Blog by Dave Johnson
[Heads-up from Ed Kent]
Whirlpool, recipient of federal stimulus “smart grid” dollars, is closing an Evansville, Indiana freezer-topped refrigerator and icemaker production plant and moving the 1,100 jobs to Mexico.
New America Media, Commentary, Aaron Glantz, Posted: February 20, 2010
It was one year ago that this week that President Obama signed the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus package. It’s the biggest investment in our country since the Great Depression, but in this commentary I show how for most of us, a year of stimulus is not enough.
Jeremy W. Peters, February 9: ALBANY — The New York State Senate on Tuesday night expelled a senator convicted of assaulting his companion, the first time a member of the Legislature was forced from office in nearly a century. Full NYT story here.
So: There has been much – research studies as well as news stories – about the corruption suffused in incredible hubris – in Albany. Criminal corruption as well as a withering ethical malaise that has nothing to do with the best interests of constituents. So, to see “them” eat one of their own (in a period when lots of eyes are turned to the shenanigans) almost brings tears to the eyes. Hasta la vista Hiram Monserrate even if there is a chance it won’t be permanent.
Let the feasting get contagious. One down, many to go.
By Edward Kent
Monday, January 18, 08:17:51 EST 2010
To: OurStupidEconomy <OurStupidEconomy@yahoogroups.com>
If the Democrats lose the capacity to block Republican filibusters tomorrow, we had all better run for cover from the excesses we can expect from our banks, drug companies, and other corporate interests that already control too much of our lives. I was startled to learn the other day that one bank has initiated $100 penalties for overdrafts.
By Ed Kent
Monday, January 18, 18 07:41:36 EST 2010
To: PeaceEfforts <PeaceEfforts@yahoogroups.com>
Haiti manifestly has no leadership now. President René Préval disappeared for the first two days after the earthquake and seems to be doing little if anything other than talking to Americans now. Perhaps it is time to bring back Jean-Bertrand Aristide from South Africa where he was shipped in 2004 after a questionable removal from the Haitian presidency? Reports on him range from viewing him as an effective reformer to a human rights violator.
By Ed Kent
Sunday, January 17 14:59:10 EST 2010
To: Ending Poverty <EndingPoverty@yahoogroups.com>
This is the Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend. I finally heard someone on TV mention his name a few hours ago – Obama giving a speech/sermon at a church in the Capitol. What most people forget is that King’s popularity was declining towards the end of his life as he moved on from desegregation to concerns about poverty and wealth.
[Kent is a retired Brooklyn College philosophy professor who is very opinionated but his "stuff" has always been well corroborated and his reach is broad.]
Several years in the making.
If institutions of higher learning desire academic honesty, they must be institutions of obvious integrity, places where students, faculty, and administrators seek truth and wisdom and technical expertise in an environment marked by trust, honesty, respect, fairness, responsibility, and courage. — Peg Hogan, Former President, The Center for Academic Integrity