It is early June, the crisis point on the debt ceiling has been reached, and word has come down from on high that “Nobody leaves the Capitol until there is agreement on raising the debt ceiling NOW!!!” And so, the 435 representatives of the 50 states, tired and grumpy, are once again trying to hammer out a compromise that will at least appease both sides. For the purpose of this conversation, there are only two voices – Republican and Democrat, shortened to Rep & Dem – representing all members of each party’s interest.
Dem: Well, the problem is actually quite simple … putting it in layman’s terms for you, consider the family whose bills exceed their monthly income. Now, they have a few choices: take another or get a better-paying job to earn more money; reduce some expenses, cut back on non-essentials; or sell something for additional funds. This is where the U.S. government is at. Now, let’s talk about those three choices.
Rep: I’ve been saying all along that we need to reduce expenses! Those retired people are getting around $1,600 every month for sitting on their porch swings throwing peanuts out for the birds! Cut that in half … they should have been smarter and saved while they were working!
Dem: I’m not even gonna dignify that with a response! Those old folks paid into Social Security all their lives on the promise by the U.S. government – US – that they would have a cushion for their old age. You want to jerk that right out from under them? I know you probably don’t pay the bills in your house or do the shopping, but let me tell you, $1,600 a month is nothing!
Rep: Okay, okay, you bleeding heart liberal! So, what’s your better idea, or do you just want to rebut mine?
Dem: We increase revenue by … guess what … taxing your rich buddies! Percentage-wise, they are paying less than your average working Joe, especially since the tax cuts your lying little buddy gave them in 2017! Cut their loopholes, institute a fully gradient taxation schedule, and no exceptions!
Rep: Oh no!!! You start doing that, and our donor contributions will shrivel to nothing! Absolutely NOT! That idea is not even on the table!
Dem: Alright, then … that leaves the third option: we sell something.
Rep: Like what … maybe the White House, complete with the president in it? (laughs at his own joke)
Dem: No, I’m thinking maybe … well look, we’ve got 50 states, right? Personally, since it’s likely going to be underwater in ten years anyway, I’d opt for selling Florida.
Rep: I knew you’d pick a red state to sell … just knew it! Okay, let’s take a different approach and look at which state is smallest? I’m thinking that would be Rhode Island, right? Only about … let me look this up right quick … only 1,544 square miles! We’d hardly even miss it!
Dem: No way, Josè! First, it may be the smallest in terms of land mass, but not of population. Second, it is in the heart of the New England states … nobody is going to buy a state that’s surrounded on all sides by other states. But, that brings to mind another possibility, one that you might even agree to. Alaska! Alaska has the fourth smallest population, only 724,357 people, and it isn’t even physically attached to the U.S., but rather to Canada! Why, I bet we could make Justin Trudeau an offer he couldn’t refuse and he’d snap it up in a heartbeat!
Rep: Well … I dunno. That would increase your majority in the Senate by two.
Dem: And it would increase your majority here in the House by one. And what, really, does Alaska contribute to the national good?
Rep: Hey, there’s oil under all that snow and ice! OIL!!!
Dem: And you know as well as I do that the future of oil is doomed. You can deny it ‘til the cows come home, but climate science is real and oil is soon going to be a thing of the past as we move on toward more renewable, environmentally-friendly energy sources. WAKE UP!
Rep: Yeah, yeah … I know it and you know it, but I can’t tell my constituents that, for I’ve spent years convincing them that climate change is a Democratic hoax! Why, I’d never get re-elected! Not to mention I’d lose all those lovely donations from the fossil fuel industry.
Dem: Okay, fine, whatever. It’s after 2:00 a.m., we’re all tired, and we have a mandate to come to an agreement before we can go home and crawl into our beds, so … do we have an agreement? We raise the debt ceiling, pay the bills and let the old folks keep on keeping on, and to make up the difference, we sell Alaska to the Canadians?
Rep: I don’t much like it, but I sense it’s the best we’re going to manage, so … okay, deal.
They shake hands, and the deal is done.
Gorgeous place, isn’t it? Don’t you just love all the wildlife running free? What? Where is it? It is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Feel free to grab a couple of the pictures to remember it by, for soon … soon it is likely that it will no longer be so pristine, so beautiful, and the animals are likely to be gone.
