A bimbo and her flame for the day take pics with their knickers down and then later she gives the phone to a store clerk with the promise that the data will be deleted. Now it turns out some naughty clerk decided to post a few of the pics online before hitting the delete button and our amateur wanna-be porn stars are overnight celebs.
Rather than being grateful for all the free publicity, the bimbo and flame sue and blame everyone but themselves for what appears to be a dumb move on their part. Here's the dumb part;
She did not delete the data herself because she wanted the Sprint employee to transfer her phone numbers to her new device, the suit says.
UH? You want to save phone numbers by leaving 5,000 pics on your smartphone; including the "boff" shots? Were the phone numbers embedded in the photo gallery? 5,000 pics on a cell phone? Seriously?
Blaming (and suing) someone because of your own stupidity is pushing the envelope when it comes to personal responsibility, isn't it? Sort of like suing the toilet paper manufacturer because you ended up staining your panties.
Same goes for leaving pics of you and lover boy posing on a device you "give" to someone to recycle.
According to the complaint, Johnson went to a Sprint branch on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles last April to exchange a cell phone with microphone problems for a newer model. Her old phone had more than 5,000 photos on it, including “intimate and private nude photos” of herself and Green that she had forgotten about, the suit states.
Johnson was promised by Sprint officials that the phone she was turning in would be wiped clean of all information before being sent to a factory for refurbishing last May, according to the lawsuit. She did not delete the data herself because she wanted the Sprint employee to transfer her phone numbers to her new device, the suit says.
Sprint Corp. Sued Today
Friday, February 28, 2014
Thursday, February 27, 2014
THE 1% LOVE THE BANK OF LYING, CHEATING AND STEALING
Even though aiding and abetting someone in doing something illegal is a crime it is conveniently neatly covered up by establishing laws that make disclosing these crimes illegal.
OMG! WE HAVE THE "PERFECT CRIME" WHICH MEMBERS OF THE 1% BY THE DROVES HAVE BEEN WANTONLY COMMITTING FOR YEARS WITH THE LEAST BIT OF CONCERN OF BEING PUNISHED, LET ALONE CAUGHT.
26 U.S. Code § 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax
Any person who willfully attempts in any manner to evade or defeat any tax imposed by this title or the payment thereof shall, in addition to other penalties provided by law, be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $100,000 ($500,000 in the case of a corporation), or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.
From 2006, when scrutiny of Swiss private banks first began, through 2011, the number of American taxpayers disclosing offshore accounts more than doubled, to 618,134, according to data from FinCen, the U.S. Treasury branch that deals with money laundering.
Credit Suisse bankers wooed wealthy American clients at bank-sponsored events such as an annual Swiss Ball in New York or golf tournaments in Florida and Nassau, Bahamas, according to the report. Almost 10,000 U.S. clients visited a branch office at Zurich airport given the code name “SIOA5.”
Dougan told the committee that “the airport office was needed because many U.S. clients traveled to Switzerland to go skiing” and didn’t want to go into Zurich.
One client with a $2.6 million account recounted his annual meeting with a Credit Suisse banker. When he arrived at the bank, the client took an elevator with no buttons that was controlled remotely. He met the banker in a nondescript, white meeting room. After each meeting, the client signed an order to destroy account statements they reviewed and declined offers to withdraw cash, according to the report.
OMG! WE HAVE THE "PERFECT CRIME" WHICH MEMBERS OF THE 1% BY THE DROVES HAVE BEEN WANTONLY COMMITTING FOR YEARS WITH THE LEAST BIT OF CONCERN OF BEING PUNISHED, LET ALONE CAUGHT.
The crime? Tax evasion!
26 U.S. Code § 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax
Any person who willfully attempts in any manner to evade or defeat any tax imposed by this title or the payment thereof shall, in addition to other penalties provided by law, be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $100,000 ($500,000 in the case of a corporation), or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.
The perps? Hundreds of Thousands of wealthy Americans.
From 2006, when scrutiny of Swiss private banks first began, through 2011, the number of American taxpayers disclosing offshore accounts more than doubled, to 618,134, according to data from FinCen, the U.S. Treasury branch that deals with money laundering.
Still, government officials and tax lawyers say that with perhaps six million Americans living and working overseas somewhere in the world, hundreds of thousands of taxpayers, if not more, have yet to come clean.The deal is already leaving telephones of tax lawyers ringing off the hooks from Americans with Swiss accounts.
"Any non-compliant U.S. taxpayer who can't read the handwriting now on the wall as an emergency signal to come forward," said Katzberg, "is legally blind."
"Any non-compliant U.S. taxpayer who can't read the handwriting now on the wall as an emergency signal to come forward," said Katzberg, "is legally blind."
The aiders and abetters? The banks!
Credit Suisse bankers wooed wealthy American clients at bank-sponsored events such as an annual Swiss Ball in New York or golf tournaments in Florida and Nassau, Bahamas, according to the report. Almost 10,000 U.S. clients visited a branch office at Zurich airport given the code name “SIOA5.”
Dougan told the committee that “the airport office was needed because many U.S. clients traveled to Switzerland to go skiing” and didn’t want to go into Zurich.
One client with a $2.6 million account recounted his annual meeting with a Credit Suisse banker. When he arrived at the bank, the client took an elevator with no buttons that was controlled remotely. He met the banker in a nondescript, white meeting room. After each meeting, the client signed an order to destroy account statements they reviewed and declined offers to withdraw cash, according to the report.
What is amazing is that this has been going on in plain sight for years and no one seemed the least bit interested or concerned about it. Even now that it is finally being brought to light there seems to be very little interest in putting a stop to it and absolutely no indication that anyone will be charged or prosecuted for these crimes.
A few slaps on the wrists. A publicized scolding by a few news hungry politicians. Some apologies and claims of ignorance (wink-nod, wink-nod) and let's move on now folks. Nothing here.
That's the way 1% justice works in this country. Thousands of people, stealing billions of dollars from the American public.Worse case scenario; they will be offered amnesty if they come forward, pay a small fine, and promise to not do it again. Tough justice indeed!
Blow hard politicians like to proclaim we are a "country of laws" which is what makes us great while in the very next breath literally flush all of rhetoric down the toilet and continue to pander to the rich and famous by blindly condoning crimes that damage the country and it's citizens.
A nation is only a nation of laws if it enforces those laws. Lip service and flag waving falls far short of that goal.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
MS NRA 2014
Meet the NRA pin up for 2014!
This person is definitely NRA material. Took out half of her town (which were mostly family members) starting with an "all american" gun and, after running out of ammo, finished off a few more with a knife.
She's all about the 2nd Amendment and literally enforcing it without giving it a second thought. As for the 1st? Not so much since a single digit IQ limits her ability to say much ans mainly sticks to basic "jail house" jargon.
We're told she voted for Sarah Palin in the last presidential election.
Her favorite TV shows? Honey BooBoo and Duck Dynasty both of which she can relate to big time.
After conducting polls in Florida and Texas she won the "person of the year" nomination hands down.
Americans will be flocking to their flat screens for the next few weeks if only to get a glimpse of yet another candidate for the American Hall of Wackos!
Also rumors a new reality TV show may be in the works.
Monday, February 24, 2014
1ST CLASS JUSTICE FOR THE 1%
When it comes to the justice system and accountability there is a wide gap on how it's doled out when it comes to the 1% and the test of us.
A few weeks ago we saw a rich teenager get off with a year in a rehab resort after plowing his vehicle into 4 people; killing all 4 and leaving 2 of the passengers in his vehicle seriously injured.
The judge determined that the kid was just too rich to be held accountable for his actions because he suffered from a severe case of "affluenza."
Now comes the DUI trial of a member of the renowned (and rich) Kennedy clan. There's a cadre of well paid attorneys who will flood the courtroom with nauseating rationals as to why this person should not be held accountable for her actions.
The trial opened with what is to be expected to go on ad-nausea even though the judge may try to quell the vitriol as he did today;
"This case is about a mistake, plain and simple," defense attorney Gerald Lefcourt said in his opening statement at Westchester County Court.
"She certainly didn't know at any time while driving that she had accidentally taken the Zolpidem, because the evidence will show that this person, Kerry Kennedy, would in a heartbeat, if she thought anything was wrong, pull over."
