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When I hauled out of Newark (NJ) for the pastures of upstate New York some 25 years ago, intent, for reasons which today I honestly cannot recall, on adding another degree to my vita, I figured I’d stick around just long enough to complete what coursework I needed in advance of my dissertation and then get the hell out. Lovely country, to be sure, but after the thrills of Newark–at that time, car hijackings at high noon on main street was the sport of choice–Binghamton seemed, let’s say, a bit … placid. Tame. OK: downright freakin’ dull.

To my surprise,  I stayed on for a decade. Binghamton turned out to be manageable, libertarian (rustic style, and that ain’t a bad thing), maybe even a good place to raise a brood, and not incidentally chock full of lively bars featuring astonishingly cheap beer, wings made the right way,  blues bands out of Syracuse, and other stuff you do not need to know about.  But the local economy–heavily dependent on IBM and Martin Marietta–took a nosedive when quarterly earnings reports called for one big-ass axe, and when I left Binghamton for Philly,

Continue reading Bringin’ It All Back Home: Relocalize the War

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I went walking down by Magazine Beach today

and picked up

a clear plastic cup with clear cover

a black plastic cup cover

a white plastic cup cover

a smaller plastic cup, crushed

a broken white styrofoam “clamshell” container

a brown plastic tray for cookies or something like that

a white plastic spoon, dirty

and an orange straw

Continue reading Thought Experiment: Fastfood Containers Recycled into Solar Devices
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BOSTON/State House – Half a dozen top law enforcement officials held a press conference Tuesday expressing wide ranging support for CORI reforms passed by the Senate last November and pending vote in the House.

“Police chiefs don’t sign on to this bill easily, because it appears to be soft on crime,” said Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis. “But it’s anything but soft on crime…It’s smart on crime.”

Continue reading Law Enforcement Joins CORI Reform Consensus
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It’s called Tax Fairness.

State House News reported on May 11, 2010 that  Rep. Jay Kaufman, who chairs the Joint Revenue Committee, said he “hoped to pursue comprehensive reform” to the state tax code next session.   My election to represent the Fourth Berkshire District will help Rep. Kaufman’s hope to become a reality.  Incumbents have been mostly silent – and therefore complicit – on the matter of unfair regressive taxation.

Tax Fairness is another reason for the voters in the  Fourth Berkshire District to elect the Green-Rainbow slate of candidates whom they will see on the ballot this November.

Continue reading Tax Fairness – A Candidate’s Statement

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On June 8, Californians will vote on several referendums, in addition to primary races.  One of those referendums, Proposition 14 (aka the Top Two Primaries Act), could hugely change how those primary races are conducted, and it would definitely not be for the better.  As if to add insult to injury, but it could take down a public campaign financing measure along with it.

Prop 14 was put on the ballot through the backroom dealings of State Senator (not Lt. Gov.) Abel Moldonado, the very last holdout on the budget this year.  He used the budget crisis for his own profit and one of his demands was to put this measure on the ballot.  Now, his reckless action is being opposed by every political party in California and numerous electoral reform groups, groups ranging from the NAACP to the Southern California Tax Revolt Coalition.

But big business wants this to pass because of the control it could give them over elections (explanation below the fold).  So your help is needed – $5, $10, $100 – whatever you can chip in to prevent California from descending further into a mess of broken government.

Continue reading Help urgently needed: Stop anti-democratic Prop 14 in California!
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At the NESEA Building Energy Conference in March, the winner of the MA Zero Net Energy House contest was announced.  It is the Stephens/Clarke Residence in Montague, MA which was built by Bick Corsa.  The 1152 square foot, 3 bedroom house cost $180,000, was monitored from January 1, 2009 to January 1, 2010, and produced two and a half times the energy it consumed.  This Zero Net Energy House is actually a Positive Net Energy House.

The house is highly insulated, with R42 walls, R100 ceiling, and stands on an R30 insulated slab.  It is powered by 4.94 kW of solar electric panels, solar air and hot water heaters, and passive solar heat gained through U-.17 windows (about R 5.8, according to my calculations).  There is a mini-split air source heat pump serving as a furnace and demand hot water heaters as back-up in case it’s needed.

