Wednesday, April 30, 2014

PRO SPORTS IN BLACK AND WHITE

Professional sports provides us with an insight into how someone like Donald Sterling might create such a stir, especially among the other team owners; not only in the NBA, but also the NFL and MLB.



They are almost 100% all white, ( and billionaires to boot) while the majority players, are across the board, are black.



As Sterling was "caught" on tape saying;


I support them and give them food, and clothes, and cars, and houses. Who gives it to them? Does someone else give it to them? … Who makes the game? Do I make the game, or do they make the game? Is there 30 owners, that created the league?


One wonders if that sentiment is shared by any of the other guys in the "white billionaire owners club."


Three Leagues, 92 Teams And One Black Principal Owner

It’s common knowledge that the NBA – like the other two biggest U.S. sports leagues, the NFL and Major League Baseball — has many African-American and Latino players. But off the court and off the field, the racial demographics of the leagues are starkly different.

Richard Lapchick, director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida, has collated and published statistics on the demographics of most major sports leagues. In October, Lapchick published data on diversity in the NBA, the NFL and MLB in 2013. We’ve pulled the numbers to show how the diversity of the NBA’s ownership structure differs from that of the players — and from other professional sports leagues’ makeups.

POLITICAL WHORES SERVICE THE 1%

Millionaires Unite to Defeat Minimum Wage


A broad-based coalition of millionaires converged on Washington today to defeat a bill that would have increased the minimum wage for American workers to $10.10 an hour.

Leaving behind their mansions and yachts, the millionaires were motivated by what they saw as an existential threat to the country, Mitch McConnell, a spokesman for the millionaires, said.

“This was an extremely diverse coalition,” McConnell said, noting that everyone from the rich to the very rich to the super-rich united to vote down the bill.

McConnell hoped that today’s vote would burnish the millionaires’ reputation as “people who get things done.”

“Folks who have tried to pin a ‘do nothing’ label on us are dead wrong,” he said. “When it comes to stopping workers from being paid more, we spring into action.”

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Sterling Banned For Life at 81? Much to do about nothing.

Sterling Banned For Life



This is similar to sentencing a 72 year old ex-nazi to 150 years in prison unless it includes the "next" life.



The average life expectancy for a white male in the US is 76.9 years.



A $2.5 million dollar fine? Chump change. Sterling spent more than that on his now estranged girl friend;



A Ferrari, TWO Bentleys and a $1.4MILLION apartment. 



Bottom line, racism is so embedded into this society that there's very little that anyone is willing to do to  address it in any meaningful way.



The actions taken by the NBA has nothing to do with racism in sports, but all to do with not hurting the bottom line. Sponsors leaving, players protesting, fans leaving. The other owners being called out for their racist and discriminatory practices.



That's what the establishment is trying to head off.



Slapping an old man on the wrist is not even a good start to addressing racism in sports.

HIGH NOON AT THE FED-EX CORAL

It's safe to say that in "carry anywhere" country  you will find an abundance of guns, ammo, and Rambo types just itch-in to exercise their rights. But that's to be expected in a state where the political whores are procured by and service the needs of the NRA and gun lobby by creating laws that do absolutely nothing other than generate sales for the gun industry. Oh, and get a lot of people maimed or killed.

Two victims suffered life-threatening shotgun wounds and were in surgery Tuesday morning after a gunman described by a witness as being armed “like Rambo” shot six people at a FedEx sorting facility near Atlanta.

The gunman, described by police as a FedEx package handler, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His name was not released.

All six victims suffered multiple wounds, but the 28-year-old male and 52-year-old female in critical condition were likely shot at closer range, an emergency room doctor said during a televised briefing.


http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-fedex-shooting-injured-armed-like-rambo20140429,0,7607602.story#ixzz30IVPUrlP




Monday, April 28, 2014

BLACKS AND DOGS ARE EQUAL IN ISRAEL

Clippers owners: In Israel, blacks treated like dogs

Extended recording of Donald Sterling sees him make additional racist remarks, belittling 'black Jews' and claiming they are worth less than 'white Jews' during conversation with girlfriend.

The L.A. Clippers' Jewish owner used an inelegant choice of words when justifying his racist remarks by saying blacks are treated like dogs in Israel, but he wasn't as far off the mark as we would like to believe.

