Listen to Michael Lewis, author of Liar's Poker, and now his new book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. Fantastic interview.
For more, go to the link.
Interesting links to read.
the market, commodities, oil, Greece, Euro
A beautiful Storycorp story
Peter Schiff Youtube
Market Oracle Report
Karl Denninger piece on ZIRP Trap
The Great American Bank Robbery-MUST READ!
The Great Inflation Cover-Up
How Taxes and the Consumer Price Index Weights Hide Inflation
A Mortgage On-Line Calculator
Interest Scams and How to Avoid Them: Mortgages
Wall Street's Power Grab. This article has to be one of the best every written on this subject!
book review: 'Shadow Elite': Do You Know Whose Agenda You're Being Sold?
2010 is going to get tough
Robert Solow on the Global Economic Crisis--video and text
Interesting links to read.
the market, commodities, oil, Greece, Euro
A beautiful Storycorp story
Peter Schiff Youtube
Market Oracle Report
Karl Denninger piece on ZIRP Trap
The Great American Bank Robbery-MUST READ!
The Great Inflation Cover-Up
How Taxes and the Consumer Price Index Weights Hide Inflation
A Mortgage On-Line Calculator
Interest Scams and How to Avoid Them: Mortgages
Wall Street's Power Grab. This article has to be one of the best every written on this subject!
book review: 'Shadow Elite': Do You Know Whose Agenda You're Being Sold?
2010 is going to get tough
Robert Solow on the Global Economic Crisis--video and text
31 comments:
Jerry, careful what ya ask for my friend!Go to page 1312, Section 5210 to find what you see below. We are dumber than rocks!!
READY RESERVE CORPS IN HEALTHCARE BILL!!!
SEC. 430. ESTABLISHING A READY RESERVE CORPS.
Section 203 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 204) is amended to read as follows:
SEC. 203. COMMISSIONED CORPS AND READY RESERVE CORPS.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—There shall be in the Service a commissioned Regular Corps and a Ready Reserve Corps for service in time of national emergency.
(2) REQUIREMENT.—All commissioned officers shall be citizens of the United States and shall be appointed without regard to the civil-service laws and compensated without regard to the Classification Act of 1923, as amended.
(3) APPOINTMENT.—Commissioned officers of the Ready Reserve Corps shall be appointed by the President and commissioned officers of the Regular Corps shall be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate.
(4) ACTIVE DUTY.—Commissioned officers of the Ready Reserve Corps shall at all times be subject to call to active duty by the Surgeon General, including active duty for the purpose of training.
(5) WARRANT OFFICERS.—Warrant officers may be appointed to the Service for the purpose of providing support to the health and delivery systems maintained by the Service and any warrant officer appointed to the Service shall be considered for purposes of this Act and title 37, United States Code, to be a commissioned officer within the Commissioned Corps of the Service.
(b) ASSIMILATING RESERVE CORP OFFICERS INTO THE REGULAR CORPS.—Effective on the date of enactment of the Affordable Health Choices Act, all individuals classified as officers in the Reserve Corps under this section (as such section existed on the day before the date of enactment of such Act) and serving on active duty shall be deemed to be commissioned officers of the Regular Corps.
(c) PURPOSE AND USE OF READY RESERVE.—
(1) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Ready Reserve Corps is to fulfill the need to have additional Commissioned Corps personnel available on short notice (similar to the uniformed service’s reserve program) to assist regular Commissioned Corps personnel to meet both routine public health and emergency response missions.
(2) USES.—The Ready Reserve Corps shall—
(A) participate in routine training to meet the general and specific needs of the Commissioned Corps;
(B) be available and ready for involuntary calls to active duty during national emergencies and public health crises, similar to the uniformed service reserve personnel;
(C) be available for backfilling critical positions left vacant during deployment of active duty Commissioned Corps members, as well as for deployment to respond to public health emergencies, both foreign and domestic; and
(D) be available for service assignment in isolated, hardship, and medically underserved communities (as defined in section 399SS) to improve access to health services.
