The IRS and Syria...investigative reporting must reads

Yesterday’s New York Times had excellent investigative stories about two of today’s major news stories. 

First, Nicholas Confessore, David Kocieniewski and Michael Luo give you the real inside story on how the IRS managed, or more accurately mismanaged, operations in its Exempt Organizations Division in Cincinnati that has resulted in all the partisan turmoil in Washington. 

Second, Thomas Friedman, who we usually just read on the opinion pages, tells how the intersection of climate change and the deregulation of agriculture land in Syria laid the foundation of Syria’s revolution.

      (A)fter Assad took over in 2000 he opened up the regulated agricultural sector in Syria
      for big farmers, many of them government cronies, to buy up land and drill as much water
      as they wanted, eventually severely diminishing the water table. This began driving small
      farmers off the land into towns, where they had to scrounge for work.

      Then, between 2006 and 2011, some 60 percent of Syria’s land mass was ravaged by
      the drought and, with the water table already too low and river irrigation shrunken, it
      wiped out the livelihoods of 800,000 Syrian farmers and herders, the United Nations
      reported. “Half the population in Syria between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers left the
      land” for urban areas during the last decade, said Aita. And with Assad doing nothing to
      help the drought refugees, a lot of very simple farmers and their kids got politicized.

These two stories represent the best in investigative reporting.  Not only do they contribute to our understanding of important issues but they demonstrate how critical it is that we have print reporters to do this kind of hard, time-consuming investigative work.

And we say we love our children

You probably wonder why the rate of childhood diseases like autism are at all-time highs.  Same thing for cases of Attention Deficit Disorder.   The answer might be right on store shelves.

The Washington Toxics Coalition and Safer States report that children’s products are loaded with toxic chemicals like mercury, arsenic and cadmium.  Over 5000 of these products are just waiting for you to purchase and take home to poison your kids.

Having a child’s birthday party?  Why not make them wear party hats from Hallmark containing cancer-causing arsenic.  Those cute dolls from Walmart have a little something extra for your child—the hormone-disrupting bisphenol A.

The researchers didn’t have to do a lot of testing to find the 41 toxic chemicals used in these children’s products.  The manufacturers were required by a Washington state law to report any toxic chemicals used in their products for kids. 

Other states are trying to pass the same kind of law so at least the states or researchers can connect the dots for consumers. 

What kind of country are we that doesn’t make manufacturers of any consumer product, let alone products for our children, disclose if they are using toxic chemicals and then make them stop it.  When the voters and small business owners are asked if they want more government protection from toxic chemicals, the answer is overwhelmingly YES.

But yet our federal and almost all state governments refuses to act.

We say we love our kids and buy them lots of stuff…stuff that is making them sick. 

We adults are the ones who are sick for allowing this to go on.

Read the full press release on this issue below.

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

Children’s Product Makers Report Over 5000 Products Contain Toxic Chemicals Of Concern To Kids’ Health

May 01, 2013

Seattle, WA –Over 5000 children’s products contain toxic chemicals linked to cancer, hormone disruption, and reproductive problems according to reports filed with the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology).  An analysis of the reports by the Washington Toxics Coalition and Safer States found that makers of kids’ products reported using a total of 41 chemicals identified by Ecology as a concern for children’s health, including toxic metals such as cadmium, mercury, and antimony, and organic compounds such as phthalates.  Major manufacturers who reported using the chemicals in their products include Walmart, Gap, Gymboree, Hallmark, and H & M.

Examples of product categories reported to contain toxic chemicals include:

• Hallmark party hats containing cancer-causing arsenic.
• Graco car seats containing the toxic flame retardant TBBPA (tetrabromobisphenol A)
• Claire’s cosmetics containing cancer-causing formaldehyde.
• Walmart dolls containing hormone-disrupting bisphenol A.

“The data shows store shelves remain full of toxic chemicals that we know are a concern for children’s health,” said Erika Schreder, science director for the Washington Toxics Coalition. “These reports are critical for understanding the presence of toxic chemicals in our homes and the marketplace.”

The chemical reports are required under Washington State’s Children’s Safe Products Act of 2008, which requires major companies making children’s products to report the presence of toxic chemicals in their products. The reports cover certain children’s products sold in Washington State from June 1, 2012 to March 1, 2013.

Major findings from the reports include: 

• More than 5,000 products have been reported to date as containing a chemical on Washington State’s list of 66 Chemicals of High Concern to Children.
• Products reported so far include children’s clothing and footwear, personal care products, baby products, toys, car seats, and arts and craft supplies.
• Toxic metals such as mercury, cadmium, cobalt, antimony, and molybdenum were reported, with cobalt being the metal most often reported.  
• Manufacturers reported using phthalates in clothing, toys, bedding, and baby products. 
• Other chemicals reported include solvents like ethylene glycol and methyl ethyl ketone, and a compound used in silicone known as octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane.