But when Lefcourt began describing Kennedy to the jury as a devoted mother of three daughters, a human rights heroine and a deeply religious woman devoted to doing charity work, Supreme Court Judge Robert Neary interrupted the halo burnishing and told him to get to the point.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/kerry-kennedy-attends-dui-trial-article-1.1699777#ixzz2uIY3ubeZ
Granted there is nothing novel about this defense but, when it comes to the outcome the difference comes down to one thing; money. If you take the same case for anyone in a lower economic class, circumstances regarding "accountability" would not be an issue. Commit the crime - do the time. Don't agree? Take a look at the prison population (highest in the world by the way) and then let's debate the issue.
The hypocrisy is spread evenly among corporations, Congress, and free-market apologists, all of whom insult and imperil average Americans with their double standards. Here's the list;
A few weeks ago we saw a rich teenager get off with a year in a rehab resort after plowing his vehicle into 4 people; killing all 4 and leaving 2 of the passengers in his vehicle seriously injured.
The judge determined that the kid was just too rich to be held accountable for his actions because he suffered from a severe case of "affluenza."
Now comes the DUI trial of a member of the renowned (and rich) Kennedy clan. There's a cadre of well paid attorneys who will flood the courtroom with nauseating rationals as to why this person should not be held accountable for her actions.
The trial opened with what is to be expected to go on ad-nausea even though the judge may try to quell the vitriol as he did today;
"This case is about a mistake, plain and simple," defense attorney Gerald Lefcourt said in his opening statement at Westchester County Court.
"She certainly didn't know at any time while driving that she had accidentally taken the Zolpidem, because the evidence will show that this person, Kerry Kennedy, would in a heartbeat, if she thought anything was wrong, pull over."
But when Lefcourt began describing Kennedy to the jury as a devoted mother of three daughters, a human rights heroine and a deeply religious woman devoted to doing charity work, Supreme Court Judge Robert Neary interrupted the halo burnishing and told him to get to the point.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/kerry-kennedy-attends-dui-trial-article-1.1699777#ixzz2uIY3ubeZ
Granted there is nothing novel about this defense but, when it comes to the outcome the difference comes down to one thing; money. If you take the same case for anyone in a lower economic class, circumstances regarding "accountability" would not be an issue. Commit the crime - do the time. Don't agree? Take a look at the prison population (highest in the world by the way) and then let's debate the issue.
Simply put this society is layered in "hypocrisy" and the people at the top of the economic pile are the worse offenders.
Pope Francis recently fired the first volley across the bow of this fortress the 1% have built around their wealth; Pope Francis: Be True Witnesses, Not ‘Pure Legalists
Pope Francis reflected on different models of Christian witness, warning the faithful to guard against hypocrisy when they evangelize and encouraging them to imitate Jesus.
“Let us ask the Lord that these two readings help us in our lives as Christians,” said the Pope in reference to the day’s Scripture passages, encouraging the faithful to learn “not to be pure legalists, hypocrites, like the scribes and Pharisees … but to be like Jesus, with that zeal to seek people.”
“Let us ask the Lord that these two readings help us in our lives as Christians,” said the Pope in reference to the day’s Scripture passages, encouraging the faithful to learn “not to be pure legalists, hypocrites, like the scribes and Pharisees … but to be like Jesus, with that zeal to seek people.”
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/pope-francis-be-true-witnesses-not-pure-legalists/#ixzz2uIdwL5Vi
What Francis is saying is that it's time for those who profess to be movers and shakers and the best of the best (including the church) to become accountable and in essence "walk the talk".
What Francis is saying is that it's time for those who profess to be movers and shakers and the best of the best (including the church) to become accountable and in essence "walk the talk".
When it comes to the 1% there's a Bucket List already in place;
PEOPLE THAT BELIEVE IN SUB-HUMAN MONGERELS
ARE INBRED REDNECKED RETARDS WITH SINGLE DIGIT IQ's THAT WERE A RESULT OF A BOTCHED ABORTION!
Oh! Sorry! I didn't mean to offend anyone; I was just referring to a sub-human named Ted N?
Sunday, February 23, 2014
CULLING THE HERD OF THE HOLY 1%
Just like those "special" people who preach "prosperity gospel" (God says buy me a Rolex cause I'm special) the Catholic church also has it's hare of the "holy" 1%.
Now that Francis has stepped ointo Peter's shoes he has made it clear that the Catholic church doesn't take to kindly towards those who their noses at Jesus's teachings.
Francis is committed to "walking the talk" and going back to basics; no more Prada's and palaces for those who truly want to follow Jesus. This obviously doesn't play too well among the more "affluent" nations like the USA where some of the more outspoken (and obviously arrogant and narcissistic) folks like to throw money at the Church in return for redemption rather than do the "work" God assigned to them.
Francis; with God's blessing, is beginning to weed out these pesky "special" people and literally saying it's either Jesus's way or the highway.
Here's an example of what Francis has to contend with; the rational used by this Prince of the Church is breathtaking. The idea that a religious organization who's mission has been clearly set out in the Bible (Jesus) would have the role models basking in palaces like pigs in puddles is not what Jesus had in mind does not even occur to them.
In response to considerable criticism of Myers, spokesman Jim Goodness, said the addition will have “no impact” on archdiocese finances, explaining that the cost will be covered by the sale of other church-owned properties.
Instead of building schools and shelters for the poor let's sell off church assets and build a palace for the CEO! This isn't a case of a few sheep losing their way. This is the Sheppard who obviously lives in a bubble where only the 1% exist where schools and shelters don't even exist and swimming pools and home elevators take priority.
Pope Francis has galvanized many people inside and outside the Catholic church with critiques of the destructive excesses of capitalism, and his own decision to forgo living in the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican in favor of more modest accommodations with other members of the clergy.
Such efforts, even if largely symbolic in their impact, have not been embraced by others in the Catholic hierarchy.
Two years after closing a school citing a lack of funds, an archdiocese in New Jersey is building a lavish addition to a retirement home for its archbishop.
As the New Jersey Star-Ledger reports, Newark Archbishop John J. Myers’ current “weekend residence” is a 4,500-square foot luxury home with five bedrooms, three full bathrooms, a three-car garage and a large outdoor pool.
But Myers has commissioned a 3,000-square foot expansion in anticipation of his retirement in two years. The addition will include an indoor exercise pool, a hot tub, three fireplaces, a library and an elevator.
Now that Francis has stepped ointo Peter's shoes he has made it clear that the Catholic church doesn't take to kindly towards those who their noses at Jesus's teachings.
Francis is committed to "walking the talk" and going back to basics; no more Prada's and palaces for those who truly want to follow Jesus. This obviously doesn't play too well among the more "affluent" nations like the USA where some of the more outspoken (and obviously arrogant and narcissistic) folks like to throw money at the Church in return for redemption rather than do the "work" God assigned to them.
Francis; with God's blessing, is beginning to weed out these pesky "special" people and literally saying it's either Jesus's way or the highway.
Here's an example of what Francis has to contend with; the rational used by this Prince of the Church is breathtaking. The idea that a religious organization who's mission has been clearly set out in the Bible (Jesus) would have the role models basking in palaces like pigs in puddles is not what Jesus had in mind does not even occur to them.
In response to considerable criticism of Myers, spokesman Jim Goodness, said the addition will have “no impact” on archdiocese finances, explaining that the cost will be covered by the sale of other church-owned properties.
Instead of building schools and shelters for the poor let's sell off church assets and build a palace for the CEO! This isn't a case of a few sheep losing their way. This is the Sheppard who obviously lives in a bubble where only the 1% exist where schools and shelters don't even exist and swimming pools and home elevators take priority.
Catholic archdiocese closes school citing lack of funds, then builds lavish vacation home for bishop
Such efforts, even if largely symbolic in their impact, have not been embraced by others in the Catholic hierarchy.
Two years after closing a school citing a lack of funds, an archdiocese in New Jersey is building a lavish addition to a retirement home for its archbishop.
As the New Jersey Star-Ledger reports, Newark Archbishop John J. Myers’ current “weekend residence” is a 4,500-square foot luxury home with five bedrooms, three full bathrooms, a three-car garage and a large outdoor pool.
But Myers has commissioned a 3,000-square foot expansion in anticipation of his retirement in two years. The addition will include an indoor exercise pool, a hot tub, three fireplaces, a library and an elevator.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
TIME FOR WAITING IS OVER; BABY STEPS
Looks like the American Middle Class may soon be off life support and transferred out of ICU.
