By Steve Otto

Vern Miller, long time lawman and right-wing politician died June 11 at the age of 92. Miller was one of my long time political enemies, maybe my first major one. As with Richard Nixon, he became a major target of my writing, cartooning and satire.

I first became familiar with Miller when he became the Attorney General of Kansas, starting in 1971. Miller came down hard on the counter-culture of Lawrence, Kansas, mostly using drug laws to arrest what at the time, would be called “hippies.” Miller went after drug users using spectacular raids and such stunts as popping out of car trunks to catch drug users in the act of using or selling.

I was in high school, at the time, when much of this happened. Miller was one of the villains that helped me understand politics. I had a language arts class, (we used to call them “English” at the time) and as part of that class we were supposed to develop some kind of self expression in the form of journaling. For me, it was cartoons and I had a series of those which I called “Uncle Vern.” I parodied that man and his antics.

At the time, I opposed pretty much all drug laws. So I often classified him as a fascist. He ran for office as a Democrat, but he seemed rather conservative to me. The Young Democrat Club of Kansas University, in Lawrence refused to endorse him when he ran for governor.

Miller was ambitious. He ran for and won the post of Sedgwick County Sheriff. He then ran for and won the Kansas Attorney General post. He ran for governor but never won.

I wrote about Miller in one of my books, Memoirs of a Drugged-up, Sex-Crazed Yippie:

-excerpts

Miller was like a state version of Nixon. Both Hunter S. Thompson and I have made Nixon a target for much of our writing careers. For me Miller was also such a target. Late in his career, Miller made national news by attacking the trains for serving liquor-by-the-drink which was against Kansas law at that time, in the 1970s. Although in recent years I now consider Nixon to be a much more evil man than Miller. Miller was not responsible for all the deaths in Vietnam or Cambodia, at least not directly. I still think drug laws are a bad idea. I published first book, War on Drugs/ War on People and that book focuses on the miss-guided “war on drugs.” The only difference between my high schoolyears and today is that today I would restrict children from having drugs. Miller ran for Shariff again a few years ago and, as in past years, I would not support him at all. I sure didn’t vote for him and he still wanted to chase after vice, a complete waist of time, in my opinion. I don’t think I have the same animosity as I had for Nixon when he died. Has my rath for Miller simply faded out? Am I mellowing out with age? I’m not sure. Miller was a worthy adversary and I just don’t feel the same animosity I would have had if he had died in the 1970s. I still don’t like him. But he seemed to be a celebrity who is now more of a part of my past political struggles. That’s the best I can say.

By Steve Otto 

Since President Joe Biden has come to office, foreign policy has been a mixed signal. On one hand, he is pulling the troops out of Afghanistan, a major necessity for pulling out of our imperialist dilemma. On the other hand his handling of Venezuela is not good. And last night, he attacked some militias who are aligned with Iran, which means that reducing tensions with that country will not be easy. According to Reuters:

“The United States said on Sunday it carried out another round of air strikes against Iran-backed militia in Iraq and Syria, this time in response to drone attacks by the militia against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq.

In a statement, the U.S. military said it targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq. It did not disclose whether it believed anyone was killed or injured but officials said assessments were ongoing.”

So far the Biden strategy is no different from the former President Donald Trump strategy. And it sucks. We here at this blog have no love for the Islamic regime of Iran. But we don’t need war and the people living in Iran do not deserve to be strangled nearly to death by sanctions.

Also, the people in other countries, such as Venezuela also do not deserve sanctions. Conservatives and pro-capitalist apologist for capitalist regimes like to say that nothing of value can come from a socialist country or a socialist economy. But that is not true. A bar near my home has what they call “flights.” That means a customer can pay a set price for a set of samples of certain liquors. One of these “flights” is “The Venezuela Rum Experience.” For $18 a patron gets to sample some Venezuela rum. That means they produce really good rum. This bar specializes in high class drinks. So much for the idea that nothing of value comes from socialism.

And last, but not least, generals and officials of imperialism are whining about the Taliban taking back control of Afghanistan. According to ABC News:

“Gen. Austin Scott Miller said he stands by his belief that there cannot be a military victor in Afghanistan, but he told Raddatz that as the Taliban continues with its military operations across the country, while also engaging in peace talks, "you're starting to create conditions here that doesn't -- won't look good for Afghanistan in the future if there is a push for a military takeover" that could result in a civil war.

My hope is that Biden will take a stand and not wobble on this issue. If he can stand his ground at least some good will come from his foreign policy.

By Steve Otto

If there is one thing, I am sick and tired of, it’s the knee jerk reaction that Americans (USA) have and haver always had against crime. Because of this hysteria over all kinds of crime, this country has some of the most draconian laws ever devised. For years now, the USA has had the largest percent of its people in prison, than other country in the world. And yet for most of our elected leaders, in both parties, no one seriously tries to hold onto common sense and stop all the idiocy when it comes to passing stricter laws, designed to put more people in jail than ever before.

For what ever reason, Americans vote like jerks when it comes to crime. And the mainstream press in this country never misses a chance to get on the hysteria band wagon. 

We can see this now with the attacks on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). She has supported movements to defund police and under all the pressure, not only from Republicans but from members of her own party the political establishment and the mainstream press has relentlessly attacked here, accusing here of supporting and ignoring the rising murder rate.

According to the Washington Examiner:

“Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is worried about the rising number of homicides. Not because of the surging violence, of course, but because it threatens to derail the “dfund the police” movement.

“We are seeing these headlines about percentage increases,” she said earlier this week. “Now, I want to say that any amount of harm is unacceptable and too much, but I also want to make sure that this hysteria — you know, that this doesn't drive a hysteria and that we look at these numbers in context so that we can make responsible decisions about what to allocate in that context.”

