Public Service Commission Hearing in Mexico, MO

On Thursday one of my new GRO MO friends here called me in the morning to let me know that the place of the Public Service Commission (PSC) hearing had been changed to Presser Hall instead of the Courthouse basement. I found it online and saw that I could walk there easily.

Then I reviewed my notes and wrote my comments over again to take with me. Wow, it was hot when I left home-- must have been in the 90's and humid. But nary a real rain storm at all since I moved here.

When I found myself on the grounds of the local performance venue known as Presser Hall I could see people still arriving and walked across the grass to the front door. A young man from Fair Energy Rate Action Fund (FERAF) handed me a sticker to wear on my shirt. Then he pointed me to the sign-in sheet for speaking. The front hallway was busy with people, and as I entered the large theater I saw a  fair sized crowd scattered over the rows of seats, mostly toward the front. 

The person right ahead of me on the testimony list was Robin Acree, whom I had met before, so when I walked down to find a seat she waved at me, "Hi Pat!"  Fenny, who had called me that morning was right behind her with Robin's mom. We were glad to see that many people there. 

In a few minutes, about noon, the Public Service Commission staff, the Administrative Law Judge and the Ameren staff were introducing themselves. Also present was Public Counsel. the voice of the People, representing us. Robin asked him if he could explain how much his budget is now. It had been cut from $1,000,000 to $475,000, so she was admiring the work they do with a much smaller staff. The Ameren spokesman was presenting his case for the Corporation. One member of the staff of the PSC explained the process to us. 

Quite a few questions were asked to the Ameren representative, who seemed something like a sales person to me, but did his best to provide courteous guidance. And others in the room were able to respond as well. I kept wishing that many of those questions would be brought up in the actual sworn testimony, but I suppose some people were shy or hesitant for some reason to speak up in that way. 

When questions had been answered the audience members were all encouraged to testify as well, while one of the Commissioners and the Administrative Law Judge, Morris Woodruff, were then onstage to begin swearing in witnesses. 

So several people, mostly the elderly who are on limited incomes, came up to the microphone to be sworn in and to testify, the most important part of the proceedings.The witnesses showed a lot of courage describing their own circumstances or opinions.  

I knew that I would be following Robin, which helped me with confidence. And here is what I spoke out about, as close to accurate as I remember-- because I said I will read the note that I had written, but I interjected a couple of comments along the way.

My Comment to the Missouri Public Service Commission

RE: Ameren Rate Hike Request

August 23, 2012 Mexico, Missouri

As a longtime customer of Ameren who moved to Mexico about three months ago I oppose any rate increase at this time. Economic and environmental concerns are my main points. First of all the economy is still depressed and many of your customers are not yet working. Your most recent rate increase of 9% was granted in July 2011. With the heat of this summer your current income is certainly higher than average.

We actually pay more for electrical power than what is on our bills. Perhaps Ameren could review their business plans and consider how much they cost their customers and the government in health care expense and expense to the environment related to the burning of fossil fuels. Here in Mexico Ameren is using an oil turbine. Oil is also a fossil fuel. Most of the State of Missouri is running on coal. As a member of Sierra Club and friend of Beyond Coal and Labadie Environmental Organization I expect Ameren to publicly assert a plan to convert to sustainable energy. In Labadie, Missouri Ameren has ash pits on the Missouri River flood plain. It is really just plain ridiculous!

I think that a utility company should behave like a good citizen. Wind and solar are reliable businesses in this State and already up and running. Why would we want to continue to subsidize Ameren's income on our own backs while they cannot recognize that climate change is here right now?

Thank you for this opportunity to speak. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I seemed to be the last witness, but fortunately anyone else who wanted to testify was invited, and one woman who spoke out is someone working for a nonprofit agency with the many folks who are often unable to pay their bills, depending on Dollar Help and other resources through her. She just told the Commissioner and Judge, after they asked her some direct questions, "Just say no. Just say not to Ameren about this rate hike." Wow, I was helped by hearing her statements!

