Happy New Year

Attention, voters.

'Over and over again, America's seniors are being
told they must foot the bill for fiscal failures which
have already left them facing a weakened and
tenuous retirement. In Detroit, a bankruptcy judge
has ruled the city can cut pension payments to
thousands of retirees, despite a state law stating
otherwise. In Washington, the latest Congressional
budget deal targets retirees with $12 billion in
pension changes, including cutting pensions for
military personnel who retire in 2015 and requiring
new federal workers to contribute more to their
retirement. All of this couldn't come at a worse time.
Three decades of stagnant middle-class incomes,
disappearing pensions, limited ability to start and
maintain personal savings, and the failure of the
401K experiment lay the foundation for a retirement
crisis that could further threaten millions of older
Americans and their families.' -- Max Richtman,
President and CEO, National Committee to Preserve
Social Security and Medicare Social Security and Medicare

The country is going to pot

Cannabis prohibition has always been absurd, and over many decades it has caused grievous harm to many, many hundreds of thousands of Americans. Now that marijuana is legal, Colorado should move immediately to clear the record of anyone who would not be guilty of a crime under current law. And California, and any other precinct headed for legalization, should include amnesty and clean records in the legislation. In addition to the relief it would bring to many thousands of individual Californians and their families, amnesty would bring to an end the problem of overcrowding in California's prison system.

This is important.

Right wing idiocy is one thing, but when residents of usually fact-based precincts embrace ooga-booga science, it bodes ill for future progress.

Vaccines have had an immeasurable positive impact on our quality of life; here are some of the benefits they have produced.

L.A. Blues Again

What's the goal here?

I expect the planners convince themselves this is about safety: "The city of Los Angeles is cracking down on pedestrians who sneak across streets when the traffic signal says 'don’t walk.' But when you put a price on bad behavior, like being in a public street illegally, you see clearly what a city values. The cheapest parking ticket in Los Angeles is $58, and the one most commonly issued for parking in a prohibited zone is $73. Jaywalking—the term of art for a pedestrian crossing against the light—will cost you $197."

As long as the car is king, Los Angeles will never succeed as a walking and biking town.

In Los Angeles, Walking Illegally Is More Than Twice as Expensive as Parking Illegally by Tim Fernholz (Citylab)

Tidings

"Jingle Fart," a pétomaniacal version of "Jingle Bells" offered for free as a seasonal download on Amazon, is a sacrilege. On the other hand, "The Little Drummer Boy," if similarly arranged, would be no more gaseous than usual.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (July 18, 1918 – December 5, 2013)

The guardians of the American empire once labeled this man a terrorist. Take their lamentations at his passing with a pinch of salt.

Photo: © Eli Weinberg

Mandela is seen here burning his passbook on March 28, 1960, in protest of the Sharpeville massacre. As we follow the news coverage about the death of Nelson Mandela at the age of 95, it is important to remember that he was once labeled a terrorist by the U.S. government. As Democracy Now! noted in a 2004 interview with South African activist Father Michael Lapsley, "The dominant view is that the U.S. was on the right side in South Africa, that it opposed apartheid. But nothing could be further from the truth, particularly when [Ronald] Reagan was president. Reagan labeled the African National Congress (ANC) a notorious terrorist organization, while continuing Washington’s support for the apartheid regime."

Zinn Education Project: Nelson Mandela, Madiba.