And if things go as they have in the past, we can expect a lot of hysteria driven idiotic over reactions to rising crime that will do way more harm than good. That has been what we’ve seen in the past. Examples of really bad laws include “Three strikes you’re out” and laws that allow for a person who is involved in a crime, such as burglary, to be charged with first degree murder if some one is killed during the crime. For example, there was a case where three people broke into a house, the owner heard them and shot one dead. The other two survivors were charged with and convicted of first degree murder, even though none of them even had a weapon,

Laws like these are just stunts that politicians use to make it look like they are tough on crime. They use these tricks to get the support of voters who really know little if anything about crime and criminals. So petty thieves get a life sentence for a crime they really didn’t commit. But politicians care only about furthering their careers. To actually fix the crime problem is ignored so that authoritarian politicians and the pundits who support them can use these stunts to further their careers. They do far more damage than good and this is the most authoritarian country on Earth when it comes to the treatment of criminal suspects.

Now we have AOC who has stood up for common sense solutions and a rejection of the kind of stunts that other politicians use to further their career, at the expense of others. Many of her fellow Democrats have buckled under and given in to all the fear and hysteria. Most Democrats are afraid to stand up for their own convictions. Many originally supported the “defund the police” movement. But the minute Republicans and their pundits go on the attack, most Democrats turn tail and run. They won’t stand up for their own ideas. They just assume whoever jumps on the “get tough on criminals” band wagon will come out a winner and those who, as AOC said, “that this doesn't drive a hysteria and that we look at these numbers in context so that we can make responsible decisions”.[1] That seems reasonable enough, but that won’t stop the attacks that are sure to mount up. As we all know AOC is a member of DSA and some right-wingers already call here “a dirty communist.” This is a country were raw greed drives a lot of politicians and pundits. AOC will have to stand up to these people and luckily I think she has the guts to do just that. We have needed to debate this country’s treatment of crime for the last 30 years and finally someone is doing that.

Fascism and authoritarianism does not make us safe!

 By Steve Otto

I’m writing this on the second of July, just two days before our big celebration for the 4^th of July—Independence Day. For leftist of all kinds, there are various views on this day. Some hate it and the US all together. Some like it as a date for an important historical revolution. Most Marxists I know of, hate the 4^th. I see this as an important historical revolution celebration. 

I love these blow up logos.

In two days, I will pull out the bar-B-Q, for some chicken, hotdogs and hamburgers. I will stock up on beer. And I have a lot of fireworks I will light off. If I fly a flag, it won’t be the modern day Stars and Stripes. And it won’t be that snake flag, on the yellow background, that I used fly and I used to love before it was taken over by tea-baggers and right-wing jerks. 

Each year I write something about the US revolution.  As I’ve said in the past, it was a step forward for white males. We moved society from feudalism to capitalism, which goes along with Marx’s theories of historical materialism.

 Of course Afro Americans could not vote until the end of the Civil War. Native Americans were made citizens on June 2, 1924, which was four years after women got the vote in the summer of 1920. That was the 19^th amendment. It was the Voting Rights act of 1965 that guaranteed the right to vote of all people, whether black, Indian or women. And today those rights are under attack once again. Republicans are looking for ways to make it harder for minorities to vote. Their motivation is simple. They think that the more white voters that vote, the more likely they are to win upcoming elections. As Hunter S. Thompson once said:

"I believe the Republicans have never thought that democracy was anything but a tribal myth."

So for a look at my earlier writings on the US Revolution see:

That (4th of July) is a holiday I have mixed feelings about. No doubt that there will be plenty of jingoistic TV shows and commercials on TV. There will also be radio spots promoting all the wrong things about this holiday. It was a great revolution for its time. The United States was created out of a change, based in part on the anti-feudalistic political movements in Europe and anti-colonialism in the Americas. A small group of colonies of the United Kingdom decided it was time for their own independent country. So they kicked the British out. They got rid of any form of feudal aristocracy. It all seemed good at the time. And let's not forget that this revolution was strictly for the benefit of white people of European decent. Black slaves and Native American Indians were not invited to this new world government.

For the rest click here.

By Steve Otto

Among the speakers was Marissa Rapp, one of the organizers of the event, who complained that city officials did not pay much attention to those who approached them over issues of the environment and climate change.

Anjali Singh stressed that we have a climate crisis.  

“The city does not see this as important,” she said. “But the teenagers do see it as important.”

“Kansas doesn’t have a plan,” said Jason lin. He said the city needs to work on a plan for renewable energy.

He said that Wichita and Sedgewick need to step up and take action.

He also said that every minute that goes by where we don’t act time is wasted. He sited some statistics that show Wichita has a terrible record for taking action on renewable energy.

Another speaker Alice Fitzgerald said that Wichita ignores climate change. She gave the example of a program in Toronto where they reduced plastic bags by about 250 million.[1]

Jarod Hudson spoke about the affects of poverty as such people are affected by climate change and other economic issues.

“Working class has struggled,” he said. “My mom worked a lot of jobs. None of them paid a livable wage.”

He said politicians constantly focus on bringing in jobs, but not jobs that pay a livable wage. He discussed all the empty platitudes that politicians make when running for office, but they then ignore chronic poverty after they get in office.

“They want us to pull us up by our boot straps, our boot straps have fallen off from us trying to pull us up by them,” he said.

I’m really happy so see so many progressive young people. I especially like to see young Marxist people. And that is especially important here in Wichita, a bastion of ultra-conservatism. Maybe finally after all these years

[1] See Is Toronto Finally Ready to Break Up with Plastic Bags?

By Steve Otto

There is nothing more cowardly and  traitorous  than a leader who invites US troops to come in and run his country. And that is what happened when Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph called his imperialist master asking for help.

"We definitely need assistance and we've asked our international partners for help,"Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "We believe our partners can assist the national police in resolving the situation."

