Songs Played on WORT – FM’s “Access Hour” Show on Financial Incentives Proposal to Reduce Global Warming and Income Inequality in Wisconsin
Conserve Now ex sum Conserve NOW!1.doc; Final
As promised to the listeners of WORT – FM”s Monday, January 13, 2014 “Access Hour” show on my proposed “positive financial incentives approach” to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from Wisconsin sources (also called “Conserve, NOW” ), listed below are the titles of the songs that were played during the program and their artists or performers. They are listed in the order played during the hour. I gave summary of the Conserve NOW proposal after the first song,”What’s Going On”, by Marvin Gaye, played.
As also promised, I will also post a transcript of what I said during the show, along with addition supporting information, in a subsequent post.
I am proposing to substantially increase the positive financial incentives for reducing annual miles driven, flying trips made during the year (none), and reduced annual heating and electricity consumption that is obtained from burning fossil fuels. When I first made this proposal to my elected federal and state representatives in May 2000, individuals or families could earn up to a maximum sum of $8,400 by conserving energy. Because of the lack of substantive action in Wisconsin and elsewhere to reduce annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – GHGs accumulate in the atmosphere and oceans over time – and the growing poverty in Wisconsin, due to continuing unemployment, as well as underemployment (low wages) which has caused gross income inequality, yet (outrageously) continued reductions in government financial assistance. Therefore, it has become necessary to triple the maximum amount that can be earned by individuals and families living in Wisconsin under Conserve NOW to $25,200.
Songs played on January 13th Access Hour – wortfm.org/archives:
1. What’s Going On, by Marvine Gaye.
2. Crazy World, by Lucky Dube.
3. “The Last Resort, by Eagles (written by Don Henley.
4. Lives in the Balance, by Jackson Brown.
5. Sun Green, by Neil Young.
6. Be the Rain, by Neil Young.
7. Not of Seasons, by Mississippi Charles. Bevel.
Leaked TPP Texts Reveal a Bonanza of Special Rights for Corporations
All who care about preserving Earth for future Earthlings like us should call their representatives in the U.S. Congress and strongly recommend they object to the fast tracking this Pact for President Obama’s signature.
Environmental groups slammed leaked text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership’s (TPP’s) draft environment chapter, published by Wikileaks on January 15, saying it is completely inadequate to protecting the planet’s oceans, forests or wildlife.
“If the environment chapter is finalized as written in this leaked document, President Obama’s environmental trade record would be worse that George W. Bush’s,” said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club.
“Environmental protections are only as effective as their enforcement provisions, and a trade agreement with week enforcement language will do little or nothing to protect our communities and wildlife,” said Peter Lehner, executive director of the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
The environment chapter leak follows a line of leaked texts revealing a bonanza of special rights for corporations proposed for the TPP.
In December 2013, HuffingtonPost published leaked documents revealing that the United States was bullying other nations into accepting some of the worst expansions of corporate power proposed in any international agreement. A heavily-redacted memo summarizing countries’ negotiating positions on a variety of TPP chapters heading into the December 7-to-10, 2013 Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) ministerial in Singapore showed that the U.S. was behind pushes for new powers for corporations in the investment chapter, financial services chapter, intellectual property chapter and others.
An earlier “cheat sheet”-style chart from prior to the November 2013 Salt Lake City Round of negotiations contained additional information about countries’ positions.
Leaked text of the TPP investment, intellectual property, regulatory coherence and drug formularies chapters, as well as annexes to the Technical Barriers to Trade chapter, first published by Citizens Trade Campaign in 2011 and 2012, had already revealed the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) pushing for a bevy of special rights for transnational corporations that would come at the expense of environmental protection, consumer safety and access to medicine.
An updated copy of the Intellectual Property chapter published by Wikileaks in November 2013 further helped to shine a light on this secretive pact.
Draft texts are said to exist for some 29 separate TPP chapters, but despite approximately four years of steady negotiations, none have ever been officially released for public scrutiny.
“Americans deserve the right to know what U.S. negotiators are proposing in our names,” said Arthur Stamoulis, executive director of Citizens Trade Campaign. ”In the absence of transparency on the part of our government, we have a responsibility to share what information we receive about the TPP with the public.”
Republican Bill adds Insult to Injury to Wisconsin’s Low-income Population Receiving Food Assistance Benefits
A Senate committee of the Wisconsin Legislature held a public hearing Wednesday (Jan. 15 ) on a bill that requires two-thirds of Food Share benefits (food stamps) be spent on healthy food. The bill, which was authored by Rep. Dean Kaufert (R-Neenah) and has already been passed by the Wisconsin Assembly, requires that two-thirds of the Food Share benefits an individual or family receives in Wisconsin must be spent on “good, healthy staples”.
