This is the best explanation of gerrymandering you will ever see - The Washington Post [feedly]

We finally have people waking up to the gerrymandering problem, but they have not yet realized that it's inherent in creating single-member districts, and that the wrong problem to work on is how to gerrymander less--the right problem is how to overcome centuries of primitive democratic tradition and move to full representation by electing from multi-member districts, so that the majority rules but minorities are guaranteed a voice, regardless of where they live. 

This is the best explanation of gerrymandering you will ever see - The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/03/01/this-is-the-best-explanation-of-gerrymandering-you-will-ever-see/?tid=trending_strip_3
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"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

More on trains: Dead Nation Walking [feedly]

Dead Nation Walking
...

Anyway, even if Americans seem to prefer for the present moment to drive or fly, it may not always be the case that they will be able to. Several surprising forces are gathering to take down the Happy Motoring matrix. Peak oil is actually not playing out in the form of too-high gasoline prices, but rather a race between a bankrupt middle class unable to pay the total costs of motoring and an oil industry that can't make a profit drilling for hard-to-get oil. That scenario is plain to see in the rapid rise and now fall of shale oil.

Nowhere on earth is there passenger rail that pays for itself. But, of course, you don't hear anyone complain about the public subsidies for driving or air travel. Who do you think pays for the interstate highway system? What major airport is privately owned and operated?

...

America is going to need trains more than it thinks right now, despite what the "free market" says. The condition of our trains is symptomatic of the shape of the nation. The really sad part is we missed the window of opportunity to build a high-speed system. Capital will soon be too scarce for that. But we still have a conventional network that not so many decades ago was the envy of the world, and we know exactly how to fix it. We just don't want to. No will left. Apparently we'd rather just turn into the walking dead.

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

Why we'll never get decent passenger train service

A sharp-eyed LOVESalem foreign correspondent sends this.

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/18/opinion/our-trouble-with-trains.html?emc=edit_th_20150518&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=14202780&_r=0

The more I read about our railroad history, the more disgustingly brutal it seems.  But this article articulates the basic systemic reasons we'll never get anything like the passenger train service that even '2nd class' countries enjoy.  High speed, high-tech rail service will NOT happen in a country hell-bent on maintaining its empire rather than getting ready for the real 21st century.  A political system dedicated to burning the last drops of unconventional fossil fuel dregs will instead focus on reliable (slow) rail service for getting isolated coal and oil deposits to remote customers; and since Amtrak uses these same rails throughout the system, it too is slow.  U.S. environmentalists who tout high-speed electric and/or maglev trains to cope with declining fossil fuels and/or climate change have drunk the kool-aid, but the sugar content has fattened their brain to the point they are in fantasy land.

Out here on the west side of the Cascades, an Amtrak line shares the rails with coal and oil trains that are becoming more and more frequent, to the point that Amtrak schedules are more and more problematic.  And I don't think our Amtrak train EVER travels faster than 60 mph, and never has.  I've been on trains in Japan and Germany; in both those places the things went at least twice as fast, and the ride was smooth - a huge contrast with our Amtrak that sways like a camel-ride.  On our Amtrak train, walking the aisles to get to the food car is more demanding than walking a wire.  I'm pretty sure the owners of our NW rails (BNSF) regard Amtrak as a nuisance customer, one BNSF would drop like a hot skillet if it weren't for the political requirement not to.

cheers,

Tooj

Down with corporate dynasties.  Write in Elizabeth Warren for president and vice-president in 2016.

Krugman on refusing to join the Iraq War amnesia

https://mgpaquin.wordpress.com/2015/05/18/blow-and-krugman-40/

Utah Phillips used to say that the most radical thing you can have in America is a long memory.

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

Sweet Revenge: Dr. Robert Lustig Explains How to Cut Sugar, Lose Weight and Turn the Tables On Processed Foods | Bay Area Bites | KQED Food

http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/2014/08/06/sweet-revenge-dr-robert-lustig-explains-how-to-cut-sugar-lose-weight-and-turn-the-tables-on-processed-foods/


"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

Rally against planetary suicide, May 26

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

Don't nibble at water waste - hit the big wasters: industrial animal ag

Hi, my name is Kip Andersen and I'm a filmmaker from San Francisco, CA.
California is experiencing one of its worst droughts on record and I do what I can to conserve water and educate my friends and neighbors about it.

