Michael Moore's New Year's resolutions

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Portrait, Michael Moore, 04/03/09. (photo: Ann-Christine Poujoulat/Getty Images)
By Michael Moore, Open Mike Blog01 January 13readersupportednews.org
appy New Year! Have you made your resolutions for 2013? Here are mine:

1. Learn the names of the people two doors down from me and invite them over for dinner.


2. Learn how to make dinner.


3. Buy a gun. Stroke it. Squeeze it. Hold it. Love it. Shoot it! Ahhhh... Buy more guns... Stroke them...


4. Stop saying "I support the troops." I don't. I used to. I understand why so many enlisted after 9/11. Sadly, many of them were then trapped and sent off to invade Iraq. I felt for all of them. I understood those who joined because of a lousy economy. But at some point all individuals must answer for their actions, and now that we know our military leaders do things that have nothing to do with defending our lives, why would anyone sign up for this rogue organization?


5. Apologize for #4. I have enormous respect for anyone who would offer to sacrifice their life to defend my right to live. Is there any greater gift one can give another? It's not the troops' fault they're sent to invade other countries for dubious reasons and outright lies. It's OUR responsibility to prevent this, to elect representatives who believe in peace, and to only put our troops in harm's way when it's absolutely necessary. My uncle was killed in World War II. Today would have been his 90th birthday. My dad still misses him. Our family has served this country in the military since the Revolutionary War. None of them watch Fox News.


6. Drink more water.


7. Wear color.


8. Find the best person who can run for and WIN the governor's chair here in Michigan in 2014. Work every day to win back the Michigan House and Senate from its Republican majority.


9. Read more fiction. Support my local indie bookstore. Help people create Little Free Libraries and put one up in front of our theater in Traverse City. Don't use glowing screens to read books. Write the next one.


10. Keep walking, dude!

That's my list. Send me yours via Twitter and Facebook. Click here to join me on the walks. Let's be kind to each other in the coming year. And let's encourage Obama to ACT, to make history, and to be remembered as one of our greatest presidents.Here's hoping for a peaceful 2013.

Perspective on the deal

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New York Times January 1, 2013, 8:48 am readersupportednews.org

To make sense of what just happened, we need to ask what is really at stake, and how much difference the budget deal makes in the larger picture.

So, what are the two sides really fighting about? Surely the answer is, the future of the welfare state. Progressives want to maintain the achievements of the New Deal and the Great Society, and also implement and improve Obamacare so that we become a normal advanced country that guarantees essential health care to all its citizens. The right wants to roll the clock back to 1930, if not to the 19th century.

There are two ways progressives can lose this fight. One is direct defeat on the question of social insurance, with Congress actually voting to privatize and eventually phase out key programs — or with Democratic politicians themselves giving away their political birthright in the name of a mess of pottage Grand Bargain. The other is for conservatives to successfully starve the beast — to drive revenue so low through tax cuts that the social insurance programs can’t be sustained.

The good news for progressives is that danger #1 has been averted, at least so far — and not without a lot of anxiety first. Romney lost, so nothing like the Ryan plan is on the table until President Santorum takes office, or something. Meanwhile, in 2011 Obama was willing to raise the Medicare age, in 2012 to cut Social Security benefits; but luckily the extremists of the right scuttled both deals. There are no cuts in benefits in this deal.

The bad news is that the deal falls short on making up for the revenue lost due to the Bush tax cuts. Here, though, it’s important to put the numbers in perspective. Obama wasn’t going to let all the Bush tax cuts go away in any case; only the high-end cuts were on the table. Getting all of those ended would have yielded something like $800 billion; he actually got around $600 billion. How big a difference does that make?

Well, the CBO estimates cumulative potential GDP over the next decade at $208 trillion.So the difference between what Obama got and what he arguably should have gotten is around 0.1 percent of potential GDP. That’s not crucial, to say the least.

And on the principle of the thing, you could say that Democrats held their ground on the essentials — no cuts in benefits — while Republicans have just voted for a tax increase for the first time in decades.

So why the bad taste in progressives’ mouths? It has less to do with where Obama ended up than with how he got there. He kept drawing lines in the sand, then erasing them and retreating to a new position. And his evident desire to have a deal before hitting the essentially innocuous fiscal cliff bodes very badly for the confrontation looming in a few weeks over the debt ceiling.

If Obama stands his ground in that confrontation, this deal won’t look bad in retrospect. If he doesn’t, yesterday will be seen as the day he began throwing away his presidency and the hopes of everyone who supported him.