“Too many products contain chemicals that do not belong in items we give our kids. To truly protect children, manufacturers need to identify safer ways to make their products and stop using harmful chemicals,” said Schreder.

A Washington state bill that would have required manufacturers to stop using toxic flame retardants in children’s products and to identify safer ways to make their products failed to pass the legislature before the end of the regular session on April 28th.  The Toxic-Free Kids and Families Act (HB 1294) was opposed by a coalition led by the American Chemistry Council, Walmart, and the Association of Washington Business.

Walmart, a major opponent of the Toxic-Free Kids and Families Act, reported a total of 459 instances of products containing chemicals including arsenic, cadmium, phthalates, bisphenol A (BPA), and mercury.

“It is particularly disturbing to see the large numbers of products reported by Walmart at the same time the company has been working to defeat Washington’s bill that would address some of the most problematic uses,” said Schreder. “Companies like Walmart need to show they’re serious about children’s health by getting toxic chemicals out of their products and supporting common-sense legislation.”

Washington State is the first state to have a comprehensive chemical reporting program.  It is considered a model for other states.

“The Washington experience shows these reporting programs can work without being too burdensome on business,” said Sarah Doll, Director of Safer States. “At least seven additional states are considering implementing similar programs on the extent of chemical use in children’s products in their state. Critical in these proposals are requirements that companies begin looking at safer ways to make their products and an eventual phase-out of the use of harmful chemicals.”  

A full analysis of Washington State’s chemical use reports are available at http://www.watoxics.org/chemicalsrevealed

A searchable database of chemical use reports filed with the Washington State Department of Ecology is available at http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/swfa/cspa/search.html

The Washington Toxics Coalition is nonprofit organization that works to protect public health and the environment from toxic chemicals in Washington state. www.watoxics.org, www.facebook.com/watoxics or @WA_Toxics

Safer States (The State Alliance for Federal Reform (SAFER) of Chemical Policy) is a coalition of state-based organizations championing solutions to protect public health and communities from toxic chemicals. www.saferstates.org, www.facebook.com/saferstates or @SaferStates

NFIB's big business funding revealed again

Last July I had an opinion editorial in The Hill’s Congressional Blog entitled, “Big money behind misinformation on healthcare law”.  It talked about the revelations of big donor money flowing to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) to fight against the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). 

According to a Public Campaign analysis of IRS 990 filings from the NFIB and NFIB Small Business Legal Center for 2009-2011, the NFIB organizations have had dramatic increases in contributions since the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010. But the new-found wealth is not from dues of the average NFIB member. The IRS filings show that the NFIB organizations received $10 million from just 10 contributors in 2010-2011. In the previous year the largest individual contribution was just $21,000. News reports have identified the conservative and superpac Crossroads GPS as one of the NFIB contributors in 2010 giving $3.7 million.

The fact that the NFIB is just a front group for big business and partisan interests, a small business pretender organization I have called it, is well documented.  Yet much of the media amazingly still rushes to the NFIB for its position on small business issues. 

Hopefully the latest news about where the NFIB gets it funding will finally make the press wake up about this faux small-business organization.

The National Journal reported yesterday that the NFIB’s efforts to stop a new tax on health insurance companies that will help pay for implementation of Obamacare is being funded by the big insurance industry group America’s Health Insurance Plans to the tune of $850,000.

It took a lot of comparing tax filings by Chris Frates of the Journal to uncover the secret deal.

The back-channel spending shows how insurers were able to fund a key—and much more politically popular—ally in their fight against the premium tax. After all, helping small businesses is a political no-brainer while aiding big insurers is a political nonstarter.

Here is the bottom line.  The NFIB does not represent the interests of small businesses.  It represents the interests of its major funders….big corporations.

Senate video worth watching

Momentum is building in the U.S. Senate for change in the filibuster rules. 

If you remember at the start of the current session Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid refused to allow a vote on significantly changing the filibuster rules.  The Senate has become dysfunctional with nothing really getting done due to the abuse of the present rules that allow the minority to control the Senate.  It is so easy to block any movement on bills and even nominations that the country’s important issues are not being addressed effectively.

This frustration boiled over recently at a Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works that met to consider the nomination of Gina McCarthy for EPA Administrator.  All the Republican members of the Committee boycotted the meeting so that no action could be taken. 

Watch the fireworks for yourself at the link below.  Advance to the 27 minute and 40 second mark when the meeting begins.  It is well worth watching and when you are done call Senator Reid’s office at 1-866-736-7343 and demand the Senate reform its filibuster rules.

http://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Choose&Hearing_id=670b95e6-ae45-33e6-edac-c256181b8e10

 

Mark Sanford...slaying an already tamed deficit

Congratulations to Mark Sanford for his victory Tuesday in South Carolina’s First Congressional District. 