Good citizens of Missouri, you can still testify to the Public Service Commission in writing! 

Comments will be open until the whole case is closed, and the next step is the formal evidentiary hearings in Jefferson City which will begin September 25, so you have at least that long to get your comments in.

 Here is an online form for submitting testimony.

 https://www.efis.psc.mo.gov/mpsc/Comments.html

Here is more information if you prefer to write your comments on paper and mail them in, and it gives some guidance on comments too.
http://www.mo-opc.org/Local%20Public%20Hearings/Consumer%20Guide%20to%20LPH.html

NFB film imperative viewing for all activists

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-world-according-to-monsanto/

this film whacked me in the head bone by virtue of default astonishment even tho i thought i was informed: the Whole Earth is being affected by the gmo revolution that is led by the corporate "powers that be" as shown in the above excellent & imperative movie for everyone-- who eats anything-- to watch!

NFB source:
http://search.nfb.ca/search?q=The+World+According+to+Canada&btnG=Search&entqr=0&output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&client=beta_onfb&ud=1&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=beta_onfb&proxyreload=1&hl=en&lr=lang_en&site=beta_onfb

other related links to monsanto:
http://theyrule.net/drupal/map_633
http://www.percyschmeiser.com/
http://organicconsumers.org/monsanto/index.cfm

forwardstl posted this post 4 me:
 http://www.forwardstl.org/post/26291252915/nfb-film-imperative-viewing-for-all-activists-write

I JUST CANNOT BELIEVE HR1540 IS SIGNED

                                   

Well, fb friends, i have been looking over some posts on my fb page & wondering how & why it has happened that the HR1540 was supposedly signed by President Barack Obama into "Law," with a supposed signing statement attached to it.

According to govtrac, it has not yet been checked off.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-1540

On the White comment that was issued by The President, the signature is blank, lol.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/12/31/statement-president-hr-1540

Just because he issued the above statement about it does not mean that it has actually been officially signed by him, with all his gift pens handed out and so forth. Afterall, by that day & time most of Congress was home for New Years, wasn't it <"_?

Bloomberg, e.g., "Wallstreet," asserts it was signed in an article dated 12/31/11 but posted on 1/2/12. What, the White House doesn't quit for a week or until Congress is back in session <"_?

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-02/obama-signs-defense-spending-law-with-interpretations.html

The timing was just so well planned to get all the consternation on earth over it out in the open-- the story is mind boggling to bloggers and thinkers-- but it could not be put off at all because of threat of government shut-down, which could be a huge issue to the Administration, among others.

I watched the Weekly Address, & he did not even mention this major piece of legislation as having been signed, although it seems like everyone on the left is up in arms over it. His ears do look a little red. Maybe that is just the usual for a President who is living in the White House at such a time.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/12/31/weekly-address-working-together-new-year

STILL, I JUST CANNOT BELIEVE IT!!!! I NEED PROOF!!!  Where are the photos of the signing, the video, the pens he handed out to the victorious members of Congress <"_? 

I'm from MISSOURI!!!!! SHOW ME!

Prop A on April 6

Don't let complications of the political discourse block Obama care.

An article in the New York Times cleared up a lot in my mind about just what had passed yesterday in the House of Congress. Maybe it represents more work than a lot of us wanted to give Congress and the President credit for. For the Democrats it is a huge win. We all hope it will be a win for their constituents as well.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/business/24leonhardt.html

Medicaid qualifications by income are a little higher and people who are on the other end, with higher incomes than most of us, will have higher taxes. Insurance plans will not be able to charge extra for pre-existing conditions. People will not be left without coverage after an illness or job loss. This is pretty much all good news.