An ugly deal

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By Robert Borosage 
| January 1, 2013 |
Campaign for America's Future
ourfuture.org

 
Early this morning, the Senate passed the fiscal cliff deal by 89-8, a margin virtually guaranteeing that it will survive in the House (which it did late Tuesday night, 257-167).  The deal has some good parts.  It lets the Bush tax cuts expire on the wealthy, raises the estate tax marginally and increases taxes on capital gains and dividends a bit.  Unemployment benefits are extended for a year.  Tax boosts for the low paid workers – the child tax credit, expanded earned income credit, refundable tuition tax credits – are extended, if only for five years.  Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are not touched.

But no one should be fooled.  This is an ugly deal, with foul implications for the coming months.
 
1.  Setting Up the Next Extortion
The most ominous part of the deal is what was left out.  The deal makes no provision for lifting the debt ceiling.  It postpones the sequester (automatic cuts in domestic and military spending) for only two months.  It is a smaller deficit reduction package than that originally sought by the president.  It therefore sets up the right-wing House zealots to hold the economy hostage once more, while demanding deep cuts in public services (known as cuts in domestic spending), backed by a media frenzy about deficits.  And while Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid escaped unscathed in this deal, they will be the prime targets in the coming debate.
 
2.  Hiking Taxes for Working Americans; A Million Jobs Lost  
By allowing the payroll tax cut to expire, every working American gets a tax hike of 2% of their income (up to about $113,000 in income).  A worker making $50,000 a year will pay an extra $1,000 in taxes.  Payroll checks will be cut.  Belts will have to be tightened even more.  That will lower demand, producing job loss totaling up to an estimated million jobs.  (Taxes on the wealthy go up also, but those have only marginal effects on jobs).
 
3.  Compromising the Compromising President
President Obama sensibly told Republicans that he would not sign any bill or agree to any deal that extended the Bush tax cuts on those making over $250,000.   He had stumped on that across the country on this pledge and received a mandate from the voters.  Polls showed the majority of Americans were with him.  With all the Bush tax breaks due to expire, Republicans were faced with letting taxes go up on everyone just to defend tax breaks for the richest Americans.  The President began the negotiations saying this was not negotiable.  He could not have been in a stronger position.
 
But he chose to compromise.  The Bush tax cuts will be allowed to expire on couples making over $450,000.  This costs about $150-200 billion in revenue over 10 years.  The president argues he got the important extension of unemployment insurance and the working poor tax credits in return.  But these could have been folded into a package after going over the cliff.  And the cost to the president is significant.  Once more Republicans have learned that obstruction works, that the president will always blink.
 
The next extortion – the debt ceiling, automatic sequester – in the next eight weeks makes this a big deal.  The President says sensibly that he will not negotiate over lifting the debt ceiling.  Period.  And now there is even less reason for the Republicans to believe him than before. This encourages extreme demands rather than discouraging them.  This was the time to draw the line.
 
4.  Feeding the deficit distraction
The deal is already being denounced in the mainstream media as “too timid,” offering too little in deficit reduction.  It guarantees the next eight weeks will be fixated on the debate about what to cut and how much to cut headed into the debt ceiling.
 
But this entire debate is wrong-headed.  You can’t fix the debt without fixing the economy.  And deficit reduction won’t fix the economy.  The recovery is too slow and too skewed to put people back to work.  Deficit reduction can only slow it further.
We need a big and bold debate about fundamental reforms needed to make this economy work for working people.  That includes making big investments vital to our future at a time when we can borrow for virtually nothing – rebuilding and modernizing our decrepit infrastructure, funding R&D, doing at least the basics in education.  We need to balance our trade, and revive manufacturing, beginning with capturing a leading role in the global move to clean energy.
 
We need to address inequality frontally.  That requires much more than small marginal increases in taxes for millionaires.  It includes raising the minimum wage, empowering workers to organize and bargain for a fair share of the profits they help to generate, limiting perverse CEO compensation schemes.  It includes a financial transaction tax that might curb Wall Street gambling.
 
We need to continue health care reform, taking on the entrenched lobbies — the drug and insurance companies, the private hospital complexes — that drive up our medical costs.  If we paid per capita what other industrial countries pay for health care, we’d project surpluses as far as the eye can see.  We have to fix our broken health care system.
 
But Washington is talking about none of this.  Instead the Congress and the President are going to continue to debate how much more to cut from public services as if that would fix the economy.   That debate is likely to turn foul.  Republicans use the debt ceiling to demand structural cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.  They’ll likely be willing to repeal or dilute the sequester as an incentive to focus on the core security programs.  And they’ll be convinced that the president will fold once more.

