http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/category_rss/budgetpriorities At a Be the Change candidate forum on February 13, U.S. Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff was asked the best way to health care reform. He responded, "Lower the age of eligibility for Medicare to '0'." He was pointing up the failure in Washington to make the best case for reform -- an improved Medicare-for-All single-payer model of insurance with full choice of private providers. To make Medicare Buy-in the public option, Rep. Alan Grayson on March 9 introduced HR 4789, the Public Option Act, a simple 4-page act that "lets any American buy into Medicare at cost. You want it, you pay for it, you're in. It adds nothing to the deficit; you pay what it costs." The bill provides a real option for those dissatisfied with current for-profit health insurances that continue to game the system. The top 5 health insurance companies increased their profits by 56 percent in 2009 ($12.2 billion combined), while imposing continued double-digit premium increases. Those who are satisfied with current coverage can keep it. Support Rep. Grayson's petition for the Public Option Act, signed by over 11,000 as of Friday. He is calling for 3 votes on health -- the Senate bill, the reconciliation amendments, and the Public Option Act. Fifty legislators had signed up as cosponsors for the bill within two days. Urge our legislators & House leadership to support this bill (Capitol switchboard 866-338-1015). It is the best way to salvage and simplify health care reform, expanding choice of providers, and providing true competition to for-profit private health insurers, where 94 percent of U.S. private health insurance markets are near-monopolies. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CZpW http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CZpW/commentary#comments Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:40:09 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CZpW Michele S Michele S 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZpW/ ".........the crisis is still growing because we are continuing to dump 90 million tons of global-warming pollution every 24 hours into the atmosphere — as if it were an open sewer."   (Think of it this way, the world is launching 40 million two and one half ton SUV's or 45,000 space shuttles into the atmosphere every 24 hours. Can you hear him now? I personally think we are way beyond the "oh, shit" moment. mc)  NY Times February 28, 2010 Op-Ed Contributor We Can’t Wish Away Climate Change By AL GORE It would be an enormous relief if the recent attacks on the science of global warming actually indicated that we do not face an unimaginable calamity requiring large-scale, preventive measures to protect human civilization as we know it. Of course, we would still need to deal with the national security risks of our growing dependence on a global oil market dominated by dwindling reserves in the most unstable region of the world, and the economic risks of sending hundreds of billions of dollars a year overseas in return for that oil. And we would still trail China in the race to develop smart grids, fast trains, solar power, wind, geothermal and other renewable sources of energy — the most important sources of new jobs in the 21st century. Continued: NY Times http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZpn http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZpn/commentary#comments Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:32:54 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZpn Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZpn/ Best defense is an offense?  How's that working out for us?  You want offensive?  How about a non-union TSA? Or 22 government agencies "supervised" by the Department of Homeland Security.  Stripping 180,000 federal employees of their union rights while creating the best example of bloated, ineffective and incompetent government ever conceived, Democrat or Republican .  As for incompetence, can you say, Katrina?  The senate voted 90 to 9 to approve the creation of the DHS.    MC "All this activity is already straining the Coast Guard budget. Most of the 19 cutters that were sent to Haiti eventually needed help themselves — thanks in large part to their age, 12 of them suffered severe problems at sea, and three required emergency dry-dock repairs. That’s not surprising, since the average “high endurance” cutter is 41 years old, compared to 14 years for the average Navy ship." NY Times  February 27, 2010 Op-Ed ContributorsPutting the Coast Guard Out to Sea By LAWRENCE J. KORB and SEAN E. DUGGAN Washington DESPITE the pressing need to cut government spending, under President Obama’s spending proposal all the nation’s military services are set to see their budgets increase — all, that is, except the Coast Guard, the nation’s chronically overburdened maritime force, responsible for everything from global search and rescue to port security. Under the president’s proposal, the Coast Guard’s budget will decline by 3 percent, to $10.1 billion, smaller than many medium-sized agencies under the other services. It’s a puzzling decision, considering the increasingly critical role the Coast Guard plays in protecting the national security interests of the United States — and considering that many much less vital military programs have been spared. Beyond combating drug smuggling and international piracy, the 41,000-member Coast Guard is our nation’s first line of defense against nuclear terrorism. If someone wanted to detonate a nuclear bomb in this country, would hebe more likely to launch it on a missile with a return address, or would he try to smuggle it in a container through one of our ports? The latter, obviously — and the Coast Guard’s Port Security Units would play a pivotal role in stopping him. Continued at the NY Times: NY Times http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZpS http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZpS/commentary#comments Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:03:31 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZpS Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 