byte&chew

Looking at our Sacred Cow with Tom

May 22, 2012
Tomgram: Hellman and Kramer, How Much Does Washington Spend on "Defense"?

As the country’s big wars on the Eurasian continent wind down, American war-making and war preparations fly ever more regularly under the radar.  There has, for instance, been much discussion about the Obama administration’s policy “pivot” to Asia -- the only warlike act in the region so far has, however, been a little noted drone strike in the Philippines.  At the same time, remarkably little attention has been paid to a massive build-up of U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf, and -- though both seem to be underway (and connected) -- who talks about the “pivot” to the Western Indian Ocean or the “pivot” to Africa?

For those keeping a careful eye out, U.S. drone (and air) bases in the region have been proliferating -- in the Seychelles Islands, in Ethiopia, and at an unidentified site on the Arabian peninsula, among other places.  Recently, however, Wired’s Danger Room website reported that an Italian blogger had put the pieces together and offered impressive evidence of a larger war-making effort in the region, involving not only drones but F-15E fighter jets, possibly being used to bomb Yemen. Meanwhile, there are U.S. drone strikes in Yemen almost daily and at least 20 special forces operatives are reportedly now on the ground there, helping direct some of the fighting and even taking casualties.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Africa Command (Africom), set up in 2007, has been gaining clout.  In 2011, 100 special operations troops, mainly Green Berets, were moved into Central Africa, officially to aid in the hunting down of Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army.  Recently, it was reported that a brigade of regular U.S. combat troops will soon be assigned to the command and given training duties throughout the region. Meanwhile, the U.S. has been organizing a proxy war, supported by drone attacks, against al-Shabab rebels in Somalia, using Ugandan, Kenyan, and other African troops as those proxies.  And more’s afoot.  It’s just that, if you weren’t an obsessive news watcher, you would have next to no way of knowing that any of this was taking place.

War American-style, already long detached from the lives of most Americans, is growing more so: ever more secret, presidential, and beyond the control of, or accountability to, citizens or Congress.  In only one way is this not true: we taxpayers still fork over the massive sums that make our perpetual state of war and war state possible.  As Chris Hellman and Mattea Kramer of the invaluable National Priorities Project report, the expense of all this is blowing a hole in your wallet and our treasury.  To offer but one small example, if someday soon the Pakistani/Afghan border is reopened to U.S. war supplies, you will be paying the Pakistanis $1,500-$1,800 for every truck that crosses it, at an estimated cost of at least $1 million a day (with other "fees" likely).  And yet, it’s remarkable how little Americans know about what’s coming out of their pockets when the subject is “national security,” or where exactly it’s all going. Which is why we need Hellman and Kramer (and their new book, A People’s Guide to the Federal Budget) to keep us in the loop. Tom

Above all, it needs to make sense!

I’m pleased with the conversation that was generated by my last post, it gives me hope that maybe, just maybe, we can have a conversation about the future of Berlin/Gorham and the North Country. There’s no question in my mind that the Berlin/Gorham economy is in crisis, how can it not be when we’ve seen the loss of major employers and the hundreds of people who lost their jobs when these companies closed their doors. We in the North Country are not like other regions of the State or the Country, we’re not within commuting distance to major economic centers, although I recognize that some workers in this region have taken jobs in distant places and are traveling once a week to be with their families. In more urban areas you can usually find some kind of job within an hour’s ride, but in the North Country one hour brings you either to Canada or to a similar rural area in a sister State. In my mind, that’s why it’s so important for us to have a conversation about our economy and try to figure out how best to invest our scarce resources and efforts in a manner and direction that is consistent with our unique circumstances. Although I believe that the State has and will continue to work in trying to solve our economic issues, all too often their approach has had that….”downstate look”. Yes if you wanted to create jobs in Dover you might consider building a 100,000sf industrial building in an industrial park, but up here that investment has little or no chance of creating jobs. Solving the North Country’s economic issues will require efforts that might not be appropriate in Manchester, but makes perfect sense here. I think the first thing we need to consider is our geographic location. Some say we’re in the middle of nowhere, but I reply, we’re in the middle of everything. Being in the middle carries a price and, challenges some sectors of the economy, but it also presents us with opportunities. Being equidistant between two major population centers, Boston and Montreal, a relatively short drive of under 4 hours, has to be high on our radar screen. If you’re a manufacturer in a tight competitive market that 4 hour drive might be a deal breaker, but if you’re looking for a break from the hustle and bustle of the big city, it’s a small price to pay. In my mind, thinking that we’re going to solve our economic problems by enticing some big company to move here is as remote as thinking you can start a dairy farm on Elm Street in Manchester. I can give you good reasons for a dairy farm in Manchester, just think of all the milk that’s consumed in Manchester, but we all know the idea is silly and it just won’t happen. The same is true about a large manufacturer landing somewhere in the North Country. If I’m correct, then the second issue we need to put on our radar screen is identifying what makes sense up here. What is it that “fits” in that “middle of this nowhere” place we call the North Country? What unique feature or asset do we have that is hard to find anywhere else? What do you think we have that you can’t find in Manchester, Boston or Montreal? We need to search for an answer to that and many more questions and, no idea should be ignored just because it’s never been considered, above all, the answers need to make sense for where we are.