Americans are struggling with mass unemployment, declining wages, increasing insecurity, Gilded Age inequality.  Trimming the deficit addresses none of these, and is likely to slow growth, making things worse.
 
We’ve had an ugly debate leading to a wretched agreement.  And that agreement only insures that the debate will get uglier.

Water for CP golf course must be challenged

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By Jim Keyworth
Gazette Blog Editor

Just to keep the issue of the town selling Chaparral Pines water for its golf course alive, here is a comment that a reader recently posted on the blog:

"I believe when Chaparral (Pines) was approved way back when, they were to dig wells and bought a ranch to water the golf course.Why is the town selling water when they don't even have a pipeline yet? So many questions and so few answers. Thank heavens a mayor can only have 2 terms."

We need to make sure we don't miss the meeting when this murky deal comes to a vote.  I doubt that this council will do the right thing when so much money is at stake, but what they are doing - selling potable water for a rich man's golf course for 49 years at cost - cannot go unchallenged.

We understand a town councilor has asked Payson water guru (who knows what his title is these days) Buzz Walker what percentage of the water dumped on the golf course can actually be pumped out of the ground and resold.  No answer yet.  Payson Mayor Kenny Evans says all of it.  

The Roundup bought that ridiculous assertion hook, line and sinker.  Or at least the editor lacks the cojones to stand up and challenge the mayor.

Meanwhile, town hydrologist Mike Ploughe has bailed.  He's down the road.  Please stay tuned. 

P.S. If I'm not mistaken, Kenny is on his third term already.  At least it sure feels like it. 

Republicans apologize to top 1.5%

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By Andy Borowitz
 
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In the aftermath of the fiscal-cliff deal, Republicans in Congress issued a heartfelt apology to the top 1.5 per cent richest people in America, offering “messages of profound condolence” for allowing their taxes to increase slightly.

“Our hearts go out to them,” said House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), still teary-eyed after hanging up the phone with a multimillionaire in Orange County, California. “We came to Washington to do the work of 1.5 per cent of the American people, and we didn’t get it done.”

The House Speaker said that he had spoken to several members of the top 1.5 per cent who were “understandably despondent” over seeing their taxes rise marginally as a result of the deal: “Some of them were so upset they even considered moving to Canada, until they found out the taxes were higher there.”

Mr. Boehner said that he tried to offer the wealthy consolation by reminding them that because of an increase in payroll taxes, millions of middle-class and working-class Americans would be suffering more than they would: “That usually put them in a better mood.”

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) assailed the fiscal-cliff legislation today, calling it “a classic example of putting 98.5 per cent of the American people ahead of the rest of the country.”

Offering words of hope to the top 1.5 per cent, Mr. Cantor said, “In a few months we’ll have the next debate about the debt ceiling. As God is my witness, we will try to do a better job of bringing this nation to the brink of Armageddon.”

But to billionaires such as Harland Dorrinson, a longtime super-donor to the G.O.P., such assurances ring hollow: “If the fiscal-cliff deal is the kind of performance we can expect from Republican politicians, what’s the point of owning them?”


Photograph by Mark Peterson/Redux.

A Veterinary Medicine "Bubble"?

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Law professor and blogger Glen Reynolds often talks about the "bubble" in legal education—new law schools opening, older ones expanding, even as few graduates find jobs in their field but leave school with their JD and a huge load of debt.

Now he suggests that something similar is going on in veterinary medicine.

The vet clinic that we use most is basically a father-and-son (and for a time, daughter) operation — plus a revolving cast of new Colorado State University graduates, especially on the small-animal side.

You go and meet with "Dr. Susie" or "Dr. Kevin," and on the next visit, it's someone else.

Dog-blogger Patrick Burns often rants about vets up-selling additional tests and services just to pad the bottom line.

Maybe there is a connection. Too many vets, not enough clients? And are "Dr. Susie" and "Dr. Kevin" underemployed and carrying their own load of debt?

Bad News from Mountain Gazette

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If you have been picking up free copies of  Mountain Gazette at your favorite high country coffee house, store, etc, or if like me you subscribed, those days are apparently over.

A recent letter from from MG speaks of a "pause" in publishing and a "next iteration of Mountain Gazette."

None of this sounds too encouraging.

Subscribers are being offered T-shirts and/or bumper stickers.

Blog Stew with Mystery-Animal Ingredients

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• Who is buying guns? Women and Democrats. The Washington Post says so, and they would not lie about it.

• A new journal of crytozoology discussed in a long post by Darren Naish, one of the contributors.

• Colorado writer Dave Petersen brings "the mule deer wars" to The Huffington Post.

