Sunday, July 4, 2010

4th of July

Honestly, this country is not the same since 9-11-2001. That is when this nation seemed to derail, and the US proceeded to embark on a preemptive war with Iraq. We were all told of a looming mushroom cloud, imminent threat, yes - weapons of mass destruction. But it turns out all that chatter was really only describing THIS country- it is the United States that is the dangerous threat. After the war based on lies was launched, so many things went to hell with it.

So what has changed?
We are still in 2 wars.
• Gitmo is still open.
• The Obama administration said all war funding would be up front in the budget, and this week, they are asking for another $33 Billion for emergency supplemental Afghanisitan war funding.
• Rendition still going on.
• Tax cuts for the rich have not been repealed.
• The BP oil disaster (let's not kid ourselves by calling it a "spill") is in the hands of those who created the disaster to come up with the fix.


But between the oil refinery explosion that killed 15 workers & another 3 in the next few years.
29 people have died working for BP in the U.S.
Jordan Barab, deputy assistant secretary of labor at OSHA, said "The only thing you can conclude is that BP has a serious, systemic safety problem in their company.


• The Supreme court has ruled that Corporations are people & giving corporate money to lobby & political campaigns equal free speech. 


So I'm not feeling patriotic these days. 


I want to see Change I can believe in. 
Right now, I'm seeing a whole lot of more of the same. 


When you hear about the Republicans doing a Filibuster over extending unemployment benefit extensions, whining about being fiscally conservative and generational theft....
then let's have some action to shut down additional funding for war. 
Walk the walk!


 But this land of the free concept.... I feel free to pay taxes. I'm not free to launch a strike @ my workplace. Or organize a Union so we could have worker rights addressed.  I'd be fired so fast it would not be funny. Our freedom is mighty limited. If you or I spilled oil in a waterway, we'd probably be arrested on the spot. If corporations are people I want to see Tony Hayward in handcuffs. 
As well as Transocean & Halliburton Execs. 


The question remains- can we save this country from itself?

Here is the State of the Union:
TABLE 1: STATES WITH PROJECTED FY2011 GAPS
FY11 Shortfall
Before Budget Adoption
(States with Biennial 09-11 Budgets)
Current FY11 Gap Projected?
Total Shortfall Amount
Total Shortfall Percent of FY10 Budget
Alabama
0
Yes
$586 million
8.2%
Arizona
0
$3.1 billion
$3.1 billion
35.3%
California *
0
$9.0 billion
$19 billion
22.6%
Colorado
0
$1.5 billion
$1.5 billion
21.2%
Connecticut
$4.4 billion
$700 million
$5.1 billion
29.2%
Delaware
0
$377 million
$377 million
11.7%
District of Columbia
0
$104 million
$104 million
1.7%
Florida
0
$4.7 billion
$4.7 billion
22.2%
Georgia
0
$4.2 billion
$4.2 billion
24.3%
Hawaii
0
$594 million
$594 million
12.9%
Idaho
0
$84 million
$84 million
3.3%
Illinois
0
$13.5 billion
$13.5 billion
36.1%
Indiana
0
$1.3 billion
$1.3 billion
9.9%
Iowa
0
$1.1 billion
$1.1 billion
18.6%
Kansas
0
$510 million
$510 million
9.1%
Kentucky
0
$780 million
$780 million
9.1%
Louisiana
0
$1.0 billion
$1.0 billion
11.1%
Maine
$765 million
$174 million
$940 million
32.1%
Maryland
0
$2.0 billion
$2.0 billion
15.0%
Massachusetts
0
$2.7 billion
$2.7 billion
8.5%
Michigan
0
$2.0 billion
$2.0 billion
8.8%
Minnesota
$2.8 billion
$1.2 billion
$4.0 billion
26.4%
Mississippi
0
$716 million
$716 million
14.6%
Missouri
0
$730 million
$730 million
9.3%
Nebraska
$150 million
$179 million
$329 million
9.7%
Nevada
$1.3 billion
$504 million
$1.8 billion
56.6%
New Hampshire
$250 million
$115 million
$365 million
23.4%
New Jersey
0
$10.7 billion
$10.7 billion
37.4%
New Mexico
0
$333 million
$333 million
6.0%
New York
0
$8.5 billion
$8.5 billion
15.5%
North Carolina
$4.4 billion
$1.4 billion
$5.8 billion
30.5%
Ohio
$2.5 billion
$463 million
$3.0 billion
11.6%
Oklahoma
0
$725 million
$725 million
12.4%
Oregon*
Yes
$563 million
$3.8 billion
See Table 2
Pennsylvania
0
$4.1 billion
$4.1 billion
16.3%
Rhode Island
0
$395 million
$395 million
13.2%
South Carolina
0
$1.3 billion
$1.3 billion
22.6%
South Dakota
0
$102 million
$102 million
9.0%
Tennessee
0
$1.0 billion
$1.0 billion
10.0%
Texas
0
$4.6 billion
$4.6 billion
12.8%
Utah
0
$700 million
$700 million
15.6%
Vermont
0
$338 million
$338 million
31.1%
Virginia
0
$1.3 billion
$1.3 billion
8.2%
Washington*
$2.1 billion
Yes*
$2.1 billion
13.9%
West Virginia
0
$134 million
$134 million
3.5%
Wisconsin
$3.4 billion
0
$3.4 billion
25.3%
Wyoming
0
$147 million
$147 million
8.0%
States Total
$22.0 billion
$90.2 billion
$126 billion
30.4%
Note: Oregon and Washington have two-year budgets. See Table 2 for gap information. States in italics had not enacted FY11 budgets as of May 27, 2011.






