OCCUPY WALL STREET CONTINUES - MAINSTREAM MEDIA IGNORES PEACEFUL PROTEST - BUT EACH PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

Here are some photos from the ongoing peaceful protest at Zuccotti Park in Manhattan, no not Kansas!

SUPREME COURT NOT YET GRANTING CERTIORARI TO ARIZONA SB 1070 CASE

The latest list of cases which the Court has granted certiorari is in.  Here they are.

10-1018  FILARSKY, STEVE A. V. DELIA, NICHOLAS B.

This is Fourth Amendment case about warrantless searches.

10-1211  VARTELAS, PANAGIS V. HOLDER, ATT'Y GEN.

The petitions for writs of certiorari are granted.
Vartelas is a legal permanent resident who plead guilty to having conspired to make or possess a counterfeit security.  Vartelas argues his crime is not one making him removable by the United States.   

10-1399  ROBERTS, DANA V. SEA-LAND SERVICES, ET AL.

The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted
limited to Question 1 presented by the petition.
This case involves statutory interpretation of the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, 33 U.S.C. 901 et seq.  Does the statute fixing the formula for compensation apply to the year in which the injury occurs or the year in which the order issues?

10-1472  TANIGUCHI, KOUICHI V. KAN PACIFIC SAIPAN, LTD.
The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted.
This is a Tort Action where the defendant was awarded Summary Judgment and given an award for translation services.  A division among the Circuits on this issue brings this case to the Supreme Court. 

10-1542) HOLDER, ATT'Y GEN. V. GUTIERREZ, CARLOS M.

10-1543) HOLDER, ATT'Y GEN. V. SAWYERS, DAMIEN A.
The petitions for writs of certiorari are granted. The cases are consolidated and a total of one hour is allotted for oral argument. These cases involve a split in the Circuits over the statutory interpretation of the cancellation-of-removal statute, 8 U.S.C. 1229b(a).  the Ninth Circuit has refused to reconsider its rule permitting an alien to "impute" his parent’s period of residence after having acquired lawful permanent resident (LPR) status, or after having been admitted in any status, to gain his own eligibility for cancellation-of-removal relief.

10-9995  WOOD, PATRICK V. MILYARD, WARDEN, ET AL.

The motion of petitioner for leave to proceed in forma pauperis is granted. The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted limited to the following questions: 1) Does an appellate court have the authority to raise sua sponte a 28 U.S.C. §2244(d) statute of limitations defense? 2) Does the State’s
declaration before the district court that it “will not challenge, but [is] not conceding, the timeliness of Wood’s habeas petition,” amount to a deliberate waiver of any statute of limitations defense the State may have had?

11-139   UNITED STATES V. HOME CONCRETE & SUPPLY, ET AL.

The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted. This is a Tax Case determining the effect of understatement of gross income attributable to overstatement of basis is an omission from gross income triggering the extended six year assessment period.

ZUCCOTTI PARK IN MAHATTAN'S WALL STREET DISTRICT IS BEING OCCUPIED BY PEACEFUL PROTESTORS

What?  You haven't heard this on the evening news, CNN, or MSNBC? So much for a Free Press.  Thank God for Current TV, Keith Olbermann, Michael Moore, and Al Gore!



A Peaceful Occupation of WALL STREET's ZUCCOTTI PARK is taking place. 



H.R. 2608 - THE CALLOUS REPUBLICAN CONFERENCE IS ROBBING PETER TO PAY PAUL

House Republicans have sunk to a new all time low.  Violating their much ballyhooed transparency rules Republicans pitted auto workers against the victims of natural disasters.  No one wins. An expression from my youth comes to mind.  "Robbing St. Peter to pay St. Paul" is an idiom about making choices, stretching money, and making ends meet.  Once again Republicans want to make ends meet by making the economy worse, killing more jobs, and not bothering their rich patrons.

The bill is H.R. 2608, the Small Business Program Extension and Reform Act of 2011.  Republicans chose this as the vehicle to increase funding for FEMA to pay for our national obligation to respond to natural disasters.  H.R. 2608 isn't a new kid on the block.  Missouri Republican Sam Graves introduced it on July 21st with New York Democrat Nydia Velázquez.  Five days later the bill passed the House and was sent to the Senate.  On July 28th the Senate passed an amended version of the bill and returned it to the House.

To Representative Velázquez's credit, she did not vote for the bastardized version of H.R. 2608. 

On September 21st the bill failed to pass the House.  Democrats opposed the drastic cuts being imposed by the Republicans looking for heartless ways to pay for the additional FEMA funding.  Tea Party Republicans opposed the bill that day because it did not contain enough heartless ways to pay for the additional FEMA funding.

On September 21st the cuts included repeal of the Central European Small Business Enterprise Development Commission, the Paul D. Coverdell Drug-Free Workplace Program, the Pilot Technology Access Program, the Small Business Institute; AND FROM THE NATIONAL VETERANS BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, the following are repealed: Lease Guarantees and Pollution Control.--Part A of title IV of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958, Alternative Loss Reserve.--Paragraph (7) of section 508(c) of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958, Small Business Telecommuting Pilot Program - .--Subsection (d) of section 1203 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.  Finally, THE ONGOING REPUBLICAN ASSAULT ON COLLEGE STUDENTS CONTINUES with the gutting of the Emerging Leaders Program, which provides for competitive federal internships transitioning the best and brightest American college and university students from academia to their eventual careers.

