Category Archives: NAFTA/free trade

Kochs: Getting Taxpayers to pay for their lobbyists…

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This just in…the utmost in hubris–the $$ Kochs $$ don’t even want to pay for their own lobbying efforts against public education, pollution control, unions, poor people, elderly, dogs and cats…(okay, I added the dogs and cats.)

August 28, 2013
CONTACT: Nikolina Lazic, nikolina@prwatch.org

WISCONSIN PREPARES TO HAND HALF-MILLION IN TAXPAYER FUNDS TO KOCH-TIED GOP LOBBY SHOP

A small GOP lobby shop tied to the Tea Party and David Koch’s Americans for Prosperity, and which was active in the state’s recent recall elections, was awarded $500,000 in taxpayer dollars in what some are calling a backdoor, sweetheart deal cooked up by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) State Chair, outgoing Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder.

Send an email to the commission which will review the sweetheart deal tomorrow:
http://org.salsalabs.com/o/632/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=14195

The United Sportsmen of Wisconsin Foundation was the only applicant for a newly-created grant to promote hunting, fishing, and trapping in the state, despite the organization having no record in outdoors training. The grant was slipped into the budget bill by Suder and barely advertised, and other outdoors groups with more experience in the area were largely excluded. Suder has ties to United Sportsmen, and announced last week he would be leaving the Assembly for a higher-paying job in the Walker administration.

The organization’s record, thus far, appears to be that of a lobbying organization for an array of Republican priorities, from mining to the “Castle Doctrine” — neither of which has anything to do with hunting or fishing — and working with Americans for Prosperity to organize events and support Republicans in the 2011 recall elections. The Foundation wing of the group, which has received the grant, only incorporated in January.Although United Sportsmen describes itself as a membership organization, there is little indication it has a wide membership list; its Facebook page, for example, only has 290 followers, many of whom are politicians or right-wing leaders.

The grant, if approved by a panel reviewing the application on Thursday, will go almost entirely towards paying the salaries of United Sportsmen’s staff and consultants.

“This last minute, half million dollar raid on the public treasury ought to be rescinded immediately,” says Jay Heck of Common Cause Wisconsin. “To award this huge chunk of scarce, taxpayer money to a new group with no track record or experience in hunting, trapping and fishing and with obvious partisan, special-interest ties appears, at the very least to be a quid pro quo conflict of interest.”

Taxpayer Dollars Funding the Tea Party?

United Sportsmen was incorporated in June 2011, just weeks before the hotly-contested Senate recall elections when, apparently in coordination with Koch’s Americans for Prosperity, it sent misleading absentee ballot applications with the incorrect date for the elections.

At the time, minimal information was available about the organization, but readers of the Brad Blog uncovered how United Sportsmen’s website was purchased by John W. Connors, an Americans for Prosperity staffer and former Walker campaign volunteer.

This was not Connors’ first foray into the dark money arts. Earlier in 2011, the Center for Media and Democracy uncovered how Connors had also purchased the domain name for a mysterious group called “Citizens for a Strong America,” which subsequently spent hundreds of thousands on the Wisconsin Supreme Court race. (That election, between Supreme Court Justice David Prosser and challenger Joanne Kloppenburg, was being treated as a referendum on Governor Scott Walker’s controversial anti-union legislation). The street address for the domain name registry was the same as that of AFP.

United Sportsmen of Wisconsin received $235,000 from Citizens for a Strong America in 2011, according to the latter group’s tax filings. That same year, Citizens for a Strong America funnelled a stunning $916,045 to a pro-life organization called Wisconsin Family Action, which also appeared to have been involved in Americans for Prosperity’s absentee mailing scheme: its address was the same as the “Absentee Ballot Application Processing Center” listed as the destination for AFP’s absentee ballot submissions.

Unlike Citizens for a Strong America, United Sportsmen continued its political activities after the recall elections. It aso maintained its AFP ties. In October of 2012, for example, the group worked with AFP and the National Rifle Association to sponsor “Freedom Fest,” a party at the Kalahari Resort featuring politicians like U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, right-wing talk show host Vicki McKenna, and Brian Fraley of the MacIver Institute, as well as the head of Governor Walker’s Department of Natural Resources. Activities included a “Freedom Phone Bank” and presentations titled “Rules for Radicals” and “Grassroots Lobbying.”

