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The ad-man's and politician's ultimate tool
by JR Mooneyham
| Apr. 5, 2008 |
Neuromarketing could make mind reading the ad-man's ultimate tool
Unlimited wholesale surveillance of us all by big government and big business -- combined with high tech marketing tools like these -- could easily enslave us all. And I'm talking slavery of a scope far worse than that ended by the American Civil War.
One chilling vision of our possible ultimate fate under such conditions is described in the science fiction novel A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge.
Unfortunately, in America, we're far closer to that grim destiny today than most of us suspect, as described in:
They own you and all your property too
It may be the most important thing to do to save ourselves is eliminate private financing from our elections: make it all public financing instead. I.e., each politician would get an allotted amount of tax payer money or advertising credits to make their case, and that's it. For merely changing the people (politicians) in the system via elections accomplishes nothing, so long as any newly elected folks will only get paid by the same old bosses as before (campaign financing and all-around-the-table perks make up the lion's share of the most powerful politicians' income today). You'd probably have to do a major overhaul of third party advocacy groups too, law-wise. Else the present day forces of evil would simply slip in sideways instead of through the front door like today.
Once individual voters and day-to-day life issues actually became the biggest forces in elections again, we'd probably be shocked by the speed at which things would improve.
Rockefellers and Bushes, Nixons and Kissingers
by Herb Ruhs, MD
| Apr. 5, 2008 |
The only real significant player in the drama is the sleeping giant of the mass of ordinary people. As long as they keep taking the soporific of material dependency on concentrations of power the story line is stuck. We are on the verge of the point in the story where the giant wakes. That is the drama. ... MORE ...
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Herb Ruhs, MD
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Most definitely apologize
Randi Rhodes suspended for Clinton remarks| |
Excerpt: Following the attention given toward a video of a recent profanity-laced live appearance, Radio and Records is reporting that Air America has suspended on-air host Randi Rhodes for inappropriate statements she made about prominent figures. At an appearance on behalf of the network and Clear Channel talk KKGN (960 AM) in San Francisco, Rhodes used aggressive language to describe both Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro, calling each of them a "fu&*ing whore." |
Well I for one believe that Randi should most definitely apologize to both of them. Yes, she needs to say most sincerely, "I'm deeply sorry that you are both whores."
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As a paying customer of Air America, I'm more than a little curious to see how Ms Rhodes will respond, and the line you've provided is pretty funny. I won't be at all surprised if she uses it, and I'll be a little surprised (and a little disappointed) if she doesn't quit, and take her pretty dang good radio show (and pretty dang good ratings) elsewhere.
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Helen & Harry
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Wrong anatomy, boy!
Re Not stimulated
Marvin! Wrong anatomy, boy! As they say on the chans "Amidoinitrite? No!" The **** isn't in your ears. It is in Washington though! To quote Nicholson as The Joker, "This town needs an enema!"
Which requires a little more stimulation than you suggested.
So which are you going to believe, your lyin' ears or their lying mouths? $300, $600, does it really matter? Make it an even 3 trillion -- one way or the other you are going to get the tab for it and to top it off won't even help you any as some states can tax it as income!
good luck (not that it'll help...)
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Jos
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'Liberal' as a dirty word
Re Grass roots censorship
I wish only to validate your ruminations about censorship. I have recently posted a copy of the Bill of Rights under my Name and Job Title, so those passing my desk have an opportunity to review, especially the 1st Amendment.
There seems to be some confusion in the department in which I work about the 1st Amendment. Within a short time of starting a new job I received the message there that racism is ok, sexism is ok, talking about religious beliefs and playing gospel music is ok, but "liberal" discourse will NOT be tolerated. I foolishly spoke to another employee about a book I was reading and immediately a Sh*tstorm erupted that went up the echelon of management and ended with my supervisor agreeing that it wasn't fair, but for the sake of peace he asked me to please keep my mouth shut.
??? When did liberal become a dirty word and why didn't I get a copy of the memo? My reaction has been to resolve to say what needs to be said, especially if I am afraid.
Thanks again for providing a place to speak the truth. It is saving my sanity.
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M.M.
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Intimidation
by Marshall S.
| Apr. 5, 2008 |
Re Similarities
Oh yeah, I agree. There is lots of gray area, too many things unknown. Another thing that bothers me about this is that now the other kids at the elementary school will be intimidated by the threat that they too could be tasered.
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Marshall S.
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Proof positive
Rove denies involvement in Siegelman railroading| |
Excerpt: Karl Rove says a one-time Republican campaign worker who has accused him of dirty tricks against a former Alabama governor is a "complete lunatic," and he calls CBS a "shoddy operation" for airing her allegations. |
If Rove admitted it I'd have my doubts, but if he denies it that’s basically a confirmation that it's true.