By Rabbi Eliyahu Fink | Apr. 28, 2014 | 5:25 PM

“DS: It's the world! You go to Israel, the blacks are just treated like dogs.
V: So do you have to treat them like that too?
DS: The white Jews, there's white Jews and black Jews, do you understand?
V: And are the black Jews less than the white Jews?
DS: A hundred percent, fifty, a hundred percent.
V: And is that right?
DS: It isn't a question - we don't evaluate what's right and wrong, we live in a society. We live in a culture. We have to live within that culture.”

Sunday, April 27, 2014

RACISM DOES NOT EXIST; IN THE LAND OF MAKE BELIEVE

One day, not long ago, 5 wizards who also happen to be old white males, millionaires and Republicans politically appointed to their life-time jobs waved their magic wands and declared that, racism in these Untied States no longer exists.

Voter protection? Not necessary anymore. Affirmative action? No need. At least not in the make believe world Mr. Roberts and the other 4 wizards live in.

On the otherhand, racism in the real world appears to be alive and well as demonstrated  by the following examples; that ironically happen to involve old white males that also happen to be millionaires and Republicans and Democrats alike.

Coincidence? Maybe, but doubtful.

Here's a few examples that involve people who claim they are NOT racist; and who also happen to be old white male Republican millionaires.

Let's start with the #1 politician in the Senate; McConnell:  who said; 

"The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."

One politicians reaction came close to, but fell short of, what was underlying this attitude;

“Ed Rendell, who has criticized the president (objecting, for example, to the Obama campaign's attack on private equity), also argues that Obama has been constrained by an unprecedented obduracy in his Republican opposition. ‘I can't ever recall a newly elected president being faced with the leader of the other party's caucus saying “Our No. 1 priority is to make this president a one-term president,”’ says Rendell, citing the remark made by Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, that exemplified the fierce partisanship that has attended Obama's tenure.

‘That McConnell would say that in the first nine months of Barack Obama's tenure is absolutely stunning, disgraceful, disgusting — you name the term.’”


I think the "term" he was looking for is "racist."

More recently another self professed "all American patriot" who also happens to be an old white male Republican millionaire who claims to NOT be a racist, had this to say about those he he refers to as "negro" Rancher says he's not racist as lawmakers decry remarks on blacks


“I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro,” he said. 

Mr. Bundy recalled driving past a public-housing project in North Las Vegas, “and in front of that government house the door was usually open and the older people and the kids — and there is always at least a half a dozen people sitting on the porch — they didn’t have nothing to do. They didn’t have nothing for their kids to do. They didn’t have nothing for their young girls to do.

“And because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do?” he asked. 

“They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.”

Just in case Mr. Roberts and his band of wizards missed this one another self proclaimed non-racist who also happens to be an old white male millionaire who's political affiliation is being debated was overheard expressing his non-racist views;

The tape begins in the middle of an argument between Sterling and his girlfriend, V. Stiviano. Sterling appears to be upset that Stiviano, who is black and Mexican, has been posting photos to Instagram of herself with black people -- in particular, with Magic Johnson.

"It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people," he is heard saying. "Do you have to?"

Stiviano says that all she did was take a picture with someone she admires. "I think the fact that you admire [Magic] -- I've known him well, and he should be admired," Sterling replies. "And I'm just saying that it's too bad you can't admire him privately. And during your ENTIRE FUCKING LIFE, your whole life, admire him -- bring him here, feed him, fuck him, I don't care. You can do anything. But don't put him on an Instagram for the world to see so they have to call me. And don't bring him to my games. OK?"


NBA Team Owner Tells Girlfriend Not To Bring Black People To Games

Suffice it to say that racism is alive and well in the real world. In fact, anyone who sincerely believes that racism does not exist in this country (or anywhere in the world for that matter) is either a fool, a racist in full blown denial, or living in the land of make believe.

I'll leave that up to you to decide.


Saturday, April 26, 2014

PROFILE OF A POLITICAL WHORE; Dean Heller Senator (R - NV)

Dean Heller Senator (R - NV)


“Instead of electing the best leaders, we elect the best fund raisers.”

Cycle Source of Funds, 2011-2014, Campaign Cmte only


legend
legend
Individual Contributions About Size of Contributions
 - Small Individual Contributions
 - Large Individual Contributions
$5,534,634
$635,730 (6%)
$4,898,900 (49%)
(56%)
legendPAC Contributions$2,576,503(26%)
legendCandidate self-financing$0(0%)
legendOther$1,810,876(18%)


Defining a political whore is to simply look where the money is coming from.
·       SMALL Individual contributions from constituents; you – the voter.
·       LARGE; usually untraceable, amounts of money coming from wealthy individuals or organizations that buy, package, and own the candidate.
The way our broken political system works, though, is that the chief place to raise money for campaigns is from industries and interest groups that want something from government. Influence is purchased all the time, whether in explicit quid pro quo trades or not, and such influence peddling just as bad for democracy as bribery.