United Sportsmen presents itself as an organization focused on hunting and fishing, but its lobbying efforts suggest a broader agenda. The main legislative priority for the group this session in terms of lobbying hours was the promotion of a bill to ease the way for a controversial open-pit iron mine that environmentalists and tribal groups fear will contaminate groundwater. That bill was a top priority for Governor Walker and legislative Republicans (as well as Americans for Prosperity), who promoted it as a jobs measure.

“Conservation only happens when people have jobs,” United Wisconsin said in a statement at the time.

Narrowly-Tailored Sweetheart Deal Involves Suder’s Former Chief of Staff

The sportsmen’s grant was slipped into the Wisconsin budget with minimal debate by then-Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder, who has close ties to many of those involved with United Sportsmen.

For example, one of the educators listed in the United Sportsmen grant is Luke Hilgemann, Suder’s former Chief of Staff and now Chief Operating Officer of the national Americans for Prosperity in Washington DC After leaving Suder’s office in 2011, Hilgemann led the Wisconsin chapter of AFP; he was promoted to the national group earlier this month. (AFP-Wisconsin is now led by David Fladeboe, who was also a Suder staffer.) Other educators include Darren LaSorte, a longtime Washington DC lobbyist for the NRA. United Sportsmen board members and their families gave Suder $2,500 last year.

Send an email to the commission which will review the sweetheart deal tomorrow: http://org.salsalabs.com/o/632/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=14195

And, the grant requirements were narrowly drawn to make few organizations eligible besides United Sportsmen, and was opened for bidding with essentially no public notice. According to Jason Stein of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

The motion said the grant can be given only to groups that are “not an affiliate of a national federation or organization.” That meant conservation groups such as the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation and state chapters of Pheasants Forever, National Wild Turkey Federation and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation were prevented from applying for the grant.

And due to the lack of public notice, several eligible groups weren’t aware of the grant until after application deadline. Reached last week, Don Kirby, executive director of the Wisconsin Waterfowl Association, said he had no knowledge of the grant.

“Our organization would have been interested to pursue this,” Kirby said. “I’m more than a little disappointed to find out now.” The Wisconsin Waterfowl Association has a long history of running Learn To Hunt and other training events.

George Meyer, executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, praised the purpose of the grant but questioned the narrowly-drawn criteria. “We aren’t criticizing the purpose of this at all,” said Meyer. “We think its purpose is important. But clearly it looks like it was put together for one group.”

In contrast with United Sportsmen, the Wisconsin Wildlife Foundation lobbied against the mining bill, expressing concern about mining’s impact on lakes, wetlands, and groundwater.

Rep. Cory Mason (D-Racine), who was part of the budget committee, told the Journal-Sentinel he hadn’t realized how uncompetitive the grant really was. “In hindsight, it seems like a sweetheart deal for one group that has ties to Scott Suder,” Mason said. “That was not how it was described.”

Led by Right-Wing Apparatchicks

United Sportsmen’s Tea Party and right-wing ties are well established. For example, United Sportsmen boardmember John Meegan is president of the Sauk County Tea Party, and worked with the political training group American Majority to train Tea Party activists and organize pro-Walker rallies at the height of anti-Walker protests. In addition to training Tea Party activists and grooming candidates, American Majority sponsors the Media Trackers website. Meegan is also on the board of the Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual School Families, which promotes for-profit virtual schools like those operated by ALEC member K12 Inc.

Also working with the group is Annette Olson, who makes the vast majority of posts on the group’s Facebook page and has testified on behalf of United Sportsmen. Olson leads the Tea Party groups Women United for Liberty (which appears to have an association with Freedomworks) and the pro-gun Tea Party group Uninfringed Liberty. Uninfringed Liberty describes itself as having “a strong emphasis on the second amendment because it protects all liberties and freedom,” and says it works to “participate in vetting and promoting conservative candidates that best exemplify the basic principles of liberty.” The group boasts of its lifetime membership in the NRA and Gun Owners of America, and supports “open carry.” Both Uninfringed Liberty and Women United for Liberty have also held activist trainings with American Majority.