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Sheeva
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Imagine
Republican Congressman says 9/11 was just some plane crashes| |
Excerpt: California congressman [Darrell Issa], who called the Sept. 11 attacks "simply" a plane crash, ran for cover Wednesday under a barrage of ridicule from fellow Republicans, first responders and victims' families. |
Can you imagine the firestorm if a Democrat had said such a thing?
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When I heard about this ...
Air America suspends Randi Rhodes for calling Clinton and Ferraro "f**king whores"
... I was infuriated. If Randi quits Air America I'll dump my premium membership there, but tonight I signed up with Nova M, the liberal network that's run by, you know, liberals, to become the equivalent of a premium member there. Nova M is where Mike Malloy works, and he's the only radio voice I enjoy the same way I enjoy Randi. Ten bucks a month gets the show with no commercials, and Malloy's worth it.
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Here's video of the "incident" that got Ms Rhodes in trouble, which didn't happen on the radio -- she was doing stand-up comedy, off the air. As comedy goes, it's not particularly funny, but it wasn't on her show, so I don't see how it's any of the network's business. Seems to me, this is no different than if my boss suspended me for something I said after hours about certain politicians (and of course, I've said a lot worse than calling them f**king whores). The suspension seems downright un-American to me, and I won't be surprised if it pisses a lot of people off ... including Randi Rhodes.
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Helen & Harry
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Hope and pessimism
Re Realism
If you've ever read anything I've written in terms of Unknown News articles you'd know I have the highest respect for the realism Unknown News provides and understand the need for pessimism. I still however ask about hope because without it people can say "screw it -- we're done why do anything?" Hope is necessary. Pessimism is necessary. Both can be of use.
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Sherri B.
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Turn away
Hah.
Warm reception for GW
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Claire M.
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New blood at NASA
Shuttle successor flawed, dangerous, GAO report finds| |
Excerpt: In fact, according to GAO, the whole project is dogged by such "considerable unknowns" that it is doubtful whether NASA's request for an additional $2 billion during the next two years will be enough to overcome design flaws and speed its development for a first liftoff before 2015. |
The problem with NASA is not the aging shuttle, it's with the aging engineers that want to stay in their positions and keep rehashing the same old tired, worn out ideas. NASA needs some new blood badly. People with new ideas and no connection to Boeing, McDonald Douglas and the rest.
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Chris M.
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What's changed?
by Angry Annie
| Apr. 4, 2008 |
Yoo's memo from Justice Dept: Constitutional protections do not apply| |
Excerpt: For at least 16 months after the Sept. 11 terror attacks in 2001, the Bush administration believed that the Constitution's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures on U.S. soil didn't apply to its efforts to protect against terrorism. That view was expressed in a Justice Department legal memo dated Oct. 23, 2001. The administration on Wednesday stressed that it now disavows that view. ... |
And what's changed, between 2001, when the Bush administration specifically asked DoJ's John Yoo to write this memo, and now, when the same administration "stresses" that "now" disavows the memo it asked Yoo to write? The only thing that's changed, of course, is that in 2001 you didn't know what they'd done, and now you do.
Can someone explain to me again, why these bastards haven't been impeached, arrested, tried, and imprisoned?
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Angry Annie
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Grass roots censorship
by Herb Ruhs, MD
| Apr. 4, 2008 |
Freedom of speech is fundamental. It is like the musculature of a free society. If we don't use it, we lose it. As controversy becomes more frightening, and speaking your mind becomes more of a risk, it becomes more important for ordinary citizens to exercise the right of speaking our minds forthrightly and cogently. So what if arguments ensue? At least the right to argue has been defended. ... MORE ...
Similarities
by Marshall S.
| Apr. 4, 2008 |
Re Dictionary fun with 'uppity'
I don't know if there is such a thing as a quick sting with a taser. They had to take her to the hospital to have the darts removed, and check her out to see if she was OK. She was. I brought up ADHD as part of a general discussion of how children are being treated and regarded these days, as I found similarities between ADHD and calling out the police.
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Understood. I just see a lot more "gray area" to this situation, than to typical police brutality where billy-clubs, tasers, or fists are used without anything anyone could reasonably see as any reasonable justification.
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Garbage in, garbage out
by JR Mooneyham
| Apr. 4, 2008 |
Previous Republican-dominated Congresses usually resisted or defied Republican Presidents on at least some matters of importance.
But not the last bunch: instead, they marched in a Nazi-like lockstep on practically every issue with the President.
The most difference they ever displayed was saying something in opposition in public -- but then turning around and doing exactly what Bush wanted in legislation. ... MORE ...
Chess anyone?
It occurs to me that there is a serious flaw in strategy in having more soldiers overseas, less at home. As a child playing chess with my father, I learned a little about defense strategies. If this were truly about "Homeland Defense," the troops would be here, at airports, seaports, and along the border.
