Mullin's World

Siberian Methane Bomb

2012-01-03T21:53:00.003-05:00

"It’s unlikely that the U.S. is going to take serious action on climate change until there are observable, dramatic events, almost catastrophic in nature, that drive public opinion and drive the political process in that direction."
~Robert Stavins, the head of Harvard’s Environmental Economics program:

Global Warming Methane Danger

Published by tonyleather | January 3, 2012

"Igor Semiletov, of the Far Eastern branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, has warned of having witnessed unprecedented volumes of the lethal greenhouse gas methane - which is 20 times as bad as carbon dioxide for heat retention –bubbling to the Arctic Ocean surface during an extensive survey there.

A Russian research team been surveying the seabed of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf off northern Russia for nearly 20 years, and are astounded at the scale and volume of the methane being released from beneath the Arctic seabed.
In earlier surveys, the team had found torch-like plume structures were only tens of metres wide, but this time they have discovered, for the very first time, continuous, powerful and impressive seeping structures, more than 100 times bigger.
The team were even more astonished that the sheer scale and high density of the plumes was such that over 100 were discovered in a relatively small area, suggesting that there should be thousands of them throughout the arctic region
It has been estimated that the Arctic permafrost is the storeroom for possibly billions of tonnes of methane gas, locked in the frozen ground, which extends for a vast distance into the seabed of the relatively shallow East Siberian Arctic Shelf sea from the mainland.
With Arctic sea-ice disappearing at ever more rapid rates in the summer months, and the region subject to rapidly risingtemperatures, the Siberian permafrost is already melting, and should the the trapped methane be suddenly released, the atmosphere would quickly change so much that rapid and severe climate change would be inevitable.
The Russian team published a 2010 study which estimated annual methane emissions from this region at 8,000,000 tons a year, but the latest findings make this seem a gross underestimate of the real situation.
The Academician Lavrentiev research vessel carried out a ten thousand square mile survey of East Siberian coastal seas, deploying four highly sensitive seismic and acoustic instruments to monitor the methane bubbles rising to the sea surface from beneath the seabed in plumes.
Checks conducted at over one hundred stationary points revealed methane fields on a scale not seen before, with some plumes as much as a kilometre wide, the emissions going directly into the atmosphere at concentrations 100 times higher than has been normal before. It seems likely that, within 20 years the arctic will be ice-free in summer months, and even more alarmingly, that global warming has already reached the point of no return."

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FOX NEWS says it ain't so

2011-12-31T23:39:00.002-05:00

"We have many advantages in the fight against global warming, but time is not one of them. Instead of idly debating the precise extent of global warming, or the precise timeline of global warming, we need to deal with the central facts of rising temperatures, rising waters, and all the endless troubles that global warming will bring. We stand warned by serious and credible scientists across the world that time is short and the dangers are great. The most relevant question now is whether our own government is equal to the challenge."

~JOHN MCCAIN, speech, May 12, 2008

Climate change and the methane time bomb.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Check out our new site: How the GOP Stole Christmas

2011-12-22T16:57:00.000-05:00

Check out our new site: How the GOP Stole Christmas: Check out our new site: How the GOP Stole Christmas: https://www.dccc.org/pages/gopstolechristmas

Courage

2011-12-19T22:01:00.002-05:00

One man with courage is a majority.
~Thomas Jefferson

Uploaded by PensacolaDigest on Dec 16, 2011

Father Nathan Monk tells the City Council, "We have the right to redress our government without fear of being arrested," and is nearly arrested. Read the article:

"Monk had not raised his voice or threatened anybody. He merely stated in no uncertain terms that the government violated the civil liberties of several citizens who had spoken in opposition to proposed anti-homeless ordinances earlier in the week.

The council took umbrage and had the citizens removed after they made comparisons between the ordinances and Heinrich Himmler’s Final Solution.

“As Americans, we have the right to redress our government without fear of being arrested,” said Monk. “Whether or not they’re connecting dots from Hitler to George Wallace to Barney … you should be asking, ‘well what are we doing that’s allowing people to connect those dots?’ It was a sick and gross abuse of power.”

Council President Hall interrupted Monk. “Your time is up, sit down,” he said.

“No, I have a minute and 12 seconds left,” Monk said as he glanced at the timer on the speaker’s lectern.

“I’m ruling you out of order,” Hall said.

At that point the council had cops flank Monk.

The priest was not arrested and two council members stormed off in protest of the obvious dictatorial behavior of their fellow members.

The incident is more evidence that government – from the federal government all the way down to state and local government – is increasingly out of control and often flagrantly violates the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It treats citizens like subjects to be abused, culled for “revenue enhancement,” victimized by militarized police, and taxed relentlessly." Kurt Nimmo

Infowars.com
December 19, 2011

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Income inequality in the United States is higher than in any other advanced industrial democracy

2011-11-30T17:03:00.003-05:00

The rich are always going to say that, you know, just give us more money and we'll go out and spend more and then it will all trickle down to the rest of you. But that has not worked the last 10 years, and I hope the American public is catching on.
~Warren Buffett

Why The Rich are Getting Richer (Foreign Affairs)

By Robert C. Lieberman

January/February 2011

Article Summary and Author Biography

"The U.S. economy appears to be coming apart at the seams. Unemployment remains at nearly ten percent, the highest level in almost 30 years; foreclosures have forced millions of Americans out of their homes; and real incomes have fallen faster and further than at any time since the Great Depression. Many of those laid off fear that the jobs they have lost -- the secure, often unionized, industrial jobs that provided wealth, security, and opportunity -- will never return. They are probably right.

And yet a curious thing has happened in the midst of all this misery. The wealthiest Americans, among them presumably the very titans of global finance whose misadventures brought about the financial meltdown, got richer. And not just a little bit richer; a lot richer. In 2009, the average income of the top five percent of earners went up, while on average everyone else's income went down. This was not an anomaly but rather a continuation of a 40-year trend of ballooning incomes at the very top and stagnant incomes in the middle and at the bottom. The share of total income going to the top one percent has increased from roughly eight percent in the 1960s to more than 20 percent today.

This is what the political scientists Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson call the "winner-take-all economy." It is not a picture of a healthy society. Such a level of economic inequality, not seen in the United States since the eve of the Great Depression, bespeaks a political economy in which the financial rewards are increasingly concentrated among a tiny elite and whose risks are borne by an increasingly exposed and unprotected middle class. Income inequality in the United States is higher than in any other advanced industrial democracy and by conventional measures comparable to that in countries such as Ghana, Nicaragua, and Turkmenistan. It breeds political polarization, mistrust, and resentment between the haves and the have-nots and tends to distort the workings of a democratic political system in which money increasingly confers political voice and power.