AN ECONOMIC GRAND CANYON

Ronald Reagan would be so proud. The American people, who bought his idea of "trickle down" wealth are now reaping what it sowed. Complete annihilation of the middle class.



I must admit, he did deliver on his promise that, if Americans would just sit back and let the rich get richer; not burden them with taxes or regulations, they would one day reap the rewards that the rich would allow to trickle down to them.



The "trickle" as it turned out was not even a dribble. You could get more from an 80 year old guy with a melon sized prostate.



Pope Francis called it for what it is when he said;


“Some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world,” Francis wrote in the papal statement. 

“This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacra­lized workings of the prevailing economic system.”

“Meanwhile,” he added, “the excluded are still waiting.”



The wealthy are getting even wealthier – in part because they’re so wealthy to start with.

That’s the upshot of new research, which shows that the richest 1% of Americans derive huge profits from capital gains, stock dividends and other types of business- or investment-related gains.

In other words, rich people are making a lot of money on their money.

Anyone, of course, can benefit from stock-related gains. But the rich have benefited a lot more, in part because they have higher incomes that enable them to invest more.

The divergence is likely to exacerbate income inequality in coming years, according to the analysis by the Economic Policy Institute.

The analysis found that the share of “income from wealth” going to the top 1% surged to 54% in 2010 from 33.5% in 1979. It was based on data from the Congressional Budget Office.

In 1979, the bottom 90% had 36.2%, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The 9% in between (the top 2% to 10%) claimed 30.3%.

By 2010, the share derived by the bottom 90% had fallen to 22.9%, while the middle group slid to 23.0%.

STANDING YOUR GROUND IN A PARKING SPACE

When Parking Disputes Turn Violent



It might be a good idea to consider taking a bus the next time you want to visit a mall. Seems like many Americans are ready to put up a fight (or even kill) to lay claim to nothing more than a parking space.



This is another example how the the process of enculturating people works by promoting violence as the solution to conflicts; even as silly as acquiring a parking space.



Christopher Heben, a former United States Navy SEAL, never thought that a simple trip to the grocery store would end with a gunshot to his stomach.

Heben said he was walking into a Bath Township, Ohio, grocery store on April 1, when a man and his two companions almost backed their car into him while leaving a parking space. The driver began cursing at him.

“If I had been on my cell phone, not paying attention to what I was doing, I would’ve been underneath that car,” Heben, 44, told ABC News. “I push myself off the rear corner of the car … and this guy’s next to me with his window rolled down. So we exchange words. You know, a lot of expletives going back and forth.”

Watch the full story on "20/20," Friday, April 25 at 10 p.m. ET

Dismissing the confrontation, Heben said he continued into the store only to realize he forgot his wallet. When he returned to the parking lot, Heben said he saw the same man he had argued with sitting in his car waiting for him.

“[He’s] basically telling me that, you know, I've got a big mouth, I need to learn some respect,” Heben said.

The driver shot Heben through the closed car door, he said, hitting him in the left lower abdomen before speeding away with his two companions.

Friday, April 25, 2014

BUSH/CHENEY MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

The Bush/Cheney clowns promised a better world. Iraq had been saved from an evil dictator and was being transformed into a democracy ala USA.



Mission Accomplished! At least for the neo-cons and the crony politicians that have raked in billions of profits from this debacle. For these folks it's just about money regardless of the outcome.



Now, shoveling aside all the BS we come back to reality and the chaos in a country in complete meltdown.



28 killed in attack on Shi'ite political rally in Iraq


As people started to leave the stadium, the first bomb exploded. Grey smoke rose in the air and people ran or scrambled for cover. The a white mini-van raced to the stadium's main gate and detonated, unleashing a massive ball of fire.

Army and police shot in the air and a final explosion shook the ground. Asaib members commandeered cars to rush the injured to hospital. A wounded man limped away, stained in blood, while people hunted for missing friends or relatives.

PREGNANT HORSE PISS FOR DRY VAGINAS

I am inundated with commercials on network news shows; the worse of which are for drugs that are used by middle-aged men and women in a desperate attempt to fool Mother Nature.



For example, middle aged women lubricate their vaginas using drugs manufactured partly from the urine of pregnant horses which are tortured in the process. This is disgusting to say the least and without a doubt immoral.