As we all know, President Jovenel Moïse's assassinated recently. The US has had a long history of invading and meddling in the affairs of Haiti. In1990 Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected President. In less than a year he was overthrown in a coup led by Raoul Cédras.

Then according to Wikipedia:

“In September 1994, the United States negotiated the departure of Haiti's military leaders and the peaceful entry of 20,000 US troops under Operation Uphold Democracy. This enabled the restoration of the democratically elected Jean-Bertrand Aristide as president, who returned to Haiti in October to complete his term. As part of the deal Aristide had to implement free market reforms in an attempt to improve the Haitian economy, with mixed results, some sources stating that these reforms had a negative impact on native Haitian industry.”

As with the usual phony baloney this country conducts, they used the phony name “Operation Uphold Democracy.” But it wasn’t democracy they wanted, it was the free market.

In 2004 an anti-Aristide revolt began in northern Haiti. The US clearly favored the military engineered coup. The main stream press in the US played their usual role as cheer leaders for the rebellion, labeling those who defend the nation’s democracy as “thugs.” 

After years of turmoil the country had new elections resulting in Moïse's coming to power. The US government has a long history of invading and intervening the affairs of Haiti and all the rest of Latin America. To invite such foreign invaders to come and “resolve the situation” is outright treason. Any leader who does that needs to be removed. Nothing good can come from that and the people Haiti deserve better.

 By Steven Otto

"Merlim Llanes Cárdenas

Thank you so much Charlie Kirk to support my people. I was born and raised in Cuba, I live in America and I am claiming for an Intervention. My people need help, the Cuban dictatorial regime is repressing us. Please, help us to rise our voice. I live in land of Freedom and I want this amazing freedom for everyone in Cuba. Biden Administration should take actions against the Communist regime.

Again, thank you for your support, I am Cuban, I am a proud Republican and I will always honor the American flag. Please, help us sharing the actual situation in Cuba and the horror of Communism and Socialism. #AbajoLaDictaduraCastrista#abajoelcomunismo#intervencion#cubalibre"

Of course such a comment is outright treason, not just to the communist regime, but it should be unthinkable for any person to call for foreign troops to invade their land. This would be straight up imperialism—nothing could be worse. These people actually want a foreign power to come in and do their dirty work for them. I would never suggest foreign troops, from anywhere, for any reason to come to this country and interfere in our affairs. Also amazing is a person who posted a prayer for “Jesus” to help fight their political enemies:

"Kim Edmundson

Please Lord, Help the Cuban nation to become free of Communism and Socialism. Go before them in their fight for liberty. Send your mighty angels to fight for them! We cover the freedom fighters with the blood of Jesus. Please protect them and aid them as they push back against evil. In Jesus Name , AMEN"

This is one more example of why I’m no longer a Christian. The above person believes it is OK to ask Jesus to attack and kill those who believe in socialism. There are a lot of US citizens who are Marxists and even more people in this country who want to vote for socialists such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). I wonder if this person believes it would be justified to kill AOC in the name of Jesus.

There was one comment that actually made a lot of sense:

“Maria Palangio-Giasullo

Judy Walsma The Democrats don’t want them here they’re afraid they May vote for a Republican because they know what it’s like to live under communism.”

And yet many Democrats do support the Republican positions on Cuba. This is one time when being Democrats should call for lifting the sanctions and normalizing relations between our countries. Obama was able to do it. But Biden shows his centrist colors and is supporting the worst possible policy on Cuba.

This is one time when we need to oppose Biden. He is way wrong on this issue. Again I have to point out that this country DID NOT tolerate an antigovernment demonstration on January 6. If such a ruckus took part in Cuba, Biden would surely support it. Such activities have taken place in Hong Kong[1] and most of the politicians in this country—both parties—have endorsed it. They have rallied and given verbal support for all the violence those protesters did in Hong Kong. Our leaders love anti-government demonstrations elsewhere. But not HERE!

We need to oppose the right-wing gusanos—exiles who rally for this country to go to war and who insist on supporting the sanctions that are causing starvation to all their own countrymen. They are traitors to their country and their people. They are scum.

And we need to let Biden know we strongly oppose using sanctions to punish the Cuban people and the people of such countries as Venezuela and Nicaragua.

I have been to Cuba and I can attest to the factthat most of what is put in the mainstream press, on Cuba, is lies.

By Steve Otto

I try not to send a lot of letters to The Wichita Eagle. Most writers I know consider the letters to be armature writing. And I think it is. However there are a few times when I think it is important to respond to opinions that are dangerous to us. A recent article our local paper ran is just such a danger. As with other comments I have seen, this article, “KC, Wichita, US must stand up, step up for Cuban Friends,” seems to me, to imply that we Americans must actively take part in overthrowing the Cuban Marxist-Leninist government. I even got the impression this writer believes the US should go to war, although he doesn’t actually say that. I take the prospect of our country going to one more unnecessary war very seriously.  So I wrote a lengthy letter to the editor only to be told that it was way too long. That letter/ article/ etc., is featured below.  So I wrote a much shorter letter. It is also posted below:

CUBA

This letter in response to“KC, Wichita, US must stand up, step up for Cuban Friends,” (July 18 Eagle)

Three years ago I spent two weeks traveling across Cuba to see for myself what the island and its government were really like. I was stunned at all the things I have heard or read about Cuba which are simply untrue. They have internet service, some of them have cell phones, some people have old cars that are kept up really well. I have read that everyone there is miserable. That is not true at all. I rarely saw a cop or a soldier the entire time I was there The biggest lie is from those who claim those sanctions aren’t causing problems. They are. And if they aren’t affecting anything, lets lift them and stop punishing the common people of Cuba.

And for those who want this country to invade Cuba — get a gun and do your own dirty work. Leave the rest of us out of it.

