Corporate welfare, spying, Egyptian 'democracy' and malaria

-The Nation of Change website explores which company is the biggest wage stiffer in America. The article also pointed out that: A study in Wisconsin by the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce determined that a typical Walmart store costs taxpayers over $1.7 million per year, or about $5,815 per employee.

-President Obama today announced modest changes to the program that spies on every America. Despite the tweaks, the program remains a clear violation of the 4th Amendment.
If Obama had truly ‘welcomed’ this debate, as he disingenuously claimed in his press conference, he would’ve started the debate on himself a long time ago. For him to say the debate would've happened without Snowden's actions is so disingenuous as to be laughable.

-John Kerry, secretary of state of our Nobel Peace Prize president, recently described the coup in Egypt as 'restoring democracy.' Yes, that's the military coup that overthrew a democratically-elected government. And we thought such Orwellian doublespeak was a relic of the Cold War. In Egypt itself, some protesters are trying to find a third way. "What Egypt is doing right now is repeating the same mistakes, only doing so with much greater enthusiasm and speed," warned one expert. "All of the plots in the 2011 transition — a rushed constitutional process, a failure to hammer out consensus on basic issues, a complete trust in the military — those are all being repeated."

-Many media outlets reported the successful trials of a vaccine against malaria, the world's deadliest disease. A hopeful sign... hopefully.

Wal-Mart: America's biggest welfare queen

I was reading an article on how giant retailers stiff their workers and it pointed out how they're also stiffing American taxpayers.


It cited a study by the US Committee on Education at the Workforce [which] determined that a typical Walmart store *costs* taxpayers over $1.7 million per year, or about $5,815 per employee.

The analysis is probably overly generous to retailers, seeming to assume the average employee is actually assigned to work for 40 hours.

When they receive huge corporate welfare benefits *and* pay employees so little that they have to seek food stamps, Medicaid and other social services, Wal-Mart is leeching off the taxpayer at both ends.

Obama admin backs homicidal junta

"When I give food to the poor, I'm called a saint. When I ask why they are poor, I'm called a communist." -Archbishop Dom Helder Camara. This essay is part of an occasional feature on this blog that presents compelling stories from elsewhere in the world, particularly Africa, that are little reported in the American media. It's part of my campaign to get people to realize there is a lot going on in the world outside the US, IsraelStine and the Trumped Up Enemy of the Month. A list of all pieces in this series can be found found here..


In an Orwellian twist worthy of anything Donald Rumsfeld or Dick Cheney said, Secretary of State John Kerry has stated that the Egyptian military was merely 'restoring democracy' when it overthrew the democratically-elected president.

There you have it, folks. Your Nobel Peace-prize winning president and his administration is backing thugs who murder peaceful protesters... and doing so with your tax money.

What racism sounds like in the 21st century

At the diner tonight, I heard two guys talking about various current events. Part of the discussion went like this:

GUY A: ... Obama said that there's hardly a black man in the country that hasn't been followed in a department store. He said there's hardly a black man in the country that hasn't been pulled over for no reason.

GUY B: That's because 95 percent of black men have spent time in prison. It's their actions.

Yes, that's right. He said 95% of black men have spent time in prison. (As best I can determine, the actual number is around 17%)

Or to put it another way, if this guy were in a room with 20 black men, he would assume that 19 of them had spent time in person. On average, it would, in fact, be 3 or 4.

This illustrates how racist attitudes can linger, via casual generalizations, even if overt hostility diminishes. It causes people to overestimate the threat posed by someone simply because of their gender and skin color combination.

My guess, from hearing other parts of this conversation, is that he heard this statistic or something like it somewhere and just assumed it was true because it fit with his worldview.

This guy isn't racist in the vein of George Wallace or the KKK. He didn't say anything about wishing black men ill. He's (presumably) not burning crosses or lynching anyone. He just believes that nearly all black men are criminals. 

This is what racism sounds like in the 21st century.

American exceptionalism

Outraged Turks and Brazilians have taken to the streets protesting authoritarianism and corruption. 

Outraged Americans have taken to Facebook and Twitter protesting the firing of a TV cooking host.

Cheap food: when it's good and when it's bad

Today is the 18th anniversary of arriving in West Africa to be a Peace Corps Volunteer. I saw a post recently about a local whole foods place wondering if customers would be willing to pay $7.50 for a certified organic pineapple. And it reminded me of one of the things that struck me when I lived in West Africa.