Are horses that indispensable? These beautiful and noble animals deserve much better from supposedly "civilized" society. Having to sacrifice them in order to artificially lubricate vaginas of women who want to fool Mother Nature is nothing more than folly by immature people and has no relationship to health related issues.


Last Chance for Animals - Horses - Premarin


Harvested for their urine, the horses suffer terribly for the production of this drug. They are kept continually pregnant in stalls too small for them to even turn around in order for their urine to be collected by filthy, bulky tubing attached to their bodies. When they can no longer reproduce quickly they are sent to the slaughterhouse. Their meat is then sold for human consumption or dog food.

Pfizer reported over $1 billion in worldwide sales of the Premarin family of drugs in 2010.

PROFILE OF A POLITICAL WHORE;Jack Kingston Representative (R - GA)

Jack Kingston Representative (R - GA)


“Instead of electing the best leaders, we elect the best fund raisers.”

Cycle Source of Funds, 2013-2014, Campaign Cmte only


legend
legend
Individual Contributions About Size of Contributions
 - Small Individual Contributions
 - Large Individual Contributions
$2,107,930
$145,572 (3%)
$1,962,357 (46%)
(50%)
legendPAC Contributions$221,486(5%)
legendCandidate self-financing$0(0%)
legendOther$1,911,571(45%)

Defining a political whore is to simply look where the money is coming from.
·       SMALL Individual contributions from constituents; you – the voter.
·       LARGE; usually untraceable, amounts of money coming from wealthy individuals or organizations that buy, package, and own the candidate.

The way our broken political system works, though, is that the chief place to raise money for campaigns is from industries and interest groups that want something from government. Influence is purchased all the time, whether in explicit quid pro quo trades or not, and such influence peddling just as bad for democracy as bribery.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

CLIVEN BUNDY REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT

Conservative Hero Cliven Bundy Spins Out of Control, Claims Blacks Would Be Better Off as Slaves



Here's the opportunity of a lifetime. A gun nut, racist, anti-government, white guy all wrapped up in one pot bellied bundle of hate.



Bundy is a multimillionaire cattle rancher in southeastern Nevada. He's been in a 20-plus year dispute with the Bureau of Land Management over unpaid grazing fees. In recent weeks, it developed into an armed confrontation between protesters and law enforcement after the BLM began rounding up Bundy's cattle that were trespassing on the land. While doing so, BLM agents were confronted by protesters and armed supporters of Bundy.


Top right-wing pundit and politicians have hailed Bundy as a folk hero and patriot. His cheering section includes talk-radio host Sean Hannity, Senators and presidential hopefuls Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, Nevada Senator Dean Heller, and Texas gubernatorial candidate and Attorney General Greg Abbot. The National Review Online, Fox & Friends, and American Thinker have also supported Bundy and blamed the federal government for mounting tensions

When it comes to issues like welfare Bundy echoes the beliefs of most Republicans;

 Conservative icon Cliven Bundy told the New York Times that African Americans would probably be better off if they were still slaves.

“I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro,” he said. Mr. Bundy recalled driving past a public-housing project in North Las Vegas, “and in front of that government house the door was usually open and the older people and the kids — and there is always at least a half a dozen people sitting on the porch — they didn’t have nothing to do. They didn’t have nothing for their kids to do. They didn’t have nothing for their young girls to do.

“And because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do?” he asked. “They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.”

Bundy, of course doesn't consider his stiffing the government on fees as a form of self-imposed welfare and not at all patriotic. But then, that's why he's just what the Republican party needs on the ticket for 2016. 


WANT A GUN? JOIN THE MILITIA.

NOW! THERE'S AN IDEA!



Should we amend the US Constitution? Justice Stevens thinks so, incl. 2nd Amendment (new book)



Justice Stevens served on the US Supreme Court for 35 years -- the second-longest of any Justice in US history. He knows a thing or two about the US Constitution and American jurisprudence. As with Justice Warren Burger, Stevens disagrees with those who (like Scalia) think the Second Amendment guarantees an individual's right to firearms for self-defense, and who argue that this trumps all other rights and goals.

Stevens believes the Second Amendment refers to the threat a national standing army posed to state sovereignty, and not to e.g. hunters' foraging or homeowners' anxiety about intruders. But post-Heller, in order to make this abundantly clear in the face of Scalia's misinterpretation,Stevens proposes that the Second Amendment should be modified by adding five words, as follows:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms when serving in the militia shall not be infringed.