Of course this bill will change our medical system for the good, and many people will imagine that it will not need another visit for years to come. Yet it is still very much a capitalist system that is based on privately run institutions, physicians' offices, drug providers, and medical equipment companies. We have had a significant increase in the use of technology in medicine in the past couple of decades that include surgical interventions, life prolonging devices and monitoring procedures, not to mention records. On top of that an explosion of new drugs have been patented by the pharmacological industry. Health care costs overall will probably increase regardless of how this bill is written until we change the driving force behind the whole system from a capitalist to a preventative, holistic model. Many health care professionals would agree I believe.

Meanwhile our Governor Jay Nixon is examining a variety of ways for the State to reign in its budget under the current economy. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/politics/story/898E0D28BF8B5359862576F00006EFD2?OpenDocument

And the rumors about the cost of the bill to the states are not as true as originally milled about -- much less than some reports, in fact. The increases will be gradual over time, and the federal government will pay the major initial costs.
http://www.news-leader.com/article/20100323/BLOGS09/100323042/DSS++Medicaid+expansion+to+cost+Missouri++1.34+billion+over+ten+years

Whether Lt. Governor Peter Kinder can actually join the suit that has already been initiated by other states is questionable. It seems like a waste of state time and money to me. Calling Kinder's office, the Governor's or the Attorney General's to object to a pursuit of this action may be helpful.  One would expect to hear more opinions out of Jeff City in the next few days. Senator Kit Bond wants to repeal the health care law just signed by the President. This is likely purely for political reasons, in my opinion, since the Republicans are facing a challenge in the near future.
http://www.missourinet.com/2010/03/23/bond-speaks-on-senate-floor-asking-to-repeal-healthcare-bill/

The Missouri Senate wants to get in on the act as well.
http://www.news-leader.com/article/20100324/NEWS01/3240475/1007/Missouri-could-join-13-states-suing-over-health-care-overhaul

My recollection of Nixon's term as Attorney General is that he was well known as someone who was effective at running a tight, efficient office. In other words, he has a track record as a good administrator. He is well equipped to address the economic challenges of the State of Missouri in health care and most other matters. We really do not need an opposition to what the people of this country have worked very hard at getting passed federally, a significant improvement in health care coverage for us all.

Senate Stimulus Bill needs a nudge from constituents

Dear Friends and Readers,

In a previous email I informed some of you that the Senate economic stimulus bill appropriates $50 billion to new nuclear power plants. Since then I have learned that Senator Kit Bond is in fact a member of the Appropriations Committee, and also that this will not be introduced to the full Senate until sometime this coming week.

Therefore, I urge you, if you have not already done so to write and/or call him to let him know that the use of nuclear power is a defunct and expensive idea which few people support anymore. You should have time to do this for the next week, but the sooner the better.

Below is my version of a letter with links to further info.

_________________________________________________

Dear Senator Bond:

The news that the Senate Appropriations Committee has added fifty billion dollars ($50,000,000,000) to it's proposed stimulus package for the building of new nuclear power plants shocked and disappointed me. Perhaps the Committee is not adequately informed about nuclear power. It would take years to get around to doing this even if it were a good idea.

The facts are that even the study done by Congress itself shows that nuclear power is extremely expensive. Given the additional dangers of accidents it only presents us with further environmental and security dilemmas for our own and future generations.

The nuclear industry will, of course, tell a different story. Here in Missouri we are concerned with keeping the "no construction work in progress" (No-CWIP) provision in Missouri law so that Ameren UE does not imagine that it can add another power plant by charging its customers for an advance loan. This would be on top of a recent rate increase. The idea that the Federal Government would subsidize new nuclear plants is essentially the same thing, leaving a burden of debt that can perhaps never be repaid, dragging us down further. You are surely aware that the problem of storing spent nuclear waste remains unsolved. The only permanent storage solution proposed is Yucca Mountain, a venture too dangerous for towns and cities on the route there and for the tribal nations living near the mountain.

Even the newest thinking that existing nuclear waste can possibly be reused is simply conceptual at this point. How much more would it add to cost? In all my reading on the subject the only sources that support more building of nuclear power plants are ones from inside the nuclear industry. And other writers suggest that even the most conservative estimates of total costs could be less that the ultimate reality.