1 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZpS/ That's the word from the Denver Post's Tim Hoover: Liberal group delivers treat bags slamming McInnis over opposition to tax bills There’s a bite-sized “100 Grand” bar, a “Sugar Daddy,” a can of cola and a bottle of pesticide. It’s all inside a McDonald’s “Happy Meal” bag. The goody bags were delivered to the Capitol today by liberal group, “ProgressNow” Colorado in response to a series of appearances GOP candidate for governor Scott McInnis is making across the state to protest Democratic-backed proposals to eliminate tax exemptions and credits for a variety of industries and products. [...] “Scott McInnis has failed repeatedly to identify his own plan to balance the state budget,” ProgressNow Executive Director Bobby Clark said. “Instead, McInnis has shown why he earned the name ‘McLobbyist’ – the only position he ever seems to have is the one that corporate special interests tell him to have. “Working families, senior citizens and students around the state are making sacrifices to protect the vital public services we all depend on, and suspending a small percentage of the tax breaks for business that cost Colorado billions of dollars every year is not too much to ask for.” Sean Duffy, a spokesman for McInnis, said ProgressNow is wrong to claim it represents working families. “With continued stunts that ignore the facts and make light of hundreds of families every day coming home to find out that a breadwinner has lost his or her job, they’re only deepening their own irrelevance,” Duffy said. “Scott McInnis is the only candidate for governor who is out talking to the workers and small business owners who are going to be hit hard by these tax increases.” So where would McInnis cut? Duffy said the former congressman believes the state should look at efficiencies like merging departments. Which ones? “We don’t know. We’re looking at it,” Duffy said... http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZJ4 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZJ4/commentary#comments Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:47:28 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZJ4 Alan Franklin http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/1b6fb917dd91e10cc0_ge5omv53a.jpg Alan Franklin 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZJ4/ Notice they don't mention the wounded, there are certainly situations worse than death . (Read, "Johnny Got His Gun") We know there were three million civilian deaths in SE Asia, assuming the same ratios for American military casualties, 5 to 1 (Wounded vs. KIA 304,000 vs. 58,000) and 75,000 amputees, one amputee for every four wounded.  Using that data for SE Asian civilians, results in 15 million wounded, 3.75 million amputees.  If 12 Afghans were killed today, there is a very good chance that 60 were wounded.  Tommy Franks (An artillery officer) "We don't do body counts" Actually general that is an obscene understatement.  Of course if all 6 rockets were fired and hit the same target, there is a good chance that some of the casualties vaporized.  Lockheed has a $68 million cost plus contract to build the HIMARS.  Here is the low down on the rockets:"The Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) consists of two variants of rockets fired from the M270A1 or High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers. The GMLRS Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munition (DPICM) variant carries 404 bomblets , while the GMLRS Unitary rocket will have a single, 200-pound class, high-explosive , Unitary warhead. Both variants use an inertial measurement unit guidance system that is aided by the Global Positioning System."  200 pounds of High Explosives (HE) is a shit load.  A 1500 pound Exocet sank a British destroyer in the Falklands, a bit more stout than mud walls.  MC NY Times February 15, 2010 Afghan Civilians Killed in Offensive on Taliban By C. J. CHIVERS and ROD NORDLAND MARJA, Afghanistan — An errant American rocket strike on Sunday hit a compound crowded with Afghan civilians in the last Taliban stronghold in Helmand Province, killing at least 10, including 5 children, military officials said. Avoiding such civilian deaths, which came on the second day of a major allied offensive around Marja, has been a cornerstone of the war strategy by the top American commander, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal . He apologized to President Hamid Karzai , saying, “We deeply regret this tragic loss of life.” The strike came after American Marines and Afghan soldiers had been taking intense small-arms fire from a mud-walled compound in the area, American officers said. The answering artillery barrage instead hit a building a few hundred yards way, striking with a roar and sending a huge cloud of dust and smoke into the air. As the wind pushed the plume away, a group of children rushed outside.  Continued at the NY Times: NY Times http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZJz http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZJz/commentary#comments Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:06:00 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZJz Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZJz/ Not only are conservatives somewhat immoral about most things, they are Weak, Incompetent, Malingering, Pussies ( WIMP's )  Think Dick Cheney. MC "Conservatives may be more responsive to health reform, he suggested, if it is framed as a national security argument. For example, American companies complain about the difficulty of competing with foreign companies that don’t have to pay for employee medical coverage. In that sense, our existing health care system leaves us vulnerable." "That foreign threat might make conservatives sweat so much that maybe, just maybe, they’d consider revisiting the issue."  