"Senate clears path for corporate tax giveaways"

Why electing PROGRESSIVE Democrats is the only way.

Here's the link or below to the headline above:  

This is where the SCREAMING MUST take place.  The bottom up must make and FORCE the change in the other direction.

Occupy Wall Street get yourselves in gear and make some eardrum piercing noise.  This is exactly why this "recovery" seems like the recession still but it does not to the billionaires.  I wonder why.  It does to those of us in the 98%. So many are smart, have experience andeven have extended degrees but are still laid off and STILL looking for work after YEARS of being without it.  

Sure give the unconscionable 1% the tax breaks they ship overseas or to hidden offshore accounts while people of worth and even youth end up living off savings, living out of a car or a cheap motel room because the 1% ran off with the bucks that trickled down to no one but themselves.

GROW a HEART, America, before it is too late!  Close the loopholes for mammoth gouging corporate interests, pass unemployment, minimum wage and while you are at it enact another stimulus to create jobs.  

Our infrastructure is crumbling and our oil producing filth is killing the planet.  Not enough to do?  I suspect there is TOO much to do!  So DO IT.

-- http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/senate-clears-path-corporate-tax-breaks

An Answer for Carla

Yesterday, I attended a Passover sedar as is Jewish custom at this time of year. The sedar meal retells the Biblical story of the Exodus—the freedom of the Jewish people from the grips of centuries of slavery.  Passover has had meaning, too, for many who are not necessarily Jewish but who still globally struggle with bondage and oppression.  The holiday has served for centuries to offer hope to the hopeless and to convey the idea of freedom to those who are not yet free.

It is a commemorative dinner filled with good food, close family and friends and it is also a meal of symbolic ritual as evidenced by various symbolic foods on a sedar plate.  The ritual, as delineated in a Passover book, the Haggadah, and as part of the commencement of the ceremony begins with the retelling of the Exodus as the youngest child asks the central question “Why is this night different from all other nights?"  Amid the retelling of the Exodus story there is a portion entitled “The Four Sons” – the one who is wise, one who is wicked, one who is simple, and one who does not know to ask about the Passover story.

The wise son wants to inclusively know.  Since Passover is heavy with symbolism I submit we compare it to circumstances we face in modern times.  I thought the most prescient question and the one with the most gravitas for our time was one that was asked of me by Carla, the lovely young daughter of equally lovely friends.

Our discussion centered in general around the violence of the day and more specifically the killing of three innocent people at the Jewish Community Center and assisted living facility in Kansas.  Carla asked me why people have to do that to one another.  I starred at her blankly at first as I contemplated the answer to this existentially profound question.  My inadequate response to her at first was “I do not know why man’s inhumanity to his fellow man is so prevalent but it is and it is unbelievable.”

On the ride home I thought about her profound Passover question, wondered why I could not have given her a better response and, more importantly, why I did not offer at least some solution to the sad reality of our violent time. 

Part of the answer is, I think, that man has been doing evil to his fellow man since the beginning of man’s time on earth.  It is, it seems, in the nature of the human beast or at least in the nature of the beast’s brain stem.  The other part of the answer should have been the solution to this seemingly eternal existential conundrum.  While violence may be endemic to our species non-violence and peace can begin with us too if we let it.  Many men and women have shown us the path to non-violence but it is, in the final analysis, we who are responsible for our own destiny, the masters of our fate and it is we who must oppose violence and war in our own time for all time.  It is at once as simple and as complex as that.

Carla asked the right question for the right time.  It saddened me that I could not provide a better answer to her so I am writing this as the 1,729 post in my nine year old blog to attempt to generally do so.  I thank my friends’ very sweet and humane daughter for spurring me to think about the most important question of our time—the violence of man.  What better time than Passover to contemplate its answer.

The Longest Hatred--A Better Day and Peace

In the 1990's I bought a tape entitled "The Longest Hatred."  It was a documentary chronicling 2000 years of hatred and its child of violence that has been the story of the Jewish people for centuries.  We mourn our dead yet again and go on living.

The killing of three human beings, two at the Jewish Community Center in Kansas City and one woman at an assisted living center close by is but the latest in killings that have become so common place in this nation that so many here barely give it a second glance.

