Scottish Salmon And Workers Comp October 14, 2015October 14, 2015 But first Workers Comp. It seems that the same folks who oppose the minimum wage, legal services for the poor, Medicaid expansion, federal-student-loan refinancing, and unions — but favor cutting the inheritance tax on billionheirs to zero — are now hard at work dismantling Workers Comp. Texas and Oklahoma have gone first, successfully cutting back compensation to injured workers. Because, really, why wouldn’t you want to? Read it here. The Republican debates are more fun than ours — “you’re ugly!” “no you’re ugly!” — but the stock market and economy do better under Democrats. During the 12 Bush years, net private-sector job creation totaled just 747,000 — versus 19.6 million during the Clinton years and 8.6 million so far under Obama — or 12.9 million if you don’t count the first few horrific months he inherited. So that’s: 747,000 jobs under the 12 most recent years of Republican leadership, as deficits ballooned; 30 million under the 14.5 most recent years of Democratic leadership, as deficits were brought back under control. Invested in the S&P 500 only during Republican administrations since 1929, and excluding dividends, $10,000 would have grown to only about $12,000 — versus about $600,000 if invested only during Democratic administrations. And Democrats want to strengthen — or at least preserve — the Social Safety net. If you have a heart — or a brain (climate science, anyone?) — or just want more money — you should seriously rethink your allegiance to the billionaire party. SALMON Dr. James Merryweather of Auchtertyre: “Obliquely/whimsically: yesterday here in the Highlands I followed a flower delivery van from Port Glasgow before dropping in on my friend Ross Calderwood (a local bagpipe maker, whose instruments I play) who originally came from Port Glasgow. [So] I read your column with interest and rapidly homed in on the modest hyperlink in the words ‘– or not.’ So even Andy Tobias has become aware that Scottish Salmon is not all it’s cracked up to be? If he knew what we knew – I think he does – he, like us, would refuse to eat it. Salmon farming (in nets) is the subject that has occupied a small group of us here on Skye for the past three years … and until we get something done about it, probably a lot longer. Some people seem to think we are some sort of ditsy action group, but in reality we’re just a bunch of locals, two of us biologists, who were appalled by threats to our local lochs of aggressive industrial development by companies (mostly Norwegian) who stop at nothing to get their way (we know because we’ve checked), and our government allows it. “The aspects of salmon farming that concern us most are not really addressed by [your other link]. The consequences of marine pollution and parasitic sea lice concentrated on farmed fish and then transferred in huge numbers onto wild salmon and sea trout, exterminating population of them all along the west Highland coast. There is virtually no salmon or sea trout angling on west coast rivers now because there’s nothing to fish for and all scientific research indicates that that sea lice from fish farms are the cause. There is a solution that eliminates all problems associated with net-cage salmon farming: closed containment in tank systems, which we are energetically recommending. The Canadians are onto it (and the Danish) while small-scale aquaculture-hydroponic systems (‘aquaponics’) have been set up all over the world and only require up-scaling to suit the Norwegian salmon farmers. “I’d better not write too much, but I can send you to our website: the Scottish Salmon Think-Tank, deliberately named to sound a lot grander than we five retired people really are … yet? If a Norwegian big business can set itself up as the Scottish Salmon Company, then we can mimic them. I think you’d approve of our method: provide the public with facts only and work non-publicly to inform and persuade the authorities (wildlife organisations, local councils, planners, government) rather than waving placards and chanting inane slogans. We’re trying to inform Britain, and if the message would spread to the USA, all the better.” ☞ Hear, hear.