PROFILE OF A POLITICIAN; Bernie Sanders Senator (I - VT)

Bernie Sanders Senator (I - VT)


If you follow the money you will discover where loyalties lie.  This is an example of a politician who garners support from constituents, not outside special interest groups and with a significant amount coming from small individual contributions.

Cycle Source of Funds, 2009-2014, Campaign Cmte only


legend
legend
Individual Contributions About Size of Contributions
 - Small Individual Contributions
 - Large Individual Contributions
$6,672,596
$4,185,398 (58%)
$2,487,193 (34%)
(92%)
legendPAC Contributions$485,571(7%)
legendCandidate self-financing$0(0%)
legendOther$57,456(1%)


More of a politician than a political whore. 


"Das Kapital" #1 on Amazon's best seller list!

By now you are probably familiar with the "sucking sound" heard around the country since the crash of 2008. The sound you hear is the 1% sucking on the dried up teets of the American middle class and driving it into near extinction. 

It started in the 80's when an ex light bulb sales pitchman, turned B-movie actor, was elected President;
 Ronald Reagan, the 40th U.S. President (1981–1989), called for widespread tax cuts, decreased social spending, increased military spending, and the deregulation of domestic markets.  


Reaganomics was partially based on the principles of supply-side economics and the trickle-down theory. These theories hold the view that decreases in taxes, especially for corporations, is the best way to stimulate economic growth: the idea is that if the expenses of corporations are reduced, the savings will "trickle down" to the rest of the economy, spurring growth. (Prior to becoming Reagan's Vice President, George H. Bush coined the term "voodoo economics" as a proposed synonym for Reaganomics.)

The 1% along with the political whores that service them in Congress are beginning to get called out by some powerful and influential

 The Pope showed a willingness to use tough language in attacking what he views as the excesses of capitalism. Using a phrase with special resonance in the United States, he strongly criticized an economic theory — often affiliated with conservatives — that discourages taxation and regulation.

“Some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world,” 

Francis wrote in the papal statement. “This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacra­lized workings of the prevailing economic system.”

“Meanwhile,” he added, “the excluded are still waiting.”

The Pope put it bluntly to Americans in stating that buying into trickle down economics is a; crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power, and in doing so, have willingly allowed themselves to be exploited and driven by a belief that the "American Dream" was actually real. Simply put the message to the American middle class was; "you've been screwed".

Now comes a Frenchman with a 700 page book laying out how Americans bought the "big con' hook, line, and sinker. The 1% are so afraid of this guy that they constantly bark that it's a 2nd edition Marx's "Das Kapital".

French economist Thomas Picketty's book "Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century" which has topped Amazon's best-seller list examines decades of historical data from 20 countries to compare income inequality over time and concluded that;

The U.S. economy has seen the wealth of the 1% grow to dizzying new heights. Wealth isn't trickling down as some argue, Piketty said. Moreover, he warns that rising inequality will undermine democracy and generate discontent. 

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

CHEERLEADERS NOT SO CHEERFUL

NFL Cheerleaders Forced To Wear Bikinis, Take 'Jiggle Test'



Five former Buffalo Bills cheerleaders on Tuesday sued the team over a pay system they say had them working hundreds of hours for free at games and at mandatory public appearances at which they were subjected to groping and sexual comments, and one said they had to take a jiggle test so their boss could see how firm their bodies were.

The state Supreme Court lawsuit is the third filed this year against a National Football League team by cheerleaders. The Oakland Raiders and Cincinnati Bengals also have pending wage battles.

The case against the Bills says its cheerleaders, the Buffalo Jills, are wrongly classified as independent contractors and are subjected to policies that violate the state's $8 per hour minimum wage law and other workplace rules. Two members of the Jills squad held a news conference Tuesday with their attorney, Frank Dolce.

"We are Bills fans," Dolce said. "We definitely want our organization and other organizations in the NFL to respect the rights of these cheerleaders."

The Bills' cheerleaders aren't paid for games or practices and have to make 20-35 appearances, most of which are unpaid, at community and charity events each season, the lawsuit said. On top of that, they have to pay $650 for their uniforms and are not reimbursed for travel or other expenses, the cheerleaders said.

The time and expense, as well as rules governing their personal lives, far exceeded what they signed on for, the women said.

A PRELUDE TO DISASTER

Ga. governor signs 'guns everywhere' into law



Leave it to one of the most "backwards" states in the country to create an environment that will place everyone of it's citizens in danger; be it in church, the library, or the local super market.