I give it a second glance, a third and ask the eternal question why.  I mourn those killed on the eve of Passover as I would mourn them at any time of the year.  In fact, I mourn all those innocents cut down by senseless hatred that runs so keep into the sinew of the bones of man.

I am a secular Jew but I will say, at the sedar table tonight, a special Kaddish prayer for the dead (and the living) not only for those who died in Kansas but for all those irrespective of race, religion or creed who are the victims of man's inhumanity toward his fellow man and, indeed, I will pray for a better day and peace!

The Government Listens To Lobbyists And The Wealthy, Not You And Me

If we do not take our democracy back there will be no democracy to take back. The world's last best hope for democracy is dying.

 Here or below is the article entitled above. It is a view worth reading and why getting our voice and vote out is our only hope.



http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/04/12/3426152/wealthy-lobbyists-policy/  By Bryce Covert

My Bleeding Heart

Huffington Post headline with a picture of one Koch brother reads in HUGE letters "GOP BUCKS BURN OUT DEMS" here or below.

My heart sank when I saw the headline even though I surely know the reality. I could not even read the entire story as I know the story well. This is what those rancid Supreme Court "conservative" unconscionable and unethical five did when 5 to 4 they decided Citizen's United and McCutcheon as a chaser reinforcing it.  They actually made law, an action once condemned by those very conservatives, who, when they benefit from it, surely do not mind doing that at all. 

These five immoral justices single handedly opened up the flood gates of money in political campaigns overturning McCain/Feingold election law reform. They rigged the entire, total and complete game for the richest 1%. The middle class Tea Bags do not get it that Republicans are not about them. Now, how on God's earth does one fight that kind of money? 

Our VOTE is the ONLY shred of hope we have to compete as Republicans try to suppress even that. It shows one how very weak Republicans truly are.  The only way they can win is buying the vote or suppressing it.

I hope the majority of an often uncaring electorate especially in the mid-terms see what has been done in our name -- the scorching of American democracy. What an utter disappointment in an era that once sought and got through blood, sweat and tears, so much change for the good. That change is reversing and disappearing before our very eyes. The headline pierced my heart so much it bled.  I am sure right wingnuts react to that with glee.

If ALL of us do not get out to vote Democratic in November then we have ourselves to blame for the government we get.   You MUST get out the vote for Democrats in local, state and federal elections everywhere across the nation in November, 2014. As I say often, THERE IS SO MUCH AT STAKE and our lives, your children's lives, our nation's life and, indeed, our planet's life depend upon it!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

IMAGINE

"Imagine Living in a Socialist USA": New Book Envisions 

Greater Democracy, World Without Capitalism" edited by 90 year old Frances Goldin -- amazing!

Why I love Amy Goodman from "Democracy Now."  She is a humanitarian supreme! Link here or below.

http://www.democracynow.org/2014/4/11/imagine_living_in_a_socialist_usa?autostart=true

All the Presidents' Bankers--Properly Had

Author Naomi Prins was on "Democracy Now" today which I always DVR.  Yet another book I need to download and read. The book is entitled: "All the President's Bankers." I could have listened to her for hours.  I link it below.

She was on a show I do not often listen to, Alex Jones, who had her on for an hour after she wrote her first book. Jones is sensationalist journalism but because Prins had something worthy to say about the banks I link it.  

Here or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVkB8NnuC7Y

Personally, irrespective of what happens in my lifetime, we are I believe a doomed nation.  The only thing that saves the 1% is the ignorance of the American public. As Sherlock Holmes said: "We have been had, Watson, properly had."  

here or http://www.democracynow.org/2014/4/8/all_the_presidents_bankers_nomi_prins

Fine Art – Psychopathic Killer; why did Hitler fear modern art?

Last evening a “Sixty Minutes” segment was dedicated to the theft of fine art by the Nazis.  This additional WWII fact is memorialized in the recent film entitled “Monument Men” retelling the retrieving of priceless art treasures by the Americans who attempted to return it to its former owners – museums, conquered persons as well as to those Jews swept into the tornadic vortex of the Holocaust.  If you missed the excellent segment I paste the link below and here.

