EPA.....GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN?

The House of Representatives is at it again. It is threatening a government shutdown October 1. It will refuse to approve funding for the government's new fiscal year. The House will refuse to fund all of the government, unless certain Enviromental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations recently adopted are withdrawn.

President Obama was discouraged by the failure of the House to pass legislation to deal with global warming. Obama had the EPA adopt new regulations that would mandate the cutback on carbon dioxide emissions from coal powered plants. The cutback would not be an immediate one. The new regs provide something like 15 years. The time frame provided a generous one so companies with carbon dioxide emissions will have more than adequate time to comply.

The House has for years refused to take any significant steps. Obama acted. The House countered with we will shut down the government! A typical my way or the highway response. 

The new EPA regulations will I assume be part of the lawsuit Speaker Boehner recently announced to curb  the President from issuing such orders. The House claims the President has exceeded his Constitutional powers. The President disagrees and says if Congress will not act, he must and will.

Some background.

The EPA interestingly came into being by Executive Order on December 2, 1970. A Republican, President Nixon created it. The creation was then ratified by Congressional hearings in both the House and Senate. I am not sure why nor whether such ratification was necessary.

The EPA is not a Cabinet position. However, it has been deemed important enough to have been given Cabinet rank.

The EPA's two major responsibilities are clean air and clean water. Easy to understand. 

We want the air we breathe to be free of any contaminant that might harm health. Included in the responsibility is global warming. Global warming from the perspective of most scientists is caused by emissions from coal burning factories. The emissions are harmful to breathe and also affect the atmosphere and earth re-warming and cooling.

Just as man cannot live without clean air, he cannot live without clean water. Contaminants, toxins, chemicals, that are harmful must be kept from the waterways.

Duke University recently published a study regarding air pollution in North Carolina. Twenty years ago North Carolina tightened its air quality standards. They elected to force compliance with federal laws and standards. Something few States do. The results were impressive. 

There has been a substantial decline in deaths from respiratory illnesses such as asthma and emphysema in North Carolina. The study also determined that the overall costs to society by not complying results in substantially higher medical costs that the cost of compliance.

There is a 2012 study concerning clean water. The study found that in 2012 alone, United States corporations dumped 206 million pounds of toxic chemicals into America's waterways. A big number. The biggest ever.

Interestingly, the largest dumper was Tyson Foods. 18.5 million pounds. Nine percent of the nationwide total.

Over the past 20 years, the House of Representatives had demoted the EPA by cutting back on EPA appropriations. Especially where clean water was involved. President Obama seeks an increase in the funding.

Whereas the cost to achieve clean air is with retooling plant machinery, the cost for clean water requires corporations to dispose of toxins in ways specified by law. More expensive than just dumping toxins into a stream. Corporate America at the present time is dumping chemicals into our waterways and/or burying 55 gallon drums of toxic chemicals in wetlands and caves. Whatever way, the chemicals eventually find their way into the water table. The waters we drink. These toxic chemicals cause all sorts of dreaded illness, including a number of cancers.

The study regarding the 206 million pounds of toxic chemicals dumped into American waterways made an interesting observation. Of the top ten polluters, four were were agribusiness corporations. The companies that are using in many instances GMO's. Whatever chemicals they are using to produce bigger and better looking foodstuffs is reflected in their chemical wastes ending up in the water supply. The four are Tyson already mentioned and Cargill, Perdue Farms, and Pilgrims Pride.

It is all money. The cost of retooling and the cost of proper disposal. Corporate America does not want to incur that cost. Everything is the bottom line. They are insensitive to the suffering and calamities their wrongdoing causes.

Resolution of the problem is for no other reason than to protect the American people. Simple and straight forward. Congress should be first in line to do it. The House of Representatives, especially. To fund necessary legislation to guarantee clean air and clean water. Where Congress fails in its responsibility, the President has no choice but to act. 

Recognize that the House's position protects the profit of major polluters.Congress is owned by the corporations. Corporations decide what legislation Washington passes in most instances. Our Presidents bear responsibility, also. Many have stood silently by and not taken the bull by the horns where Congress has failed. Obama is trying.

A question spins in my mind. What ever happened to government of the people, by the people, for the people?

OBAMA and PUTIN

George Santayana said it well.....Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

History does repeat itself. If we do not understand what is happening has occurred before, it can destroy us. We must learn from our yesterdays.

The Putin and Ukraine of today are the Hitler, Austria and Czechoslovakia of yesterday. Obama must take a stand. A firm one. Otherwise, history will remember him as another Neville Chamberlain.