Democrats and anti-hunger advocates questioned why just people using Food Share are being told what to eat. Matt Stienstra from Hunger Task Force in Milwaukee said that focusing on recipients stigmatizes people in the program.
The Hunger Task Force is also concerned the changes would complicate the benefits program and negatively affect the elderly, many of whom are already hesitant to use Food Share.
Under the proposed legislation, the state would seek a federal waiver for a pilot program changing how Food Share dollars are spent. Similar proposals in other states have been rejected by the federal government.
The bill adds insult to injury to nearly 900,000 people in Wisconsin who received a cut in their food assistance benefits under the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) last November. Those cuts reduced the food assistance by $89 million annually for Wisconsin’s financially struggling families, making it increasingly difficult for Wisconsin’s low-income population, including 1 out of 3 Wisconsin children (452,000 children), according to the Wisconsin Budget Project.. Children make up a large share of those who get help from SNAP in Wisconsin.
Access to full service grocery stores can also present problems for low-income FoodShare recipients buying “good healthy staples” because of their lack of access to an automobile or their not having such stores within reasonable walking distance or on affordable mass transit routes. All in all, this bill appears to represent a mean-spirited attack on many families and individuals who are already suffering from poverty and a reduction in their FoodShare benefits in Wisconsin, including many of the state’s minorities and growing elderly populations.
Email Message Sent September 8, 2013 to: Editor, Wisconsin State Journal (Not Published by Wis. State Journal)
Dear editor,
What more could our congressional and state representatives possibly be waiting for that would convince them global warming is a threat to our future? It is becoming a far greater threat than most people had first imagined, and it’s pace is accelerating by the degree that we all are adding to the increased build up greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
It is critical they take major actions now or it will be too late? The AP report published in the WSJ last Thursday summarized a just released joint National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and British meteorology office report that used thousands of runs of computer simulation of last year’s wildest weather events and reports that man-made global warming made U. S. heat waves and Superstorm Sandy flooding more likely, caused further shrinkage of Arctic sea ice, increased the likelihood of drought in Europe’s Iberian peninsula and flooding in Australia and New Zealand.
NOAA: 2013 November Average Global Temperature was the 345th Straight Month of Above Average Global Temperatures and Earth’s Warmest November of Record
November was a hot month for planet Earth. Government scientists reported Tuesday, December 18, that last month was the warmest November on record, across Earth, since record-keeping began in 1880.
In 2010, the United States emitted over 6.8 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases (CO2e). Greenhouse gases are emitted by all sectors of the economy, including electric power (34% of total), transportation (27%), industry (21%), residential & commercial (11%), and agriculture (7%).
The growing demand for air travel has resulted in increasing levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the aviation sector, despite efficiency improvements. Compared to driving, traveling by bus or taking the train, flying has a greater climate impact per passenger mile, even over longer distances. It’s also the mode of freight transport that produces the most emissions.
A special characteristic of aircraft emissions is that most of them are produced at cruising altitudes high in the atmosphere. Scientific studies have shown that these high-altitude emissions have a more harmful climate impact because they trigger a series of chemical reactions and atmospheric effects that have a net warming effect. The IPCC, for example, has estimated that the climate impact of aircraft is two to four times greater than the effect of their carbon dioxide emissions alone.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says average global temperature, for water and land surfaces combined, was 56.6 degrees (13.7 Celsius). That’s 1.4 degrees (0.78 degrees Celsius) above the 20th century average. It was the 37th consecutive November with above-average temperatures. The last below-average November was in 1976.
It was also the 345th straight month with above-average temperatures. That’s almost 29 years. Among the November hot spots: much of Eurasia, Central America and the Indian Ocean. In Russia, it was the warmest November on record. But parts of North America were cooler than average.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that “the atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide [greenhouse gases] have increased to levels unprecedented in at least the last 800,000 years. Carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations have increased by 40% since pre-industrial times, primarily from fossil fuel emissions and secondarily from net land use change emissions [deforestation]. The ocean has absorbed about 30% of the emitted anthropogenic carbon dioxide, causing ocean acidification”.
“Global mean sea level will continue to rise during the 21st century. The rate of sea level rise will very likely exceed that observed during 1971 to 2010 due to increased ocean warming and increased loss of mass from glaciers and ice sheets.”
“It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century”, the IPCC report states, and ” cumulative emissions of CO2 largely determine global mean surface warming by the late 21st century and beyond. Most aspects of climate change will persist for many centuries even if emissions of CO2 are stopped” and that “this represents a substantial multi-century climate change commitment created by past, present and future emissions of CO2.
Sources: IPCC, “Summary for Policymakers, Climate Change 2013”, October, 2013; Huffington Post Green, “2013 Brings Warmest November Since at Least 1880”, December 18, 2013; Center for Climate and Energy Solutions
One in 4 Veterans in the U.S are Homeless!
Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11% of the general adult population, according to a report to be released Thursday.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-11-07-homeless-veterans_N.htm
Armistice (Veteran’s) Day 11 November: “A Day to be Dedicated to the Cause of World Peace”
An Act of Congress, approved May 13, 1938, made November 11th of each year a U. S. federal holiday. Bells were rung throughout the world on November 11, 1918, the day that World War I, which the U.S. Congress called “the war to end all war”. The Act stated that it was the nation’s desire to have peaceful future, away from war, and that each November 11th from then on “shall be a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be hereafter celebrated and known as “Armistice Day.”
However, on June 1, 1954, the 83rd Congress amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word “Armistice” and inserting in its place the word “Veterans”, which enabled Americans to honor all veterans of wars the U.S. has engaged in. The organization Veteran’s For Peace, Inc., holds that Congress’s changing the word “Armistice” in the original law to “Veterans” the 1954 law changed the focus of the holiday from preserving the peace to “honoring warriors and war”, furthermore states “that too often rhetoric and patriotic symbols are used instead of genuine compensation for the extraordinary sacrifices and services of military personnel…”.
The Veterans for Peace also states (in its 2008 proclamation) that “the ringing of bells is so much more fitting and peaceful than the often practiced gun salutes and fighter plane flyovers” and Veterans For Peace, Inc. urges its membership to adopt the procedure of honoring peace by focusing on bell ringing on Armistice Day, November 11 and other solemn occasions”. The following, as well as the picture above, is taken from their website:
Veterans For Peace calls for the observance of Veterans Day to be in keeping with the holiday’s original intent. Congressional Act (52 Stat.351: 5U.S. Code, Sec.87a) approved May 13, 1938, made November 11th of each year a legal Federal Holiday,“A day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as ‘Armistice Day’.”
The ceasefire on the, “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” of 1918 along the European Western Front was such a relief to all those involved as the world had never seen such horror and carnage as World War I. The horrible conflict that had come to be known as the “War to End War” brought the bulk of humanity to contemplate abolishing war.
Veterans For Peace calls on its members and allies to observe Veterans Day by rejecting militarism and the glorification of war. We call on the nation to honor veterans and all those who have died in war by working for peace and the prevention of war. There is no better way to honor the dead than to protect the living from the fear, terror and morale deprivation of war.
VFP Resolution Submitted by Bob Heberle, VFP Chapter 27, (Endorsed by VFP Chapter 27)
Whereas bells worldwide were rung on November 11, 1918 to celebrate and recognize the ending of WWI, “The war to end all wars” and
Whereas to commemorate that peaceful pledge, bells were rung November 11 for over 35 years, and
Whereas, legislation making November 11 a holiday passed in 1938, ” Shall be a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be hereafter celebrated and known as “Armistice Day.” and
Whereas the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word “Armistice” and inserting in its place the word “Veterans.” With the approval of this legislation (Public Law 380) on June 1, 1954, November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars, and
Whereas the substitution of the word “Armistice” to “Veterans” changes the focus from peace to war by celebrating and honoring warriors and war, and
Whereas that November date symbolized the nation’s desire to hold to a peaceful future and away from war, and
Whereas, too often rhetoric and patriotic symbols are used instead of genuine compensation for the extraordinary sacrifices and services of military personnel, and
Whereas 90% of victims of wars are now civilians and by honoring only veterans, the public is distracted from the awful price paid by those other than military members, and
Whereas Chapter #27 has for over 17 years promoted the ringing of a bell eleven times at its ceremonies on November 11 and at other solemn occasions such as funerals to remind the public of that Armistice Day peace pledge, and
Whereas the ringing of bells is so much more fitting and peaceful than the often practiced gun salutes and fighter plane flyovers.
Therefore Be It Resolved that Veterans For Peace, Inc. urges its membership to adopt the procedure of honoring peace by focusing on bell ringing on Armistice Day, November 11 and other solemn occasions.
Approved at the 2008 VFP national convention.
Governor Walker’s $100 Million Tax Cut Not in Wisconsin’s Best Interest*
I do not believe Governor Walker and the Wisconsin Legislature’s decision to give Wisconsin property owners a $100 million tax cut over the next two years was in our state’s best interest. The bill was rush through both houses and signed by Scott Walker in order to have it reflected on this year’s billing. But for the sake of efficiency our government clearly discouraged us from having any input.
92,000 Wisconsites Formerly on BadgerCare Insurance May Be Uninsured Come January 1st
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The Gov. Walker administration has informed about 92,000 poor or disabled Wisconsin residents that their BadgeCare health insurance has been terminated as of January 1, 2014,, the day the state expects those people to move to insurance coverage planned to be available at the federal marketplace exchanges set up under the Affordable Care Act.