It is generally presumed that economic forces alone are responsible for this astonishing concentration of wealth. Technological changes, particularly the information revolution, have transformed the economy, making workers more productive and placing a premium on intellectual, rather than manual, labor. Simultaneously, the rise of global markets -- itself accelerated by information technology -- has hollowed out the once dominant U.S. manufacturing sector and reoriented the U.S. economy toward the service sector. The service economy also rewards the educated, with high-paying professional jobs in finance, health care, and information technology. At the low end, however, jobs in the service economy are concentrated in retail sales and entertainment, where salaries are low, unions are weak, and workers are expendable...." Foreign Affairs

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World's oceans in peril - Features - Al Jazeera English

2011-11-18T08:32:00.000-05:00

World's oceans in peril - Features - Al Jazeera English

more deregulation of the banking industry

2011-10-20T16:29:00.003-05:00

'Wall Street bonuses at banks bailed out by Washington are "a very elegant form of theft."'
Author Michael Lewis, Liar's Poker

"Wall Street banks, many which received government bailouts in 2008, saw higher bonuses in 2009. Even though profits returned robustly in 2009, the bonus pools still fell short of the banner year of 2007.

For example, Goldman Sachs, the poster child for excessive pay, paid out $16.2 billion in 2009, ahead of the $10.9 billion it paid in 2008, but still well below the record $20 billion it set aside for compensation in 2007.

"Really what's going on is the people on the top of the firm want to make a lot of money and if they're going to make a lot of money, they have got to pay the people under them a lot of money," Lewis said.

"So it's a very elegant form of theft right now." Reuters.com

2009, 2010 saw more of the same and so will 2011.

See for yourself and decide. Is more deregulation of the banking industry a good thing or does it hurt America and benefit the very few and do harm to the many? See the videos from a Russian TV perspective. Remember the world is watching.

"Not talking to you Monkey". One percenter call protester monkey.

Police abuse of protesters in NYC

Woman pepper sprayed in the face because she was there. Koch brothers be proud. This what you they want to happen to the "Monkeys."

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Christians should rule the world.

2011-09-29T16:47:00.003-05:00

Christianity is completely and radically anti-democratic; it is committed to spiritual aristrocracy.
~R.J. Rushdoony, Reconstructionist theologian, from _The Religious Right: The Assault on Tolerance and Pluralism In America.

Christian Candidates for Christian Domination
Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry aren't just devout—both have deep ties to a fringe fundamentalist movement known as Dominionism, which says Christians should rule the world.

With Tim Pawlenty out of the presidential race, it is now fairly clear that the GOP candidate will either be Mitt Romney or someone who makes George W. Bush look like Tom Paine. Of the three most plausible candidates for the Republican nomination, two are deeply associated with a theocratic strain of Christian fundamentalism known as Dominionism. If you want to understandMichele Bachmann and Rick Perry, understanding Dominionism isn’t optional.
Put simply, Dominionism means that Christians have a God-given right to rule all earthly institutions. Originating among some of America’s most radical theocrats, it’s long had an influence on religious-right education and political organizing. But because it seems so outré, getting ordinary people to take it seriously can be difficult. Most writers, myself included, who explore it have been called paranoid. In a contemptuous 2006 First Things review of several books, including Kevin Phillips’ American Theocracy, and my own Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, conservative columnist Ross Douthat wrote, “the fear of theocracy has become a defining panic of the Bush era.”
Now, however, we have the most theocratic Republican field in American history, and suddenly, the concept of Dominionism is reaching mainstream audiences. Writing about Bachmann in The New Yorker this month, Ryan Lizza spent several paragraphs explaining how the premise fit into the Minnesota congresswoman’s intellectual and theological development. And a recent Texas Observer cover story on Rick Perry examined his relationship with the New Apostolic Reformation, a Dominionist variant of Pentecostalism that coalesced about a decade ago. “[W]hat makes the New Apostolic Reformation movement so potent is its growing fascination with infiltrating politics and government,” wrote Forrest Wilder. Its members “believe Christians—certain Christians—are destined to not just take ‘dominion’ over government, but stealthily climb to the commanding heights of what they term the ‘Seven Mountains’ of society, including the media and the arts and entertainment world.”
In many ways, Dominionism is more a political phenomenon than a theological one. It cuts across Christian denominations, from stern, austere sects to the signs-and-wonders culture of modern megachurches. Think of it like political Islamism, which shapes the activism of a number of antagonistic fundamentalist movements, from Sunni Wahabis in the Arab world to Shiite fundamentalists in Iran.
Dominionism derives from a small fringe sect called Christian Reconstructionism, founded by a Calvinist theologian named R. J. Rushdoony in the 1960s. Christian Reconstructionism openly advocates replacing American law with the strictures of the Old Testament, replete with the death penalty for homosexuality, abortion, and even apostasy. The appeal of Christian Reconstructionism is, obviously, limited, and mainstream Christian right figures like Ralph Reed have denounced it. More at the Daily Beast

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Most Americans don't realize how unequal our country really is

2011-08-19T21:29:00.003-05:00

"A profound political question is suddenly on the table: Must the country continue to give precedence to private financial gain and market determinism over human lives and broad public values?"
~William Greider

PBS' Making Sen$e: 'Land of the Free, Home of the Poor'

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

"Making Sen$e correspondent Paul Solman reports on the extreme inequality in the U.S. It's now on par with African dictatorships. In a telling moment after interviewing a recent immigrant from Haiti, where she says the American Dream isn't something she feels she'll ever have, Solman says, "The U.S. looks unequal to a Haitian?"

He then looks into a recent study about wealth in the U.S. "The first constant finding," Solman says. "Most Americans don't realize how unequal our country really is."

Yay for non-profit media." Crooksandliars.com

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

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Rick Perry and the porno industry investment

2011-08-18T19:18:00.003-05:00

Whatever you condemn, you have done yourself.
~Georg Groddeck, The Book of the It, 1950

The more you scratch Rick Perry the more you uncover. From The Left blog, a report on Rick Perry's involvement in the porno industry. So much for abstinence, family values and being squeaky clean.

"EXPOSED: TX Gov. Rick Perry Owned Thousands of Dollars in Porno Distributor Company"

Posted on + by Christopher di Spirito

Thursday, August 18, 2011

"They say you should never shit where you eat. In TX Gov. Rick “I’m a Prophet” Perry’s case, I would tweak that phrase to read, you shouldn’t preach abstinence when you own thousands of dollars in porno stock.