At the state Republican Party convention in 2012, Olson was peeved that the convention hall didn’t allow concealed carry, and sponsored a motion urging the party to only hold its events on properties that do.

Those extreme views on guns are reflected in United Sportsmen’s lobbying efforts. It was one of just a handful of groups to lobby in favor of Wisconsin’s “Castle Doctrine Act,” which mimics the infamous ALEC “Stand Your Ground” law implicated in the Trayvon Martin case. No other group purporting to focus on hunting, fishing, and conservation is listed as lobbying on the bill.

Olson and two other United Sportsmen representatives stood behind Governor Walker as he signed the “Castle Doctrine Act.”

Will Wisconsin Fund Tea Partier Salaries, in Perpetuity?

The grant will pay United Sportsmen $200,000 this year and $300,000 in 2014. According to the group’s grant application, $370,000 will be spent on staff salaries and $20,000 on staff benefits, plus $56,000 on consultants, the Journal-Sentinel reports.

A five-member committee dominated by Republicans will review the grant on Thursday, and then disband. The committee will include Scott Gunderson, DNR executive assistant and a former Republican legislator; Sen. Neal Kedzie (R-Elkhorn), chairman of the Senate Natural Resources Committee; Rep. Al Ott (R-Forest Junction), chairman of the Assembly Natural Resources Committee; and two both appointed to the committee by the DNR.

If the grant is approved, United Sportsmen will receive $450,000 in every two-year budget for perpetuity.

Many have noticed how odd it is for a Tea Party-connected group opposed to government spending to turn around and use their political connections to ask for a handout.
[bolds mine]
“How ironic that this phony front group, with such close ties to Americans for Prosperity — which professes to be in favor of cutting government spending — would burden Wisconsin taxpayers in this manner,” says Common Cause Wisconsin’s Heck. “They should have asked the Koch Brothers — who finance AFP — for the handout instead.”

TAKE ACTION! SEND AN EMAIL TODAY AT: http://org.salsalabs.com/o/632/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=14195

———-

CONTACT:

The Progressive
409 East Main Street, Suite 100
Madison, Wisconsin 53703-4929
Phone: (608) 257-4626

Selling out the Earth via Keystone Pipeline

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Well, this is news I didn’t need to wake up to today.

Methinks the writer is an oil industry proponent…by the slanted view of this piece.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said last Thursday that he was prepared to bring a measure approving the pipeline to the Senate floor despite the administration’s continued reluctance to determine the project’s fate.

