Miles davis et John Coltrane - So what

Random Facts From "Ten Technologies To Save The Planet"by Chris Goodall

Canada consumes about 540 terawatt-hours of electricity every year and the U.S. about seven times that amount.A terawatt is 1,000 gigawatts and a gigawatts is a 1,000 megawatts.One megawatt is 1000 kilowatts while one kilowatt is the amount of electrical power to light ten old fashioned 100 watt lightbulbes.

Wind turbines are now a routine sight in the western hills of Spain,on Danish islands,on New Zealand's moorlands and in the Atlantic provinces of Canada.Hundreds of thousands of turbines now provide power to the national electricity grids.The U.S. and China are presently providing much of the growth in this industry even if they were latecomers.All the U.S. wind farms are on land,but developers are looking to the coastlines for the big opportunities presented by offshore turbines.

Cape Wind promises to be the first offshore wind farm in the U.S. They will have 130 large turbines that would provide enough electricity for the needs of the most of the communities of Cape Cod and the islands off the southern coast of Massachusetts.Cape Cod once had over a thousand working wind mills providing mechanical power to small communities.A small fraction of 1% of the light and heat energy that the earth receives gets turned into the moving or "kinetic" energy of the wind.A wind turbine cannot capture the full power of the wind(60%).The wind turbines generate electricity but they are only 70% efficient.Even with these disadvantages,they compare favorably with solar photovoltaic panels which turn less than a fifth of the energy they receive into electricity.

Only 1% of the world electricity demand today is met by wind,but the figure varies greatly around the world.Some areas of Germany generate more wind energy than their total power needs.20% of Danish electricity comes from wind and the figure is similar in Prince Edward Island(Canada).The U.S. and Spain are adding the largest amount of new generating capacity every year.Wind energy in India and China is becoming important with China doubling generation every year.One study put the average power in the global winds at any one moment at about 72 terawatts-around thirty times the world's electrical requirements.The trade body for European wind thinks that by 2020 about 13% of its electrical needs will be generated by wind.Getting to that level would require capital expenditure of 15 billion per year.(one B-2 bomber cost 2 billion)

Denmark's early support for wind has had several important repercussions.Among the benefits,the country became the world's leader in the manufacture of turbines.Suzlar is one of the world's leading companies and it is well placed to supply China's insatiable need for power and its wealth of windy locations,such as Inner Mongolia.

More from this book soon.

Counter Culture and John Wayne Memories

I'm listening to "In A Mellow Tone"(Verve MGV-8180)), recorded in the fifties by Johnny Hodges who was from Cambridge,Mass.Hodges played for Ellington in his big band and all but one of the songs in the album were written by Ellington.It's a tribute record for one of the greats in American jazz who brought light to a dark time throughout the world.I'm reading two books currently,"Madison and Jefferson" by Burstein/Isenberg and "Ten Technologies To Save The Planet" by Chris Goodall.Both books are very good and I'm going to read them today because it's rainy and cold and winter still has its hands around our spring.I love fifties jazz but I remember the fifties and early sixties as a time young people were quite violent.Living in the Bronx during that time could be very uncomfortable for many young people.There were numerous gangs(not necessarily designated with names) and one for each neighborhood who took pleasure in giving a beating to anyone who strolled through their avenues at the wrong time.My neighborhood had a big gang of older teenagers who collaborated with other gangs to fight for reasons unknown to me.As a young child(under ten),I remember watching large numbers of people chasing others with bats,knives and an occasional zip-gun(homemade).It was an interesting reality show but one wouldn't want to be caught short without your brothers by your side.Marijuana wasn't used in the white sections at the time by a majority of teenagers and I remember most drank beer and whiskey. Gangs(comprised of the majority of teenagers in the neighborhood) had a pecking order based on physical skills that were displayed from time to time to keep order and respectability.The alcohol consumed didn't help this violent process but America had just been through a Depression and a World War and it was the mainstay of white culture.War movies were the craze and John Wayne fought someone(and won) in every movie( many young men went to Vietnam with a false image of the hardships of full blown modern warfare).Violence was acceptable as apple pie even if more people seemed to attend church than they do today.Men were rated by how well they played sports,how funny they were and how they fought on the playgrounds.Academics were approved and respected in the school environment,but the hand and fist laid claim to the streets and boulevards.Less than 15% of young men went on to college in the union municipality of NYC.(one out of every three jobs)