I live in a town with a military post. It is a ghost town, with the soldiers deployed and a few administrative and non-combat folks still here. A lot of civilians. How safe does your town feel? How many of your National Guard and Reserves are there? We could maybe rely on the gangs to have guns and stand up as a militia. Wouldn't that make a great movie? The hated and marginalized members of an oppressed group saving the day, fighting the terrorists while our noble soldiers are thousands of miles away? 50 Cent could do the soundtrack. The cops would be too busy tazing "uppity" citizens, shooting family pets, and molesting women.
I may sound like a hothead, but I am just frustrated. The only thing I can do is vote my heart, but I don't trust that the election won't be rigged. So I complain, I email my representative, and try to remind those around me that we are better than this. I would love to play chess with "W" for money. I need to do some home repairs and need the extra cash.
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I don't think Bush plays chess. He strikes me as a tic-tac-toe man.
Here in what Bush and his thugs call "the homeland", I actually feel pretty safe from the threats Bush and his thugs are always babbling about -- Islamic terrorists, and Iranians seeking nuclear weapons. What makes me feel very, very unsafe indeed, is the assault Bush and his thugs have mounted against American freedom, the American way of life, and the American economy, and the cooperation they've gotten all along the way from corporate-controlled media and corporate-controlled Democrats.
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Helen & Harry
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In cahoots
Looking at the bright side, here's something we don't have to worry about in America:
Police raid Zimbabwe opposition offices
'Cuz in America the "opposition" party is phony, in cahoots with the ruling party.
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Max
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Just the facts, ma'am
When you add these incredibly fraudulent rip-offs to the fact that the highest levels of the Bush Regime ordered torture against all international law -- laws which the US itself used to hang Germans and Japanese after WWII -- the conclusion must be that our government is run by a criminal syndicate, like the Mafia except they control the whole country, including the money and secret police. ... MORE ...
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Z
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Deserved to be punished
Re Dictionary fun with 'uppity'"How did they deal with behavior/emotional problems before police and tasers?"
In my childhood, they simply didn't deal with kids who bullied other kids. Bullying was completely tolerated, with a "kids will be kids" attitude, treated as an un-important interruption of teachers' and administrators' duties. A kid who beat up another kid might get a half hour of detention, end of story, and a lot of kids -- both bullies and the bullied -- grew up warped from that look-the-other-way attitude.
So I'm glad that at least some schools no longer tolerate bullying. A crackdown on that crap is way, way overdue, and this kid absolutely deserved to be punished. I wouldn't want her tased or locked up overnight or anything, but she needs something, a lot more than a stern talking to and half an hour after class.
Where do you think school officials and/or cops crossed the line? What would you have school officials do instead? Do you think it's inappropriate to arrest an 11-year-old who pushes another kid into traffic, or who disrupts school in the manner the article describes? Do you think it's inappropriate to arrest an 11-year old who punches a cop? Do you think it's never appropriate to call the police on an 11-year-old?
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Mike E.
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Tensions are extremely high
by The Canadian
| Apr. 3, 2008 |
Have you been noting the public info about escalating border tensions between Israel/Syria/Lebanon?
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Actually, it's been below my radar for the past several days. I'm all stuffed up and coughing up colorful phlegmwads and still working. And even at my best, I almost never feel like I have anything but the flimsiest understanding of what's happening in the Middle East...
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Yeah, I can relate...I had to take the day off today. I've had a low-grade
sinus headache/fever for a month (literally 24/7) and it was not clearing so
I went to the doctor for horse pills. Slept all day.....
Anyway...Syria and Israel are staring each other down again.
Once again, saber rattling or a real danger of war?
Some threads......
debka.com/headline.php?hid=5161
jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1206632390147&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1207159746454&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
(Ref to UN Forces in Lebanon?)
haaretz.com/hasen/spages/971108.html (EW is always a precursor to shots fired)
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8513
I do not agree with this writer's every conclusion, but his logic is interesting to me: Crossfire war
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The Canadian
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Dictionary fun with 'uppity'
by Marshall S.
| Apr. 3, 2008 |
Re Beyond 'uppity'
Was "uppity" the wrong word for this situation? Perhaps. From dictionary.com:| |
up·pi·ty adjective Informal.
1. affecting an attitude of inflated self-esteem; haughty; snobbish.
2. rebelliously self-assertive; not inclined to be tractable or deferential. |
The most common understanding of "uppity" is #1. I don't think the girl in question was being snobbish, so, yes, this use of the word was improper.
However, luckily coming to my defense, is #2. This sounds more like our girl. They called the cop because she was "rebelliously self-assertive" in walking away from the teacher and spitting at the teacher.
The girl wasn't tasered for pushing another girl, she wasn't tasered for spitting at a teacher and walking away. She was tasered for violently resisting arrest. However, one could say her tasering stemmed from her being uppity in the #2 definition sense of the word. So I will change my statement. "A child gets uppity (rebellious), cop is called, child resists arrest, cop tasers child. What will they call the police on a child for next? Sticking out his/her tongue?"
