http://bit.ly/mTLwsG Party and Politics *

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PARTY-POLITICS*

• Jede Party ist politisch, auch ohne Transparente und Flugblätter.

• Politisch ist der Umgang der Leute miteinander: Gemeinschaftlich oder sind alle auf einem Ego-Trip?

• Politisch ist es, wenn alle ehrfürchtig zum DJ hinauf blicken und ihn bejubeln, was immer er auch macht.

• Politisch ist, ob es bei einer Party um die Community geht oder nur um Profit.

• Politisch ist auch das Verhältnis zur Natur bei einem Open-Air: Bleiben Müllberge zurück?

• Politisch sind Partys auf denen in Straßen, Supermärkten und Konzernzentralen für Veränderung getanzt wird.

• Und politisch sind Partys, die sich bewusst Kommerz, Konsum und Kontrolle widersetzen, um dadurch zu einem wirklichen Freiraum zu werden...


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PARTY-POLITICS*

• Every party is political. There needn’t be a banner hanging with a political demand anywhere.

• So, for example, the question of who makes money out of a party is political. Is it a single person that thrives on inflated admission charges? Or is it a group of people that are mainly concerned with a good party?

• Political is the handling of nature at an Open-Air event. Does one strive to use the place sensibly or are there piles of rubbish left behind?

• Political is how people interact with each other at a party. Is it collaborative or an Ego-trip?

• Of course a consciously organized party that becomes a free space and defies the guidelines of commerce and consumption and control is also political.

• Political is as well how drugs are handled on a party.

• For example it is also political if all reverentially look up to the DJ and acclaim whatever he may do.

• Political is more than the question whether a track has political lyrics. Policy is also more than the talk of ministers. Policy is the relationship between us. Policy is our daily action ...


Wolfgang Sterneck
http://bit.ly/qENwSU


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The House and Senate are far apart on how much to mete out for cleanup and recovery after an unusual streak of natural disasters this year. They don't usually budget for such events.
Texas had massive wildfires, Vermont had record flooding, and some residents of Virginia are still trying to repair their homes after an earthquake.
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In fact, scores of states have experienced some kind of major disaster this year.
Still reeling from a difficult debt ceiling fight, and as Republican-led rhetoric heats up about the size of federal government, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are debating how to provide funding for the ongoing cleanup and recovery from the higher-than-usual number of natural disasters this year.

“They will provide the funding and resolve the issue by Sept. 30. It’s just a question of how to pay for it,” says Pete Davis, a former congressional staffer, now a consultant in Washington.
House Republicans want to pay for the Disaster Relief Fund in part by taking some money out of the Obama 2009 stimulus funding designated to provide $ 1.5 billion in loans to companies doing research on environmentally friendly vehicles. The Democratic-controlled Senate wants to fund disaster relief by tacking it onto the deficit.
And the House and Senate differ on how much to provide.
The House, in a proposal introduced Wednesday, said it would provide $ 3.65 billion for disaster relief, with $ 1 billion available immediately. The Senate, which has not voted on its spending bill yet, is proposing $ 6.9 billion for disaster funding.
The Obama administration says it will need at least the $ 6.9 billion proposed by the Senate – even before potential disasters strike in the coming year.
In the beginning of September, President Obama estimated that there are $ 5.2 billion in known disaster relief needs – such as continued aid for tornado-hit Joplin, Mo. In addition, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) estimates it will need another $ 1.5 billion to cover the uninsured losses families and communities suffered from hurricane Irene, which hit the Eastern seaboard in late August.
In the past, Congress has not funded supplemental disaster aid, adding it to the federal deficit instead. According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), from 1989 to 2010 Congress has spent $ 140.5 billion on disasters.