(d) FUNDING.—For the purpose of carrying out the duties and responsibilities of the Commissioned Corps under this section, there are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to the Office of the Surgeon General for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014. Funds appropriated under this subsection shall be used for recruitment and training of Commissioned Corps Officers.
Hi Spectre,
I am glad to hear from you! I am not sure what there is to fear here.
If, for any reason, we have another Katrina, a nuclear disaster, or something horrible, we will need a medical corps and support personnel to immediately enter Ground Zero and act. We learned during the Bush years how slowly we had action after Katrina.
Here is the purpose: PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Ready Reserve Corps is to fulfill the need to have additional Commissioned Corps personnel available on short notice (similar to the uniformed service’s reserve program) to assist regular Commissioned Corps personnel to meet both routine public health and emergency response missions."
I am more fearful of the Fed, Treasury, the corporate thieves sucking zero percent cash from the Fed to continue gambling on Wall Street and overseas through 2012 or 14 and dumping losses onto the taxpayers.
At this point, I am less fearful of citizens of the US aiding domestic disaster victims during a time of crisis.
Give me your views.
take care, jerry
Jerry, study Germany in the late1920s and early 1930s. Everything was done in the name of "PROTECTING the people" until it wasn't, and we all got to see what they were really up to. Total control of their citizens. By the time the sheeple figured it out, they had been disarmed and were in no position to fight the evil that was Nazi Germany.
Do you really believe any of this is for the poor schmuck we call consumer and not citizen? If so, please look at the stock market which is oh so clearly showing who won and who lost in healthcare. Companies are sending private e-mails congratulating themselves for the windfall dropped on them. LOL! I give up. Read Paul Craig Roberts latest and you will understand my feelings.
It's all about total control of our every move. If you believe the Reserve Corp is being established for good, then may you receive their love and help when the shoomer hits the fan. Just remember to smile for the camera, as you may be the prize.
Jerry, from the real world we have Karl D. explaining the math of this wonderful gift from government. LOL! Hard to argue with Karl when it comes to money matters. Maybe a visit by the Reserve Corp will explain things to DeCarlo:
It's Gonna Be Like Christmas! (Health Care)
Oh boy are some folks in for a surprise.....
"It's just going to be like Christmas," said DeCarlo Flythe, who lost health coverage for his family when he was laid off almost three years ago. "It's going to be great. You know, no worries (about) the bills. We are going to go ahead and pay our co-pay and be alright."
You got the $10,000 for the policy and another $10k for the out-of-pocket deductibles, right?
Yes, I know if you are lower-income you'll get subsidies. But that being laid off thing might become more-permanently laid off, you see, since if you go back to work your employer will have to either pay a fine (annually) or pick up the majority of that $10k in cost.
If your value in the marketplace is $20/hour, with a 2,000 hour man-year of work (50 weeks x 40 hours/week) your economic value in the economy is $40,000 (gross.) From this your employer is going to have to take $10,000 out to avoid being fined, which means you now make $15/hour. Then you pay taxes (FICA and Medicare) on that. You'll likely get back the rest of your federal income tax (especially if you have a family) but your out-of-pocket medical expenses will still be that $10,000 either way.
So now you've got $30,000/year less about $2,300 in Medicare and FICA tax, and from that you subtract the co-pays and deductibles of $10,000. You're left with about $18,000 to live on, or about $1,500 a month for your family of four.
This sounds like "Christmas"?
The clue-stick coming to whack these folks upside the head just as did the people who said "I don't have to worry about putting gas in my car or paying my mortgage!" will lead to some rather extreme emotions, I suspect, when the truth becomes apparent.
http://market-ticker.org/archives/2115-Its-Gonna-Be-Like-Christmas!-Health-Care.html
Hi My Friend, Spectre, I read that piece on Karl's site and when I did I wasn't sure about it. For instance, the new reform plan is not in place, therefore the scenario defined an existing situation. This person was laid off, and therefore was probably receiving a form government supported health care coverage. I don't buy that his deductible was $10K. Maybe that was the cost when he was employed and the private provider was f*cking with the cost of those premiums and coverage, and his employer could not afford a better health plan.