So-called "clean coal" is in essentially the same position-- there really is no such thing yet as "clean coal" and we will need to replace the coal power plants we already have with passive and renewable power sources. In the House Recovery Bill that was just passed 2.4 billion dollars are appropriated to carbon capture technology. From what I have read this is an iffy proposition. Comparing our own to European efforts to reduce carbon based air pollution, which contributes to climate change, we would be better off changing to the available passive sources, e.g. wind and solar. Some success has been achieved with hydro devices as well which are minimally intrusive to the environment.

The realized use of corn as a biofuel has demonstrated that it is also more expensive and polluting than was first predicted. At least it does not leave radioactive waste behind, but farmers who want to plant fields of biofuel are now looking into switch grass and other more efficient plant sources. This is an emerging science, not one that is established with well tested outcomes. Renewable fuels are an improvement over mining which further decimates the environment.

What we need right now are community based manageable alternatives that provide long term and acceptable solutions. This description usually refers to solar and wind power, which are already emerging in Missouri. But additionally using different building specifications including tighter insulation and more efficient use of square footage, with built-in passive energy capture and biologic additions such as roof gardening will be an already proven route to decreasing domestic energy consumption. Also we must retrofit buildings in our existing urban areas, as recommended by Van Jones and some social justice organizations. If such projects were subsidized by the stimulus plan now in Congress they could probably be in place relatively quickly, with ready labor in neighborhoods that were underemployed before the current depressed economy. Retrofitting rental properties that are Section 8 eligible is covered in the House Bill, and I support this proposal.

It is also essential that we increase green spaces and local gardens, something that has already been initiated in urban Missouri as well. Providing support for these sorts of efforts, helping neighbors to help their neighbors by planting vegetable and permaculture gardens, makes infinitely more sense, since it is based on readily initiated and time worn actions. These ideas could be implemented by nonprofit efforts or by local small businesses that would also spring up quickly if loans were available. They would add longer term jobs to the already conceptualized infrastructure repair projects.

One more area of concern is mass and distance transit. Both Kansas City and St. Louis could use funds to complete planned light rail projects. Also backing up passenger and freight rail would make far better sense economically and ecologically than new development of highways. To me it would be worthwhile to add a public information campaign that would promote rail over private automobile for distance travel.

Please discuss these ideas carefully with your fellow Senators of either party. We must address the economic crisis that is continuing, but certainly we have choices about how to do that. Wasting the money, even if it is only freshly printed paper, would be foolish. Most of the ideas I have presented will create jobs as well as reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Nuclear power and coal of any sort belong to the previous century.

Thank you for your attention to these issues, and for your work on the Senate Appropriations Committee. Undoubtedly it is difficult to stay up to date on every issue without a great deal of information input.

Sincerely,

write2bheard

Dream State of Mind

We are driving down a brown country road,

no town in sight, just low earthy mountains,

when we are stopped by the soldiers waiting for us

as though we are expected.

Everyone jumps out-- except me

because I'm not able. Yes, i'm vulnerable.

The officer looks in on me.

All the guns in the world can neither protect

nor threaten me. All that can is my state of mind,

the one thing I pack with me wherever I go, even to this dream.

We cannot mine for love the way we do for diamonds.

We cannot drill for forgiveness in the desert of our souls.

The sins of our forebears since industry revolted

are moving in with us like unwelcome relatives.

What is this monster we have called commerce,

power, or yoke? Aren't garage sales more fun and wondrous?

We have so much stuff here it threatens to choke us.

At least I know I do, but none of it's worthless.

Unless, that is, we add it to landfills, or flush it down drains.

Or continue buying more plastic water bottles

We need to be realistic, together, as we

wage our war against borders, barriers, walls,

tall buildings hemming persons in and others out.

Turn it around one plot of ground after another.