Reid is no fan of the pipeline, but he is feeling heat from his own members to bring the issue up for a vote – possibly this week – provided Republicans agree to support a separate energy efficiency bill drafted by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Rob Portman (R-OH).

~~~~~~~~~~`

Ever heard of “just say no”, Harry?  Tell me, what price is a soul going for nowadays? $10,000?  $100,000? $1,000,000?  Because the Keystone XL is the end of us.  The Earth cannot take any more–we are at the point of no return–that point where if we stopped destroying the environment, the Earth just might have a chance to recover.

People are overwhelming against the Keystone XL—yet Reid, Landrieu, et al, try to say that they are feeling the heat from their constituents.  I find that hard to believe….because they’re not hearing from people made ill by petroleum refineries, as in the folks in Texas.  And what about Louisiana, which has had its own battle with fierce nature…the more we destroy the environment and increase climate change, the more fierce the weather will become.  I don’t think Louisiana can afford Katrina times ten. And they’re not listening to the environmentalists.

So…who are they listening to…?

On gue$$.  They’re promoting Keystone XL, while investing in it…

The Clintons connection to XL. This is probably the biggest reason that they are pushing Hillary Clinton’s bid for the Presidency.  God help us if she gets elected.

ALEC and the dirty nine.

BP and the Tar Sands connection.

Keystone Pipeline Exposed.

All is not lost, folks…there are some decent people in Congress after all…who care about the truth and the lies of the Hillary Clinton State Dept.’s hoax.   I do hope Elizabeth Warren runs for President.  Like I said before, I’ll knock on doors and do whatever it takes to help get her elected.

And, just to quash the naysayers who claim environmentalists are phonies (while doing nothing for the environment themselves…here is my own journey:

…my advocating for the environment has been a slow evolving process that includes my experience with mercury poisoning, growing awareness of what we’re doing to the atmosphere, and a spiritual component of realizing everything is connected.

Here are some of the things I do:

–use cloth bags when going to the grocery.  I might use plastic for meat, but I re-use those bags, too, bringing them to the grocery along with the cloth bags.  If you use the cloth bags for meat, be sure to launder them before using again, to avoid contamination.

–avoid plastic packaging. …well, plastic *everything*.   This has been much easier following the GAPS diet because you don’t eat the processed food in packaging, but real food.  If I am given an option, I will buy something in glass packaging before plastic.

—re-use the glass containers for drinking glasses, food storage, plants, etc. I try to avoid ziploc bags when possible.

—don’t purchase synthetic materials like nylon and other materials requiring petroleum.  The list I think is a catch-all, because I think some of the things listed are made with petroleum if plastic or manufactured cloth such as nylon, so some of the products listed could be okay if not using those materials.  Here’s a website on organic cotton, fyi.

–When I had my home, I made a conscious decision not to pave the driveway–it was gravel.  I didn’t spray for weeds, either.  I let my grass grow to 3 inches so that the roots could grow deeply enough to avoid having to water the lawn, especially during the dry time in July–this also helped keep the weeds down. Meanwhile, my neighbors practically shaved the grass off and…wait for it…had to waste precious water to keep the grass from dying in July.    I let a patch of ground that was the former owner’s garden, grow its natural way, without my interference.  Yeah, I was the neighborhood hippie…

—use baking soda, borax, and vinegar for cleaning.  A formula I found in a natural health mag goes like this:  Bathroom cleaner:  6 T vinegar, 2 T borax mixed with a cup– of warm water.  Put this in a 1 qt. spray bottle and fill the rest with water.  Works great, especially if used every day.

—I use non-toxic natural cleaners for laundry, dish washing, etc.,  when I am able to afford them.  Oh, and fyi, avoid dishwashers–the detergent used in them is highly toxic.

—ride a bike or walk when going somewhere.  This was easier for me when I lived in Fort Wayne, where everything was within walking distance.  I could get to the downtown in 45 minutes to an hour.  There is something to be said for walking or riding–you are much more connected to what is going on around you.  You hear the birds sing.  Feel the breeze.  Hear the ripple of water along the river…driving a vehicle cuts you off from so much, besides polluting.

—use flannel cloths instead of toilet paper and re-wash them.  I know, I know, some of you are going “ick” right now.  No. 1 is fine…No. 2 still requires paper. So there.

—cloth pads instead of chemically manufactured pads.

—use less.  I just use less.  This was part of the learning process of being poor–you just learn how to manage on less.  Not easy, for sure.  I became much more adept at planning meals and using food up before it went to waste.  I didn’t buy as much at the grocery until I needed it.  This is easier if the grocery is within walking distance….which is becoming harder as the independents are being forced out while big box stores are situated out in no-man’s-land, forcing people to drive there.

—garden organically, using compost from kitchen waste, and if you’re really adventurous, pee and poo.   This is not for sissies…so come with your brain in active mode and your determination to get away from petroleum and chemicals.  You will succeed, but you can’t give up when challenged.  Nature does challenge you, but also gives such splendid rewards. 😉

This is an ongoing process, for sure.  I didn’t just wake up one day and start doing all of this.  It was a gradual endeavor with every new discovery of my own contribution to pollution.

So…there you have it…my efforts towards helping instead of hurting the environment.

I think if we all took those first steps, and built on that, we would greatly reduce our dependency on petroleum.  Everything helps and every bit matters.

Study links Monsanto pesticide with gluten intolerance

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You know what really bothers me about this story?  They already know that pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers destroy the immune system.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that multiplying the chemical is going to do more harm.

So if the immune system begins in the gut, and chemicals destroy the gut…intolerance to problematic grains is a no-brainer.

Can the USDA, FDA, or anybody with a brain and ethics in Washington do something about this? Or is money going to once again trump common sense and forward thinking of not only the present day but the future, as well…..?

They’re killing environmentalists

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DN! had a piece up yesterday on environmentalists being killed for trying to protect the land, air, and water…for all of us.

147 killed in 2012, compared with 51 in 2002…nearly three times as many.

Jose DeSilva (sp?) says what Joe Kane said in Savages— that some poor person will accept the dinero of the corporations and aid in the destruction of the forest.  This is how they divided tribe members in Savages–they picked a few vulnerable ones and split the loyalties. Divide and Conquer in action….

As you listen to the video, it is really shocking how this is going on and not being reported.  I mean, how obvious is it that these are deliberate acts…an axe in the head of an environmentalist…Penetra being murdered right after speaking out for the environment…and we never hear of this in the lame media?  Yet…they are right there to label environmentalists as nuts and whackos who should be condemned.

 

 

 

 

Canadian assault on unions

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Here is the latest version of the Canadian gov’t assault on unions….the nurses assert that it is taking away their right to strike.

If you recall in my previous post, they were going after the teacher’s unions, as well.

 

Chile Earthquake

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The death count is at six this morning after an 8.2 earthquake in Chile.   Comfort to those of you affected by it.  If you recall, there was another devastating earthquake in 2010, also with a tsunami.

Knowing that fracking has been tied to earthquakes, and Chile’s previous earthquake was equally devastating…I searched for any correlation.  Here’s what I found.

According to a study published in the world renowned Science Magazine in July 2013, areas subjected to extensive DWI activities are especially prone to damaging earthquakes, triggered remotely by large, natural quakes. Since 2009, Oklahoma has recorded 40 times more earthquakes than in the last 30 years. The largest, at 5.7 magnitude in November 2011, has been tied to wastewater injection and an 8.8 M earthquake in Chile.