If this person had high medical costs, we were not told , nor were we given all the details. His kids were getting CHIPS, especially now that he is unemployed.
I am a natural born cynic, my friend. The only reason I am able to accept this health care reform bill is because had it not been passed, we would likely never seen anything happen and a continuation of high premium costs, delivery problems, even more personal medical bankruptcies, and the private insurance company's own style of a death panel delivery model--deny claims, refuse coverage, cancel coverage, denial due to pre-existing conditions. Now that it has passed, hopefully it can be improved upon.
For the most part, the Republicans had been the problem. Had a public option been passed we would likely have seen not-for-profit health insurance offered that would be transferrable for workers, who could carry it with them from job to job and even be covered when not employed. The Republicans blocked every piece of the bill that would actually be good for workers.
Now, your other concern regarding the Ready Reserve Corps. I guess what you are describing as a scenario of intent maybe true. I really cannot answer to it. I really don't see it as being the same as what brought about terror to the German people once the Nazis went off the deep end. We are not rounding people up as far as I can see.
Check this article out:
http://www.alternet.org/rights/146124/aided_by_glenn_beck%2C_conspiracy_theories_bloom_over_fema_%27concentration_camps%27
I think I am more concerned with Blackwater (Xe) as a private military, which now calls themselves The American Police Force. I am more concerned about the private neo-fascist mafia financial sector, and their private gang of thugs that have enough force to actually take over a small country.
Thank you for this discussion. I must agree that I do have a view of things that has become my own view of reality, but am open to hear what you and others have to say.
Tell me how your area looks now that spring as arrived. Here I just saw my first Magnolia with buds on it!! My favorite tree. My garlic is about a foot tall. Daffodils are up, too. I saw nesting Great Blue Herons (7) where I hike and run in a wooded park. My Redbud is just beginning to bud.
take care, jerry
Jerry, all I can say is that Nazi Germany gradually built their security services in the name of protecting the people. History is full of nation states that slowly grind their way to a totalitarian form of goverment all in the name of protecting the people. I don't fear Blackwater unless they become an official arm of the government with all the authority that goes with the designation. It wasn't Blackwater that bagged a Pitt Student for the camera, but rather those sworn to protect and defend.
Amerika, the bell tolls for thee!
Hi Spectre,
Blackwater is the defacto private military force contracted by the US government. It is being used around the world, and used to protect Hillary Clinton. It had basically taken over a US town's prison build that had been left empty and was contracted by the town's senior officer to become their protectorate without the knowledge of the town's citizens.
I would say be more afraid of these private trigger happy Brown Shirts than a bunch of doctors and nurses and EMS people, and social workers, and emergency providers who will likely make up a Ready Reserve Corps during a time of catastrophe.
take care, jerry
The section I mention has nothing to do with doctors, nurses or EMTs.
The legislation forms an additional security service to command and control the sheeple.
Jerry, if I remember right, I was the one who posted their (BW) takeover of a town, the fact that TSA is in fact keeping records of those scanned at airports, and the Council of Governors (10) who will control all 50 States National Guard Units and who report to the Sec. of Defense and the President. In short I have documented the various ways the government is slowing stealing our freedoms.
It's a damn shame that at this late hour, you and others, continue to point fingers at what amounts to a two headed snake that share in the spoils of the Treasury of the American People.
All this is playing out just like it has throughout history. We are no more special than any other Empire although we delude ourselves much like the King with no clothes. We are broke Jerry. Nothing you or I say can change the math which is always right because unlike us, numbers have no axe to grind. Honestly, I don't worry about this Healthcare debacle because the Bond Market will call bullshit on the whole thing soon enough. Once nation states start defaulting, it's game over. We may be a bit further down the line than the PIIGS, but we are in the same boat. We are simply moving around the deck chairs of the Titanic. If it keeps you busy, so be it, but when it happens remember my words friend, as they were meant to help and to warn of what is to come.
