced chocolate's main ingredient, cocoa, is a bitter pill to swallow. Six years ago, children who had been trafficked from Mali to Cote d'Ivoire to work on cocoa plantations filed a lawsuit in US courts against Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, and Nestle. The children described being beaten and forced to work for 12 to 14 hours a day without pay, given little food and sleep. The lawsuit is ongoing."

The Environment as Our Common Heritage

James K. Boyce comments for TripleCrisis: "What does it mean to say that the environment is our 'common heritage'? On one level this is a simple statement of fact: when we are born, we come into a world that is not of our own making. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the natural resources on which our livelihoods depend, and the accumulated knowledge and information that underpin our ability to use these resources wisely - all these come to us as gifts of creation passed on to us by preceding generations and enriched by their innovations and creativity."

Taking Climate Denial to New Extremes
By Kate Sheppard reports for Mother Jones: "The spending plan the House GOP was supposed to roll out on Thursday included a number of cuts meant to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from doing anything about climate change. But Republicans had to take that plan back to the drawing board Thursday night after tea party members claimed the package of cuts didn't go deep enough. And if a trio of House members get their way, we won't ever have to worry about the climate—since we won't know what's happening with it, anyway."

John Hanger, PA’s Former Environmental Chief, Talks About Challenges of Keeping Gas Drilling Safe

Nicholas Kusnetz reports for ProPublica: "John Hanger, who led Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection until January, recently talked with ProPublica about the challenges of trying to regulate the expanding drilling industry. Hanger joined the DEP in 2008, when gas drilling in the state's Marcellus Shale formation was ramping up. During his tenure, the department tightened drilling regulations by limiting the discharge of certain pollutants into rivers and streams, strengthening standards for new wells, banning development within 150 feet of certain waterways and requiring drillers to include water-use and waste-disposal plans with their well permit applications. Before he joined the department, Hanger was president and CEO of PennFuture, an environmental organization. He left the DEP when Tom Corbett took over as governor." Photo: Philadelphia Independent Media Center

REPORT: At Least 13 States Have Introduced Bills Guarding Against Non-Existent Threat Of Sharia Law
Zaid Jilani reports for Think Progress: "This past November, Oklahoma voters by a 70-30 percent margin passed a ballot question that barred “state courts from considering international or Islamic law when deciding cases.” The new law — which was widely considered as unfairly targeting the Muslim community and blaming it for the non-existent threat of Sharia law in the United states — was blocked by an injunction issued just a few weeks later by federal judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange. The judge argued that the Sharia ban was unconstitutional because it violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment and unfairly singled out Muslims."

Arizona Sues Feds for Not Being Tough Enough on Immigration
Julianne Hing writes for ColorLines: "Arizona is sick of being a defendant in lawsuit after lawsuit challenging the state’s harsh anti-immigration policies. On Thursday Gov. Jan Brewer announced that the state is turning the tables and suing the federal government in a countersuit to the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against SB 1070. Brewer accused the federal government of failing to enforce federal immigration laws, failing to control the Arizona-Mexico border and failing to protect the state from violence."

Pelosi: GOP Offers The ‘Most Comprehensive And Radical Assault On Women’s Health In Our Lifetime’

Igor Volsky writes for Think Progress: "On a conference call with reporters and bloggers this afternoon, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) characterized the GOP’s recent legislative effort to restrict access to abortion and contraception as “the most comprehensive and radical assault on women’s health in our life time,” promising to wage a campaign against the effort. Pelosi was referring to the Republican-backed H.R. 3 “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” and H.R. 358, “Protect Life Act,” as well separate measures to eliminate federal funding for family planning."

'Forcible Rape' Language Remains In Bill To Restrict Abortion Funding
Amanda Terkel writes for the Huffington Post: "After significant public blowback, House Republicans last week promised to drop a controversial provision in their high-priority No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act that would redefine rape. But almost a week later, that language is still in the bill. Last week, a spokesman for the bill's principal sponsor, Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), said, "The word forcible will be replaced with the original language from the Hyde Amendment." The Hyde Amendment bans taxpayer dollars from being used for abortions, except in cases of incest and rape -- not just "forcible rape," as the Smith bill, H.R. 3, would have it."

