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Washington NFL Team’s New Native American Foundation Is Already Off to a Great Start

by CarriNDQ Posted on March 28, 2014

Mother Jones

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The CEO of the Washington football team’s recently unveiled Original Americans Foundation also runs an organization that was criticized in a federal investigation for wasting nearly $1 million and providing “no benefit” after receiving a Bureau of Indian Affairs contract.

Gary Edwards, who was announced as head of the team’s foundation this week, is CEO of the National Native American Law Enforcement Association. In 2009, the NNALEA won a contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to “recruit for and hire critically needed law enforcement officers (police, corrections, and criminal investigator positions) to work in Indian Country.” According to a 2012 investigation into the contract, first reported by USA Today, NNALEA produced 748 applicants for law enforcement positions—only about 4 percent of which were Native American. Even worse, not a single applicant was qualified, meaning the $967,100 in funds amounted to absolutely nothing.

The investigation mostly comes down hard on Bureau of Indian Affairs officials for allowing Edwards to negotiate the terms of the contract into something essentially useless. While the contract’s original language called for “500 qualified Native American law enforcement applicants,” according to the investigation, it was later modified to “500 pre-screened potential applicants,” effectively removing the requirements that the NNALEA provide applicants who are Native American and qualified for law enforcement jobs. In its invoices to the Bureau, NNALEA reported holding a recruiting event at the 2009 Crow Fair Celebration and placing ads in South Dakota’s Aberdeen News, though according to the investigation an official who attended the fair saw no recruiting booth or NNALEA representatives, and the Aberdeen News had no record of NNALEA ever ordering the ads.

“The NNALEA believes it met and exceeded all of its obligations under the contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services, and subsequently was paid after the contract was completed,” Edwards said in a statement released Thursday night.

See the full investigation below:

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NNALEA contract investigation (PDF)

NNALEA contract investigation (Text)

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Washington NFL Team’s New Native American Foundation Is Already Off to a Great Start

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How Do San Franciscans Really Feel About Google Buses?

by BenitoStingley Posted on March 27, 2014

Mother Jones

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Earlier this month, the Bay Area Council, a coalition of Bay Area businesses, commissioned EMC Research to ask 500 likely voters in San Francisco how they felt about the much discussed commuter shuttles that take people from The City, Oakland, and Berkeley to tech-company campuses in Silicon Valley. The EMC researchers wrote in the ensuing report (PDF), released this week, “Despite what it might look like from recent media coverage, a majority of voters have a positive opinion of the shuttle buses and support allowing buses to use MUNI stops.” (MUNI is San Francisco’s municipal transportation agency.)

But I’m not so sure that rosy conclusion is warranted. For starters, Bauer’s Intelligent Transportation, which contracts with several tech companies to provide bus service, is a member of the Bay Area Council. So are Google, Facebook, and Apple. There’s also the fact that the survey found an awful lot of shuttle riders to poll. Six percent of respondents said that they rode one of the shuttle buses. Now, estimates of shuttle bus ridership vary wildly, but San Francisco’s total population is only about 836,000—six percent of which is about 50,000. A spokeswoman from the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency recently told me that an estimated 4,125 San Franciscans ride the tech buses. That’s closer to 0.5 percent of city residents. The San Francisco Examiner points out that the survey excluded Spanish speakers.

And then there’s the delicate phrasing of the survey questions. Last week, Pacific Standard had a great little post explaining why surveys are not always accurate measures of public opinion. The post looks at a recent survey conducted about the movie Noah. The group Faith Driven Consumer asked respondents: “As a Faith Driven Consumer, are you satisfied with a Biblically themed movie—designed to appeal to you—which replaces the Bible’s core message with one created by Hollywood?” Unsurprisingly, 98 percent said they were not satisfied. Variety reported the survey’s findings in a story titled “Faith-Driven Consumers Dissatisfied With Noah, Hollywood Religious Pics.”

I thought of the Noah survey as I read the the tech-shuttle survey’s script. Here are two examples of the questions, plus the percentage of respondents who strongly agreed with the given statements.