Plant gardens on our roofs, in our neighborhoods,

in our minds and spirits, our expectations, inspirations, artistry and work.

West Coast forests are slowly turning brown & dying--

why is a mystery. What are we doing in Afghanistan?

No one can lead us anywhere, forward or back,

to the right, to the left, up or down, without our consent.

We can never know precisely what will grow well

until it comes up. But we do have some clues.

The question now is where will the rain fall?

How many of us can these rains save from earth on hell?

Or relegate them there? Not just you and me, them over there too.

We have to pull in, downplay the spaces in between,

live a little more snugly, simply, interchangeably,

keeping reason, knowledge and skill among our riches.

Each of us is stronger than all the others in some way.

When we share our unique gifts, well, in unity is strength.

While we do nothing to face the conclusion

others remain in their fateful collusion.

Another look at current reality

But in order to bring about the necessary change more massive and quick change needs to occur on a global scale according to Susan George. Let's not just hope but insist to our new leadership this must be our main focus of "the new economy."

While we celebrate the arrival of a new First Family into the White House, and live in the exhilaration of this historic moment we also must remember that we have arrived at crucial times that will require us to work within and without the "system" to accomplish the necessary changes.

Most of the people who understand the essential nature of the upcoming challenges have been lining up for years to get their hands on the levers of change. Now that change has been promised us we have to continue to insist with loud voices that environment comes ahead of capitalism, politics, divisive competition and military exploitation in a world which will allow us to survive into another century.

BTW, in case you missed it, last evening's NOW on PBS included a segment on the Stirling engine as being promoted by a company in California. The controversy, though, is about how to insure that the power lines are in fact delivering the renewable energy as claimed. Huge corporations have earned legitimate distrust. Will they become known as robber barons or will they ever learn that this affects their lives and health as much as anyone else's?

Some sustainable energy solutions in Missouri

This article is promising a revolution of sorts. They have made kits for local start ups to manufacture solar panels. Do any of you have some business expertise? This could provide jobs as well as help the transition, although Taiwan is across the globe somewhere.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=cranking-out-pv-panels&SID=mail&sc=emailfriend

Another person who has been active in establishing some work on renewables in St. Louis is the Rev. Larry Rice, most known for his homeless shelter downtown. He has TV spots on his channel, 24? about solar panels, as well as wind turbines that are small enough to put on a roof.
Do any of you St. Louisans know any more about this? Could a renter install a wind turbine? How much power would it provide, for what cost, etc.?
http://moreenergy.org/main.htm

We also have a wind farm in NW MO., only one I have heard about so far.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/missouristatenews/story/EBDFFCB0634D549686257492001CAF6C?OpenDocument

Actually what I find the most exciting is the relatively new project being worked on at SIUE (Southern Illinois University--Edwardsville) across the river from here. I think they may also have a connection with Washington University. The Green Roofs concept has been used widely in Europe from what I have read. It not only provides great insulation, especially for all these old flat roof buildings like I am currently living in, it also increases green space with benefits to the air, etc. Done properly, established rooftop gardens require very little maintenance since the plants are ones that live well on existing rainfall and tolerate a wide range of temperatures.

Anyone want to talk my landlord into installing one? ;-> Then I would not have to move. They are still a relatively expensive investment at this point, but perhaps eventually they will be helped along by government grants or something.
http://www.greenroofs.com/projects/pview.php?id=454
http://www.green-siue.com/
http://www.stop158.org/2008/2008-02-18-Edwardsville.htm

To me it seems obvious that we will have to take ahold of moving forward to such methods ourselves on local levels in order to reduce our dependence on foreign resources as well as the least desirable fossil fuels that continue to pollute and increase global warming. This will require a lot of political cooperation, but I do think that people are more ready now than ever. Ultimately it is one of the most helpful ways to work for world peace.
It is great to know that a lot of ecological approaches have been initiated in Missouri, and enthusiasm is building toward actual solutions instead of the same old denial arguments.

