North Side Green Party

We voted in the Green Primary today. For the first time, no one gave us a hard time over requesting Green ballots. It was good to be able to vote for something we could believe in, not having to settle for the lesser of two evils. (How do you tell which is less evil?)

Afterward we went to lunch at an all solar taco restaurant. We visited Taco Burrito King, located at 5134 West Belmont. It was a gloomy, snowy midwinter day, but the King's solar array was functioning perfectly.

The taco plates were marvelous.

Still banging the dead-end drum of stem cell research, the Democratic administration has been ignoring the cell-reprogramming breakthroughs that promise rapid cures for Alzheimers, Parkinsons, and other degenerative nerve diseases. The new approach bypasses problems with rejection, a bugaboo which stem cell researchers had struggled for years to overcome.

A story appearing in the Times reports that researchers have for the first time reprogrammed human skin cells to become fully functioning neurons.

Jim Kunstler comments that the Obama State of the Union message evaded the core of the nation's difficulties. Energy resources are contracting, he says, and the economy has followed suit.

We cannot borrow our way out of our credit difficulties, he said.

In an exclusive interview with Amy Goodman, film maker Michael Moore attacks the Democrats as Republican-light. The difference between Bush and Obama administrations, he says, is a question of "sugar coating."

Based on information supplied by former and current GI's, Harper's Magazine launched a six month investigation of three inmate deaths in the US detention center in Guantanamo.

The three victims were supposedly found hanging in their cells. Each was bound hand and foot. Each had had their throats stuffed with rags. The bodies bore other marks of torture, including needle marks and bruises.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court's conservative majority lifted limits on corporate campaign spending. Politically, corporations now enjoy near-absolute power, providing only that they can achieve consensus. The decision comes 194 years after Thomas Jefferson urged America to
crush the corporations.

Cook County Commissioner Sims, in a recent broadcast on the Cook County Cable Station, is said to have argued the case for patronage.

Patronage is a form of corruption in which jobs in government or private sector are awarded on the basis of political loyalties instead of merit.

At 89, Helen Thomas is the senior member of the White House press corps. She has covered every president since John F. Kennedy. She is renowned for asking questions younger reporters are afraid to touch. Her fearlessness made her the bane of the Bush administration. She now fills the same role in the Obama White House.

According a report appearing in the Washington Post, December retail sales were dismal. The report raises questions about the ability of the US economy to stage a recovery in 2010.

Eric deCarbonnel warns of a developing food crises (Food Crises for Dummies) which could de-stabilize the US Dollar.

DeCarbonnel has in recent weeks accused the Department of Agriculture of fudging their harvest estimates to avoid roiling markets. He believes we may be one harvest away from trouble.

Paul Zimmerman has posted a story on Global Research which should be must reading for every parent.

Posting on Truthdig (Climate Discord: From Hopenhagen to Nopenhagen), independent journalist Amy Goodman blames US President Barack Obama for failure of the climate talks.

NASA climate scientist James Hansen, in an interview with Madeline Ostrander says that the failure of the Copenhagen talks may a good thing. The way may now open for better ideas, he said.

Powerful anti-psychotic meds are being administered to the children of the poor as an inexpensive alternative to more costly treatment approaches. Middle class children are much more likely to receive the costly alternatives. The story appears in the New York Times.

Mayor Daley and his merry band are true Robin Hoods, according to The Shadow Budget, a story published in a recent issue of the Chicago Reader. Revenues being siphoned out of poor neighborhoods are funneled into Chicago's wealthiest areas under the guise of "economic development."

Ben Joravski, in his continuing series on TIF (Tax Increment Finance) schemes, has previously shown how a measure billed as tax cutting is actually a tax hike.

Mick Dumke co-authored the story.

Direct your elected Congress person to co-sponsor Barbara Lee's HR 3699 prohibiting funding any surge.

Find your Congress person at: congress.org or call 311 for her/his local number.

Thank you for your love of peace, for your help in bringing home our young military people and keeping them home!

Blessed be,
Kathy

Last night, President Obama announced both his decision to add 30,000 U.S. troops to the mire in Afghanistan and his desire to see other countries and N.A.T.O. match his surge. Thanks to U.S. taxpayers, mercenaries will continue to be a part of the foreign presence in Afghanistan. The Republicans support the President's move and are expected to reward President Obama with the bulk of their Congressional votes to pass his plan.

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy this month published a state-by-state analysis of taxation.

Each analysis is in a brief, easy to read form, down-loadable in pdf format. The Illinois fact sheet is two pages.

Guess who pays: The bottom 20% pays 13% of their income. The rest of us don't do much better, except for those at the very top.

The top 1% pay less than 5% in Illinois. They also get a Federal tax break, not available to the poor, which lowers their Illinois tax to slightly over 4%.

A non-violent vigil and direct action will take place November 20 - 22 at Fort Benning Georgia. The purpose is to force the Obama administration to close the School of the Americas (SOA). The event is sponsored by School of the Americas Watch.

Founded in 1946 SOA had a long and memorable career. They were most famous for training future dictators. Manuel "Pineapple face" Noriega was a graduate of SOA, as were many others accused of crimes against humanity.

The National Academies of Science have completed a study of the Hidden Costs of Energy: Unpriced Consequences of Energy Production and Use.