Perry, the latest GOP presidential candidate to jump into the race, owned five-to-ten thousand dollars worth of stock in Movie Gallery, a company that at one time was the nation’s largest distributor of pornography in America. Their titles included:

Teens with Tits Vol. 1
Teen Power Vol. 4
Teens Never Say No
Big Tit Brotha Lovers 6
Bisexual Barebacking Vol. 1

These films do not promote abstinence or safe-sex.

Perry’s close friends at the American Family Association boycotted the Movie Gallery in 2000 until the business finally shut down in 2010. I wonder if the American Family Association knew the pride of Texas, Gov. Rick Perry owned thousands of dollars of stock in a porno distributor they were committed to closing?

And why isn’t the mainstream media reporting any of this?" From The Left

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Ex-Evangelical Denounces Michele Bachmann & Calls Christian Reconstructionist Politics "Anti-American"

2011-08-18T18:44:00.001-05:00

“The religious right that I was part of is fundamentally anti-American. They hate this country. They wrap themselves in the flag, but they hate America as it is."

~Frank Schaeffer

Ex-Evangelical Denounces Michele Bachmann & Calls Christian Reconstructionist Politics "Anti-American"

" ... a former evangelical Christian, Frank Schaeffer, whose father’s writings and work played a key role in the religious development of Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann. Frank Schaeffer recently wrote an article titled "Michele Bachmann Was Inspired by My Dad and His Christian Reconstructionist Friends — Here’s Why That’s Terrifying." Schaeffer’s father was Francis Schaeffer, one of the nation’s most influential evangelical Christian theologians and philosophers in the 1970s and 1980s. In a recent profile in The New Yorker magazine, Bachmann reveals she entered politics after watching Francis Schaeffer’s film, "How Should We Then Live?" The film was directed by his son, Frank, our guest today. "[Bachmann] doesn’t just come from the far right of evangelical politics. She comes from a fringe even of the fringe, which is the Reconstructionist, Dominionist movement," Schaeffer says. “The religious right that I was part of is fundamentally anti-American. They hate this country. They wrap themselves in the flag, but they hate America as it is." Democracy Now

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The barbarians are rising

2011-08-16T22:12:00.002-05:00

“The governor of Texas should not be initiating a Christians-only prayer.”
~Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, according to the Post. Washington Post

Author H. Beam Piper, science fiction writer, in his work Space Vikings speaks of the barbarians from within society. "He says, even at their worst, they are in engaged in honest butchery compared to the nefarious do-gooders and do-nothings."

"The barbarians are rising . . . Every society rests on a barbarian base. The people who don't understand civilization, and wouldn't like it if they did. The hitchhikers. The people who create nothing, and who don't appreciate what others have created for them, and who think civilization is something that just exists and that all they need to do is enjoy what they can understand of it --- luxuries, high living standards, and easy work for high pay . . .

It wasn't the war that put Hitler into power. It was the fact that the ruling class of his nation, the people who keep things running, were discredited. The masses, the homemade barbarians, didn't have anybody to take their responsibilities for them."

We see this today in America. The rich, powerful and banksters make nothing. They live on dividends and interest. They are the hitchhikers. The barbarians, the Tea Party, know nothings who want to wreck the American society because they are "the people who don't understand civilization, and wouldn't like it if they did." They are led by Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain. The others Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman and Ron Paul have a degree of integrity but are still willing to sell their souls to the devil.

If a man like Rick Perry or a woman like Michele Bachmann can reach the white house we are finished as a nation. The day of a statesman leading America will have been over.

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the country's young population is ugly, aggressive, vicious, badly educated, uncouth and criminally inclined because they're marginalised

2011-08-15T15:31:00.003-05:00

Do not waste your time on Social Questions. What is the matter with the poor is Poverty; what is the matter with the rich is Uselessness.
~George Bernard Shaw

A friend recently wrote the following about the riots in the U.K. While it is easy to just say it is a criminal element, it is more, it is the social breakdown and disenfranchisement of the poor and lower classes.

"I've also been closely following the riots in London, Manchester and elsewhere in
Britain. Frankly it comes as no surprise to me and my fellow Mancunians
when I see what is happening. These recent incidents appear to be a
backhanded tribute to the long-term intellectual torpor, moral cowardice,
incompetence and careerist opportunism of the British political and
intellectual class.
For years, politicians of all parties but especially those with a Tory
bent, have somehow managed not to notice what has long been apparent to
anyone who has taken a short walk with his eyes open down any British city
street: that a considerable proportion of the country's young population
is ugly, aggressive, vicious, badly educated, uncouth and criminally
inclined because they're marginalised. British youth leads the Western
world in almost all aspects of social pathology, from teenage pregnancy to
drug taking, from drunkenness to violent criminality. In many northern
constituencies, British kids are much likelier to have a television in
their bedroom than a father living at home. One-third of them never eat a
meal at a table with another member of their household and 'family' is not
the word for the social arrangements of the people in the areas from which
the rioters mainly come. So this is what happens. And it's going to get
worse if the British National Party (neo-nazi racists) get involved and
play the immigrant/race card."

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Democracy and justice in the balance

2011-08-09T17:59:00.002-05:00

“You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.”
~Abraham Lincoln
(A lesson the Tea Party needs to learn)

Wisconsin recall elections put state senate in balance

"On Tuesday in Wisconsin Americans will have the chance to reverse the mistakes of the last election. Americans are taking action. It is not lost on people across the country. It is a movement by the middle class to oust the far right and their mean spirited policies that hurt the middle class, the poor, veterans and seniors." BBC.co.uk

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It is a fight for working class America

2011-08-08T21:01:00.003-05:00

“The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.”
~Henry Louis Mencken

It has been a long time between demonstrations. It was fun, worth while and necessary. It is a fight for working class America. Rep, Grimm N.Y. supports the rich and powerful and has acted against the middle class and supports policies that would gut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A large number of protesters gathered outside Rep. Michael Grimm's New Dorp office this afternoon, expressing their disappointment in the Republican's vote on the debt ceiling.

...demonstrators took part, chanting and holding signs that read "Where are the jobs?" and "Restore the American Promise."
Protesters lined up across the street from Grimm's 265 New Dorp Lane office."

Staten Island Advance

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donkeys leading lions

2011-08-07T19:57:00.005-05:00

"To be conservative, then, is to prefer the familiar to the unknown, to prefer the tried to the untried, fact to mystery, the actual to the possible, the limited to the unbounded, the near to the distant, the sufficient to the superabundant, the convenient to the perfect, present laughter to utopian bliss."
~Michael Joseph Oakeshott (Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays)

This is what happens when extremists get into office. They have no concept how to govern, they lack a knowledge of history and they hurt our country. These people are NOT THE BEST OR BRIGHTEST, they are in fact the worst and dumbest. We are now paying a price for their ignorance and intransigence. This is a case of donkeys leading lions.