This land has long been a source of controversy between those who would protect both the land and the wildlife, and the others who would like to drill for oil on the land. In 1987, an impact study showed that if drilling were to take place …
Shortly after taking office, Trump unveiled his fossil fuel-dependent “America First Energy Plan”. In his first months, he signed several Executive Orders designed to pave the way for opening previously protected lands and waters for resource extraction. In May, Interior Secretary Zinke signed an order that requested an updated assessment of untapped potential oil and gas reserves in Alaska, which could then be used to make a case for drilling in the Arctic Refuge.
In an August memo, it was revealed the Department of the Interior wanted to lift a longstanding moratorium on exploratory seismic studies in the refuge. Now – remember the donor tax cuts bill that passed last December? Yeah, that one … the one that gave all those lovely tax cuts to the wealthiest 1%, increased both our debt and deficit, and left the rest of us in worse shape than before. Well, turns out that the republicans in Congress folded legislation into that bill that will ultimately open the doors to drilling for both gas and oil.
This week, the first permit application to begin seismic testing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), was submitted by two Alaska Native corporations and a small oil services firm. The Department of Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service was not happy, however. The Fish and Wildlife Service complained that the permit application failed to provide studies about the effects of the seismic work and equipment on wildlife, the tundra and the aquatic conditions in the refuge. In other words, no environmental impact study was included.
The area is home to polar bears in winter and porcupine caribou and hundreds of migratory bird species in summer. No drilling has been done there since it became a refuge in 1980 and no seismic work since the mid-1980s.
It was just another week in the White House and beyond. I almost feel guilty about writing some of the juvenile posturing going on with Trump & Friends … it’s almost like shooting fish in a barrel … I don’t even have to work at it.
“In Canada, some very unfair things have happened to our dairy farmers and others, and we’re going to strategy working on that. Canada, what they’ve done to our dairy farm workers, it’s a disgrace.” What, you may ask, did Canada do to draw the wrath of the playground bully? Canadian dairy producers recently decided to collectively lower their prices in order to compete with cheaper, American imports. About 70 dairy producers in both Wisconsin and New York are reportedly affected by the new policy. Best I recall from my college economics courses, this is competitive business practice and does not signify “a disgrace”.
Did you ever get into your car, begin driving, and then discover there was a bee sharing the space with you? I have had this happen, and for the most part I just keep driving, perhaps open a window a bit so the he/she can fly out if they so choose. Next time, perhaps it would be better to stop right away and let the bee out of the car. Here is what happened last month in Wales: 65-year-old Carol Howarth apparently got a bee in her car and either didn’t realize it or just wasn’t too concerned about it. The bee, however, turned out not to be just an ordinary bee, but a queen bee! Ms. Howarth drove on to a local shopping center and went in to do a bit of shopping, completely unaware that she had been followed! Meanwhile, a National Park Ranger, Tom Moses, happened to be passing by and noticed a very strange sight indeed … a swarm of thousands of bees congregating on the rear of Ms. Howarth’s Mitsubishi! Imagining all the things that could go wrong, both for passersby and the bees alike, Mr. Moses did the smart thing and called in a couple of professional beekeepers who helped capture the swarm. Mr. Moses, by the way, refers to it as a ‘sting operation’, as he received several stings in the process. Problem solved? Not quite. The next morning, Ms. Howarth awakened to find the swarm had returned and was once again lodged on the rear of her car! The beekeepers were once again called in and it took until 6:00 that evening to capture and disburse all the bees! I always heard that bees were loyal to their queen, but this … ? Queen Elizabeth, eat your heart out! I am not afraid of bees, per se, but I think seeing that many bees on my car would give me nightmares for a few weeks at least!
In the city of Tbilisi, the capital of the former Soviet republic of Georgia (the country, not the state), there is a new café, called Kiwi Cafe. It is a small, vegan café with only 5-6 tables, and has been opened for just over a year. The owners, Egoo and Skvo, have been having some problems from the community: “The neighbors don’t like us. We’ve got piercings; we’ve got tattoos; we’ve got dreadlocks. They think we’re weird. They think we’re dirty.” But the criticisms and comments were nothing compared to what happened last week when 10-15 men, some wearing sausages ‘round their necks, others armed with skewers of meat, burst into the café and began violently throwing meat upon the diner’s plates! A brawl ensued, with minor injuries reported but the perpetrators fled before police arrived. According to witnesses, the police were not particularly sympathetic nor helpful. Some speculate that it was the work of right-wing extremist groups similar to neo-Nazis.
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