Hey Jerry, a picture really is worth a thousand words. Hell, even an MSM outlet gets it. When will you?
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_d9TzSox6IOg/S60qVGoz2DI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/cHqmm5Ufr1E/s1600/martial-law.jpg
Hi Spectre,
During the time that Pittsburgh was taken over by the very police state you seem to be talking about, Carl and I realized that it can happen very quickly. I agree that there is a level of "domestic police/military preparedness" in the making.
What we are seeing, and you have been diligently pointing out over a period of months with your postings, is an erosion of our freedoms.
Our military is getting lots of experience in controlling urban areas as they do their duty in Afghanistan and Iraq.
I guess we will see if if these commissioned Regular Corps personnel will continue occupation of the disaster area, if it ever materializes.
Yes, you were the one posting the issue in the Montana or Dakota town.
thanks, jerry
Jerry, here's the no bullshit truth. Read it and weep for your country:
Good-Bye: Truth Has Fallen and Taken Liberty With It
Paul Craig Roberts
Prison Planet.com
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Editor: When Paul Craig Roberts gave us permission to post this article, he indicated to Alex Jones that it would probably be his last. Regular readers of PCR’s outstanding columns will be disappointed to hear that he is bowing out for the time being. Alex will discuss the reasons behind this on tomorrow’s show. Roberts has also told us that he will probably appear as a guest on The Alex Jones Show later next week to expand on why he has decided to “sign off,” as he puts it in the following article.
There was a time when the pen was mightier than the sword. That was a time when people believed in truth and regarded truth as an independent power and not as an auxiliary for government, class, race, ideological, personal, or financial interest.
Today Americans are ruled by propaganda. Americans have little regard for truth, little access to it, and little ability to recognize it.
Truth is an unwelcome entity. It is disturbing. It is off limits. Those who speak it run the risk of being branded “anti-American,” “anti-semite” or “conspiracy theorist.”
Truth is an inconvenience for government and for the interest groups whose campaign contributions control government.
Truth is an inconvenience for prosecutors who want convictions, not the discovery of innocence or guilt.
Truth is inconvenient for ideologues.
Today many whose goal once was the discovery of truth are now paid handsomely to hide it. “Free market economists” are paid to sell offshoring to the American people. High-productivity, high value-added American jobs are denigrated as dirty, old industrial jobs. Relicts from long ago, we are best shed of them. Their place has been taken by “the New Economy,” a mythical economy that allegedly consists of high-tech white collar jobs in which Americans innovate and finance activities that occur offshore. All Americans need in order to participate in this “new economy” are finance degrees from Ivy League universities, and then they will work on Wall Street at million dollar jobs.
Economists who were once respectable took money to contribute to this myth of “the New Economy.”
And not only economists sell their souls for filthy lucre. Recently we have had reports of medical doctors who, for money, have published in peer-reviewed journals concocted “studies” that hype this or that new medicine produced by pharmaceutical companies that paid for the “studies.”
The Council of Europe is investigating the drug companies’ role in hyping a false swine flu pandemic in order to gain billions of dollars in sales of the vaccine.
The media helped the US military hype its recent Marja offensive in Afghanistan, describing Marja as a city of 80,000 under Taliban control. It turns out that Marja is not urban but a collection of village farms.
And there is the global warming scandal, in which NGOs. the UN, and the nuclear industry colluded in concocting a doomsday scenario in order to create profit in pollution.
Wherever one looks, truth has fallen to money.
Wherever money is insufficient to bury the truth, ignorance, propaganda, and short memories finish the job.
I remember when, following CIA director William Colby’s testimony before the Church Committee in the mid-1970s, presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan issued executive orders preventing the CIA and U.S. black-op groups from assassinating foreign leaders. In 2010 the US Congress was told by Dennis Blair, head of national intelligence, that the US now assassinates its own citizens in addition to foreign leaders.