Then came the Beatles,then came the drugs, to wash all the violence and nonsense away.A few tokes on a joint and nobody wanted to fight anybody for any reason.John Wayne was a symbol of everything wrong with America.The times were changing for the common male who saw life a little different than his dad.The hippies stole from the Beats and its dogma spread like fertilizer on a field.The violence model was over for them..the competition,the closed shop of us verses them evaporated into the colorful sunset of compassion and cooperation.Initially,with the influence of marijuana,nature became the new"god" to be respected and worshiped.Following the city sports teams, became something of the past.Magically,every living thing was as important as the humans who shared this glorious space.Every human had dignity,equality and a right to live freely under a common sun.The world grew bigger everyday as the counter culture opened its arms to the poor in our own society and throughout the world.Who wanted to fight the Vietnam men when we opposed fighting our own neighbors.Our thoughts were cooperative instead of competitive as we rose each morning to help, give and share instead of taking and keeping for oneself.It was an opening,an expanding viewpoint that wanted economic equality,the destruction of impoverished housing,clean air and waterways,cooperative,democratic jobs,smaller,interesting(alternative) schools,cheap, quality organic food and a fair judicial system. We looked outside ourselves because we knew the answer to our own happiness was connected to everyone else.This form of spirituality has remained for fifty years and continues to grow because it is embedded in every religion and every culture.This connectedness runs through every message from every religion man has followed and respected.The world counter culture took it out of the hands of administrating clergy and fastened it on to every corner post throughout the world.The uprisings in the middle east is the flowering of this thought process that was reinvigorated by my generation, in mass, fifty years ago and will continue into the distant future.It is the only way the planet will survive.

I know that the use of drugs wasn't the healthiest avenue(maybe we would have changed without them..many lives lost) to reach a new consciousness but they did bridge two different worlds that remain today.The counter culture was taken to a place where government was seen as a solution(Kennedy) to issues instead of an obstacle(Reagan).Revenues from taxes(progressive rates with each million earned) were inherently good because they could be given to others who need protection from an economic system that didn't supply enough quality jobs or educate our children fairly.All the important issues today(S.S,Health care,energy,environmental regulations,economic justice,quality food,etc.)are welcomed by those who look outside themselves when they think about the importance of government in the lives of the vast majority.Those who see the government as an obstacle think of themselves first and what they can do to limit it(supply side economics were proven false many times over).I believe that perspective must die for the world to survive and flourish.No more John Wayne(Marion Morrison...father of Jim..didn't you know that) movies where American men are honored for killing other human beings.No more multi-millionaires, billionaires that rob from the populace greedily for their own consumption.No more looking inward that ravages humanity in the long run down each poverty filled road.World Democracy demands an opening of oneself to the plight of others as we revere the land and water that surrounds our towns and cities.I'm still waiting for my brothers and sisters to see the light but my real hope is in the faces of our grandchildren who will inherit a world much different than the Mickey Mantle(Willie Mays was better) fifties.They will see the interconnectedness better without the distortion of drugs we had to use.They will understand their plight because they will need each other more to survive(international unions).I hope I'm around to see a little piece of it.Peace my friends and no more money allocated to destruction of other men.

Thomas Jefferson:Social Engineer,Needed Today(from Madison and Jefferson-Burstein/Isenberg)

Jefferson's classical understanding of a republic involved a majority of the independent freeholders having a real stake in the society and a real voice in their government. Towards this end, he came up with four principal reforms for Virgina's House of Burgesses at the time of the revolution.First,a more equitable distribution of land(today it would be income).Second,the abolition of slavery(low paying jobs without benefits in 2011).Third,universal  public education and a reorganized court system to promote a knowledgeable leadership class(tuition free colleges).Fourth, a disestablishment of the Anglican church,which would free up its lands and substitute for a flawed model of moral supervision(Christian,fundamental Right) a more enlightened system of tolerance and benevolence(Progressive,social justice Left).

The first reform was the elimination of entail(strict inheritance of land to the owner's lineal descendants),which maintained a landed elite from generation to generation(Jefferson wanted the right to sell his land to anyone).Entail,according to Jefferson,created "unnatural distinctions" and getting rid of the law would remove the aristocratic component that plagued early America(still impairs us today in a new form).Jefferson also called for an end to primogeniture,which consolidated land in the hands of the few by passing it from fathers to first born sons only(under 10% of colonial elite owned over 50% of the land during the revolution...now it's 10% owns 90% of America's assets).Jefferson believed that entail made the distribution of land more and more inequitable over time,as larger chunks of land were concentrated in fewer and fewer hands.If so few families monopolized so much land,Virginians(Jefferson's first love)would grow ever more dependent on slavery as slaves were entailed with the land--much as peasants were in the feudal Europe.Entail lay at the heart of Virginia's slaveholders oligarchy.Jefferson's reform was radical for its day and is what we need today.By the revolution,most Virginia real estate was entailed.Jefferson's initiative would release as much as three-quarters of entailed land,democratizing the distribution of property for future generations.Many planters opposed Jefferson's bill and tried to dismiss him as a dangerous visionary.