~~~~~~~~~

(italics mine)

Evidence that fracking has come to Chile here:  oilprice.com/Finance/investing-and-trading-reports/Fracking-has-Come-to-Chile.html

(not linking to it for obvious reasons)

All about the Benjamins…nothing about the serious consequences to the Earth, water, people, and animals.

Saving the Amazon

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Jared Leto has a link up to a video against oil drilling in the rainforest of Yasuni.  You might recall the Huaroani tribe was featured in the book Savages by Joe Kane.  He chronicled the indigenous tribes’ slowly being overtaken by the oil companies–their health, their land, and their culture.

  • Yasuni is home to over 130 globally threatened species including the giant otter, white-bellied spider monkey, golden-mantled tamarin, giant armadillo and jaguar. Extinction risks are high for all threatened species.

  • 655 different tree species have been identified within 1 hectare of land.

  • For reptile biodiversity, it is the 2nd richest area in the world.

  • More insect species are found in Yasuni than any other forest.

  • There are more frog and toad species within Yasuni than all of North America combined.

  • Ecuador has the 9th highest mammal biodiversity, and over half reside in Yasuni.

  • Many species are endemic to Yasuni.

  • It is home to the 5th largest bat reserve.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

 

The petition to sign here.  Please don’t think because it’s *there* that it doesn’t affect us in America.  It does.  Everything is connected and when a species (plant or animal) dies, it affects other species….a domino effect, if you will.

Given that bats are dying of a disease of unknown origin, (yeah, it’s probably caused by chemical toxins), we should sit up and take notice that this area contains the 5th largest bat reserve.

Here are some of the unique species to Yasuni.

 

 

Jeffrey Thompson charged **edited

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Jeffrey Thompson is apparently deeply involved in D.C. politics and has been charged with violating local and federal campaign finance laws.