Fresh food was cheap - even without the help (?) of Monsanto - and processed food was expensive, the complete opposite of what is true here in the United States. In my village, I think a fresh pineapple (obviously organic if not "certified"), harvested literally hours before, would cost you the equivalent of about a quarter. 10 fresh oranges cost a dime.

The non-unique threat posed by militant Islam

The Huffington Post had an article about recent revelations on the depth of National Security Agency spying on Americans.

Key passages: It's as if the United States has two governments, one open and one very much not... Obama's 2009 marching orders for classifying documents closely resembled those of his predecessors at least back to Ronald Reagan... ‘Secrecy has become an obstacle in many areas of public policy. And we still are living with a classification system that is a legacy of the Cold War era.’

This belies the propaganda that militant Islam represents a unique threat, unprecedented in American history, requiring brand new measures that disregard the Constitution in order to combat.

In reality, it’s the same threat we've faced in the past with different demons. That’s why use the same rhetoric and tactics, only with different names.

Emperor Andrew and his new clothes

North Country Public Radio's In Box blog did a piece entitled 'Voters slap down four school budgets that bust prop[erty] tax cap.' That title is misleading because in at least one of them, the budget was approved by a majority of voters, but not the arbitrary 60% required under the new law for any proposed increase above the artificial tax cap (generally seen as 2% but other factors can make it vary).

This has been a pet peeve of mine. School budgets are the only taxes people get to vote on, at least in New York. As the only tax approved by direct democracy, imposing an arbitrary supermajority requirement seems particularly unfair.

But the real problem is how Governor Andrew Cuomo has shamefully broken his promise twin the tax cap with much needed mandate relief for schools, counties and municipalities.So basically he's told these entities: we're going to micromanage everything you have to do but we're going to make it as difficult as possible to raise enough revenue to do all those things we impose on you without your consent.

I suggest a different kind of cap. If the state mandated part of a school district's budget rises by more than 2% - the part that Albany has total control of and the districts zero - then the state should pay the difference. This might make Albany think a little more carefully before imposing every mandate under the sun. A little accountability would be nice.

But this is Albany. If there were any accountability in the place, Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver would be out on his can for *repeatedly* aiding and abetting sexual predators, using our tax money to do so. So localities shouldn't expect a fair shake anytime soon.

Cuomo is big on lecturing lower levels of government. He wags his finger at others on how all they have to do is make 'tough decisions' and things will be hunky dory... even though a huge number of the decisions are imposed on them by Cuomo himself and his minions. A typical county budget in New York has 80-90% of its expenses mandated by the state; its actual flexibility is minimal.

But Emperor Andrew's real sham is the elaborate shell games he likes to play precisely so he himself can avoid making tough decisions. The vaunted tax cap is a great example. He didn't do a darn thing. This doesn't require him to make a single tough decision. The law just tells other people what to do, people who had nothing to do with passing the law, and makes them pick up the pieces.

The law ties the hands of lower levels of government so Cuomo can puff his chest and say "I kept taxes in check"... while avoiding having the make the tough decisions involved with paring down mandates. The mandate part, he passed of to some commission years ago and we've heard virtually nothing since.

This way, the counties, municipalities and school districts who will take the heat for laying off staff and cutting programs while Emperor Andrew keeps himself above the fray and pontificates on tough decisions... the kind he's too gutless to make himself.

Cuomo is a master at doing nothing, passing the buck and portraying it as progress. His latest shell game has to do with tax-free zones, similar to the discredited Empire Zone scam. The idea is that if new businesses set up in towns with a state university campus, they can get tax-free status for up to a decade.

Emperor Andrew is a very smart politician. He proposes things like this and the tax cap which sound great, so long as you don't look to carefully at some... something which he's counting on most people not done.

But for the tax-free zone plan, more than likely, taxes will actually INCREASE for most people in those places.

These new businesses will be apparently exempt from property taxes. Yet they will still be using the same public services like roads, snow removal and fire and police protection. The total cost of public services will remain the same, but with fewer property taxpayers (because of all the exemptions) to share that burden, those who actually are paying taxes will pay more.

The only way this could be avoided is for Albany to reimburse localities for the revenue lost from these tax-exempt businesses.

And that's about as likely to happen as a wave of honesty and good governance to break out in the Capitol.