Georgia crime statistics indicate a total upward trend in crime based on data from 11 years when violent crime was increasing and property crime was increasing.

Based on this report, the crime rate in Georgia for 2014 is expected to be higher than in 2010 when the state violent crime rate was higher than the national violent crime rate average by 25.04% and the state property crime rate was higher than the national property crime rate average by 44.34%.



People will be able to carry firearms in government buildings that don't have metal detectors, such as city halls, libraries, recreational centers, city office buildings and fire stations. The Georgia Municipal Association, which represents the state's 538 cities, asked Deal to veto it. "Local elected officials are responsible for securing and maintaining public safety, and insurance coverage, in buildings owned and operated by the city. Therefore, they should have the authority to make a decision about whether to allow weapons in such buildings," GMA said in a letter to Deal.

The new law removes a restriction that prevented those convicted of certain misdemeanors from getting a gun permit. And in a provision that has some law enforcement officials concerned, police will not be able to detain a person "for the sole purpose of investigating whether such a person has a weapons carry license."

As Deal signed the bill in Ellijay, a community of 1,600 about 65 miles north of Atlanta, the Georgia Gun Sense Coalition had an event in downtown Atlanta that included a moment of silence for all gun victims. In 2011, the most recent available, gunfire killed 1,175 people in Georgia, including 443 who were murdered, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

PROFILE OF A POLITICAL WHORE; Erik Paulsen Representative (R - MN

Erik Paulsen Representative (R - MN


“Instead of electing the best leaders, we elect the best fund raisers"

Cycle Source of Funds, 2013-2014, Campaign Cmte only


legend
legend
Individual Contributions About Size of Contributions
 - Small Individual Contributions
 - Large Individual Contributions
$1,147,501
$109,955 (6%)
$1,037,545 (53%)
(58%)
legendPAC Contributions$820,059(42%)
legendCandidate self-financing$0(0%)
legendOther$7,655(0%)

Defining a political whore is to simply look where the money is coming from.
·       SMALL Individual contributions from constituents; you – the voter.
·       LARGE; usually untraceable, amounts of money coming from wealthy individuals or organizations that buy, package, and own the candidate.
The way our broken political system works, though, is that the chief place to raise money for campaigns is from industries and interest groups that want something from government. Influence is purchased all the time, whether in explicit quid pro quo trades or not, and such influence peddling just as bad for democracy as bribery.

PROFILE OF A POLITICAL WHORE;Jack Kingston Representative (R - GA)

Jack Kingston Representative (R - GA)


“Instead of electing the best leaders, we elect the best fund raisers.”

Cycle Source of Funds, 2013-2014, Campaign Cmte only


legend
legend
Individual Contributions About Size of Contributions
 - Small Individual Contributions
 - Large Individual Contributions
$2,107,930
$145,572 (3%)
$1,962,357 (46%)
(50%)
legendPAC Contributions$221,486(5%)
legendCandidate self-financing$0(0%)
legendOther$1,911,571(45%)


Defining a political whore is to simply look where the money is coming from.
·       SMALL Individual contributions from constituents; you – the voter.
·       LARGE; usually untraceable, amounts of money coming from wealthy individuals or organizations that buy, package, and own the candidate.
The way our broken political system works, though, is that the chief place to raise money for campaigns is from industries and interest groups that want something from government. Influence is purchased all the time, whether in explicit quid pro quo trades or not, and such influence peddling just as bad for democracy as bribery.

US UN-EXCEPTIONALISM

It's time the US/EU realize that there are other nations that don't adhere to the Reagan or Bush doctrines and, if antagonized enough, will apply reciprocal force to resolve conflict.



Russia is not Iraq and not impressed with the "shock and awe" theatrics the US applied in that failed campaign.



If there is to be a world order it must include the world; not just the super power(s).





U.S. must acknowledge Russia’s strategic interest and cooperate | Al Jazeera America



As violence in Ukraine continues to escalate, experts say that the United States and other Western powers have failed to consider Russia’s foreign policy interests in the region for decades and continue to treat the rising power as a Cold War adversary.

WALMART PROFITS FROM CHILD LABOR

Wal-Mart, Wrangler, ASICS caught using child labor in Bangladesh fire trap Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights




A CBS News crew went undercover at the Monde Apparels factory outside of Dhaka, where 1,400 workers-mostly young women, including dozens of 12-year-olds-were sewing one million boxer shorts for Wal-Mart,

The CBS crew filmed emergency fire exits blocked by cartons of garments stacked to the ceiling.
Thirteen of 15 fire extinguishers were missing.

