Doug Martin reports that Governor Mike Pence is attracting major campaign contributions from the fabulously wealthy circle of friends allied with the Koch Brothers.
Martin writes:
On June 25, just one day after the governor wrote a letter to president Obama saying Indiana would not comply with proposed Environmental Protection Agency rules against greenhouse omissions, Mike Pence’s campaign received a $10,000 gift from Marvin Gilliam of Bristol, Virginia.
Gilliam is the former VP of what was once one of the largest coal producers in America, Cumberland Resources, which was purchased by Massey Energy in 2010.
In 2013, Gilliam and Koch Industries, along with other wealthy donors, financed the gubernatorial campaign of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II, a longtime Republican and anti-LGBT climate denier who “used his position to launch an inquisition against a former University of Virginia climate scientist.”
By funding Pence, the Koch Ring knows they will have a steady far-right ally, who will join them in denying climate change, in promoting the privatization of public education, and in their other radical schemes.
Pence will face a strong challenge from State Superintendent of Education Glenda Ritz. In 2012, she beat rightwing hero Tony Bennett and won more votes than Pence.
The question for Indiana is whether its people are prepared to fight for their state or to hand it over to the corporate elites.
By the way, if you have not read Doug Martin’s Hoosier School Heist, you should. It is a well-documented report on the corporate takeover of Hoosier public schools by profiteers.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
When the Supreme Court issued the absurd ruling that corporations are people, it was the death knell for democracy and the total devolution of our form of representative government into the clutches of corporatism. Look up the definition of fascism in Webster’s dictionany and you will find it is simply corporations owning/running a government. When we see the billionaires like this man, Soros, Bill Gates and the rest of them being the sugar daddy of those running for president, what else can one realize other than we no longer have a republic and the people are mere pawns of the elite’s games for power and control.
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“Dis-pense with Pence” is my battle cry. I HOPE that he has dug his own grave. I see a LOT of negative publicity in our corporate news. Even today in our local paper one of the editors wrote quite a negative column on him.
We can only hope and “write” to our local editors etc etc etc.
We MUST make our voices heard. Otherwise we have no recourse.
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Does anyone know of the Koch brothers and their allies are aliens from another planet who want to increase the amount of CO2 to the environment to get rid of humans?
I’ve been reading compelling evidence that links major extinctions to CO2 levels in the air, acidification of the ocean/water and even acid rain that’s caused by CO2 in the air.
The link is the pH balance in our blood. The amount of CO2 in the air and water can throw us off balance and that leads to a higher risk of disease and even mental dysfunction. Mammals actually need CO2 but too much or even not enough can cause all kinds of problems.
“Having a low level of carbon dioxide in the blood or a high level of carbon dioxide in the blood will greatly affect some of the functioning in the body. These functions are associated to those of the cardiovascular system as well as the systems associated with cellular-based respiration. A low level of carbon dioxide in the blood will lead to reduced oxygen reaching the various cells and tissues of the body. An increase in carbon dioxide in the blood is also a problem for the body.”
If you click on the link, scroll down and look at the image for the main symptoms of carbon dioxide toxicity.
http://www.bloodwork.com/carbon-dioxide-total-blood-test.html
Research usually deals with high levels of CO2 toxicity but there isn’t much evidence out there for long term effects of being exposed to levels of CO2 that are slightly beyond our comfort range instead of at high levels.
For instance, Arsenic Poisoning. A large dose will kill you quickly but smaller doses over a prolonged period of time will lead to the same results—-death—and yet small amounts of Arsenic are required for normal operation of the body.
And less than 1/8 of a teaspoon can be fatal. Hint: arsenic combines with CO2 emissions.
If interested you may want to read about it here: http://www.lung.org/assets/documents/healthy-air/coal-fired-plant-hazards.pdf
And then there is acid rain caused by the same CO2 emissions.
“Acid rain is a rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it possesses elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). It can have harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals and infrastructure.”
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While this is disappointing, it’s not surprising. My fear is that voters here in Indiana are so programmed to vote straight Republican, that by election day, they will vote by habit instead of using any common sense. Republican ads, thanks to the SCOTUS, dominate election airwaves here. I want to have more faith in Hoosier voters, but I am not there yet.
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Diane and concerned readers,
The Indianapolis Star posted this article yesterday:
Indiana schools see shortage of teacher applications
(http://www.indystar.com/story/news/education/2015/07/12/indiana-schools-see-shortage-teacher-applications/30051447/)
In a nutshell, the Indiana Department of Education reports the state issued 16,578 licenses to first-time teachers, including teachers with licenses in multiple subject areas, in the 2009-2010 school year. That number dropped to 6,174 for the 2013-14 school year, the most recent for which data were available, (as) the Greensburg Daily News reported.
Why is this not surprising? As an educator who lives and works in Indiana, I urge EFE students not to pursue this as a profession. I ask student teachers if the are SURE that they want to do this. It’s truly sad to not be able to campaign for one’s own profession. I plan to ride it out for two to four years, then get out. Hopefully the deformers will have still left some of my pension in tact.
Pence must go. Our rights could be next!
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