hahahahahaha NY TimesFebruary 14, 2010Op-Ed ColumnistOur Politics May Be All in Our Head By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF We all know that liberals and conservatives are far apart on health care. But in the way their brains work? Even in automatic reflexes, like blinking? Or the way their glands secrete moisture? That’s the suggestion of some recent research . It hints that the roots of political judgments may lie partly in fundamental personality types and even in the hard-wiring of our brains. Researchers have found, for example, that some humans are particularly alert to threats, particularly primed to feel vulnerable and perceive danger. Those people are more likely to be conservatives. One experiment used electrodes to measure the startle blink reflex, the way we flinch and blink when startled by a possible danger. A flash of noise was unexpectedly broadcast into the research subjects’ earphones, and the response was measured. Continued at the NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/opinion/14kristof.html   http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZJ8 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZJ8/commentary#comments Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:11:53 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZJ8 Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZJ8/ Colorado is in the middle of the greatest economic and fiscal crisis since the Great Depression. Working families, senior citizens, and college students around the state are making sacrifices to protect the vital public services we all depend on. Right now in the Colorado legislature, a crucial debate is underway to close specific loopholes and suspend a few special-interest giveaways in order to fund essential services like schools, health care, and public safety in a balanced way. But corporate lobbyists are pulling out all the stops, pressuring your representatives to shift the burden onto the middle class and preserve these giveaways--the legislature needs to hear from you today. http://progressnowcolorado.org/StopTheGiveaways Colorado loses billions of dollars each year in needless giveaways of your tax dollars for things like fast food packaging, corporate electric bills, even delivering junk mail to your home. The Governor and legislative leaders have proposed eliminating some of these loopholes. In response, corporate lobbyists flooded the state capitol, pushing a proposal to tax your groceries and medicine instead--a terrible idea that would hit average working families the hardest. Please take 30 seconds right now: tell your legislators to reject corporate lobbyists and close these special interest loopholes to balance Colorado's budget. http://progressnowcolorado.org/StopTheGiveaways With revenue to fund Colorado's vital public services plummeting in the current recession, we need everyone to come together and do what is necessary to ensure that our citizens are healthy, our streets are safe and our children have the education they need to compete in the global economy. It's time for corporate and other special interests to pay their fair share, and suspending a small fraction of the over $2 billion Colorado loses every year in corporate loopholes and giveaways is not too much to ask. Thanks for standing up for what's right in these challenging times. Together, we'll see Colorado through today's tough choices and emerge stronger. Sincerely, Alan Franklin ProgressNow Colorado http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZhY http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZhY/commentary#comments Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:32:05 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZhY Alan Franklin http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/1b6fb917dd91e10cc0_ge5omv53a.jpg Alan Franklin 1 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZhY/ And we export what? $6.4 Billion of war toys to Taiwan.  China could swat Taiwan like a gnat.  BTW, anyone checking the containers coming in from China?  No need to, you know you don't bite the hand that feeds you.  Considering that we prop up "monarchs" in the Middle East and their people live lives of desperation is it any wonder there are a lot of pissed off Arabs?  Take Iraq for instance, production of 3.5 million barrels a day @ $70 a barrel would provide an annual income for every man, woman and child of $3,726.   When you spend upwards of $18 Billion on weapons (Saudi total) and dole out $ Billions to sons, daughters, wives, uncles and cousins, it tends to cut into the $3,726.   BTW about those Iraqi chemical weapons: "THE US and Britain sold Saddam Hussein the technology and materials Iraq needed to develop nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction. Reports by the US Senate's committee on banking, housing and urban affairs -- which oversees American exports policy -- reveal that the US, under the successive administrations of Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr, sold materials including anthrax, VX nerve gas, West Nile fever germs and botulism to Iraq right up until March 1992, as well as germs similar to tuberculosis and pneumonia. Other bacteria sold included brucella melitensis, which damages major organs, and clostridium perfringens, which causes gas gangrene." The Senate report also makes clear that: 'The United States provided the government of Iraq with 'dual use' licensed materials which assisted in the development of Iraqi chemical, biological and missile-system programs.' This assistance, according to the report, included 'chemical warfare-agent precursors, chemical warfare-agent production facility plans and technical drawings,........................... .............The Senate report also makes clear that: 'The United States provided the government of Iraq with 'dual use' licensed materials which assisted in the development of Iraqi chemical, biological and missile-system programs.' This assistance, according to the report, included 'chemical warfare-agent precursors, chemical warfare-agent production facility plans and technical drawings, *chemical warfare filling equipment , biological warfare-related materials, missile fabrication equipment and missile system guidance equipment'., biological warfare-related materials, missile fabrication equipment and missile system guidance equipment'.  (*You need filling equipment to load US 155 mm artillery projectiles) Source NY TimesJanuary 31, 2010China Leading Global Race to Make Clean Energy By KEITH BRADSHER TIANJIN, China — China vaulted past competitors in Denmark, Germany, Spain and the United States last year to become the world’s largest maker of wind turbines , and is poised to expand even further this year. China has also leapfrogged the West in the last two years to emerge as the world’s largest manufacturer of solar panels. And the country is pushing equally hard to build nuclear reactors and the most efficient types of coal power plants. These efforts to dominate renewable energy technologies raise the prospect that the West may someday trade its dependence on oil from the Mideast for a reliance on solar panels, wind turbines and other gear manufactured in China. “Most of the energy equipment will carry a brass plate, ‘Made in China,’ ” said K. K. Chan, the chief executive of Nature Elements Capital, a private equity fund in Beijing that focuses on renewable energy.  NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/business/energy-environment/31renew.html?hpw http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZhP http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZhP/commentary#comments Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:15:04 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZhP Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZhP/ DENVER: As citizens from around Colorado gathered today at the state capitol, asking Big Business to pay their fair share to help balance Colorado's budget, ProgressNow Colorado Executive Director Bobby Clark released the following statement:   "Working families, senior citizens and students around the state are making hard sacrifices to protect the vital public services we all depend on, and suspending a small percentage of the tax breaks for business that cost Colorado billions of dollars every year is not too much to ask for.   It was dismaying, but not surprising, to hear today that former Congressman Scott 'McLobbyist' McInnis has weighed in on the side of Big Business and against Colorado's middle class families, praising business' lobbying efforts to kill this important budget-balancing legislation. Instead of paying their fair share to help balance Colorado's budget, business lobbyists actually proposed charging sales tax on groceries and medicine--a move that would cause true hardship around the state, hitting those who can least afford higher taxes the hardest. What's more, McInnis fails once again to provide an alternative that would enable the state to meet its obligations.   Scott McInnis and his Big Business lobbyist friends should be ashamed of themselves for proposing we tax the neediest Colorado families before they give up a single one of their precious corporate giveaways. It's unconscionable, and the voters of Colorado won't stand for it." http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZh4 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZh4/commentary#comments Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:21:29 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZh4 Alan Franklin http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/1b6fb917dd91e10cc0_ge5omv53a.jpg Alan Franklin 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZh4/ Got homeland security? "There is no national record-keeping of how many illnesses are caused by sewage spills. But academic research suggests that as many as 20 million people each year become ill from drinking water containing bacteria and other pathogens that are often spread by untreated waste................" "The only real solution, say many lawmakers and water advocates, is extensive new spending on sewer systems largely ignored for decades. As much as $400 billion in extra spending is needed over the next decade to fix the nation’s sewer infrastructure, according to estimates by the E.P.A. and the Government Accountability Office. " There are 129 million housing units in the US, given the overall cost of $400 billion to fix the sewers/storm drains, the ten year expenditure for each household would be $3100. The yearly cost $310. The monthly cost $25.83. Think of it as 10 Starbucks short lattes. btw, each of those households spend $4,651 a year on "defense." Are we too stupid to live? MC NY Times November 23, 2009 Sewers at Capacity, Waste Poisons Waterways By CHARLES DUHIGG It was drizzling lightly in late October when the midnight shift started at the Owls Head Water Pollution Control Plant, where much of Brooklyn’s sewage is treated. A few miles away, people were walking home without umbrellas from late dinners. But at Owls Head, a swimming pool’s worth of sewage and wastewater was soon rushing in every second. Warning horns began to blare. A little after 1 a.m., with a harder rain falling, Owls Head reached its capacity and workers started shutting the intake gates. NY Times http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZhn http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZhn/commentary#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:37:45 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZhn Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZhn/ As Colorado Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry hypocritically attacked the state government and Governor Bill Ritter during Colorado's ongoing budget crisis, ProgressNow Colorado, the state's largest online progressive advocacy organization demanded Wednesday that Penry come clean about immediate family members both recently hired and currently employed by Mesa State College. "It is ridiculous beyond belief that 'Pandering' Josh Penry misrepresents fiscal reality and vital state services for political gain, while his own family pockets state funds each payday," said ProgressNow Colorado Founder Michael Huttner. Penry's Misrepresentation  The  Denver Post  recently reported that despite Penry's attacks on Governor Ritter's so-called "hiring spree," most of the growth in state employment can be traced to simple population growth, increases mandated by the voter's passage of Referendum C in 2005, and legislation passed by the General Assembly--including legislation