"For the first time in history, the U.S. credit rating has been downgraded.

This "tea party downgrade" is a shameful blow to our nation's honor and risks throwing us right back into recession. Worst of all? It was completely avoidable.

But when given the choice between extremist posturing and responsible leadership, tea party Republicans chose wrong. And now, amazingly, they're trying to pin the blame on Democrats.

John Boehner and the rest of the Republicans hurt our economy and the whole country needs to know it." MoveOn.org

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The debt limit fight is over, but the fight over entitlement programs will continue for months.

2011-08-02T21:52:00.001-05:00

“The result [Republicans winning the Senate] would be devastating for reproductive choice, the environment, civil liberties, Social Security and health care, as well as corporate accountability.”
~Barbra Streisand

Pelosi: My Deficit Committee Members Will Oppose All Entitlement Benefit Cuts

"The debt limit fight is over, but the fight over entitlement programs will continue for months. In the weeks ahead, the leaders of both parties in both the House and Senate will name three members each to a new committee tasked with reducing the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion.

The ultimate makeup of that committee is key. It will determine whether this Congress will pass further fiscal legislation, and, thus, what the major themes of the 2012 election will be.

At a pre-recess press conference Tuesday afternoon, TPM asked House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) whether the people she appoints to the committee will make the same stand she made during the debt limit fight -- that entitlement benefits -- as opposed to provider payments, waste and other Medicare spending -- should be off limits.

In short, yes."

Speaker Boehner’s New Proposal Could Produce Greatest Increase in Poverty and Hardship of Any Law in Modern U.S. History

2011-07-27T21:59:00.002-05:00

"Conservatives say if you don't give the rich more money, they will lose their incentive to invest. As for the poor, they tell us they've lost all incentive because we've given them too much money."
~George Carlin

House Speaker John Boehner’s new budget proposal would essentially require, as the price of raising the debt ceiling again early next year, a choice between deep cuts in the years immediately ahead in Social Security and Medicare benefits for current retirees, repeal of health reform’s coverage expansions, or wholesale evisceration of basic assistance programs for vulnerable Americans.
The plan is, thus, tantamount to a form of “class warfare.” If enacted, it could well produce the greatest increase in poverty and hardship produced by any law in modern U.S. history. More

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Constitutional Balanced Budget Amendment: Unwise Policy
"A balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution — including the version that the House is expected to consider this week — would be a highly ill-advised way to address the nation’s long-term fiscal problems. It would threaten significant economic harm while raising a host of problems for the operation of Social Security and other vital federal functions. The economic problems are the most serious, and they would pertain to any version of a constitutional balanced budget amendment. By requiring a balanced budget every year, no matter the state of the economy, such an amendment would raise serious risks of tipping weak economies into recession and making recessions longer and deeper, causing very large job losses."

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

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George Orwell is rolling over in his grave, or just maybe he is smiling, like he knew that.

2011-07-26T20:05:00.002-05:00

"The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history."
~George Orwell

Orwell Rolls in His Grave at the Misleading Spectacle of the Corporate Media

MARK KARLIN FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

"Ignorance isn't bliss, or so we are learning as political discourse based on misinformation plays itself out in the corporate mass media and the halls of Congress.

As the narrator/director of the cult classic documentary, "Orwell Rolls in His Grave," asks: "Could a media system, controlled by a few global corporations with the ability to overwhelm all competing voices, be able to turn lies into truth?"

The answer, of course, is yes." more at BUZZFLASH.COM

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Glenn Beck says Norway camp like 'Hitler Youth' - Boston.com

2011-07-26T19:58:00.001-05:00

Glenn Beck says Norway camp like 'Hitler Youth' - Boston.com

The man is a moron.

President Obama Says Call Congress; People Respond | Crooks and Liars

2011-07-26T19:54:00.000-05:00

President Obama Says Call Congress; People Respond | Crooks and Liars

Rep. Moran: The GOP is the ‘Know-Nothing Party;’ ‘They Just Don’t Know, They Don’t Care’

2011-07-22T17:05:00.001-05:00

"A conservative is a fellow who thinks a rich man should have a square deal."
~Frank Dane

Rep. Moran: The GOP is the ‘Know-Nothing Party;’ ‘They Just Don’t Know, They Don’t Care’: "pSpeaking with ThinkProgress today, Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) offered a take on the reasons behind House Republicans’ obstinacy on the debt ceiling. Describing it as the “the party of denial,” Moran compared the current GOP to the historical, nativist “Know-Nothing party” that, incidentally, wanted to restrict types of immigrants and have daily bible readings in [...]/p"

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PRESIDENT BACHMANN

2011-07-19T22:01:00.002-05:00

I WANT TO BE YOUR PRESIDENT.

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Paul Krugman Says We Need To Hold The Bankers Accountable | Crooks and Liars

2011-07-19T21:22:00.000-05:00

Paul Krugman Says We Need To Hold The Bankers Accountable | Crooks and Liars

American's got talent, hockey mom sing out.

2011-07-18T14:44:00.001-05:00

Ode to Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin.

Michele Bachmann

Sarah Palin

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Reporter who blew whistle on Murdoch found dead | The Raw Story

2011-07-18T13:57:00.001-05:00

Is there blood on their hands?

Reporter who blew whistle on Murdoch found dead | The Raw Story

How Rupert Murdoch’s Money Helps Him Makes Friends - The Daily Beast

2011-07-16T11:43:00.002-05:00

“The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy”
~Charles de Montesquieu

How Rupert Murdoch’s Money Helps Him Makes Friends - The Daily Beast

"The vast majority of Murdoch’s money goes to Republican candidates and causes. In 2010, News Corp. donated an eye-popping $1.25 million to the Republican Governors Association and $1 million to the Chamber of Commerce."