This child didn't have a gun, knife or drugs on her. She didn't injure anyone before they called the police. There was no report of the "push into traffic" having caused any bodily injury. This girl wasn't throwing chairs, breaking windows, punching anyone or screaming. It was her bad attitude (a screw you all attitude), that led to the police being called to arrest her and take her off campus. That's what bothered me and led me to submit the article and make the comment.
Lets have more dictionary fun:| |
authoritarian:
favoring complete obedience or subjection to authority as opposed to individual freedom |
We've become such an authoritarian society that common behavior problems by probably emotionally upset children are dealt with by police arrest. This girl resisted authority, and that bugged the hell out of whoever called the police.
They haven't always had police with tasers at schools, but they've always had kids having bad-hair days. How did they deal with behavior/emotional problems before police and tasers? Don't they realize that a big show of force (a police officer) would provoke the rebellious girl? Aren't the police or schools trained how to deal with upset, defiant but not dangerous elementary school children? Is the only approach for the police: "You will submit now or be taken by force"? Are schools becoming prisons? They can't have all the kids on Ritalin all the time, so the few exceptions are dealt with police arrest?
From an article on the myth of ADHD:| |
Excerpt: "Children misbehave and run about wildly, they
are defiant and get bored easily. Er… yes, they
always have done." |
So give them Ritalin or arrest them! Modern society is so authoritarian and short-sighted and hating the spontaneity and mischievousness of children that forcible drugs or forcible arrest are the only way to deal with them. As Dostoevsky pointed out in "Notes from the Underground", the more you try to control people, the more they resist and the more "wild" they become. So will modern children grow up to be more rebellious and defiant and wild? And will that lead them to becoming "drunk and stupid" all the time, the way politicians view their public?
From another ADHD myth article
I'll paraphrase: Society has gone to hell, when a child reacts from the stress, he/she is labeled and given drugs. "that relieves parents and teachers of any worry that it might be due to their own failure (or the failure of the broader culture) to nurture or teach effectively." The real life of unique children is ignored, and "the number of potential solutions to help them is highly limited to a few child-controlling interventions."
Yeah, like forcible arrest leading to tasering.
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My perspective (and yours) is based on one newspaper's account, the only source of information we have, at least for now. It's entirely possible that the facts as reported in the paper are false or overly cop-friendly, and it goes without saying that if the kid or other witnesses say that ain't the way it went down, I want to hear about it and I'll cheerfully reconsider.
But that said, I've re-read the news report, and -- sorry, I'm just not outraged. I have little patience for kids who push other kids into traffic, and such behavior should be punished. I'm not an education expert and I'm not sure what schools should do, ideally, with a kid who throws a fit and spits at the teacher and refuses to go to the office when he/she is sent to the office -- but after not too much of this, calling the cops doesn't seem like a wild over-response. And once cops are called, I don't know what even the best deputy in the world should do, ideally, if the kid belts her in the nose, but a quick sting with a taser doesn't seem terribly unreasonable.
To have complaints about out-of-control cops taken seriously in the real world, I try to avoid getting too worked up about cops' reasonable or borderline use of force. And I'm open to argument, but I'm not yet convinced this is something to get furious about.
There's no mention of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in the article, but I do agree that's a catch-all diagnosis that's often used to squelch the personality out of kids who cause the slightest disruption at school. |
Not stimulated
So I kept hearing on the news (what little I listen to) about this "bonus" for the year. Curiosity leads me to www.irs.gov. And in there is see the 'calculator'. I try several different scenarios for a single person, and all it ever comes up with is $300. But I kept hearing $600, so that maybe means I should clean the **** out of my ears.
Even if I take the money and put it under my pillow, I still don't have enough for a cup of coffee for a year. I'm at least $65 short. If I can find a coffee out there for a $1.
What kind of stimulus is that?
Military meat grinder
Obama's lama problem| |
Excerpt: She scoffs at the idea of voting for Obama: "I don't want to be a Muslim!" She looks dubious when told Obama is Christian. "Then why did he go see what's-his-name over in Iraq, that Lama?"
Well, this is really just a horrible mashup. First of all, despite the remarks of some of his more enthusiastic surrogates, Obama has not actually said that he will convert all Americans to Islam. And he didn't go to Iraq, either. Let's get this straight once and for all: that one time when he went to visit the llama, he wore the traditional garb of Suriname. He did it only because llamas, like illegal Mexicans, are from South America. Any politician, colored or regular, would have done the same. |
Listen, I lived in eastern PA for a while. Outside of Phillie in Lower Bucks County. I can tell you without fear of contradiction. These people are as dumb as a stump. And this was one of the better upper middle-class areas to boot.
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Pentagon: Colleges must hand over names| |
Excerpt: The new policy also no longer lets schools ban military recruiters from working on campuses solely because a school determines that no students have expressed interest in joining the military. If other employers are invited, the military has to have the same access. |
Personally I think that if some clown wants to go and get his ass put through the military meat grinder, far be it for me to stop them. It just leaves more room in school for those with a modicum of intelligence, which these fine folks obviously do not posses.