Please tell me if you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree with the following statements:

Image courtesy of Bay Area Council

Now, thinking specifically about employee shuttle buses in San Francisco, please tell me if you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree with each of the following statements:

To be fair, the survey did include a few questions that allowed respondents to express negative opinions about the buses. But those questions tended to include loaded language. For example:

Now, thinking specifically about shuttle buses in San Francisco, please tell me if you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree with the following statements:

I’m guessing that if the word “causing” had been replaced with “contributing to,” more people would have agreed with the statement. Same if the word “ruining” had been replaced with “changing.”

Rufus Jeffris, the vice president for communications and major events at the Bay Area Council, wrote to me in an email that the Council stands by the survey. “The poll was intended to provide some broader context and perspective on some of the wrenching and painful issues we’re dealing with,” he wrote. “We feel strongly that scapegoating a single type of worker and single industry is not productive and does not move us forward to solutions.”

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How Do San Franciscans Really Feel About Google Buses?

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WATCH: Anti-Gay Evangelical Calls Protesters "Homo-Fascists"

by Gwenn Record Posted on February 21, 2014

Mother Jones

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On Friday, hard-line anti-gay activists gathered at the National Press Club in Washington to announce the formation of a new organization to fight what they call the “global LGBT agenda.” Known as the Coalition for Family Values, the group is the brainchild of two extreme anti-gay advocates: Scott Lively, a Massachusetts-based pastor who is running for governor of the Bay State, and Peter LaBarbera, the founder of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality. The coalition’s aim is to spread Russian-style anti-gay legislation throughout the world. Lively kicked off the event by praising Russia’s “much needed leadership in restoring family values,” and urged other countries to follow its “excellent example” by passing laws against gay-rights “propaganda” and banning adoption by gay parents. But the event did not go as planned.

About 20 minutes into the program, a young gay Russian man named Slava Revin stood up and yelled, “Vladimir Putin is a dictator!” After that, the conference dissolved into chaos, with Revin and the speakers shouting over each other. “Stop killing us,” cried a Lively supporter. “Stop killing speech. Stop killing freedom.” Eventually, Lively launched into a diatribe about “homo-fascists,” and Press Club staffers ushered Revin and another activist named Ellen Sturtz out of the room. Below is video of the exchange:

This kind of rhetoric is not unusual for Lively. The anti-gay crusader co-authored a book called The Pink Swastika, which argues that homosexuals were the driving force behind the Holocaust. In the United States, Lively’s ideas haven’t gotten much traction. But he has forged deep ties to religious and political leaders in Uganda and former Russian republics, where he has helped pave the way for anti-gay bills. Uganda’s main gay-rights organization is suing him for crimes against humanity for allegedly fostering anti-gay sentiment and legislation in that country. (Last week, President Yoweri Museveniâ&#128;&#139; of Uganda declared that he would sign a bill that makes homosexuality a crime punishable by life in prison.)

Through the Coalition for Family Values, Lively and LaBarbera intend to promote other types of legislation, including a bill to protect discrimination based on sexual orientation. (Lively casts it as a matter of religious freedom.) So far, they say, 75 pro-family organizations around the globe have signed on. Those listed in press materials are mostly obscure groups, but a few prominent social conservative outfits have joined, including Liberty Counsel Action and the American Family Association. “Other nations, including the United States, could learn form Russia and stop the homosexualization of our nation,” Diane Gramley, a representative of the AFA’s Pennsylvania affiliate told the crowd at Friday’s event. “It’s time for the United States to stop using our children as lab rats to see how they react to homosexual propaganda.”

Lively noted at the press conference that he considers most family-values crusaders too timid and said that he believes strong laws, such as the recently-passed Russian measure that criminalizes public support of same-sex relationships, are the only way to keep gay activists from “tearing down the fabric of society.”