sponsored by Sen. Penry. (Denver Post,  "Analysis suggests increased Colorado state jobs may be overstated,"  10/11/2009) Penry's Hypocrisy  Last week, the  Grand Junction Sentinel  reported that state-funded Mesa State College "has a history of hiring former political workers and those connected to them," including Kristi Pollard, the recently-hired 'Interim Director of Development' at Mesa State and Sen. Josh Penry's sister. Jamie Penry, Sen. Penry's wife, is also a former Mesa State employee according to the  Sentinel . ( Grand Junction Sentinel , "Mesa State hires as campus grows, enrollment soars," 10/25/2009) "That Penry would make these lazy, irresponsible accusations, while his own family snaps up the very same high-paying state jobs Penry complains the loudest about, is just mind-boggling and laughable," said Huttner. "Penry at the very least owes the public a good explanation. I think he owes the public, and thousands of hard working Colorado civil servants he's insulted, an apology as well." "Finally," concluded Huttner, "we call on Penry to immediately disclose whether he personally has sought employment at Mesa State College while serving in the Colorado General Assembly, or at any time discussed the hiring of his family members with Mesa State officials."  http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZRm http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZRm/commentary#comments Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:55:15 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZRm Alan Franklin http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/1b6fb917dd91e10cc0_ge5omv53a.jpg Alan Franklin 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZRm/ "If the only tool you have is a hammer, it is tempting to treat every problem as a nail"Don't think we suck at nation building?"The record of past U.S. experience in democratic nation building is daunting. The low rate of success is a sobering reminder that these are among the most difficult foreign policy ventures for the United States. Of the sixteen such efforts during the past century, democracy was sustained in only four cases ten years after the departure of U.S. forces. Two of these followed the total defeat and surrender of Japan and Germany after World War II, and two were tiny Grenada and Panama." Source NY TimesOctober 29, 2009Op-Ed ColumnistMore Schools, Not Troops By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF Dispatching more troops to Afghanistan would be a monumental bet and probably a bad one, most likely a waste of lives and resources that might simply empower the Taliban. In particular, one of the most compelling arguments against more troops rests on this stunning trade-off: For the cost of a single additional soldier stationed in Afghanistan for one year, we could build roughly 20 schools there. It’s hard to do the calculation precisely, but for the cost of 40,000 troops over a few years — well, we could just about turn every Afghan into a Ph.D. The hawks respond: It’s naïve to think that you can sprinkle a bit of education on a war-torn society. It’s impossible to build schools now because the Taliban will blow them up. In fact, it’s still quite possible to operate schools in Afghanistan — particularly when there’s a strong “buy-in” from the local community. Greg Mortenson, author of “Three Cups of Tea,” has now built 39 schools in Afghanistan and 92 in Pakistan — and not one has been burned down or closed. The aid organization CARE has 295 schools educating 50,000 girls in Afghanistan, and not a single one has been closed or burned by the Taliban. The Afghan Institute of Learning , another aid group, has 32 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with none closed by the Taliban (although local communities have temporarily suspended three for security reasons). In short, there is still vast scope for greater investment in education, health and agriculture in Afghanistan. These are extraordinarily cheap and have a better record at stabilizing societies than military solutions, which, in fact, have a pretty dismal record. In Afghanistan, for example, we have already increased our troop presence by 40,000 troops since the beginning of last year, yet the result has not been the promised stability but only more casualties and a strengthened insurgency. If the last surge of 40,000 troops didn’t help, why will the next one be so different? Matthew P. Hoh, an American military veteran who was the top civilian officer in Zabul Province, resigned over Afghan policy , as The Washington Post reported this week. Mr. Hoh argues that our military presence is feeding the insurgency, not quelling it. Already our troops have created a backlash with Kabul University students this week burning President Obama in effigy until police dispersed them with gunshots. The heavier our military footprint, the more resentment — and perhaps the more legitimacy for the Taliban. Schools are not a quick fix or silver bullet any more than troops are. But we have abundant evidence that they can, over time, transform countries, and in the area near Afghanistan there’s a nice natural experiment in the comparative power of educational versus military tools. Since 9/11, the United States has spent $15 billion in Pakistan , mostly on military support, and today Pakistan is more unstable than ever. In contrast, Bangladesh, which until 1971 was a part of Pakistan, has focused on education in a way that Pakistan never did. Bangladesh now has more girls in high school than boys. (In contrast, only 3 percent of Pakistani women in the tribal areas are literate.) Those educated Bangladeshi women joined the labor force, laying the foundation for a garment industry and working in civil society groups like BRAC and Grameen Bank . That led to a virtuous spiral of development, jobs, lower birth rates, education and stability. That’s one reason Al Qaeda is holed up in Pakistan, not in Bangladesh, and it’s a reminder that education can transform societies. When I travel in Pakistan, I see evidence that one group — Islamic extremists — believes in the transformative power of education. They pay for madrassas that provide free