Citizens' Daily Lobby

If you think politics should be for people (the old fashioned, biologically embodied kind, that is) add a few more corporations to your boycott list.   Other corporate donors to Minnesota Forward, the conservative PAC making headlines for its support of Tom Emmer,  are the Regis Corporation (mall salons), Best Buy, and Securian Insurance.

I think those of us boycotting these corporate donors need to make our position very clear.  We are not boycotting to protest corporations buying conservative candidates.  We are boycotting because we do not believe corporations should buy ANY candidate in any election.  Period.

I’m not generally in the habit of linking to Fox News, but if you have 10 seconds to spare in order to mess with its worldview, read on.

The network has a poll up today about the recent ruling on California’s Proposition 8.  Currently, the response is running overwhelmingly in favor of the overturn.  You can keep the momentum going by clicking here.  Nothing is more satisfying than proving a know-it-all wrong.

If you are one of those people who firmly believe your dollar is better spent at Target than at WalMart, you might want to reconsider.   Target is taking advantage of the Citizens United decision, and the corporation is casting its vote with the far right in Minnesota.  The corporation contributed over $150,000 dollars to Tom Emmers, GOP candidate for governor.  Emmers is a poster child for the Moral Majority, or whatever they are calling themselves these days.   He is anti-gay rights and supports Arizona’s  new, draconian immigration law.  His campaign donated to a Christian punk rock group that is on record as saying executing gays is moral.  With 7 kids, Emmer’s not just anti-abortion.    (Can I get an “every sperm is sacred?”)

Target joins 6 other companies that gave at least $100k to the GOP backed political action committee Minnesota Forward. The group freely admits that it is made possible by the Citizen’s United case, and that the group will support pro-business candidates. Story here.   Is it any secret that for-profit corporations are going to support the GOP?   Private industry over government over the individual is the rule of thumb for the free market.

Our ability as private citizens  to influence the government is inversely proportional to the amount of corporate cash flowing into campaign coffers.   It is vitally important that citizens take back their power.  Vote with your dollar to keep corporations out of government.  Shop locally owned small businesses.  Let the megaretailers know you will not give one single dollar of your income to them until they leave government to the people.  Start with Target.  Boycott Target today.   You may join the protest at MoveOn.org.

Although I began my series on Riding the Bus with a plan to document the obstacles to using mass transit for many in Little Rock,  I have found fewer obstacles than expected during my time as a bus-rider.  In fact, I enjoy riding the bus, and voluntarily losing my wheels has wrought unexpected, positive benefits in my outlook and even work performance.  Here’s a brief look at some problems and solutions:

1.  Problem: Yes, it’s hot at the bus stop, especially now that the temperature has settled right around 100 degrees and the mercury doesn’t look like dropping anytime soon.

Solution:  Travel in the morning and late afternoon is bearable.  Most of us don’t have to be out at noon, anyway.  Take along an umbrella for instant shade.

2.  Problem:  The bus doesn’t come to my door.

Solution:  The bus comes within a few blocks for most of us inside the 430/630 beltway.   For those who aren’t so fortunate, it’s possible to find a bus stop and work out a park and ride.   I walk about 1/4  mile to the bus from my house, and about 5 blocks from the bus to work.  I have found that getting outside at the beginning and end of the day allows me some quiet time to prepare for/wind down from work.   Total time from my door to work:  45 minutes.

3.  Problem:  Transfers are difficult and the bus doesn’t run often enough.

Solution:  This is the biggest hurdle to riding the bus in Little Rock.   If you don’t have over an hour to spend getting to work, you’ll need to find the nearest bus that gets you where you’re going without a transfer.   If you have more than one place to be during the day, you will probably have to drive yourself.  Contact  Central Arkansas Transit (CAT) and let the city know what you need.

In an average week, I take the bus 4 work days.  This week I was able to ride every day, and I did not miss my car even once.

Are you feeling guilty about the amount of water you’re putting on your lawn this summer?  That’s healthy guilt.  Deal with it rationally by making plans now to convert some of your landscaping to native plants and herbs next summer.  Wildflowers and herbs (lavender and rosemary are beautiful additions to any garden) are hardy and require less water than many other plants.   Native plants have evolved in the Arkansas heat and will survive the punishment of a hot, dry summer.  You can check out options for native plantings at  Arkansas Plant and Resources .  Your new landscaping will require watering until it’s established, but you can look forward to a guilt-free garden for years to come.

What is it about soccer that gets the American backbone up?  Is it that America doesn’t own soccer the same way we own baseball and apple pie, the Final Four, or the Superbowl?  

Today, NPR ran a story about the “profit” FIFA made on the 2010 World Cup.   The surplus, estimated at  more than $2 billion, is large for a non-profit.  What the NPR article failed to mention, however, is that FIFA has essentially no other source of revenue between the quadrennial World Cup matches, and it lays out beaucoup bucks for less profitable tournaments, including the Women’s World Cup.   (For a good discussion of FIFA, click here.)