In fact, the most dangerous long-term enemy of mule deer and hunting throughout the West is a growing and increasingly consumptive and nature-ignorant human population, causing habitat loss, degradation and splintering.

Things You Might Find on the Moon

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A future archaeologist's dream is waiting on the Moon.Heritage Daily lists some of the items left behind both by astronauts and unmanned spacecraft:

• more than 70 spacecraft, including rovers, modules, and crashed orbiters
• 5 American flags
• 12 pairs of boots
• TV cameras
• film magazines
• 96 bags of urine, feces, and vomit
• numerous Hasselbad cameras and accessories
• several improvised javelins
• various hammers, tongs, rakes, and shovels
• backpacks
• insulating blankets
• utility towels
• used wet wipes
• personal hygiene kits
• empty packages of space food
• a photograph of Apollo 16 astronaut Charles Duke’s family
• a feather from Baggin, the Air Force Academy’s mascot falcon, used to conduct Apollo 15′s famous “hammer-feather drop” experiment
• a small aluminum sculpture, a tribute to the American and Soviet “fallen astronauts” who died in the space race — left by the crew of Apollo 15
• a patch from the never-launched Apollo 1 mission, which ended prematurely when flames engulfed the command module during a 1967 training exercise, killing three U.S. astronauts
• a small silicon disk bearing goodwill messages from 73 world leaders, and left on the moon by the crew of Apollo 11
• a silver pin, left by Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean
• a medal honoring Soviet cosmonauts Vladimir Komarov and Yuri Gagarin
• a cast golden olive branch left by the crew of Apollo 11
• There is another object that lies on the Lunar Surface and that is an  urn containing the ashes of Eugene Shoemaker, the famed planetary geologist.  His lifelong ambition was to visit the moon.

Waiting for Spring Snow in the Arkansas River Basin

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From KRCC in Colorado Springs, a report (one of a series) on snow pack, water, and drought in the Arkansas River Basin, with photos and graphics.

Typically the snow to water equivalency in the Arkansas River basin approaches around 5 inches by mid-December. Right now it’s only 57% of average. With so much riding on this year’s snow pack – the numbers are disturbing for farmers downstream who depend on the river for irrigation.

Gun control debate pales in comparison

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   LETTERLETTERLETTER  Editor: Well, it has begun again---the great debate on gun control.I am not taking a stand either for or against, but would encourage our lawmakers to think about the REAL issue which no one seems to be addressing. Starting with our children, the need for more  funding for more  help to parents with children who have special needs, mental or physical, or even for parenting skills!How about more funding for schools---teachers, counselors and health professionals who can see and address the problems before the crises?  And what about more funds for CPS (Child Protective Services)?  In so many cases this past year, it is young adults who lashed out in a violent way against innocent victims. We really do need to “Train up a child in the way they should go”. Yes, we are all busy with our lives, with struggling day to day with our own families. I encourage you to take a moment----let your legislators know that we have to get our priorities in order, here at home with those who need it most.Then take a moment to reach out to someone you know who may be struggling---offer a moment of solace, a smile, a helping hand, a hug of encouragement.YOU could be the difference that saves a life with your caring.  I am making that my New Year’s Resolution!Camille LeveeTime Out, Inc.

POETRY: Holiday verse by Bruce Wales

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Happy New Years to myChristmas Tree
By Bruce Wales
There's always thateve when I sit with the tree with its ornaments,lights, and new orbs when I feel I havemissed the season's best dish of holiday's meaningsand forms. I collar the dog tosit near its base and trigger theirphoto for sure, a memory to save forme and mine to prove it wasChristmas again.
I've taken some sipsof some sherry or wine to lighten, yet savorthe time of recurring hist'riesand meanings of times, when childhood waslife's biggest lens, And hopes were thefuel that burned in my breast before there was feintor deceit and life would benothing but what I would plan and love would comewithout behest.
So, New Years Eve, ithappens this year that we sit alone withthe tree, Morose a bit, alone abit, even needles aredrying alone. I will stand up tallignoring the toll and brazen my lifetill it's gone, and walk up the hillto get my life's fill long after thisevergreen's gone.
Bruce Wales 1-1-12