Obama drew the line in Syria. Then backed away. It has been drawn in Ukraine several times since the Crimean problem arose. Other than some minor ineffectual sanctions and boisterous rhetoric, nothing has happened.

Putin is a bully. Perhaps as bad as Stalin. Obama must stand up to Putin. Failure to do so could change the map of Europe and rewrite Obama history. He will not be viewed favorably. In spite of his Obamacare and Osama bin Laden successes. Unanticipated circumstance has made Ukraine the biggie in world events and the record on which Obama will be evaluated.

Additionally, and more importantly for the immediate future, the democracies of the world will no longer view the United States as the shining light on the horizon. Their protector. The one country they can depend on in time of crisis.

Talk is cheap. Obama, Biden and Kerry have been doing a lot. Primarily in the media for world consumption. It is similar to Nero fiddling while Rome burned.

There comes a time, so to speak, when you have to put your money where your mouth is. This is that time. Otherwise Ukraine can be the precursor of war. A far worse one than World War II. The war that no one wants.

Putin is a smart man. Intellectually and street wise. Probably a hell of a poker player. He is on a roll. He has consistently come out on top of late. For Russia. And sometimes even for himself personally.

An example involves the $2.2 billion Ukraine owes for gas purchased from Gazprom. One of Russia's major gas suppliers. Ukraine is broke. It cannot pay the debt. Yet Ukrainians need the gas.

When this Ukraine mess began, Putin said no more gas to Ukraine unless the Gazprom bill is paid. What was to be done? Simple. The United States provided a $1 billion guarantee to Ukraine. Putin looked upon the guarantee as sufficient good faith and said the gas would keep flowing.

The brilliance (or perhaps luck) of Putin now comes into play. Putin personally owns 4.5 per cent of Gazprom  It is estimated that the United States' $1 billion guarantee benefited Putin to the tune of $45 million.

The Economic Policy Journal in an article on April 14, 2014, wrote ".....in a way, with the guarantee, the United States just put $45 million into Putin's personal pocket."

It is Obama v. Putin or Putin v. Obama. Which ever way you want to look at it. Five rounds of a 15 round championship boxing match have been completed. Putin has won the first five rounds. It is Obama's time to come out fighting and turn things around.

Go get 'em, Mr. President! 

WHY DO PEOPLE HATE OBAMA?

Respect has taken a breather. It is no longer with us as it once was. There was a time if you disagreed with a police officer, a military person,  a priest or a political figure, you still gave the uniform and/or position the respect it was entitled to.

Today, many who disagree would rather spit on a person rather than attempt to reconcile differences.

President Obama has had a rough road since he first was elected. Respect for him is lacking. The office he holds is likewise disrespected.

It is my considered opinion that two reasons exist for the dislike.

The first has to do with color. Obama is half black. The first person of color elected to such high office. Probably not the last. Many people, especially middle aged white Americans, have a hatred for Obama that eats at them every day. Obama can do nothing correct. No one can be that bad!

This group of white Americans sense Obama is the first of his color to achieve such heights. He will not be the last. The whites are fearful of losing their perceived status as the big guys in American society. Underlining that thought, these same persons are equally fearful that the black man will remember his history in our country and get even. The philosophy being that what goes around, comes around.

The numbers regarding persons of color are staggering. This very day, there are more persons of color in the United States than whites. Those who dislike/hate Obama are aware of that. The color group includes blacks, Hispanics, Asians and whatever other persons of color there may be.

It is probable that the United States will elect another person of color President within the next 20-30 years. Colored America will be by that time the largest voting block.

There is another consideration. I suspect that in 50 years, there will be few people of color. As the colored population grows and the white diminishes, there will be intermarriage. Society will generally be tan.

Have I said a terrible thing? No. It is inevitable.

And that sticks in the craw of the hateful whites!

The other reason Obama is disliked and hated is corporate America. If Obama were white, they would still dislike and hate him. Corporate America wishes to control and dominate American society. Any Democrat President obstructs that desire. Corporate America is for themselves, the rich. That two per cent.

Corporate America will do anything to feather its own bed. They care not for the masses.

Obama's color and selfish corporate interests have eroded the respect that a President of the United States is entitled to. Any President.

I cannot understand. The change to color influence is inevitable. It is a wave that cannot be stopped. Corporate America cannot go on as it has. Record profits while farming out 80 per cent of jobs to foreign countries. The middle class will return. Respect for every one, also.

Republicans, haters and corporate America  beware. The train has left the station.