10 Things Conservatives Don’t Want You To Know About Ronald Reagan

Alex Seitz-Wald reports for Think Progress: "Tomorrow (February 6th) will mark the 100th anniversary of President Reagan’s birth, and all week, conservatives have been trying to outdo each others’ remembrances of the great conservative icon. Senate Republicans spent much of Thursday singing Reagan’s praise from the Senate floor, while conservative publications have been running non-stop commemorations. Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee and former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich are hoping to make a few bucks off the Gipper’s centennial.  "

Clarence Thomas Gets Away With Breaking the Law; Ginny Thomas Shills for Right-Wing Interests
Nancy Goldstein reports for AlterNet: "When it comes to the financial and ethical improprieties of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, Ginni, there is only bad news and worse news. That's true not only in terms of what they've done but because there's so little reason to believe they'll ever be held accountable for their active role in tainting our judiciary with the money and influence of their wealthy, conservative GOP patrons."

Backward, Christian Soldiers

Mikey Weinstein

Stephen Glain reports for The Nation: "Late last summer, Mikey Weinstein broke up a fight between Crystal and Ginger, the guard dogs trained to protect him and his family from a violent reckoning with Christian zealots. For the 55-year-old civil rights activist committed to ridding the US military of religious intolerance, it was a refreshingly secular and evenly matched bout. Weinstein is, after all, famously combative, both pugnacious and profane, with the bearing and sensibility of a mastiff. In the end he prevailed and peace was restored, though at the price of some bad scratches on his arms and a hole in his right hand where a well-aimed canine had struck." Photo: Troy Page / t r u t h o u t

10 Historical 'Facts' Only a Right-Winger Could Believe
Roy Edroso reports for AlterNet: "As you may have noticed by following their writings, conservatives are not sticklers for historical accuracy, especially when they have a point to defend and not a lot of evidence to support it. Get a load, for example, of John Podhoretz explaining how the pro-choice Rudy Giuliani reduced abortions in New York City (though, um, not really) because he cut crime, which is one of "the spiritual causes of abortion."

ENDA: The Longest Journey

David Mixner comments on his blog: "The Employment Non Discrimination Act (ENDA) has had a long and frustrating journey. The original legislation was introduced by Congresswoman Bella Abzug (D-New York) and then Congressman Ed Koch (D- New York) on May 14, 1974. Called the "Gay Rights Bill" it would have added sexual orientation to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Senator Paul Tsongas and Senator Edward Kennedy became big champions of the legislation in the United States Senate."

Fox News Insider: "Stuff Is Just Made Up"

Eric Boehlert reports for Media Matters for America: "A former Fox News employee who recently agreed to talk with Media Matters confirmed what critics have been saying for years about Murdoch's cable channel. Namely, that Fox News is run as a purely partisan operation, virtually every news story is actively spun by the staff, its primary goal is to prop up Republicans and knock down Democrats, and that staffers at Fox News routinely operate without the slightest regard for fairness or fact checking."

High-speed Wireless Access for Entire US will Spark Innovation, Obama says
Mark Guarino reports for the Christian Science Monitor: "Emphasizing a goal he set out in his State of the Union address, President Obama promoted a plan Thursday for 98 percent of Americans to have high-speed wireless Internet access within five years.  In remarks given at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Mr. Obama said his proposal, titled the National Wireless Initiative, would boost small-business development and would be of particular use in rural areas. He likened high-speed wireless access to the transcontinental railroad, which united both coasts of America. 'This isn’t just about faster Internet or being able to find a friend on Facebook. It’s about connecting every corner of America to the digital age,' he said."

Recommended Audio: Media Matters Feb 13th - Interview with FCC Commissioner Michael Copps

Copps served until January 2001 as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Trade Development at the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he was previously Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Basic Industries. Copps came to Washington in 1970, joining the staff of Senator Ernest Hollings (D-SC) and serving for over a dozen years as Chief of Staff. He has also held positions at a Fortune 500 company and at a major trade association. Before coming to Washington, Copps was a professor of U.S. History at Loyola University of the South. Copps received a B.A. from Wofford College and earned a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

FCC Chairman Genachowski 'Out of Touch' with Broadband Reality
Free Press writes: "FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski delivered a speech to the Broadband Acceleration Conference touting the value of broadband and the need for continued investment in its infrastructure. He promised to cut the "red tape" that stands as "a significant obstacle to broadband deployment." Genachowski's statements are further evidence that he's more interested in appeasing the giant phone and cable companies than in solving the real problems in the American broadband market."