One campaign he contributed to was Hillary Clinton. Damn, I guess she’ll have to get another donor to finance her presidential campaign…

I’ll bet he’s regretting that cool $500k he spent on her ill-fated campaign….just think of the people that money would have fed..housed…gotten medical care for…sent through a pretty decent college…employed in a job for years…but we can’t do that, can we?  We need to spend millions on campaigns.

Washington Post also has the story here.

**edited to change wording.  I called Clinton a client in error.  Chalk it up to Spring Fever. Oy.

My environmental journey

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The critics of environmentalists claim that we’re phonies…okay, well, here is my journey…

…my advocating for the environment has been a slow evolving process that includes my experience with mercury poisoning, growing awareness of what we’re doing to the atmosphere, and a spiritual component of realizing everything is connected.

Here are some of the things I do:

–use cloth bags when going to the grocery.  I might use plastic for meat, but I re-use those bags, too, bringing them to the grocery along with the cloth bags.  If you use the cloth bags for meat, be sure to launder them before using again, to avoid contamination.

–avoid plastic packaging. …well, plastic *everything*.   This has been much easier following the GAPS diet because you don’t eat the processed food in packaging, but real food.  If I am given an option, I will buy something in glass packaging before plastic.

—re-use the glass containers for drinking glasses, food storage, plants, etc. I try to avoid ziploc bags when possible.

—don’t purchase synthetic materials like nylon and other materials requiring petroleum.  The list I think is a catch-all, because I think some of the things listed are made with petroleum if plastic or manufactured cloth such as nylon, so some of the products listed could be okay if not using those materials.  Here’s a website on organic cotton, fyi.

–When I had my home, I made a conscious decision not to pave the driveway–it was gravel.  I didn’t spray for weeds, either.  I let my grass grow to 3 inches so that the roots could grow deeply enough to avoid having to water the lawn, especially during the dry time in July–this also helped keep the weeds down. Meanwhile, my neighbors practically shaved the grass off and…wait for it…had to waste precious water to keep the grass from dying in July.    I let a patch of ground that was the former owner’s garden, grow its natural way, without my interference.  Yeah, I was the neighborhood hippie…

—use baking soda, borax, and vinegar for cleaning.  A formula I found in a natural health mag goes like this:  Bathroom cleaner:  6 T vinegar, 2 T borax mixed with a cup– of warm water.  Put this in a 1 qt. spray bottle and fill the rest with water.  Works great, especially if used every day.

—I would like to use non-toxic natural cleaners for laundry, dish washing, etc., but with my finances, this isn’t doable right now. Oh, and fyi, avoid dishwashers–the detergent used in them is highly toxic.

—ride a bike or walk when going somewhere.  This was easier for me when I lived in Fort Wayne, where everything was within walking distance.  I could get to the downtown in 45 minutes to an hour.  There is something to be said for walking or riding–you are much more connected to what is going on around you.  You hear the birds sing.  Feel the breeze.  Hear the ripple of water along the river…driving a vehicle cuts you off from so much, besides polluting.

—use flannel cloths instead of toilet paper and re-wash them.  I know, I know, some of you are going “ick” right now.  No. 1 is fine…No. 2 still requires paper. So there.

—cloth pads instead of chemically manufactured pads.

—use less.  I just use less.  This was part of the learning process of being poor–you just learn how to manage on less.  Not easy, for sure.  I became much more adept at planning meals and using food up before it went to waste.  I didn’t buy as much at the grocery until I needed it.  This is easier if the grocery is within walking distance….which is becoming harder as the independents are being forced out while big box stores are situated out in no-man’s-land, forcing people to drive there.

—garden organically, using compost from kitchen waste, and if you’re really adventurous, pee and poo.   This is not for sissies…so come with your brain in active mode and your determination to get away from petroleum and chemicals.  You will succeed, but you can’t give up when challenged.  Nature does challenge you, but also gives such splendid rewards. 😉

This is an ongoing process, for sure.  I didn’t just wake up one day and start doing all of this.  It was a gradual endeavor with every new discovery of my own contribution to pollution.

So…there you have it…my efforts towards helping instead of hurting the environment.

I think if we all took those first steps, and built on that, we would greatly reduce our dependency on petroleum.  Everything helps and every bit matters.