The letters also inform the Medicaid recipients they need to purchase health insurance through the new online exchange, or marketplace, by December 15. That is the federal deadline for obtaining ACA coverage by January 1st. Governor Scott Walker’s budget has striped BadgerCare Medicaid benefits from those who earn between 100 percent and 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Governor Walker then rejected $119 million of federal money over two years that would have paid to keep those earning up to 138 percent of the poverty level enrolled in Medicaid.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett asked Governor Scott Walker in a letter late last week to delay changes in the state’s BadgerCare program to ensure that the 92,000 persons who were informed that their health insurance coverage was being terminated will have a reasonable opportunity to enroll in an alternative health insurance plan by the December 15 deadline. Reason is that the highly publicized problems with the new federal marketplace have created widespread enrollment problems, potentially leaving thousands of people who had formerly been covered by BadgerCare completely uninsured come January 1.
“The simple solution to this problem is to postpone implementation of all BadgerCare changes until March 31, 2014,”, Mayor Barrett wrote to the Governor. “This is all about the well-being of tens-of-thousands of vulnerable Wisconsinites who are likely to lose their healthcare coverage while being unable to secure a federally approved marketplace policy in time.
Barrett says that because people would have to sign up by Dec. 15 to get the federal coverage by Jan. 1, and there have been problems enrolling in the federal program, the state cutoff of BadgerCare should be delayed three-months. to March 31. Walker denied his request, saying “we’re still going to believe the federal government, in the comments that they made, that it will be operational by the end of the month.”
Wisconsin’s Hungry to get Hungrier, Starting Tomorrow!
No this is not a Halloween joke. It’s harsh reality for the families and individuals in Wisconsin, and other U.S. states, who presently rely on federal food stamps for their daily living. Beginning November 1, nearly 900,000 Wisconsinites will see cuts to their monthly food stamp benefits. Food stamps help people with limited money buy the food they need for good health. Income eligibility for food stamps is based on household size and monthly gross and net income, relative to the federal poverty level. The poverty level ranges from $958 to $1,963, per month, for an individual to a family of four living in Wisconsin.
Persons and families who count on food stamp (called food shares in Wisconsin) for their monthly food budget are getting an unwanted trick tomorrow. What started as a temporary increase in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in 2009 as an element of the federal stimulus act ends tomorrow.
After today, 860,000 people in Wisconsin will get considerably less money to buy food. A family of three loses $29 in monthly shares. In total, the Wisconsin Budget Project, an initiative of the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, calculates that Wisconsin families now getting food shares will receive $89 million less in 2014 ,
SNAP is supposedly our country’s anti-hunger program, designed to help poor people – most of them children, disabled or elderly – buy nourishable food. Enrollment has doubled since 2004 and the program’s cost has nearly tripled. Aside from a less than adequate state and federal economy the last few years, another big reason for the increase in number of people who depend on the SNAP program is no doubt due to the federal government’s failure to raise the minimum hourly wage, which remains at $7.25 per hour since July 24, 2009. A person who works for $7.25 an hour (2080 hours/yr.) and provides for a family of two falls below the poverty level. According to a recent study, more than half of all employees working in the fast food industry in the country rely on food stamps. Beginning tomorrow, one of every seven Americans,or 47.6 million people (15% of U.S. population) will get less food starting when the $5 billion cut in food stamps takes effect.
Congress has the power to halt the cutback but is not likely to do so at a time when Republicans, lead by Rep Paul Ryan, are calling for even more drastic cuts to food stamps. Other changes to Food Share in Wisconsin are planned to take place July 2014 when the state implements its work or training requirement. Exemptions like age, pregnancy and ability would prevent some from having to work to receive benefits. Of course many of those not exempted from working are undoubtedly already working but in low paying jobs. Many states (18) and Washington D.C. have minimum wages above the federal minimum wage (Oregon and Washington have their minimum wage set at $8.95 and $9.19, respectively); however, Wisconsin uses the federal hourly work minimum of $7.25.
Meanwhile, just to show where Wisconsin politicians’ priorities lie these days, when a highway bridge developed a sag requiring closure on September 25th this year ,state transportation officials wasted no time and called for an “aggressive” target date to have the bridge opened back up to traffic – January 17, 2014 – at a total project cost of $15 million. (The Wisconsin State Journal reported today that the contract to make the repairs has already been issued to a Waukesha construction company.) And of course the Wisconsin State Legislature wasted no time passing Governor Scott Walker’s $100 million property tax subsidy this month (6 days and virtually no time for public comment) , which benefits the state’s wealthiest and business property owners the most.
The federal food stamp program as a whole is facing potentially devastating cuts in the coming years if House of Representative Republicans get their way. The House approved legislation last month that would cut $39 billion in funds over the next decade for food stamp programs. The The Senate’s farm bill also would cut food stamps, but by $4.5 billion over a decade. Negotiators in the Senate and House of Representatives are meeting beginning this week to resolve their differences in a long-delayed farm bill.
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