Update on Sunflower Energy's Holcomb Plant

Community Bridge begins a new season with an old topic - the Sunflower Energy power plant slated for construction in Holcomb. Blocked numerous times and opposed by a majority of Kansans, Gov. Parkinson’s parting gift to Sunflower was a construction permit, after it had previously been denied.  

Scott Allegrucci, Great Plains Alliance for Clean Energy, and Stephanie Cole, Sierra Club of Kansas, join us for a discussion of recent developments including the firing of KDHE Secretary Bremby, the issuing of a permit for Sunflower, and the Sierra Club’s lawsuit against it.

Additional information/resources:

• http://www.gpace.org/blog/who-really-owns-the-coal-plant/ - obviously posted prior to KDHE granting a permit for the project; and Tri-State's 2009 annual report showed closer to $54 million given to Sunflower to support the project (excluding water and land purchases)
• http://www.gpace.org/blog/gpace-comments-and-questions-to-tri-state-generation-transmission/ - posted after my trip to Westminster to provide public comment as part of Tri-State's IRP public process (Tri-State has never answered any of the questions we asked)
• http://www.gpace.org/blog/gpace-comments-from-scott-allegrucci-at-final-kdhe-hearing/ - my oral comments delivered at the fourth and final public hearing on the permit
• http://www.gpace.org/blog/gaming-the-system-to-get-a-coal-plant/ - covers the leaked Sunflower email that confirms political collusion between Parkinson and pro-coal forces to pressure KDHE
• http://www.gpace.org/blog/a-coal-plant-over-the-rainbow-the-parkinson-kdhe-sunflower-electric-mess/ - most recent entry that is a pretty good overview of the mess this process in Kansas has become over the last several months

Community Bridge apologies for the sound quality of this recording, we had some technical difficulties.

MP3 File

Clippings for December 13, 2010

Recommended Audio: About Human Trafficking
This Public Service Announcement was discussed during our December 9th show on human trafficking.



Low Taxes Are the Problem, Not the Solution

Moshe Adler comments for Truthdig.com: "“Every economist that I’ve talked to … acknowledges that this [tax] agreement would boost economic growth in the coming years and has the potential to create millions of jobs,” President Barack Obama said this week. But if low taxes are the solution, this must mean that high taxes are the problem. Yet the Bush tax cuts are already in effect; taxes are therefore low already, and the unemployment rate is nevertheless close to the same level that it was at a year ago and has risen in the last month. Nor did the Bush tax cuts boost the economy after they were passed in 2003, their name—“The Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Act”—notwithstanding. In fact, the evidence shows that tax policies alone have no effect on the state of the economy. What is the problem, then? "

The Effort to Claim That Economists Support Obama's Capitulation on Tax Cuts for the Wealthy
William Black writes on MichaelMoore.com: " You know the administration is desperate when it creates a web page citing economists who support its capitulation on taxes. The web page cites the support of five economists. Peter Cardillo, the Bank of America, Greg Mankiw, and Wells Fargo (are the second through fifth economists on Obama's list). Who are these supporters and why is the administration proud of their support? Cardillo is an economist for an investment firm, Avalon Partners. Avalon's web site states that it specializes in 'wealth management' for 'affluent investors...to meet the unique needs of high net worth individuals....' Yes, the wealthiest one-hundredth of one percent of Americans -- the truly, uniquely needy.'"

Recommended Audio: John Stewart - John Oliver Describes Trickle-down Economics

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Free Trade Doesn’t Work: Interview With Economist Ian Fletcher
Michael Hughes writes for The Huffington Post: "Free trade doesn't work, the global economy is a myth and the U.S. has been duped during trade negotiations for the past 40 years according to Ian Fletcher.... Mr. Fletcher certainly is not opposed to capitalism ... but what he is opposed to are bad economic policies that have led to an ever-burgeoning U.S. trade deficit well on its way to hitting $500 billion this year."