"The Price of Silence" video celebration and call to action

http://us.oneworld.net/article/359165-the-price-silence-music-video

Talking Turkey on the Economy

This year the American people have more than ever to be grateful for. While this might sound contradictory to a lot of us in the face of this economy, we have been given another chance. How often does that happen? Think about it.

Let's talk turkey. We have been the most spoiled brat consumerist country in Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood for decades on end. The process accelerated under the Clinton Administration with the internet bubble and the passage of the first so-called "free trade agreements," and then blasted into outer space by the totally criminal Cheney-Bush war machine. Some of the experts are now saying the whole world economy was based on United States consumerism. No matter what the scientists told us about global climate changes threatening the lives of our own children we continued to buy stuff, bottled water, electronics, SUVs, houses, dinners out with ever increasing size of food portions. Nothing seemed to have any force of waking us up from our American Dream, the corrupted version, now available on DVD. We really must acknowledge the problem to begin recovering.

After the disastrous consequences of 9-11 and various Gulf Coast hurricanes we started yapping on and on, angrily blaming all our problems on the Muslim world, as if they could have done anything to have saved us from our hunger for more-- more oil, more bottled water, more corn syrup in our food and drink, more chain restaurants, more travel, more sex toys, more revealing clothing, more swimming pools and luxury homes, not to mention weapons, guns, bombs and the games that replicate them. Things were as they "should be," USA on top of the world, playing king of the hill, a dangerous and delusional game that could not but result in our eventual tumble down the hill alongside our friend jill, the EU.

Finally the inevitable happened and for the first time since our founding we have had to take a thoroughly good look at ourselves in the mirror of destiny. We haven't even begun to see our own image through that frosted up glass. And we may well remain in this fog until reality sets in. That is how delusional thinking works. "No, this can't be true, we are the wealthiest country on the planet, and nothing will ever change that." China chuckles, Russia outright laughs. And Higher Power, if it Be, raps us hard on our knuckles just for starters.

A lot of us, including me, have likened what we are now experiencing as analogous to the Great Depression. But it isn't. Yes, that fall was precipitated by a Gilded Age, a generous dose of materialistic obsession, as well as political corruption. But the real story today has more to do with the bottom line of natural resources. We have gobbled resources up like rats in a grain elevator who have a genetic metabolic disorder. It hasn't mattered to us how much we have or how little some others are living on-- we have still needed desperately to continue to eat, eat, eat, gobble, gobble.

Now, about those turkeys, and I don't mean the ones that are now leaving office. The turkey was the bird that Benjamin Franklin would have chosen for our national symbol instead of the bald eagle. He was, of course, talking about wild turkeys, the kind that I used to have in my rural front and back yards when I once lived in a little cottage up a gravel lane. They were close to extinction by mid twentieth century, with an estimated count of 300,000 birds nation wide.

The Eastern wild turkey is indigenous to Missouri and also a feed into our current state economy. Unlike eagles that soar in the sky these gloriously feathered creatures keep to the limbs of trees for safety, mostly living close to the earth where they consume insects, select grains and nuts. Every spring and fall these birds, related to quail, pheasant and grouse, reinstate themselves as a success story in the history of conservation in our state, bringing hunters out to rural areas to bag themselves a meal. Because of our first rate conservation efforts Missouri can now afford the hunting of over ten thousands of these creatures each year.

Where I was living in the late 80s, in Iron County, the turkeys were probably attracted to the pond on the roadside end of the property, a watering hole inhabited by peeper frogs and surrounded by tall grass and wildflowers. My undisciplined dog had alerted me to their presence by barking at them at night After that I noticed them more often as I traveled the countryside on home visits. They fly in small groups, gathering in flocks in some fields, and once I happened across a pile of feathers left behind by some hungry coyote.