The signs are subtle but remarkably clear. Americans want to return America back to Americans.
What better place to start than with our country's flag;
US Military Bans 'Made In China' American Flags
“I am proud to have worked to pass this law so that our men and women in uniform never have to fight under a U.S. flag made overseas, and so that our Defense Department never again spends American tax dollars on a U.S. flag made overseas,” Thompson said to CBS News.
A small gesture? Yes. But like the "shot hat was heard around the world" this might be the start of something big. Like direct sunlight on vampires the "profits first" 1% will be running helter-skelter for the nearest cave if next years Congress passes a 2014 version of the tried and true way to protect this country from literately being sucked dry of it's wealth and resources by a handful of "fangers" who have on more than one occasion proven themselves to be extremely dangerous if left to their own devices.
Greedy, self-centered, powerful sociopaths have been around since the beginning of Creation (either version) and over time have managed to evolve into (I use the term loosely) into money mongering vultures who feed on others for nothing more than self gratification.
In recent times this small group of bottom feeders have been able to bring this country to it's knees and on the brink of financial Armageddon with little or no consequences; having achieved (by hook and by crook) the status that only lepers once held; untouchable. "Too big" to fail or jail. They have succeeded in making mindless zombies of our our judicial system all the way to the "top 9" who recently granted "person-hood" to entities; allowing them to literally buy our political system and the government it represents.
Our citizens have been rendered helpless and forced into some warped form of slavery where; like hamsters on a wheel, can do nothing more than spend their lives spinning in circles.
There was a time in our history when one-liners like the "American Dream" or "Equality" and "Freedom" were more than just slogans on pillow cases and bumper stickers.
Our titans of industry who built the country on a foundation of Capitalism promised and delivered prosperity for everyone, not a select few at the top. Poster boys for capitalism like Henry Ford believed that the only way for the country to grow and prosper was if everyone grew and prospered in the process; from the CEO down to the janitor who cleaned their toilets.
The message was clear;
There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible.
The minimum wage in Ford's day (1914) was $5.00 an hour or $22.00 an hour in today's dollars.
Unlike today's corporate class Ford and others like him actually worked in the businesses they built; not from a board room in some Ivory tower high above the assembly lines, but down on the ground floor.
Ford and others like him had no illusion that the corporate giants they ran were created by magic because if some innate "talent" they inherited from above; unlike the Blankfein's of today claiming to be a prophet from doing "God's work."
Ford, and others like him, wrote the manual on how capitalism works best in a free market economy. This article straight out of a 1914 edition of the New York Times tells it all;
Ford Motor Company, announced today one of the most remarkable business moves of his entire remarkable career. In brief it is:Unlike today's corporate class Ford and others like him actually worked in the businesses they built; not from a board room in some Ivory tower high above the assembly lines, but down on the ground floor.
Ford and others like him had no illusion that the corporate giants they ran were created by magic because if some innate "talent" they inherited from above; unlike the Blankfein's of today claiming to be a prophet from doing "God's work."
Ford, and others like him, wrote the manual on how capitalism works best in a free market economy. This article straight out of a 1914 edition of the New York Times tells it all;
To give to the employees of the company $10,000,000 of the profits of the 1914 business, the payments to be made semi-monthly and added to the pay checks.
To run the factory continuously instead of only eighteen hours a day, giving employment to several thousand more men by employing three shifts of eight hours each, instead of only two nine-hour shifts, as at present.
To establish a minimum wage scale of $5 per day. Even the boy who sweeps up the floors will get that much.
Before any man in any department of the company who does not seem to be doing good work shall be discharged, an opportunity will be given to him to try to make good in every other department. No man shall be discharged except for proved unfaithfulness or irremediable inefficiency.
The Ford Company's financial statement of Sept. 20, 1912, showed assets of $20,815,785.63, and surplus of $14,745,095.57. One year later it showed assets of $35,033,919.86 and surplus of $28,124,173.68. Dividends paid out during the year, it is understood, aggregated $10,000,000. The indicated profits for the year, therefore, were about $37,597,312. The company's capital stock authorized and outstanding, is $2,000,000. There is no bond issue.
About 10 per cent of the employees, boys and women, will not be affected by the profit sharing, but all will have the benefit of the $5 minimum wage. Those among them who are supporting families, however, will have a share similar to the men of more than 22 years of age.
In all, about 26,000 employees will be affected. Fifteen thousand now are at work in the Detroit factories. Four thousand more will be added by the institution of the eight-hour shift. The other seven thousand employees are scattered all over the world, in the Ford branches. They will share the same as the Detroit employees.
Personal statements were made by Henry Ford and James Couzens, Treasurer of the company, regarding the move.
"It is our belief," said Mr. Couzens, "that social justice begins at home. We want those who have helped us to produce this great institution and are helping to maintain it to share our prosperity. We want them to have present profits and future prospects. Thrift and good service and sobriety, all will be enforced and recognized.
"Believing as we do, that a division of our earnings between capital and labor is unequal, we have sought a plan of relief suitable for our business. We do not feel sure that it is the best, but we have felt impelled to make a start, and make it now.
We do not agree with those employers who declare, as did a recent writer in a magazine in excusing himself for not practicing what he preached, that 'movement toward the bettering of society must be universal.'
We think that one concern can make a start and create an example for other employers. That is our chief object."
So, to the 1% to 5% class; especially those 85 who own a 1/3 of the planet, I say;
Follow the Ford model of capitalism.
As for those in the 1% -10% who think that "equality" and "profit sharing" are evil communist-socialist, tyranical attempts to rob them of their hard earned wealth, I say, step back, take a deep breath and in the words of Francis (a true follower of Jesus and Christian teachings this country was founded on;
Francis decried an “idolatry of money” in secular culture and warned that it would lead to “a new tyranny.”
“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.”
“Meanwhile,” he added, “the excluded are still waiting.”
To those who want to keep Americans waiting I say let's go back to;
PLAN "B" THE DREADED EPT! (garlic for vampires, if you will)
In the United States, an excess profits tax is a tax, some say excise tax, on any profit above a certain amount. A predominantly wartime fiscal instrument, the tax was designed primarily to capture wartime profits that exceeded normal peacetime profits.[citation needed]
In 1863 the Confederate congress and the state of Georgia experimented with excess profits taxes, perhaps, the first time it has happened in American history. The first effective national excess profits tax was enacted in 1917, with rates graduated from 20 to 60 percent on the profits of all businesses in excess of prewar earnings but not less than 7 percent or more than 9 percent of invested capital. In 1918 a national law limited the tax to corporations and increased the rates. Concurrent with this 1918 tax, the federal government imposed, for the year 1918 only, an alternative tax, ranging up to 80 percent, with the taxpayer paying whichever was higher. In 1921 the excess profits tax was repealed despite powerful attempts to make it permanent. In 1933 and 1935 Congress enacted two mild excess profits taxes as supplements to a capital stock tax.
The crisis of World War II led Congress to pass four excess profits statutes between 1940 and 1943. The 1940 rates ranged from 25 to 50 percent and the 1941 ones from 35 to 60 percent. In 1942 a flat rate of 90 percent was adopted, with a postwar refund of 10 percent; in 1943 the rate was increased to 95 percent, with a 10 percent refund. Congress gave corporations two alternative excess profits tax credit choices: either 95 percent of average earnings for 1936–1939 or an invested capital credit, initially 8 percent of capital but later graduated from 5 to 8 percent. In 1945 Congress repealed the tax, effective 1 January 1946. The Korean War induced Congress to reimpose an excess profits tax, effective from 1 July 1950 to 31 December 1953. The tax rate was 30 percent of excess profits with the top corporate tax rate rising from 45% to 47%, a 70 percent ceiling for the combined corporation and excess profits taxes.
In 1991 some members of Congress sought unsuccessfully to pass an excess profits tax of 40 percent upon the larger oil companies as part of energy policy. Some social reformers have championed a peacetime use of the excess profits tax, but such proposals face strong opposition from businesses and some economists, who argue that it would create a disincentive to capital investment.
Let's see if it's time for Americans to take back America. The wait may be over.
Friday, February 21, 2014
THE 1% PARANOIA MACHINE
The best way to control people is to distract people from reality and create an illusion.
What better way for the 1% to keep the spotlight off them than by creating illusions of boogeymen coming to get us, or disaster(s) awaiting us around every corner. The scarier the better.