The need to shape up

This past week I took a couple of days to go around and speak to area businesses to find out how they were doing in this down economy. There was general agreement that these are very difficult times for small businesses and my conclusion was that some of them were close to the financial edge and ready to give up. The overwhelming majority agreed that last winter was a bad time and most of the people I spoke to are hoping that summer will see an improvement. An issue that came out of my visits and that I think is important to note is the fact that so many businesses depend on customers from outside Berlin/Gorham to survive. I heard these comments from retailers, service providers like electricians and carpenters, as well as manufacturers. Although I knew that many businesses in Berlin had customers from out-of-town, I had no idea that so many depend on people from away to survive. As one businessman told me, “if it wasn’t for the people coming in from Maine and Vermont I would have closed my doors a couple years ago”. I believe that this fact needs to be taken seriously if Berlin is to survive economically. With the loss of jobs in the Berlin area, any effort at creating a new economy needs to reflect the fact that outside clients/customers will play a critical role in developing a new economy. To me, that’s a very different business model than what has been in place for decades where businesses narrowly focused on serving local markets and shoppers. This fact changes how we should provide our products, services and shopping experiences. If the majority of our clients are from out of town, then we need to consider how best to accommodate what their needs may be, both in the products and services we provide and how we accommodate their personal needs while here. For example, these are not people who can run back home to grab a bite to eat or go to the bathroom while doing business here and, if we’re not seen as friendly or welcoming they’ll find another place to do business. Berlin can no longer see itself as an island of self sufficiency, where the way we look and behave doesn’t impact our economic well being. It could be that, when our paper industry was providing the economic backbone of the community we could ignore what “others” thought of us, but like the mills, those days are gone. With thousands of people driving up Rt-16 each summer and thousands just down the road on Rt-2, an effort needs to be made to let them know that Berlin has a variety of services that no other community north of the notches offers and, we need to make them feel at home.

Hot topic from TomDispatch

May 3, 2012
Tomgram: Bill McKibben, The Most Important Story of Our Lives

By now, it’s already deep election season, the beginning of the culmination of a cycle that commenced the day after (or even the day before) the previous presidential election. In the meantime, the endless polls appear -- you can check Obama’s approval rating or the state of the presidential horserace any time, night or day -- and the media goes ballistic handicapping the odds or discussing the presidential cat fight.  Each side’s handlers take out after the other's, and increasingly, the corporate dollars pour in (another form of handicapping, or maybe just plain old knee-capping).  You know the routine.  These days, with the election a mere six months away, Romney/Obama “analysis” and prediction is already in the stratosphere and no issue, from war to a blind self-taught Chinese lawyer escaping to the American embassy in Beijing, is election-proof.

It’s all grist for the mill and who in Washington isn’t reading the polls the way a New Ager might read Tarot cards?  So when President Obama suddenly starts talking -- quite voluntarily -- about global warming as a campaign issue, you know something’s up.  What’s up, it turns out, is public concern over climate change after years of polling in which Americans claimed to be ever less worried about the phenomenon.