The local people knew when hunting season began and when it ended so they could choose when they themselves would hunt. "Those city folks are going to be out here this weekend like flies on dead roadkill," they would say on the last days of the shotgun season. It was the most likely weekend for hunting injuries to show up in the ER and the worst two days for putting yourself in harm's way. Same with deer season. But it brought money in, which was important of course. Money is important to all of us, each in our own way. Some of us who are used to living more humbly are also more likely to survive the ups and downs because we have developed survival skills along our paths which we never forget.

Others ride individual private jets to Washington, D.C., to beg for a bailout loan. They expect their workers to keep them fat, even when some of us "lower" beings are starving. Here they are now, wearing their depleted money bags like millstones around their collars, having taken a workforce down with their lack of vision, not having planned ahead or faced the facts about the consumption of domestic and foreign oil that they have been selling to us for decades. We should help them out of this fix? Whatever for? So they can build factories in other countries for lower wage workers?

Instead we need to direct our attention to the workers, the people who create the wealth by their own sweat. We need to extend unemployment compensation, place some safe guards on IRAs and retirement funds, create a system of health care that treats everyone equally and covers all of us. We need infrastructure repair jobs created in every large city. We need mortgage assistance for the people who are in danger of losing their homes. And we will have to shore up the conservation efforts everywhere, planting neighborhood gardens, eating food that is within a two hour drive of where we live, and cutting back on the fertilizers that are creating dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico by farm runoff. We are going to have to start using some of the knowledge we have gained about renewable energy and energy conservation. If we want to remain a viable species in the web of life we will have to steward the planet in a more conservative and responsible way. This will be an exhilarating, wondrous experience as each community begins thinking and acting locally instead of just monetarily.

Globalization is necessary in the realm of human rights but not in the corporate world. The World Bank has not regulated global trade, it has facilitated escalation of exploitation by companies we know as "American," but what have they really become? Truly American corporations will need to be regulated with an eye to benefiting GDP, not CEOs. Capitalism is not in and of itself evil, but the motives behind it often become so.

Do we need any of these fat cats, who have been selling financial products that are essentially empty folders of bad debt? NO! Send them straight to prison. Empty some prison beds for them by creating recovery services for drug users and dealers that include training to work in self motivating neighborhood gardens, cooperatives, local theaters, shops, restaurants, and renewable or passive energy manufacturing. Make small business loans available in downtrodden urban neighborhoods instead of accelerating big business on the interstate edge of suburbia. We need to call a lobbyist what s/he is, a prostitute for corporate bigwigs, and make the job title "lobbyist" represent a felony crime. The johns in Congress need reforming as well as antibiotic shots into their every "but, but, but. . . ."

We are going to have to return to our roots as a community based democracy which is based on an assumption of sharing and responsibility for each other, a naturally occurring hierarchy of cooperation that is inherent in all primates. In the spirit of Thanksgiving perhaps we can remember that the living local model for American democracy was taught to us by the indigenous population of people whom the pilgrims met, and who were later to be exploited by the immigrant European concept of take, take, and take some more.

The reality is that we will have to accomplish this goal of community if we want to survive on a planet that our dear nation has been robbing blind. The word "corporation" in no way actually implies rights recognized by the Constitution. In fact the word has been expanded in meaning from a collection of like minded investors in business together so that it has taken on a connotation of corruption, imperialism, exploitation and downright evil. Money can only be a false idol to a social parasite.

Sometimes I feel kind of sorry for the Ayn Rand fans and other upper one per cent of the top ten percent of our population that control most of the world's wealth. They are so addicted to a way of life that feeds them more, more, more, that they have lost their sanity. If you dropped them off at a house trailer out on old Highway V they wouldn't have the foggiest notion what a turkey looks like or how to hunt for one.

Chances are the one they might spot would be in their own mirror, which is now beginning to defrost. And this is a good sign for the resurgence of true democracy, which has been handed back to the people after a recent significant election.

Just don't let yourselves down, folks. You are going to have some real work ahead of you. Vigilance is ever so. Change is welcome but never easy.