The "gun craze" is a prime example of how it works. "They are coming to get you!" The government is coming for your guns! Yet there is not one incident in the history of the country when the government launched a full blown invasion on it's people and confiscated all their weapons.
Then there was the "Let's get them over there before they come and get us over here." $6 trillion and thousands dead over a decade of chasing "them" over there and we still haven't got "them."
Getting to know the people who spend millions to weave these tales is the first step in stopping these "domestic terrorists."
What better way for the 1% to keep the spotlight off them than by creating illusions of boogeymen coming to get us, or disaster(s) awaiting us around every corner. The scarier the better.
The "gun craze" is a prime example of how it works. "They are coming to get you!" The government is coming for your guns! Yet there is not one incident in the history of the country when the government launched a full blown invasion on it's people and confiscated all their weapons.
Then there was the "Let's get them over there before they come and get us over here." $6 trillion and thousands dead over a decade of chasing "them" over there and we still haven't got "them."
Getting to know the people who spend millions to weave these tales is the first step in stopping these "domestic terrorists."
Here is how it works these days: You start hearing about a big, national problem and then it becomes a drumbeat. First there are a few articles and columns mentioning that such-and-such is a problem. Then a number of articles appear, then a “study” from a “think tank” confirms the problem and sounds the alarm about how terrible it is, and then just as the issue seems to be the only thing you are hearing about a solution is presented. Of course, the solution always involves taking something away from you and giving it to some company or industry standing in front of a billionaire or three. The right question to start asking when you hear about these “problems” is which billionaire is driving this.
Thursday, February 20, 2014
CAPITALISM; Good or bad for America?
The answer is; it's both, and can either be used to exploit or benefit the country and it's people depending on how it's applied.
A titan of American industry and a die hard capitalist believed this to be the best system for Americans;
Ford Gives $10,000,000 To 26,000 Employees
Ford to Run Automobile Plant 24 Hours Daily in Profit-Sharing Plan
MINIMUM WAGE $5 A DAY ($22.00 in today's dollars)
No Employee to be Discharged Except for Unfaithfulness or Hopeless Inefficiency
Special to The New York Times
On that note; if 75% America's household wealth is in the hands of 5 percent of the population it's painfully obvious that Ford's idea on how to grow America and make it great has long disappeared from our marketplace.
Now, the question is; which form of capitalism do you want in America? Which one is good for you, AND the country?
A titan of American industry and a die hard capitalist believed this to be the best system for Americans;
"There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible". Henry Ford
Ford believed that when everyone shared the profits generated this form of "social" capitalism allowed everyone to prosper; from the bottom up. And, as a result, the country to grow more wealth which would continue to be shared by those who created and in turn promote perpetual growth.
"Social" capitalism is practiced when it looks like this; as reported in the NYT in 1914........ you can read the entire article here;
Ford Gives $10,000,000 To 26,000 Employees
Ford to Run Automobile Plant 24 Hours Daily in Profit-Sharing Plan
MINIMUM WAGE $5 A DAY ($22.00 in today's dollars)
No Employee to be Discharged Except for Unfaithfulness or Hopeless Inefficiency
Special to The New York Times
Detroit, Mich., Jan. 5. -- Henry Ford, head of the Ford Motor Company, announced today one of the most remarkable business moves of his entire remarkable career. In brief it is:
To give to the employees of the company $10,000,000 of the profits of the 1914 business, the payments to be made semi-monthly and added to the pay checks.
To run the factory continuously instead of only eighteen hours a day, giving employment to several thousand more men by employing three shifts of eight hours each, instead of only two nine-hour shifts, as at present.
To establish a minimum wage scale of $5 per day. Even the boy who sweeps up the floors will get that much.
Before any man in any department of the company who does not seem to be doing good work shall be discharged, an opportunity will be given to him to try to make good in every other department. No man shall be discharged except for proved unfaithfulness or irremediable inefficiency.
The Ford Company's financial statement of Sept. 20, 1912, showed assets of $20,815,785.63, and surplus of $14,745,095.57. One year later it showed assets of $35,033,919.86 and surplus of $28,124,173.68. Dividends paid out during the year, it is understood, aggregated $10,000,000. The indicated profits for the year, therefore, were about $37,597,312. The company's capital stock authorized and outstanding, is $2,000,000. There is no bond issue.
About 10 per cent of the employees, boys and women, will not be affected by the profit sharing, but all will have the benefit of the $5 minimum wage. Those among them who are supporting families, however, will have a share similar to the men of more than 22 years of age.
In all, about 26,000 employees will be affected. Fifteen thousand now are at work in the Detroit factories. Four thousand more will be added by the institution of the eight-hour shift. The other seven thousand employees are scattered all over the world, in the Ford branches. They will share the same as the Detroit employees.
Personal statements were made by Henry Ford and James Couzens, Treasurer of the company, regarding the move.
"It is our belief," said Mr. Couzens, "that social justice begins at home. We want those who have helped us to produce this great institution and are helping to maintain it to share our prosperity. We want them to have present profits and future prospects. Thrift and good service and sobriety, all will be enforced and recognized.
"Believing as we do, that a division of our earnings between capital and labor is unequal, we have sought a plan of relief suitable for our business. We do not feel sure that it is the best, but we have felt impelled to make a start, and make it now. We do not agree with those employers who declare, as did a recent writer in a magazine in excusing himself for not practicing what he preached, that 'movement toward the bettering of society must be universal.' We think that one concern can make a start and create an example for other employers. That is our chief object."
"If we are obliged," said Mr. Ford, "to lay men off for want of sufficient work at any season we purpose to so plan our year's work that the lay-off shall be in the harvest time, July, August, and September, not in the Winter. We hope in such case to induce our men to respond to the calls of the farmers for harvest hands, and not to lie idle and dissipate their savings. We shall make it our business to get in touch with the farmers and to induce our employees to answer calls for harvest help.
"No man will be discharged if we can help it, except for unfaithfulness or inefficiency. No foreman in the Ford Company has the power to discharge a man. He may send him out of his department if he does not make good. The man is then sent to our 'clearing house,' covering all the departments, and is tried repeatedly in other work, until we find the job he is suited for, provided he is honestly trying to render good service."
Looking back, history consistently shows that this form of capitalism is "good" for America.
Now, compare this with today's system of "crony" capitalism; and we can see that the results speak for themselves.
In addition to literally destroying the countries economy and it's middle class we are left with a debt estimated to be around $6 trillion which future generations of Americans will be saddled with.
This is how "crony capitalism looks;
The richest 85 people in the world own more wealth than the bottom half of the entire global population.
Yes, that equation works out to: 85 > 3,000,000,000.
Before we dig into the document, a programming note about wealth inequality. Wealth isn't income. Salary is income. But investments—stocks, houses, or equity in a business—build wealth. Wealth comes from the money you don't immediately spend. Since poor people spend more of their income immediately, and rich people save/invest more of their income immediately, it's predictable that wealth inequality be much worse than income inequality.
That said, the document is full of figures that will make your head explode if you are about income inequality. Here are five.
1) Seven in ten people live in countries where inequality has increased, and the United States is leading the wave. This graph from the report looks at nationalincome (not wealth) accumulation to the top one percent, but it makes a clear point that inequality is rising everywhere, but nowhere more than the U.S.
2) The richest 1 percent saw its share of income rise in 24 out of 26 countries for which Oxfam collected data between 1980 and 2012. Again, the story here is the U.S. leading a global trend.
3) Related to the graph above: In the US, the wealthiest one percent "captured 95 percent of post-financial crisis growth since 2009," Oxfam reports. The bottom 90 percent actually lost wealth.
4) Every high-income G20 country is experiencing rising inequality except for South Korea. Meanwhile, numerous Latin American countries, including Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina, are seeing inequality levels decline thanks to a combination of income graph and high taxation and public spending.
5) The wealth of the one percent richest people in the world amounts to $110 trillion—15x more than the wealth held by the bottom 70 percent.
The rise in wealth inequality isn't a measure of the poor getting poorer. It's a measure of the rich getting fantastically richer thanks to the cascading benefits of privilege and the tremendous growth in stock wealth in the last decade. (Even in the U.S., 75 percent of household wealth is held by the richest 5 percent.)
To give to the employees of the company $10,000,000 of the profits of the 1914 business, the payments to be made semi-monthly and added to the pay checks.