Time Warp: Republican Committee Chairman Blames Current Lack Of Job Creation On FDR And LBJ

2011-07-13T21:16:00.000-05:00

Time Warp: Republican Committee Chairman Blames Current Lack Of Job Creation On FDR And LBJ: "pLast month’s jobs report was undeniably dismal, and Republicans were quick to place blame on President Obama and the Democrats (even after they took credit for job gains that were made since January). But House Financial Service Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-AL) decided today that blaming the current crop of Democrats isn’t quite enough. During [...]/p"

As Debt Talks Threaten Medicare, Social Security, Study Finds U.S. Spending $4 Trillion on War

2011-07-08T22:26:00.000-05:00

As Debt Talks Threaten Medicare, Social Security, Study Finds U.S. Spending $4 Trillion on War

BREAKING: Undercover Investigation Confirms Bachmann Clinic Provides Discredited, Damaging ‘Ex-Gay’ Therapy

2011-07-08T22:21:00.000-05:00

BREAKING: Undercover Investigation Confirms Bachmann Clinic Provides Discredited, Damaging ‘Ex-Gay’ Therapy: "pAn undercover investigation from a staff member of the organization Truth Wins Out has revealed that the clinic run by Dr. Marcus Bachmann, husband of Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann, is providing discredited “ex-gay” reparative therapy. Dr. Marcus Bachmann has been under intense scrutiny in recent weeks, after a ThinkProgress report documenting his past comments [...]/p"

Republicans have a gun to the head of all Americans

2011-07-07T22:00:00.004-05:00

"A promise must never be broken."
~Alexander Hamilton

Social Security and Medicare are under threat from "Boner" and the GOP. Millions of Americans lives will virtually be at risk. Republicans are negotiating the debt ceiling and possibility of America defaulting with a gun to the head of all Americans. Defaulting is totally unacceptable. It would have Alexander Hamilton rolling over in his grave. The full faith and credit of America has been put at risk by the Republicans.

***********

Can you believe it???? Orin Hatch thinks poor American should pay more taxes.

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Pelosi: Medicare, Social Security Benefit Cuts Are Line In The Sand On Debt Limit Bill"After a contentious White House meeting with President Obama and other Congressional leaders, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) returned to the Capitol and drew an important red line: Members of her caucus won't vote for a grand bargain to raise the debt limit and reduce future deficits if the final deal includes cuts to Medicare and Social Security benefits -- and that means it probably won't pass. "
talkingpointsmemo.com

In Politico

By SEUNG MIN KIM

"Liberal House Democrats wrote to President Barack Obama on Thursday pleading with him to take Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid off the table in debt negotiations.

In a letter to the president, members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus said any cuts to the major entitlement programs would harm families in a slow-recovering economy." politico.com

Liberal Dems on debt talks

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Koch brothers want to destroy Social security

2011-06-28T20:32:00.003-05:00

"The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy."
~Charles de Montesquieu

The Koch brothers attack the middle and working class safety net. These billionaires are about dismantling our democracy and creating an oligarchy. They are funding governors that are attacking unions and also creating legislation that would make voting and registering to vote difficult for many poor, minorities and working class Americans.

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Our Kids and the Environment, Like Canaries in a Corporate Coal Mine

2011-06-15T12:03:00.004-05:00

“To cling to a purely genetic explanation for autism is a desperate attempt to maintain the illusion that one lives in a comfortable and rational world where new chemicals and technologies always mean progress; experts are always objective and thorough; corporations are honest; and authorities can be trusted. That human actions rather than genes might be responsible for compromising the health of a significant portion of a whole generation is so painful as to be, for many, unthinkable.”
~Martha Herbert, MD, PhD Harvard Medical School

Conservative candidates for the office of the Presidency of the United States continue to beat the drum, calling for deregulation of business, and relaxation of environmental controls, as our kids and the rest of the population suffer the consequences of our toxic environment. Sadly, they may not even be aware of the already abominable quality of our air, food, and water. Yet, they poke fun at proponents for the preservation of the environment, such as former Vice President Al Gore, and others who champion the cause of environmentalists and our human species. Conservatives will continue to put forward representatives to refute all of the following facts gathered by Dr. Julie Buckley, expert in treating Autism Spectrum Disorder, intended to enlighten us. It doesn’t seem that long ago that former Conservative New Jersey Governor Whitman told World Trade Center cleanup workers that the air they were breathing was safe… The following is an abstract of Dr. Buckley’s indictment of the continuous reckless onslaught of corporate profiteers, and consequent pollution of the environment.
Our kids are being poisoned! (Buckley)Toxins are delivered via air we breathe, food we eat, liquids we drink, and chemicals we touch. The Harvard Medical School’s Center for Health and Global Environment report, “Inside the Greenhouse: the Impact of carbons dioxide and climate change on Public Health in the Inner City”, found asthma in 3 to 5 year olds rose 160% from 1980-1994. Cancer rose 20% from 1975-1995. (the most rapid increase in kids below age 13 years) The CDC concurs, 1 in 6 kids has a developmental disorder. Developmental disorders include: Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Oppositional Developmental Disorder (ODD), Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD), Asperger’s (a mild autism), and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Autism is generally diagnosed by impairment to form normal social relationships, by impairment of the ability to communicate with others, and by stereotyped behavior patterns, especially as exhibited by repetitive activities. (Merriam, p. 67)
The U.N. Environmental Programme defines POPs (persistent organic pollutants), as chemical substances that persist in the environment, and bio-accumulate in food. There are additives to foods and pesticides. They don’t break down, and persist in soil. Cleaning solvents have POPs. POPS are also heavy metals-lead, arsenic, mercury, aluminum, cadmium, thallium, and others. Toxic metals accumulate in fatty tissue, such as the brain. Lead paint from toys in China; Cadmium from burning of fossil fuels; arsenic and thallium from rat poison; mercury from coal burning power plants and oil refineries; mercury from governmentally mandated vaccinations (since 1934-smallpox); mercury in seafood from industrial waste; and mercury from old thermometers and dental amalgams.
Intelligence researcher James Flynn, University of Oxego in Dunedin, New Zealand, found that the average IQ of 14 year olds declined from 1980-2008. This was the first decline since the test was developed in 1912. Lynn Goldman, Pediatrician and Epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University notes growing worldwide concern about the long term health effects of POP chemicals. Exposure to POPs is shifting IQ down, there are more developmentally challenged individuals, and less gifted ones. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) researchers found blood mercury levels in kids associated with loss of IQ points. The CDC concluded that this meant a threat to economic health, and security of the United States. The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio study showed a statistically significant link between environment mercury release, special education, and ASD. The closer populations were to the source of mercury release, the increased risk of ASD. The January 2009 study of the Institute for Agriculture Trade Policy found mercury in high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Caustic soda, used in the preparation of HFCS contains mercury. Dr. David Wallinga, one of the researchers who conducted the study, indicated that kids take in between 12 and 100 teaspoons of HFCS/day.
Another factor contributing to the increase of developmental disabilities and others noted earlier is the denatured quality of foods. Producers routinely strip indispensable vitamins, minerals, and fiber. The healthy bran and fiber are removed from flours, and preservatives are added. Oils are manipulated as well, all in order to preserve shelf life, and protect the bottom line (corporate profits). According to Dr. Julie Buckley, the foods we eat today, are less nutritious than 40 to 50 years ago. She also blames obesity on our cravings for nutrients. Obesity leads to chronic healthcare disorders of today, diabetes, high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, heart attack, stroke, cancers, osteoporosis, arthritis, and more. Combine a severely polluted environment with nutritional deficiencies, and we have created poorly nourished, toxic kids. We have created the epidemic of developmentally disabled kids.
Leo Kanner, in a paper published in 1943 “Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact”, noted symptoms following smallpox vaccination. 80% of ASD kids had to deal with a gut disease. The 3 main culprits in the disease are chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, and toxicity.
ASD kids recover when gut problems are successfully addressed, and physical symptoms are normalized.
In September 2008, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), called off its proposed study of chelation therapy for ASD. The study stalled over research design. It had been in the planning stages for 2 years. The link would have opened the whole can of worms about the federally mandated vaccination program. The signs and symptoms of ASD are the same as mercury poisoning. (Jepson) Dr. Buckley states, that it quacks like mercury poisoning… it waddles like mercury poisoning… So we should call it what it is-mercury poisoning, and we then treat it like that too, with chelation (methods used for 100 years to extract toxic metals from humans). “All we have to do is be willing to call a duck, a god damned duck!
ASD (autism spectrum disorder) is not a psychological disease. It is a physiological one. (Mumper) Studies to that effect are piling up. (Cosford) The medical establishment, sworn to DO NO HARM, does not support the use of chelation and other biomedical interventions for ASD, insisting there are not enough significant studies. To the contrary, a search of the medical literature indicates an extensive amount of published research in support of biomedical solutions. The Federal government mandates the vaccination program. If a CDC study was to link mercury poisoning to ASD and other developmental disorders there would be class action suits of unparalleled proportion against pharmaceutical and other corporations and the Federal government; as previously stated 1 in 6 kids today suffer from this man made epidemic…
Read Between the Lies, Your Fellow American, Member of the Coffee Party