The highest wage earned by senior sewing operators was just 24 cents an hour. Workers did not receive pay slips, and were routinely cheated of their legal wages.

Workers sewing garments for Wal-Mart, Wrangler and ASICS are paid so little they are forced to live in miserable, crowded slums, with entire families living in one tiny room made of thatch and scraps of sheet metal.

Workers are routinely threatened and coached to lie to naive corporate monitors visiting the Monde Apparels factory.



Monday, April 21, 2014

PROFILE OF A POLITICAL WHORE; Saxby Chambliss Senator (R - GA)

Saxby Chambliss Senator (R - GA)


“Instead of electing the best leaders, we elect the best fund raisers.”

Cycle Source of Funds, 2009-2014, Campaign Cmte only


legend
legend
Individual Contributions About Size of Contributions
 - Small Individual Contributions
 - Large Individual Contributions
$1,468,093
$185,727 (8%)
$1,282,366 (52%)
(60%)
legendPAC Contributions$790,573(32%)
legendCandidate self-financing$0(0%)
legendOther$198,691(8%)

Defining a political whore is to simply look where the money is coming from.
·       SMALL Individual contributions from constituents; you – the voter.
·       LARGE; usually untraceable, amounts of money coming from wealthy individuals or organizations that buy, package, and own the candidate.
The way our broken political system works, though, is that the chief place to raise money for campaigns is from industries and interest groups that want something from government. Influence is purchased all the time, whether in explicit quid pro quo trades or not, and such influence peddling just as bad for democracy as bribery.

EZ DIRTY MONEY

The following piece is a great guide in understanding how the 1% play the system and get richer doing it.



The Meritocracy Myth: How the Super-Rich Really Make Their Money

SYSTEM RIGGED BY THE 1%

Sen. Warren's candid attitude fuels her rise


Elizabeth Warren says when asked if some bankers should have gone to jail in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008. "You always want to be careful about this as a lawyer," she begins in an interview with USA TODAY, sounding every bit a senator. Then she stops herself. "Actually, no, let me start that one over. Yes!"


She mixes decades of study into what drives people to financial ruin — more likely to be a lost job or failed marriage than profligate spending, she concluded — with outrage over a system she argues is rigged against ordinary folks in favor of plutocrats.


When she led the congressional oversight board for the bank bailout, then-White House adviser Larry Summers invited her to dinner at the tony Bombay Club to explain what she calls the one unbreakable rule for the town's insiders — that is, insiders don't publicly criticize other insiders if they want to keep their influence. She declined to take his advice. Last year, she was among those who helped engineer the appointment of Janet Yellen instead of Summers to lead the Federal Reserve Board.


Warren's willingness to confront the powerful and question the system has fueled her rise as a sought-after speaker and fundraising phenom for Democrats There is her send-them-to-jail response about bankers, for instance.


"I was thinking, you never want to comment about an ongoing investigation; (then) I thought, shoot, there aren't any," she says, explaining her initial hesitancy. "Look, let me put it this way: It is not possible for a corporation to break the law without someone inside the corporation breaking the law. If we want real deterrence in the system, it has to be that individuals are held accountable whenever they break the law."

PROFILE OF A POLITICIAN; Elizabeth Warren Senator (D - MA)

Elizabeth Warren Senator (D - MA)


If you follow the money you will discover where loyalties lie.  This is an example of a politician who garners support from constituents, not outside special interests, and with a significant amount coming from small individual contributions.

More of a politician than a political whore. 

Cycle Source of Funds, 2011-2014, Campaign Cmte only


legend
legend
Individual Contributions About Size of Contributions
 - Small Individual Contributions
 - Large Individual Contributions
$43,074,307
$20,397,757 (46%)
$22,676,543 (51%)
(97%)
legendPAC Contributions$712,408(2%)
legendCandidate self-financing$0(0%)
legendOther$437,871(1%)

US #1 IN HEALTHCARE - COST

Healthcare costs in U.S. far exceed costs in other countries, report says


An average one-day hospital stay in the United States cost $4,293 last year, six times more than it did in Argentina and nearly 10 times the cost in Spain, an industry group reported Thursday.

Medical procedures, tests, scans and prescription medicine cost far more in the United States than in eight other countries, the International Federation of Health Plans said Thursday in its annual report.