To run the factory continuously instead of only eighteen hours a day, giving employment to several thousand more men by employing three shifts of eight hours each, instead of only two nine-hour shifts, as at present.
To establish a minimum wage scale of $5 per day. Even the boy who sweeps up the floors will get that much.
Before any man in any department of the company who does not seem to be doing good work shall be discharged, an opportunity will be given to him to try to make good in every other department. No man shall be discharged except for proved unfaithfulness or irremediable inefficiency.
The Ford Company's financial statement of Sept. 20, 1912, showed assets of $20,815,785.63, and surplus of $14,745,095.57. One year later it showed assets of $35,033,919.86 and surplus of $28,124,173.68. Dividends paid out during the year, it is understood, aggregated $10,000,000. The indicated profits for the year, therefore, were about $37,597,312. The company's capital stock authorized and outstanding, is $2,000,000. There is no bond issue.
About 10 per cent of the employees, boys and women, will not be affected by the profit sharing, but all will have the benefit of the $5 minimum wage. Those among them who are supporting families, however, will have a share similar to the men of more than 22 years of age.
In all, about 26,000 employees will be affected. Fifteen thousand now are at work in the Detroit factories. Four thousand more will be added by the institution of the eight-hour shift. The other seven thousand employees are scattered all over the world, in the Ford branches. They will share the same as the Detroit employees.
Personal statements were made by Henry Ford and James Couzens, Treasurer of the company, regarding the move.
"It is our belief," said Mr. Couzens, "that social justice begins at home. We want those who have helped us to produce this great institution and are helping to maintain it to share our prosperity. We want them to have present profits and future prospects. Thrift and good service and sobriety, all will be enforced and recognized.
"Believing as we do, that a division of our earnings between capital and labor is unequal, we have sought a plan of relief suitable for our business. We do not feel sure that it is the best, but we have felt impelled to make a start, and make it now. We do not agree with those employers who declare, as did a recent writer in a magazine in excusing himself for not practicing what he preached, that 'movement toward the bettering of society must be universal.' We think that one concern can make a start and create an example for other employers. That is our chief object."
"If we are obliged," said Mr. Ford, "to lay men off for want of sufficient work at any season we purpose to so plan our year's work that the lay-off shall be in the harvest time, July, August, and September, not in the Winter. We hope in such case to induce our men to respond to the calls of the farmers for harvest hands, and not to lie idle and dissipate their savings. We shall make it our business to get in touch with the farmers and to induce our employees to answer calls for harvest help.
"No man will be discharged if we can help it, except for unfaithfulness or inefficiency. No foreman in the Ford Company has the power to discharge a man. He may send him out of his department if he does not make good. The man is then sent to our 'clearing house,' covering all the departments, and is tried repeatedly in other work, until we find the job he is suited for, provided he is honestly trying to render good service."
Looking back, history consistently shows that this form of capitalism is "good" for America.
Now, compare this with today's system of "crony" capitalism; and we can see that the results speak for themselves.
This is how "crony capitalism looks;
The richest 85 people in the world own more wealth than the bottom half of the entire global population.
Yes, that equation works out to: 85 > 3,000,000,000.
Before we dig into the document, a programming note about wealth inequality. Wealth isn't income. Salary is income. But investments—stocks, houses, or equity in a business—build wealth. Wealth comes from the money you don't immediately spend. Since poor people spend more of their income immediately, and rich people save/invest more of their income immediately, it's predictable that wealth inequality be much worse than income inequality.
That said, the document is full of figures that will make your head explode if you are about income inequality. Here are five.
1) Seven in ten people live in countries where inequality has increased, and the United States is leading the wave. This graph from the report looks at nationalincome (not wealth) accumulation to the top one percent, but it makes a clear point that inequality is rising everywhere, but nowhere more than the U.S.
3) Related to the graph above: In the US, the wealthiest one percent "captured 95 percent of post-financial crisis growth since 2009," Oxfam reports. The bottom 90 percent actually lost wealth.
4) Every high-income G20 country is experiencing rising inequality except for South Korea. Meanwhile, numerous Latin American countries, including Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina, are seeing inequality levels decline thanks to a combination of income graph and high taxation and public spending.
5) The wealth of the one percent richest people in the world amounts to $110 trillion—15x more than the wealth held by the bottom 70 percent.
The rise in wealth inequality isn't a measure of the poor getting poorer. It's a measure of the rich getting fantastically richer thanks to the cascading benefits of privilege and the tremendous growth in stock wealth in the last decade. (Even in the U.S., 75 percent of household wealth is held by the richest 5 percent.)
Now, the question is; which form of capitalism do you want in America? Which one is good for you, AND the country?
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
SEND THE BILL TO THE BUSH/CHENEY REPUBLICANS
These are the very same A-holes who whine and moan about spending "too much" on healthcare, food stamps and social security. The infrastructure? Absolutely not.
Talking about raising taxes on the people who invested and heavily profited on these wars is considered heresy.
There's no question the this country is in a terrible financial mess and there's no indication that the elite minoritynis about to foot the bill to clean it up.
Maybe the 2014 mid-terms and the 2016 Presidential can still save what's left of what was once a prosperous and powerful nation.
This figure includes direct outlays for America’s three main military operations:
Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) - The official name for America’s war in Afghanistan.
Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) - The official name for America’s war in Iraq (which some may remember by its original title: Operation Iraqi Liberation, or OIL).
Operation New Dawn (OND) - The official title for America’s war in Iraq under President Obama’s command (2010 to present).
These operations were implemented under the umbrella of America’s Global War on Terror. In 2006, President George W. Bush would tell CNBC that the war on terror was nothing less than “the first counter-attack to World War III.”
That counter-attack, or World War III, continues through the present day, twelve years after the first and only attack on America’s home soil since the turn of the century. In that time, America has financed its $2 trillion war mainly by borrowing from foreign lenders. It has in fact only paid $260 billion of that so far, which is merely the interest accrued on our debt.
Yet the ultimate costs of America’s wars in the Middle East will accumulate long after they have officially ended. Medical care and disability benefits will be due to their veterans for a generation to come, damaged equipment will need to be replaced, and Obama has promised to build a “Strategic Partnership” with Afghanistan. This will likely include American management of its police and military forces.
All told, Harvard calculates that the price tag for these conflicts will double and potentially triple. That means $4 trillion at its most conservative and $6 trillion at its highest.
Talking about raising taxes on the people who invested and heavily profited on these wars is considered heresy.
There's no question the this country is in a terrible financial mess and there's no indication that the elite minoritynis about to foot the bill to clean it up.
Maybe the 2014 mid-terms and the 2016 Presidential can still save what's left of what was once a prosperous and powerful nation.
This figure includes direct outlays for America’s three main military operations:
Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) - The official name for America’s war in Afghanistan.
Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) - The official name for America’s war in Iraq (which some may remember by its original title: Operation Iraqi Liberation, or OIL).
Operation New Dawn (OND) - The official title for America’s war in Iraq under President Obama’s command (2010 to present).
These operations were implemented under the umbrella of America’s Global War on Terror. In 2006, President George W. Bush would tell CNBC that the war on terror was nothing less than “the first counter-attack to World War III.”
That counter-attack, or World War III, continues through the present day, twelve years after the first and only attack on America’s home soil since the turn of the century. In that time, America has financed its $2 trillion war mainly by borrowing from foreign lenders. It has in fact only paid $260 billion of that so far, which is merely the interest accrued on our debt.
Yet the ultimate costs of America’s wars in the Middle East will accumulate long after they have officially ended. Medical care and disability benefits will be due to their veterans for a generation to come, damaged equipment will need to be replaced, and Obama has promised to build a “Strategic Partnership” with Afghanistan. This will likely include American management of its police and military forces.
All told, Harvard calculates that the price tag for these conflicts will double and potentially triple. That means $4 trillion at its most conservative and $6 trillion at its highest.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
HONKEY-TOWN JUSTICE
That's the kind of justice doled out on the southern side of the Mason-Dixon line.
It's not about justice per se' ,but more about skin color.
.jpg)
This is how it works.
If you are white person and kill a black person; even if it just for playing music too loud, you are "not guilty" of murder. If there are no witnesses you are free to go. If there are witnesses and they take the oath to tell the truth seriously, you may end up with probation or a little jail time.
If you are a black person and kill a white person for any reason; "guilty" hands down and it's only a matter of deciding on the death penalty or life behind bars.