No one should be surprised, given this overheated year in North America, as Bill McKibben points out in today’s post.  In fact, in the latest climate-change polling, 63% of respondents believe “the United States should move forward to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, regardless of what other countries do.”  In another recent poll, 65% of Americans backed the idea of “imposing mandatory controls on carbon dioxide emissions/other greenhouse gases” (as 75% now support regulating carbon dioxide as a “pollutant”).

This is something new in America.  Times, like the weather, are evidently a-changin’. And the president has noticed this, especially since he’s facing an opponent who, last fall, went on the record this way: “My view is that we don’t know what’s causing climate change on this planet.  And the idea of spending trillions and trillions of dollars to try to reduce CO2 emissions is not the right course for us.”

So this may be a bullish campaign season for climate change.  "I suspect,” said the president, “that over the next six months, this is going to be a debate that will become part of the campaign, and I will be very clear in voicing my belief that we're going to have to take further steps to deal with climate change in a serious way.”  It could even help win him the election, if this summer and fall prove just as weather-freaky as our North American winter and spring have been, leaving Republican climate-change deniers and prevaricators in the dust.

If, in a far less propitious political moment, one person put climate change back on the White House agenda and made the president attend to it, that would be TomDispatch regular Bill McKibben.  The campaign of mass action he launched against the Keystone XL Pipeline and the particularly “dirty” form of energy it was slated to bring from Canada to the U.S. Gulf coast proved crucial. Let’s hope, like the cavalry, that he arrived in the nick of time. Tom

Please be part of the solution

I wish to comment on the closing of Car Freshner. I want to express my sense of helplessness in knowing that I can’t be of any help to those who just lost their jobs. For most of these folks, they’ve lost more than a job, in their own words, their job is what shaped their hopes, dreams and friendships. These people join those from Isaacson and the mill, who are all victims of a changing economy. What are we supposed to say to these former employees who are our friends and neighbors?  I’m sorry, I’ll be thinking of you, good luck? Although I consider myself an optimist, I can honestly say that I fear for Berlin and the region. For the first time in my adult life I question what will become of my hometown. How many such tragedies can the community endure and still remain viable? This is not a time for political posturing or finger pointing, that time is long past. The tragic events of the past few days, months and years demand a focused effort at determining what options are available for our community and region. All the options need to be considered, there’s no time for petty politics or sacred cows. Haven’t we witnessed enough carnage to convince us that we need to chart a different course? Has the reality and seriousness of this latest event opened our eyes to the fact that “business as usual” is failing us? Are we willing to admit that the 40 jobs at the biomass plant aren’t going to provide the answers to our economic woes? How many more doors have to close before we wake up to the fact that we need to have a serious discussion about our economic future? I suggest that it’s time for those we’ve elected to represent our common good to rise to the level of their fiduciary responsibilities. By that I don’t mean repeating platitudes about Berlin having a bright future or other mindless statements that by now, we know are false. It is time for somebody such as our mayor, to convene a meeting of city residents and admit that we’re in a crisis situation and, that there are no easy answers or solutions. It is time for our elected officials to act as leaders not as politicians on the campaign trail. This is not about them, their political ambitions or who will win the next election, it’s about our community and how it’s going to survive in the 21^st century. How much more damage will be allowed to happen before we take control of our destiny? I have to wonder if our politicians can subdue their egos and put their self interest aside long enough to be part of the solution and not continue to be part of the problem?  I’m afraid that unless we come to grips with these critical issues the downward economic spiral will continue until Berlin fades into the history books as the once only City in the North Country.

A Tomgram

April 15, 2012
Tomgram: Chase Madar, Legal Atrocities

[Note for TomDispatch Readers: TD has an offer for you that shouldn’t be missed.  TomDispatch regular Chase Madar, who has covered Private Bradley Manning’s trials and tribulations for this site, has now produced a striking and provocative new book on his case, The Passion of Bradley Manning.  It’s just out, definitely a must-read for those of us who care about Manning’s fate and, for a limited period of time, you can get a signed, personalized copy of the book in return for a contribution of $75 or more to this website.  It’s a great way to support us and always deeply appreciated.  To check out the offer go to our donation page by clicking here. Tom]

Of course, it wasn’t Barack Obama’s fault.  He didn’t nominate himself for the Nobel Peace Prize back in 2009 when he was already on a distinct war trajectory in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  The Nobel committee did it in what, even then, was visibly a vote for the idea that “peace” was anything but George W. Bush.