Teens on the Road: The Process to Getting a Driver's License - Part One

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Having a teenager begin to drive can be stressful enough; add in trying to understand the process to get them their first driver's license, and the experience can be downright frustrating.  In this three part series we are going to discuss the process, the steps you need to take, and the documents you will need along the way. 
The first thing you need to know is that it is a three stage process referred to as the New Mexico Graduated Licensing System.
Stage One: Instructional Permit
To get an Instructional Permit, a teen must be at least 15 years old, enrolled in Driver’s Education and go into a MVD Express office with the following documents: 
·         Driver Education Referral Card·        Original State Issued Birth Certificate·         Original Social Security Card·         One Proof of New Mexico Residency·         A Parent/Legal Guardian must accompany new teen driver
Once the permit has been received it must be held for a minimum of six months.  The Driver will be issued a maximum of two Instructional Permits.  The Driver must drive with an adult 21 or older who has been licensed for a minimum of three years.  The Driver must also complete a detailed log of at least 50 hours of supervised driving practice, in which 10 of these hours must be at night.  A parent or guardian must certify in writing that these hours have been completed.  The Driver will need to maintain a clean driving record for the 90 days preceding the application of stage two - the provisional license. 
Effective June 17, Senate Bill 9, enacted by the 2011 Legislature, amends Sections 66-5-8 and 66-5-9 NMSA 1978 to provide that:The six-month minimum period for which an individual is required to hold an instruction permit before obtaining a provisional license is extended by 30 days for each traffic violation, committed during the time the individual was driving with the instruction permit, for which the individual was convicted or adjudicated delinquent.

Teens on the Road: The Process to Getting a Driver's License - Part Two

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In Part One of “Teens on the Road” we discussed the process of obtaining an Instructional Permit.  Today we will discuss stage two of the New Mexico Graduated Licensing System, the Provisional License.
Stage Two: The Provisional License
To obtain a Provisional License the teen driver must be at least 15 ½ years old, fully completed Stage One of the Graduated Licensing System, held a clean driving record for 90 days preceding the application of the Provisional License, and go into an MVD Express office with the following documents:

• Expired Instructional Permit
• 50 Hour Driving Log (must include a minimum of 10 hours of night driving)
• Certificate of Completion (from a driving school such as McGinnis School of Driving)
• Parent/Legal Guardian

In addition to the above items, if the teen driver does not hold a State issued Instructional Permit they must also bring in the following documents:

• Original State Issued Birth Certificate
• Original Social Security Card
• One Proof of New Mexico Residency

Once the Provisional License has been received it will need to be held for a minimum of one year or until the teen reaches the age of 18.  The teen driver may not have more than one passenger in the car under the age of 21 who is not an immediate family member.  The teen driver may not operate the car between the hours of midnight and 5:00 a.m. unless accompanied by a licensed driver who is 21 years or older.  Exceptions are permitted for school, employment, family and medical need, or religious functions.  During times of these exceptions the teen driver must carry a statement from the appropriate school, employer, Doctor, Religious Official or Parent/Legal Guardian.


Effective June 17, Senate Bill 9, enacted by the 2011 Legislature, amends Sections 66-5-8 and 66-5-9 NMSA 1978 to provide that:


The 12-month minimum period for which an individual is required to hold a provisional license before obtaining a regular driver's license is also extended by 30 days for each traffic violation, committed during the time the individual was driving with the provisional license, for which the individual was convicted or adjudicated delinquent.

Driver's License Suspension vs. Revocation

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Driver's License Suspension vs. Revocation in Arizona

In Arizona is there a difference between your driver’s license being suspended vs. revoked? What is the difference between a driver’s license suspension and a revocation?

In Arizona, it is important to understand that driving is a privilege governed by the State through the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) Motor Vehicles Division (MVD). Driving is not a right. Arizona courts hear both civil and criminal matters involving crimes and violations that may affect your driving record. Your driving record in turn may then affect the status of your license leading to suspension or revocation.

Suspension
In Arizona, a driver’s license suspension is the temporary removal of your license or privilege to drive. This is an action taken by Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) Motor Vehicles Division (MVD) after a review of your driving record also referred to as your Motor Vehicle Record (MVR). If your license is suspended, then it must be reinstated before you can legally drive. A driver’s license suspension will remain in effect until the prescribed time period of the suspension is served and you make an application for reinstatement and pay the applicable reinstatement fee.

Revocation
Re-establishing your ability to drive after a revocation is more difficult than a suspension. In Arizona, a driver’s license revocation is the complete removal of your license or privilege to drive. Your license will remain revoked until you apply for a new license. As part of the application for a new license, you must submit and pass an investigation into your driving record. All outstanding obligations must be satisfied in order to qualify for re-instatement of your privilege to drive.

Suspension vs. Revocation
A license suspension is for a definite period of time. With a suspension, once the suspension period has elapsed, your license is eligible for re-instatement. During your suspension period you may be eligible for restricted privileges. A license revocation on the other hand is the complete removal of your license. After a revocation, you must apply for a new license and during the revocation you are not eligible for restricted privileges.


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