Many of my learned friends (hypocrites that they are) will argue that's not true. I'm over-reacting, playing the racist card, being unfair. To them I say; please cite how many blacks have been found not guilty when the charge involved killing a white person. I ask that you please don't play the "juice" card since we all know that was a fluke. So, anyone other than OJ please.
As for the rest of us, justice works about the same regardless of geography;
Black on black crime; everyone's guilty.
White on white crime; depends on who you can afford to defend you.
It's not about justice per se' ,but more about skin color.
This is how it works.
If you are white person and kill a black person; even if it just for playing music too loud, you are "not guilty" of murder. If there are no witnesses you are free to go. If there are witnesses and they take the oath to tell the truth seriously, you may end up with probation or a little jail time.
If you are a black person and kill a white person for any reason; "guilty" hands down and it's only a matter of deciding on the death penalty or life behind bars.
Many of my learned friends (hypocrites that they are) will argue that's not true. I'm over-reacting, playing the racist card, being unfair. To them I say; please cite how many blacks have been found not guilty when the charge involved killing a white person. I ask that you please don't play the "juice" card since we all know that was a fluke. So, anyone other than OJ please.
As for the rest of us, justice works about the same regardless of geography;
Black on black crime; everyone's guilty.
White on white crime; depends on who you can afford to defend you.
The signs may have dissappeared but the attitudes and beliefs remain and this is another example of it.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
THE CURSE OF THE SILVER SPOON
How Entitlements for the Rich Cheat the Rest of Us
The word “entitlement” is ambiguous. For working people it means "earned benefits." For the rich, the concept of entitlement is compatible with the Merriam-Webster definition: "The feeling or belief that you deserve to be given something (such as special privileges)." Recent studies agree, concluding that higher social class is associated with increased entitlement and narcissism.
The sense of entitlement among the very rich is understandable, for it helps them to justify the massive redistribution of wealth that has occurred over the past 65 years, especially in the past 30 years. National investment in infrastructure, technology, and security has made America a rich country. The financial industry has used our publicly-developed communications technology to generate trillions of dollars in new earnings, while national security protects their interests. The major beneficiaries have convinced themselves they did it on their own. They believe they're entitled to it all.
Time for Americans to "stand their ground"
The Mobsters of Wall Street
Assume that you ran a business that was found guilty of bribery, forgery, perjury, defrauding homeowners, fleecing investors, swindling consumers, cheating credit card holders, violating U.S. trade laws and bilking American soldiers. Can you even imagine the kind of punishment you'd get?
How about zero? Nada. Nothing. Zilch. No jail time. Not even a fine. Plus, you still get to stay on as boss, you get to keep all the loot you gained from the crime spree, and you even get an $8.5 million pay raise!
Of course, you and I would never get such outrageous, absurd, kid-glove pampering by legal authorities. But, then, we're not the capo of JPMorgan Chase, America's biggest bank and a crime syndicate that apparently is too big to jail.
Saturday, February 8, 2014
POPCORN AND MUSIC CAN GET YOU KILLED
Only in America can a person now need to be concerned about playing music too loud or throwing popcorn at someone.
The NRA and the gun nuts that feed on the BS they spew would just say it was the "good guys" defending themselves against the "bad" movie popcorn throwers and those "bad" people playing their music too loud. What next? Farting in a super market? Picking your nose in church?
Hard to know. So my advice is, be prepared to duck for cover.
This is where the loud music murder trial earns its name. While Dunn waited in his vehicle he became annoyed by the heavy bass booming from a nearby SUV and asked the four teens to turn it down. While they did comply, the situation escalated quickly into an argument in which Dunn says he was verbally harassed with death threats. When Dunn felt threatened by what he thought was a single barreled shotgun, he pulled a 9mm gun from his glove compartment and fired four times into the SUV:
“I was still scared and so I shot four more times… trying to keep their heads down to not catch any return fire. And that was it. I went over this a million times, and what I should’ve done is put the car in reverse. It was fight or flight. I don’t think there was any time for flight at that moment. I was going to get shot.”
Dunn then picked up his girlfriend, fled the scene to their hotel room, and ordered pizza… all without notifying police about the shooting. Dunn claims he was waiting until he reached his home in Brevard County, which was another 130 miles south. He said he wanted to have friends around him and was afraid of bringing a “s**tstorm” down on them in Jacksonville.
The picture painted by the prosecutor John Guy is quite different, telling of four innocent teens whose only “crime” was disrespecting Dunn by saying, “F*** that n****r.” The verbal insult is supposedly what triggered the shooting, nothing more. Guy also claim Davis and Dunn “exchanged f-bombs back and forth” while Dunn claims he never cursed at all.
The NRA and the gun nuts that feed on the BS they spew would just say it was the "good guys" defending themselves against the "bad" movie popcorn throwers and those "bad" people playing their music too loud. What next? Farting in a super market? Picking your nose in church?
Hard to know. So my advice is, be prepared to duck for cover.
“I was still scared and so I shot four more times… trying to keep their heads down to not catch any return fire. And that was it. I went over this a million times, and what I should’ve done is put the car in reverse. It was fight or flight. I don’t think there was any time for flight at that moment. I was going to get shot.”
Dunn then picked up his girlfriend, fled the scene to their hotel room, and ordered pizza… all without notifying police about the shooting. Dunn claims he was waiting until he reached his home in Brevard County, which was another 130 miles south. He said he wanted to have friends around him and was afraid of bringing a “s**tstorm” down on them in Jacksonville.
The picture painted by the prosecutor John Guy is quite different, telling of four innocent teens whose only “crime” was disrespecting Dunn by saying, “F*** that n****r.” The verbal insult is supposedly what triggered the shooting, nothing more. Guy also claim Davis and Dunn “exchanged f-bombs back and forth” while Dunn claims he never cursed at all.
Thursday, February 6, 2014
AFFLUENZA or POVERITIS?
Here's the scenario;
http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-affluenza-outrage-20140206,0,1914470.story#ixzz2scLcapFW
Let's assume the judge is not insane and/or bought and paid for by the kids family and apply the same logic when teens living in poverty commit the same crime.
The scenario would read like this;
Poor kid kills 4 people and injures 2 others.
An expert psychologist for his defense testified that the teen had "poveritis": He was so poor and desperate that he couldn't connect his actions with their consequences.
If we are to believe that everyone is innocent and equal in the eyes of the law, and justice is blind, this would be the best way to demonstrate it in action.
Do I hear any objections?
The case of a Texas teen supposedly afflicted with "affluenza," who killed four people and critically injured two others while driving drunk, triggered new outrage a day after a judge refused to send him to jail.
In June, the 16-year-old had seven passengers in his Ford F-350. He was speeding and had a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit when the accident happened on a rural road, according to testimony at the trial in December.
He struck and killed four pedestrians. Two 15-year-olds who were riding in the bed of his pickup were ejected and severely injured, according to a statement from prosecutors.
The case drew national outrage after an expert psychologist for his defense testified that the teen had "affluenza": He was so rich and spoiled that he couldn't connect his actions with their consequences.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-affluenza-outrage-20140206,0,1914470.story#ixzz2scLcapFW
Let's assume the judge is not insane and/or bought and paid for by the kids family and apply the same logic when teens living in poverty commit the same crime.
The scenario would read like this;
Poor kid kills 4 people and injures 2 others.
An expert psychologist for his defense testified that the teen had "poveritis": He was so poor and desperate that he couldn't connect his actions with their consequences.
If we are to believe that everyone is innocent and equal in the eyes of the law, and justice is blind, this would be the best way to demonstrate it in action.
Do I hear any objections?
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
A MELTING POT NO MORE
The words on the base of the Statue of Liberty come from the last five lines of a poem titled "The New Colossus." It reads, "Give me your tired, your poor/ Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free/The wretched refuse of your teeming shore/Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me/I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
At one time in our history these words used to mean something, but now they are just empty words.
At one time in our history these words used to mean something, but now they are just empty words.
THE MYTH OF SELF-REGULATION
Small government. Less regulation. Lower taxes. Fewer social programs. all spell doom for the country and it's people with the exception of a select few.
Americans continue to be played by the slick talkin "gifted and talented" in believing that they too; will one day reach the top if they are just patient and play by the rules they are told to follow. They call it the "American Dream" and, just like reality TV, Americans are so naive that they believe it's real.
