The Sunday (July 26) issue of the Seattle Times carried an article entitle "Soaring success: Drones lift Gorge economy," an ode to the latest US-made weapon of mass destruction: unmanned, aerial drones. Remember when Colin Powell stood before the UN and condemned Saddam Hussein for building unmanned aerial drones? That's a weapon of mass destruction, boys! Let's bomb the shit out of him!
Meanwhile, US companies were busy building the first generation of aerial drones. Today, the Predator drone is routinely used to bomb villages where Taliban militants are thought to be hiding, or to assassinate suspected Al Qaeda leaders and their "sympathizers" (the latest terminology to connote innocent bystanders). As of mid-July of this year, the US military had launched 40 drone strikes in Western Pakistan alone, which caused the Pakistani government to issue a formal protest with the US State Department. The Predator is also used in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A company called Insitu, based in Klickitat County here in Washington State, recently churned out its 1,000th aerial drone. Insitu was founded in 1994 and has 15 separate offices in the Columbia Gorge area where 630 workers make drones for Boeing, which purchased Insitu in 2008. In fact, Insitu is one of Boeing's most profitable divisions...and a non-unionized one, too.
Insitu also says that its main product is not a missile wielding weapon; no, they build the ScanEagle, an aerial surveillance drone that isn't big enough to carry missiles. Instead, the ScanEagle carries high-resolution and/or infrared cameras that help pinpoint where people live so the Predator drone can bomb them to kingdom come. Big difference.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
A Million Bucks to Defeat the Bag Fee
The American Chemistry Council (Dow Chemical, Exxon Mobil, etc.) just announced this week that they're pouring more than $1 million into a campaign to defeat the plastic shopping bag tax that will be on the ballot in Seattle on August 18th. That's the most money ever poured into a Seattle ballot measure in history, according to the Seattle Times. All to defeat a 20 cent fee that most retailers think is a good idea. C'mon, people, the cost of these bags is already figured into the price you pay for your food, clothing, and other stuff you buy; the tax will go to fund new environmental initiaves here in Seattle. Who loses from that? Get this: only big retailers will have to remit the tax to the city. Small businesses will be able to keep 100% of it.
The argument that the bag fee will be onerous to the poor is just wrong. I've done a little personal experiment. I committed six months ago to stop using any more plastic bags for my groceries. I paid $3 for three reusable bags. Note: one reusable bag holds the equivalent of what three to four flimsy disposable plastic bags can hold (and sometimes more). In six months, I've used only two disposable plastic bags (a 40-cent expenditure if the bag-fee becomes law), I've made fewer trips to the grocery store (because I can carry more stuff in my reusable bags), and I've yet to wear out or tear even one of my reusable bags. Is it hard to remember to bring reusable bags to the grocery store with me? Are you kidding me? If I can remember to take my wallet with me, I can certainly remember to grab a couple of bags on the way out the door.
As for people who want to use those flimsy plastic bags for garbage sacks, oh please. The whole point is to keep these things out of the waste stream because that's where they do the most damage! Own up to your responsibility as an adult and recognize the impact your choices have on our environment. Recycle and compost (if you can) to reduce your waste, and buy an environmentally-friendly alternative garbage bag.
The city can and should encourage environmentally responsible behavior. Kudos to the city council members who supported the bag fee. All of them did, except for Jan Drago, who wants to be our next mayor. Maybe we should call her Ms. Yuck and make a green sticker with her face on it.
The argument that the bag fee will be onerous to the poor is just wrong. I've done a little personal experiment. I committed six months ago to stop using any more plastic bags for my groceries. I paid $3 for three reusable bags. Note: one reusable bag holds the equivalent of what three to four flimsy disposable plastic bags can hold (and sometimes more). In six months, I've used only two disposable plastic bags (a 40-cent expenditure if the bag-fee becomes law), I've made fewer trips to the grocery store (because I can carry more stuff in my reusable bags), and I've yet to wear out or tear even one of my reusable bags. Is it hard to remember to bring reusable bags to the grocery store with me? Are you kidding me? If I can remember to take my wallet with me, I can certainly remember to grab a couple of bags on the way out the door.
As for people who want to use those flimsy plastic bags for garbage sacks, oh please. The whole point is to keep these things out of the waste stream because that's where they do the most damage! Own up to your responsibility as an adult and recognize the impact your choices have on our environment. Recycle and compost (if you can) to reduce your waste, and buy an environmentally-friendly alternative garbage bag.
The city can and should encourage environmentally responsible behavior. Kudos to the city council members who supported the bag fee. All of them did, except for Jan Drago, who wants to be our next mayor. Maybe we should call her Ms. Yuck and make a green sticker with her face on it.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Seattle Head-Tax Repeal
The Seattle Times, in all its kiss-The-Rich glory, led its editorial page today with an opinion piece entitled "Hey, City Hall: What's the holdup on head-tax repeal?" The "head-tax" is the Times' name for the Employee Tax that charges a tiny fee ($25) to each business for each employee that doesn't bike, walk, take the bus, or commute to work in an environmentally friendly way. In other words, if you drive and park to work in Seattle, your boss has to pay $25 per year.
As taxes go, it's progressive in both its effects and its collection: small businesses are given an exemption from the tax, and it encourages businesses to encourage their employees to carpool, bus, bike, and walk to work. Hell, in my workplace, we even have a guy who longboards to work. (Google it and watch a video of longboarders. Who wouldn't want to travel that way if they could?)
In the Times editorial, they bitch and moan about how it's taking the city council forever to repeal the damn tax. Oh, boo hoo that some of the city council members want to wait until the budget discussions start in the fall. That's called "common sense." You know, the kind that makes a reasonable person say, "gosh, maybe we should wait to see how much money is in the city coffers before we repeal a tax that's not particularly burdensome and helps pay for streets and sidewalks." That seems reasonable to me. But I don't work at the Seattle Times, obviously.
As taxes go, it's progressive in both its effects and its collection: small businesses are given an exemption from the tax, and it encourages businesses to encourage their employees to carpool, bus, bike, and walk to work. Hell, in my workplace, we even have a guy who longboards to work. (Google it and watch a video of longboarders. Who wouldn't want to travel that way if they could?)
In the Times editorial, they bitch and moan about how it's taking the city council forever to repeal the damn tax. Oh, boo hoo that some of the city council members want to wait until the budget discussions start in the fall. That's called "common sense." You know, the kind that makes a reasonable person say, "gosh, maybe we should wait to see how much money is in the city coffers before we repeal a tax that's not particularly burdensome and helps pay for streets and sidewalks." That seems reasonable to me. But I don't work at the Seattle Times, obviously.
Welcome to my blog
I've been writing about politics for a long time, in a very structured way, through my articles for various left-wing, progressive publications. I'm welcoming the chance to be more informal here, and to write more frequently.
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