While NPR is questioning the ethics of FIFA, they might want to consider raising the question of why the NCAA makes hundreds of millions off atheletes from poor families, or why the International Olympic Committee makes equally large surpluses from atheletes whose families have often given everything they have for training? 

The World Cup, more than any other sporting event, including the Olympic games, is about the World.  Get over it, America.

Vinegar and baking soda will not save the world.  Or even my bathroom.  You heard it here.  I am not a fan.

Almost every well-intentioned greenhorn of the green movement picks up a “natural” cleaner at the grocery store.  This may well be the third pillar of green-ness (following use of fluorescent lightbulbs and recycling).  The end result of all this reliance on plant-based detergents and essential oils is dirtier houses or more shapely arms, or both, because, frankly, elbow grease plus green cleaners works about as well as elbow grease alone.   At least in my home, with its real hard water, genuine soap scum, and honest to goodness pet grime.   

I consider this while scrubbing (and scrubbing, and scrubbing, and scrubbing) the master bath.  It occurs to me that I am using medieval housekeeping technology.  Last week, I almost bought a washboard just to get the laundry clean, coconut-based detergents notwithstanding.  I hate phosphates and petrochemicals as much as the next person, so what’s an environmentalist to do? 

“Try vinegar and baking soda” say the gurus of go-lightliness.   Cue the angelic choir and radiant beam of light.  One solution to rule them all.

I want to believe in the magical mystical power of acid and base, yin and yang, but I am skeptical.  Vinegar does work on lightly soiled windows, it’s true.  Baking soda, on the other hand, is good for deodorizing refrigerators and making tasty baked goods and not much more.    Together…well, together they make a warm, foaming volcano.  And you know what?  Baking soda plus vinegar plus elbow grease is about as effective as elbow grease alone.

Baking soda and vinegar will not save the world.  Neither will fluorescent lightbulbs or recycling or buying organic.   It’s going to take elbow grease.  It isn’t always easy, but every step we take as individuals contributes to a better planet. 

(In the meantime, could we please have a few more engineers wrapping their heads around the creation of effective but harmless cleaners? )

Dick Morris is in the state, I’m told.

Maybe we can get the city of Conway to throw a party for him.   They could call it “Toe Suck Daze.”

(Apologies to out of state readers.  This is a purely inside Arkansas joke.  Google Conway, AR, and you’ll understand soon enough.)

Morris is touring for the corporate shill group Americans for Prosperity, along with that erstwhile Democratic Senate candidate, DC Morrison.

The facts:   Secure Arkansas failed to get enough Arkansas voter signatures to place its hate initiative against undocumented immigrants on the ballot.

The message:  Arkansas voters are just not that into punitive measures against undocumented workers in our state.

So, why is it that every politician on the ballot for national office this year, with the exception of John Gray, either opposes or doesn’t support the Federal lawsuit against Arizona’s new immigration law that encourages racial profiling in the state?  I expect to hear that John Boozman and Tim Griffin support Arizona and oppose the Obama administration lawsuit.   They represent the Party of No.

It is surprising to find that Blanche Lincoln, Mark Pryor, and Mike Ross are so out of touch with Arkansas voters they feel it necessary to speak out against (Mike Ross) or waffle over  (Lincoln, Pryor) the Federal lawsuit.   Exactly what do Arkansans have to do to get their attention?

Full story at Arkansas News

If you are interested in hearing first-hand accounts of the oil spill tragedy in the Gulf,  come out on Thursday to the Gulf Voices Fly Out event at the Oyster Bar.   From Audubon Arkansas:

Clean Energy Works is hosting the Gulf Voices Fly-Out in order to share the personal stories of the devastating effects of the Deepwater oil disaster with communities and members of the press across the country.

Four Gulf Coast residents directly affected by the disaster will be traveling to Arkansas for approximately 24 hours in order to educate the people in the state about the effects of the oil disaster on business, health and ecosystems. The public is encouraged to attend.

The disaster in the Gulf affects real people whose stories resonate across the country. These Gulf Coast residents are seeing firsthand how America’s dependence on oil and other fossil fuels hurts our economy, our environment and their unique way of life in the Gulf. The worst environmental disaster in our nation’s history is happening in our backyards. The environmental, economic and human costs that come with our continued dependence on dirty fossil fuels is too high for our communities to bear any longer.

What: A roundtable discussion and media availability.
When: Thursday, July 15th at 11:00 AM
Where: The Oyster Bar
3003 West Markham Street
Little Rock, AR 72205-5853
Who: Rick Roberts, Executive Director, Snook Foundation (Sarasota, FL)
Linda Hawkins, Health Care Professional (ret.) (Abita Springs, LA)
Linda Schuch, Owner, Island Seafood Market (St. Petersburg, FL)
Joe Morris Doss, Bishop, Episcopal Church (New Orleans, LA)