After all, the new president had run a campaign against a “stupid” war in Iraq, but for prosecuting “ the right war,” and by the time he was awarded the prize in October 2009, as an incipient peace president he had already escalated the war in Afghanistan and his administration was deep in a fierce debate over just how many more troops to send there in what would, by December of that year, become a “surge.”

By the time the president accepted his award in March 2010 in a speech entitled “ A Just and Lasting Peace” -- which might more accurately have been titled “On the Necessity of War” -- he had significantly increased troop levels in Afghanistan and similarly upped the levels of CIA personnel, private contractors, special operations forces, State Department personnel, and so on.  In addition, he was already overseeing a spreading drone air campaign in the Pakistani borderlands.

Give him credit.  He stood on the Nobel podium and gave a speech that, read today, looks remarkably like a rousing defense of American-style war and little short of an attack on the limited ability of nonviolence to make a real difference in a violent world.  Among other things, he made clear that he wouldn’t be bound in any way by the examples of Gandhi or King, trumpeted his willingness to act “unilaterally,” and plunked for the necessity of war.  (“I raise this point because in many countries there is a deep ambivalence about military action today, no matter the cause. At times, this is joined by a reflexive suspicion of America, the world's sole military superpower.”)

Honest (and predictive) as it may have been, he did not have to go to Oslo at all.  He had an honorable alternative, and there was even a precedent -- though one no American president would ever have cited -- for what he didn’t do.  In 1973, the Nobel Committee offered its peace prize to two men, American Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese diplomat Le Duc Tho for negotiating the Paris Peace Accords.  Kissinger accepted.  Le Duc Tho refused, saying that “peace has not yet really been established... In these circumstances, it is impossible for me to accept the prize.”

Obama did not take that path, of course, and now, his Nobel Prize largely forgotten, he will be campaigning for reelection as a successful war president, the man who launched the attack that killed Osama bin Laden, and whose administration has fed the U.S. military machine in a manner similar to that of his predecessor.  At the same time, it has fiercely prosecuted and, in the case of Private First Class Bradley Manning among others, persecuted a range of American whistleblowers who have dared to reveal the real story of our eternal state of war and the war state that goes with it.

Manning, accused of passing secret U.S. military and State Department documents on to the website WikiLeaks, is now in military prison awaiting a trial whose verdict is essentially a foregone conclusion.  Everyone knows that after military “justice” is done under pressure from an administration led by a president who has already publicly stated -- at a $5,000 a head fundraiser in San Francisco, no less -- that Manning “broke the law,” they will throw away the keys and leave him to rot in prison till hell freezes over.

Manning is already in danger of being forgotten (though not at this website) for an alleged act that was aimed at stopping war, an act that -- as a matter of amends -- should bring him a nomination for the Nobel Prize, if not the prize itself.  TomDispatch regular and lawyer Chase Madar has, at least, done his best to make sure Manning will not be America’s forgotten hero with his provocative, invaluable new book, The Passion of Bradley Manning (OR Books), on the case and its many ramifications.  In a half-reasonable world, it would keep a spotlight on him. (To catch Timothy MacBain's latest two-part Tomcast audio interview in which Madar discusses the Manning case and his new book, click here for part 1 and here for part 2, or download it to your iPod here.) Tom