The Specter Haunting Obama
E. J. Dionne, Jr., writes for Truthdig.com: "American decline is the specter haunting our politics. This could be President Obama’s undoing—or it could provide him with the opportunity to revive his presidency. Fear of decline is an old American story. Declinism ran rampant in the late 1970s and early ‘80s. Stagflation, the Iranian hostage crisis, anxiety over Japan’s then-commanding economy and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan all seemed to be symbols of a United States no longer in control of its destiny. These apprehensions dissipated in the 1980s and, whatever the shortcomings of his policies, Ronald Reagan presided over a restoration of American morale. His 1984 “Morning in America” advertisement was politically brilliant but it was also a paean to a renewed American confidence."

The New American Oligarchy: Creating a Country of the Rich, by the Rich, and for the Rich

By Andy Kroll writes for TomDispatch.com: "There is a war underway. I'm not talking about Washington’s bloody misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq, but a war within our own borders. It’s a war fought on the airwaves, on television and radio and over the Internet, a war of words and images, of half-truth, innuendo, and raging lies. I'm talking about a political war, pitting liberals against conservatives, Democrats against Republicans. I'm talking about a spending war, fueled by stealthy front groups and deep-pocketed anonymous donors. It’s a war that's poised to topple what's left of American democracy."

Recommended Audio: Democracy Now - Noam Chomsky: WikiLeaks Cables Reveal "Profound Hatred for Democracy on the Part of Our Political Leadership"

In a national broadcast exclusive interview, we speak with world-renowned political dissident and linguist Noam Chomsky about the release of more than 250,000 secret U.S. State Department cables by WikiLeaks. In 1971, Chomsky helped government whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg release the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret internal U.S. account of the Vietnam War. Commenting on the revelations that several Arab leaders are urging the United States to attack Iran, Chomsky says the latest polls show "Arab opinion holds that the major threat in the region is Israel, that’s 80 percent; the second threat is the United States, that’s 77 percent. Iran is listed as a threat by 10 percent... This may not be reported in the newspapers, ... but it’s certainly familiar to the Israeli and the U.S. governments and to the ambassadors... What that reveals is the profound hatred for democracy on the part of our political leadership."



Something is Rotten: The Strange Case of Interpol's Red Alert on Assange, and the US Attack on WikiLeaks
Dave Lindorff comments for This Can't Be Happening: "Far be it from me to minimize the issue of rape, but to borrow from the Bard, in the case of the 'rape' case being alleged against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (technically, Swedish prosecutors say it's not rape, it's 'sex by surprise'), currently being held in a British jail without bail pending an extradition request from Stockholm: 'Something is rotten in Sweden.'"

After 12 days of WikiLeaks Cables, the World Looks on US with New Eyes

Ian Black, Angelique Chrisafis, Ian Traynor, Jon Boone, Declan Walsh, Tom Parfitt, Ewen MacAskill, Tom Phillips, Xan Rice, Jason Burke and John Hooper report for the Guardina UK: "President Lula says he is to register his protest at Assange's arrest on his blog. 'This chap was only publishing something he read,' he said. 'And if he read it, it is because somebody wrote it. The guilty one is not the publisher, it is the person who wrote [these things]. Blame the person who wrote this nonsense because there would be no scandal if they hadn't.' Many leaks relate to the security situation in Rio de Janeiro. A 2009 cable warned that pre-Olympic attempts to expel drug traffickers from some of the city's most violent favelas could resemble 'the battles in Fallujah more than a conventional urban police operation'."

Jeremy Scahill Testifies Before Congress on America's Secret Wars
Jeremy Scahill writes in The Nation: "My name is Jeremy Scahill. I am the National Security correspondent for The Nation magazine. I recently returned from a two-week unembedded reporting trip to Afghanistan. I would like to thank the Chairman and the Committee for inviting me to participate in this important hearing. As we sit here today in Washington, across the globe the United States is engaged in multiple wars. Some, like those in Afghanistan and Iraq, are well known to the US public and to the Congress."