After the event, the crowd spilled out onto the sidewalk. Revin, the gay Russian activist, was standing in the rain, holding a rainbow banner, and reciting the speech he had intended to give inside. “Putin is corrupted thief who invents scapegoats and deflects attention from his crimes” he declared. “His latest invention is the anti-gay law, so gays in modern Russia feel like Jews back in the USSR.” Then Sturtz handed Lively a miniature rainbow flag.

Lively tucked the flag into his pocket.

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Defend The Family statement (PDF)

Defend The Family statement (Text)

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American Family Association of Pennsylvania statement (PDF)

American Family Association of Pennsylvania statement (Text)

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WATCH: Anti-Gay Evangelical Calls Protesters "Homo-Fascists"

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Quentin Tarantino Sues Gawker for Linking to Leaked Script: "This Time They Went Too Far"

by LayneI91ysavpze Posted on January 27, 2014

Mother Jones

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Oscar-winning writer/director Quentin Tarantino is suing Gawker Media. The filmmaker, who is famous for such films as Pulp Fiction and Inglourious Basterds, is taking legal action after his script for a future project (a Western flick called The Hateful Eight) leaked online. Tarantino became “very, very depressed” about this, so much so that he shelved the project. And last Thursday, Gawker‘s “Defamer” blog published a post titled, “â&#128;&#139;Here Is the Leaked Quentin Tarantino Hateful Eight Script.”

“For better or worse, the document is 146 pages of pure Tarantino. Enjoy!” the post reads, linking to a free download of Tarantino’s draft.

For that, the the 50-year-old director filed a copyright lawsuit against Gawker Media for allegedly promoting and disseminating unauthorized copies of the leaked document, the Hollywood Reporter reported on Monday. “Gawker Media has made a business of predatory journalism, violating people’s rights to make a buck,” Tarantino’s lawsuit, which was filed by attorneys Martin Singer and Evan Spiegel in California federal court, reads. “This time they went too far.”

As of posting, John Cook, editor of Gawker, has not responded to Mother Jones‘ request for comment.

The lawsuit also alleges that Gawker actively solicited readers to provide a copy of the screenplay with this blog post. Tarantino is seeking more than $1 million in damages and the defendants’ profits. Read the formal legal complaint here (via Deadline.com):

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Complaint Tarantino v Gawker Media Et Al (PDF)

Complaint Tarantino v Gawker Media Et Al (Text)

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Quentin Tarantino Sues Gawker for Linking to Leaked Script: "This Time They Went Too Far"

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Here Are the Chris Christie Emails Everyone Is Talking About

by DomingaHooley Posted on January 8, 2014

Mother Jones

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On Wednesday, news outlets released emails indicating that top aides to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie blocked lanes on a major bridge last year in retaliation against a political opponent.

Last September, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey abruptly closed two lanes on the George Washington Bridge, causing a massive traffic jam that clogged the streets of Fort Lee, N.J. News outlets and New Jersey Democrats began to look into the circumstances surrounding the bridge closure, suspecting that the Port Authority closed the bridge lanes in an act of political retaliation against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat who backed Gov. Chris Christie’s opponent in the 2013 gubernatorial campaign. The emails released today suggest that was indeed the case:

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Here Are the Chris Christie Emails Everyone Is Talking About

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Air apparent: Once we start geoengineering, it may be hard to stop

by bukaroso Posted on December 4, 2013

Air apparent: Once we start geoengineering, it may be hard to stop

By

NASA Goddard

Despite the antics of technofixers, policy wonks, and mad billionaires everywhere, geoengineering persists as an appealing-if-wacky solution to all our climate ills. The basic logic is seductive: If we’ve messed up the climate by pumping bad stuff into the atmosphere, maybe we can undo some damage by pumping some other stuff up there, too. Of course, a minefield of potential blunders awaits the intrepid geoengineer, including wreaking havoc on rainfall or depleting polar ozone. And then there is the geopolitical factor, i.e. what may be good for China is not so good for India.

A recent study [PDF] by scientists from North America, Europe, and Japan suggests another, more distant concern, and yet a vital one: What happens when we stop geoengineering?