Jefferson second reform was the reversal of the laws for slavery.He recognized that the institution of slavery was a deterrent to the improvement of manners,morals,and laws.His goal was to reduce the slave population and put slavery on the path to extinction.He believed that newly arrived slaves should be granted freedom after five years.Enlightened doctrine,which Jefferson followed,held that slavery destroyed the natural inclination of human beings to become one people and one nation(low paying jobs today separate citizens from one another and create distrust in government).It was an inherited disease,a social contagion.Jefferson struggled with this question his whole life and didn't support abolition within the United States.The best solution,as I read, for Jefferson, was the return of the slavers to the country they came from.Nevertheless,Jefferson understood that the culture of slavery tarnished America more than it benefited the economy.It was a progressive understanding for his time period.

Bill #79 proposed to the House of Burgessses called for" a more diffusion of knowledge" for all citizens.During this time period,education was the exclusive province of the wealthy.Bill#79 provided for the establishment of primary schools for all free children(not slave children),grammar schools for the more capable among them,and college(subsidized by the state) for those most gifted(only 25% of Americans today graduate from a four year college--most due to high costs).Jefferson didn't think the best citizens were necessarily the land owning elites that controlled the social and economic components of society.He often expounded that a majority of the landholders were far too concerned about their own interests than the desires of the populace(nothing has changed).

Finally,Jefferson believed that no person of any sect should be obligated to support a religious establishment(Anglican Church).He fought with Madison and won an agreement that dissenting sects--Quakers,Baptists,Methodists and Presbyterians- were to be exempt in the future from paying taxes in support of the established church(today the religious right wants to be the Anglican church of American and condemns secularism at every doorway).

More from "Madison and Jefferson" by Burstein and Isenberg in the near future.

How much Americans Actually Pay In Taxes After Deductions

This data is from the Congressional Budget Office(2009) and is the percentage of income Americans hand over to the government in the form of personal income,corporate taxes,social insurance and excise taxes.It also takes into account that many Americans use deductions to make the statutory rates lower. As we read the different quintiles(low to high),everyone pays taxes.The Republican propaganda machine always denies this fact and misinforms the populace with the notion that the lower two quintiles are freeloaders( as David Walker states in "Comeback America").They disparage the lower quartiles(lower making up to a whopping $17,200 average and the second lowest $39,400 per household...40% of all Americans) as drags on the fiscal viability of our nation.As you see, the very poor paid 10% in 1984.The percentage of their taxes have fallen more since 2005 with an increase in the earned income deduction(to ease the pain of the great recession),but they still pay taxes and strive to be decent citizens like the highest quintile($248,400 average)The 10%(Walker proposes) rate is $1,720 which is an enormous drain on the welfare of a family living in rural or urban areas of our country.That sum could be two months rent,heat for a winter,transportation repairs for a fragile auto, or new clothing for a growing boy.It is impossible to image the stress and worry a parent(parents) in this situation have concerning the welfare of their children.The second lowest quartile are in a little better situation but also struggle to survive in an ever growing price inflation environment.$39,400 isn't a lot of money for a household to survive on when food,clothing and housing/rental prices continue to rise.$2,576/month(after taxes) doesn't go a long way with children in the house.Most rentals with two bedrooms are around $1,000 at a minimum and that leaves $1,576 for everything else and that isn't enough with today's prices.Credit cards are used by these families to buy the basics to survive and saving is out of the question.Today,many social programs that aid both quintiles are coming under attack from Republicans who want to downsize the government and reduce the deficit.They want to decrease funding for Medicaid,reduce food stamp allowances and eligibility,close head start programs,curtail library hours,dwindle public transportation funding,shrink public safety in poor neighborhoods and cut education funding to the bone.Creating higher paying jobs for the lower quintiles are noexistent.(government must create export and domestic jobs because capitalism has failed this population..American consumerism for Americans)Both parties cater to the needs of the upper quartiles(especially the middle class) and ignore the lower ones because they don't vote as much as the higher ones(Republicans make concerted efforts to crush any organizing group).They also don't contribute to the political elections so they are rarely talked about by both parties.The Democrates support more programs for the poor but they don't make them the priority.Finally,the top quintile has an average income of $248,400.The total average incomes of the lower four quintiles comes to $206,100($17200,$39400,$60,000, and $89,500).This isn't the America I am proud of. This isn't the America many young people die for.Our country will continue to decline if the income inequality continues.Exploiting the poor with misinformation through public relation lies will bring hardship and instibility to our shores.It will tarnish the proud image of America in the eyes of the world.A world that needs us to care about the welfare of all citizens instead of our own self interest.