Sanford’s campaign message was pretty simple.  Elect him and he would totally focus on reigning in federal spending in order to cut the budget deficit.

Well, in a strange ironic coincidence The Washington Post ran a story on the same day Sanford was elected with this lead, “After four years of trillion-dollar deficits, the red ink is receding rapidly in Washington.”

Federal spending is down and revenue is up. 

According to The Washington Post story, “Defense spending has been declining rapidly with the end of the war in Iraq and the ongoing drawdown of forces in Afghanistan. A surprising — and apparently durable — slowdown in health-care costs has sharply reduced projected spending on Medicare and Medicaid. And the falling jobless rate and improving economy have helped push federal tax collections up 16 percent over last year, according to figures out Tuesday.”

Throw in sequester cuts, Social Security tax cuts going away and households with more than $450,000 income paying just a little more in taxes and you get the reduced red ink.  In fact the federal government is expected to actually make a small payment to reduce the national debt in June.

Now none of this will stop Mr. Sanford from pushing for the type of failed austerity measures that have crippled the European economies.  But this good budget news should make those in Washington pay less attention to his deficit-hawk voice in Congress.   And that is a good thing for a country that needs to invest in infrastructure, education, healthcare and other areas to rebuild a stronger economy that will create more tax revenue to get us closer to a balanced budget.

Success in the U.S. Senate

Below is a message from the Alliance for Main Street Fairness that has helped lead the fight in Congress to pass the Marketplace Fairness Act that will allow a state to require online stores to collect sales tax on purchases from that state. 

The Senate in an overwhelming bipartisan vote yesterday passed the bill.  This is a victory for brick-and-mortar stores that already collect state sales tax putting them at a competitive disadvantage to the online stores.

Senator Lindsay Graham supported our small businesses with his vote but unfortunately Senator Tim Scott voted against this bill.

Now the legislation goes to the U.S. House. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear South Carolina,

We did it!

The Senate just passed the standalone Marketplace Fairness Act by a binding vote of 69-27. Next stop: the House of Representatives.

Read more about this exciting e-fairness development in our latest blog post.

This vote represents a huge victory for all of us who want to see the sales tax loophole closed—and we couldn’t have done it without your help.

But while we now have Senate passage behind us, we are only halfway home. We need to motivate the House to pass this important bill so it can be sent to the President to be signed into law.

Thank you again for making this victory in the Senate possible. Let’s continue working together to enact the Marketplace Fairness Act this year!

Best,

The Alliance for Main Street Fairness

Inglis still pushing for business solution to climate change

Former South Carolina Congressman Bob Inglis continues to lead the effort to promote a responsible business model for addressing climate change that is the biggest threat to our state’s future tourism economy.  He might have lost his re-election some years ago partially because of his willingness to tell the truth about climate change, but he has a positive attitude about it. 

“Losing an election is not the worst thing that can happen to you. Losing your soul is considerably worse,” says Inglis. 

Read the two stories below.

The Hill
May 5, 2013

Carbon tax backers quietly forge ahead

By Ben Geman - 05/05/13 06:00 AM ET

Activists are quietly forging ahead with their campaign for carbon taxes despite long odds on Capitol Hill.

Bob Inglis, a former GOP House member from South Carolina, is part of a very loose collection of policy wonks and advocates fighting to change the politics of taxing emissions.

“It’s a longer-term play here,” Inglis said.

Inglis, who launched the “Energy and Enterprise Initiative” at George Mason University last year, sees several forces converging that will enable a carbon tax to surface in a broader fiscal policy deal.

It would happen, he said, by “immaculate conception,” but not until 2015 or 2016.

Read more

Politico May 6, 2013

Bob Inglis going the distance on carbon emissions tax By: Darren Goode

Former Rep. Bob Inglis knows that his devotion to a carbon tax might have cost him his job. But the South Carolina Republican has no regrets as he dedicates his post-congressional career as well to the battle to persuade fellow conservatives to embrace a revenue-neutral carbon tax. “And really, I am the worst commercial for this, because I got my head blown off trying to do it,” he told POLITICO, sitting at a coffee shop a short walk from the Capitol. But he added, “Losing an election is not the worst thing that can happen to you. Losing your soul is considerably worse.” The controversial tax proposal has long won the backing of many economists, who say it is the simplest and purest means of reducing emissions blamed for contributing to climate change. And while it has also won tentative backing from oil giants like Shell and ExxonMobil, it’s been pilloried by many oil-state politicians and conservatives, who say it would raise energy costs and hurt fossil fuel industries.

Read more