Choosing an Illusion

Now that a historic downtown area recently known as “The Rite Aid Block” has joined the old Post Office and is no longer, I can’t help but think of the businesses that at one time were there and that made Berlin a special place to live and shop. Most recently we had JC Penney, but a few years ago, there were many more places of business. There was Endicott Johnson Shoe Store and at one time Atwood Photographic Studio in the basement area. There was Morin’s Shoe Store and Dale’s Radio & TV, George’s Candy Store and Young’s Music Store. Some of us remember Moffet Millinery Store and a “beer joint” that I can’t remember the name. How about the Albert Hotel which was turned into a restaurant and then back into apartments for college students? These were all on Main Street with several other businesses on Mason Street. At one time and before the Snow Shoe Club was Fournier Furniture Store and a small office that I believe, was where you could go to pay your telephone and electric bills. On Pleasant Street you had the A&P Supermarket which later became Prince’s Supermarket and just up the street was Lionel Furniture. I’m sure I’m forgetting a few, but these were all thriving businesses that complemented the rest of our downtown and our vibrant City. From the 20’s to the 60’s there were several hundred people employed in our downtown and of course you had the thousands who worked in the paper mills and shopped there. For the lack of planning and investing in its future, Berlin has become but a shadow of itself and for a native son like me, I’m not only saddened by this latest event, I unfortunately don’t see any indication that the City is about to reverse its decline. Yes, we have the platitudes that come from the politicians such as those from our mayor and the unfounded promises that we're about to turn the corner. The real opportunity for Berlin went down the drain when the residents bought the notion that the biomass plant was going to be the center piece of a renewal for Berlin as portrayed by Paul Grenier’s strategy to become mayor. For Berlin, the events of the past ten years with the mill closings have been nothing short of catastrophic and demanded nothing short of a major shift in direction and effort to arrest the ungoing decline. Yes, the next couple years will be busy with the construction at the biomass plant, but as the last worker heads south on Rt-16 the 40 promised jobs at Berlin Biopower will go unnoticed. The noise, smoke and steam from the biomass plant will seal Berlin’s fate as a relic of the industrial age and, a victim of the illusion that, the future will be a reflection of the past.

Cancelling Lunch

Being a news junkie and spending way too much time watching political types blabbing about issues that they only half understand, I have a very uneasy feeling about the direction the economy has taken and the lack of real discussion over the connection between the US/European economy and the new and BIG kid on the block, China. For the past 10 years the news media has given but lip service to what is happening in China and all the presidential candidates are playing dumb on the issue (I hope they’re just playing dumb) by not talking about it. Let’s be real for a moment, how can we ignore the fact that China has, is and will be eating our lunch? Some are suggesting that the US Government and the Obama administration is fully aware of the situation, but since there’s very little they feel they can do about it, they’re keeping silent. It’s my opinion that the rest of the politicians also know about the problem, but the severity and sensitivity of the issue is so alarming that, they too slide it under the rug. Recently I read an article by financial analyst Larry Edelson who just wrote an article entitled “The Great Betrayal of 2012” in which he claims that the Chinese economy has already gone ahead of the American economy and that fact will allow China to dictate future financial decisions around the world. In past posts I’ve lamented that just about every item you buy is made in China and challenged you to go to WalMart and find something made in the US. Don’t you think that everything being made in China and our high unemployment is related? Is the Pope Catholic? Consider the following statistics; China has 810M workers, the US 160M  ….Unemployment in China is 3%, US 8.5%....In 2011 Chinese wages rose 7.60%, in the US down 1.70%. You might say, but China has more people and they were so far behind, which is true, but what I’m saying is that they are no longer behind and in order for me to have my lunch, Washington is borrowing 50% of its budget (from China) and the numbers are growing fast. Consider these other facts; China now consumes 41% of the worlds copper and nickel, 43% of the steel, 45% of tin, 46% of lead, and 47% of all the zinc.  Do you need more proof that we’re in deep trouble that Washington is not talking about or that the Republican Candidates are avoiding like the plague?  While our 401K’s are doing nothing at best and the US stock market is dead in the waters, China’s stocks are booming, growing 30% to 300% per year.  Now I don’t claim that I have the answer to halting our economic downfall, what I’m bringing to your attention is the fact that our politicians are not being honest with us, they are promising us an economy that they can’t deliver, because they can’t, China holds the cards. In fact, I think the situation is so bad that, they don’t even want to talk about it or for you to know about it. Looks like were not having lunch tomorrow.

