Dick Conoboy
Total lifetime comments: 797
Recent Comments by Dick Conoboy
Your comments to our congressional representatives do not have to be lengthy. Here is a copy of the message I sent to Larsen, Murray and Cantwell:
I am an 81 year old Army veteran, former Major with Vietnam service from 1968 to 1968. I urge you to do all you can to preserve and protect the Veterans Administration and the benefits my fellow war veterans have earned.
Donald Trump, a convicted felon, is now the head of a criminal enterprise in the guise of the Republican Party. There is no reason to make common cause with this criminal element. I urge you to fight their plans to downgrade or even do away with the Veterans Administration, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security upon which veterans depend for their very survival.
Do not give an inch. These liars and thieves must be stopped in their tracks.
Steve,
That was just a cautionary note I had heard a few times on the web. By any means, email or phone, we just need to get the word to these people in Congress who seem to be in a daze. Thanks for your action on this on the part of our fellow veterans.
Dick
In 20 years dealing with the Planning Dept here in Bellingham, I have learned to be wary of the affordable housing snipe hunt of the moment. Eliminating zoning, ADUs, getting rid of the definition of family, making more housing subject to admin approvals, shorter permitting times, elimination of parking, tax breaks for developers who promise yada yada yada. All in the name of affordable housing. Not much to show for any of that.
And then this lands in my email inbox this afternoon: The Housing Loophole That Lets Wealthy Investors Raise Rents on Poor Tenants.
"....as developers and real estate investors take advantage of an obscure section of the tax code known as the “qualified contract” provision. It allows owners of low-income rental properties that have received generous tax credits to raise rents far sooner than the law typically requires. Some 115,000 apartments in the United States have lost rent restrictions as a result, according to one estimate. Experts say these conversions are exacerbating the nation’s shortage of affordable housing, which has intensified in recent years. One report recently concluded that the country has nearly 5 million fewer housing units than it needs. The problem is most acute for those with low incomes."
Thanks to Abe Jacobson for calling our attention to the recent article in the New Yorker magazine and therefore expanding the information available on Pete Hegseth.
I purposely did not go into any questionable/disqualifying background info on either of these two nominees. My intent was to use the example of my experience as a point of comparison to demonstrate how shallow their Army experiences were. They may have performed admirably but they certainly lack any appreciably extensive experience that would minimally support being qualified for becoming DNI or SecDef.
Unfortunately, should either or both of these individuals be confirmed to their appointments, the security clearance issue would very likely and quickly become moot as Trump has shown no reluctance in overriding the recommendations of government investigators and granting clearances to the most unsavory and disreputable of his entourage. One’s mind turns immediately to the security issues surrounding Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, whose security clearance had to be granted by Trump after investigations showed his foreign contacts to be problematic, making him vulnerable to blackmail.
[NB: In the way of explanation, a Q Clearance is one given by the Department of Energy that is equivalent to Top Secret in other areas of the federal government and particularly within the the Department of Defense.]
A kakistocracy is the word that sums it all up. Read HERE.
Noam Chomsky said “People not only don’t know what’s happening to them, they don’t even know that they don’t know.” But that deserves clarification. They do SEE and EXPERIENCE what is happening in the moment but cannot appreciate that beyond the immediate experience. So they lash out. What they do not grasp are the causes beyond their current pain nor do they understand that they don’t know that they are unaware. If they were aware, they would understand that they have been abandoned by and lied to by BOTH parties for 40-50 yrs.
Here are links to two articles that delve into this:
Swimming in Mud in the Fifth Circle of Hell: The Forty-Sixth Newsletter (2024)
The following is from a piece by Vijay Prashad of the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research. You can read the entire newsletter by clicking on the title here: Swimming in Mud in the Fifth Circle of Hell What does the piece tell us about both parties and what remains in front of us?
Excerpt: In 2017, Brazil’s Perseu Abramo Foundation published a study about the political perceptions and values of the residents of São Paulo’s favelas, which found that they are in favour of more social policies of relief and welfare. They know that their hard work does not result in sufficient means, and so they hope that government policies will provide additional support. These opinions should theoretically lead to the growth of class politics. Yet the researchers found that this was not the case: instead, neoliberal ideas had flooded the favelas, leading its residents to see the primary conflict not as one between the rich and the poor, but one between the state and individuals, setting aside the role of capital. The findings of this study are replicated in many other similar investigations. It is not that the sections of the working class that turn to the far right of a special type are irrationally angry or deluded. They are clear about their experience, but they blame the degradation of their lives on the state. Can you blame them? Their relationship to the state is not shaped by social workers or welfare offices, but by the viciousness of the special police that are authorised to deny their civil and human rights. And so, they come to associate the state with the neoliberal pact and to hate it. Rising from these muddy waters, the politicians of the far right appear as potential saviours. Never mind that they have no agenda to reverse the carnage that the neoliberal policies of the old parties inflict on society: at least they purport to hate it, too.
To all my readers,
I am now getting messages asking me for assistance with MA plans, what to do and where to go. I really don’t have any advice on navigating the system. What I am trying to do with my articles is to get people to understand what a rip-off MA is and how it is destroying Medicare by stealing from the trust fund. Unfortunately, I do not have the knowledge about alternatives under the present (and ghastly) system. The best bet for the present is to exchange info with others who are looking at MA. Check the internet for suggestions. You will not likely find the perfect way to deal with this monster that the government has created. Be practical with what you know and what you can find out. Write your senators and congressional reps and tell them enough is enough. Stop the steal!
Richard,
Most public universities were once tuition free or nearly so. What happened? Capitalism
The capitalist system is set up to devolve into one with low wages and wealth extraction by the 1% as we currently see. We find ourselves now at the logical, predictable end to a flawed system. Some sort of socialist system is necessary.
How to deal with the problems confronting us means public discussion and action.
The notion that fewer people will become doctors and lawyers as a side effect of a higher minimum wage is nonsensical.
I have never held the former USSR’s system up as an example of a workable economic model. Your statement is a strawman.
Minimum wage as a great life lesson is cruelty.