The house used 1,959 kilowatts for the entire year with an annual energy bill for heating, cooling, hot water, cooking, appliances, and lighting of $392.  They sold 2,933 kilowatt hours worth $586 back to the grid over that same period.

Continue reading Zero Net Energy House Winner Is Positive Net Energy House
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US Greens congratulate Caroline Lucas, the UK’s first Green Party member of Parliament, on her election victory

Colombian Green presidential candidate Antanas Mockus holds a strong lead in polls, may become the first Green Party head of a national government

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES

http://www.gp.org

WASHINGTON, DC — The Green Party of the United States congratulates Caroline Lucas and British Greens on Ms. Lucas’ election to the House of Commons on May 6. Ms. Lucas, the first Green member of Parliament, will represent Brighton Pavilion.

“The election of the first Green to the British House of Commons is cause for celebration among Greens in the US and for everyone who wants to see a new direction in politics and an end to the stranglehold of the pro-war pro-corporate old parties,” said Cynthia McKinney, the Green Party’s 2008 nominee for President of the United States and former member of the US House of Representatives from Georgia. “If Greens can win a seat in the UK, we can win one or more seats in Congress here in America.”

Continue reading Congratulations to Caroline Lucas; Fingers crossed for Antanas Mockus
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Despicable stances of our elected leaders, in crisis after crisis and policy after policy, is becoming nauseatingly dependable. The voters who elect people like Deval Patrick, a corporate lawyer for Texaco who relentlessly fought the people of Ecuador who were struggling for justice and relief (see the trailer for Crude, a documentary about this legal battle, below), play a role in making these abuses an accepted part of our system. Likewise, voters who got lost in the hype of Barack Obama’s heavily funded grassroots campaign chose to ignore the corporate agenda he was mobilizing them for, and failed to hold their favored candidate to any sort of truly progressive standards. Both corporate parties have demonstrated nothing but the desire to put corporate profits ahead of the public interest, yet delusions of something otherwise continue to dominate the day.

The latest travesty, in a long, steady stream of them, is the little-reported fact that Obama’s administration granted 27 exemptions from environmental review to oil companies in the Gulf of Mexico — the very same categorical exclusions from environmental review granted to BP’s disastrous Deepwater Horizon project. Once again, McClatchy newspapers find themselves at the vanguard of real journalism, with the mainstream media ignoring the story:

Since Spill, Feds Have Given 27 Waivers to Oil Companies in Gulf

Published on Saturday, May 8, 2010 by McClatchy Newspapers

by Marisa Taylor

Continue reading Obama admin. grants 27 waivers to Gulf oil companies… AFTER BP EXPLOSION!
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AT THE STATE HOUSE

Our Senators’ and Representatives’ voting records are public, but the web site of the Massachusetts legislature does not provide them easily and quickly (an understatement).  One source has told me that a way to obtain voting records that are not reported in the media is to travel to the State House and ask the Clerk of the respective chamber for a paper copy of the vote!

The State House web site is not very helpful.  Here is the answer to the Frequently Asked Question of how to find out how your legislature voted:

Roll Call votes are recorded in the journal … If the journal you need is not available [on the web site], then copies of the corrected proofs of the journals are available about two weeks after the day of the session and can be obtained from:

The Legislative Document Room

Room 428

State House

Boston, MA 02133

(617) 722-2860

The Document Room does not have a mail facility, so please send them a self-addressed stamped envelope with your request.

Also, the Clerks of each branch maintain a book of all the roll call votes recorded in a legislative session. That book is available for viewing within their offices. The Senate Clerk is located in Room 335 in the State House, the House Clerk in Room 145 of the State House.

When I am elected to represent the Fourth Berkshire District, I’ll make it a priority to have a voting record link on the front page of the web site that can be indexed by date, subject, bill number, and representative.  I will also publish my votes on my own site.  This information should be available within minutes of a vote being recorded.

Continue reading Voting Records – A Candidates Statement for Boston and for Lenox