This is one example of what happens when the "gifted and talented" are left to their own devices;
Americans continue to be played by the slick talkin "gifted and talented" in believing that they too; will one day reach the top if they are just patient and play by the rules they are told to follow. They call it the "American Dream" and, just like reality TV, Americans are so naive that they believe it's real.
This is one example of what happens when the "gifted and talented" are left to their own devices;
ALL AMERICAN CHILD ABUSE
Americans have a unique way of turning violence and abuse of children into a form of entertainment;and which I thought there were laws on the books to prohibit this kind of behavior. Any adult that takes pleasure in subjecting children to abuse and danger should be not only accountable and responsible for the consequences but also criminally prosecuted
Gun Parties! For 8yr olds?
The gun range now offers children as young as 8 the chance to celebrate their special day by pumping bullets out of cold, hard steel.
And, if you want to really have fun and watch children pummel each other into unconsciousness sign up for
Please tell me how any sane person can justify promoting the abuse of children and not feel even a little bit guilty?
The Texas Youth Football Association is shocked, shocked to find that coaches of 8- and 9-year-old players — who participate in tackle football, with no limits on size of players, in spring and fall leagues — have coaches who advocate violence and profanity.
Parents and TYFA officials have done various interviews to defend the league and the coaches in “Friday Night Tykes,” saying that the show isn’t the whole picture on the TYFA experience, and that the coaches do the right thing in pushing kids harder, at an earlier age, to be better football
Better people? Really?
In the very first line of the debut episode of "Friday Night Tykes," a Texas youth football coach screams to his players, "You have the opportunity today to rip their freakin' head off and let them bleed!"
Gun Parties! For 8yr olds?
The gun range now offers children as young as 8 the chance to celebrate their special day by pumping bullets out of cold, hard steel.
And, if you want to really have fun and watch children pummel each other into unconsciousness sign up for
Please tell me how any sane person can justify promoting the abuse of children and not feel even a little bit guilty?
How can a parent knowingly and willfully have a birthday party for their child by handing them loaded guns to unload at a gun range?
What is going through a parents mind as they watch their children pummeling each other on a football field knowing that they are subjecting themselves to brain damage and other serious injuries? Even animals know better and do better at protecting their young.
Parents and TYFA officials have done various interviews to defend the league and the coaches in “Friday Night Tykes,” saying that the show isn’t the whole picture on the TYFA experience, and that the coaches do the right thing in pushing kids harder, at an earlier age, to be better football
Better people? Really?
In the very first line of the debut episode of "Friday Night Tykes," a Texas youth football coach screams to his players, "You have the opportunity today to rip their freakin' head off and let them bleed!"
Monday, February 3, 2014
GUN NUTS GONE WILD! TARGET DIANE SAWYER'S REPORT ON GUNS
The gun nuts went nuts when the ABC young guns piece got so much feedback from people waking up to the fact that guns are dangerous and deadly; especially when in the hands of children.
As expected the gun nut hate machine went into overdrive. The show was biased. The questions were skewed. The interviews were staged. The classroom experiment was bogus. Blah, blah, blah.
Nothing seems to stir the fear and paranoia more that shinning a light on what is going on behind the scenes like one wacko that; as crazy as it may sound, hosts "gun parties" for children as young as 3 years old.
Wow! Why didn't I think of that when I was raising my kids! Gun parties! BYOG and ammo.
In a one-hour special, hidden cameras reveal shocking examples of what children do when left alone with a gun in the house. “Young Guns,” a “20/20″ report, airs Friday, January 31 at 10:00 p.m., ET on the ABC Television Network. ABC Anchors Diane Sawyer and David Muir explore the issue of kids and guns in interviews across America with parents who expose their young children to guns to demystify them, and parents who believe a gun is only secure from kids when it is in a safe.
Sawyer goes to a New Jersey neighborhood to talk to families about their attitudes on gun safety in the home. She also finds out whether or not they know if their neighbors have any unsecured guns and if this factor could pose a risk to their child during play dates.
The special includes interviews with parents who have lost their children to unsecured guns in their own home or at their neighbor’s house, and kids who surprise their parents by showing them where guns are “hidden.”
On the other end of the spectrum, Muir travels the country talking to parents who own guns who are convinced that educating a child about the dangers of guns is part of the solution. Many of those parents believe that teaching their children how to shoot at a young age will diminish curiosity and ensure their children’s safety around firearms.
Muir interviews a man who hosts gun parties for children as young as 3-years-old and a family who teaches their 14-year-old and 4-year-old daughters to shoot guns as an introduction to gun safety.
This special will shine a light on whether or not keeping a gun in the home can successfully thwart a home intruder and if a family can protect itself if the gun is locked away.
Sawyer and Muir will be having a live conversation around “Young Guns” on Twitter before, during and after the broadcast.
As expected the gun nut hate machine went into overdrive. The show was biased. The questions were skewed. The interviews were staged. The classroom experiment was bogus. Blah, blah, blah.
Nothing seems to stir the fear and paranoia more that shinning a light on what is going on behind the scenes like one wacko that; as crazy as it may sound, hosts "gun parties" for children as young as 3 years old.
Wow! Why didn't I think of that when I was raising my kids! Gun parties! BYOG and ammo.
Sawyer goes to a New Jersey neighborhood to talk to families about their attitudes on gun safety in the home. She also finds out whether or not they know if their neighbors have any unsecured guns and if this factor could pose a risk to their child during play dates.
The special includes interviews with parents who have lost their children to unsecured guns in their own home or at their neighbor’s house, and kids who surprise their parents by showing them where guns are “hidden.”
On the other end of the spectrum, Muir travels the country talking to parents who own guns who are convinced that educating a child about the dangers of guns is part of the solution. Many of those parents believe that teaching their children how to shoot at a young age will diminish curiosity and ensure their children’s safety around firearms.
Muir interviews a man who hosts gun parties for children as young as 3-years-old and a family who teaches their 14-year-old and 4-year-old daughters to shoot guns as an introduction to gun safety.
This special will shine a light on whether or not keeping a gun in the home can successfully thwart a home intruder and if a family can protect itself if the gun is locked away.
Sawyer and Muir will be having a live conversation around “Young Guns” on Twitter before, during and after the broadcast.
Dow plunges 326 points in (best) worst day of year
Dow plunges 326 points in (BEST) worst day of year
This may look like bad news but, for most Americans it is actually good news.
What this indicates is that the 1% are no longer feeding at the trough because they fear the free money days ; compliments of the FED, are coming to an end.
It also means that CEO's and their ilk will actually have to work for their up till now undeserved salaries and bonuses that they have been shoveling in at the tax payers and consumers expense.
In terms of types of financial wealth, the top one percent of households have 35% of all privately held stock, 64.4% of financial securities, and 62.4% of business equity. The top ten percent have 81% to 94% of stocks, bonds, trust funds, and business equity, and almost 80% of non-home real estate. Since financial wealth is what counts as far as the control of income-producing assets, we can say that just 10% of the people own the United States of America; see Table 3 and Figure 2 for the details.
Table 3: Wealth distribution by type of asset, 2010
| Investment Assets | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Top 1 percent | Next 9 percent | Bottom 90 percent | |
| Stocks and mutual funds | 35.0% | 45.8% | 19.2% |
| Financial securities | 64.4% | 29.5% | 6.1% |
| Trusts | 38.0% | 43.0% | 19.0% |
| Business equity | 61.4% | 30.5% | 8.1% |
| Non-home real estate | 35.5% | 43.6% | 20.9% |
| TOTAL investment assets | 50.4% | 37.5% | 12.0% |
| Housing, Liquid Assets, Pension Assets, and Debt | |||
| Top 1 percent | Next 9 percent | Bottom 90 percent | |
| Principal residence | 9.2% | 31.0% | 59.8% |
| Deposits | 28.1% | 42.5% | 29.5% |
| Life insurance | 20.6% | 34.1% | 45.3% |
| Pension accounts | 15.4% | 50.2% | 34.5% |
| TOTAL other assets | 13.0% | 37.8% | 49.2% |
| Debt | 5.9% | 21.6% | 72.5% |
From Wolff (2012).
QUIZ: How much do you know about the stock market?
A weaker-than-expected manufacturing report showed a steep drop in factory orders last month, adding to concerns over the strength of the U.S. economy's recovery.
Monday's stumble in the stock market follows the Dow's 5.3% drop in January, its worst monthly performance since May 2012.