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I don't think the military is wrong in this account: If other prospective employers can recruit on a college campus, why not the military? It's high schools where such recruiting should be banned, because high schoolers are children. College students are at least nominally adults. Maybe we agree on that.
Of course, there are millions of people in military service with far more than a modicum of intelligence. But no doubt, the dumb and the young are prime targets of military recruiters. And insofar as recruiters pursue minors, they're worse than pedophiles -- they both want to fuck children over, pedophiles literally and military recruiters figuratively, but at least your average pedophile isn't trying to get children killed. |
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Helen & Harry
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Gas saving tips
by JR Mooneyham
| Apr. 3, 2008 |
There is no gas shortage, but Washington, Wall Street, and ethanol and oil and gas companies want you to think there is
Yet another reference to go into the list at this page backing up 'There are NO absolute shortages of living space, materials, or energy' at this page.
Folks might find this ancient piece useful as well: The world's easiest, cheapest gas saving tips.
Scare tactics
Re Strange but interesting
Yep it's a calculated scare tactic (as if we don't have eight billion of those) but one that makes me wonder if there aren't any "episodes" in store for us.
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Sherri B.
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Egregious
Rules to be waived for border fence| |
Excerpt: "Invoking the two legal waivers -- which Congress authorized -- ..."
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Congress is as egregious as Bush in evading established policy.
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Wig
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Nuking Iraq
Can't remember where I heard about this but apparently the US is using small scale nuclear weapons in Iraq. They fire them from tanks and the weapons consist of spent uranium from nuclear power plants. The uranium is packed into anti tank shells that are made to disintegrate while in the air spreading this nuclear dust all over everything in it's path. I saw pictures of small mushroom clouds.
Also, some time ago I read or heard that the US "crop dusted" some kind of magnesium type of powder over Sadr City which causes serious burns on the skin of anyone it touches. This includes moms and kids, old and young. The use of chemical weapons is outlawed by the Geneva convention, however Monkey Boy Bush seems to have forgotten that any such thing exists.
So now we have the use of chemical and nuclear weapons on civilians. Saddam Hussein was a saint compared to this nutjob that's heading this country.
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I haven't read any credible reports that the US is using nuclear weapons in Iraq, and I'd need to see some serious evidence to believe it.
I do, however, remember reports that the US had considered using so-called "tactical nuclear weapons" in Iraq, and I've heard endless whispers and read occasional news that Cheney and Bush and the rest of our all-American monsters are considering using nuclear weapons in their coming killing in Iran -- which is, of course, insane beyond belief. And thus I'm sure it's at least being considered, because insane beyond belief is their modus operandi.
American leadership is using so-called "depleted uranium" in Iraq, in huge quantities, and I think that's what you're describing when you write that "uranium is packed into anti tank shells that are made to disintegrate while in the air spreading this nuclear dust all over everything in it's path." Basically, lots of all-American ammunition is drenched in radioactivity, to leave a lingering dose of genocide for Iraqis that'll last for generations after the American occupation ends. I don't know whether it's a war crime by Geneva rules, but to anyone with a soul or a conscience it's a crime against humanity. And planned or un-planned, since the occupation is lasting so long, American troops will also have a little glow in their gonads when they return, so like Agent Orange, the US will see a small spike in long-term consequences, but the victim nation -- Vietnam then, Iraq now -- will see exponentially more long-term damage that'll be mentioned in US media maybe twice.
Among the other atrocities that have barely been mentioned in American media, US forces have been using napalm in Iraq, a ghastly chemical weapon that burns the skin off its victims -- that's probably the "crop dusting" tactic you've read about. And we shouldn't have any lingering naïveté that other weapons and tactics haven't been used that cross the line into war crime tactics. It's all part of the flabbergasting litany of illegal and unconscionable acts given a cheery thumbs up by America's murderous monsters in the White House.
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Helen & Harry
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Errata tat tat
by Galactic Rabbit
| Apr. 3, 2008 |
I absolutely love your website, you folks are great news surfers. I actually put you a step ahead of Prisonplanet.com. Thank you so so much for standing up and informing the public. I commend you both and as an American am very proud of you both.
You posted an article but i think there is a mistake on the link can you please fix it so I can pass the news on? Thank you so so much. Keep up the great work
(needs corrected link)
Bush administration 'bypasses' more than 30 laws to build border fence
| | Thanks for the kind words, and double-thanks for bringing this to my attention so I could fix it. Turns out I made the tiniest little typo coding that line, and it made it go kerblooie.
The link you're looking for is truthout.org/docs_2006/040108S.shtml, and it should work now.