(SNIP)
http://www.prisonplanet.com/good-bye-truth-has-fallen-and-taken-liberty-with-it.html
Jerry, the entire article by PCR is well worth the time invested to read it, but here is the especially poignant message/statemnet in my opinion:
"There was a time when the pen was mightier than the sword. That was a time when people believed in truth and regarded truth as an independent power and not as an auxiliary for government, class, race, ideological, personal, or financial interest.
Today Americans are ruled by propaganda. Americans have little regard for truth, little access to it, and little ability to recognize it.
Truth is an unwelcome entity. It is disturbing. It is off limits. Those who speak it run the risk of being branded “anti-American,” “anti-semite” or “conspiracy theorist.”"
Jerry, first it was GS paying no taxes, and now we have Wells Fargo and Bank of America which will pay no taxes this year although they repaid TARP (an F-ing joke in itself), so as to clear the way for massive bonuses. This must be a Republican Plot as they control CONgress...wait, they don't...so it must be the party of the poor looking out for the little guy, right? Do you see how dumb that thought is? You must be blind not to see the bullshit our one party system spews out. Meanwhile, conservatives and liberals argue. FROFLMAO!! You can get to know each other and form bonds when they treat you to a home away from home so to speak. It will be funny although there isn't much to laugh at when you are starving. I will continue to chonicle the slide into totalitarianism while you and others argue bread and circus.
Bank of America, Wells Fargo unlikely to pay income taxes for ’09
http://www.bradenton.com/2010/03/27/2162145/bank-of-america-wells-fargo-unlikely.html
Hi Spectre,
That piece PCR wrote was very powerful, full of emotion and laced with the sadness he now feels for a government that has devolved into a less principled institution whose members had more integrity than what is exhibited today. I do not want to say that our previous governments were less subversive, or engaged in cabals but our governments of the last 30 years appear to be much more corrupt than ever before.
What is especially troubling is how stupid the people have become. They cannot decipher between truth and fiction, between propaganda and honesty, between a new styled fascist representative working for the Corporatebaggers, as opposed to those who are representing their constituents.
I don't always agree with PCRs opinions and viewpoints but always reads/listens to what he has to say. He has been around a long time, and been engaged in the system for even longer and now he is being shut out because he is challenging the status quo.
thanks, jerry
Jerry, Karl makes many of the same arguments I make concerning so called healthcare reform:
So The Government Doesn't Like Consequences?
I have written much about "Health Reform"; those of you who missed it can go back and read the entire set of posts in reverse-chronological order quite easily if you'd like.
Today, however, I want to focus on a point I made in a previous Ticker entitled "Why Health Reform Is Doomed To Fail":
•We in America are forced to pay for all of the medical innovation in the world, as a direct and proximate consequence of the acts of the douchebags in Congress who have (1) banned reimportation of drugs and devices, and (2) exempted drug and device makers, along with insurance companies, from anti-trust laws that would otherwise make their conduct felonious in The United States.
We often lament how other nations "spend less but get equal or better care." There is no magic and no secret as to how they do this. It doesn't happen because these nations are more efficient, or have fewer middlemen.
It happens because our lawmakers have put in place a legal structure that allows health-care related companies to sell at below-market (and perhaps even below-all-in cost!) prices to other nations while barring the purchasers of those drugs and devices from selling them to whoever they want - specifically, those who live HERE!
If that was not the case then drug and device makers would face competition from these re-imported items and our prices would go down (a lot) while theirs would go up (a fair bit.) The drug and device makers, along with foreign governments who run socialized health systems, don't like this - therefore they get our government to pass laws that make it illegal for the free market to address this distortion - and force Americans to eat the costs that should be borne by foreigners.
Nor does it stop there. Medicare and Medicaid allegedly (if you believe doctors, hospitals, and others) pay reimbursements that are below the cost of providing services. These firms and individuals thus cost-shift the part of that cost not covered to you, the privately-insured individual or corporation along with the uninsured. This would normally be illegal under anti-trust law too, but that has also been made legal by exemptions passed by this very same government.