Avoid skunks

Over the past couple years I’ve written about the political style of our “infamous” mayor Paul Grenier and how he is ruthless, tenacious and out and out nasty in pursuing his political ambitions. Well, we have a perfect example unfolding right before our eyes but smoothed over in today’s (3/23/12) article in The Berlin Daily Sun.  Mr. Grenier and the County Commissioners, (mostly Mr. Grenier) have been waging a tug-of-war with  County Attorney Robert Mekeel for better than three years and the County Attorney has won most of the battles including a law suit in Superior Court over the lack of adequate office space for Mr. Mekeel and his staff. The County Attorney is about to discover what some of us have known for as long as we’ve known Mr. Grenier, that you don’t get into a pissin’ contest with a skunk. Mr. Mekeel may have won the battle over his office space, but my money is on Mr. Grenier to win that war. As I’ve expressed in previous posts, Paul Grenier has a great memory about issues that don’t go his way and sooner or later, right or wrong, revenge is always at the ready in Paul’s tool chest. Keep in mind that Mr. Grenier “uses” people as weapons too, quite often people who get sucked-in to the situation and then are used as ammunition by his honor(?). At the moment it appears that Berlin Police Chief Morency has become the pawn to put Mr. Mekeel in check. Caught between a rock and a hard place, I believe that Chief Morency has unintentionally walked in that “pissin” contest between Paul Grenier and Attorney Meekel and is being “used”as ammunition. With the Berlin Police Department budget before Mayor and Council for funding, Emperor Grenier made his move by soliciting an “opinion” from Morency. The trap was set and Morency became yet, another victim of Mr. Grenier’s sinister political moves. Chief Morency said that he was at times “frustrated” with the legal process. Keep in mind that the Emperor’s agenda is not to improve the legal process, but to dump Attorney Mekeel who had the audacity to challenge Mr. Grenier and the Commissioners. (In case you don’t know, Mr Mekeel was found to be right by the courts). Also keep in mind that a couple years ago, Mr. Peter Riviere lost his position as Executive Director of Coos Economic Development Corporation using similar tactics. That my friend is an ugly and close-up look at Mr. Grenier and how he conducts his duties as a public official. This is also the man that speaks for Berlin and Coos County on our behalf and provides proof to the outside world that Coos County politics are arrogant, ignorant and ugly.

Thanks Tom

March 15, 2012
Tomgram: Barbara Ehrenreich, American Poverty, 50 Years Later

We call it “the nation’s capital,” but that’s increasingly a misnomer.  Consider Congress, where as last year ended 250 members, or 47% of our representatives, were millionaires, and the estimated median net worth of a senator was $2.56 million.  Or consider the city of movers, shakers, and lobbyists they live in.  In Washington D.C., “the top fifth of earners in the District make an average of 29 times the income of the bottom fifth.”  In average annual household salary that translates as $259,000 versus $9,100.  For the capital’s top 5%, that number is $473,000, “far above the $292,000 averaged by their counterparts in other large cities.”

Washington as the people’s capital?  More reasonably, it’s the capital of American wealth in a country in which the super-rich, after taking some lumps in the Great Recession, are again outpacing everyone else. As TomDispatch regular Barbara Ehrenreich points out, half a century ago Michael Harrington pointed a finger at the world of American poverty, calling it “the other America” -- and that label stuck.  Today, in a country where Hispanic and African American wealth was nearly wiped out by the bursting of the housing bubble, the elderly have increasingly seen their savings evaporate, and the poor are ever less “other” and ever more us, a new Harrington might consider labeling the world of the wildly rich, that 1% and their eternal bonuses, as “the real other America.”

It’s all too fitting that the leading Republican presidential candidate is a quarter-billionaire.  He may be running as a Washington outsider, but unlike most Americans, he’ll be right at home in the new Washington.

Ehrenreich’s post today is the beginning of something new.  With it, she launches the Economic Hardship Reporting Project (developed with colleagues from the Institute for Policy Studies and the G.W. Williams Center for Independent Journalism).  Beginning this spring, it will pay laid-off or underemployed journalists to produce original work on what she calls the “greased chute” of poverty.  Stay tuned, you’ll hear more about it at this website or you can check out it out early at EconomicHardship.org.  Her latest piece is a joint TomDispatch/Nation article and will appear in print in the new issue of that magazine. Tom