References:
Buckley, Julie A. MD Healing our autistic children, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, pp. 238.
Cosford, Robyn MBBS (Hons), FACNEM Autism: it’s not all in the mind, The Autism File, issue 31, 2009, pp. 104-107.
Herbert, M. R., J. P. Russo, et al. 2006. Autism and environmental genomics, Neurotoxicol. 27(5): 671-84.
Jepson, Bryan Changing the course of autism, First Sentient Pubs., 2007, pp. 358.
Merriam Webster’s Medical Desk Dictionary, Merriam Webster, Incorporated, Springfield, Mass., U.S.A., 2005, pp. 918.
Mumper,Elizabeth MD The science behind treatment strategies: Underlying physiological conditions, biomarkers, and the Defeat Autism Now! Approach, Autism File issue 30, 2009, pp. 36-41.

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Record Carbon Emissions in 2010 - The Daily Beast

2011-05-30T09:13:00.000-05:00

Record Carbon Emissions in 2010 - The Daily Beast

A Military Widow on Memorial Day: Remembering My Husband

2011-05-29T19:53:00.000-05:00

A Military Widow on Memorial Day: Remembering My Husband

Regularly and with a consistency so systematical as to be considered conspiratorial, Congress withdrew money from Social Security

2011-05-28T21:05:00.002-05:00

Congress is so strange. A man gets up to speak and says nothing. Nobody listens - and then everybody disagrees.

~Boris Marshalov

Merely a Weekend Recession

Hey, G.I Joe and Rosie Riveter where are you when we need you the most. America's greatest generation was baptized in the fire of necessity and shouldered the burden of fighting a world war. They were boys and girls when it began and in their mid to late twenties when it was won. On returning to civilian life those veterans and their wives were ready to begin their life adventure no longer content to share rooms and meals with an extended family in small walk up apartments. Mostly they wanted work and were ready to stake out their claim to a brighter future. Out of their need for housing and cars and furnishings for growing families boomed a working class economy. America was the new leader on the world stage briskly stepping out from the shadow cast on the former colonies quickly rising above second nation stature.

It was in the flame of that furnace that the prewar promise of Social Security was forged and cured and the idea of Medicare tempered. Joe and Rosie contributed with hard cash payments and would rail at the thought that politicians would one day minimize and belittle the programs referring to them as mere entitlements. Social Security was never meant to be equated with home relief, or welfare and there was nothing free lunch about it. Each worker and their employer was and is required by law to pay into it.

Workers and their employers have made equal matching contributions paying a total of 12.8% of salaries into Social Security. A self employed individual paid the full sum without contribution from others. Social Security was the original and foundational contract with America having been established by mandate and without benefit of collective bargaining. It is and was always simple, uncomplicated, ala cart, pay as you go, don't pass go, don't collect $200.

Regularly and with a consistency so systematical as to be considered conspiratorial, Congress withdrew money from Social Security leaving in their wake bad government IOU's. In short Social Security for the many contributors was robbed by the Congress to spend in favor of and for votes of the special interests. There is little left other than the bald, naked, promissory notes of a government bereft of morals and dignity and most importantly one without cash.

It's not that there isn't enough tax money to go around, there is plenty but it's being gobbled, often wastefully by special interests and unions including the support of civil service pensions. Surely many civil servants make contributions to pensions and should rightfully collect from them, but to compare them with payments made into Social Security is like comparing apples with having none. Social Security if left alone was fully funded, but pensions always required raising taxes to fund them. Much like paying interest only on credit cards pension debt is never paid. Ergo the Social Security contract with America is suddenly and conveniently called an entitlement being vulnerable and retractable; but the contract with the few and preferred is off the table and sacrosanct. Go figure.

Raising taxes solve nothing and worse enables government encouraging further irresponsible spending. Does the word entitlement come to mind? If there is ever a solution to be realized it will be in jobs, real jobs, jobs that Americans can work at now not twenty or thirty years hence. Sure Americans are interested in the environment and green jobs, but what is needed most is the dirty, greasy coal fired steel jobs of foundries, factories and assembly lines where real wages can be earned. For more than a decade Americans have only made deals, we no longer make stuff. As a nation we need to make stuff and left alone all else would fall back into line without government mucking.

This June more college graduates and those having earned MBA's will remain unemployed unable to find work. What does that portend for the economy when the number of high school graduate and other lesser educated young people are factored in. It doesn't matter whether jobless numbers are increasing exponentially or geometrically when arithmetically there are no jobs in actuality. Kind of poetic but it sucks when the house has been foreclosed and sold. As a nation we need to make stuff and let the deals make themselves.

However, most taxes, laws, rules and regulations are repressive and have the effect of barbed wire blocking growth and driving business off shore keeping people hurdled in and subservient to government. Serious consideration must be given to closing down and disenfranchising the alphabet soup of Federal regulatory agencies and open up the free range to commerce and business and watch America come back to life. Government must back off becoming content to leave the business of commerce to business and passively collect taxes.