One of the big mainstays of geoengineering is the idea of solar radiation management, the deflection of some of the sun’s energy before it enters the atmosphere. For example, there is often a measurable temperature decrease in the months following large volcanic eruptions, thanks to a massive belch of sulfur dioxide and reflective particulate matter. Would-be earth hackers suggest copying this effect with artificial aerosols, minus the magma and, ideally, the acid rain. (As if building a giant, friendly, fake volcano in our atmosphere totally doesn’t require the international cooperation, technological innovation, scientific know-how, and hard problem-solving other climate solutions demand.)

Though much is still unknown about the potential effects of intentionally saturating our atmosphere with sulfates, the authors of the recent paper thought maybe it’d be a good idea to look before we leap into the caldera of the fake-volcano business. Using several different atmospheric models, they studied what would happen if 50 years of stratospheric solar deflection were followed by an abrupt halt. The result, reported in the Journal of Geophysical Research – Atmospheres, could be a rapid and devastating increase in temperature.

Here’s why: If we were to start and then stop maintaining a protective layer of aerosols in the atmosphere, solar radiation would begin hitting us right where it left off — and the effect of the greenhouse gasses accumulated during our half-century in the synthetic shade would quickly become apparent. (The paper warns of the “moral hazard” of geoengineering, letting us off the hook for the dirty emissions at the root of the problem.) Though the different climate models used by the researchers showed different rates of increase, the overall effect was squarely in the “not good” category, including shifts in weather patterns and the usual, depressing decrease in polar sea ice. Basically, if we ever try to rely on geoengineering to save us from our own greenhouse gas emissions, we are all going to have to agree to NEVER STOP.

That means, no political squabbles, no international kerfuffles, no unforeseen consequences, no budget problems, nothing. Good luck with that, world.

Amelia Urry is Grist’s intern.Find this article interesting? Donate now to support our work.Read more: Business & Technology

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Air apparent: Once we start geoengineering, it may be hard to stop

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Chicken vs. Turkey Is an Unfair Fight

by DeanaMoeller Posted on November 27, 2013

Mother Jones

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This year, Matt Yglesias’s annual bout of turkey hate takes a quantitative approach:

Consider these striking facts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistical Service’s latest report on poultry production (PDF).

It reveals that in the United States in 2012 we produced a staggering 49.5 billion pounds of chicken meat worth an aggregate of $24.8 billion.

By contrast, we raised a paltry 7.3 billion pounds of turkey worth just $5 billion.

If everybody likes turkey so much, then why aren’t you buying any?….Here at Slate we think it’s very important to be clear on what’s a contrarian take and what’s the conventional wisdom. And the conventional wisdom is that turkey is bad and you should eat chicken if you’re interested in some not-very-flavorful poultry. People eat turkey on Thanksgiving because it’s traditional, but people do not enjoy eating turkey.

Unfortunately, there’s a confounding variable that Matt has failed to consider: as the illustration on the right demonstrates scientifically, turkeys are big. One reason that we don’t buy turkeys routinely throughout the year is that your average household of 2.58 members doesn’t want that much of anything. Most of us don’t cook big standing rib roasts very often either, but that’s not because we don’t like beef. It’s because they’re too damn big for everyday consumption. Add to that the fact that roasting a turkey is a pain in the ass, and you just aren’t going to have turkey very often.

Now, that said, it’s hard to escape Matt’s central contention that turkey isn’t really all that tasty. Most of us eat it only alongside forkfuls of cranberry sauce or drenched in gravy, which pretty much gives the game away taste-wise, doesn’t it?

Still, this raises yet another question. Of that 49.5 billion pounds of chicken, I’d guess that a sizeable fraction of it is consumed in the form of chicken nuggets of some variety. So why aren’t there turkey nuggets instead? Once you batter it and toss it in a deep fryer, turkey would taste just fine.1 And that brings up a second reason that we eat more chicken than turkey—one that should be of special interest to a Moneybox columnist: it’s cheaper. According to that Ag Department document above, chicken goes for 50 cents per live-weight pound while turkey sells for 73 cents.