Investors have grown increasingly worried over growth in emerging markets as the Federal Reserve scales back its massive stimulus program.
The Fed program, known as quantitative easing, has been pumping easy money into the global financial system. It helped lift the Dow 27% in 2013 as it lured investors into riskier assets such as stocks by keeping a lid on interest rates.
Developing countries benefited too, but investors are now worried the liquidity papered over underlying economic problems.
Read more; http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-dow-plunges-326-points-in-worst-day-of-year-20140203,0,4456953.story#ixzz2sIx9VZfQ
The stock market grew by $4.7 trillion in 2013. A wealth tax of just a one-tenth of 1 percent (one dollar out of every thousand) would have provided the $4 billion needed to shelter every homeless American for 365 days.
But we have no wealth tax. And the wealth just keeps growing for the wealthiest Americans.
The Seven Deadly Sins of Capitalism (#1)
.jpg)
1) Usury. If anything can be considered the root of all evil, it would have to be usury. The practice of lending money at interest is condemned by most religions, including the Abrahamic faiths, although the Bible allows Jews to profit from foreigners as a way of “fighting without a sword.” The implication of violence is inherent in usury, which is basically the opposite of a gift.
In our modern economic system, institutional theft is the business of commercial banks and the (private) Fed, which have been empowered to conjure money into existence as interest-bearing debt. Since the money to repay all these loans (with interest) doesn’t exist, society is driven by a sense of competition and a mentality of scarcity. Worse yet, usury creates a demand for continuous economic growth (measured in GDP), without which the economy is subject to collapse.
As noted, such growth is obviously unsustainable and ultimately suicidal. Although we may be on the road to ruin, it’s never too late to change our wicked ways.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
PERKINS IN WONDERLAND
Watching, listening, and reading about this nauseatingly rich clown makes me wonder if he actually fell down a rabbit hole and is living in Alice's Wonderland?
There is no doubt in my mind that Mr Perkins is either BS crazy or a full-blown sociopath. In either case someone should consider guardianship procedures commence post haste.
To make comments like "let the rich do what they do best; get richer" and, not-to-worry, he'll let some of the leftovers trickle down to the masses is nothing more than the epitome of narcissistic arrogance.
His point? People should not be upset because these few "talented" individuals hoard the world's wealth but should rather be cheering them on. For the masses to pick on his small band of greedy clowns is just plain "wrong" says Perkins. He goes so far as to assert that revolutions; when the majority has had enough of being exploited by the minority; is harmful to the majority. WTF? HUH? OMG!
If Mr Perkins and the 1% Club had their way history books would be rewritten to claim that; for example, the American Revolution was bad for Americans who "demonized" the aristocracy and monarchy. He sounds much like Marie Antoinette and her "let them eat cake" attitude towards the less fortunate than him.
Here's a clue on how people like Perkins were seen during similar times in history;
The author argues, by hard-edged economic reasoning as well as from a self-righteous moral stance, for a way to turn this problem into its own solution. His proposal, in effect, is to fatten up these undernourished children and feed them to Ireland's rich land-owners. Children of the poor could be sold into a meat market at the age of one, he argues, thus combating overpopulation and unemployment, sparing families the expense of child-bearing while providing them with a little extra income, improving the culinary experience of the wealthy, and contributing to the overall economic well-being of the nation.
The author offers statistical support for his assertions and gives specific data about the number of children to be sold, their weight and price, and the projected consumption patterns. He suggests some recipes for preparing this delicious new meat, and he feels sure that innovative cooks will be quick to generate more. He also anticipates that the practice of selling and eating children will have positive effects on family morality: husbands will treat their wives with more respect, and parents will value their children in ways hitherto unknown. His conclusion is that the implementation of this project will do more to solve Ireland's complex social, political, and economic problems than any other measure that has been proposed.One would think that Mr Perkins and those who are as delusional as he is would have learned a lesson from history rather than choosing to live in "fantasy-land" the masses be damned.
.jpg)
I believe we have to be careful that we don’t demonize anybody and we don’t demonize the most creative part of society," he said. "As a class, we are beginning to engage in class warfare. The rich as a class are threatened through higher taxes, more regulation."
Essentially, his argument is the classic "trickle down economics" theory, that the rich are the job creators, that as they spend money everyone benefits and gets richer.
The creative 1 % are threatened. … I’m friends with Al Gore who tells me income inequality is the No. 1 problem in America. But the 1% are not causing the inequality. They are the job creators. I think Kleiner Perkins itself over the years has created pretty close to 1 million jobs and we’re still doing it. It’s absurd to demonize the rich for being rich and doing what the rich do, which is get richer by creating opportunities for others."
There were moments where Perkins showed off his over-the-top wealth, too. He talked about how he owned an "underwater airplane." And he pointed to his watch and said, "This isn’t a Rolex. I could buy a six-pack of Rolexes for this."
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/perkins-on-nazi-quote-inequality-2014-1#ixzz2s7KJW7SX
There is no doubt in my mind that Mr Perkins is either BS crazy or a full-blown sociopath. In either case someone should consider guardianship procedures commence post haste.
To make comments like "let the rich do what they do best; get richer" and, not-to-worry, he'll let some of the leftovers trickle down to the masses is nothing more than the epitome of narcissistic arrogance.
His point? People should not be upset because these few "talented" individuals hoard the world's wealth but should rather be cheering them on. For the masses to pick on his small band of greedy clowns is just plain "wrong" says Perkins. He goes so far as to assert that revolutions; when the majority has had enough of being exploited by the minority; is harmful to the majority. WTF? HUH? OMG!
If Mr Perkins and the 1% Club had their way history books would be rewritten to claim that; for example, the American Revolution was bad for Americans who "demonized" the aristocracy and monarchy. He sounds much like Marie Antoinette and her "let them eat cake" attitude towards the less fortunate than him.
Here's a clue on how people like Perkins were seen during similar times in history;
A MODEST PROPOSAL
Jonathan Swift
The full title of Swift's pamphlet is "A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burthen to their Parents, or the Country, and forMaking them Beneficial to the Publick." The tract is an ironically conceived attempt to "find out a fair, cheap, and easy Method" for converting the starving children of Ireland into "sound and useful members of the Commonwealth." Across the country poor children, predominantly Catholics, are living in squalor because their families are too poor to keep them fed and clothed.The author argues, by hard-edged economic reasoning as well as from a self-righteous moral stance, for a way to turn this problem into its own solution. His proposal, in effect, is to fatten up these undernourished children and feed them to Ireland's rich land-owners. Children of the poor could be sold into a meat market at the age of one, he argues, thus combating overpopulation and unemployment, sparing families the expense of child-bearing while providing them with a little extra income, improving the culinary experience of the wealthy, and contributing to the overall economic well-being of the nation.
The author offers statistical support for his assertions and gives specific data about the number of children to be sold, their weight and price, and the projected consumption patterns. He suggests some recipes for preparing this delicious new meat, and he feels sure that innovative cooks will be quick to generate more. He also anticipates that the practice of selling and eating children will have positive effects on family morality: husbands will treat their wives with more respect, and parents will value their children in ways hitherto unknown. His conclusion is that the implementation of this project will do more to solve Ireland's complex social, political, and economic problems than any other measure that has been proposed.One would think that Mr Perkins and those who are as delusional as he is would have learned a lesson from history rather than choosing to live in "fantasy-land" the masses be damned.
I believe we have to be careful that we don’t demonize anybody and we don’t demonize the most creative part of society," he said. "As a class, we are beginning to engage in class warfare. The rich as a class are threatened through higher taxes, more regulation."
Essentially, his argument is the classic "trickle down economics" theory, that the rich are the job creators, that as they spend money everyone benefits and gets richer.
The creative 1 % are threatened. … I’m friends with Al Gore who tells me income inequality is the No. 1 problem in America. But the 1% are not causing the inequality. They are the job creators. I think Kleiner Perkins itself over the years has created pretty close to 1 million jobs and we’re still doing it. It’s absurd to demonize the rich for being rich and doing what the rich do, which is get richer by creating opportunities for others."
There were moments where Perkins showed off his over-the-top wealth, too. He talked about how he owned an "underwater airplane." And he pointed to his watch and said, "This isn’t a Rolex. I could buy a six-pack of Rolexes for this."
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/perkins-on-nazi-quote-inequality-2014-1#ixzz2s7KJW7SX
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)