Taxing The Poor:Walker's "Comeback America" Answer For Deficit Problems

David Walker's book "Comeback America" has some commonsense proposals that he feels will improve Social Security.He wants to focus on people who are most in need.Walker wants to provide a new high-level floor benefit for Americans who have worked at least thirty years to ensure they will not live in poverty(I can support this proposal but it will cost revenue from another place...and what about those who don't work thirty years(women...criminals,drug addicted individuals,etc.)who don't make the cutoff).Second,he doesn't want to cut off SS benefits for higher-income individuals but reduce the relative benefit for the middle-and upper income persons through progressive wage indexing or otherwise(I support this proposal).Third,he wants to trim the cost of living adjustment for certain middle and upper-middle beneficiaries(agree again)Fourth,Walker proscribes to raise the normal and early retirement eligibility ages on a gradual basis..allowance could be made for manual laborers(agree).Fifth,allow individuals to defer their SS benefits to any age they choose and increase their monthly benefit based on life expectancy tables(agree).

For revenues,Walker wants to keep the payroll tax rate at 6.2% but raise the cap on taxable wages from $106,800 to around $150,000.This would be less than the historical dollar level at which 90% of the total wage income would be subject  to the SS payroll tax($171,900 in 2009).This increase is good but why stop at $150,000.Why not continue on all income like the vast majority of Americans pay.If 10% make over $171,900,why not continue on all income earned with no cap.( cap the benefits for anyone over $250,000)The high earners should pay 6.2% plus 15% on their capital gains income.(should raise capital gains to at least 20%).This is a direct way the wealthy could help the poor.The wealthy now avoid the 35% tax rate by placing most of their income in capital gain securities and are taxed less than the average wage earner.

Walker also wants to require citizens to have supplemental savings accounts.A 2 or 3% payroll deduction would go into an individual account for each worker.Individuals would have several professionally managed investment options to choose from.(Walker also wants every citizen to pay at least 10% of their income on federal taxes to help reduce our deficit) I disagree with this proposal because Walker is consistently talking about raising taxes on the poor while letting the wealthy keep their money.He is increasing taxes for the poor by 13% while ignoring the high income earners and their responsibility to the country and the lower class.He feels the upper 20% of the country pays too much in federal taxes(69% according to his numbers) and wants the poor to take some of that burden from them(get real..you have no idea about what the lower class goes through just to survive..shame on you for even suggesting this proposal)

American Founding Fathers:David Walker's "Comback America"

David Walker fancies the American founding fathers and quotes them constantly in his book "Comeback America".He quotes from the preamble of the Constitution's broad goals--"to form a more perfect union(not to perfect today with no income equality and high employment or employment with dreadful incomes),establish justice(the more money you have,the better the defense),insure domestic tranquility(increase private prison population,expand internal police force,increase domestic surveillance,etc.),provide for the common defense(soaks up 52% of the real budget that includes medical bills,interest on loans),promote the general welfare(not the welfare of the corporations..tax avoidance at $100 billion a year,10% of the population owns 90% of the assets,71% of our families with two earners make under $50,000 year),and secure the blessings of liberty(one party political system that takes orders from corporate donors).Davis sponsors limited government and yearns for a time when America's government's principle expense was running a postal service and overseeing the collection of custom duties.He also states that excessive debt was abhorred by the founding fathers who had debtors prisons for those who borrowed too much money and couldn't pay it back(U.S banks had a 40/50 to 1 debt to asset ratio in 2008,our economic system encourages debt to pay for business and consumer products).Mr.Walker omits that the top executives in banks not only avoided jail but have received increases in pay since the great depression of 2008.