When I learned that the fracking industry - despite the drought - used 70  million gallons of water last year alone, I was stunned. When I learned that the Nestlé bottled water corporation is taking hundreds of millions of gallons of California's water to sell it back to the population, I got angry. But, when I learned that animal agriculture in California is using a staggering amount of 4.8 trillion gallons per year, I was shocked! So shocked indeed, that I made a film about it.

I couldn't believe that the meat and dairy industry accounts for 47% of California's water footprint, yet no one is trying to regulate this thirsty industry!

But here is the most painful truth: California exports 100 billion gallons of water in the form of alfalfa every year to Asia for meat and dairy production!

Governor Jerry Brown has declared a drought emergency for the state of California. California residents have been asked to be vigilant and cut back on household water use, but only about 5% of California’s water footprint is individual, personal use. This will not help solve the severe problem that we're all facing!

Join me in asking Governor Jerry Brown to hold the meat and dairy industry responsible for it's tremendous water usage and STOP THE EXPORT OF 100 BILLION GALLONS OF CALIFORNIA'S WATER TO ASIA.

How Lynching Shaped American History—From the Old South to Modern Prisons by Liz Pleasant — YES! Magazine

http://www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/how-lynching-shaped-american-history-from-the-old-south-to-modern-prisons

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

MAY 21 in Salem: Jilel (The Calling of the Shell), a Marshallese feature film

Loucks Auditorium -- a global warming fairy tale ...
http://www.microwavefilms.org/Jilel.html

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

A group good enough to get Sen. Liz Warren to let them use her name on a fundraising pitch

It's been six and a half years since Wall Street broke our economy, but the fight for accountability and a level playing field is far from over.   Right now, the big banks and financial institutions – and their armies of lawyers and lobbyists in Washington – are systematically chipping away at the rules on Wall Street. And that's why Americans for Financial Reform is so important. For years, I've worked hand-in-hand with AFR—first to get the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other critical Dodd-Frank reforms passed into law, and then to protect those laws from being gutted by financial industry lobbyists. This is a David vs. Goliath fight, and if we're going to have any chance at fighting back, we need AFR more than ever. Can you join me in supporting AFR's effort to stand up to Wall Street and to fight for tougher rules moving forward?  Your contribution of $25 can make a big difference. If you need proof that Wall Street is working to weaken financial regulations, take a look at what happened in December. Citigroup lobbyists slipped a provision into the must-pass budget package to make it easier for the biggest banks to get bailed out again in the future. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon personally called up members of Congress to lobby for their votes. We fought our hearts out to stop it, but we lost that battle. Even so, the hard work of AFR and its coalition of consumer, labor, civil rights, faith-based, and community organizations helped send a loud and clear message to Wall Street that ripped through Washington: If you try to bring back the sort of reckless gambling that caused the economic crisis, there's going to be a fight. We've seen a real shift in Washington as a result of that fight.  The attacks continue, there is a lot at stake, and we still have a lot of work left to do -- but there is a little less bravado among the Wall Street lobbyists and a little less momentum behind further rollbacks.    We fight for Wall Street accountability so that Congress puts in place strong laws and the government regulators enforce them. We fight to protect consumers from tricks and traps, to end reckless gambling by Wall Street, and to protect taxpayers from bailouts. We fight because it's the right thing to do.    I hope you'll take a moment today and make a donation to AFR. Your support will help them make sure the big banks don't always get the last word in Washington on policies that make a difference to all of us. I appreciate your support for AFR, and I hope you can contribute to its very important work.    Sincerely, Elizabeth Warren U.S. Senator p.s.  Whatever happens or doesn't happen in Congress, there are a lot of important decisions being made all the time at the at the banking oversight agencies.  Many Dodd-Frank rules haven't been implemented or even written yet, and AFR is on the front lines pushing for strong, tough rules – and enforcement of the rules. I hope you can support their work with a $25 contribution. Find us on Facebook and Twitter. Sent by Americans for Financial Reform 1629 K Street NW, 10th Floor, Washington, DC 20006 - (202) 466-1885

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."