Afghans Overwhelmingly Want US Troops Out - and Soon

Jean MacKenzie reports for GlobalPost: "More than half of all Afghans - 55 percent - want U.S. forces out of their country, and the sooner the better. Add it all up, and it is pretty bad news for the U.S. military as it examines its options ahead of next week’s Afghanistan strategy review.... The poll ... shows a nation yearning for an end to hostilities." Photo: Two young Afghan boys watch a group of armored vehicles. MCpl Kevin Paul/lafrancevi

Justice Department Prepares for Ominous Expansion of "Anti-Terrorism" Law Targeting Activists
Michael Deutsch provides the followign analysis for Truthout.org: "In late September, the FBI carried out a series of raids of homes and antiwar offices of public activists in Minneapolis and Chicago. Following the raids, the Obama Justice Department subpoenaed 14 activists to a grand jury in Chicago and also subpoenaed the files of several antiwar and community organizations. In carrying out these repressive actions, the Justice Department was taking its lead from the Supreme Court's 6-3 opinion last June in Holder v. the Humanitarian Law Project, which decided that nonviolent First Amendment speech and advocacy "coordinated with" or "under the direction of" a foreign group listed by the Secretary of State as "terrorist" was a crime."

Cancun Summit Ends Without Solving Emissions Puzzle

Diani Cariboni reports for Inter Press Service (via Truthout): "This dynamic, in which urgent domestic problems take the fore - like the economic crisis afflicting nearly the entire industrialized world - means that attempts to adopt a binding global pact to reduce climate-changing gas emissions repeatedly crumble.... And the Cancun summit, officially known as the 16th Conference of Parties (COP 16) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, was no exception." Photo: EvolveLove - Protesters outside the Cancun Climate Summit, December 5th, 2010. 

Feds Delay Report on Sale of Ny's Plum Island
The Assoicated Press reports (via the Wall Street Journal): "An environmental impact study required before the federal government can sell a tiny island housing the nation's only animal disease laboratory will not be ready until next spring, an official said Tuesday, marking the second time the report has been delayed. The General Services Administration is required to complete the report on Plum Island as part of its plan to close the animal disease lab built there in the 1950s. Officials want to sell the island located 100 miles east of New York City near the eastern tip of Long Island and move operations to a new facility in Manhattan, Kan., by 2018."

Untellable Truths
George Lakoff writes from the Huffington Post: "The differences between Democratic progressives and the president over the tax deal the president has made with Republicans is being argued from a materialist perspective. That perspective is real. It matters who gets how much money and how our money is spent. But what is being ignored is that the answer to material policy questions depends on how Americans understand the issues, that is, on how the issues are realized in the brains of our citizens. Such understanding is what determines political support or lack of it in all its forms, from voting to donations to political pressure to what is said in the media."

For-Profit Schools Bank $521 Million Off Veterans' GI Bill Benefits

Julianne Hing reports for ColorLines: "The growing question around for-profit schools' shameless profiteering may soon be: who aren't they willing to exploit?... A new report released today by Sen. Tom Harkin's Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee details exactly how for-profit schools have taken advantage of veterans' benefits and loopholes in their federal regulations to scoop up the many vets coming home from wars abroad to boost enrollment." Photo: istockphoto/Sean Locke

The Right-Wing Backlash Against Advancing Minority Rights
Simon Malory provides the following analysis for Media Matters for America: "The past week has been a significant one for justice, fairness, and tolerance in American society. Issues of minority rights dominated the news and the legislative agenda as President Obama signed into the law the Pigford II and Cobell settlements, and Congress took up Don't Ask, Don't Tell repeal and the DREAM Act."

Gay and Lesbian Teens Are Punished more at School, by Police, Study Says
Donna St. George reports in the Washington Post: "Gay and lesbian teens in the United States are about 40 percent more likely than their straight peers to be punished by schools, police and the courts, according to a study published Monday, which finds that girls are especially at risk for unequal treatment. The research, described as the first national look at sexual orientation and teen punishment, comes as a spate of high-profile bullying and suicide cases across the country have focused attention on the sometimes hidden cruelties of teen life."

Recommended Audio: Going All Out
A video produced by All Out in collaboration with our friends on 5 continents—from Buenos Aires to Beirut, Kathmandu to Capetown to Tokyo and beyond. All Out is bringing together people of every identity - lesbian, gay, straight, transgender and all that's between and beyond - to build a world in which everyone can live freely and be embraced for who they are. Join the Movement. Go All Out. www.allout.org.