“The price variations bear no relation to health outcomes; they merely demonstrate the relative ability of providers to profiteer at the expense of patients, and in some cases reflect a damaging degree of market failure,” said Tom Sackville, the group’s chief executive.
 Six Charts That Illustrate Just How Much Higher Health Care Costs Are For Americans

CORPORATE LEECHES

The "bullshit" is piled so high it's amazing these people don't drown in it. They are the very same people that whine about raising the minimum wage for a "working" American to $10.00 an hour while they dish out salaries on others just because..............................??????????????



Here's a few examples of the absurd compensation awarded individuals who are not much different than you or I but happen to have CEO after their name.


At the top of the charts we find

Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison, who pulled down $78.4 million; ($25,000.00 an hour)

Bob Iger at Disney, who made $34.3 million; ($11,025.00 an hour)

and Rupert Murdoch at Fox, who received $26.1 million. ($8,365.00 an hour)


Time to rein in grossly overpaid CEOs | Al Jazeera America


Corporate America’s well-oiled compensation machine is running like a dream.

Browse the proxy statements of the nation’s largest corporations and you’ll find the instruction manuals for this apparatus explaining how to finely calibrate the pay of top executives with company performance.

The Coca-Cola board, for example, lays out the formula that set the 2013 cash bonus for Muhtar Kent, its chief executive (base salary x base salary factor x business performance factor). It explains how a failure to achieve certain goals helped limit the bonus to $2 million, but also describes how Mr. Kent got millions more in stock and options. It notes that under his leadership, Coke had “continued to gain value share globally in nonalcoholic ready-to-drink beverages,” and tells shareholders why the board might require him to fly on the company jet (“to allow travel time to be used productively for the Company”). What was all that worth? A tidy $18 million.

At this point, most people have become used to hearing about these bloated pay packages at the top. We’re also used to hearing the rationale from these folks and their boosters about how they are paid what they are worth.


To the contrary, they are grossly overpaid. First, many CEOs were running large successful companies in the 1960s and 1970s for pay that in today’s dollars averaged about one-tenth as much as the current crop of CEOs get. We can also look to Europe, Japan and China and find plenty of successful CEOs of large companies who work for a small fraction of the price of American executives. And there are plenty of CEOs who get these outlandish pay packages even when they drive their companies into the ground.

The relevant question is not how much a CEO contributes to the company. That is not how economics works. After all, how much does the firefighter contribute who rescues three kids from a burning house? We don’t pay our hero firefighters multimillion dollar salaries. We pay firefighters on the basis of how much it costs to hire another firefighter who can also do the job.

The question is how much does the CEO contribute compared with the next person in line for the job? Given the experience of large corporations in other countries, there is every reason to believe that there are lots of next people who could do the job as well or better and for much less. (Anyone who believes that CEO pay actually reflects the CEO’s value to the company should read Lucien Bebchuk’s outstanding book, Pay Without Performance.)

The problem here is grounded in the corruption of the corporate governance structure. In principle, CEOs should be treated like any other employee. Companies should ask if they can get away with paying them less or getting a lower-cost CEO of the same caliber in Germany or China.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

PROFILE OF A POLITICAL WHORE; THE LESSER OF 2 EVILS

“Instead of electing the best leaders, we elect the best fund raisers.”


Neither of these guys get much from small individual donors so it's more a matter of who you want to sell out your vote to.


Scott Peters Representative (D - CA)

Raised: $1,847,775
Spent: $386,824
Cash on Hand: $1,489,652
Last Report:March 31, 2014

legend
legend
Individual contributions
     - Small Contributions
     - Large Contributions

      $127,135
      $932,861

      (7%)
      (50%)
legendPAC contributions$661,251(36%)
legendCandidate self-financing$46,003(2%)
legendOther$80,526(4%)


OR



Raised: $1,608,926
Spent: $354,475
Cash on Hand: $1,254,452
Last Report:March 31, 2014

legend
legend
Individual contributions
     - Small Contributions
     - Large Contributions

      $118,136
      $1,231,694

      (7%)
      (77%)
legendPAC contributions$138,824(9%)
legendCandidate self-financing$4,000(0%)
legendOther$116,272(7%)

Defining a political whore is to simply look where the money is coming from.
·       SMALL Individual contributions from constituents; you – the voter.
·       LARGE; usually untraceable, amounts of money coming from wealthy individuals or organizations that buy, package, and own the candidate.

The way our broken political system works, though, is that the chief place to raise money for campaigns is from industries and interest groups that want something from government. Influence is purchased all the time, whether in explicit quid pro quo trades or not, and such influence peddling just as bad for democracy as bribery.