In other words, we don’t really need to get into inherently personal arguments about the relative tastiness of chicken vs. turkey. Chicken is both cheaper and far more convenient than turkey for your average consumer, and that’s enough. It’s no suprise that it’s the world’s poultry of choice.

1Wouldn’t it? I’m no foodie, and anyway, I happen to like nibbling on turkey leftovers from the fridge with nothing more than a little salt as seasoning. But maybe there’s something about turkey meat that makes it poorly suited to the indignities of nugget-dom. Anyone happen to know?

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Chicken vs. Turkey Is an Unfair Fight

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Federal Judge Orders Illinois Same-Sex Marriage Couple Can Marry Early

by aniaxff2 Posted on November 26, 2013

Mother Jones

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Last week, Illinois became the sixteenth state to legalize same-sex marriage. Though the law isn’t scheduled to take effect until June 1, 2014, one couple has been granted permission to marry seven months early.

A federal judge has ordered that an expedited marriage license be issued to Vernita Gray—who has terminal breast cancer—and her longtime partner Patricia Ewert. Gray, 64 and Ewert, 65, who have been together for five years, will become the first same-sex couple to be legally wed in Illinois.

“I have two cancers, bone and brain and I just had chemo today,” Gray told NBC Chicago. “I am so happy to get this news. I’m excited to be able to marry and take care of Pat, my partner and my family, should I pass.”

On Friday, two days after Governor Pat Quinn signed the marriage equality bill, Ewert and Gray, who isn’t expected to live until June, filed a lawsuit with Lambda Legal, an LGBT rights legal organization, seeking permission to marry immediately. On Monday, US District Judge Thomas Durkin agreed and ordered Cook County Clerk David Orr to issue the couple a marriage license.

“As a supporter of same-sex marriage, I’m pleased Judge Durkin granted relief to Patricia Ewert and Vernita Gray in this difficult time,” Orr said in a statement to the Chicago Tribune.

Though they’ve been in a civil union since 2011, Gray and Ewert do not enjoy the full protections of marriage. “I believe the most important thing for Vernita was to be able to protect Pat,” a close friend of the couple told the Chicago Sun-Times. “And with Social Security and federal benefits and how estates are handled in a marriage, it really makes them full-class citizens in Illinois.”

Read US District Judge Thomas Durkin’s ruling below:

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Federal Judge Orders Illinois Same-Sex Marriage Couple Can Marry Early

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The three anti-environmental bills that are wasting Congress’ time

by h7paisjnha Posted on November 21, 2013

The three anti-environmental bills that are wasting Congress’ time

By

Shutterstock

Republicans and a handful of Democrats in Congress really want to demonstrate their loyalty to their fossil-fuel masters. The House has passed three bills to benefit the oil and gas industry, but they have no chance of being becoming law so long as Barack Obama is president.

H.R. 1965 — Federal Lands Jobs and Energy Security Act

Sponsor: Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.)

What it would do: “This would direct that federal lands be managed for the primary purpose of energy development, rather than for stewardship balancing multiple uses including recreation,” according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Astonishingly, it also would curb and then penalize the public for raising concerns about oil and gas projects on public lands that may affect them.”

Status: Approved by the House of Representatives on Wednesday by a vote of 228 to 192, with seven Democrats joining the majority of Republicans in voting in favor of the bill.

Why Obama would veto it: “H.R. 1965 would reverse Administration oil and gas leasing reforms that have established orderly, open, efficient, and environmentally sound processes for energy development on public lands,” the White House said in a statement [PDF].

H.R. 2728 – Protecting States’ Rights to Promote American Energy Security Act

Sponsor: Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas)

What it would do: “The bill prevents Interior from enforcing any federal standards on hydraulic fracturing if a state has any rules or even vague guidance for fracking,” NRDC explains. “It also could lead to barring federal oversight of fracking-related activities on federal lands, including toxic waste management, clean water protection, and other important regulatory responsibilities.”

Status: Approved by the House of Representatives on Wednesday by a vote of 235 to 187, with 12 Democrats joining the majority of Republicans in voting in favor of the bill.