Steve Otto, Maize

And here is what I originally wrote:

For years I have worked with the Peace and Social Justice Centerof South Central Kansasto try and stop what we believe are unnecessary wars. We, as a country, are just now leaving Afghanistan. Now I see Cuban Americans and their allies calling for war with Cuba. I have seen at least two comments, on Facebook, of Cuban Americans calling for the US to send troops into Cuba. I find that very alarming.

It is for that reason that I am writing this letter in response to “KC, Wichita, US must stand up, step up for Cuban Friends.” On top of that, these people are either supporting Cuba’s suffocating sanctions or they want heavier sanctions.

Three years ago, I went to Cuba. I went all over the island, including a lot of working class neighborhoods. I went by myself to some working class bars. I was stunned at all the lies that I have read of and heard politicians repeat here in this country, over the years. One of the biggest lies is that the US sanctions aren’t affecting Cubans. Only socialism is doing that, pundits keep saying. People everywhere in that country told me they hate those sanctions. I didn’t meet a single person who wanted those sanctions. I have seen comments from nurses on Facebook complaining that they can’t get medicines they need because of the blockade.

I had read just a month before that no one in Cuba has a cell phone—wrong.

I saw a woman in the park with a cell phone. She had pink hair. It seems that people here have the same rights to different hair cuts and styles as we have here in the US. That debunks another image I got from all the anti-communist propaganda—everyone is supposed to dress and look alike. I saw a few people with cell phones. At least some people own them. I had read were almost none of the people here had cell phones.

I keep reading over and over that no one in Cuba can access the internet—wrong again.

I was also informed that there is an internet café where ANYONE can buy time on a computer and access the internet. There is also a Wi-Fi park where people can access the internet. A few people own their own computers. I was surprised that the government does not seem worried about its people accessing the internet and viewing foreign opinions.

Another statement I’ve heard is that people who live under socialism are miserable. Again I had two weeks to test that theory out and I found it totally wrong. The people I saw and met did not seem to me to be miserable. I saw many people doing all the things I expect people to do in a country, they go to work in the morning, some sit outside their homes after work and I saw people enjoying themselves at their favorite bars in the evening.

One thing I didn’t see very often was cops or soldiers. If that government is so repressive why did I see so few cops.

One line that stands out in that article, “People who have freedom love it, and no one clutches freedom like an American.” The irony for me is that Facebook, on the day I read this, took out a comment I made, posting a link to an article, because it violated their community standards. The bottom line here is that they claim I posted something misleader, but in reality the censored my opinion. So I wish that statement is true, but I’m not convinced.

Also a few years ago, some Cuban Americans physically attacked some protesters who wanted then President Ronald Reagan to stop attacking Nicaragua and the Sandinista government back in the 1980s. That’s not what I call respecting free speech.

We have allowed some Cuban Americans to dictate our treatment of Cuba, since 1959. Most of these people lost property after the Fidel Castro government there came to power. If they win what they want they will go back to Cuba and take back all their property, adding to homelessness and unemployment.

We don’t need to be at war with Cuba. Let the people who live there decide what they want. And we need to stop strangling their economy with those sanctions. Socialism could work if this country stops sabotaging it. If that is not the case, lift the sanctions and there will be no doubt as to what has kept them poor. Let’s find out. Socialism is no longer a dirty word. 

Pix by New Feature: Tidelines Introduces Letters to the Editor | Tidelines

By Steve Otto

Last Thursday about 50 people showed up for a discussion on fines and the criminal justice system. The event was put on by Progeny.

The audience was more than half Afro-Americans. That is probably because there seem to be a consensus that the US Criminal Justice System is very racist and holds Afro-Americans back.

On the ideas being discussed:

People of color, and poor people in general, get trapped in the system. The use of heavy fines causes many people to end up in jail, often do to a lack of having a decent income for them to pay off the heavy fines. Those heavy fines where a major concern of the people at this discussion.

“We don’t know what they do with this money,” a young boy said. “It doesn’t go back to our communities.”

It was also pointed out that the US Criminal System became more repressive after slavery ended. Some of the intent of our laws are to create cheap labor for those who  used to be slaves and it is a method of control.

Some people suggested this state and country needs to up the age of the juvenile classification[1] from 18 or 21 to 25. The idea is that young people in their early 20s do things that older people would not do. They act more like juveniles than adults.

DUI divergence is as racket. The person has to pay thousand in fines to keep their record clean. This is another part of the fines that keep poor people poor.

There was some in attendance who pointed out that incarceration just doesn’t work. Those long sentences keep people from any normal life for years at a time. And they don’t really prevent a person from committing more crimes. They may even encourage further crimes since it makes it hard for a person who has been in the system to get a legitimate jobs.

I was told that many of the people present really believe they can get the support they need to change at least some of the problems and inequities in the criminal justice system.

 By Steve Otto

Afghanistan is the pentacle of US Imperialism. Anyone anywhere in the world can see the bullying that the US military establishments has to offer. There is no tolerances for diversity of politics or ideology by the US. This country spent millions of dollars, along with countless US lives, to prop up and maintain a puppet regime. The regime has been set up to support American interests (usually material resources).

It now seems apparent that the puppet regime does not have the popular support it needs to fight off the Taliban and President Joe Biden is now backing down on his promise to pull this country out of the war. He has conducted air strikes against the Taliban for two weeks now.

I don’t like the Taliban, but they seem to be able to rally enough support to overcome the US puppet troops. The mainstream press, especially TV news, has been harsh on Biden for pulling out the troops. They have also been relentless in their criticism of the Taliban. The seem to want the US to remain in Afghanistan, maybe indefinitely.

We need to oppose and condemn all interference in that country.

By Steve Otto

Citizens and local legislators came together over the problem of predatory lenders, at a Payday Loan Town Hall, Monday night, here in Wichita.

The meeting had some private citizens testify to the terrible effects of predatory lending, while legislators spoke of changes they would like to see.