Finally, if you have no insurance and no money, you will get emergency care anyway. An "emergency", by the way, includes perfectly-foreseen emergencies - like giving birth. Even if you're an illegal Mexican invader. Instead of the hospital sending that bill to The Federal Government which then pays it and forwards it to Mexico (since it was their citizen that incurred the expense), offsetting whatever we need to in order to secure payment, our government again makes lawful that which would otherwise not be - that is, you are forced through higher costs to you to pay for that illegal invader's medical care.
One of the "cute tricks" passed with Medicare Part "D" (by George W. Bush) was a "tax credit" for corporations who provided health care to retirees from their firms. This too was a distortion - an intentional one put into that bill to "buy off" some key Reps and Senators to insure passage of Medicare Part "D" (the biggest boondoggle and scam in the history of the Republic - until President Obama signed this piece of crap legislation.)
But this legislation repeals that little ditty in the Medicare Part "D" law.
Remember, the Democrat talking points were that this bill would "lower your costs" and "make health care more affordable." It was also called a "jobs bill" - that is, that this bill would create jobs.
(SNIP)
http://market-ticker.org/archives/2131-So-The-Government-Doesnt-Like-Consequences.html
Evil Left Winger (Obama Supporter) Threatens Republican Representative With Death Threat On YouTube. The Party of Peace and Love...LOL! I guess flower power is out Jerry:
Feds: Philly man threatened Va. congressman
By MARYCLAIRE DALE (AP) – 43 minutes ago
PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia man charged with threatening a Virginia congressman is being held without bail pending a psychiatric evaluation.
Authorities say 38-year-old Norman Leboon tried to post a YouTube video in which he threatened to kill Republican Rep. Eric Cantor.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Reed says Leboon is wanted by city authorities in another threat case.
Reed says the threat against Cantor does not appear to be connected to the health care reform bill. He says it's not clear whether Leboon was upset with the House Republican whip about other issues. He told a judge Leboon appears to have major psychiatric issues.
The FBI says Leboon calls himself the "son of the god of Enoch" in the video and calls Cantor "pure evil."
Leboon's public defender declined comment.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/30/tennessee-white-supremaci_n_518408.html
Tennessee White Supremacist Pleads Guilty In Plot To Kill Obama And Others.
More domestic terrorists threatening Americans.
Jerry, I search for the truth whereever it may be found. I site articles from various sources from the far left to the far right. I am not shackled by an ideology that begins with a political party philosophy to shape my thinking, but rather allowing truth from said various sources to trump ideology syndrome in all cases.
Here, is an article on income disparity which I have touched on before, as far back as 07 on other blogs. It is sickening to say the least especially when the crooks are still running the show after being caught red handed. What exactly has changed for the J6P's of the world in your estimation since Prince Obama was crowned?
Social Inequality in America, Widening Income Disparities
Politics / Social Issues
Mar 25, 2010 - 04:17 AM
By: Vi_Ransel
"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist." - Brazilian archbishop Dom Helder Camara
"The difference between social service and social justice" is that social service "works to alleviate hardship" while social justice "aims to eradicate the root causes of that hardship." - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The "aristocracy of our moneyed incorporations" has never conceded a thing, not even to suppress a revolt. This "opulent minority" does not "give" what it does not intend to begin to claw back with its cold, non-living corporate "hand" before the ink is dry on the signatures on treaties, the Fourteenth Amendment, even the New Deal, perhaps the greatest bowl of gruel ever cooked up by an oligarchy.
Reforms, regulatory agencies and elections themselves are America's Circus Maximus, mere flourishes on the veneer of democracy painted over the naked concentration of power accrued to the few who hold the reins of the corporate mechanism, the most stunningly efficient means ever invented for accumulating and concentrating wealth, which is then translated into political power.