America was not meant to become a nation like Britain or Greece or France, stifled in ancient hierarchy without a vision for the future; but rather an experiment, a game really, one to be played and lived up front and openly. The hero is supposed to be an adventurous inventor, a wily scrapper a dude with rolled up sleeves, a shock of hair across his brow and a coal smudge on his cheek. He wears white socks and done right no one knows who made his jeans and sneakers or what car he drives, or for that matter would care. Instead America has been whored off by Congress and now belongs to the thin nosed beady eyed kid with wire rim glasses, handmade Hong Kong suits and thin soled Italian leather shoes. He ain't no dude, he's a financial analyst, lobbyist or lawyer or worse all three in the employ of a foreign company.

I thought it cool watching the Iranians and Egyptians and then Libyans marching in protest for democracy. Conversely I think it odd that Americans sit back and watch their democracy slip away permitting threats being made to their Social Security and Medicare. What would Joe and Rosie have done?

Congress get yourselves and government out of the way or fairly soon commentators will begin to write that this recession has made the Great Depression look like a bad weekend. Just saying... Doc Graham, 5/28/2011

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Two good things happened in American politics this week

2011-05-26T21:26:00.004-05:00

"I worship the ground that Paul Ryan walks on."

~Dick Cheney

Two good things happened in American politics this week. The Ryan bill that would have essentially destroyed Medicare and Social Security was defeated in the senate. More on that later. The second bit of good news was the special congressional election in New York which was won by a Democrat. What was special about that election is that the district is traditionally a Republican seat, with Republicans having a majority of over 30,000. This was seen as a no vote on the Ryan bill to destroy Medicare and Social Security.

The senate soundly defeated the Ryan bill. With all but a handful of Republicans voting to destroy Medicare and Social Security. Forty senators voted for the the Ryan bill to destroy Medicare and Social Security. Five sided with the Democrats and voted against it. It is a start.

"Voting with all of the Democrats against debating the plan were Sens. Scott Brown (R-MA), Olympia Snowe (R-ME) -- both 2012 incumbents -- along with Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). Rand Paul (R-KY) voted against it because it wasn't radicalenough.

Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Pat Roberts (R-KS), and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) did not vote." http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com

Republicans claim it is too expensive to keep Medicare and Social Security. The GOP has fought against it from the very start. They never wanted it and have always opposed it. But they don't oppose unnecessary wars, oil company subsidies and tax breaks. Tax break for the riches Americans, corporate welfare, tax loop holes for major corporations that cost Americans billions. Lastly they don't want to give up senate and house medical coverage which amounts to government health care, which they will have for life. Government health care is good for them but not for the rest of America.

STOP THE RYAN PLAN FROM DESTROYING MEDICARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY, VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT.

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Eric Cantor is not interested in helping the people of Joplin Missouri.

2011-05-25T23:22:00.003-05:00

“Compassion is the basis of all morality”
~Arthur Schopenhauer

Republican, Eric Cantor is not interested in helping the people of Joplin Missouri. He won't visit so here are some pictures he can see. Cantor needs a heart transplant because the one has doesn't work.

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House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) says no aid for Joplin without cuts

2011-05-24T20:25:00.004-05:00

"if Congress passes an emergency spending bill to help Missouri’s tornado victims, the extra money will have to be cut from somewhere else.
“If there is support for a supplemental, it would be accompanied by support for having pay-fors to that supplemental,”
~Mr. Cantor, Virginia Republican

I want to call him heartless or indifferent to the suffering of others but the truth is he is worse. I think he is a psychopath and indifferent to the suffering of others. He lacks empathy. To play politics with the lives of Americans who have been devastated by a natural disaster borders on the criminal.

"House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) says no aid for Joplin without cuts"

"The horrific tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri may have also created a political battle in Washington D.C. The death toll from the tornado now stands at 119, making it the single deadliest tornado since modern record-keeping began 60 years ago. The financial toll is also expected to be high, with initial estimates putting damages at around $3 billion. Without significant aid from somewhere Joplin will simply not be able to recover from a tornado that literally ripped the town in half. Today House Majority Leader Eric Cantor signaled that the Congress may not be willing to provide aid without accompanying spending cuts to other programs." Digg.com

Hundreds of Americans have rushed to Joplin to help their fellow Americans who have lost everything, they are the heroes. They are there with tools, bandages, anything that they can use to help. All one can say is God bless our fellow Americans who stepped forth to help Americans in need.

**********

Vote against Paul Ryan's kill medicare plan, vote for a Democrat, save medicare and social security.

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I hope the electorate is not swayed by issues like gay marriage, as they vote their entitlements away

2011-05-16T21:55:00.004-05:00

“Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be.”
~Sydney J. Harris

These guys knock me out.

Conservatives represent Big Business and the Rich.

The Conservatives have carved out a position
for themselves as defenders of the Constitution. They see Liberals and others as
obstructionist to the will of the Founding Fathers. Fox News Spokespersons refer to
the select parts of the Constitution in order to substantiate some of their positions
on political issues. However, they selectively omit a very important part of the
Constitution that the Founding Fathers included. If I remember my High School
history lesson well, the preamble to the Constitution goes like this...We the people
of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice,
insurance domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, and promote the
general welfare, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of
America. I believe that Conservatives, in large part, have no use for phrases such
as-establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, and promote the general welfare.
Conservatives appear to view our Constitution as a document meant to read-
"Survival of the Fittest, and the hell with anyone left behind." The Constitution talks about all Americans, not just those bought and paid for by Big Business.

Their formula for a thriving economy began 10 years ago with the election of President Bush. Again, they are trying to engineer the election of Newt Gingrich or the equivalent in order to accelerate the implementation of their formula. Their formula includes-exporting jobs, lean corporate operation (fewer employees), raising prices on goods and services, no salary increases, reduction of health and retirement benefits, privatizing social security...or eliminating
it totally, eliminating medicare and medicaid and all assistance for the poor and unfortunate, attacking public employees and eliminating collective bargaining..., and tax cuts for the richest!
Oh, I almost forgot risky, cavalier banking practices by the "best and brightest" members of the rich management class. Question: If this formula continues to snowball, then who will have money to buy goods and services? The rich? They already own just about everything now, and employ the best accountants out there to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. Don't the richest already own everything they need? Oh, I forgot...they need more private jets... Result: Continued increases in unemployment and depression for the masses. Hey, didn't we already follow this formula when Herbert Hoover was President??? I hope the electorate is
not swayed by issues like gay marriage, as they vote their entitlements away...
I also hope that the poor and hungry don't break into stores in their neighborhoods this time. Maybe someone could direct them to the appropriate individuals when they want redress for their grievances. I hope there are peaceful protests. Read Between the Lies Your Friend and Fellow American,
Member of the Coffee Party

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FRAUD AND CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR IS NOT CAPITALISM

2011-05-02T16:27:00.002-05:00

“Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate”
~Bertrand Russell

Who's Kidding Who?