These companies, such as Payday Loans, move into a poor neighborhood, entice people with easy to get loans and then charge them with interest as high as 300 percent.

“I had car trouble,” said Victoria Boyd, a witness who experienced the predatory lender abuses. “I missed a payment. Then I had to deal with Garnishment.”

Without warning they garnished her pay. They gave her no notice at all. They can legally take up to 25 percent of a paycheck and they often do.

“They took $256 from every paycheck,” Boyd said. “I’m fighting them in court.”

“They opened a payday loan in our neighborhood,” said Ti’Juana Hardwell, Wichita Black Alliance and the MC of the discussions.

She added that she knew when they came in that they where there to pray on people. She said that people sometimes lose their jobs due to their practices and some families get displaced.

A woman in the audience said she knew of a man who took out a $1,000 loan. He had to pay 300 a month and he eventually got evicted from his home.

“They Impact the community and it’s a big one,” said Wichita City Councilman Brandon Johnson. “I walked in and told Speedy Cash what I thought of them. They talked about personal responsibility.”

He added that people have lost vehicles to these outfits. He also said, as did some others who were present, that those companies come in if they have the right zoning.

He also fights against their claims that they are there to help poor people.

“It’s like going to a casino, except you always lose,” Brandon said.

Shanae’ Calhoun, a Topeka organizer for JUMP (TOPEKA JUSTICE UNITY& MINISTRY PROJECT), told the audience about some of the dirty tricks used by various lenders online.

“I clicked on an add and they had my routing number, account number and my address,” she said.

She added that Payday Loan is their model for making money. They are strategically placed.

“They are like a pack of wolves,” she said.

Calhoun talked about finding a way forward.

“This product can be a bridge,” she said. “We need to reform them not ban them.”

Several people there talked about a need to pressure our Kansas Legislators to regulate these lenders. There were three important points these people want legislators to take seriously:

·         Put a cap on the amount of interest payday loan companies can charge.

·         Require the payday loan companies to offer installment plans.

·         Limit how much of your paycheck they can take for a payment. 

“We hope to get a real hearing on this,” said Kansas Senator Oletha Faust-Goudeau (Democrat). “We can make a difference.”

All the speakers emphasized that people need to get involve and contact their legislators. They all said to send emails and letters to pressure them to fix the payday loan problems.

One legislator they are trying to pressure is Senator Ty Masterson (Republican). 

Present at the meeting were Kansas Senator Mary Ware (Democrat), Oletha Faust-Goudeau, Victoria Boyd, Ti’Juana Hardwell, Shanae’ Calhoun, Brandon Johnson.

By Steve Otto

I recently attended a Payday Loans Town Hall meeting. Most of the people there wanted to reform the predatory lenders rather than banning them. My personal feelings are that people who try to profit of the most vulnerable of people really belong in jail. I would rather see those institution banned. That is possible, but maybe not what is best for the people who live around them. Maybe the people who live around the Payday Loans and other similar institutions will be better off if those institutions simply treat them fairly.

I don’t blame the people in those areas for wanting reforms rather than bans. But I have a strong distaste for those who want to profit of off those in our society who are already down. The profit off of those who have problems finding a job that pays more than minimum wage. They profit off of those who may be living in sub standard homes, which cost them a lot of money. They  profit off of those who may be driving cars that are about to fall apart at any time. When they do fall apart they have to find money to fix them and that is not always possible.

These predatory people remind me of the people who try to profit off of the sick and dying. They invent drugs that can cure diseases only to charge ridiculous amounts of money. It is the profit motive, devoid of any feelings of compassion for their fellow man/ woman.

Our politicians bitch about a lack of human rights in Cuba and yet in Cuba a poor person can go to a doctor and get any medicines they need. Not here. Most of our political leaders actually want poor people to die early. They take delight at the idea that they can put a work requirement on any kind of Medicaid money. They know that a lot of selfish middle class people love the idea of saving money by letting poor people get sick or die. After all, it is not them who will die.

In the same manor I have to wonder what kind of a person deliberately tries to trap a poor person into borrowing money at such a high interest rate that they end up with their wages garnished, their cars repossessed or they lose their homes due to the fact that they lose all their rent money.

Even regular lenders take advantage of people. Our TV ads tell us how important our credit ratings are. While we do need vehicles to get to our jobs and homes to live in, there are those items we believe we need, but really don’t. Lots of debt can cause a person to stay at a job they hate. Or they may end up staying with an employer who is abusive.

I have nothing but contempt for those who want to saddle the most vulnerable people with debt.

If I had my way they would all be in jail. But this is US capitalism and that is not likely to ever happen. I am forced to go along with those who want to reform Payday Loans and the others who want to profit off the misery of others.

Pix from Predatory Lending Laws: Best Things To Do - Halt.org.

 By Steve Otto

As UStroops pull out of Afghanistan we can instantly see the failure of US nation building policies. Whether president Joe Biden expected it or not, the US puppet regime is quickly falling to the Taliban. The Taliban are quickly taking over the country.

The Taliban are not popular with much of anyone outside of Afghanistanor outside of the US. They are not favored by the left here in the USor in Afghanistan. The US tried to revive earlier factions that ran Afghanistan, hoping they could build popular support for them and their foreign occupiers. Liberal Democrats here in the USlike to point out that the Taliban have a terrible human rights record when it comes to women. It is true that many women were kept out of the education system under the Taliban. The west made a hero of Malala Yousafzai, a young woman who stood up to the Taliban. She was a hero. She did stand up to a repressive political force. But any one who is made a hero by USimperialism is doomed to failure in their own country.  

This reminds me of the collapse of the Khmer Rouge when the Vietnamese invaded. All the people I talked to had to admit that there was no popular support for the government run by Pol Pot when it fell so quickly.

