Got a Feeling 2011 is Gonna Be A Good Year: Resolutions n’ Things

“Somehow when you smile, I can brave bad weather”

The idea is to go from here...

... with occasional stops here...

to here!

Apologies to Kevin and David for making them be a part of this.  Thanks to Charlotte for the first picture.

So amidst the more personal resolutions I got (learn to drive, eat less crap, exercise more, responsibly budget, be more disciplined and dedicated to my job, go on massive awesome bike trip with kid sister), I have also come to some conclusions about how to resolve to be a better citizen, particularly in the context of this blog.  I have arranged these conclusions in bullet form even though I think these points link together in more of a networked and interrelated web, or possibly series of venn-diagrams, with overlapping realms and ramifications.  Alack, alas (resolutions below the flip!):

Obama WIN! Way To Go On Education, Drug Policy, And Local-Level Financial Regulation, Chief!

I know I’ve taken to ragging on Obama kind of a lot lately.  But it’s only because I care.

Plus, when he does stuff that’s really awesome, it feels so much more earned.  And real.

So it is my pleasure to thank President Obama for:

1. Reversing Bush-era federal policy of seeking to arrest patients using medical marijuana where it is legal at the state level.  While this isn’t necessarily revolutionary, it definitely signals a refreshing change in tone from standard operating procedure ‘War on Drugs’ horseshit (that nebulous, unpopular, never-ending conflict that has brought about the overwhelming incarceration rates rather than rehabilitation for low-income people and people of color).
2. While technically a legislative-branch development, President Obama has spoken out in favor of this, so I’ll give it to him this time.  Melissa Bean withdrew her amendment to the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency legislation (which I really ought to learn more about), which would have rendered states unable to regulate financial activities more strictly than the federal standards.  Thankfully, with this amendment gone (for now), states will be able to make some greater headway in their struggles to reform finance.
3. Some pretty sweet education legislation, which would cut out the banks as middlemen in the federal pell grant system (meaning more money for pell grants and low-income students and no money for bankers- I know, crazy fucking idea) is going to be pushed through using reconciliation, making it easier to pass without worrying about a filibuster (though why we still treat the Republicans as a credible filibuster-threat, given that they literally cannot fucking stop legislation on their own, is beyond me).  While there seems to be a case of the “WTF?”s going around the blogosphere as to why nobody treats this as a realistic option for a public-option-y health care, I’m going to momentarily suspend my incredulity and just accept that it is cool for us to spend more money on sending low-income folks to college.  Thanks Obama (and Tom Harkin)!

As I wrote these I realized that they had a lot to do with other people and legislators, but still, they are part of the ‘Change’ agenda and came in one way or another from some initating by the big man himself.  Plus, when the rhetoric matches up with the action I feel it’s important to highlight that.  So, bold move Obama.  Keep it up.

The Republicans, and Beck, Aren’t Fucking Up Health Care

I know, shocking right?

I’m working on another post right now, but I just saw one story today on The Huffington Post that kind of perfectly encapsulates where I’m at right now, and I thought I’d briefly take the opportunity to highlight it and strongly agree, with a minor qualification, below the jump.

Call Your Reps: It’s Budget Time

What’s good yall?

Congress is going to begin voting on President Obama’s budget today, and I’d like to briefly (it’s too beautiful out right now for extensive blogging) encourage you to consider calling your congressperson and senators, urging them to support the plan. I haven’t by any means read all of it, but I think it is a substantial reversal of earlier policy, and serves as a good investment in the domestic sectors that need help the most: health care, education, and energy. As with many things in the Obama administration it is a first step, and even as we push for even more substantial structural change I think it’s important to recognize the advance this represents over previous policies.

In other policy news, I’ll be updating my earlier post on the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) as more news and responses come out. There are a lot of different opinions out there even amongst the climate movement, and it’s important to keep thinking critically about this- there’s a lot at stake. That’s all for today. Call your rep and then go outside! Peace yall,

-Joel

Reflections On Women In The New Economy

What up yall? I’ve been thinking about the issue of women work trends since I saw a post over at Women’s Glib a while back about how feminists were reacting to the stimulus package, and what they thought it offered to support industries with greater representation of women (social work, education, health.) My concern was not so much with the sectors the stimulus emphasized, I believe that fomenting green manufacturing, construction, transportation, and agriculture is going to be fundamental to getting ourselves out of this economic mess we’re in and moving us towards an era of sustainable prosperity and equity. But where do women fit in this agenda? Green-collar jobs, the premier jobs of the new economy, are in construction and manufacturing (and I pray also urban agriculture,) sectors with little female representation. I’m going to assume that construction and manufacturing will remain important and vibrant for years to come, in which case my concern is how do we promote gender equity in those fields? How do we make sure that women share in the vision of the new economy, how do we de-stratify the sectors with the greatest potential for growth?