President Obama's presidency is under attack from the right, which would be expected leading up to the 2012 election. However, the premises put forward not only are lacking in logic, but also are inaccurate. Further, the positions on issues are expressed in terms that lack civility and diplomacy.

The Administration is characterized as Socialist and as a "Gangster Government". These are terms unbecoming Republicans or Democrats. Also, calling President Obama or President Bush the worst President ever is also not what we expect from elected congresspersons
or candidates.

It is said that President Obama is a Socialist, and he needs to keep his nose out of private business. Former President Calvin Coolidge once said-"The business of the country is business." He was a Republican. Let's look at General Motors Corp.... In truth, GM management was engaged in a socialist oriented operation. GM was carrying non-profitable divisions for years, and also paying laid off workers nearly full pay. GM management blamed the auto workers union for the corporation's inability to make a profit. Hey!!! Who negotiates union contracts? Don't both labor and management sit down at a bargaining table? Don't make excuses for weak leadership. It wasn't the pensions and health benefits of retired employees that were dragging GM down...IT WAS A LINE OF CARS THAT WERE CRAP. Just ask anyone on the street how you decide what kind of a car to buy...Is it the quality of TV advertisements showing GM cars gliding on roads through the beautiful countryside, or is it the reputation of a car for dependability, longevity, low maintenance cost, and low mileage per gallon of gas. GM management on TV programs like Meet the Press said the same thing for years and years putting the blame on the union and said it would take big money and years to retool for new models.

SO, WHAT DID PRESIDENT OBAMA DO? He told GM we'll bail you out if you close unproductive divisions. He told the Union that you'll tell your membership that you'll have to take less until good times roll again. The results speak for themselves. PRESIDENT OBAMA TOOK CHARGE AND RETURNED GM TO PROFITABILITY BY APPLYING CAPITALIST PRINCIPLES. New models are here, are better, and are selling. Obama is also blamed for the increase in the federal deficit and debt. Hey! Doesn't anyone remember the the failure of our "Best and Brightest" management class of bankers??? They made mortgage loans to people who were not qualified to make good on their loans. Why? The bankers would like you to believe that statements by the last 3 presidents about how great it would be if all Americans could be homeowners. Yeah, that would be nice, but that's not why the loans were made... It was the millions of dollars in inexcusably exorbitant fees that bankers cashed in on. Bankers knew these loans would not perform, that's why they came up with the scheme to create "securitized mortgage instruments" which rolled pieces of mortgages into financial instruments and sold them to financiers all over the world. Rating agencies gave high grades to these securities. Oh, by the way,...the rating agencies are paid by the banks!!! That wasn't bad enough, bankers then created credit default swaps, which are quasi insurance policies in case the securitized mortgage instruments drop. Curiously, these credit default swaps do not use the word "insurance", and didn't require any funds to be on hand in case the s.m.instruments failed. What a windfall of profits for those individuals. But, the Banks themselves needed to be bailed out. Trillions of taxpayer dollars were required to save the international financial system. This started with the Bush Administration, not the Obama.

So, what is the response of the richest members of the management class??? THEY HAVE MISDIRECTED THE PUBLIC'S ATTENTION, BLAMING PUBLIC EMPLOYEES, SOCIAL SECURITY RECIPIENTS, AND THE UNFORTUNATE FOR THE RECKLESS BEHAVIOR OF THE MANAGEMENT CLASS. FRAUD AND CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR IS NOT CAPITALISM.
I could go on, but I'll give others a chance to sound off as well.
Your Fellow American,
a Member of the Coffee Party

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Rep. Grimm (R-NY) who were you elected to serve?

2011-04-20T20:39:00.005-05:00

“The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity”
~Andre Gide

A letter to my Congressman
Dear Rep. Grimm (R-NY), as a life long Republican I am extremely disappointed and unhappy that you voted for the Ryan plan. The Ryan plan is an attack upon the working people of America and an attack upon medicare which has been a crucial component any person over 65's health care program. If the government could bargain for better rates with big pharma health care costs could come down. If we didn't give 40 billion dollars to a hugely profitable oil industry we would lower our deficit. Their are many more ways of solving the deficit problem but not by taking it from working Americans.

Why do we need to lower taxes on major corporations who barley pay taxes as it is? Why do we need to cut taxes on the rich, whose current tax rates are lower than they have been in 20 years?
Who were you elected to serve? The people or the rich, the corporations, big pharma, or the oil industry? The people are not fooled. As Lincoln, also Republican, said "you can fool all of the people some of the time but you can't fool all of the people all of the time".

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The GOP does not protect the rights of the poor, union workers, people of color, children, special needs Americans, senior citizens, the disabled, or

2011-04-19T09:34:00.005-05:00

A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward.
~Franklin D. Roosevelt

Rep. Ryan's proposed bill and GOP calls for tax cuts for the rich will destroy the lives of millions of Americans.
The GOP (gay old party) wants to gut Social Security and destroy Medicaid while giving huge tax breaks to the richest Americans. How do we pay for these tax cuts? We take it from the poor, the senior citizens, children, disabled, minorities and people of color, the least among us thereby enriching the wealthiest Americans on the backs of everyone else.
Lynden Baines Johnson said when he signed the Medicare bill. "No longer will older Americans be denied the healing miracle of modern medicine. No longer will illness crush and destroy the savings that they have so carefully put away over a lifetime so that they might enjoy dignity in their later years. No longer will young families see their own incomes, and their own hopes, eaten away simply because they are carrying out their deep moral obligations to their parents, and to their uncles, and their aunts. And no longer will this Nation refuse the hand of justice to those who have given a lifetime of service and wisdom and labor to the progress of this progressive country."
The GOP calls for tax cuts for the richest Americans, and the rest of us must pay for it. Wake up America, don't give in to those greedy robber barons. Ryan's bill will impoverish us all while enriching the richest Americans at our expense. This is war, them against the rest of us. It is time to throw all the Right Wing scum bags out of office. The GOP does not protect the rights of the poor, union workers, people of color, children, special needs Americans, senior citizens, the disabled, or anybody except the corporate power elite and the richest Americans. As for the rest of us, it is Fuck You. That is their attitude. It is time that we as Americans tax payers and voters throw those pieces of shit out of office. It is time that America no longer be run by rich old white men for the sole benefit other rich old white men.

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