Just as in South Vietnam we see that this government has also lost any support it may have had from the Afghanistan people. Such nation building was doomed to failure. That is especially true in a country that has been continually invaded by one superpower after the other.

Now—finally  after all these years, we can finally realize that national sovereignty is not something we can artificially create. People have to develop their own systems of government. Afghanistan has proven that.

By Steve Otto 

There are a lot of lesson for people to learn from nearly 20 years of US rule in Afghanistan. While I am glad that President Joe Biden chose to take US troops out of Afghanistan, he clearly did not expect the US puppet regime to collapse so soon. There were a lot of translators and other Afghan support crews who are now in danger of getting killed or punished by the Taliban.

In the aftermath I would have warned people not to get too attached to US troops and other US representatives. My first advice is to never invade a country and try to establish a puppet regime under the idea that it will eventually lead to a sovereign popular government that will garnish the support of Afghanistan’s people. I can remember people who told me that the US will be the first invaders to create a popular government that actually wanted this country to come in and help them. Me and my friends warned that this was not likely to happen. For the most part Afghanistan had many imperialist powers trying to control it and no foreign government was likely to succeed in such an endeavor.

Me and my friends expected the US puppet to fall, but not so fast. I think we have all been fooled by the unexpected fall of the US puppet. If fell and it fell quickly. Surely Biden did not expect these outcomes. He may be standing his ground, but he is paying a high political price for doing that.

The mainstream press has been relentlessly attacking Biden for his resolute desire to take US troops out of Afghanistan.

An example of the bad press is from ABC News:

“WASHINGTON -- Two months ago, the leaders of the world’s seven major industrialized democracies met at the height of summer on England’s southwest coast. It was a happy occasion: the first in-person summit of the Group of Seven nations in two years due to the coronavirus pandemic and the welcomed appearance of President Joe Biden and his “America is back” message on matters ranging from comity to COVID-19 to climate change.

The smiles and sunshine seem distant as G-7 leaders meet again Tuesday, in virtual format, for crisis talks on Afghanistan. The country’s burgeoning refugee crisis, the collapse of its government and fears of a resurgence in Afghan-based terrorism have left the G-7 allies scrambling and threaten the unity of the bloc.”

So for now, all we can say is “we told you so.” And we can continue to support Biden in his resolution to pull US troops out of Afghanistan.

Pix from Aljazeera.

By Steve Otto

The longest war in US history is finally over. And while many of us on the left are cheering that the US is finally ending the occupation of Afghanistan, there are polls that show the US imperialism still has a lot of support.

Many Americans still see the US as a “protector of civilization” for third world countries. It is not that different from such attitudes as “The White Man’s burden” a poem by Rudyard Kipling.[1] His work was an apologist for the imperialistic and arrogance of western governments and the policies of colonialism, common in the 19^th century. From ABC News:

“Americans are upset about how the withdrawal of U.S. troops has unfolded, and they are eager to see the U.S. help clean up the mess. But Americans are also fickle — even self-contradictory — when it comes to foreign policy.

First, only 25 percent of registered voters believed the Afghanistan withdrawal was going very or somewhat well, and 57 percent thought it was going not too well or not well at all, according to a Morning Consult/Politico poll conducted Aug. 13-16, as Kabul was falling to the Taliban. And Americans largely blame President Biden for this: A subsequent Morning Consult poll, conducted Aug. 16-19, found that 43 percent of registered voters thought Biden held a great deal of responsibility for the situation — more than Congress or any of Biden’s three predecessors, who all clocked in at 24 to 27 percent.” 

And according to a Ipsos/Reuters poll, Bidens three predecessors did better :

“George W. Bush (47 percent good, 39 percent bad), Barack Obama (51 percent good, 38 percent bad) and Donald Trump (51 percent good, 36 percent bad) — all got better, though not stellar, grades.

 Notably, of course, this still means more Americans support withdrawal than oppose it, by 12- to 17-point margins.”

What is really bad is to see Bush and Trump with higher scores. These two are probably among the worst leaders this country ever allowed to run as the president. The right-wing ass hole Trump got 51 percent. That’s ridiculous. We on the left have a lot of work left to do with poll numbers like that.

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[1]As Victorian imperial poetry,"The White Man's Burden" thematically corresponded to Kipling's belief that the British Empire was the Englishman's "Divine Burden to reign God's Empire on Earth" and celebrates British colonialism as a mission of civilization that eventually would benefit the colonized natives.

By Steve Otto

I remember back to a cartoon I saw in Playboy magazine. There was this guy about to shake hands with another guy. But when the reader flipped open a cover page, the one man’s hand had a rattlesnake head for a thumb. The purpose of the cartoon is not what is important here. What is important is my opinion of those who promote patriotism, patriotic wars, reverence for the flag and standing for the national anthem. Many people around the country are moved by such thing. I am not. I won’t shake the patriot’s hand with its snakehead.

This all brings me to an AParticle in The Wichita Eagle,“Afghanistan’s arc from 9/11: Once hopeful, now sad.” For most of us it is no surprise that the main-stream press in the US has strongly opposed President Joe Biden’s decision to leave Afghanistan. It is most likely the idea behind the article mentioned above. From the article:

“America was still reeling from the horrific terrorist attacks of two months earlier, when planes flown by al-Qaida terrorists crashed into three iconic buildings and a Pennsylvania field, killing nearly 3,000 people.

The perpetrators and their leader, Osama bin Laden, were somewhere in Afghanistan, sheltered by the Taliban .

The mission: Find him. Bring him to justice.

Right then, Afghanistan — two decades of disorder behind it, two decades more just ahead — was suspended in an in-between moment. The recent pages of its book were already filled with so much heartbreak, but for the first time in a while, some blank pages full of potential sat just ahead. Nothing was certain, but much seemed possible.

Against that backdrop, Afghans understood the mission against bin Laden to mean a chance to secure their future — a future as murky on that day as it is today. In those post-2001 months and years, they believed in the power of “the foreigners.”