7 comments:

Dada said...

"The question remains- can we save this country from itself?"

Is that a poll question? If so, put me down as a definite "NO!"

(Not to take it too badly: It's not just an American thing, it's a species-wide thing. The U.S. is just leading the way. Isn't that the roll of the world's last remaining *super* power?)

Life As I Know It Now said...

I began to have doubts about our country's future when the Supreme Court gave Bush the victory in the 2000 election. That was the final nail in the coffin really, just that most people didn't realize it. I had a moment of hope when Obama was elected but when it became rapidly clear that he wasn't really gonna rock the boat that hope fizzled out.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful blog today - you expressed exactly how I feel. The notion that "we are the greatest country in the world" is such bullcrap.
We were taught that in school from day one - and this idea is being even more strongly forced on children in the new Texas textbooks. When surveys are done asking people WHAT exactly makes this country great, it now boils down to our military power being the "best". We had a time in the U.S.
when we were headed in the right direction (in the 50's). Labor unions were growing, we were producing top-of-the-line products, we were in "relative" peace. Education was good quality, new schools were being built.

But at the same time there was horrific discrimination against blacks and women (especially single women). Native Americans were literally starving on the reservations. We were (quietly) plundering the resources of South America.
The bottom line of why so many people think this country is "the best" is because we just lucked out in having a fertile country so rich in
resources. As far as "our goodness", people in other countries have just as much "goodness".

This should be a day for honoring the brave souls who fought to free us from the tyranny of England so we could live by our own ideas in this magnificent country (geographically speaking). But instead, greed and narrow thinking took over and we are sh**ting in our own nest.

Just needed to vent - B

Fran said...

Dada~ One nation, deeply divided/corporately owned.

Lib~ Howard Zinn predicted it is going to take a revolution to turn this country around... he just never said what form it would take.

B ~ You nailed it. War is just terrorism with a bigger budget. We got lost in the Empire Superpower too big ti fail, 911 police to the world mentality.

When individual States are billions in the hole & the country is $13 trillion in debt-- well the first step to fixing a problem is admitting you have one.

nonnie9999 said...

i'm not as pessimistic as you. these are trying times, but we've weathered them before, and we will this time, too.

Mauigirl said...

I'm pretty pessimistic myself. While we probably will weather the mess we're in right now, it remains to be seen what kind of country we will be afterward. B kind of sums up how I feel about this country. Was there ever really a golden time in our history? Hard to see.

Mauigirl said...

I'm pretty pessimistic myself. While we probably will weather the mess we're in right now, it remains to be seen what kind of country we will be afterward. B kind of sums up how I feel about this country. Was there ever really a golden time in our history? Hard to see.