According to Walker,35% of Americans rely on SS for 90% or more of their retirement income.He feels too many Americans look to the government to secure their retirement because they don't save enough on their own.(Doesn't he read the income statistics...more than 35% live at poverty levels and are lucky to pay their rent).I do agree with Walker when he states that Congress and the president(Bush and Obama) avoided important debates of the related costs,benefits and consequences of engaging in the Afghanistan,Iraq and now Libyan wars.Walker doesn't state that these wars were unnecessary,he is just concerned about the transparency and cost.He is against dissent where we do declare war which is a typical response from the right when they have their president in office.

I subscribe to his view that too many House and Senate members have grown out of touch with the real world and work to advance their own careers after leaving office.Many leave to find jobs in high-paying positions as corporate or special interest lobbyist.He also believes America has a leadership deficit that wasn't the problem with the founding fathers.I don't sanction his call for limited government.Walker thinks big government is constantly at war with the philosophy of personal responsibility(welfare) and individual liberty(regulations) that demands a limited government(these are code words for misdirected poor people and free for all corporate power in right wing slang).He doesn't understand in the last thirty-five years, workers wages have stagnated.Our wonderful economic system is falling to provide the quality jobs for three fourths of the population.Walkers message might be appropriate for our professional class but he is misinformed about the 75% of our citizens who don't graduate from a four year college(lack of money) and secure a reasonable income.The manufacturing sector has left a huge void in our economic system and "box stores" haven't provided enough income for citizens to save.Big government has grown because corporations make money from the privatization of the Defense Dept. Our SS/Medicare money has been spent for subsidies to corporations involved in defense,agriculture and banking.Our political one party system rejected a single payer health program so we continue to provide services to the poor at a higher rate.

Walker is employed by the Peterson Foundation who is working on a Federal Financial Irresponsibility Index.This index,according to Walker,will convey the simple and stark truth about the relative risks of providing various government programs.The Peterson Index is a great way for the fundamentalist to reduce government programs that helps the majority of Americans who are hurting from a failed economic system.Mr. Walker is living in a dream world where the poor don't exist in large numbers and are irresponsible and lazy.It reminds me of the sick rhetoric Reagan used in the 1980 election.He demonized the poor and through his propaganda swayed the dark side of American racism to peek out and vote with a indignant smile.

More from "Comeback America" in the near future.

Musings on David Walker's"Comeback America"

David Walker is the former head of the Government Accountability Office from 1998 to 2008 and is now the current CEO of the Concord Coalition which is an offshoot of the Peter G Peterson Foundation.He claims the U.S. government is in a financial hole of $56 trillion,which includes money owed to federal civilian and military retirees and to various building leases and maintenance programs.But the biggest amount is owed to Social Security, Medicare and to domestic and foreign investors.The Treasury holds I.O.U's to all the investors who purchased bonds from us to pay for our past deficits.The government has spent all the money collected from the "entitlement programs" to finance past budgets that went for all kinds of expenditures(especially military).Walker claims the era of tax revolt gathered steam under President Reagan in the 1980's when we began to cut taxes and increase spending( mostly military).He also states that persistent antigovernment,antitax strain in our national character threatens to keep total revenues from rising high enough to match our spending.Walker also blames Americans for living above their means on easy credit and reversing the traditional culture of thrift and saving(American counter culture associates championed this value).Our political representatives,according to Walker,encouraged them with low taxes and generous government benefits(Walker at this point of the book hasn't looked at income inequality statistics or why the majority of Americans(71%) use credit cards for basic needs like car repairs..people don't save if their income is so low,wages have been stagnant since the late seventies...he is also against unions and collective bargaining due to his problems with his own employees at GAO who formed one during his tenure).

The federal debt has grown by 176% since 2000 from 20.4 trillion to 56.4 trillion.Bush II increased the debt by sending troops,without Congressional permission,to Afghanistan,Iraq,(Obama into Lybia),creating a Homeland Security Department and signing off on an expensive Medicare drug program(benefited the large drug companies) without revenues from taxes.He also compounded the deficit problem by lowering taxes that lost considerable revenue to pay for his spending.Obama continued this trend to solve the employment problems caused by the Great Recession(bank greed) by spending on banks bailouts,stimulus programs and continuing the same tax strategy.Walker states that half our public debt is foreign owned(I read recently in the Treasury site that it is listed at 27%).He had the nation's foreign debt at 19% in 1990 and zero after WWII."Comeback America", after reading the first chapter and prologue, seems to be setting the stage for cutting mandatory spending programs.He believes that if we don't cut, it will  undermine the next generation and their quest for a renewed America.

More from "Comeback America" shortly.