I thought about it even more when the news got out that the White House vegetable garden is Michelle Obama’s initiative. I love Michelle Obama, I love organic vegetable gardens, and I love children’s health and nutrition, but I was intrigued by the historic association between first ladies and health (specifically children’s health) advocacy. I wouldn’t call it anything as strong as a major concern, but what does it mean for powerful, fiercely intelligent women (in Michelle Obama’s case, a lawyer) to be relegated to work with overtones of domesticity? On the other hand, maybe I ought to rethink my own gendered assumptions about what it means to work with children and health. Maybe it is my own male bias and set of assumptions that I imply above that children and health issues might be ‘beneath’ a fiercely intelligent woman. In this case, how will we encourage (assuming we want to) the disassociation of particular fields with the different genders? And if such associations remain tenacious, what opportunities are available to women in the revolutionary restructuring of the educational and health care systems, as called for in Barack Obama’s agenda? Energy, education, and health are the major focuses of Obama’s agenda. Is it okay for energy to be a primarily masculine field, with education and (to a lesser degree) health to be primarily feminine?

Finally, here are a few articles on the immediate effects of the recession on women’s economic lives. The first is on the likely increase of domestic disputes as a result of male unemployment. It suggests that recessions, with major job loss for male-bodied individuals, breeds resentment as males fail to fulfill their ‘breadwinner’ roles, compounding the other stresses of over-worked women struggling to fulfill their roles as double-time workers and mothers. The second is on women losing their jobs and moving into the sex entertainment industry. And here’s one on the unfortunate likelihood that pregnant women and new mothers may be more likely to face unemployment, despite the illegality of discriminating against mothers. Overall, it looks as though the recession and the vast restructuring of the economy (I hope) will have major effects on perceptions of domesticity and women’s work roles. I hope some of you are as interested in this as I am.

Peace yall, off to dinner.

-Joel

ps. [Update: If this interests you, there's going to be a talk by Terri Burgess Sandu, Executive Director of Hard Hatted Women and Oberlin alum, on Wednesday, April 1st at 4:30 at the Bonner Center (south of Fairchild). Hard Hatted Women's mission is to encourage workplace gender diversity in trade and technical careers. They are also offering a summer internship which you can find over at ObieOpps. I'm definitely going to try and make it if I can, but I might still be at work by then.]

Taxes

What’s up yall?

Not to be TMI, but I just got done filing my taxes, and I realized that it was the first time I’ve done so that I didn’t get that Thoreauvian, “dear God how can I possibly support this state” malaise. I know things aren’t perfect. Yes, some of my tax dollars are going into new leathery sofas for some AIG executives’ home. Yes, some of them are going to the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, which will unfortunately continue for a while yet until Obama manages the withdrawal. Yes, some of them are going to a still unsound set of farm subsidies. But with the change in administration, here’s some other things they are going towards, some things that I am supporting as a tax-payer:

- The Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP,) which will create jobs, cut carbon emissions, and save low-income families some money on their heating bills.
- Increased research and development in renewable energy, which puts a down payment on a future economy that won’t pollute our air, water, and earth, won’t cook the planet’s communities of people and species, and will create jobs throughout our communities of color, tribal communities, low-income urban and rural communities.
- Increased access to affordable health care and a hopefully refurbished educational system, providing our most vulnerable fellow citizens with the security and opportunities they need to prosper.

For those reasons and so many more I can honestly say that at this moment I am proud and honored* to pay my taxes, to support the work our government and our generation is setting out to do. In that vein, I’d like to encourage folks to read the budget (or at least some of it) and call your rep to tell them how you feel about the thing. If we’re paying for this thing (or a good portion of it, hopefully heavy carbon emitters will be footing the bill for a big chunk) we ought to try and have some say in it.

