BIDEN'S CLIMATE CORPS

Joe Biden today became the first sitting president to join a union picket line.  Biden specifically said that the UAW should get a 40% raise.  40%?  Yikes.  See his presence on You Tube.  Donald Trump visiting Michigan tomorrow to meet with UAW workers.

There is the second Republican presidential debate tomorrow.  FOX Business channel from 9-11 PM EDT.

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  No Trump, of course.
• Seven Republicans. 
• Anyone know who Douglas Burgum is?  Oh, he is a former governor of North Dakota, and a billionaire.
• Fox News announced that it will host a November 2023 debate between two governors, Ron DeSantis and Gavin Newsom.

One more political item.  Cassidy Hutchison today released her first book, Enough.  I saw her on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show yesterday.  She looked better looking than that cover photo.  She'll repeat on CNN's Jake Tapper show today at 4PM EDT.

She writes in more detail regarding that damning exposé about Donald Trump and his cronies on 6January2021.  Note that she was the assistant to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.  Remember the name of the person who revealed the Nixon tapes to the Watergate Commission?  Alexander Butterfield was the assistant to White House Chief of Staff,  H.R. Haldeman, the exact same position as Hutchinson!

But on to my nostalgic posting of today.  When I was a junior in college, John F. Kennedy announced the creation of a Peace Corps, which was authorized by Congress later in the year.  Thus, 1962 was the first full year for volunteers, and many of my closest friends chose this pathway for their first job.  They were sent to places like Africa and the South Pacific and paid $90/month to serve for two years.  Here is a blog from a decade ago reporting on a post-50th year reunion some of us had in Napa Valley, indicating that two them went to Cameroon and one to the Ivory Coast.

To quote Wikipedia:

In its inaugural year, the Peace Corps had 900 volunteers serving 16 countries, reaching its peak in 1966 with 15,556 volunteers in 52 countries. Following budget cuts in 1989, the number of volunteers declined to 5,100, though subsequent increases in funding led to renewed growth into the 21st century; by its 50th anniversary in 2011, there were over 8,500 volunteers serving in 77 countries. Since its inception, more than 240,000 Americans have joined the Peace Corps and served in 142 countries.^[6]

Thus, I had to do something reasonably sacrificial, so I decided to save the sugar industry in Hawaii.  Note that I have continued this effort on a higher scale, for this blog site is designed to Save Planet Earth and Humanity.  I failed with the sugar industry, which is no more in Hawaii, but I hope that my current crusade will some day succeed.  

In 1961 I spent the summer on the Big Island for a job with C. Brewer to scout out the scene.  A full-time job paid $500/month, and housing was included, as in the Peace Corps.  This opportunity was good enough, so I ended up working with the company, the oldest in Hawaii, for seven years.  Having grown up in Honolulu, this allowed me to live on several other islands.  It was also the toughest job I ever had, and built a solid foundation to become what I am today.

More than a year and a half ago, various members of Congress rallied for something called the Civilian Climate Corps.  But funding was stripped from the Inflation Reduction Act by Republicans.

But the concept has huge public support:

Finally, just this past week, President Joe Biden announced the formation of his American Climate Corp (ACC).  

• There has been some other history, for 90 years ago, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created a Civilian Conservation Corps to cut trails, build roads and solidify the infrastructure.  
• Initiated in the heat of the Great Depression, the CCC lasted almost a decade into 1942, building 100,000 miles of roads/trails, 318,000 dams, tens of thousands of bridges and planted 2.3 billion trees.
• At peak, reached 500,000 annual members, and employed 3 million citizens over its lifetime.

About the ACC:

In Biden’s Build Back Better proposal, he calls for hiring 300,000 Americans at a cost of anywhere from $10 to $30 billion for his Climate Corps, at a cost of between $40,000 to $70,000 per member. That’s low for some Congressional Democrats. Sen. Ed Markey and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez have introduced the Civilian Climate Corps for Jobs and Justice Act, asking for $132 billion for a corps of 1.5 million members.

As part of FDR's new Deal Program, volunteers between 18 and 25 got $5/month (with $25/month sent to their family), plus meals and lodging in military camp fashion.  

Biden's program will start at $15/hour:

• Congressional funding has been a pain, so Biden used Executive Order to initiate the program, and hopes to have 20,000 on board in the coming year.

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  This will be a workforce training and service initiative to gain access to skills-based capabilities for careers in clean energy and climate resilience, with foci in equity and environmental justice.
• The expectation is collaboration with Federal government departments, Tribal, State and Local governments, plus labor unions, nonprofit service allies, philanthropy and the private sector.
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  Governor Gavin Newsom actually created the California Climate Action Corps in 2020, and nine other states have already formed similar initiatives.
• Go to the American Climate Corps for information.
• Click on ACC for details regarding apprenticeships through the Departments of Labor and Energy, and the Department of Interior initiatives in wildfire crisis strategy and the Indian Youth Service Corps.

As you might know, the women golfers did not re-take the Solheim Cup from Europe last week in Spain.  This week, the men compete for the Ryder Cup in Rome.  Here are some details you missed about this effort.

• First, Americans haven't won in Europe in 30 years.
• The team has a private chef, who assure a couple of golfers that there will be gluten-free options.
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  U.S team captain Zach Johnson has five elected vice captains, and each has an assistant.
• They actually had to ship fiberglass tubs to Rome so that certain players could take ice baths.

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  Oh course, they play for pride, not money.  Why?  Rory McIlroy was quoted to say:

Win, lose, or draw, Ryder Cup weeks are always amazing and you form bonds that hopefully will last a lifetime and, you know, you get to know people on a different level and that's, that's wonderful. Losing the Ryder Cup and having to wait two years to win it back is at the start. The most disappointed you're ever going to feel.

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