Articles by Lisa Hymas

Oink, oink

Bush signed the massive corporate tax giveaway yesterday, though his handlers didn't make a big stink over it.  Perhaps they were hoping we little people wouldn't notice that it's an unconscionable $143-million-over-10-years pork smorgasbord for the oh-so-special interests, at a time of record deficits ($413 billion and counting).  Oh, and it's an environmental abomination too.  

Commentator Connie Rice of The Tavis Smiley Show on NPR -- who dubbed the bill the "Corporate Looting and Piracy Act" -- summed up just a few of its most stomach-churning provisions:  

Unlike the Leave No Child Behind bill, this corporate boondoggle is fully funded. ExxonMobil, Home Depot, cruise ships, corn farmers, coffee roasters, and makers of fishing tackle boxes, bows and arrows and ceiling fans all have special tax breaks specially tailored for their needs. And unlike the nation's children, who will be paying down our trillion-dollar deficit their whole lives, 60 percent of these corporations will likely continue to pay zero federal taxes, because their armies of lawyers will figure out how re-open newly closed loopholes that allegedly will pay for this bill. ... And get this: [Congress] also cut the charitable car donation deduction that middle-class people take, cut the child tax credit for the poor, blocked restoration of overtime for millions of workers, cut unemployment benefits, cut and then restored war veterans hospital benefits, and made it harder for regular folk to apply for bankruptcy.

As reported in The Washington Post:

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) dismissed [the corporate tax bill] as "a lobbyist's dream and a middle-class nightmare." Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called it "the worst example of the influence of special interests that I've ever seen."

VP mutiny

Even Winona LaDuke, Nader's running mate in 1996 and 2000, is ditching Ralph this year and endorsing Kerry.  This from her opinion piece in Indian Country Today:

John Kerry provides promise for Native America and for America. His policy proposals involve vision -- like alternative energy, more accessible health care, and finding all those children who have been "left behind" by the Bush administration. ... He opposes converting Yucca Mountain into a nuclear waste dump. He noted in the first debate that America cannot demand that other countries dispose of their nukes while we are busy engineering new ones. ... And while Kerry may be a diamond in the rough on issues like genetic modification, tribal budgets and building a more inclusive democracy, he has potential. And this is far more than what we can say for his opponent. By Nov. 2, 2004, John Kerry will have earned my vote.

Another voice calling Kyoto a potential boon for business

L.A. Times business columnist James Flanigan has joined the ever-growing chorus asserting that Kyoto can -- even will -- be good for industry.  

"Global warming is suddenly looking like a hot business opportunity," he writes.  "The funny thing is nobody seems to fear the Kyoto Protocol anymore. In fact, some might even get rich off it."

Italy jumps on the SUV-bashing bandwagon

Europeans don't take as kindly to mobile global-warmers as do their American counterparts.  Latest country to join in the anti-SUV backlash:  Italy.  The nation's Environment Ministry is plotting to slap a new tax on big gas-guzzlers, and possibly use the funds to incentivize people to scrap old cars and buy more efficient ones, Reuters reports.