Why Obama would veto it: “[The Bureau of Land Management] has been working in close consultation with States and Tribes on strengthening oversight of hydraulic fracturing operations and establishing a uniform baseline level of appropriate environmental protection. The bill, as reported, would undermine these efforts,” the White House said in a statement [PDF]. 

H.R. 1900 — Natural Gas Pipeline Permitting Reform Act

Sponsor: Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.)

What it would do: “It would rush approval of natural gas pipelines with disregard for potential impacts on the public and on clean water and air,” NRDC explains. “In essence, this legislation is a direct extension of the entire House Republican effort that is focused on eliminating the transparent environmental review process that is required when energy projects are proposed.”

Status: Approved by the House of Representatives on Wednesday by a vote of 225 to 194, with four Democrats joining the majority of Republicans in voting in favor of the bill.

Why Obama would veto it: “The bill’s requirements could force agencies to make decisions based on incomplete information or information that may not be available within the stringent deadlines, and to deny applications that otherwise would have been approved, but for lack of sufficient review time,” the White House said in a statement [PDF]. 


Source
House Republicans’ Reckless Energy Bills Would Tear up Federal Lands and Shut Down Public Engagement, NRDC

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Kochs and Republicans launch bid to snuff out wind-energy tax incentives

by graptorm Posted on November 7, 2013

Kochs and Republicans launch bid to snuff out wind-energy tax incentives

By

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A key tax incentive credited with boosting wind-energy capacity in the U.S. is due to expire in eight weeks, and fossil fuel lobbyists are working hard to blow it to oblivion.

The Koch-backed conservative group Americans for Prosperity is launching an advertising campaign calling on lawmakers to allow the production tax credit (PTC) to expire on Dec. 31.

The wind industry says the tax credit was critical in helping it to attract as much as $25 billion in private investment last year, all the while helping the country reduce carbon emissions. A single multinational company credits it with adding hundreds of jobs at its American factories.

Extending the tax credit for five years could cost the federal government $18.5 billion, by one congressional estimate. That’s just too much, says the fossil fuel sector, which just so happens to compete with wind energy.

Politico reports on AFP’s $75,000 ad campaign:

“The people we’re focusing on right now are not the low-hanging fruit and they’re not the people that we’re not going to get,” Christine Harbin Hanson, AFP’s federal affairs manager, told POLITICO. “We’re reaching for the middle.” In this case, that refers to “conservatives that purport to oppose government meddling in the marketplace” but “need a little nudging,” she said. AFP will roll out two ads per week (none the week of Thanksgiving), with the first two targeting Republicans Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska and Lamar Smith of Texas.

So far, Hanson says 44 House Republicans and one Democrat, Nick Rahall of coal-loving West Virginia, have signed onto an anti-PTC letter being circulated by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.).

AFP has also put together its own letter [PDF] on the issue. “The wind industry has very little to show after 20 years of preferential tax treatment,” it reads. “Congress should break from the past and allow the wind PTC to expire as scheduled, once and for all. Americans deserve energy solutions that can make it on their own in the marketplace — not ones that need to be propped up by government indefinitely.”

Speaking of being propped up indefinitely, would this be an appropriate debate in which to bring up the billions of dollars in tax breaks and other subsidies doled out by the U.S. every year to fossil fuel companies? Rep. Jackie Spier (D-Calif.) certainly thinks so.

“Big oil still gets subsidies even though just the biggest five oil companies … made a combined $118 billion in profits in 2012,” Speier said during a committee hearing on the PTC. “Oil and gas have received over $4.8 billion each year in government subsidies over 90 years.”

So much for energy solutions that can make it on their own in the marketplace.

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.Find this article interesting? Donate now to support our work.Read more: Business & Technology

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Kochs and Republicans launch bid to snuff out wind-energy tax incentives

Posted in ALPHA, Anchor, ATTRA, FF, G & F, GE, ONA, PUR, Uncategorized, wind energy, wind power | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Kochs and Republicans launch bid to snuff out wind-energy tax incentives