Probably the biggest lesson to be learned here are that no one in a foreign country should rely on foreigners to help them out of a dilemma. It is not hard to understand why many people in Afghanistan did not like nor trust the Taliban. They are a bunch of right-wing theocratic people bent on restoring Afghanistan to some kind of Islamic paradise they believed once thrived in Afghanistan’s past. But hoping the Americans would bring the kind of prosperity found in the US was a pipe dream and a dangerous one.

The main point of US intervention in Afghanistan was a combination of protection against so called terrorism (it was just after 9/11 and the US went through about the worst terrorist attach in our history). There was also the need to protect US interests. This is important because it was way more important for resources in the US than for the Afghanistan people. Prosperity just didn’t end up in the lives of those who planned to make Afghanistan their home. According to that article a lot of Afghanistan people believed that good times and level headed government would follow the US invasion. Again:

“But in November 2001, in a mostly ruined Afghan capital where rutted roads were filled with bicycles and beat-up yellow taxis, it meant hope.

___

Torek Farhadi joined scores of educated and trained Afghan expatriates who returned to their homeland in 2002 after the Taliban were gone. He wanted to be part of the new Afghanistan that the U.S.-led invasion promised.

“I found the people relieved fresh and full on energy to start anew,” the economist said from his home in Geneva, as he watched the Taliban’s return to power last month. He remembered, too, the “smart young women” he encountered who had lost huge chunks of their educations to Taliban repression between 1996 and 2001.”

I can’t blame people for wanting something better than the Taliban. I would not want to live under such a government. But a better system needs to come from the people of Afghanistan, not foreign invaders, no matter how benevolent they might be.

I have learned here in Kansas not to trust the so called leaders who get elected to run our government. I live in the richest nation on Earth and yet there is no health care for those who live on minimum wage or under. Our government takes care of the wealthy and at times members of the middle class. Those below the middle class are treated with nothing but contempt. Those of us who have seen that contempt know that there is no way this government will better the lives of poor people who live here in the US or in Afghanistan. To believe such miracles were possible was pure fiction. Now there are many Afghanistan people who now know the truth. Liberation can not come from foreigners—only from those who live in Afghanistan.

So we need to remind people that out missions in foreign countries are not to help the people living there—they are for the benefits of those who live here. That is how it has been, that is how it will always be.

Pix bySnake head puppets.

 By Steve Otto

Today is 9/11. It is an important day for me and many people across the country. I’ve been watching ABC News this morning. They are giving this day a lot of attention. While there was plenty of reasons to commemorate this day, it brought dread to me and it awoke the worst this country has to offer—jingoism, imperialism, arrogance and blind patriotism—the kind that encourages vicious militarism. I’m sure I’ll find some of the people and ideas ABC put on TV to nauseate me.

To be fair, the attack on the twin towers was a horrible tragedy. More than two thousand people died. For some of the victims there was no way out. Some folks jumped off the top of those buildings and they had no alternative. For the people who died there was nothing they could have done to prevent it. Some just made terrible mistakes. The loss of life alone was tragic. There was nothing justified about that attack, although the Pentagon was a legitimate military target.

The results was even worse. Flags were everywhere and lots of people joined the military so they could fight unnecessary and imperialist wars. People were nasty to those who are Muslim. People of Arab heritage had to be careful of ignorant bigots. Former President George W. Bush used this attack to start America’s longest war in Afghanistan. After all these years, President Joe Biden finally had the sense to take the US out of that stupid and needless war. The so called “War on Terrorism” has led to some of this country’s worst human rights violations since the Civil War, including the concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay. In 2003, Bush got this country into another war and occupation in Iraq. The US military is still there today.

There were a lot of fist responders who put their lives in jeopardy to help save what people they could. They are heroes and deserve to be treated as such. Those who led this nation into war are monsters and criminals. Whether they realize it or not, they have made this country way more dangerous and that is nothing to honor.

As citizens we need to make our voices heard. We need to expose and denounce imperialism, jingoism and all the isms that have made this country an abomination.

Pix by

Defining images from the 9/11 attacks | Reuters.com

Science time:

Even though this site is mostly for political science, at times I feel the need to observe scientific events. This article looks at the possibility that we may not be alone in the universe. Any life from this moon  will not be intelligent and probably very primitive. But it would show that we are not alone in the Universe.

-Steve Otto

From News Univercity of  Arizona:

An unknown methane-producing process is likely at work in the hidden ocean beneath the icy shell of Saturn's moon Enceladus, suggests a new study published in Nature Astronomy by scientists at the University of Arizona and Paris Sciences & Lettres University.

Giant water plumes erupting from Enceladus have long fascinated scientists and the public alike, inspiring research and speculation about the vast ocean that is believed to be sandwiched between the moon's rocky core and its icy shell. Flying through the plumes and sampling their chemical makeup, the Cassini spacecraft detected a relatively high concentration of certain molecules associated with hydrothermal vents on the bottom of Earth's oceans, specifically dihydrogen, methane and carbon dioxide. The amount of methane found in the plumes was particularly unexpected.

"We wanted to know: Could Earthlike microbes that 'eat' the dihydrogen and produce methane explain the surprisingly large amount of methane detected by Cassini?" said Régis Ferrière, an associate professor in the University of Arizona Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and one of the study's two lead authors. "Searching for such microbes, known as methanogens, at Enceladus' seafloor would require extremely challenging deep-dive missions that are not in sight for several decades."

Ferrière and his team took a different, easier route: They constructed mathematical models to calculate the probability that different processes, including biological methanogenesis, might explain the Cassini data.