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Helen & Harry
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Greek gods
by Kathy Fisher
| Apr. 2, 2008 |
There's a story about the Greek gods. The Greek gods were bored so they invented human beings. but they were still bored so they invented love. Then they weren't bored any longer, so they decided to try love for themselves, and then finally they invented laughter so they could stand it.
The Social Security swindle
Re The latest Bush administration bull: Social Security's is "unsustainable"
The Social Security Trust Fund and the Emperor's New Clothes are both cut from the same cloth. Why can't people see this?
Here is how the swindle works. Imagine you are the government. Take two dollars of tax receipts and place them in front of you. Write on a piece of paper "I.O.U. $2. Will pay back in future." This I.O.U. is your trust fund. Now grab the $2 and spend it, secure in the knowledge that your "trust fund" will bail you out in time of crisis.
This is how the Social Security Trust Fund swindle works. It's that simple! The securities the Trust Fund holds are special loans to the government which the Social Security Administration can't sell to anybody but the Federal Government because they are non-negotiable United States Treasury bonds and U.S. securities. If you can't sell something to anybody else, its value is a big fat zero. Whether there are 40 trillion of those zeros or only 4 trillion matters not to me. It's still one big fat lot of nothing! According to Wikipedia, The Office of Management and Budget has described the distinction as follows:| |
These [Trust Fund] balances are available to finance future benefit payments and other Trust Fund expenditures -- but only in a bookkeeping sense.... They do not consist of real economic assets that can be drawn down in the future to fund benefits. Instead, they are claims on the Treasury that, when redeemed, will have to be financed by raising taxes, borrowing from the public, or reducing benefits or other expenditures. The existence of large Trust Fund balances, therefore, does not, by itself, have any impact on the Government's ability to pay benefits.
(from FY 2000 Budget, Analytical Perspectives, p. 337) |
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Wal-Mart caves, says it won't seize money from disabled ex-worker| |
Excerpt: Although it had just contacted Shank's attorney to begin the process of actually collecting the money from Shank and her husband, Wal-Mart announced Tuesday it had reversed its decision and said that it no longer will seek any reimbursement from the Shanks. |
I liked Wal-Mart better when it was only cold and heartless. Now it's cold, heartless, and savvy enough to respond to bad publicity. Boy, that's evil!
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SirJ
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Oy
Who benefits from US-style 'capitalism'?
Capitalists?
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Paul Z.
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Foreclosure vandals
Some homes worth less than their copper pipes| |
Excerpt:
Real estate brokers and local authorities say once-proud homes coast-to-coast are being stripped for copper, aluminum, and brass by thieves. Much of it ends up with scrap metal traders who say nearly all copper gets shipped overseas, much of it to China and India.
In areas hit hardest by foreclosures, such as the Slavic Village neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, copper and other metals used in plumbing, heating systems and telephone lines are now more valuable than some homes.
"We're in an incredibly unfortunate time where the nonferrous metals commodities market for scrap is at an all-time high. Houses are getting stripped pretty quickly once they go through the foreclosure process," Cleveland city councilor Tony Brancatelli said. |
Vacant foreclosed properties attracting thieves| |
Excerpt: "People will leave their places and squatters will go right in," he said.
It is a short step from that situation to one in which a building is vandalized, copper pipes and furnaces stolen, and holes punched in walls, he said.
Linda Kody, of Kody and Company, a Methuen real estate firm and foreclosure specialist that sells foreclosed properties, said she has about a dozen properties in Lawrence up for sale.
"It is a problem," she said. "It does appear that properties are having issues with being de-coppered." The problem, she said, is happening everywhere but appears to be more concentrated in inner-city areas. |
This is truly sad as there are no doubt people and families who would love to have a place to live and it's only going to get worse. The banks just don't give a damn just so long as they their money. And it's not just banks and foreclosed homes. I have it on good authority that a certain big box store owned now by the K Mart folks will destroy new appliances rather than sell them at a loss. Talk about spiteful greed. Makes one want to go out and shoot every CEO you see in his private parts so he can no longer procreate his kind.
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Chris M.
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National Suckers Day
by Herb Ruhs, MD
| Apr. 2, 2008 |
It is not so much that authoritarians are against the idea of human and civil rights, it's just that they can have no understanding of such rights, due to their acceptance of the primacy of the right of authority to control everything.
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I think Congress should consider making April 1 National Suckers Day in honor of the suffering of the countless fools of this country that routinely fall victim to various confidence games.
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I like it when people fly the flag. It is a little sad for me to see less and less enthusiasm for doing so, even here in the rural heartland of Montana where a couple of years ago it seemed like most houses flew flags. I especially like it when folks fly several flags from their cars. Let's me know to give them a wide birth. I would like to fly flags as well, but my wife won't let me because I insist on flying them upside down and she is afraid that will attract the wrong kind of attention.
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Chuckles and nods. An American flag is one thing, and I've been known to fly one on the Fourth of July, but whenever I see a car with more than one flag on it, I always say to myself, There goes an assh*le.
