Sep 29 2010
The Right Hook – 09/29/10
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The Right Hook, a weekly segment which covers the machinations of the right wing, from the Republican Party to the Tea Party Patriots, and beyond. By Chris Bennett
Tea Partiers and Republicans usually say they want the federal government so weak that they can drown it in a bathtub. For every rule there’s an exception. Utah’s Tea Party Senate candidate Mike Lee demonstrates that American Exceptionalism is alive and well. In 2007, Lee began his stint at international law firm Howrey LLP, and worked on behalf of EnergySolutions, a nuclear waste management company. EnergySolutions wanted to import 1,600 tons of Italian nuclear waste and dump it in Utah. When Utah officials and 76% of residents opposed the idea, Mike Lee and EnergySolutions sued. …
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Governor Schwarzenegger yesterday delayed the execution of Albert Greenwood Brown for 45 hours. Unless he is granted clemency Brown is now set to die by lethal injection on Thursday, September 30, at 9:00pm. Brown’s execution will be the first in California in almost 5 years. He received the death penalty when he was convicted for the 1980 rape and murder of 15-year old Susan Jordan in Riverside. Brown was denied a stay of execution yesterday by a Marin County judge and was earlier denied a stay by US District Judge Jeremy Fogel, the same judge who issued the injunction that halted executions in California in 2006. Preceding that decision Judge Fogel heard four days of testimony regarding California’s lethal injection process and then ruled that inmates were at risk for feeling …
Venezuelans went to the polls over the weekend to vote in National Assembly elections that were largely peaceful and uneventful. At stake was the ruling party’s two thirds majority which had enabled President Hugo Chavez to quickly pass laws. According to the results released yesterday, that super-majority was lost, although Chavez’s party still won a majority of seats – at least 96 out of 165. The opposition coalition, which boycotted the last election, now controls at least 61 seats, which is more than a third. However, Chavez remains popular throughout the country, especially in rural areas. He himself faces re-election in two years. Meanwhile Venezuela’s southern neighbor, Brazil, is gearing up for its own elections. On Sunday, voters in the fifth largest country in the world will choose their new President. …
Two Texas oil companies are bankrolling an effort to effectively repeal California’s air pollution and clean energy standards through ballot proposition 23. Supporters of Prop.23 call it the “California Jobs Initiative”, and argue that California’s environmental standards inhibit job growth. The ballot initiative suspends the provisions put in place four years ago by California Assembly Bill 32. Prop. 23 would suspend AB 32 until California’s unemployment rate dips and holds steady at 5.5% for a full year. The No on 23 campaign says this has only happened three times in the last 40 years and warns that this suspension would become a de facto repeal of environmental protections. In August California’s unemployment rate was at 12.4%. Last week the Sacramento Bee reported that Republican Gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has taken a …
A new book entitled “Changing Places: How Communities Will Improve the Health of Boys of Color,” explores how poor health experienced by young men and boys of color can be traced to what is called a “triple jeopardy” of growing up in poor families, poor neighborhoods, and going to bad schools. The book is being launched at a 2 day symposium in Los Angeles that starts today. It is being touted as “the nation’s first research and policy symposium focused on the well-being of boys and young men of color.” Writing in the LA Times this week, one of the speakers at the Symposium, David L. Kirp cites alarming statistics: “Across the country, fewer than half of all black males graduate from high school, compared with 78% of white males. …
While pundits and economists worry about Wall Street’s well-being, Americans worry about losing their jobs, paying their bills and the health of the planet. The capitalist marketplace promotes the exploitation of people and natural resources as cheap fixes. But you don’t have to abandon your values to save a buck. Welcome to the People’s Marketplace. 