The mid-twentieth century "deal" between the "opulent minority," the government and the people left the "opulent minority" with the lion's share of the country's wealth, but a little bit more of that wealth was shared with the workers who created it. The government was the referee who enforced the rules, and the years between the end of the Second World War and 1970 were America's most prosperous overall, producing the largest, wealthiest middle class in history.
Americans assumed that this was the new normal, that a solid social contract was now standard operating procedure. But this overall prosperity was only a glitch in minority rule, a safety valve to stem the pressure of a popular, revolutionary mood that had been building since the Civil War and had come to a head during the Great Depression. Now the country is returning to its natural state, including the immense chasm between the incomes of the "opulent minority" and the rest of us, as squalor once again stands side by side with splendor.
"According to the United Nations Gini Coefficient, which measures the national distribution of family income, the US had the highest level of inequality of the highly industrialized countries, based on the data available in 2008. It was ranked slightly more unequal than Sri Lanka, and on a par with Ghana and Turkmenistan. (1)
(SNIP)
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article18162.html
Anyone who resorts to violence on either side is a damn fool. If people want to make a real difference they can get up off their dead asses and vote as well as getting involved with campaigns they support. Even in Presidential years we only get in the 60% range who take the time to vote.
Also, everyone can start a community garden, volunteer at a shelter, or even send donations to those in need to promote harmony and hope rather than violence.
Violence stems from ignorance, and plenty of that is being shown from both sides.
I should also say that I don't presume someone as guilty until proven in a court of law by one's peers, as laid out in the Constitution, regardless of the freedom stealing Patriot Act. We lived the 60s and 70s, so don't tell me the government doesn't do some very shady things which are patently illegal. MLK comes to mind as just one example.
The funny part, and ironic as Hell, is the fact that this used to be a liberal cause. Who says God doesn't have a sense of humour.
Hi there Spectre,
Vi Ransel's piece was well said. It should be government that makes sure that the wealth created by the corporation is properly shared with the workers who make it all possible. That the disparity should not be expansive as it is here in the US. That is government intervention. I would say that that is a form of social-economic intervention. That piece is about the greater good--the good for the betterment of community and society.
You are correct in describing how people can do their share for community and society. A community garden, a protest, community activism, and more keeps people in touch with each other and away from the television.
Believe Spectre, I will not be the one to tell you that government operates in a shady, if not illegal, way. There are so many answers from the JFK killing to 9-11-to who outed Valerie Plame, a CIA officer.
But after listening to the NPR Fresh Air interview with the US reporter of Iranian dissent, who spent time in an Iranian prison under trumped up charges, and who now wrote a book about her experience, we clearly can realize how a society can devolve into tyranny.
take care, jerry
Jerry, if the power goes out, here's a solution:
make pop corn from your mobile phone!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i6DDJUEP9g&feature=player_embedded
Man, are they taking care of us or what? All that radiation from the phones won't hurt us will it? LOL!
Jerry, for a good laugh:
Cell Phone Popcorn Debunked
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DCCxLp59G8&NR=1
Sadly, this article is all too real and not a joke. Ugly is what's coming:
Court OKs Repeated Tasering of Pregnant Woman
By David Kravets March 29, 2010 | 3:46 pm | Categories: The Courts, The Ridiculous
A federal appeals court says three Seattle police officers did not employ excessive force when they repeatedly tasered a visibly pregnant woman for refusing to sign a speeding ticket.
The lawyer representing Malaika Brooks said Monday that the court’s 2-1 decision sanctioned “pain compliance” tactics through a modern-day version of the cattle prod.
“To inflict pain on a person if that person is not doing what the police want that person to do is simply outrageous,” said Eric Zubel, the woman’s attorney. “I cannot say that loud enough.”