Yet those intent on destroying the fabric of the Republic said these cuts did not cut deeply enough.  So an another astounding Republican vote favoring advancement of China's new green alternative energy industry and favoring jobs in China over jobs in America came last night.  Representative Norm Dicks [D-Wa] said Republicans "take $1.5 billion from the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing [ATVM] program at the Department of Energy to pay for $1 billion in disaster relief, disaster and emergency relief."  That program, according to Dicks has created 39,000 jobs in California, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, and Tennessee.  Many of those jobs are in Sam Graves' District.

Dicks went on to defend the ATVM program. 

By the way, the company in question, Tesla, employed about 400 workers before receiving the loan. Today, they have 1,400 employees in the fields of engineering research and development, design, manufacturing, assembly, maintenance, service, sales, and support.


The ATVM program has an additional 18 loan applications in progress that are projected to create 50,000 to 60,000 more jobs, in total, in California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio. One pending application would support investments at 11 plants in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. The company employs over 56,000 workers, and they are adding nearly 9,000 new workers since 2009. Some of the jobs will be at risk by using this offset.

So this is the Republican plan, defeat President Obama by driving up the unemployment rate.  Burn the seed corn.  Take $1.5 Billion from a job creating program [creating private sector jobs] and use that to pay for $1 Billion in FEMA funding.  Kill tens of thousands of jobs.

The Republican tax policy favors the wealthiest Americans, those Americans are not job creators.  If they were, with a decade of Bush Era tax cuts and Wall Street Deregulation, we'd be at full employment.  Now the Republicans are proving that they are the JOB DESTROYERS!

Somewhere, somehow, this callous Republican Conference has managed to channel the ghost of the great French Princess.  "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche" which translates to "Let them eat cake" expressing the lack of care and compassion this callous Republican Conference has for the victims of their economic policies.  When things are bad you can count on these Republicans to make them worse.

EGALITARIAN REFORMS OF THE TAX CODE ARE THE OPPOSITE OF CLASS WARFARE. DOES ANYONE REMEMBER "E PLURIBUS UNUM"?

The paid spokesmen for America's wealthiest 2% have brought out the old canard demagoging President Obama's plan to make those fat cats pay their fair share.  Of course I am talking about the ruse of calling this "class warfare". 

Dictionary.com tells us that "class warfare" is (in Marxist thought) the struggle for political and economic power carried on between capitalists and workers, See, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/class+struggle.

This is an important distinction to note.  In the 1950's Republicans by and large made their bones by whipping the nation up into a frenzy on the illusory notions that the federal government and society was plagued by Communists.  Today's Republicans are trying to go back to that well and make people fearful.  They argue that making the rich pay their fair share is a Communist-like plot.  This, they will argue, is  Obama and the Democrats engaging in socialism.  That of course is, in their propagandizing, the first step down the slippery slope to a tyrannical Communist state. 

If class warfare does exist, it is not being waged by the masses.  My eighth grade teacher, Sister Mary Richard, used to say that figures don't lie but liars have to figure.  The figures are in on the effect of the Bush tax cuts.  With those tax cuts, and the deregulation of Wall Street, Republicans have managed to codify the old adage that the rich get richer while the poor get poorer.  Unfortunately, their attack on the once strong middle class is just making more folk poorer while the rich are wallowing in wealth.

President Obama, Democrats, Independents, and non Tea Party Republicans need to tell the likes of Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Paul Ryan that the President's plan to tax the rich is not class warfare. The Buffet Plan is named after billionaire Warren Buffet. Buffet thinks we need to tax folk like him as an egalitarian reform of the tax code.  Americans need to be reminded of America's motto E. Pluribus Unum.   "Out of many, one" is what America is supposed to be. 

Republicans like Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Paul Ryun are urging that we stay the course on taxes which amounts to a policy of  "Out of many, to a few".  That, if anything, is class warfare.  When all Americans stand together and fairly shoulder the burdens of the Republic, then we give existential import to our motto  E. Pluribus Unum.

The figures, you ask?  Check out these charts from Business Insider at http://www.businessinsider.com/15-charts-about-wealth-and-inequality-in-america-2010-4#now-read-16.

Wall Street Deregulation and Bush Tax Cuts

are creating those conditions that led to the Great Depression

Half of America has only 2.5% of the nation's wealth

Half of America has only 0.5% of our Stocks and Bonds

The Rich are getting Richer and the Poor are getting Poorer

CEO's are making out like Bandits

Real Average Earnings Show Little Change Over 50 Years 

Personal Savings Rates Have Plummeted

The Impact of Republican Tax Policy

The Rich are Earning More and Paying Less in Taxes

Top 1% Doubles Income

Bottom 90% Loses Ground

Class Warfare?  Senator Graham and Representative Ryun should be retired by their constituents for their blatant dishonesty.

Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and the changing map of the Mideast? Have you heard about the Free Baloch Movement?

Islamabad, Pakistan is a long way from Osawatomie.  Yet, Sitemeter alerts me to a growing interest in this blog from Pakistan.  Go figure!  As best as I can surmise all of this interest centers around the map of Pakistan.  Apparently there is an effort to carve a "Free Baluchistan" from parts of Iran,  and Pakistan, with Afghanistan annexing a large section to the north of Baluchistan.  That's going to be some radical cartography. 

For more background I found an interesting article at: http://www.paklinks.com/gs/pakistan-affairs/302915-is-united-states-changing-the-map-of-pakistan.html.   The article was written by a person called "saregamapa", who is probably not to be confused with Indian rock stars from Zee TV sometimes spelled as Sa Re Ga Ma Pa.  But that last part is just a guess because when I clicked on the link I was sent to a site called Gushup forums.  Gushup, it turns out is a word meaning gossip or chit chat in the Urdu and Hindi languages, according to the Urban Dictionary, their link is found at http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Gupshup.

The Department of State's official Map of Pakistan

A map showing regional ethnic area divisions in Pakistan

The current Pakistan Map compared to a new Pakistani Map

 (from the New York Times)

That article contained a link back to the New York Times with the map in question.  Here is the link to the New York Times:  for the image, http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/11/23/world/23pstan.graf01.ready.html?ref=asia and for the article http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/world/asia/23pstan.html?pagewanted=1&sq=pakistan%20map&st=cse&scp=1.

Thanks go out to the Pakistanis for bringing this to my attention.  After a decade of war I can but little imagine the traumas through which these folks have lived.  The New York Times article helps explain the disconnect between America's grief and anger over the attacks on civilians and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 and near total lack of knowledge of attacks by Pakistanis.  We may have routed the Taliban, but we totally failed to let the Pakistanis, and I am guessing the Afghanis, know why we were compelled to wage war on their homelands. 

If foreign troops were on the outskirts of Osawatomie, waging war into America's heartland, we'd be fighting mad and fighting like hell to rid them from our country.  That goes double if we had no idea why they were here and goes triple double if they'd been here for a decade! 

Nobody likes to see their country invaded.  When one nation, for its own defense and the defense of the planet, acts to rid a volatile source of active terror from another nation they must make those reasons clear to the citizens of the invaded nation.  Don't you think that if the Afghanis and the Pakistanis knew what Al Qaeda and the Taliban did on 9/11 they'd have pretty much taken care of those bad apples on their own.  I suspect that these folks, who practice Islam, would have seen the attacks as egregious violations of their religion.  They probably could have administered their own corrective sanctions on the offenders.

At least, after a decade, they would know why we went to their homelands.  Now some Pakistanis are concerned that a new round of nation building will take a huge chunk of land from their southwestern region, while Afghanistan takes another chunk to the north of that.  I just can't imagine Iran with its bifurcated government going along with that plan.  By bifurcated I mean that there is a civil government and there is also a theocratic government.  

Aside from the Iran problem, Pakistan has a problem with Baluchistan.  There is an active movement to expel Muslim Punjabis from Baluchistan.  The Baloch Freedom Movement's blog opens with this call to arms:

"Freedom is not free , it grows from the guns of free men . Baloch brothers and sisters , it's time to close ranks and fight Punjabi [P]akistani oppression and secure our freedom for our future generations . Together We Stand & Fight - Together We Win." See, http://freebaloch.blogspot.com/.

There is a Baloch Liberation Army with its own flag.  These are serious times.

The Baloch Freedom Movement's Flag

Soldiers of the Baloch Liberation Army

Pray for reason and peace to prevail.  I hope the many nations of the world can begin to raise up their own versions of Mahatma Gandhi to lead us, each of us, to the paths of nonviolence. 

LETTER TO EDITOR IN SUPPORT OF POSTAL WORKERS

From the Topeka Capital-Journal

Letter: Support postal workers

Posted: September 14, 2011 - 8:30pm
http://cjonline.com/opinion/2011-09-14/letter-support-postal-workers

The U.S. Postal Service is not broke. The USPS made a $226 million profit in the first quarter of 2011.

The organization’s financial woes result from a 2006 law, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, requiring USPS funding 75 years of pension benefits in 10 years and prepayment of health benefits to postal workers’ retirement dates.

Postal workers and the USPS have overpaid the pension by at least $50 billion and up to $80 billion. The USPS must spend $5.5 billion each year as it aggressively prepays years ahead for the health benefits of thousands of workers.

Not one red cent of these billions of dollars is taxpayer money. Postal workers make contributions through paycheck deductions which are matched by the USPS with money from the sales of stamps.

The USPS isn’t getting credit for complying with this law. House Republicans are planning post office closures, Saturday postal delivery curtailment, and the firing of thousands of postal workers. Their bill is H.R. 2309. Kansas has 135 post offices slated for closure.

Contact Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kan. Ask her to oppose H.R. 2309, demand a fair and accurate accounting of the health and pension funds belonging to postal workers, and to support our postal workers.

MICHAEL BOX,

OSAWATOMIE