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We are all assholes some of the time. Some of us are assholes most of the time. When we are being assholes we just need more space.
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Herb Ruhs, MD
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Law? What law?
by Marshall S.
| Apr. 2, 2008 |
Feds to bypass more than 30 laws to build border fence| |
Excerpt: The Bush administration will use its authority to bypass more than 30 laws and regulations in an effort to finish building 670 miles of fence along the southwest U.S. border by the end of this year, federal officials said Tuesday. |
If laws are so easy to bypass, why have them in the first place? Oh, I see, laws are for you and me, but not for Bush.
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Iraqi casualties at highest level since August| |
Excerpt: Fighting between security forces and Shi'ite militiamen last month has driven civilian deaths in Iraq to their highest level in more than six months, government figures showed on Tuesday. |
The Surge is working. Bush's civilian body count is growing faster than ever. It'll still take a long time before it reaches the civilian body counts of Lyndon Johnson, Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin.
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Oil chiefs say high prices not our fault| |
Excerpt: Don't blame us, oil industry chiefs told a skeptical Congress. Top executives of the country's five biggest oil companies said Tuesday they know record fuel prices are hurting people, but they argued it's not their fault and their huge profits are in line with other industries.
"On April Fool's Day, the biggest joke of all is being played on American families by Big Oil," Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., said. |
Whose fault is it? The Devil made me do it?
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Scientist: CDC bosses ignored warning about post-Katrina trailers| |
Excerpt: A federal scientist said Tuesday his bosses ignored pleas to alert Gulf Coast hurricane victims earlier about severe health risks from formaldehyde in government-issued trailers and once told him not to write e-mails about his concerns. |
Would this have happened if most of the people in the trailers weren't black?
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Colombia sitting on big oil reserves| |
Excerpt: Colombia's heavy oil area could hold 20bn barrels of recoverable resources, giving the country greater reserves than leading producers such as Mexico and Algeria, said its natural resources agency. |
I bet the average poor Colombian will get less money from oil than he/she gets from cocaine. That's because the CIA is actually more compassionate than Exxon.
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Army failed to perform tests on body armor| |
Excerpt: The Pentagon’s Inspector General has found that the U.S. Army repeatedly failed to follow federal contracting rules in procuring billions of dollars worth of body armor for American soldiers, according to an IG report obtained by NBC News.
In nearly half of the body-armor contracts given out between January 2004 and December 2006, according to the report, the Army failed to require or perform so-called 'first article testing' designed to catch and correct any defects in the body-armor manufacturing process. What's more, the Army failed to maintain appropriate records to justify why a number of contracts were awarded in the first place, the report said. It is scheduled for public release tomorrow.
As a result, the report states that the Department of Defense "has no assurance" that 13 of 28 Army body-armor contracts -- worth an estimated $2.98 billion -- "met the required standards" or that 11 of 28 -- worth an estimated $3.92 billion -- "were awarded based on informed procurement decisions." |
The reason for war is to generate lots of money for politicians and their cronies. Therefore, "Mission Accomplished". Giving the soldiers anything of value in exchange for a small portion of that money is way down on the list of priorities. In fact, it's more cynical and sadistic to not test the body armor, in line with Bush, Cheney and the rest of the slime.
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American Airlines union: No exec bonuses| |
Excerpt: American Airlines flight attendants' union said Tuesday they want the company's executives to defer their bonuses.
The union says the company's executive bonuses over the last five years have totaled nearly $300 million.
In 2003, the union narrowly approved $340 million in annual wage and benefit concessions to keep American, the nation's largest airline, out of bankruptcy. |
Apparently the $340 million gift the union handed to the company all went into exec bonuses, not into bankruptcy protection. Pretty funny, in a cruel management oriented cynical sort of way.
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Clinton challenges Obama to presidential bowl-off| |
Excerpt: "So I have a proposal. Today, I am challenging Senator Obama to a bowl-off. A bowling night, right here in Pennsylvania. Winner take all. I'll even spot (concede) him two frames," she said to guffaws from the press.
"It's time for his campaign to get out of the gutter and allow all of the pins to be counted. And I'm prepared to play this game all the way to the 10th frame," Clinton added. |
At least she's funny, in a cruel management oriented cynical sort of way.
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GAO report points to rise in cost overruns at Pentagon| |
Excerpt: Inefficient Pentagon management led to cost increases for key weapons programs that often fell short of production goals last year, government auditors said Monday.
In its sixth annual report on selected weapons purchases, the auditors, with the Government Accountability Office, found that procurement costs came in 26 percent above original estimates for 72 major weapons programs in 2007. The office also found that many programs had been delayed or produced fewer weapons than initially planned.
Planned Pentagon investment in new weapons systems doubled to $1.6 trillion in 2007 from $790 billion in 2000, hitting its highest level in two decades, the report said. |
What does it matter what weapons cost, when you can print your own money to buy them?
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Bill Clinton won't be welcome at First Ladies Library| |
Excerpt: Ohio's National First Ladies Library won't make a special place for Bill Clinton if Hillary Rodham Clinton is elected president. Library president and founder Mary Regula says if former President Clinton or others become "first men," they'll have to "build their own thing," in her words.
The wife of retiring Congressman Ralph Regula dismisses any suggestion that the name be changed to the National First Spouses Library. She says the site in Canton is a tribute to women only, and not just first ladies but also other women who have made history, such as former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
Besides, library executive director Pat Krider says Bill Clinton already has a library, his presidential one in Little Rock, Ark. |
If Hillary becomes president, I think Bill should be called the first lady. After all, wasn't it Hillary that had the cajones when Bill was Prez?
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ACLU: Military skirting law to spy on Americans| |
Excerpt: The military is using the FBI to skirt legal restrictions on domestic surveillance to obtain private records of Americans' Internet service providers, financial institutions and telephone companies, the ACLU said Tuesday. |
Law? What law? All that exists is who has more power.
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20,000 Vietnamese workers go on strike at Nike factory| |
Excerpt: More than 20,000 Vietnamese workers have walked off the job at a Taiwanese-owned plant that makes shoes for Nike Inc., demanding higher pay to keep pace with skyrocketing prices, officials said today.
The workers at Ching Luh plant, in southern Long An province, went on strike Monday. They want a 20 percent bump to their $59 average monthly salaries along with better lunches at the company cafeteria, said Nguyen Van Thua, an official with the province's trade union.
The plant has been making sneakers since 2002 and employs about 21,000 workers, most of them young rural women. The company is paying the workers 14 percent more than minimum wage, but soaring inflation is eroding their earnings, Thua said. |
Prices are soaring in the US too. Maybe we'll be having large scale strikes soon too.
Yo, Adrian
Clinton: I am like 'Rocky'| |
Excerpt: "Let me tell you something, when it comes to finishing a fight, Rocky and I have a lot in common. I never quit. I never give up. And neither do the American people," Clinton said in excerpts of prepared remarks to be given Tuesday to a meeting of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO. |
Maybe she never saw Rocky? Cuz what happened was -- spoiler alert -- Rocky lost the big fight. To a black man, as I recall.
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Max
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Headless nails
by Ricardo H.
| Apr. 2, 2008 |
Re The "news" is not news at all
Dr. Ruhs has a way with words; no question. I wonder, on the topic of dysfunctional family services, and the observation that truly caring/competent case workers are replaced with bureaucrats-of-the-uncaring-kind (BOTUCKs), the degree to which these people rise to their level of incompetency is directly proportional to their status as headless nails. A headless nail is embedded, and cannot be removed.
BOTUCKs see themselves as guardians-of-the-overall-good -- i.e. business sense -- with tunnel vision over their purviews. Despite the fact that they have far-ranging sight ability, they seem to rarely see the trees for the forest. Sad, and frustrating. Typical of the view is as said by one Daphne Moore:| |
"This is a very sad case and we understand that people will naturally have an emotional and sympathetic reaction. While the Shank case involves a tragic situation, the reality is that the health plan is required to protect its assets so that it can pay the future claims of other associates and their family members. These plans are funded by associate premiums and company contributions. Any money recovered is returned to the health plan, not to the business. This is done out of fairness to everyone who contributes to and benefits from the plan." |
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Re Who benefits from US-style 'capitalism'?
Yes; and while I agree that this corruption is endemic to the rich, it isn't their landscape alone. There are hosts of people in the very un-rich category who buy into this mindset. Their limited ability to accept -- not understand; accept -- that capitalism is by definition a cancer and opportunistic infection to society and moral "relativism" (what other kind of relativism is there?) is the point at which I just throw up my hands in disbelief. Given, of course, that socialist capitalism (by definition, a redundancy as well) has been empirically shown to be a better system. The minute the free-market unregulated capitalists get their claws into any system, bar none, the bath-water becomes fetid and rank, and relentlessly drowns the baby.
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Re Lehman looks at subprime loan freeze
Have your cake and eat it too? Pshaw. The gurus of risk are the most averse to risk; they'll let YOU take the risk, but won't take the risk themselves. If you're are in business to provide mortgages, then provide mortgages and take the risk. If you are in business to make profit only, get out of business altogether.
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Re Why the Paulson plan is DOA
This is specious. I would be the first to say that it is not "DOA" in the least. DOA is dead on arrival; Paulson's plan -- self-regulation -- resonates quite well with just about every person in Congress. This notion is not only a Republican bullet-point; it is a mantra of just about any Congressperson who arrived on Capitol Hill on the coat-tails of business interests of any sort. Democrats included.
It would be "DOA" if and only if the entire Democratic party thought like Barney Frank. Not gonna happen. It will be business as usual. And that pisses me of
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Ricardo H.
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