Zubel said he would ask the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear Friday’s 2-1 decision that drew a sharp dissent from Judge Marsha Berzon:
“Refusing to sign a speeding ticket was at the time a nonarrestable misdemeanor; now, in Washington, it is not even that. Brooks had no weapons and had not harmed or threatened to harm a soul,” (.pdf) Berzon wrote. “Although she had told the officers she was seven months pregnant, they proceeded to use a Taser on her, not once but three times, causing her to scream with pain and leaving burn marks and permanent scars.”
The majority noted that the M26 Taser was set in “stun mode” and did not cause as much pain as when set on “dart mode.” The majority noted that the circuit’s recent and leading decision on the issue concerned excessive force in the context of a Taser being set on Dart mode, which causes “neuro-muscular incapacitation.” (SNIP)
Read More http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/03/pregnant_woman_tasered/#ixzz0jnrNrRDZ
Jerry, I let Naomi do my talking for me:
Naomi Wolf Thinks the Tea Parties Help Fight Fascism -- Is She Onto Something or in Fantasy Land?
Naomi Wolf, author of 'End of America,' talks about why she has become an improbable Tea Party darling, and if progressives can learn from the conservative activists.
http://www.alternet.org/story/146184/
Jerry, today being April 1, I couldn't resist this storyline. It's real, and truth is stranger than fiction:
Village Idiot is a Congressman - Guam tipping over!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNZczIgVXjg
Dem congressman: If Guam gets too overpopulated, it might tip over
Jerry, I may become a muslim. This female blogger understands how it all works:
"Muslims are specifically exempted from the government mandate to purchase insurance, and also from the penalty tax for being uninsured. Islam considers insurance to be "gambling", "risk-taking" and "usury" and is thus banned. Muslims are specifically granted exemption based on this. How convenient. So I, Ann Barnhardt, a Christian, will have crippling IRS liens placed against all of my assets, including real estate, cattle, and even accounts receivables, and will face hard prison time because I refuse to buy insurance or pay the penalty tax. Meanwhile, Louis Farrakhan will have no such penalty and will have 100% of his health needs paid for by the de facto government insurance."
Spectre,
Some time ago, I was on Guam and walked to the edge near where the narrowest point was around 7 miles, and the longest part around 24 miles, and it began to tip over. It was really scary and I had to quickly jump backwards. Just think what will happen when 24,000 more people walk around the edges!! :)
jerry
Spectre, I read the Wolf's book, The End Of America, and it was scary how the nation was turning into fascism under Bush/Cheney/Rummy/Rice.
I don't object to Teabaggers or the movement except so many are just darn stupid and really don't understand that Dick Armey's army of Corporatebaggers are funding it to distract the members and protesters from the actual issues, such as the corporate theft of America and the control of wages and jobs.
Regarding becoming a Muslim--you would look nice in a murqa!!
jerry
Hi Spectre,
This tasering issue is more than likely not going away. it will likely be reheard or head to a higher court.
This country is filled with stupid people.
jerry
Jerry, and another benifit is that they can't take naked pictures of you at the airport either. We can't have them being treated like other Americans after all. Those rules are for the sheeple.
Concerning the Tea Party, at least they are off their dead asses, and I'm not talking unemployment. A NYT reporter (imagine that) had a storyline that made it sound like all the folks that attend events are unemployed when in fact SS benifits are earned over one's lifetime of actually doing some fucking work. I know it makes no sense that productive people stop what they are doing to protest when the dead beats have all the time in the world, but why leave the house when our dear saviour has promised us so much? Stupid? Since when did stupid include people who don't like their own money being stolen from a fucking tyranical government?
The CO2 tax comes soon, and then we can all get very scared together when the sheeple realize that the fucking thieves of Washington are on the move for the sheeple's last nickel.
I'm with the government and I'm here to help.
The statement above is the cruelest April Fools Joke out there. On a lighter note your parents and mine can get ready for death panels per Paul K in the NYT. Thanks Paul for truth now that the debacle has been passed.
Obama has asked for any statements against him or his policies to be toned down. To that, as a FREE American, I say FUCK YOU Mr. President, as my right to freedon of speech shall not be impinged by you or your lacky crowd.
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