schooling and often free meals for students. They then offer scholarships for the best pupils to study abroad in Wahhabi madrassas before returning to become leaders of their communities. What I don’t see on my trips is similar numbers of American-backed schools. It breaks my heart that we don’t invest in schools as much as medieval, misogynist extremists. For roughly the same cost as stationing 40,000 troops in Afghanistan for one year, we could educate the great majority of the 75 million children worldwide who, according to Unicef, are not getting even a primary education. We won’t turn them into graduate students, but we can help them achieve literacy. Such a vast global education campaign would reduce poverty, cut birth rates, improve America’s image in the world, promote stability and chip away at extremism. Education isn’t a panacea, and no policy in Afghanistan is a sure bet. But all in all, the evidence suggests that education can help foster a virtuous cycle that promotes stability and moderation. So instead of sending 40,000 troops more to Afghanistan, how about opening 40,000 schools? NY Times http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZRl http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZRl/commentary#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:49:35 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZRl Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZRl/ Waste not, want not.  Pee- the most abundant waste on Earth.Urine-Powered Cars: The Pros and Cons Bradford Plumer October 23, 2009 | 12:39 pm For reasons explained before [1], we'll likely all be driving electric cars long before we ever see mass-market vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells, which was once the great clean-car hope. Still, the fuel-cell approach is obviously worth researching, and now researchers have lit upon [2] a particularly promising fuel source. Oh yes, urine: Using hydrogen to power cars has become an increasingly attractive transportation fuel, as the only emission produced is water - but a major stumbling block is the lack of a cheap, renewable source of the fuel. Gerardine Botte of Ohio University may now have found the answer, using an electrolytic approach to produce hydrogen from urine—the most abundant waste on Earth—at a fraction of the cost of producing hydrogen from water. Urine's major constituent is urea, which incorporates four hydrogen atoms per molecule—importantly, less tightly bonded than the hydrogen atoms in water molecules. Botte used electrolysis to break the molecule apart, developing an inexpensive new nickel-based electrode to selectively and efficiently oxidise the urea. To break the molecule down, a voltage of 0.37V needs to be applied across the cell—much less than the 1.23V needed to split water. Good to know! Meanwhile, there's an opposing school of thought that, while piss-powered cars are awfully promising, we should really be conserving our urine for other, more important ecological purposes: However, Logan does feel that it would be a good idea to start saving up our urine—although not for the hydrogen. 'You have to remember about the P [phosphorus] in pee—globally we need to start thinking about conserving phosphorus for fertiliser, because, just like oil, one day the deposits are all going to run out and we need to start building phosphorus recycling into our infrastructure,' he says. More on peak phosphorous here [3]. NY Times http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZRD http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZRD/commentary#comments Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:13:20 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZRD Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 1 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZRD/ Absurdity upon Absurdity Michael Collins The health care debate and general political climate compound absurdity upon absurdity. First we're told that our health care is only worth the time and effort if the remedy has no negative impact on the budget.  No deficits allowed.  The deficit risk defines your chances for health and longevity. At the same time, we see that Wall Street failures and the overseas war effort are not held to the same standard on deficits spending. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/mcollins/CZnp http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/mcollins/CZnp/commentary#comments Mon, 12 Oct 2009 02:58:04 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/mcollins/CZnp Michael Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/0f4307568de17110c5_xdbmv2rzb.jpg Michael Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZnp/ Lets see, McChrystal wants 40,000 troops and his boss, Petraeus, is keeping his mouth shut. What's up with that? MC "— Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s reported recommendation of 40,000 additional troops — is itself counterinsurgency light. In his definitive recent field manual on the subject, Gen. David Petraeus stipulates that real counterinsurgency requires 20 to 25 troops for each thousand residents. That comes out, conservatively, to 640,000 troops for Afghanistan (population, 32 million). Some 535,000 American troops couldn’t achieve a successful counterinsurgency in South Vietnam, which had half Afghanistan’s population and just over a quarter of its land area."   http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZnJ http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZnJ/commentary#comments Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:27:51 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZnJ Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZnJ/ Could $292,000 pay for a college or trade school education, room and board?  Subsidize a young person until they could land a good job?  With the change left over, could it pay to make high school more hospitable to the poor? For public works projects? For more teachers? Research and development?  We ignore the needs of young people at a terrible cost. And yes, it does take a village.  What are the economic effects of 1.2 million high school dropouts per year?  