10 Anti-Gay Myths Debunked

Evelyn Schlatter and Robert Steinback write in the Intelligence Reporter: "Ever since born-again singer and orange juice pitchwoman Anita Bryant helped kick off the contemporary anti-gay movement more than 30 years ago, hard-line elements of the religious right have been searching for ways to demonize homosexuals — or, at a minimum, to find arguments that will prevent their normalization in society. For the former Florida beauty queen and her Save Our Children group, it was the alleged plans of gays and lesbians to “recruit” in schools that provided the fodder for their crusade. But in addition to hawking that myth, the legions of anti-gay activists who followed have added a panoply of others, ranging from the extremely doubtful claim that homosexuality is a choice, to unalloyed lies like the claims that gays molest children far more than heterosexuals or that hate crime laws will lead to the legalization of bestiality and necrophilia. These fairy tales are important to the anti-gay right because they form the basis of its claim that homosexuality is a social evil that must be suppressed — an opinion rejected by virtually all relevant medical and scientific authorities. They also almost certainly contribute to hate crime violence directed at homosexuals, who are more targeted for such attacks than any other minority in America. What follows are 10 key myths propagated by the anti-gay movement, along with the truth behind the propaganda.

Glenn Beck: Irresponsible And Indifferent To The Violent Consequences of His Dangerous Rhetoric
People for the American Way report: "Radio and TV personality Glenn Beck plays a unique and extraordinary role in our political discourse.  He’s an entertainer who once referred to himself as a “rodeo clown.”  He’s a self-appointed “educator” whose books and “university” are miseducating millions of Americans with false claims about American history and a distorted view of our Constitution.  And he’s an increasingly messianic figure who claims that he has been divinely anointed to lead the nation back to God. "

Recommended Audio: Phil Donahue - Corporate Media Stifles Dissent
Former talk show host Phil Donahue says corporate media stifled dissent ahead of the Iraq War and "will happen again."



Leaked Fox News Emails Show Deliberate Slant On Health Care Coverage
David Taintor reports for Talking Points Memo: "It's no secret that Fox News' political coverage isn't always quite "fair and balanced." But emails obtained by Media Matters show that Fox News' Washington managing editor Bill Sammon urged his staff to actually echo Republican talking points on the health care debate. According to the emails, Sammon directed his staff to use specific wording when describing the health care debate, preferring the term 'government option; over 'public option.'"

The FCC's Guide to Losing Net Neutrality Without Really Trying

Craig Aaron reports for the Huffington Post: "Ever have to negotiate a contract or try to sell a used car? Would you start the give-and-take by naming the lowest price you're willing to accept and then try to get a better deal? Of course not. Yet somehow, that's the exact "strategy" the Obama administration seems intent on pursuing -- and not just on tax cuts for the richest Americans."

Will Genachowski Get Needed Neutrality Votes?
Karl Bode reports for Broadband DLSreports.com: "With the FCC set to vote on Commissioner Genachowski's potentially painfully underwhelming new neutrality rules, lobbyists are out in force in DC -- working overtime to get individual commissioners aligned with their thinking. With the agency's Republicans set to likely vote against the rules, all lobbying effort has focused on Mignon Clyburn and Michael Copps. Clyburn has been a bit more savvy than DC insiders predicted, and Copps is your man if you ever need a terse, pro-consumer press release quickly followed by a vote in the opposite direction. Copps is still pushing for partial reclassification of ISPs as common carriers, something that has fallen off of Genachowski's radar..."

Copyright Troll Righthaven Sues for Control of Drudge Report Domain
Reiq Gardner reports for Are Technica: "News aggregation impresario Matt Drudge is being sued for copyright infringement for reproducing a copyrighted photo along with a link to a story about airport security on the Las Vegas Review-Journal website. The plaintiff in the case is Righthaven, a company that's earned a reputation this year as a world-class copyright troll. Righthaven has sued nearly 200 parties this year alone. Righthaven has typically gone after those who post news excerpts of its partners, such as the Las Vegas Review-Journal, but pledged to be more discretionary after being handed a defeat in court by a judge who recently ruled that one of its targets had "fair use" to its work."

NPR and PBS -- This Time It's the Fight of Their Lives

Brent Lang reports for The Wrap: "Massive budget shortfalls, vicious in-fighting and a power shift in Washington. Make no mistake, public media is facing the biggest ever threat to its existence. This time, the haters are deadly serious. And they have timing on their side. At stake are hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding and the future of such popular programs as "Nova," "This American Life" and "Sesame Street." And while public media has long been a favorite target for Republican lawmakers, the mounting federal deficit -- coupled with a series of PR blunders -- mean that threats to slash government aid to non-profit stations are no longer just idle boasting."