Hitler considered modern art to be “madness” and “degeneracy.”  The irony, of course, was the "madness" was not in the modern art of the time but in the madness of the man.  Not only was Hitler a personal failure as an aspiring artist he was a degenerate as a man too. 

Hitler’s "art" was devoid of people except as stick figures.  He was, too, of course, a failure with women going after incestuously his niece, Geli Rubel leading to her suicide, and, in the end, as evidenced by his sexless loveless “marriage” to his partner-in-death, Eva Braun.  

The man was a psychological monstrosity.  The surprise in all this was the psycho/sociopath Hitler got millions of "sane" Germans, and the Axis powers to follow him.  That is the incredulity of Adolph Hitler.  "Good" people "nice" people marched to his jackboots and received him with open arms. 

WWII remains one of the most incomprehensible horrors of human brutality in the saga of man’s inhumanity to man against which many other world horrors are measured.  The article states that if Hitler succeeded in art it would have saved "several" million lives.  That is an understatement.  It would have saved 50-60 million lives total!

If you have not seen the segment I recommend you do.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-did-hitler-fear-modern-art/

Supersize This Putin: McDonalds Closes Crimean Locations By Donn Marten

Donn Marten reminds me of a cross between Matt Taibbi and Howard Zinn.  I do not always agree with him 100% but I sure love reading his commentary!

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Supersize-This-Putin-McDo-by-Donn-Marten-Arrogance_Brainwashing_Crimea_Delusion-140406-723.html?show=votes#allcomments

RUSH OPINION DEPORTATIONS

I cannot get Steve Kornacki's email but I think this is crucial if he is talking about Latino immigration which he is on UpwithSteveKornacki on MSNBC.

Latinos and all minority groups need to know that if one thinks Obama has been overstepping with deportations (Steve is debunking that notion) just WAIT until a Republican Congress and presidency God forbid gets in.  Then we will ALL have something to explode over.

REPUBLICANS are NOT the immigrant's friend.  They are their enemy and they are the enemy of the people all except the billionaire 1%!  GET  OUT THE DEMOCRATIC LATINO AND OTHER DEMOCRATIC voting blocks.  If we get power by keeping the Senate and taking the House immigration reform will happen!! Republicans are the ONLY things in the way.  

You should post this anywhere you can!  GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE -- this is the ONLY hope we have.  Republican jerks are gerrymandering districts, suppressing the vote and flooding their politics with GARGANTUAN money by Citizens United and McCutcheon decisions opening up the floodgates.

Send this to whomever you choose.

A View to Consider -- All Is Not Lost: How to Win Money-in-Politics Reform

By Josh Silver-Huffington Post

"If you have a heartbeat, you are one of the vast majority of Americans thoroughly disgusted by this week's McCutcheon Supreme Court decision. It allows one donor to write a $3.6 million check to buy political influence, providing us all with yet another "just-when-you-thought-it-couldn't-get-any-worse" moment. As if we needed it.

You are also likely someone who rationally believes that money-in-politics corruption is a huge problem and something that simply cannot be fixed, because doing so requires the fox (politicians) put a lock on the henhouse (campaign contributions). This vexing dynamic is why we wallow in collective cynicism while the issue has only gotten worse since the last major reforms were passed 40 years ago.

But don't give up just yet. Contrary to popular belief, the money-in-politics problem can be fixed by emulating the stunning successes of marriage equalityand marijuana decriminalization over the past twenty years. Here's how to do it.

First, we need to take the fight to local communities, by passing city and statewide reform initiatives. For too long, reformers have advocated small-step, incremental reforms at the federal level, such as ending secret donations. This is a good and popular proposal, but alone will not come close to fixing the problem. Other reformers are advocating "publicly funded" elections, which is also good policy, but remains unpopular with many voters and would not fix the entire problem if passed without simultaneous ethics, lobbying and transparency reforms.

And here's the key thing: proposals that overhaul ethics, lobbying, transparency and public funding in one fell swoop enjoy over 80% voter approval, and they are constitutional, even under the current Supreme Court. Together they are much more popular than public funding alone, and far more palatable to moderates and conservatives to boot. As an added bonus, public funds created by statewide laws can go towards federal candidates from those states, and to judicial candidates in states that have them. In the words of one veteran pollster, "with these kinds of numbers, it's virtually impossible to lose a ballot initiative."

Next, you stop talking about "money, democracy and campaign finance," and start talking about corruption. A national poll in December of last year revealed a 30 point increase in support amongst conservative voters for stopping the undue influence of "corruption" in politics rather than "money."

It is time to move from defense to offense, and pass a wave of local anti-corruption laws across the nation over the next few years -- while simultaneously organizing a 21st century anti-corruption movement made of grassroots conservatives, moderates and progressives. The nation is ripe for such a movement, with voters abandoning the major parties in droves. A recent Pew study shows that a full half of millennials identify as political independents, up from 38% in 2004. It is the combination of passing bold reforms in cities and states, while creating a loud and visible, right-leftanti-corruption movement that will provide the political power necessary to force change.

We stand at a crossroads. Political corruption has grown so severe that reality is much closer to the dark TV drama "House of Cards" than what we learned about in grammar school. A recent New Yorker story about corruption in North Carolina describes state Senate Majority Leader John Unger:

"Unger recalled the first time that a lobbyist for a chemical company asked him to vote on a bill. "I said, 'I don't sign on to anything until I read it.' And he said, 'Well, that's not the way it works around here.' I said, 'Well, I don't know how it works down here, but that's the way I work.' And he said, 'Well, if you don't learn to get along, when it comes to your reelection, we'll stick a fork in you."

McCutcheon turned that lobbyist's salad fork into a pitchfork. But with the right strategy, we the people can, and will, stick a fork in the beast that our system has become. That fight starts here."

So now

the rancid five on our "illustrious" Supreme Court have made it easier to steal and buy elections than they have for people to vote in them!!

The McCutcheon decision adding to the Citizens United decision SHOULD make voters of all of us.

I am not worried so much about Massachusetts, although nothing can be taken for granted especially for governor, but I am very worried about other states including swing states where Democrats on the federal level could be at risk.

If there were any question about the importance of voting for Democrats in 2014 and beyond it should be now.  Show the Roberts court of five that instead of helping their millionaires and billionaires to get their good ole boys elected they have ensured the election of Democrats well into the future. 

VOTE and VOTE DEMOCRAT LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDED UPON IT BECAUSE IT DOES!

In Answer to McCutcheon a Blogger has it 100% correct

I do not know who this blogger is below but she responded to the latest Sup. Ct. McCutcheon decision supporting an oligarchy and her blog speaks a truth I have known for a long time.  

Moral of her story:  VOTE and make the 1% IRRELEVANT!

In the end the Koch brothers each get just one vote. Just like the rest of us. The reason all the campaign money works is because people buy into what they are bombarded with. Instead of doing the work of researching the candidates they believe the advertisements. If they did the actual work, more candidates that 

1% of votes don't win elections. They have to earn support from members of the 99%. These are the voters screwing themselves and the entire country over by believing the ads instead of visiting the websites and really thinking about what their lives would look like under each candidate's vision. What would their life look like after a year of unemployment in their vision?

I have a blog and Politics is one of many topics I blog about. I'm in NJ and before last year's election I did a post comparing standings for Buono and Christie. Their standings came right from their websites, back to back for easy comparison. I did recommend voting for Buono. I'm a Democrat but not fully against Christie. Instincts told me this term wouldn't be the same. Enter Bridgegate. 

Yes, it was a lot of work. There are a lot of issues. But my vote is as powerful as a Koch vote. It mattered. Research meant I did it right. Buono lost the election but won the aftermath of Bridgegate.

CONGRATULATIONS Framingham!

Yeeah HA!!!   Laurie Lee and Cheryl Stoll are the Framingham Selectmen.  They WON!!!  

Very very happy to see that.  This must be the start for us as progressive Democrats to ensure a Democratic victory not only in Framingham, happy as I am to see this, but across the nation and emphatically into the halls of Congress. The late great House Speaker Tip O'Neill said "All politics is local" and I believe that to be true.

Today as you all know the President's hard fought over health care plan is the law of the land and there is NOT going to be one thing Republicans can do about it.  The President and we reached our 7 million mark and then some by 7.1 million signed up. Republicans' hateful platform will lose.  The Affordable Care Act is HERE TO STAY and Republicans simply cannot and will not repeal it though they surely tried 47 wasted times not to mention wasted money.  

NOR will big money be the Republican savior.  Power comes from the grass roots. That means us!  We as Progressives and Democrats will rise above big money and Citizen's United and TURN out the vote EVERYWHERE across the land.  We must turn out women, we must turn out Hispanics, we must turn out African Americans and we must turn out the young in droves.  It's over for Republicans, they know it and the demographics show it.  Republican positions are bankrupt, cruel and wrong.

Framingham may not be the bellwether that Florida's Alex Sink was but it means something.  Sink lost not by much in a Republican district and now we must move forward to give Republicans the significantly crushing defeat in November, 2014 they so richly deserve!

Congratulations again to Cheryl Stoll and to Laurie Lee.  I know you will be excellent in your positions and will conduct business with the 98% of us in mind!  

I never thought I could be so happy about a local election but tonight I am!!!

Best to all who took the time to come out and vote!

Saving Mr. Banks -- 10 Star Review

A film about the making of Mary Poppins seemed at first not to interest me. I was 15 when the real "Mary Poppins" film came out, much too old to think of it as teenage fare but my neighbor next door five years younger than I kept singing and singing and singing "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." Who knew the story behind the story of the making of "Mary Poppins"? This was one of the best films I have seen this year, right up there (although a substantively different film) with the excellence of "12 Years a Slave." It has a depth I never in a million years thought it would have had. No spoilers here because truly one has to see it to appreciate its heft. 

I loved every minute of it. Kudos to Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson and all the rest who played major (and minor) parts. Each was wonderful. It is a touching, sad, beautiful and uplifting film. Walt Disney would be proud of it.  One can only hope more films such as this would be made where gratuitous sex, profanity and violent mayhem are absent.  Hallelujah, it's about time!

Crossing a Bridge Too Far

Personally, if I were a supporter of Chris Christie, which I am most definitely not, I would not be happy choosing my own attorney Randy Mastro to write a million dollar taxpayer-funded report entirely exonerating Christie for Bridgegate and think no one will see this refuse report for what it is – a not-even-creative piece of junk. Why on this earth would he put out a report as utterly stupidly inflammatory as that? Why would he inflame the very people who know the truth who could bury Christie and actually send him to jail? The report is like dousing him with gasoline, striking a match and setting him afire. Why would Mastro do that?

Calling Kelley sexist tying the Bridgegate fiasco to her (and Wildstein) alone because of her instability and grief over a man is not only the worst kind of sexism it is just plain stupid. I would be furious if I were Kelley and Stepian, the man with whom this report says she is romantically linked, because that report is so insulting, privacy invading, humiliating and most probably entirely false that she must, if she is human, be jumping up and down with rage. Judging by her attorney’s quick response to it she is angry. I do not blame her so would I be.

Moreover, to go so far as to say Mayor Zimmer of Hoboken's appearance of yawning on a stage was proof positive she was not upset about her issue is, well, inexpiable. That connection totally eluded me. Maybe she was yawning because she was exhausted from what this ordeal has put her though and maybe Christie said that because it is the only feeble defense Christie has since she has proof tying him to pay-for-play politics and conflicts of interest galore. What has he got to lose?

If I liked Christie, which I do not, I would think his attorney Mastro was a Democratic plant because the document he offered was so theater of the absurd absurd that instead of quieting Kelly, Wildstein and Stepian once allies of Christie, it fanned their fires with a wind so strong it could indeed take this beast Christie down.

Christie was back to his rude self in his “press conference” yesterday because, in my view, he is thinking heck what have I got to lose I’ve lied on everything anyway so maybe I should just throw a Hail Mary pass and hope for the best.

Well, governor, you may, in fact, have a lot to lose. Not only have you already lost your presidential candidacy which is a joke now anyway you may just be impeached and convicted losing your governor's office as well. Worst of all, however, because of your mind numbing idiotic defenseless “defense” you may also lose your freedom. Time will tell. This may just put you where you belong -- in orange strips behind bars.

Generations to Come

I wonder how many times I have commented on this? Our thirst and 

insatiable need for energy whether, coal, oil, gas or nuclear is killing our planet 

and us in it! Naturally, the poor, the disabled and the elderly will suffer first but it 

will attack everyone without discriminating on anyone!  

Generations that come after us I wish good luck.  I hope by then you will have 

thrown off the yoke of ignorance, religious dogma, corporate strangulation and 

bone crushing inhumanity to rectify this seemingly etched-in-stone 

reality!  Scroll down and see what we are bestowing on our children for 

generations to come.

Climate Change Already Felt 'On All Continents And Across The Oceans,' IPCC Finds

The Guardian  | by  Suzanne Goldenberg

This story first appeared on The Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

Climate change has already left its mark "on all continents and across theoceans", damaging food crops, spreading disease, and melting glaciers, according to the leaked text of a blockbuster UN climate science report due out on Monday.

Government officials and scientists are gathered in Yokohama this week to wrangle over every line of a summary of the report before the final wording is released on Monday – the first update in seven years.

Nearly 500 people must sign off on the exact wording of the summary, including the 66 expert authors, 271 officials from 115 countries, and 57 observers.

But governments have already signed off on the critical finding that climate change is already having an effect, and that even a small amount of warming in the future could lead to "abrupt and irreversible changes", according to documents seen by the Guardian.

"In recent decades, changes in climate have caused impacts on natural and human systems on all continents and across the oceans," the final report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will say.

Some parts of the world could soon be at a tipping point. For others, that tipping point has already arrived. "Both warm water coral reef and Arctic ecosystems are already experiencing irreversible regime shifts," the approved version of the report will say.

This will be the second of three reports on the causes, consequences of and solutions to climate change, drawing on researchers from around the world.

The first report, released last September in Stockholm, found humans were the "dominant cause" of climate change, and warned that much of the world's fossil fuel reserves would have to stay in the ground to avoid catastrophic climate change.

This report will, for the first time, look at the effects of climate change as a series of risks – with those risks multiplying as temperatures warm.

The thinking behind the decision was to encourage governments to prepare for the full range of potential consequences under climate change.

Japanese environment minister, Nobuteru Ishihara, (third from the left) delivers a speech at the opening session of the IPCC working group II in Yokohama. Photograph: Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images

"It's much more about what are the smart things to do then what do we know with absolute certainty," said Chris Field, one of the co-chairs overseeing the report. "If we want to take a smart approach to the future, we need to consider a full range of possible outcomes and that means not only the more likely outcomes, but also outcomes for truly catastrophic impacts, even if those are lower probability," he said.

The gravest of those risks was to people in low-lying coastal areas and on small islands, because of storm surges, coastal flooding and sea-level rise.

But people living in large urban areas would also be at risk from inland flooding that wipes out homes and businesses, water treatment centers and power plants, as well as from extreme heatwaves.

Food production was also at risk, the report said, from drought, flooding, and changing rainfall patterns. Crop yields could decline by 2% a decade over the rest of the century.

Fisheries will also be affected, with ocean chemistry thrown off balance by climate change. Some fish in the tropics could become extinct. Other species, especially in northern latitudes, are on the move.

Drought could put safe drinking water in short supply. Storms could wipe out electricity stations, and damage other infrastructure, the report is expected to say.

Those risks will not be borne equally, according to draft versions of the report circulated before the meeting. The poor, the young and the elderly in all countries will all be more vulnerable to climate risks.

Climate change will slow down economic growth, and create new "poverty traps". Some areas of the world will also be more vulnerable – such as south Asia and south-east Asia.

The biggest potential risk, however, was of a number of those scenarios unfolding at the same time, leading to conflicts and wars, or turning regional problem into a global crisis, said Saleemul Haq, a senior fellow of the International Institute for Environment and Development and one of the authors of the report.

"The really scary impacts are when things start getting together globally," he said. "If you have a crisis in two or three places around the world, suddenly it's not a local crisis. It is a global crisis, and the repercussions of things going bad in several different places are very severe."

There was controversy in the run-up to the report's release when one of the 70 authors of a draft said he had pulled out of the writing team because it was "alarmist" about the threat. Prof Richard Tol, an economist at Sussex University, said he disagreed with some findings of the summary. But British officials branded his assessment of the economic costs of climate change as "deeply misleading".

The report argues that the likelihood and potential consequences of many of these risks could be lowered if ambitious action is taken to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. It also finds that governments – if they act now – can help protect populations from those risks.

But the report also acknowledges that a certain amount of warming is already locked in, and that in some instances there is no way to escape the effects of climate change.

The 2007 report on the effects of climate change contained an error that damaged the credibility of the UN climate panel, the erroneous claimthat Himalayan glaciers could melt away by 2035.

This year's report will be subject to far more rigorous scrutiny, scientists said. It will also benefit from an explosion of scientific research. The number of scientific publications on the impacts of climate change doubled between 2005 and 2010, the report will say.

Researchers said they also hoped to bring a fresh take on the issue. They said they hoped the reframing of the issue as a series of risks would help governments respond more rapidly to climate change.

"Previously the IPCC was accused of being very conservative," said Gary Yohe, professor of economics and environmental studies at Wesleyan University, one of the authors of the report. "This allows them to be less conservative without being open to criticism that they are just trying to scare people to death."

Follow up on the Framingham Selectmen race

If you have not already, please go to All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC or tune in to your cable MSNBC network and listen to his segment today on big money coming to a small town near you.  I do not want to say I told you so but I told you so.  Big Citizen's United billionaire money is now involved in looking into small town races and issues were they can insinuate their rancid huge corporate dirty oil polluting money.

What I said yesterday is TRUE.  ELECTIONS matter and it matters even for small elections like selectman in Framingham or anywhere else because there are issues that may come along where right wingnut groups like American's for Prosperity scope out to see if they can sway small town policy and then swoop in spend tons of money because they see a chance for money to be made -- for them!.  Do NOT be fooled Republicans may be nice people SOMETIMES but their policies are NOT nice for the 98% meaning most of you. They can, if they try, kill you with kindness but their policies are NOT kind.  

We in Framingham have a diverse community with many many immigrants and others who are townies like me.  I do NOT want my town invaded by big dark money made possible by that rancid Republican Supreme Court unethical five deciding that money is speech and corporations are people.  Money should NOT be speech and corporations are NOT people.

DO NOT BE FOOLED.  FIND OUT  WHAT THE CANDIDATE FOR WHOM YOU VOTE LOCALLY BELIEVES IN AND WHETHER HE/SHE IS A REGISTERED REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT.  WHY?  BECAUSE IT MATTERS.  

FORWARD THIS TO ANYONE YOU LIKE.

Dorothy Height -- Our Springtime of Rebirth

This was Dorothy Height speaking in 1997.  She was a lion in the force for civil rights who never got the just acknowledgment of history.  

Google her and you will see on Google itself she is remembered.  She was a lioness in the winter of our discontent, a force for good

in the summer of our awakening and now a posthumous force for renewal of those rights in our springtime of rebirth.  

Here is her speech before the Human Rights Campaign in 1997.  The president spoke at her funeral 15 days after he was elected.  She saw with her own eyes the fruits of her labor and for that the presidency of Barack Obama was worth it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcLxEftigPk

Mad about "Mad Men" ending--talking forever

I read about “Mad Men” soon coming to an end. The actors are dreading its end I and do not want it to end either. I loved this series and its creator Mathew Weiner. The actors were genius and the plot accurate to the times. Kudos to all who made this great work of art happen. It is destined, I think, for Smithsonian preservation embalmed for all time.

I loved that era emerging out of the catatonic 50's into the awakened 60's and ending that decade in the overthrow of the status quo. I never wanted the late 60’s to end. I mourn its passing and still long for its return. Yes, sure, nothing lasts forever but I can wish some things did.

The late 60's breathed a blast of new air into my lungs giving my life meaning and purpose. I/we reap its benefits (and its difficulties) to this day. Despite the downside of that era, I would never want to go back to the mores and lifestyle of the 1950's. It was toxic to women, it was toxic if one were disabled, it was toxic to African Americans and if one were gay the only options available were either lying about oneself or suicide.

We may still suffer from the same Post World War II deathly foreign policy but it does get questioned by those of us who learned to question everything and to try to speak truth to power holding them accountable.

This series spoke to me and I can wish it would keep talking forever!