Along with 69 other sites, Jack London State Historic Park will be shuttered, gates locked, and left to meth labs, garbage outlaws and assorted feral predators. Nearly 50 percent of all of California’s historic parks are on the closure list. This is not a scare tactic from the state. Parks go dark starting in September.
California’s Disappearing State Parks – NYTimes.com
3 JunMedicare for All! | The Nation
3 JunInstead of just hoping that Republicans continue to play to their Tea Party base and implode in a general election, Democrats should be taking this moment to lead and to educate, not just on the practical virtues of Medicare for all but on the principle of social solidarity behind it.
The Good Banker – NYTimes.com
2 JunWilmers, it turns out, is that rarest of birds: a banker willing to tell harsh truths about banking. That, for instance, much of the money the big banks earn comes from trading profits “rather than the prudent extension of credit that furthers commerce.” That derivatives had helped bring about the crisis and needed to be regulated. That bank executives were wildly overpaid. That the biggest banks — the Too Big to Fail Banks — were operating, as he put it, an “unsafe business model.”
via The Good Banker – NYTimes.com.
A Bad Day That Never Changes | Common Dreams
2 JunYet just as we participate in the creation of climate change, or “global weirding,” with our voracious consumption of coal, oil and natural gas, we also participate in the creation of our own insecurity by spawning, bomb after bomb, endless reasons for people to hate us. Terrorists wind up being no more than people with grievances — very often, legitimate ones.
We are not pursuing peace. We are not pursuing security. We’re just producing dead insurgents, combined with collateral damage. And we can’t stop.
Why We’re Building a Civic Commons — And How You Can Be Part of It | Civic Commons
2 JunHmmmm. . . .
In sum, Civic Commons is built around two central convictions: first, that wave after wave of innovation is delivering amazing new capabilities to the people and organizations that can take advantage of them, and second, that, with a little help, governments can absolutely understand and seize the opportunities created by the rapid evolution of information technology.
via Why We’re Building a Civic Commons — And How You Can Be Part of It | Civic Commons.
Some fear U.S. nuclear agency is playing ‘regulatory roulette’ – CNN.com
2 JunDoes “NRC” really stand for “Nuclear Radiation Commission”?
Monitoring wells in New Jersey’s Cohansey aquifer last year detected tritium levels of 4 million picocuries per liter, 200 times what the Environmental Protection Agency considers safe.
Such radioactive spills are a problem nationwide. More than half of the country’s 65 nuclear power plant sites have suffered significant tritium leaks or spills, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The worst was at the Braidwood plant, 60 miles southwest of Chicago, also owned by Exelon, which leaked more than 6 million gallons of contaminated water, causing some tritium to enter a drinking water well. …
“The NRC’s almost acting like they’re waiting till somebody dies till they enforce the regulation. Tombstone regulation — that’s too high a price to pay by Americans,” said David Lochbaum, director of the Nuclear Safety Project of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
via Some fear U.S. nuclear agency is playing ‘regulatory roulette’ – CNN.com.
The Truth About the American Economy | Truthout
1 JunThe top marginal income tax rate during World War II was over 68 percent. In the 1950s, under Dwight Eisenhower, whom few would call a radical, it rose to 91 percent. In the 1960s and 1970s the highest marginal rate was around 70 percent. Even after exploiting all possible deductions and credits, the typical high-income taxpayer paid a marginal federal tax of over 50 percent. But contrary to what conservative commentators had predicted, the high tax rates did not reduce economic growth. To the contrary, they enabled the nation to expand middle-class prosperity and fuel growth.
Scents and sensibility | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
1 JunWe are a visual species. Bright, colourful blooms attract gardeners the way aromatic hydrocarbons attract bees. Over the last few generations flower breeders have selected plants for their visual characteristics – colour, size, contrast – at the expense of scent.
via Scents and sensibility | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk.
White House, Congressional Leaders Block Open Debate on Undeclared War With Libya | The Nation
1 JunThree wars, three, we’re fighting. Each one of them a waste of blood and treasure. Why this mania to fight wars?
The House was supposed to hold a debate Wednesday on Congressman Kucinich’s proposal to end U.S. involvement in the war in Libya. But the resolution was pulled from the floor calendar in a classic case of dereliction of duty.
Kucinich is not just disappointed. He is bluntly critical of the Obama White House and congressional leaders, who he suggests are avoiding the issue because they know that support for the Libyan project is dwindling.
via White House, Congressional Leaders Block Open Debate on Undeclared War With Libya | The Nation.
Truth and Traditions 