Peace yall, and have a good rest of break.

-Joel

*Above mentioned pride and honor is of course also complemented by privilege, a function of which taxes is not a crushing inhibition and burden on my own pursuit of welfare.

Budget and Budget Analysis

What up yall? While it would be infinitely more productive for me to be practicing Hardy-Weinberg problems, I’ve been working on internship and job applications and looking for sources of info on this fabled budget I’ve been talking about two weeks too late. If you’ve been as clueless as I have, here’s some stuff to get you acquainted:

1) First of all, here’s the thing itself. I’m gonna try and tackle as much of this (at least the more interesting parts) as possible over break. If you don’t want to download the whole thing, check out the White House Office of Management and Budget, which provides downloads of the various subsections of this mini-behemoth, which is still smaller than the stimulus package.

2) Here’s a super-short assessment of it over at Talking Points Memo, which provides a section on where much of the money for this thing is being raised. While a lot of economists I read (and whom I, not knowing enough about economics, trust) think that Obama is underestimating the duration of the economic downturn (and hence overestimating his money for this agenda,) I’m not going to pretend I don’t cackle quietly to myself just a little at the prospect of revoking oil and gas company tax-break subsidies and also instituting taxes on Superfund-site-creating companies.

3) Here’s another slightly more detailed overview at Business Week. Similar ground, but covers more of the opposition to the budget from Republicans and business interests. I’m curious about their concerns over small-business owners, but I don’t have the time right now to investigate the issue. Mmm, spring break studying…

4) Finally, here’s the good old Wikipedia entry on the budget, which provides a good overview of some of the raw numbers.

I found another thing over at Treehugger but it was specifically geared towards transportation. Exciting, but I was hoping for something a little more comprehensive. But whatevs.

Peace yall, and now I swear I’m going to study.

-Joel

Super Action Wednesday!: CWPA, Youth Service, and the Obamagenda

What’s good yall? As always, I want to encourage you to make your voice heard on mountaintop removal, the practice of destroying mountains to get at coal (hurting our communities, health, climate, and ecosystems in the process) by writing and calling your congressperson, urging them to get on board HR 1310, the Clean Water Protection Act (CWPA) as a co-sponsor. The CWPA will designate toxic mining waste ineligible to count as legitimate fill for streams, lakes, and rivers, thereby strengthening our water quality and tackling some of the health problems that most beset Appalachians and other coal regions.

But if you’ve already made good on that civic action and want more to do, I encourage you to pick up the phone or write your representative again and urge them to support the Generation Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act, which will provide young Americans with 175,000 new service opportunities (including those with the Clean Energy Corps, Education Corps, Healthy Futures Corps, and Veteran Service Corps) by 2014. For more detailed information on the GIVE Act, check out this file.

Given the focus of Citizen Obie and my particular orientation towards the issues that face us these days, I think this is one of the more proactive steps that can be taken right now, and one of the most constructive with regards to considerations of our long-term prosperity. It’s important that we invest in the citizens of tomorrow, give them the opportunities to serve and contribute in meaningful ways to the revolutionary changes we need to make in energy, health, and education (each with a corresponding corps.) Not only does this program promise to put many more youths to work making our communities fulfill their potential in the short term, but it will also provide them with the experiences to go out into the field as productive, competent citizens and leaders in the long term. An excellent investment, in my book.

Finally, Organizing for Obama is encouraging supporters to call and write their congresspeople, urging them to support Obama’s ‘blueprint for change and economic recovery’ (budget.) Midterms has kept me from doing the research I’d need to feel comfortable talking in depth about this program, but I will say that the sources I keep tabs with in the climate and social justice movement are overall pretty satisfied with it. Its emphasis on energy, health, and education is vitally needed after eight years’ (and, no offense to Mr. Clinton) and more of stagnation on the above issues. Over spring break I’m going to try and get better acquainted with the blueprint and figure out how I want to approach my representatives, and I encourage you all to do the same. No matter how you feel, it’s important to realize that this budget sets the agenda of our country in as concrete terms as possible for the next few years, and I think it’s incredibly important for us to take ownership and responsibility for it.

Peace yall, I gotta get to work. I hope you have a more lovely Wednesday afternoon than I do.

-Joel