At $7,300 per student, that amounts to $8.76 billion a year, year two adds another 1.2 million students and becomes $17.52 billion, ad infinitum. Can we solve the problem?  Can we afford not to? What can you buy with $8.76 billion?  How about 175,200 teachers at $50 K a pop, that's one teacher for every 7 dropouts.  MC "The report puts the collective cost to the nation over the working life of each high school dropout at $292,000. Mr. Sum said that figure took into account lost tax revenues, since dropouts earn less and therefore pay less in taxes than high school graduates. It also includes the costs of providing food stamps and other aid to dropouts and of incarcerating those who turn to crime." October 9, 2009 Study Finds High Rate of Imprisonment Among Dropouts By SAM DILLON On any given day, about one in every 10 young male high school dropouts is in jail or juvenile detention, compared with one in 35 young male high school graduates, according to a new study of the effects of dropping out of school in an America where demand for low-skill workers is plunging. The picture is even bleaker for African-Americans, with nearly one in four young black male dropouts incarcerated or otherwise institutionalized on an average day, the study said. That compares with about one in 14 young, male, white, Asian or Hispanic dropouts. Researchers at Northeastern University used census and other government data to carry out the study, which tracks the employment, workplace, parenting and criminal justice experiences of young high school dropouts. "We’re trying to show what it means to be a dropout in the 21st century United States," said Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern, who headed a team of researchers that prepared the report. "It’s one of the country’s costliest problems. The unemployment, the incarceration rates — it’s scary." A coalition of civil rights and public education advocacy groups and a network of alternative schools in Chicago commissioned the report as part of a push for new educational opportunities for the nation’s 6.2 million high school dropouts. "The dropout rate is driving the nation’s increasing prison population, and it’s a drag on America’s economic competitiveness," said Marc H. Morial, the former New Orleans mayor who is president of the National Urban League, one of the groups in the coalition that commissioned the report. "This report makes it clear that every American pays a cost when a young person leaves school without a diploma." The report puts the collective cost to the nation over the working life of each high school dropout at $292,000. Mr. Sum said that figure took into account lost tax revenues, since dropouts earn less and therefore pay less in taxes than high school graduates. It also includes the costs of providing food stamps and other aid to dropouts and of incarcerating those who turn to crime. Continued at the: NY Times http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZnn http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZnn/commentary#comments Sun, 11 Oct 2009 11:25:13 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZnn Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZnn/ From the Bob Herbert op/ed, "Igniting the Growth of Jobs" NY Times '40,000 teachers lost their jobs in the last year.  16 to 29 year olds, worst unemployment ever since national records have been kept.   One in four black men in Illinois between the ages of 20 and 24 has a job.' One of the regents of the University of Colorado, Michael Carrigan, told me that Colorado had a return on investment of 40 to 1 for each dollar invested in higher ed. The only figures I could find for Colorado was a 15.07 percent return.  New Jersey leads the nation with 42.32 percent, followed by Massachusetts 39.16, New York 37.82, California 36.53 percent.  All in all a substantial return on investment.  The lowest in the nation, predictably, was Mississippi at 6.49 percent.  Most surprisingly, Indiana is second from the bottom at 7.22 percent Higher Ed Return on Investment for States Most significantly, Herbert says this: ""The past," as William Faulkner told us, "is not dead. It’s not even past ." The lessons of the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s are right in front of us, ready to be studied, analyzed, updated and applied to the present-day needs of the country." I hate to say this, but we are a country of nepotism, in our unions, our military, in corporations, in government.  Because of this "inbreeding" and counterproductive behavior, we must import the brightest minds/strongest work ethics from around the world to carry our water and be used as if indentured servants.  It is all a vast pyramid scheme where the unqualified extinguish the flames of the most gifted and reap the rewards off the backs of the timid.  Their only qualification?  Being members of the lucky sperm club.  Here's something the "conservative revision" Bible will surely leave out, "As you have done to the least of these......."  The least very much includes the youthful poor, who have no say in the conditions they find themselves in and obviously don't have the attention of those that have the most.  While we argue about war, healthcare, social justice, gay rights, Obama's Nobel Prize, etc., no one considers our most precious asset nor what should be our greatest legacy to them, "Liberty and Justice for all .."  This is what is great about the idea of America, eloquently pronounced in the Preamble of the Constitution, not just to ourselves but to our Posterity,  the word was capitalized unlike the word "ourselves": http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZnG http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZnG/commentary#comments Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:30:58 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZnG Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZnG/ Senator Michael Bennet was one of 30 signatories on a letter to the Senate leadership demanding that the HELP Committee's optional public insurance plan be included in the final bill. The next day, Senator Bennet, Senator Udall (not ours, but his cousin from New Mexico), and others joined Senator Brown on the floor to press for the public option in person. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZnS http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZnS/commentary#comments Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:19:14 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZnS Michael Ditto http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/f660dc8ce688a8bfdc_5fmmv2i99.jpg Michael Ditto 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZnS/ Early on Kristoff suggests that Congress eliminate insurance for 15% of their members and let that 15% take their children to an emergency room for care. NOT going to happen, however he will incur apoplectic reaction from the jingoists for "demeaning" the holiness of 9/11. Forever waving the bloody flag of 9/11, never stopping to consider those responsible for allowing it to happen, the unconscionable attack of Iraq, our unlawful and horrific violations of human decency, the civilian casualties ("We don't do body counts"). The most cowardly concept that "fighting them over there.........." by recruiting our economically disadvantaged citizens and green card immigrants was somehow noble and justified defilement of the Constitution, death and disfigurement to innocents. A most arrogant display to the rest of the world of what we are actually capable of. For a country that spends $600 Billion on "defense" allowing a 58 minute attack on three different targets was absurdly incompetent. The absurdity of what we spend is a whole other can of worms. "............We accept that life is unfair, that some people will live in cramped apartments and others in sprawling mansions. But our existing insurance system is not simply inequitable but also lethal: a very recent, peer-reviewed article in the American Journal of Public Health finds that nearly 45,000 uninsured people die annually as a consequence of not having insurance. That’s one needless death every 12 minutes. When nearly 3,000 people were killed on 9/11, we began wars and were willing to devote more than $1 trillion in additional expenses. Yet about the same number of Americans die from our failed insurance system every three weeks. The obstacle isn’t so much money as priorities. America made it a priority to provide tax breaks, largely to the wealthy, in the Bush years, at a 10-year cost including interest of $2.4 trillion. Allocating less than half that much to assure equal access to health care isn’t deemed an equal priority............." Complete Op/Ed at The NY Times http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZnM http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZnM/commentary#comments Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:50:51 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZnM Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZnM/ I've been a little depressed lately, the Michael Moore movie seems to have intensified the despair. Much has been said to marginalize the so called "left wing" of the Democrat Party. In reality, the left wing is the "right" wing, meaning that it is the segment of the party that is mostly correct in it's philosophies and promotes academic, logical introspection and solutions. Most of all they are somewhat unselfishly devoted to truth, justice and the idea that America is duty-bound to strive for a more perfect union. That liberty and justice for all applies to our law and most certainly to economic equity. I am afraid that conservative/blue dog Democrat thought implies no room for improvement or reflection and a preference for a balance that is in their favor. The Right Wing of the Democrat Party seems the most "Christian" in its opinions and deeds. However, they are less likely to belong to an organized religion, they carry within them the only law that matters when dealing with most human, animal and earthly interaction. The Golden Rule is at once logical and effortless, what else could qualify as "self-evident" if not the Golden Rule. Where are we as a nation? From the Declaration of Independence comes a profound clue, an indication that we are in fact sheep, the status quo is undemanding of social responsibility or activism: "accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed." The Declaration of Independence "When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed............................." In the words of Ann Richards in answer to, "What must Democrats do in order to win" she answered, "You (All of us) must find the courage to talk to the people you don't know and tell them things they may not want to hear." Michael Moore has that kind of courage. I wish I had asked Governor Richards if there was a cure for complacency. MC CONFORMITY We are discreet sheep; we wait to see how the drove is going, and then go with the drove. - Mark Twain's Autobiography Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform (or pause and reflect). Mark Twain- Notebook, 1904 Conformity-the natural instinct to passively yield to that vague something recognized as authority. Mark Twain- "Corn Pone Opinions" TREACHERY Gratitude and treachery are merely the two extremities of the same procession. You have seen all of it that is worth staying for when the band and the gaudy officials have gone by. Mark Twain- Pudd'nhead Wilson TRADITION ...scrap heap of unverifiable odds and ends which we call tradition. Mark Twain- Speech, 5/25/1908 JUSTICE The rain ...falls upon the just and the unjust alike; a thing which would not happen if I were superintending the rain's affairs. No, I would rain softly and sweetly on the just, but if I caught a sample of the unjust outdoors I would drown him. - Mark Twain, a Biography TRUTH Familiarity breeds contempt. How accurate that is. The reason we hold truth in such respect is because we have so little opportunity to get familiar with it. Mark Twain- Notebook, 1898 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSY http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSY/commentary#comments Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:58:31 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSY Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZSY/