The much practiced and fairly useless Palestinian-Israeli “Peace Talks” are disingenuous at best. But perhaps that is best understood when we realize the same ontological vacuums a/k/a the “compassionate conservative Christians” conducting the talks have long saddled the U.S. especially and most virulently the South with their brand of religiosity and politics. It’s what I call Texas Red.
What possible incentive could the Jews have to work toward the creation of the Palestinian State---you know as it was initially decided by the U.N. some sixty (60) plus years ago?
Israeli Jews already occupy most of what until the U.S. and Britain-backed UN 1947 edict was the Palestinian State.
Since 1967 Israelis have occupied the Golan Heights, Gaza and the West Bank , collect Palestinian’s taxes (and usually hold them indefinitely).
Isralis already have the only regional nuclear capability as well as the most advanced military in the area and use it with impunity--- at will.
So again just in case I’ve missed something, what possible incentive could Israeli Jews have to work toward the creation of the Palestinian State?
In a word; none.
With the creation of a Palestinian State Israeli Jews would have to behave more maturely, responsibly and their actions would finally have consequences.
So do I believe the Obama administration will succeed in creating a Palestinian State? Not a chance.
Of course, as I’ve long stated and advocate to anyone listening that if anyone really wants to create a “Palestinian State” all that is needed is the same U.N. mechanism that created the State of Israel.
Really. Is that just too easy?
Being from Georgia the segregationist practices that Jimmy Carter speaks of in Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, are something with which he is all too familiar. It is the same system that’s given us our apartheid public education system throughout America and especially all across the South including cities such as San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas. (See: The U.S. Apartheid public education system)
From Texas Red: a cratered landscape of prisons, deplorable apartheid public education, lack of healthcare and politicians and majority population intent on keeping it that way…
Hasta Siempre,
More:
History of Israel
In September 1947, one month after Partition of India, UNSCOP recommended partition in Palestine, a suggestion ratified by the UN General Assembly on November 29, 1947.[54] The result envisaged the creation of two states, one Arab and one Jewish, with the city of Jerusalem to be under the direct administration of the United Nations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Israel
Settlement Freeze Ends, Mideast Talks In Doubt
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130149470
World leaders decry Israeli move
Leaders express regret as Israel announces it would not extend 10-month freeze on new settlements in the West Bank.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/09/201092718349628699.html
Palestinians killed in Israeli raid
At least three men are killed in the strike that targeted a car outside a refugee camp, near the Israeli-Gaza border.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/09/201092723256191228.html
The elephant in the room
Excluding Hamas from current and future Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations is an exercise in futility.
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/briefings/2010/09/20109593458899725.html
Jewish settlements deadlock remains
US peace envoy reveals no indication of progress after second day of direct Netanyahu-Abbas talks.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/09/201091520229665176.html
Israel's 'unspoken alliance'
Author of book on Israel's relationship with Apartheid South Africa talks to Al Jazeera.
“Sasha Polakow-Suransky, a senior editor at Foreign Affairs, poured through 7,000 pages of never-before-seen classified South African documents while researching his book, Israel's Secret Relationship with Apartheid South Africa. In it, he relays the minutes and details of conversations between top level officials on both sides that shed light on the extent and nature of Israel's cooperation with and enablement of South Africa's Apartheid regime, both in military and non-military matters.
It was a relationship that benefited both sides: South Africa acquired vital components from Israel to help advance its nuclear programme, while sharing their knowledge and components with Israel as it pursued its own nuclear ambitions.”
Israel's 'unspoken alliance'
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2010/06/201062274848326213.html
yes “those” compassionate conservative Christians and our tax dollars……..
Junkets for Jesus
The C Street Family goes global: How congressmen travel the world to preach to dictators on the taxpayers' dime.
http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/11/doug-coe-inhofe-siljander-c-street
Israel's 'street apartheid'
"In some areas you could identify some characteristics of apartheid that should raise a lot of concern about the future," Jabareen comments.
A young Israeli Jew, fresh from army service, simply remarks, "It's a kind of psychological warfare. The idea is to get [Palestinians] to leave."
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2010/07/20107101335494763.html
Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, Jimmy Carter
http://www.amazon.com/Palestine-Peace-Apartheid-Jimmy-Carter/dp/0743285034/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285661705&sr=1-1
Treaty of Tripoli
Authored by American diplomat Joel Barlow in 1796, the following treaty was sent to the floor of the Senate, June 7, 1797, where it was read aloud in its entirety and unanimously approved. John Adams, having seen the treaty, signed it and proudly proclaimed it to the Nation.
http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/treaty_tripoli.html
Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History, Stephen J. Gould
http://www.amazon.com/Ever-Since-Darwin-Reflections-Natural/dp/0393308189/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285661922&sr=1-6
The Unspoken Alliance: Israel's Secret Relationship with Apartheid South Africa, Sasha Polakow-Suransky
http://www.amazon.com/Unspoken-Alliance-Israels-Relationship-Apartheid/dp/0375425462/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285662038&sr=1-1
The U.S. Apartheid public education system
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-18764-San-Antonio-Public-Policy-Examiner~y2009m8d11-Institutionalized-racism-at-the-center-of-public-educations-problems-part-3
The Rope, the Chair, and the Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923-1990
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rope,_the_Chair,_and_the_Needle:_Capital_Punishment_in_Texas,_1923-1990
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=The+Rope%2C+the+Chair%2C+and+the+Needle%3A+Capital+Punishment+in+Texas%2C+1923-1990&ih=1_0_0_0_0_0_0_0_0_0.2973_1&fsc=-1&x=19&y=17
Leonard Cohen - Everybody knows
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
The coprophagous congress, public policy and elections 2010….
Given the state of the republic and the state (especially Texas Red) since at least the mid-19th Century you expected what? Really.
The usual suspects---progeny of the DWTS-local equivalents have all filed and are anxiously awaiting your approval. Really. Personally, I’m on pins and needles. Not really most are foregone conclusions.
The founders were well intentioned but apparently millennia ahead of their time and of course, of the evolution of the human species.
From the annals of the twisted, tortured and tormented perspective on reality the following are presented for your review and maybe entertainment.
so from Texas Red coprophagous wackjobs you expected what?
Divided SBOE adopts religion resolution
AUSTIN — Publishers were put on notice Friday when a divided State Board of Education vowed to reject textbooks with a pro-Islamic and anti-Christian slant, sending a message that critics say promotes fear and prejudice.
The resolution, approved by a 7-6 vote, says multiple world history textbooks are tainted with views that demonize Christianity and favor Islam.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/divided_sboe_adopts_religion_resolution_103741029.html
from the residents of Texas Red you expected something different?
Texans back Arizona-style bill
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/texans_back_arizona-style_bill_103805914.html
Texas Red 49 in healthcare, top 10 in guns; unhealthy but armed………
Report: 10 states sell half of imported crime guns
Forty-nine percent of those guns were sold in Georgia, Florida, Virginia, Texas, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, California or Arizona.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100927/ap_on_re_us/us_illegal_guns
to be expected from our lapdog congress but no less spineless, self-serving and careerist….
White House, Dems see tax cut vote after election
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_tax_cuts
conservatives give you a hard time as they take all your liberties…..well deserved
Citizens United After Eight Months
The reason the Times' paints only an "anecdotal portrait" and Toner relies on his "personal experience" is that this new corporate money is increasingly being funneled through 501(c)(4) groups that aren't required to disclose who their donors are. You can see the results at the Washington Post's running tally of campaign spending by interest groups: seven of the top ten spenders are Republican organizations, and they're outspending Democrats by nearly two to one, much of it on ads specifically targeted against Democratic House and Senate candidates.
http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2010/09/citizens-united-after-eight-months
never underestimate the military-industrial complex…
Military thwarted president seeking choice in Afghanistan
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/26/AR2010092603766.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
in an age of careerists no real surprise……
Military brass thwarted search for an exit plan
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/nation/woodward-obamas-wars/index.html
think of these as the hedging your bets states…
Three states may keep us guessing about midterm results after elections
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/26/AR2010092603934.html?sub=AR
Save American Democracy, or What's Left of It
http://markcrispinmiller.com/
From Texas Red: a cratered landscape of prisons, deplorable apartheid public education, lack of healthcare and politicians and majority population intent on keeping it that way
Hasta Siempre,
More:
democracy? surely you know better………
Diesel Dangers: Mining Companies Get First Look at Government Cancer Study
A long-delayed government epidemiological study of possible ties between diesel exhaust and lung cancer in miners may finally be published this fall -- but only after a mining industry group, represented by the Washington lobbying powerhouse Patton Boggs, finishes a pre-publication review of the study's drafts.
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/09/26/diesel-dangers-mining-companies-get-first-look-at-government-ca/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-w%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%7C173437
paranoia, the growing police state America of obama/bush3…..
Money transfers could face anti-terrorism scrutiny
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/26/AR2010092603941.html?wpisrc=nl_politics
did I mention the growing police state America of obama/bush3?
Report: US would make Internet wiretaps easier
http://markcrispinmiller.com/
http://www.refresheverything.com/search/?q=%22under+26%22+rockwood+state.voices+ussaf+%22develop.next.generation.civic%22+keystone+institute.american+polaris+wellstone+league.young.voters&ic=0&im=0
military (AFPC) does the same, enriches colonels, saves no money---free market economy? right
Audit: Ex-Postal Service workers return as private contractors, make more money
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/26/AR2010092603359.html?wpisrc=nl_fed
The usual suspects---progeny of the DWTS-local equivalents have all filed and are anxiously awaiting your approval. Really. Personally, I’m on pins and needles. Not really most are foregone conclusions.
The founders were well intentioned but apparently millennia ahead of their time and of course, of the evolution of the human species.
From the annals of the twisted, tortured and tormented perspective on reality the following are presented for your review and maybe entertainment.
so from Texas Red coprophagous wackjobs you expected what?
Divided SBOE adopts religion resolution
AUSTIN — Publishers were put on notice Friday when a divided State Board of Education vowed to reject textbooks with a pro-Islamic and anti-Christian slant, sending a message that critics say promotes fear and prejudice.
The resolution, approved by a 7-6 vote, says multiple world history textbooks are tainted with views that demonize Christianity and favor Islam.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/divided_sboe_adopts_religion_resolution_103741029.html
from the residents of Texas Red you expected something different?
Texans back Arizona-style bill
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/texans_back_arizona-style_bill_103805914.html
Texas Red 49 in healthcare, top 10 in guns; unhealthy but armed………
Report: 10 states sell half of imported crime guns
Forty-nine percent of those guns were sold in Georgia, Florida, Virginia, Texas, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, California or Arizona.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100927/ap_on_re_us/us_illegal_guns
to be expected from our lapdog congress but no less spineless, self-serving and careerist….
White House, Dems see tax cut vote after election
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_tax_cuts
conservatives give you a hard time as they take all your liberties…..well deserved
Citizens United After Eight Months
The reason the Times' paints only an "anecdotal portrait" and Toner relies on his "personal experience" is that this new corporate money is increasingly being funneled through 501(c)(4) groups that aren't required to disclose who their donors are. You can see the results at the Washington Post's running tally of campaign spending by interest groups: seven of the top ten spenders are Republican organizations, and they're outspending Democrats by nearly two to one, much of it on ads specifically targeted against Democratic House and Senate candidates.
http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2010/09/citizens-united-after-eight-months
never underestimate the military-industrial complex…
Military thwarted president seeking choice in Afghanistan
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/26/AR2010092603766.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
in an age of careerists no real surprise……
Military brass thwarted search for an exit plan
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/nation/woodward-obamas-wars/index.html
think of these as the hedging your bets states…
Three states may keep us guessing about midterm results after elections
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/26/AR2010092603934.html?sub=AR
Save American Democracy, or What's Left of It
http://markcrispinmiller.com/
From Texas Red: a cratered landscape of prisons, deplorable apartheid public education, lack of healthcare and politicians and majority population intent on keeping it that way
Hasta Siempre,
More:
democracy? surely you know better………
Diesel Dangers: Mining Companies Get First Look at Government Cancer Study
A long-delayed government epidemiological study of possible ties between diesel exhaust and lung cancer in miners may finally be published this fall -- but only after a mining industry group, represented by the Washington lobbying powerhouse Patton Boggs, finishes a pre-publication review of the study's drafts.
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/09/26/diesel-dangers-mining-companies-get-first-look-at-government-ca/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-w%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%7C173437
paranoia, the growing police state America of obama/bush3…..
Money transfers could face anti-terrorism scrutiny
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/26/AR2010092603941.html?wpisrc=nl_politics
did I mention the growing police state America of obama/bush3?
Report: US would make Internet wiretaps easier
http://markcrispinmiller.com/
http://www.refresheverything.com/search/?q=%22under+26%22+rockwood+state.voices+ussaf+%22develop.next.generation.civic%22+keystone+institute.american+polaris+wellstone+league.young.voters&ic=0&im=0
military (AFPC) does the same, enriches colonels, saves no money---free market economy? right
Audit: Ex-Postal Service workers return as private contractors, make more money
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/26/AR2010092603359.html?wpisrc=nl_fed
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Elections 2010: Of Frankenfish, oligarchs and the Tea Party
Who we as a collective, that is the “majority” allegedly, that is supposedly, elect to represent us is tantamount to dictating public policy and the resulting condition on everyone including those who didn’t vote with the majority. As a reminder, it’s what the founders thought was tyranny by majority.
I say allegedly or supposedly because I’ve never personally followed my vote from point of entry to conclusion, nor has anyone else I know. Put another way, I’ve never personally placed my ballot in the hands of the candidate for any office.
In my lifetime I’ve seen some election results that were at best questionable at worst stolen. (JFK, Bush 2).
Then there’s the fact of locked ballot boxes with false bottoms, easily stuffable with uncast but no less counted ballots around almost from day one.
In the electronic age insuring campaign outcome is child’s play.
A History of Disenfranchised Florida Voters
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88019891
a not very well or bright individual, you know in your heart it’s what the Christ would have wanted…
Virginia Executes a Woman for 1st Time in US Since 2005
http://www.aolnews.com/crime/article/virginia-executes-teresa-lewis/19646723
Compassionate conservative Christians dividing the nation
Supreme Court Justice Scalia Takes On Women's Rights
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/08599202066700
Turning An Inconvenient Eye On Public Education
terminator
Stuxnet malware is 'weapon' out to destroy ... Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/327178
Extending The Law Of War To Cyberspace
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130023318&sc=nl&cc=nh-20100922
why? Why not just provide Tricare for our veterans? It’s more economically viable….
Cornyn says he'll try for a Valley veterans hospital, again
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/cornyn_says_hell_try_for_a_valley_veterans_hospital_again_103559894.html
US Official: CIA Runs Elite Afghan Fighting Force
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130040526
Children of al-Qaeda in Iraq pay for sins of their fathers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/20/AR2010092005696.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
Dog Days Of Summers.. Senate Blocks DADT Repeal, DREAM Act.. Murkowski Loses Energy Panel Post.. Orrin Hatch Won't Touch Issue Of Self Abuse
www.huffingtonpost.com
The Secret Life of Lead
http://www.loe.org/series/lead2003/
Fishy Tale
Sounds good on the surface, but seen in the larger context of American fisheries, it doesn't make much sense. While the government seeks to boost farmed salmon supplies through transgenics, it is simultaneously letting wild salmon go to pot. At the headwaters of Bristol Bay, Alaska, the spawning grounds of perhaps the most productive wild salmon runs left on earth, the international mining giant, Anglo American plans to construct pebble mine. The largest open pit copper and gold mine in the US. Mines of this nature are notoriously bad for fish. Just this summer, a copper mine failure in China's Ting River killed millions of fish. A similar disaster in the Bristol Bay fishery could mean the destruction of around a quarter of a billion pounds of fish.
Precariously, about the same amount of salmon that Aquabounty hopes to produce with its transgenic fish. US Environmental Protection Agency has the power to stop Pebble Mine through the Clean Water Act, but has so far failed to act.
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=10-P13-00038&segmentID=4
Mid-turmoil on Climate
TAJ: Actually several of these Republican candidates have gone a step further and are actually questioning the science of climate change, not just the policy proposals to solve it.
YOUNG: So, I noticed Christine O'Donnell and a lot of the Republican candidates have signed on to something that's called the 'no climate tax pledge.' What's that all about?
TAJ: That's a pledge to taxpayers that says basically 'I'll oppose any climate change legislation that increases government revenues.' And, so far, some six hundred politicians have signed onto the pledge. And the group behind it, Americans for Prosperity, is funded by David and Charles Koch, two brothers who run a big petrochemical conglomerate called Koch Industries. And, they've been very active in supporting the Tea Party movement and also in funding opposition to environmental regulations. The green group Greenpeace reports that Koch has spent fifty million dollars to help kill regulations on green house gasses. And, Koch industry's response is that it's just promoting economic and intellectual freedom and not opposing any particular piece of legislation.
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=10-P13-00038&segmentID=2
ah those goofy wackjobs…..
O'Donnell Aide: Obama Is a Secret Muslim
http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/09/odonnell-aide-obama-is-secret-muslim
Hasta Siempre,
More:
so about the Mexican drug cartel thing----it’s not likely to go away…..
Report: Illegal drug use up sharply last year
Kerlikowske attributed the rise in meth abuse to more people getting around the law and an increase in meth coming across the border with Mexico.
The rise in marijuana use comes as California voters prepare to decide in November whether to legalize the drug. An Associated Press-CNBC poll earlier this year found that most Americans still oppose legalizing marijuana, but larger majorities believe it has medical benefits and want the government to allow its use for that purpose.
Medical marijuana sales in the 14 states that allow it have also taken off since the federal government signaled last year that it wouldn't prosecute marijuana sellers who follow state rules. The survey does not distinguish between medicinal and non-medicinal marijuana use.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100916/ap_on_go_ot/us_drug_abuse
so the Mexican drug cartel thing----it’s not likely to go away…..
Report: Illegal drug use up sharply last year
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100916/ap_on_go_ot/us_drug_abuse
on the other hand in states that don’t have their collective heads up their collective….
Medical Marijuana Growers Join Teamsters Union
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129986413
The Conscience of a Liberal
http://www.amazon.com/Conscience-Liberal-Paul-Krugman/dp/0393333132/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285410134&sr=1-1
http://www.krugmanonline.com/books/the-conscience-of-a-liberal.php
Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity
www.amazon.com/Good-Capitalism-Economics-Growth-Prosperity/dp/0300158327/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285203922&sr=1-1
BILL MOYERS JOURNAL
James Kwak and Simon Johnson Pt 1
PBS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itFl9MEHXzo
I say allegedly or supposedly because I’ve never personally followed my vote from point of entry to conclusion, nor has anyone else I know. Put another way, I’ve never personally placed my ballot in the hands of the candidate for any office.
In my lifetime I’ve seen some election results that were at best questionable at worst stolen. (JFK, Bush 2).
Then there’s the fact of locked ballot boxes with false bottoms, easily stuffable with uncast but no less counted ballots around almost from day one.
In the electronic age insuring campaign outcome is child’s play.
A History of Disenfranchised Florida Voters
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88019891
a not very well or bright individual, you know in your heart it’s what the Christ would have wanted…
Virginia Executes a Woman for 1st Time in US Since 2005
http://www.aolnews.com/crime/article/virginia-executes-teresa-lewis/19646723
Compassionate conservative Christians dividing the nation
Supreme Court Justice Scalia Takes On Women's Rights
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/08599202066700
Turning An Inconvenient Eye On Public Education
http://www.hereandnow.org/media-player/?url=http://www.hereandnow.org/2010/09/mangled-words/&title=Turning An Inconvenient Eye On Public Education&segment=2&pubdate=2010-09-22
terminator
Stuxnet malware is 'weapon' out to destroy ... Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/327178
Extending The Law Of War To Cyberspace
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130023318&sc=nl&cc=nh-20100922
why? Why not just provide Tricare for our veterans? It’s more economically viable….
Cornyn says he'll try for a Valley veterans hospital, again
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/cornyn_says_hell_try_for_a_valley_veterans_hospital_again_103559894.html
US Official: CIA Runs Elite Afghan Fighting Force
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130040526
Children of al-Qaeda in Iraq pay for sins of their fathers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/20/AR2010092005696.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
Dog Days Of Summers.. Senate Blocks DADT Repeal, DREAM Act.. Murkowski Loses Energy Panel Post.. Orrin Hatch Won't Touch Issue Of Self Abuse
www.huffingtonpost.com
The Secret Life of Lead
http://www.loe.org/series/lead2003/
Fishy Tale
Sounds good on the surface, but seen in the larger context of American fisheries, it doesn't make much sense. While the government seeks to boost farmed salmon supplies through transgenics, it is simultaneously letting wild salmon go to pot. At the headwaters of Bristol Bay, Alaska, the spawning grounds of perhaps the most productive wild salmon runs left on earth, the international mining giant, Anglo American plans to construct pebble mine. The largest open pit copper and gold mine in the US. Mines of this nature are notoriously bad for fish. Just this summer, a copper mine failure in China's Ting River killed millions of fish. A similar disaster in the Bristol Bay fishery could mean the destruction of around a quarter of a billion pounds of fish.
Precariously, about the same amount of salmon that Aquabounty hopes to produce with its transgenic fish. US Environmental Protection Agency has the power to stop Pebble Mine through the Clean Water Act, but has so far failed to act.
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=10-P13-00038&segmentID=4
Mid-turmoil on Climate
TAJ: Actually several of these Republican candidates have gone a step further and are actually questioning the science of climate change, not just the policy proposals to solve it.
YOUNG: So, I noticed Christine O'Donnell and a lot of the Republican candidates have signed on to something that's called the 'no climate tax pledge.' What's that all about?
TAJ: That's a pledge to taxpayers that says basically 'I'll oppose any climate change legislation that increases government revenues.' And, so far, some six hundred politicians have signed onto the pledge. And the group behind it, Americans for Prosperity, is funded by David and Charles Koch, two brothers who run a big petrochemical conglomerate called Koch Industries. And, they've been very active in supporting the Tea Party movement and also in funding opposition to environmental regulations. The green group Greenpeace reports that Koch has spent fifty million dollars to help kill regulations on green house gasses. And, Koch industry's response is that it's just promoting economic and intellectual freedom and not opposing any particular piece of legislation.
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=10-P13-00038&segmentID=2
ah those goofy wackjobs…..
O'Donnell Aide: Obama Is a Secret Muslim
http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/09/odonnell-aide-obama-is-secret-muslim
Hasta Siempre,
More:
so about the Mexican drug cartel thing----it’s not likely to go away…..
Report: Illegal drug use up sharply last year
Kerlikowske attributed the rise in meth abuse to more people getting around the law and an increase in meth coming across the border with Mexico.
The rise in marijuana use comes as California voters prepare to decide in November whether to legalize the drug. An Associated Press-CNBC poll earlier this year found that most Americans still oppose legalizing marijuana, but larger majorities believe it has medical benefits and want the government to allow its use for that purpose.
Medical marijuana sales in the 14 states that allow it have also taken off since the federal government signaled last year that it wouldn't prosecute marijuana sellers who follow state rules. The survey does not distinguish between medicinal and non-medicinal marijuana use.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100916/ap_on_go_ot/us_drug_abuse
so the Mexican drug cartel thing----it’s not likely to go away…..
Report: Illegal drug use up sharply last year
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100916/ap_on_go_ot/us_drug_abuse
on the other hand in states that don’t have their collective heads up their collective….
Medical Marijuana Growers Join Teamsters Union
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129986413
The Conscience of a Liberal
http://www.amazon.com/Conscience-Liberal-Paul-Krugman/dp/0393333132/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285410134&sr=1-1
http://www.krugmanonline.com/books/the-conscience-of-a-liberal.php
Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity
www.amazon.com/Good-Capitalism-Economics-Growth-Prosperity/dp/0300158327/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285203922&sr=1-1
BILL MOYERS JOURNAL
James Kwak and Simon Johnson Pt 1
PBS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itFl9MEHXzo
Campaign spending, buying office, oligarchs, income gap---unmendable misfortunes all
In one of my favorite novels the narrator, Nick Carraway, describes a night on which a group of people are out riding in a jalopy with the radio blarring. The lyrics to the song on the radio is telling of the era and the perennial mindset of the oligarchs:
“The rich get richer and the poor get babies.”
It was true then, it is true now.
The reason we only have two large political parties is for the convenience of the oligarchs. It makes it easier for them to to divide and conquer. Two parties per se results in a natural tug of war---which once again the oligarchs win. Just who are these oligarchs? Glad you asked. They are usually not the fools names and faces you see on Youtube, your IPod, Smart Phone or television either. Think Charles and David Koch among others.
Consider this;
The Brothers Koch: Rich, Political And Playing To Win
Chances are you've never heard of Charles and David Koch. The brothers own Koch Industries, a Kansas-based conglomerate that operates oil refineries in several states and is the company behind brands including Brawny paper towels, Dixie cups, Georgia-Pacific lumber, Lycra fibers and Stainmaster carpet. Forbes ranks Koch Industries as the second-largest privately held company in the U.S. — and the Koch brothers themselves? They're worth billions.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129425186
Covert Operations
The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer
Ego and the need to influence must be very intense indeed….
Meg Whitman is now the biggest self-funding candidate in history
As the Los Angeles Times' Anthony York notes, the California GOP gubernatorial nominee contributed another $15 million to her campaign on Tuesday. That means that Whitman, who came by most of her wealth during her tenure as CEO of eBay, has spent $119 million of her own cash on the race -- almost $10 million more than previous record-holder Michael Bloomberg, who ran up his $110 million tally during his successful 2009 re-election campaign.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100915/el_yblog_upshot/meg-whitman-is-now-the-biggest-self-funding-candidate-in-history
US homes lost to foreclosure up 25 pct on year
In all, banks repossessed 95,364 properties last month, up 3 percent from July and an increase of 25 percent from August 2009, RealtyTrac said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100916/ap_on_bi_ge/us_foreclosure_rates
Midterms 2010: What you need to know
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/2010-midterm-analysis/?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics
E-Mails Show Treasury Knew Bank Championed by 2 Lawmakers Was Weak
http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/internal-emails-show-treasury-knew-bank-championed-by-reps.-frank-and-water
GOP plans to replace health-care overhaul if it controls Congress, but with what is unclear
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/19/AR2010091904982.html?wpisrc=nl_politics
Census: 1 in 7 Americans lives in poverty
WASHINGTON – The ranks of the working-age poor climbed to the highest level since the 1960s as the recession threw millions of people out of work last year, leaving one in seven Americans in poverty.
The overall poverty rate climbed to 14.3 percent, or 43.6 million people, the Census Bureau said Thursday in its annual report on the economic well-being of U.S. households. The report covers 2009, President Barack Obama's first year in office.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100916/ap_on_bi_ge/us_census_poverty
Poverty Rate In U.S. Climbs
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129914145
1 in 7 Americans Lived in Poverty in 2009, New Census Data Show
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/09/poverty-uninsured-rates-rise-as-recession-continues.html
Super Rich Drive Income Inequality
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130052776
Senate Democrats again fail to pass campaign disclosure law
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/23/AR2010092304578.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics
compassionate conservative Christians? Please……..
Inside C-Street, The House That Hoped To Transform America
C-Street has been described as a spiritual frat house. It’s run by The Fellowship, the secretive Christian organization whose mission is to transform the world by offering spiritual guidance to American and world leaders. But recently, members of The Fellowship have been scandal-plagued and the organization has faced media scrutiny.
http://www.hereandnow.org/media-player/?url=http://www.hereandnow.org/2010/09/rundown-920/&title=Inside
C-Street, The House That Hoped To Transform America
and to just about anything and everything else, too…
C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy
http://www.amazon.com/Street-Fundamentalist-Threat-American-Democracy/dp/0316091073
Special Election Series: San Antonio Congressman Lamar Smith
Rep Smith says that regarding the economy; “San Antonio is doing better than state---the state better than country” but if that is really so, it is also only marginally so and that’s with all the freebies to conglomerates including tax breaks, cheap labor, chump change to workers, and the poor and/or hostile working conditions of a misnamed “right to work state” more appropriately termed “a free to fire at will state.” Now that’s sad.
http://www.tpr.org/programs/thesource.html
Public Citizen
Stunning Statistics of the Week:
• Average amount that senators who voted for TARP and against financial reform received from the financial sector since 2007: $879,803
Most groups broadcasting elections ads violate rules, hide donors' identities
More than two-thirds of outside groups spending heavily on electioneering communications in the 2010 elections are not reporting where they got their money - highlighting a stunning reversal in transparency of money in politics over just the past few years, a new report from Public Citizen shows. Only 32 percent of the organizations broadcasting electioneering communications in the 2010 primary season revealed in their filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) the identities of donors funding their advertisements.
Senate GOP marches in lockstep to keep campaign funders secret
On Thursday, every single Republican senator marched in lockstep with the GOP leadership to keep the funding sources of independent campaign ads secret from the public. In a party-line vote, the minority Republican caucus once again employed the filibuster to stop a floor vote on the DISCLOSE Act - effectively casting a cloak over money in politics.
House lawmakers advance public funding of elections
At no time in U.S. history has a congressional public funding bill received so much support and enthusiasm in Congress. The reasons are clear. Poll after poll shows that large majorities of Americans across the political spectrum are fed up with the influence of big money in politics. On Thursday, lawmakers on the House Committee on Administration approved public funding of congressional elections. Now the full House should vote on it.
New loophole? A contribution is not a contribution if it underwrites an election party
It seems as though a new loophole in campaign finance law has been discovered. Or has it? The National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee are asking supporters to give between $2,500 and $10,000 to underwrite a party on the night of elections. It's not a fundraiser, they say, so it's not subject to campaign finance restrictions. One expert called it "a little too cute by half." Another said that it sounds illegal.
Anticipating Republican gains, businesses shift donations
Apparently anticipating significant Republican wins in November corporations have started giving most of their political donations to Republicans. They had been sending money primarily to Democrats, not unusual since Dems have been in power for two years. Evidently, though, industry honchos think the winds are shifting. Business political action committees representing businesses gave a little more than It seems as though a new loophole in campaign finance law has been discovered. half their $72.2 million in donations to Republicans from January through July. During the same period in 2009, they have 59 percent of their donations to Dems.
Americans for Job Security runs pricey ads but tells FEC it has zero contributions
The pro-business group Americans for Job Security (AJS) has run millions of dollars of broadcast ads in advance of November's elections. But it told the Federal Election Commission that it has received zero contributions. How can this be? The group claims that under an interpretation of FEC rules - an interpretation adopted by the Republican commissioners on the panel - contributions must be reported only if a donor designates his or her money to be used to a specific ad run at a certain time and place. This, of course is rare. And that's the point. Speaking of that group, The New York Times ran a front-page story today in which AJS is a poster child for influencing elections while evading disclosure.
Rove groups' haul: $14.5 miliion in 30 days
Two groups founded by Republican strategist Karl Rove to vacuum up money to then spend on election ads have raked in $14.5 million in just 30 days. The grand take so far this year is $32 million.
Minnesota disclosure law upheld
Minnesota's disclosure law, enacted in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, will stand. A U.S. district court judge denied a request from an anti-abortion group, an anti-tax group and others to suspend the state's new disclosure requirements. In Citizens United, the court gave the green light for corporations to spend as much money as they want to influence elections. Minnesota, along with other states, quickly enacted a law requiring the identities of those paying for campaign ads to be made public.
http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=183
Hasta Siempre,
More:
The Conscience of a Liberal
http://www.amazon.com/Conscience-Liberal-Paul-Krugman/dp/0393333132/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285410134&sr=1-1
http://www.krugmanonline.com/books/the-conscience-of-a-liberal.php
Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity
www.amazon.com/Good-Capitalism-Economics-Growth-Prosperity/dp/0300158327/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285203922&sr=1-1
BILL MOYERS JOURNAL
James Kwak and Simon Johnson Pt 1
PBS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itFl9MEHXzo
“The rich get richer and the poor get babies.”
It was true then, it is true now.
The reason we only have two large political parties is for the convenience of the oligarchs. It makes it easier for them to to divide and conquer. Two parties per se results in a natural tug of war---which once again the oligarchs win. Just who are these oligarchs? Glad you asked. They are usually not the fools names and faces you see on Youtube, your IPod, Smart Phone or television either. Think Charles and David Koch among others.
Consider this;
The Brothers Koch: Rich, Political And Playing To Win
Chances are you've never heard of Charles and David Koch. The brothers own Koch Industries, a Kansas-based conglomerate that operates oil refineries in several states and is the company behind brands including Brawny paper towels, Dixie cups, Georgia-Pacific lumber, Lycra fibers and Stainmaster carpet. Forbes ranks Koch Industries as the second-largest privately held company in the U.S. — and the Koch brothers themselves? They're worth billions.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129425186
Covert Operations
The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer
Ego and the need to influence must be very intense indeed….
Meg Whitman is now the biggest self-funding candidate in history
As the Los Angeles Times' Anthony York notes, the California GOP gubernatorial nominee contributed another $15 million to her campaign on Tuesday. That means that Whitman, who came by most of her wealth during her tenure as CEO of eBay, has spent $119 million of her own cash on the race -- almost $10 million more than previous record-holder Michael Bloomberg, who ran up his $110 million tally during his successful 2009 re-election campaign.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100915/el_yblog_upshot/meg-whitman-is-now-the-biggest-self-funding-candidate-in-history
US homes lost to foreclosure up 25 pct on year
In all, banks repossessed 95,364 properties last month, up 3 percent from July and an increase of 25 percent from August 2009, RealtyTrac said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100916/ap_on_bi_ge/us_foreclosure_rates
Midterms 2010: What you need to know
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/2010-midterm-analysis/?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics
E-Mails Show Treasury Knew Bank Championed by 2 Lawmakers Was Weak
http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/internal-emails-show-treasury-knew-bank-championed-by-reps.-frank-and-water
GOP plans to replace health-care overhaul if it controls Congress, but with what is unclear
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/19/AR2010091904982.html?wpisrc=nl_politics
Census: 1 in 7 Americans lives in poverty
WASHINGTON – The ranks of the working-age poor climbed to the highest level since the 1960s as the recession threw millions of people out of work last year, leaving one in seven Americans in poverty.
The overall poverty rate climbed to 14.3 percent, or 43.6 million people, the Census Bureau said Thursday in its annual report on the economic well-being of U.S. households. The report covers 2009, President Barack Obama's first year in office.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100916/ap_on_bi_ge/us_census_poverty
Poverty Rate In U.S. Climbs
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129914145
1 in 7 Americans Lived in Poverty in 2009, New Census Data Show
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/09/poverty-uninsured-rates-rise-as-recession-continues.html
Super Rich Drive Income Inequality
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130052776
Senate Democrats again fail to pass campaign disclosure law
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/23/AR2010092304578.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics
compassionate conservative Christians? Please……..
Inside C-Street, The House That Hoped To Transform America
C-Street has been described as a spiritual frat house. It’s run by The Fellowship, the secretive Christian organization whose mission is to transform the world by offering spiritual guidance to American and world leaders. But recently, members of The Fellowship have been scandal-plagued and the organization has faced media scrutiny.
http://www.hereandnow.org/media-player/?url=http://www.hereandnow.org/2010/09/rundown-920/&title=Inside
C-Street, The House That Hoped To Transform America
http://www.hereandnow.org/media-player/?url=http://www.hereandnow.org/2010/09/rundown-920/&title=Inside C-Street, The House That Hoped To Transform America&segment=2&pubdate=2010-09-20
and to just about anything and everything else, too…
C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy
http://www.amazon.com/Street-Fundamentalist-Threat-American-Democracy/dp/0316091073
Special Election Series: San Antonio Congressman Lamar Smith
Rep Smith says that regarding the economy; “San Antonio is doing better than state---the state better than country” but if that is really so, it is also only marginally so and that’s with all the freebies to conglomerates including tax breaks, cheap labor, chump change to workers, and the poor and/or hostile working conditions of a misnamed “right to work state” more appropriately termed “a free to fire at will state.” Now that’s sad.
http://www.tpr.org/programs/thesource.html
Public Citizen
Stunning Statistics of the Week:
• Average amount that senators who voted for TARP and against financial reform received from the financial sector since 2007: $879,803
Most groups broadcasting elections ads violate rules, hide donors' identities
More than two-thirds of outside groups spending heavily on electioneering communications in the 2010 elections are not reporting where they got their money - highlighting a stunning reversal in transparency of money in politics over just the past few years, a new report from Public Citizen shows. Only 32 percent of the organizations broadcasting electioneering communications in the 2010 primary season revealed in their filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) the identities of donors funding their advertisements.
Senate GOP marches in lockstep to keep campaign funders secret
On Thursday, every single Republican senator marched in lockstep with the GOP leadership to keep the funding sources of independent campaign ads secret from the public. In a party-line vote, the minority Republican caucus once again employed the filibuster to stop a floor vote on the DISCLOSE Act - effectively casting a cloak over money in politics.
House lawmakers advance public funding of elections
At no time in U.S. history has a congressional public funding bill received so much support and enthusiasm in Congress. The reasons are clear. Poll after poll shows that large majorities of Americans across the political spectrum are fed up with the influence of big money in politics. On Thursday, lawmakers on the House Committee on Administration approved public funding of congressional elections. Now the full House should vote on it.
New loophole? A contribution is not a contribution if it underwrites an election party
It seems as though a new loophole in campaign finance law has been discovered. Or has it? The National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee are asking supporters to give between $2,500 and $10,000 to underwrite a party on the night of elections. It's not a fundraiser, they say, so it's not subject to campaign finance restrictions. One expert called it "a little too cute by half." Another said that it sounds illegal.
Anticipating Republican gains, businesses shift donations
Apparently anticipating significant Republican wins in November corporations have started giving most of their political donations to Republicans. They had been sending money primarily to Democrats, not unusual since Dems have been in power for two years. Evidently, though, industry honchos think the winds are shifting. Business political action committees representing businesses gave a little more than It seems as though a new loophole in campaign finance law has been discovered. half their $72.2 million in donations to Republicans from January through July. During the same period in 2009, they have 59 percent of their donations to Dems.
Americans for Job Security runs pricey ads but tells FEC it has zero contributions
The pro-business group Americans for Job Security (AJS) has run millions of dollars of broadcast ads in advance of November's elections. But it told the Federal Election Commission that it has received zero contributions. How can this be? The group claims that under an interpretation of FEC rules - an interpretation adopted by the Republican commissioners on the panel - contributions must be reported only if a donor designates his or her money to be used to a specific ad run at a certain time and place. This, of course is rare. And that's the point. Speaking of that group, The New York Times ran a front-page story today in which AJS is a poster child for influencing elections while evading disclosure.
Rove groups' haul: $14.5 miliion in 30 days
Two groups founded by Republican strategist Karl Rove to vacuum up money to then spend on election ads have raked in $14.5 million in just 30 days. The grand take so far this year is $32 million.
Minnesota disclosure law upheld
Minnesota's disclosure law, enacted in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, will stand. A U.S. district court judge denied a request from an anti-abortion group, an anti-tax group and others to suspend the state's new disclosure requirements. In Citizens United, the court gave the green light for corporations to spend as much money as they want to influence elections. Minnesota, along with other states, quickly enacted a law requiring the identities of those paying for campaign ads to be made public.
http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=183
Hasta Siempre,
More:
The Conscience of a Liberal
http://www.amazon.com/Conscience-Liberal-Paul-Krugman/dp/0393333132/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285410134&sr=1-1
http://www.krugmanonline.com/books/the-conscience-of-a-liberal.php
Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity
www.amazon.com/Good-Capitalism-Economics-Growth-Prosperity/dp/0300158327/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285203922&sr=1-1
BILL MOYERS JOURNAL
James Kwak and Simon Johnson Pt 1
PBS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itFl9MEHXzo
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Elections 2010: Texas Red: Politics as usual…because some things just don’t change….
Even a casual glance at the headlines without going further into the article tells it all---nothing changes.
You can read the words of gifted and talented pundits everywhere. The opinions of political geniuses are online, on your IPad, IPhone, Twitter, Facebook and etc. There are geniuses who by the way have never blockworked (and don’t know what that is) have never run a campaign (and wouldn’t know where to start) but know exactly what’s going to happen in November.
This is as tragically ridiculous as it is unlikely. What you as a citizen of the republic can benefit from is a little insight and information you are unlikely to get anywhere else.
It took individuals such as Samuel Gompers and legions of committed workers to force the oligarchs to accept a 40 hour work week, weekends off , paid holidays and etc. The history of labor in America is as tragic.
Left to their own devices the oligarchs prefer to have the machinery of capitalism humming night and day 24/7/365 to the detriment of the worker that the machinery of capitalism chews up and spits out all day long.
For the entire history of this republic the worker has received at best a tiny fraction of the wealth created by them for the oligarchs.
Recent events and efforts should be sufficient to prove even to a largely unengaged and very disconnected American public that the oligarchs, the top less than 1% of the population, aren’t about to share any part of their wealth with the general population.
The oligarchs own it all. Today in what is sold as “the beacon for the world” “the great democracy” and its “free market economy”, four transnational corporations own every major television station, radio station and newspaper. By it’s very definition that means we hear what those four corporations want for us to hear. It is critical to find free-thinkers.
For example, the entire year leading up to the vote on improving and sharing healthcare insurance for all the trillion dollar insurance industry paid out approximately $1M daily and had six lobbyists for every member of congress (House and Senate) working to maintain the status quo. Talking heads, John Boehner and Mitch McConnell read directly from talking papers given them by their owners, the oligarchs. The talking papers of course vilified the effort to provide healthcare insurance for all.
So why would you think that if the GOPers are back in either their old form or in their latest iteration, the Tea Party, that things would be different?
Benjamin Franklin and a few of the other founders would be disappointed but not surprised that Americans have been unable to keep the republic the founders gave us.
More tragically yet, despite my best efforts I can’t understand what there is about any of those seeking office under the banner of compassionate, conservative Christian that is---well compassionate much less Christian.
See for yourself…..
GOP plans to replace health-care overhaul if it controls Congress, but with what is unclear
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/19/AR2010091904982.html?wpisrc=nl_politics
Census: 1 in 7 Americans lives in poverty
WASHINGTON – The ranks of the working-age poor climbed to the highest level since the 1960s as the recession threw millions of people out of work last year, leaving one in seven Americans in poverty.
The overall poverty rate climbed to 14.3 percent, or 43.6 million people, the Census Bureau said Thursday in its annual report on the economic well-being of U.S. households. The report covers 2009, President Barack Obama's first year in office.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100916/ap_on_bi_ge/us_census_poverty
Poverty Rate In U.S. Climbs
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129914145
1 in 7 Americans Lived in Poverty in 2009, New Census Data Show
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/09/poverty-uninsured-rates-rise-as-recession-continues.html
Mid-turmoil on Climate
TAJ: Actually several of these Republican candidates have gone a step further and are actually questioning the science of climate change, not just the policy proposals to solve it.
YOUNG: So, I noticed Christine O'Donnell and a lot of the Republican candidates have signed on to something that's called the 'no climate tax pledge.' What's that all about?
TAJ: That's a pledge to taxpayers that says basically 'I'll oppose any climate change legislation that increases government revenues.' And, so far, some six hundred politicians have signed onto the pledge. And the group behind it, Americans for Prosperity, is funded by David and Charles Koch, two brothers who run a big petrochemical conglomerate called Koch Industries. And, they've been very active in supporting the Tea Party movement and also in funding opposition to environmental regulations. The green group Greenpeace reports that Koch has spent fifty million dollars to help kill regulations on green house gasses. And, Koch industry's response is that it's just promoting economic and intellectual freedom and not opposing any particular piece of legislation.
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=10-P13-00038&segmentID=2
Legislation aiming to lure Hispanics
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/legislation_aimingto_lure_hispanics_103257609.html
say it isn’t so….it’s not as if law enforcement has ever really needed an excuse….
FBI overstepped terror link probes after 9/11
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100921/ts_alt_afp/usattacksjusticeprobe
Powell says illegal immigrants do his home repairs
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100919/ap_on_bi_ge/us_powell_illegal_immigrants
Colin Powell says he doesn’t hire illegal immigrants
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100920/us_yblog_upshot/colin-powell-says-he-doesnt-hire-illegal-immigrants
elected representatives? Please…
Inside C-Street, The House That Hoped To Transform America
C-Street has been described as a spiritual frat house. It’s run by The Fellowship, the secretive Christian organization whose mission is to transform the world by offering spiritual guidance to American and world leaders. But recently, members of The Fellowship have been scandal-plagued and the organization has faced media scrutiny.
http://www.hereandnow.org/media-player/?url=http://www.hereandnow.org/2010/09/rundown-920/&title=Inside
C-Street, The House That Hoped To Transform America
C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy
http://www.amazon.com/Street-Fundamentalist-Threat-American-Democracy/dp/0316091073
Special Election Series: San Antonio Congressman Lamar Smith
Rep Smith says that regarding the economy; “San Antonio is doing better than state---the state better than country” but if that is really so, it is also only marginally so and that’s with all the freebies to conglomerates including tax breaks, cheap labor, chump change to workers, and the poor and/or hostile working conditions of a misnamed “right to work state” more appropriately termed “a free to fire at will state.” Now that’s sad.
http://www.tpr.org/programs/thesource.html
nothing Christ-like here and yes, that’s a promise!
Christine O'Donnell's Jesus Squad
Does the Delaware insurgent's campaign foreshadow the marriage of tea party and Christian right?
http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/09/christine-odonnell-christian-right-connections
Stone the Whales! Gay Sex is Terrorism! Muslims Suck!
And other bits of wisdom from Bryan Fischer, who'll be sharing the stage with Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and Rick Santorum at this weekend's Values Voter Summit.
http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/09/bryan-fischer-values-voter-summit
and just where are the unicorns in all of this?
Are Moderate Republicans Extinct?
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/09/rick-lazio-carl-paladino-future-gop
An Eclectic List of Events in U.S. Labor History
http://www.lutins.org/labor.html
Eight-hour day
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-hour_day
As I said, some things just don’t change. It’s not easy throwing off the yoke of oppression.
"Texas Red a cratered landscape of prisons, deplorable public education, lack of healthcare and politicians and majority population intent on keeping it that way.”
Hasta Siempre,
More:
Three years after landmark court decision, Louisville still struggles with school desegregation
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/19/AR2010091904973.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
Understanding the Constitution
A new poll shows 86 percent of Americans believe the Constitution is important to their daily lives. But less than one third have read it. Diane and her guests discuss how this document came about, the compromises that enabled it to pass and what it means for us today.
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-09-20/understanding-constitution
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/
Walker Report
http://walkerreport.blogspot.com/2010/09/more-photos-on-local-repubs-turning-out.html
larmist local tv station makes much ado…about not much……………
White misses Perry's debate deadline; Are Texans the ones missing out?
http://www.kens5.com/news/local/White-misses-Perrys-debate-deadline-Are-Texans-the-ones-missing-out-103041329.html
ah those goofy wackjobs…..
O'Donnell Aide: Obama Is a Secret Muslim
http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/09/odonnell-aide-obama-is-secret-muslim
Virginia set to execute woman for the first time in 98 years
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynewspoint/20100922/ts_ynewspoint/ynewspoint_ts3681
Terminator?
Stuxnet malware is 'weapon' out to destroy ... Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/327178
The Conscience of a Liberal
http://www.amazon.com/Conscience-Liberal-Paul-Krugman/dp/0393333132/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285206401&sr=1-1
http://www.krugmanonline.com/books/the-conscience-of-a-liberal.php
Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity
www.amazon.com/Good-Capitalism-Economics-Growth-Prosperity/dp/0300158327/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285203922&sr=1-1
Texas Red
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-18764-San-Antonio-Public-Policy-Examiner~y2009m10d4-Texas-Red-a-cratered-landscape-of-prisons-deplorable-public-education-lack-of-healthcare-and-poli
BILL MOYERS JOURNAL
James Kwak and Simon Johnson Pt 1
PBS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itFl9MEHXzo
You can read the words of gifted and talented pundits everywhere. The opinions of political geniuses are online, on your IPad, IPhone, Twitter, Facebook and etc. There are geniuses who by the way have never blockworked (and don’t know what that is) have never run a campaign (and wouldn’t know where to start) but know exactly what’s going to happen in November.
This is as tragically ridiculous as it is unlikely. What you as a citizen of the republic can benefit from is a little insight and information you are unlikely to get anywhere else.
It took individuals such as Samuel Gompers and legions of committed workers to force the oligarchs to accept a 40 hour work week, weekends off , paid holidays and etc. The history of labor in America is as tragic.
Left to their own devices the oligarchs prefer to have the machinery of capitalism humming night and day 24/7/365 to the detriment of the worker that the machinery of capitalism chews up and spits out all day long.
For the entire history of this republic the worker has received at best a tiny fraction of the wealth created by them for the oligarchs.
Recent events and efforts should be sufficient to prove even to a largely unengaged and very disconnected American public that the oligarchs, the top less than 1% of the population, aren’t about to share any part of their wealth with the general population.
The oligarchs own it all. Today in what is sold as “the beacon for the world” “the great democracy” and its “free market economy”, four transnational corporations own every major television station, radio station and newspaper. By it’s very definition that means we hear what those four corporations want for us to hear. It is critical to find free-thinkers.
For example, the entire year leading up to the vote on improving and sharing healthcare insurance for all the trillion dollar insurance industry paid out approximately $1M daily and had six lobbyists for every member of congress (House and Senate) working to maintain the status quo. Talking heads, John Boehner and Mitch McConnell read directly from talking papers given them by their owners, the oligarchs. The talking papers of course vilified the effort to provide healthcare insurance for all.
So why would you think that if the GOPers are back in either their old form or in their latest iteration, the Tea Party, that things would be different?
Benjamin Franklin and a few of the other founders would be disappointed but not surprised that Americans have been unable to keep the republic the founders gave us.
More tragically yet, despite my best efforts I can’t understand what there is about any of those seeking office under the banner of compassionate, conservative Christian that is---well compassionate much less Christian.
See for yourself…..
GOP plans to replace health-care overhaul if it controls Congress, but with what is unclear
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/19/AR2010091904982.html?wpisrc=nl_politics
Census: 1 in 7 Americans lives in poverty
WASHINGTON – The ranks of the working-age poor climbed to the highest level since the 1960s as the recession threw millions of people out of work last year, leaving one in seven Americans in poverty.
The overall poverty rate climbed to 14.3 percent, or 43.6 million people, the Census Bureau said Thursday in its annual report on the economic well-being of U.S. households. The report covers 2009, President Barack Obama's first year in office.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100916/ap_on_bi_ge/us_census_poverty
Poverty Rate In U.S. Climbs
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129914145
1 in 7 Americans Lived in Poverty in 2009, New Census Data Show
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/09/poverty-uninsured-rates-rise-as-recession-continues.html
Mid-turmoil on Climate
TAJ: Actually several of these Republican candidates have gone a step further and are actually questioning the science of climate change, not just the policy proposals to solve it.
YOUNG: So, I noticed Christine O'Donnell and a lot of the Republican candidates have signed on to something that's called the 'no climate tax pledge.' What's that all about?
TAJ: That's a pledge to taxpayers that says basically 'I'll oppose any climate change legislation that increases government revenues.' And, so far, some six hundred politicians have signed onto the pledge. And the group behind it, Americans for Prosperity, is funded by David and Charles Koch, two brothers who run a big petrochemical conglomerate called Koch Industries. And, they've been very active in supporting the Tea Party movement and also in funding opposition to environmental regulations. The green group Greenpeace reports that Koch has spent fifty million dollars to help kill regulations on green house gasses. And, Koch industry's response is that it's just promoting economic and intellectual freedom and not opposing any particular piece of legislation.
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=10-P13-00038&segmentID=2
Legislation aiming to lure Hispanics
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/legislation_aimingto_lure_hispanics_103257609.html
say it isn’t so….it’s not as if law enforcement has ever really needed an excuse….
FBI overstepped terror link probes after 9/11
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100921/ts_alt_afp/usattacksjusticeprobe
Powell says illegal immigrants do his home repairs
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100919/ap_on_bi_ge/us_powell_illegal_immigrants
Colin Powell says he doesn’t hire illegal immigrants
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100920/us_yblog_upshot/colin-powell-says-he-doesnt-hire-illegal-immigrants
elected representatives? Please…
Inside C-Street, The House That Hoped To Transform America
C-Street has been described as a spiritual frat house. It’s run by The Fellowship, the secretive Christian organization whose mission is to transform the world by offering spiritual guidance to American and world leaders. But recently, members of The Fellowship have been scandal-plagued and the organization has faced media scrutiny.
http://www.hereandnow.org/media-player/?url=http://www.hereandnow.org/2010/09/rundown-920/&title=Inside
C-Street, The House That Hoped To Transform America
http://www.hereandnow.org/media-player/?url=http://www.hereandnow.org/2010/09/rundown-920/&title=Inside C-Street, The House That Hoped To Transform America&segment=2&pubdate=2010-09-20
C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy
http://www.amazon.com/Street-Fundamentalist-Threat-American-Democracy/dp/0316091073
Special Election Series: San Antonio Congressman Lamar Smith
Rep Smith says that regarding the economy; “San Antonio is doing better than state---the state better than country” but if that is really so, it is also only marginally so and that’s with all the freebies to conglomerates including tax breaks, cheap labor, chump change to workers, and the poor and/or hostile working conditions of a misnamed “right to work state” more appropriately termed “a free to fire at will state.” Now that’s sad.
http://www.tpr.org/programs/thesource.html
nothing Christ-like here and yes, that’s a promise!
Christine O'Donnell's Jesus Squad
Does the Delaware insurgent's campaign foreshadow the marriage of tea party and Christian right?
http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/09/christine-odonnell-christian-right-connections
Stone the Whales! Gay Sex is Terrorism! Muslims Suck!
And other bits of wisdom from Bryan Fischer, who'll be sharing the stage with Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and Rick Santorum at this weekend's Values Voter Summit.
http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/09/bryan-fischer-values-voter-summit
and just where are the unicorns in all of this?
Are Moderate Republicans Extinct?
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/09/rick-lazio-carl-paladino-future-gop
An Eclectic List of Events in U.S. Labor History
http://www.lutins.org/labor.html
Eight-hour day
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-hour_day
As I said, some things just don’t change. It’s not easy throwing off the yoke of oppression.
"Texas Red a cratered landscape of prisons, deplorable public education, lack of healthcare and politicians and majority population intent on keeping it that way.”
Hasta Siempre,
More:
Three years after landmark court decision, Louisville still struggles with school desegregation
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/19/AR2010091904973.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
Understanding the Constitution
A new poll shows 86 percent of Americans believe the Constitution is important to their daily lives. But less than one third have read it. Diane and her guests discuss how this document came about, the compromises that enabled it to pass and what it means for us today.
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-09-20/understanding-constitution
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/
Walker Report
http://walkerreport.blogspot.com/2010/09/more-photos-on-local-repubs-turning-out.html
larmist local tv station makes much ado…about not much……………
White misses Perry's debate deadline; Are Texans the ones missing out?
http://www.kens5.com/news/local/White-misses-Perrys-debate-deadline-Are-Texans-the-ones-missing-out-103041329.html
ah those goofy wackjobs…..
O'Donnell Aide: Obama Is a Secret Muslim
http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/09/odonnell-aide-obama-is-secret-muslim
Virginia set to execute woman for the first time in 98 years
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynewspoint/20100922/ts_ynewspoint/ynewspoint_ts3681
Terminator?
Stuxnet malware is 'weapon' out to destroy ... Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/327178
The Conscience of a Liberal
http://www.amazon.com/Conscience-Liberal-Paul-Krugman/dp/0393333132/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285206401&sr=1-1
http://www.krugmanonline.com/books/the-conscience-of-a-liberal.php
Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity
www.amazon.com/Good-Capitalism-Economics-Growth-Prosperity/dp/0300158327/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285203922&sr=1-1
Texas Red
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-18764-San-Antonio-Public-Policy-Examiner~y2009m10d4-Texas-Red-a-cratered-landscape-of-prisons-deplorable-public-education-lack-of-healthcare-and-poli
BILL MOYERS JOURNAL
James Kwak and Simon Johnson Pt 1
PBS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itFl9MEHXzo
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Public Policy, the lunatic fringe, the oligarchs, A Third World America and a disconnected sense of reality…
Arianna is right---eh well make that “correct.” The “right” is definitely not! Then again as I have often stated in this blog there has always been a great chasm of disconnect between the intellectual founders of this republic and any sense of reality. (See: Arianna Huffington Sees A 'Third World America’)
There’s an even bigger disconnect between the majority population and reality. The only saving grace there being that just as back 234 years ago the majority population is fragmented and not a solid entity. That’s the good news. The bad news is that under its compassionate conservative religiosity umbrella is a very “lunatic fringe” that includes the tiny percentage of the general population that consists of the owners of all things material. (See: Covert Operations)
Let me explain. Today 2010 in the “beacon for the world” the great “democracy” (that’s the greatest delusion) the top 1% of the population is worth more than the bottom 95%. Only 3% of that population makes more than $300,000.00 a year. So yes, only just a tiny fraction of the population owns it all folks and they aren’t about to share with the likes of you or me.
The lunatic fringe is comprised of both the tiny fraction of the population that owns the great majority of everything and the large number of their minions who own almost nothing.
Consider this; back in the beginning Euro Anglos came to this land in search of freedom and in doing so deprived locals here of theirs from the Artic to the Antarctic.
Euro Anglos while decimating the ranks of the indigenous population (that’s called genocide---ethnic cleansing) and enslaving Africans declared that “all men are created equal.” The only way that works is by de-humanizing Native Americans and African-Americans---oh and women, too.
Recall that the compassionate conservative religiosities were the ones burning women at the stake. The compassionate conservative religiosities back in the day declared women they couldn’t control to be witches.
That collective majority psychosis is still firmly in place. The only difference now is that the monied part of the fringe that once upon a time remained back in the old countries while all the heavy lifting was being done here in the New World by minorities (ethnic and racial) is now here, firmly ensconced and controlling our day to day lives.
It was the monied part of the fringe that leveraged the journey to the New World for many of the “have nots” for a price, of course. Then the monied fringe sold the “have nots” land the monied had never seen, did not own and took no active part in occupying. In a very “lunatic fringe” way that’s sheer genius and ballsy, too.
See now if that doesn’t clue you in to why we are where we are--- it just could be---that you are a part of that fringe. I’m just saying….
Hasta Siempre,
More:
Arianna Huffington Sees A 'Third World America’ (so do I)
http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=129727773
http://www.amazon.com/Third-World-America-Politicians-Abandoning/dp/0307719820/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284804821&sr=1-1
Ego is ascary expensive thing, no?
Meg Whitman is now the biggest self-funding candidate in history
As the Los Angeles Times' Anthony York notes, the California GOP gubernatorial nominee contributed another $15 million to her campaign on Tuesday. That means that Whitman, who came by most of her wealth during her tenure as CEO of eBay, has spent $119 million of her own cash on the race -- almost $10 million more than previous record-holder Michael Bloomberg, who ran up his $110 million tally during his successful 2009 re-election campaign.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100915/el_yblog_upshot/meg-whitman-is-now-the-biggest-self-funding-candidate-in-history
The Brothers Koch: Rich, Political And Playing To Win
Chances are you've never heard of Charles and David Koch. The brothers own Koch Industries, a Kansas-based conglomerate that operates oil refineries in several states and is the company behind brands including Brawny paper towels, Dixie cups, Georgia-Pacific lumber, Lycra fibers and Stainmaster carpet. Forbes ranks Koch Industries as the second-largest privately held company in the U.S. — and the Koch brothers themselves? They're worth billions.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129425186
Covert Operations
The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer
US homes lost to foreclosure up 25 pct on year
In all, banks repossessed 95,364 properties last month, up 3 percent from July and an increase of 25 percent from August 2009, RealtyTrac said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100916/ap_on_bi_ge/us_foreclosure_rates
to understand Brownie, FEMA and the response you only have to be lucid and honest enough to see that the population of New Orleans was Black, largely disenfranchised and if they did vote they didn’t vote GOPer
Filmmaker Says Katrina No Natural Disaster
Hurricane Katrina, and the destruction it wrought, are often referred to as a natural disaster. Think again, says actor Harry Shearer. In his documentary, The Big Uneasy, Shearer says much of the destruction in New Orleans was man-made and preventable -- and largely the fault of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129451954
Compassionate conservative religiosities give “w” 8 years to screw things up and the Demo’s 2 to clean it up…
AP-GfK Poll: Climate for GOP keeps getting better
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100915/ap_on_go_ot/us_election_lookahead
So you thought the 1960’s type Nixonian spying was dead and gone? Think again….
`Appalled' Pa. gov. shuts down reports on protests
HARRISBURG, Pa. – Information about an anti-BP candlelight vigil, a gay and lesbian festival and other peaceful gatherings became the subject of anti-terrorism bulletins being distributed by Pennsylvania's homeland security office, an apologetic Gov. Ed Rendell admitted.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_homeland_security_bulletin
Jon Stewart Announces DC 'Rally to Restore Sanity'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBUwE9riVZ4
'Green Book' Helped African Americans Travel Safely
September 15, 2010
The Negro Motorist Green Book, a travel guide published for nearly thirty years, listed lodgings, tailors and other places that welcomed black patrons.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129885990
Latino USA
Movement on DREAM Act, Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Paco Ignacio Taibo II was born in Spain and moved to Mexico as a child. Today, he has made his name as one of Mexico’s most prolific writers, authoring everything from crime novels to historical accounts to biographies
http://latinousa.kut.org/911-2/
Texas Matters Show #525, September 17, 2010 Download Entire Program
Segment 3: The problems along the Texas-Mexico border are having a profound impact on the communities in the region. The twin cities that straddled the Rio Grande used to be able to share resources and cooperate to tackle regional problems. Now with car bombings, mass murders and the breakdown in law and order in a growing number of Mexican border towns, Texas sister cities are struggling to adjust. In the west Texas town of Marfa, community leaders will hold a weekend conference on border issues called "The Marfa Dialogues." Tom Michael of Marfa Public Radio has more in this report.
http://www.tpr.org/programs/texasmatters.html
There’s an even bigger disconnect between the majority population and reality. The only saving grace there being that just as back 234 years ago the majority population is fragmented and not a solid entity. That’s the good news. The bad news is that under its compassionate conservative religiosity umbrella is a very “lunatic fringe” that includes the tiny percentage of the general population that consists of the owners of all things material. (See: Covert Operations)
Let me explain. Today 2010 in the “beacon for the world” the great “democracy” (that’s the greatest delusion) the top 1% of the population is worth more than the bottom 95%. Only 3% of that population makes more than $300,000.00 a year. So yes, only just a tiny fraction of the population owns it all folks and they aren’t about to share with the likes of you or me.
The lunatic fringe is comprised of both the tiny fraction of the population that owns the great majority of everything and the large number of their minions who own almost nothing.
Consider this; back in the beginning Euro Anglos came to this land in search of freedom and in doing so deprived locals here of theirs from the Artic to the Antarctic.
Euro Anglos while decimating the ranks of the indigenous population (that’s called genocide---ethnic cleansing) and enslaving Africans declared that “all men are created equal.” The only way that works is by de-humanizing Native Americans and African-Americans---oh and women, too.
Recall that the compassionate conservative religiosities were the ones burning women at the stake. The compassionate conservative religiosities back in the day declared women they couldn’t control to be witches.
That collective majority psychosis is still firmly in place. The only difference now is that the monied part of the fringe that once upon a time remained back in the old countries while all the heavy lifting was being done here in the New World by minorities (ethnic and racial) is now here, firmly ensconced and controlling our day to day lives.
It was the monied part of the fringe that leveraged the journey to the New World for many of the “have nots” for a price, of course. Then the monied fringe sold the “have nots” land the monied had never seen, did not own and took no active part in occupying. In a very “lunatic fringe” way that’s sheer genius and ballsy, too.
See now if that doesn’t clue you in to why we are where we are--- it just could be---that you are a part of that fringe. I’m just saying….
Hasta Siempre,
More:
Arianna Huffington Sees A 'Third World America’ (so do I)
http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=129727773
http://www.amazon.com/Third-World-America-Politicians-Abandoning/dp/0307719820/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284804821&sr=1-1
Ego is a
Meg Whitman is now the biggest self-funding candidate in history
As the Los Angeles Times' Anthony York notes, the California GOP gubernatorial nominee contributed another $15 million to her campaign on Tuesday. That means that Whitman, who came by most of her wealth during her tenure as CEO of eBay, has spent $119 million of her own cash on the race -- almost $10 million more than previous record-holder Michael Bloomberg, who ran up his $110 million tally during his successful 2009 re-election campaign.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100915/el_yblog_upshot/meg-whitman-is-now-the-biggest-self-funding-candidate-in-history
The Brothers Koch: Rich, Political And Playing To Win
Chances are you've never heard of Charles and David Koch. The brothers own Koch Industries, a Kansas-based conglomerate that operates oil refineries in several states and is the company behind brands including Brawny paper towels, Dixie cups, Georgia-Pacific lumber, Lycra fibers and Stainmaster carpet. Forbes ranks Koch Industries as the second-largest privately held company in the U.S. — and the Koch brothers themselves? They're worth billions.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129425186
Covert Operations
The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer
US homes lost to foreclosure up 25 pct on year
In all, banks repossessed 95,364 properties last month, up 3 percent from July and an increase of 25 percent from August 2009, RealtyTrac said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100916/ap_on_bi_ge/us_foreclosure_rates
to understand Brownie, FEMA and the response you only have to be lucid and honest enough to see that the population of New Orleans was Black, largely disenfranchised and if they did vote they didn’t vote GOPer
Filmmaker Says Katrina No Natural Disaster
Hurricane Katrina, and the destruction it wrought, are often referred to as a natural disaster. Think again, says actor Harry Shearer. In his documentary, The Big Uneasy, Shearer says much of the destruction in New Orleans was man-made and preventable -- and largely the fault of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129451954
Compassionate conservative religiosities give “w” 8 years to screw things up and the Demo’s 2 to clean it up…
AP-GfK Poll: Climate for GOP keeps getting better
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100915/ap_on_go_ot/us_election_lookahead
So you thought the 1960’s type Nixonian spying was dead and gone? Think again….
`Appalled' Pa. gov. shuts down reports on protests
HARRISBURG, Pa. – Information about an anti-BP candlelight vigil, a gay and lesbian festival and other peaceful gatherings became the subject of anti-terrorism bulletins being distributed by Pennsylvania's homeland security office, an apologetic Gov. Ed Rendell admitted.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_homeland_security_bulletin
Jon Stewart Announces DC 'Rally to Restore Sanity'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBUwE9riVZ4
'Green Book' Helped African Americans Travel Safely
September 15, 2010
The Negro Motorist Green Book, a travel guide published for nearly thirty years, listed lodgings, tailors and other places that welcomed black patrons.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129885990
Latino USA
Movement on DREAM Act, Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Paco Ignacio Taibo II was born in Spain and moved to Mexico as a child. Today, he has made his name as one of Mexico’s most prolific writers, authoring everything from crime novels to historical accounts to biographies
http://latinousa.kut.org/911-2/
Texas Matters Show #525, September 17, 2010 Download Entire Program
Segment 3: The problems along the Texas-Mexico border are having a profound impact on the communities in the region. The twin cities that straddled the Rio Grande used to be able to share resources and cooperate to tackle regional problems. Now with car bombings, mass murders and the breakdown in law and order in a growing number of Mexican border towns, Texas sister cities are struggling to adjust. In the west Texas town of Marfa, community leaders will hold a weekend conference on border issues called "The Marfa Dialogues." Tom Michael of Marfa Public Radio has more in this report.
http://www.tpr.org/programs/texasmatters.html
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Elections 2010 Big night for Tea Partiers, the will of the people or tyranny by another name…
Whiny Chihuahua voiced Palin clones (no lipsticked pitbulls here) claim the day or 15 minutes of it any way…..
It is so bizarre. The compassionate conservative religiosities are taking advantage of the opportunities created and put in place by the liberal, some say radical forces the compassionate conservative religiosities demonize.
Compassionate conservative GOPers would never have given these novices any opportunity to do what they are doing. Yet here we are.
There should remain little wonder why it was the founders didn’t stand up a democracy. Our elections process (not the political process) needs more moving parts. So I’m open to the Tea Partiers provided another dozen or so other options sprout tomorrow.
True proportional representation is the best option.
Hasta Siempre,
More:
Palin clones; a frightening concept…..
Christine O'Donnell beats Rep. Mike Castle in Delaware Republican Senate primary
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/14/AR2010091407063.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
Tea Party Coups: O'Donnell for Senate in Delaware, Paladino for New York Governor
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/09/14/tea-party-notches-huge-upset-with-odonnell-senate-victory-in-de/
Political News Alert: Gray projected to beat Fenty in D.C. mayoral primary
http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/AADB45/722OND/BYWN7M/2YE3FQ/4Y4JQ/E4/h
Political News Alert: Rangel holds on to win New York primary
http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/F490YD/FXXMQW/HJETKD/EUL8TZ/RCGA6/N9/h
Political News Alert: Paladino wins New York Republican gubernatorial nomination
http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/PSLW3N/KEEXL5/L3J8EQ/4E9NKP/RCG2J/FW/h
Political News Alert: Walker wins Wisconsin gubernatorial primary
http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/WUOQBH/UUUJWF/KNSGIE/BNPHFQ/FPJ1U/36/h
Bush or Cheney: Who's the Bigger Bogeyman? (are they really two different people?)
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/09/bush-or-cheney-whos-bigger-bogeyman
Federal agencies cutting, revising $337 million worth of IT contracts
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/14/AR2010091407450.html?wpisrc=nl_fed
"Campaign Finance Reform Is on Its Last Legs"
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/09/campaign-finance-reform-its-last-legs
Fears rise over growing anti-Muslim feeling in U.S.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100912/us_nm/us_usa_muslims_view
what ayn rand and ann coulter and those of their ilk just happened to miss or plain don’t get…..
The Importance of the 1970s
At a high level, the lesson of Winner-Take-All Politics is similar to that of 13 Bankers: when looking at economic phenomena, be they the financial crisis or the vast increase in inequality of the past thirty years, it’s politics that matters, not just abstract economic forces. One of the singular victories of the rich has been convincing the rest of us that their disproportionate success has been due to abstract economic forces beyond anyone’s control (technology, globalization, etc.), not old-fashioned power politics. Hopefully the financial crisis and the recession that has ended only on paper (if that) will provide the opportunity to teach people that there is no such thing as abstract economic forces; instead, there are different groups using the political system to fight for larger shares of society’s wealth. And one group has been winning for over thirty years.
http://baselinescenario.com/2010/09/13/the-importance-of-the-1970s/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BaselineScenario+%28The+Baseline+Scenario%29&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail
obviously the talks are really working…
Israeli aircraft strike Gaza as leaders convene
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100915/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast_talks
Profiles in Courage
http://www.amazon.com/Profiles-Courage-Perennial-Classics-Fitzgerald/dp/0060955449
13 Bankers
http://www.amazon.com/13-Bankers-Takeover-Financial-Meltdown/dp/0307379051
Winner take all Politics
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field- keywords=winner+take+all+politics
Slavery by Another Name
http://www.amazon.com/Slavery-Another-Name-Re-Enslavement-Americans/dp/0385506252
Tea Party Protest: Daily show / Colbert funny news
It is so bizarre. The compassionate conservative religiosities are taking advantage of the opportunities created and put in place by the liberal, some say radical forces the compassionate conservative religiosities demonize.
Compassionate conservative GOPers would never have given these novices any opportunity to do what they are doing. Yet here we are.
There should remain little wonder why it was the founders didn’t stand up a democracy. Our elections process (not the political process) needs more moving parts. So I’m open to the Tea Partiers provided another dozen or so other options sprout tomorrow.
True proportional representation is the best option.
Hasta Siempre,
More:
Palin clones; a frightening concept…..
Christine O'Donnell beats Rep. Mike Castle in Delaware Republican Senate primary
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/14/AR2010091407063.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
Tea Party Coups: O'Donnell for Senate in Delaware, Paladino for New York Governor
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/09/14/tea-party-notches-huge-upset-with-odonnell-senate-victory-in-de/
Political News Alert: Gray projected to beat Fenty in D.C. mayoral primary
http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/AADB45/722OND/BYWN7M/2YE3FQ/4Y4JQ/E4/h
Political News Alert: Rangel holds on to win New York primary
http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/F490YD/FXXMQW/HJETKD/EUL8TZ/RCGA6/N9/h
Political News Alert: Paladino wins New York Republican gubernatorial nomination
http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/PSLW3N/KEEXL5/L3J8EQ/4E9NKP/RCG2J/FW/h
Political News Alert: Walker wins Wisconsin gubernatorial primary
http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/WUOQBH/UUUJWF/KNSGIE/BNPHFQ/FPJ1U/36/h
Bush or Cheney: Who's the Bigger Bogeyman? (are they really two different people?)
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/09/bush-or-cheney-whos-bigger-bogeyman
Federal agencies cutting, revising $337 million worth of IT contracts
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/14/AR2010091407450.html?wpisrc=nl_fed
"Campaign Finance Reform Is on Its Last Legs"
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/09/campaign-finance-reform-its-last-legs
Fears rise over growing anti-Muslim feeling in U.S.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100912/us_nm/us_usa_muslims_view
what ayn rand and ann coulter and those of their ilk just happened to miss or plain don’t get…..
The Importance of the 1970s
At a high level, the lesson of Winner-Take-All Politics is similar to that of 13 Bankers: when looking at economic phenomena, be they the financial crisis or the vast increase in inequality of the past thirty years, it’s politics that matters, not just abstract economic forces. One of the singular victories of the rich has been convincing the rest of us that their disproportionate success has been due to abstract economic forces beyond anyone’s control (technology, globalization, etc.), not old-fashioned power politics. Hopefully the financial crisis and the recession that has ended only on paper (if that) will provide the opportunity to teach people that there is no such thing as abstract economic forces; instead, there are different groups using the political system to fight for larger shares of society’s wealth. And one group has been winning for over thirty years.
http://baselinescenario.com/2010/09/13/the-importance-of-the-1970s/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BaselineScenario+%28The+Baseline+Scenario%29&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail
obviously the talks are really working…
Israeli aircraft strike Gaza as leaders convene
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100915/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast_talks
Profiles in Courage
http://www.amazon.com/Profiles-Courage-Perennial-Classics-Fitzgerald/dp/0060955449
13 Bankers
http://www.amazon.com/13-Bankers-Takeover-Financial-Meltdown/dp/0307379051
Winner take all Politics
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field- keywords=winner+take+all+politics
Slavery by Another Name
http://www.amazon.com/Slavery-Another-Name-Re-Enslavement-Americans/dp/0385506252
Tea Party Protest: Daily show / Colbert funny news
Bexar County: Public Policy: another way of saying majority rule i.e. tyranny by majority….
What is a voter to do? Well that depends. Mostly it doesn’t really matter since many voters are armed mostly with prejudice, bias, hate, anger and/or a sense of “moral indignation.” Now that’s scary.
Recently a friend sent me an article in which a probably well intended, quite partisan but terribly misguided blogger railed against the majority party not his choice.
By the way, I’m listening to NPR as I write this. There’s a story about the Tea Party having its sights on the next elected representative they are going to take down. Oh wow. Really?
Getting back to the article my friend sent me, what these guys (Tea Partiers) don’t get is that once in power the Tea Partier who topples the reviled “insider” will become the next “insider.” That’s a promise. It is a fact that “power corrupts.” Also people don’t pay attention. That’s part and parcel for the egregious state of our economy and I don’t mean right now---I mean the way it is and has been.
Moreover, it’s not the “elected representatives” the Tea Partiers should be stalking. Elected representatives are just lapdogs of the oligarchs---regardless the party of the elected representative. Tea Partiers and other truly motivated citizens of the republic should be taking on the oligarchs who own those in office now and will own those the Tea Partiers put in office in the future. Those in “elected” office transform majority public opinion into legislated public policy. Though that sounds transformational it just means rule by majority or tyranny by majority.
What’s the problem with that? The majority is almost always swayed by prejudice, bias and what seems logical. The problem is that things only seem “logical” when viewed through a skewed view of reality that often ignores laws put in place to protect us from ourselves.
One example is the recent events in California dealing with gay marriage. Our secular laws state clearly that we are all equal under the law. Yet, for as long as there has been a republic that fact has never been true. African-Americans have been slaves. Women had no rights including the right to vote until midway through the 20th Century---to have their own credit and control over their own bodies until late in the 20th Century.
When California law finally recognized that gays had a Constitutional right to marry, the oligarchic forces of organized religion (one third of the wholly trinity) brought a referendum that allowed the folk to vote on the issue. The popular opinion of the majority reversed that right. In other words the majority voted to make a special class of people (out of gays). The majority of voters of the State of California prompted by religious fervor and enabled by the mother’s milk of the political process, i.e. money through popular vote said, that gays were not protected by the Constitution. Besides turning the Constitution on its head, this was clearly a case of the founders worst nightmare, tyranny by majority.
Democracy in its pure form is not what we have been led to believe it is. Democracy is not what our founders put in place. Left to its own devices democracy is tyranny that as John Adams stated, “while it lasts is more bloody than either [aristocracy or monarchy]. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide.”
If ours is truly a secular state and a nation of laws the judicial branch of our government will set to right what the “will of the people” would establish as public policy and law.
Do not lose sight of the fact that by majority rule, African-Americans were allowed to be held in slavery on paper for the first century of our existence as a republic and by practice until after WWII.
Public policy is turned into laws by our “elected representatives.” Oligachs owning members of either house of congress is nothing new.
Clinton's 'plantation' remark draws fire
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton drew criticism Tuesday for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day speech in which she told a mostly black audience at a Harlem church that Republican leaders have run the House "like a plantation" and the Bush administration will go down as "one of the worst" in U.S. history.
http://articles.cnn.com/2006-01-17/politics/clinton.plantation_1_house-democrats-gop-house-house-speaker-dennis-hastert?_s=PM:POLITICS
And consider that in the mid-1800’s “Senators, said William Allen White, represented not only states and regions but “principalities, powers and business.”
One senator, for instance, represented the Union Pacific Railway System, another the New York Central, still another the insurance interests, …Coal and iron owned a coterie…, cotton had half a dozen Senators. And so it went… It was a plutochratic feudalism eminently respectable. The collar of any great financial interest was worn in pride.” John F. Kennedy, Profiles in Courage, Harper and Brothers, 1956.
Nothing has changed. There’s just more money. For example, during the recent battle to change not healthcare (it’s fine) but healthcare insurance (a trillion dollar industry) Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Representative John Boehner (R-OH) and others read straight from the talking papers prepared for them by the insurance industry. Did I mention lapdogs?
(Money-Driven Medicine) http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08282009/profile.html),
Profits before patients (Healthcare insurance reform)http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-18764-San-Antonio-Public-Policy-Examiner~y2009m9d2-Profits-before-patients-Healthcare-insurance-reform
Benjamin Franklin was aware even in the nascent days of the republic that sinister monied forces were already at work seeking to control the new republic. No doubt he had it in mind when he remarked that the Constitutional Convention had given the citizens “a republic” but only if those citizens could “keep it.” I profer that the republic died with Adams and Jefferson in 1826. Whether citizens of this nation choose to reclaim it is another matter. I do not put any faith in that. Why? Read any of my blog and disabuse yourself.
Hasta Siempre,
More:
The Brothers Koch: Rich, Political And Playing To Win
Chances are you've never heard of Charles and David Koch. The brothers own Koch Industries, a Kansas-based conglomerate that operates oil refineries in several states and is the company behind brands including Brawny paper towels, Dixie cups, Georgia-Pacific lumber, Lycra fibers and Stainmaster carpet. Forbes ranks Koch Industries as the second-largest privately held company in the U.S. — and the Koch brothers themselves? They're worth billions.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129425186
Covert Operations
The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer
and your point?
Senate Republicans say they'll block tax increase
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100913/ap_on_bi_ge/us_tax_cuts
what ayn rand and ann coulter and those of their ilk just happened to miss or just plain don’t get…..
The Importance of the 1970s
At a high level, the lesson of Winner-Take-All Politics is similar to that of 13 Bankers: when looking at economic phenomena, be they the financial crisis or the vast increase in inequality of the past thirty years, it’s politics that matters, not just abstract economic forces. One of the singular victories of the rich has been convincing the rest of us that their disproportionate success has been due to abstract economic forces beyond anyone’s control (technology, globalization, etc.), not old-fashioned power politics. Hopefully the financial crisis and the recession that has ended only on paper (if that) will provide the opportunity to teach people that there is no such thing as abstract economic forces; instead, there are different groups using the political system to fight for larger shares of society’s wealth. And one group has been winning for over thirty years.
http://baselinescenario.com/2010/09/13/the-importance-of-the-1970s/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BaselineScenario+%28The+Baseline+Scenario%29&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail
Library of Congress/Religion
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel01.html
Women's suffrage
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage
John Adams Quotes
http://thinkexist.com/quotation/democracy-while_it_lasts_is_more_bloody_than/212521.html
"Campaign Finance Reform Is on Its Last Legs"
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/09/campaign-finance-reform-its-last-legs
Price: We'll defund health reform
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/42015.html
Bill Moyers on Plutonomy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSoglDcRbAg
Profiles in Courage
http://www.amazon.com/Profiles-Courage-Perennial-Classics-Fitzgerald/dp/0060955449
13 Bankers
http://www.amazon.com/13-Bankers-Takeover-Financial-Meltdown/dp/0307379051
Winner take all Politics
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=winner+take+all+politics
Slavery by Another Name
http://www.amazon.com/Slavery-Another-Name-Re-Enslavement-Americans/dp/0385506252
Recently a friend sent me an article in which a probably well intended, quite partisan but terribly misguided blogger railed against the majority party not his choice.
By the way, I’m listening to NPR as I write this. There’s a story about the Tea Party having its sights on the next elected representative they are going to take down. Oh wow. Really?
Getting back to the article my friend sent me, what these guys (Tea Partiers) don’t get is that once in power the Tea Partier who topples the reviled “insider” will become the next “insider.” That’s a promise. It is a fact that “power corrupts.” Also people don’t pay attention. That’s part and parcel for the egregious state of our economy and I don’t mean right now---I mean the way it is and has been.
Moreover, it’s not the “elected representatives” the Tea Partiers should be stalking. Elected representatives are just lapdogs of the oligarchs---regardless the party of the elected representative. Tea Partiers and other truly motivated citizens of the republic should be taking on the oligarchs who own those in office now and will own those the Tea Partiers put in office in the future. Those in “elected” office transform majority public opinion into legislated public policy. Though that sounds transformational it just means rule by majority or tyranny by majority.
What’s the problem with that? The majority is almost always swayed by prejudice, bias and what seems logical. The problem is that things only seem “logical” when viewed through a skewed view of reality that often ignores laws put in place to protect us from ourselves.
One example is the recent events in California dealing with gay marriage. Our secular laws state clearly that we are all equal under the law. Yet, for as long as there has been a republic that fact has never been true. African-Americans have been slaves. Women had no rights including the right to vote until midway through the 20th Century---to have their own credit and control over their own bodies until late in the 20th Century.
When California law finally recognized that gays had a Constitutional right to marry, the oligarchic forces of organized religion (one third of the wholly trinity) brought a referendum that allowed the folk to vote on the issue. The popular opinion of the majority reversed that right. In other words the majority voted to make a special class of people (out of gays). The majority of voters of the State of California prompted by religious fervor and enabled by the mother’s milk of the political process, i.e. money through popular vote said, that gays were not protected by the Constitution. Besides turning the Constitution on its head, this was clearly a case of the founders worst nightmare, tyranny by majority.
Democracy in its pure form is not what we have been led to believe it is. Democracy is not what our founders put in place. Left to its own devices democracy is tyranny that as John Adams stated, “while it lasts is more bloody than either [aristocracy or monarchy]. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide.”
If ours is truly a secular state and a nation of laws the judicial branch of our government will set to right what the “will of the people” would establish as public policy and law.
Do not lose sight of the fact that by majority rule, African-Americans were allowed to be held in slavery on paper for the first century of our existence as a republic and by practice until after WWII.
Public policy is turned into laws by our “elected representatives.” Oligachs owning members of either house of congress is nothing new.
Clinton's 'plantation' remark draws fire
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton drew criticism Tuesday for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day speech in which she told a mostly black audience at a Harlem church that Republican leaders have run the House "like a plantation" and the Bush administration will go down as "one of the worst" in U.S. history.
http://articles.cnn.com/2006-01-17/politics/clinton.plantation_1_house-democrats-gop-house-house-speaker-dennis-hastert?_s=PM:POLITICS
And consider that in the mid-1800’s “Senators, said William Allen White, represented not only states and regions but “principalities, powers and business.”
One senator, for instance, represented the Union Pacific Railway System, another the New York Central, still another the insurance interests, …Coal and iron owned a coterie…, cotton had half a dozen Senators. And so it went… It was a plutochratic feudalism eminently respectable. The collar of any great financial interest was worn in pride.” John F. Kennedy, Profiles in Courage, Harper and Brothers, 1956.
Nothing has changed. There’s just more money. For example, during the recent battle to change not healthcare (it’s fine) but healthcare insurance (a trillion dollar industry) Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Representative John Boehner (R-OH) and others read straight from the talking papers prepared for them by the insurance industry. Did I mention lapdogs?
(Money-Driven Medicine) http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08282009/profile.html),
Profits before patients (Healthcare insurance reform)http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-18764-San-Antonio-Public-Policy-Examiner~y2009m9d2-Profits-before-patients-Healthcare-insurance-reform
Benjamin Franklin was aware even in the nascent days of the republic that sinister monied forces were already at work seeking to control the new republic. No doubt he had it in mind when he remarked that the Constitutional Convention had given the citizens “a republic” but only if those citizens could “keep it.” I profer that the republic died with Adams and Jefferson in 1826. Whether citizens of this nation choose to reclaim it is another matter. I do not put any faith in that. Why? Read any of my blog and disabuse yourself.
Hasta Siempre,
More:
The Brothers Koch: Rich, Political And Playing To Win
Chances are you've never heard of Charles and David Koch. The brothers own Koch Industries, a Kansas-based conglomerate that operates oil refineries in several states and is the company behind brands including Brawny paper towels, Dixie cups, Georgia-Pacific lumber, Lycra fibers and Stainmaster carpet. Forbes ranks Koch Industries as the second-largest privately held company in the U.S. — and the Koch brothers themselves? They're worth billions.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129425186
Covert Operations
The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer
and your point?
Senate Republicans say they'll block tax increase
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100913/ap_on_bi_ge/us_tax_cuts
what ayn rand and ann coulter and those of their ilk just happened to miss or just plain don’t get…..
The Importance of the 1970s
At a high level, the lesson of Winner-Take-All Politics is similar to that of 13 Bankers: when looking at economic phenomena, be they the financial crisis or the vast increase in inequality of the past thirty years, it’s politics that matters, not just abstract economic forces. One of the singular victories of the rich has been convincing the rest of us that their disproportionate success has been due to abstract economic forces beyond anyone’s control (technology, globalization, etc.), not old-fashioned power politics. Hopefully the financial crisis and the recession that has ended only on paper (if that) will provide the opportunity to teach people that there is no such thing as abstract economic forces; instead, there are different groups using the political system to fight for larger shares of society’s wealth. And one group has been winning for over thirty years.
http://baselinescenario.com/2010/09/13/the-importance-of-the-1970s/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BaselineScenario+%28The+Baseline+Scenario%29&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail
Library of Congress/Religion
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel01.html
Women's suffrage
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage
John Adams Quotes
http://thinkexist.com/quotation/democracy-while_it_lasts_is_more_bloody_than/212521.html
"Campaign Finance Reform Is on Its Last Legs"
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/09/campaign-finance-reform-its-last-legs
Price: We'll defund health reform
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/42015.html
Bill Moyers on Plutonomy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSoglDcRbAg
Profiles in Courage
http://www.amazon.com/Profiles-Courage-Perennial-Classics-Fitzgerald/dp/0060955449
13 Bankers
http://www.amazon.com/13-Bankers-Takeover-Financial-Meltdown/dp/0307379051
Winner take all Politics
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=winner+take+all+politics
Slavery by Another Name
http://www.amazon.com/Slavery-Another-Name-Re-Enslavement-Americans/dp/0385506252
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Public Policy: obsession with tragedy, intolerance for anything not compassionate conservative Christian……as American as cherry pie…
What havoc “w”, cheney, rumy, rove, rice, al-berto and company left in their wake the numb, dis-spirited, largely ignorant (by way of our apartheid public education) and of course the meanspirited, egregious compassionate conservative Christians attribute to the present congress and Obama. That’s too bad. It is however, very cunning on the part of the dirtbag GOPers waiting in the wings.
“It's unfortunate timing for Obama and his party just seven weeks before important elections when control of Congress is at stake. The anticipated poverty rate increase — from 13.2 percent to about 15 percent — would be another blow to Democrats struggling to persuade voters to keep them in power.”
A day for the obsessed---the "not well"---to preen and pray. Funny we profess to care so much for less than 3000 while we have wrecked havoc for millions the world over the 100 years or so we've been an empire.
In Iraq alone we have killed at least 200,000 (150,000 documented) civilians and displaced another 2 million.
In Vietnam we've left the carnage of our chemical weapons to go on producing mutated offspring for generations.
In Mexico, Central and South America we've almost completely obliterated the natives and decimated their respective national economies.
In this land we've all but exterminated the natives, imprison more black men today than were in slavery in 1860, and malign, denigrade and abuse migrant workers.
Thinking about it, why do they hate us?
Hasta Siempre,
More:
US poverty on track to post record gain in 2009
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_poverty_in_america
Daniel Ellsberg, 78, at a movie event in Sept. 2009 (AP)
Listen
Henry Kissinger called Daniel Ellsberg “the most dangerous man in America” because Ellsberg was a Pentagon insider who turned against the war in Vietnam and knew the government’s lies about the run-up to the war. Ellsberg eventually released the “Pentagon Papers,” a top-secret study on the war, to The New York Times, which helped end the war and the Nixon presidency. He recalls the story in the Oscar-nominated documentary “The Most Dangerous Man in America.”
http://www.hereandnow.org/#5
Toxic legacy of the Vietnam war
http://english.aljazeera.net/video/asia-pacific/2010/07/201072251513743646.html
The People Speak
http://www.history.com/content/people-speak
The People Speak *
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qpm6aw5OWw
Howard Zinn's "The People Speak"
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion/504250/howard_zinn_s_the_people_speak_on_tv_this_sunday
WikiLeaks releases secret video of journalists, civilians killed in Baghdad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyQsgkncxcc&has_verified=1
Iraq Body Count
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/
Civilian casualties of the War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_casualties_of_the_War_in_Afghanistan_(2001%E2%80%93present)
Public Policy and American “values”
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-18764-San-Antonio-Public-Policy-Examiner~y2010m6d15-Public-Policy-and-American-values#
“It's unfortunate timing for Obama and his party just seven weeks before important elections when control of Congress is at stake. The anticipated poverty rate increase — from 13.2 percent to about 15 percent — would be another blow to Democrats struggling to persuade voters to keep them in power.”
A day for the obsessed---the "not well"---to preen and pray. Funny we profess to care so much for less than 3000 while we have wrecked havoc for millions the world over the 100 years or so we've been an empire.
In Iraq alone we have killed at least 200,000 (150,000 documented) civilians and displaced another 2 million.
In Vietnam we've left the carnage of our chemical weapons to go on producing mutated offspring for generations.
In Mexico, Central and South America we've almost completely obliterated the natives and decimated their respective national economies.
In this land we've all but exterminated the natives, imprison more black men today than were in slavery in 1860, and malign, denigrade and abuse migrant workers.
Thinking about it, why do they hate us?
Hasta Siempre,
More:
US poverty on track to post record gain in 2009
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_poverty_in_america
Daniel Ellsberg, 78, at a movie event in Sept. 2009 (AP)
Listen
Henry Kissinger called Daniel Ellsberg “the most dangerous man in America” because Ellsberg was a Pentagon insider who turned against the war in Vietnam and knew the government’s lies about the run-up to the war. Ellsberg eventually released the “Pentagon Papers,” a top-secret study on the war, to The New York Times, which helped end the war and the Nixon presidency. He recalls the story in the Oscar-nominated documentary “The Most Dangerous Man in America.”
http://www.hereandnow.org/#5
Toxic legacy of the Vietnam war
http://english.aljazeera.net/video/asia-pacific/2010/07/201072251513743646.html
The People Speak
http://www.history.com/content/people-speak
The People Speak *
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qpm6aw5OWw
Howard Zinn's "The People Speak"
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion/504250/howard_zinn_s_the_people_speak_on_tv_this_sunday
WikiLeaks releases secret video of journalists, civilians killed in Baghdad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyQsgkncxcc&has_verified=1
Iraq Body Count
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/
Civilian casualties of the War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_casualties_of_the_War_in_Afghanistan_(2001%E2%80%93present)
Public Policy and American “values”
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-18764-San-Antonio-Public-Policy-Examiner~y2010m6d15-Public-Policy-and-American-values#
52 Days and counting, a few will decide for all…
Two-hundred thirty four years ago Benjamin Franklin was heard to respond to a woman’s query whether we now had a monarchy or a republic, “A republic---if you can keep it.”
Studying history in high school and then in college the words were meaningful but not nearly so much as now years later.
What Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and George Washington tried to give us was a tolerant republic run by the people. That however, requires an informed, educated and participating population. Almost from the outset that has just not been the case.
Left in the hands of the individual state’s elites education could never be anything more than the apartheid public education it is.
Left in the hands of the individual state’s elites social engineering was almost a given.
And now, 234 years later here we are in a condition far worse than the Great Depression. At least 80 years ago people were not in denial about conditions.
There are more changes in the last 10 years and the first ten years of a century than almost any other part of that 100 years. The changes the past two decades have brought I for one could have done quite well without.
Bill White will be our next governor, little difference that will make except for the handful of connected minions who will profit from the change in management.
The fact is I urge you to get out and vote---it is important to exercise liberties we have been handed even if that expression, in this case voting is pointless. If you vote progressive, liberal go to the polls understanding you are doing your civic duty without expecting good things because quite simply you aren’t going to get them not in Texas Red.
From Texas Red, a cratered landscape of prisons, deplorable public education, lack of healthcare and politicians and majority population intent on keeping it that way…
Hasta Siempre,
More:
Bexar County Elections Department
http://www.co.bexar.tx.us/elections/
Here's What's the Matter With Kansas
http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2010/09/paul-pierson-jacob-s-hacker
League of Women Voters of Texas
http://www.lwvtexas.org/
General Election Candidiates List:
http://mysapolitics.com/election.php/2010/01/06/current-election-candidates-list-2010
Bexar County Dems open Headquarters on Broadway
http://prop-w-a-mtc02.evip.aol.com/story/2010/08/10/bexar-county-dems-open-headquarters-on-broadway/
Bexar County inmates may lack mental health assessments
http://news.yahoo.com/video/sanantoniokens5tv-15749667/bexar-county-inmates-may-lack-mental-health-assessments-21173918
Protesters rallied at the Alamo against election corruption
http://www.kens5.com/news/local/Protestors-rallied-at-the-Alamo-against-election-corruption--100434459.html
Pentagon Tries to Buy Up Embarrassing Book
But with dozens of unredacted review copies already in the hands of newspaper and magazine editors, it's unlikely that taking books off the shelves will be enough to keep under wraps whatever it is the Pentagon wants to stay secret. Already, original review copies of the book are being offered for sale online at upward of $500.
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/pentagon-tries-to-buy-up-embarrassing-book-by-anthony-shaffer/19629225
Expectations for voter turnout in Bexar County remain low
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics/one-third_of_voters_expected_to_participate_in_nov_2_elections_102387844.html
Bexar County set to hurt the poor, elderly and otherwise disadvantaged
http://stxc.blogspot.com/2010/09/bexar-county-set-to-hurt-poor-elderly.html
Big cuts looming for mental health care
http://www.txstatedemocrats.org/?p=974?891f3fb0
Help Change Sex Ed in Texas
Join a School Health Advisory Council (SHAC)
http://www.tfn.org/site/Survey?SURVEY_ID=2862&ACTION_REQUIRED=URI_ACTION_USER_REQUESTS&AddInterest=1282
Speaking in Tongues
http://www.theworld.org/2010/09/10/speaking-in-tongues/
Stunning Statistics of the Week:
Amount spent on television ads in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's home state of Nevada since June: $7.5 million
Amount spent on those ads by outside groups: $2.8 million
Amount Republican candidate Sharron Angle has spent on ads: $2.6 million
Amount Reid has spent: $1.9 million
http://www.dontgetrolled.org/
Rick Perry in toughest fight of any incumbent Republican governor
http://www.texaswatch.org/2010/09/poll2010/
Walker Report
http://walkerreport.blogspot.com/2010/09/seante-majority-leader-harry-reid.html
Carter secures release of U.S. prisoner….
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_nkorea_carter_prisoner
in my grandparent’s day “los rinches”(texas rangers) were just an institutionalized lynchmob (terrorists) some things just don’t change I guess….
State obscures elite Texas Rangers' border work
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100826/ap_on_re_us/us_ranger_recon
The Brothers Koch: Rich, Political And Playing To Win
Chances are you've never heard of Charles and David Koch. The brothers own Koch Industries, a Kansas-based conglomerate that operates oil refineries in several states and is the company behind brands including Brawny paper towels, Dixie cups, Georgia-Pacific lumber, Lycra fibers and Stainmaster carpet. Forbes ranks Koch Industries as the second-largest privately held company in the U.S. — and the Koch brothers themselves? They're worth billions.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129425186
Covert Operations
The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer
Filmmaker Says Katrina No Natural Disaster
Hurricane Katrina, and the destruction it wrought, are often referred to as a natural disaster. Think again, says actor Harry Shearer. In his documentary, The Big Uneasy, Shearer says much of the destruction in New Orleans was man-made and preventable -- and largely the fault of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129451954
Filmmaker Says Katrina No Natural Disaster
Hurricane Katrina, and the destruction it wrought, are often referred to as a natural disaster. Think again, says actor Harry Shearer. In his documentary, The Big Uneasy, Shearer says much of the destruction in New Orleans was man-made and preventable -- and largely the fault of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129451954
Runaway Drone Violated Capital Airspace
DENVER (Aug. 26) -- A military drone that was supposed to be remotely controlled broke off contact with its operators and wandered into restricted airspace around the nation's capital, the military has revealed.
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/miltary-says-runaway-drone-violated-capital-airspace/19610001
Corruption Tie in Afghanistan Has Echoes of CIA's Past
http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/corruption-ties-in-afghanistan-echo-cias-dirty-past/19609570
CIA making secret payments to members of Karzai administration
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/26/AR2010082606776.html?wpisrc=nl_politics
San Antonio Politics (or not)
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics
Illusions of Justice, Lennox S. Hinds
http://www.amazon.com/Illusions-Justice-Rights-Violations-United/dp/0934936005
George Carlin Doesn't vote
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIraCchPDhk
Studying history in high school and then in college the words were meaningful but not nearly so much as now years later.
What Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and George Washington tried to give us was a tolerant republic run by the people. That however, requires an informed, educated and participating population. Almost from the outset that has just not been the case.
Left in the hands of the individual state’s elites education could never be anything more than the apartheid public education it is.
Left in the hands of the individual state’s elites social engineering was almost a given.
And now, 234 years later here we are in a condition far worse than the Great Depression. At least 80 years ago people were not in denial about conditions.
There are more changes in the last 10 years and the first ten years of a century than almost any other part of that 100 years. The changes the past two decades have brought I for one could have done quite well without.
Bill White will be our next governor, little difference that will make except for the handful of connected minions who will profit from the change in management.
The fact is I urge you to get out and vote---it is important to exercise liberties we have been handed even if that expression, in this case voting is pointless. If you vote progressive, liberal go to the polls understanding you are doing your civic duty without expecting good things because quite simply you aren’t going to get them not in Texas Red.
From Texas Red, a cratered landscape of prisons, deplorable public education, lack of healthcare and politicians and majority population intent on keeping it that way…
Hasta Siempre,
More:
Bexar County Elections Department
http://www.co.bexar.tx.us/elections/
Here's What's the Matter With Kansas
http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2010/09/paul-pierson-jacob-s-hacker
League of Women Voters of Texas
http://www.lwvtexas.org/
General Election Candidiates List:
http://mysapolitics.com/election.php/2010/01/06/current-election-candidates-list-2010
Bexar County Dems open Headquarters on Broadway
http://prop-w-a-mtc02.evip.aol.com/story/2010/08/10/bexar-county-dems-open-headquarters-on-broadway/
Bexar County inmates may lack mental health assessments
http://news.yahoo.com/video/sanantoniokens5tv-15749667/bexar-county-inmates-may-lack-mental-health-assessments-21173918
Protesters rallied at the Alamo against election corruption
http://www.kens5.com/news/local/Protestors-rallied-at-the-Alamo-against-election-corruption--100434459.html
Pentagon Tries to Buy Up Embarrassing Book
But with dozens of unredacted review copies already in the hands of newspaper and magazine editors, it's unlikely that taking books off the shelves will be enough to keep under wraps whatever it is the Pentagon wants to stay secret. Already, original review copies of the book are being offered for sale online at upward of $500.
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/pentagon-tries-to-buy-up-embarrassing-book-by-anthony-shaffer/19629225
Expectations for voter turnout in Bexar County remain low
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics/one-third_of_voters_expected_to_participate_in_nov_2_elections_102387844.html
Bexar County set to hurt the poor, elderly and otherwise disadvantaged
http://stxc.blogspot.com/2010/09/bexar-county-set-to-hurt-poor-elderly.html
Big cuts looming for mental health care
http://www.txstatedemocrats.org/?p=974?891f3fb0
Help Change Sex Ed in Texas
Join a School Health Advisory Council (SHAC)
http://www.tfn.org/site/Survey?SURVEY_ID=2862&ACTION_REQUIRED=URI_ACTION_USER_REQUESTS&AddInterest=1282
Speaking in Tongues
http://www.theworld.org/2010/09/10/speaking-in-tongues/
Stunning Statistics of the Week:
Amount spent on television ads in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's home state of Nevada since June: $7.5 million
Amount spent on those ads by outside groups: $2.8 million
Amount Republican candidate Sharron Angle has spent on ads: $2.6 million
Amount Reid has spent: $1.9 million
http://www.dontgetrolled.org/
Rick Perry in toughest fight of any incumbent Republican governor
http://www.texaswatch.org/2010/09/poll2010/
Walker Report
http://walkerreport.blogspot.com/2010/09/seante-majority-leader-harry-reid.html
Carter secures release of U.S. prisoner….
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_nkorea_carter_prisoner
in my grandparent’s day “los rinches”(texas rangers) were just an institutionalized lynchmob (terrorists) some things just don’t change I guess….
State obscures elite Texas Rangers' border work
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100826/ap_on_re_us/us_ranger_recon
The Brothers Koch: Rich, Political And Playing To Win
Chances are you've never heard of Charles and David Koch. The brothers own Koch Industries, a Kansas-based conglomerate that operates oil refineries in several states and is the company behind brands including Brawny paper towels, Dixie cups, Georgia-Pacific lumber, Lycra fibers and Stainmaster carpet. Forbes ranks Koch Industries as the second-largest privately held company in the U.S. — and the Koch brothers themselves? They're worth billions.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129425186
Covert Operations
The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer
Filmmaker Says Katrina No Natural Disaster
Hurricane Katrina, and the destruction it wrought, are often referred to as a natural disaster. Think again, says actor Harry Shearer. In his documentary, The Big Uneasy, Shearer says much of the destruction in New Orleans was man-made and preventable -- and largely the fault of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129451954
Filmmaker Says Katrina No Natural Disaster
Hurricane Katrina, and the destruction it wrought, are often referred to as a natural disaster. Think again, says actor Harry Shearer. In his documentary, The Big Uneasy, Shearer says much of the destruction in New Orleans was man-made and preventable -- and largely the fault of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129451954
Runaway Drone Violated Capital Airspace
DENVER (Aug. 26) -- A military drone that was supposed to be remotely controlled broke off contact with its operators and wandered into restricted airspace around the nation's capital, the military has revealed.
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/miltary-says-runaway-drone-violated-capital-airspace/19610001
Corruption Tie in Afghanistan Has Echoes of CIA's Past
http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/corruption-ties-in-afghanistan-echo-cias-dirty-past/19609570
CIA making secret payments to members of Karzai administration
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/26/AR2010082606776.html?wpisrc=nl_politics
San Antonio Politics (or not)
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics
Illusions of Justice, Lennox S. Hinds
http://www.amazon.com/Illusions-Justice-Rights-Violations-United/dp/0934936005
George Carlin Doesn't vote
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIraCchPDhk
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