The authors applied new mathematical models that combine geochemistry and microbial ecology to analyze Cassini plume data and model the possible processes that would best explain the observations. They conclude that Cassini's data are consistent either with microbial hydrothermal vent activity, or with processes that don't involve life forms but are different from the ones known to occur on Earth.

can be produced through hydrothermal activity, but at a slow rate. Most of the production is due to microorganisms that harness the chemical disequilibrium of hydrothermally produced dihydrogen as a source of energy, and produce methane from carbon dioxide in a process called methanogenesis.

The team looked at Enceladus' plume composition as the end result of several chemical and physical processes taking place in the moon's interior. First, the researchers assessed what hydrothermal production of dihydrogen would best fit Cassini's observations, and whether this production could provide enough "food" to sustain a population of Earthlike hydrogenotrophic methanogens. To do that, they developed a model for the population dynamics of a hypothetical hydrogenotrophic methanogen, whose thermal and energetic niche was modeled after known strains from Earth.

The authors then ran the model to see whether a given set of chemical conditions, such as the dihydrogen concentration in the hydrothermal fluid, and temperature would provide a suitable environment for these microbes to grow. They also looked at what effect a hypothetical microbe population would have on its environment – for example, on the escape rates of dihydrogen and methane in the plume.

"In summary, not only could we evaluate whether Cassini's observations are compatible with an environment habitable for life, but we could also make quantitative predictions about observations to be expected, should methanogenesis actually occur at Enceladus' seafloor," Ferrière explained.

The results suggest that even the highest possible estimate of abiotic methane production – or methane production without biological aid – based on known hydrothermal chemistry is far from sufficient to explain the methane concentration measured in the plumes. Adding biological methanogenesis to the mix, however, could produce enough methane to match Cassini's observations.

"Obviously, we are not concluding that life exists in Enceladus' ocean," Ferrière said. "Rather, we wanted to understand how likely it would be that Enceladus' hydrothermal vents could be habitable to Earthlike microorganisms. Very likely, the Cassini data tell us, according to our models.

"And biological methanogenesis appears to be compatible with the data. In other words, we can't discard the 'life hypothesis' as highly improbable. To reject the life hypothesis, we need more data from future missions," he added.

The authors hope their paper provides guidance for studies aimed at better understanding the observations made by Cassini and that it encourages research to elucidate the abiotic processes that could produce enough methane to explain the data.

For example, methane could come from the chemical breakdown of primordial organic matter that may be present in Enceladus' core and that could be partially turned into dihydrogen, methane and carbon dioxide through the hydrothermal process. This hypothesis is very plausible if it turns out that Enceladus formed through the accretion of organic-rich material supplied by comets, Ferrière explained.

"It partly boils down to how probable we believe different hypotheses are to begin with," he said. "For example, if we deem the probability of life in Enceladus to be extremely low, then such alternative abiotic mechanisms become much more likely, even if they are very alien compared to what we know here on Earth."

According to the authors, a very promising advance of the paper lies in its methodology, as it is not limited to specific systems such as interior oceans of icy moons and paves the way to deal with chemical data from planets outside the solar system as they become available in the coming decades.

A full list of authors and funding information can be found in the paper, "Bayesian analysis of Enceladus's plume data to assess methanogenesis," in the June 7 issue of Nature Astronomy.

On Earth, hydrothermal activity occurs when cold seawater seeps into the ocean floor, circulates through the underlying rock and passes close by a heat source, such as a magma chamber, before spewing out into the water again through hydrothermal vents. On Earth, methane can be produced through hydrothermal activity, but at a slow rate. Most of the production is due to microorganisms that harness the chemical disequilibrium of hydrothermally produced

By Steve Otto

Today we see examples of raw imperialism as the leaders of France and other European countries complain that US President Joe Biden has not kept up the expectations of a great imperialist power. For example from AP:

“President Joe Biden’s decision to form a strategic Indo-Pacific alliance with Australia and Britain has angered France and the European Union with a go-it-alone move they see as a return to the Trump era.
The security initiative, unveiled this week, appears to have brought Biden’s summer of love with Europe to an abrupt end. AUKUS, which notably excludes France and the European Union, is just the latest in a series of steps, from Afghanistan to east Asia, that have taken Europe aback. After promising European leaders that “America is back” and that multilateral diplomacy would guide U.S. foreign policy, Biden has alienated numerous allies with a go-it-alone approach on key issues. France’s foreign minister expressed “total incomprehension” at the recent move, which he called a “stab in the back,” and the EU’s foreign policy chief complained that Europe had not been consulted.”

President Joe Biden has had some real crap and trouble from a number of sources, both here and abroad. I rarely defend a US president to this extent but he seems to be bold  enough to do some things that need be done. He is getting a lot of flack for it, that doesn’t he isn’t doing the right thing.

First there is the ending of the Afghanistan war. Imagine if the US had a president with the balls to end the Vietnam war years before the US finally pulled out. Imagine the lives saved. That alone would have made a good policy. George McGovern ran on the promise to end the Vietnam War and he never had a chance. US chauvinism was alive and well and all the red necks in the US went out in droves to elect the nearly fascist Richard Nixon. Many politicians ran on the promise of ending the Afghanistan War. Biden actually kept that promise. Now he gest flack for it. From US News:

“President Joe Biden’s decision to form a strategic Indo-Pacific alliance with Australia and Britain has angered France and the European Union with a go-it-alone move they see as a return to the Trump era.
The security initiative, unveiled this week, appears to have brought Biden’s summer of love with Europe to an abrupt end. AUKUS, which notably excludes France and the European Union, is just the latest in a series of steps, from Afghanistan to east Asia, that have taken Europe aback.”


They may not like this, but when Trump pissed these people off, his followers stuck to him like glue. He could do no wrong. Biden’s followers have been way more fickle.

The reality of Europe is that in recent years they have fallen back on their glory days of straight out imperialism. Not since the last part of the late 19 century and the early 20th century have European nations enjoyed the kind of imperialism and arrogance they have had in the past.