Posts filed under ‘America for Sale’
Citigroup Providing Free Bicycles — Don’t Buy it World!
This is from the “liberal” The Independent of London:
Hello, New Yorkers, if you’re there. In a few weeks you’ll welcome to your streets 10,000 bicycles that will make you, says your fellow New Yorker, the writer David Byrne, “rethink your city and rewrite the mental maps you use to decide what is… possible.”
Manhattan will become the latest city to adopt a bike hire scheme, deploying the same machines we use in London. Here’s some advice before you hop on: Get a cheap helmet; consider the effects of sweat before riding to social engagements; start saving – the scheme is more than five times the price of London’s – and never get run over (taxis may be your nemesis).
This photo accompanies the article:
(Image via TheIndependent.co.uk)
Citibike? As in Citigroup.
Citigroup was one of the five or six banks who crashed the global economy. They aren’t our friend. But they want to be.
Beware.
This photo disgusts me. Come on world, let’s not fall for their cheap effort to woo us.
Xcel Energy Granted a GIGANTIC Rate Hike in Colorado
Geezus. I wonder how much Xcel Energy paid under the table for this:
Xcel Energy has struck an agreement with regulators, consumer advocates and businesses that would raise electricity rates in Colorado $114 million over three years.
The utility had originally sought a $142 million increase for 2012.
The settlement, which must be approved by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, would raise the typical residential bill, in three annual steps, by a total of $3.70 a month, or about 5.5 percent.
The original request would have raised the average monthly residential bill by $4, to $71, for 2012.
Xcel, the state’s largest utility, won the proposed rate hike in the face of stiff opposition from state regulators, businesses and consumers, and after failing to get an interim rate increase from the commission.
So Xcel got a rate increase of $114 million over three years. Here’s the kicker:
The utilities commission staff recommended that Xcel receive a $7.3 million hike. The state Office of Consumer Counsel, representing residential and small-business customers, suggested $9.4 million.
It isn’t clear whether the numbers immediately above are for one year or three, but it doesn’t matter. Xcel was cleared to hike rates $114 million over three years, hugely higher than the recommended amounts, even if they are multiplied by three.
How did this happen? How did Xcel get a hike so wildly and hugely above what was recommended?
There can be only one answer. Xcel owns some people. It’s called the corporatocracy.
Outrageous.
Most Medical Implants Not Tested for Safety
I heard a few sentences about this on the radio this morning and I just about fell on the floor:
Artificial Knee via DJOGlobal.eu
Dangerous medical devices
Most medical implants have never been tested for safety
Tens of millions of Americans live with medical devices implanted in their bodies—artificial joints, heart defibrillators, surgical mesh. And it’s a safe bet that most of them assume that someone, somewhere, tested the devices for safety and effectiveness.
But that is rarely the case. For most implants and other high-risk devices brought to market, manufacturers do nothing more than file some paperwork and pay the Food and Drug Administration a user fee of roughly $4,000 to start selling a product that can rack up many millions of dollars in revenue. Often, the only safety “testing” that occurs is in the bodies of unsuspecting patients—including two of the three people whose stories are told in this report.
As for the smaller number of high-risk products for which advance safety studies are required, government rules allow them to be sold based on studies that are smaller and less rigorous than those required for prescription drugs.
“Standards for devices exist, they just don’t make sense,” says Diana Zuckerman, Ph.D., a vocal critic of the current system and president of the National Research Center for Women & Families, a nonprofit advocacy organization.
I find this absolutely shocking. I had no idea it was this bad. Devices implanted in people’s bodies, including those that literally keep people alive, like heart defibrillators, aren’t tested for safety?! Gosh. I wonder that came to pass (here’s lookin’ at you, lobbyists for the corporatocracy).
Unreal.
Obama to Propose Cutting Corporate Taxes
OMG. Is this Obama talking or is this Obama under the influence of Citizens United talking?
(Reuters) – President Barack Obama, who has angered businesses with his plans to close corporate tax loopholes, is expected to call for cutting the top 35 percent corporate tax rate as early as this month, according to two sources close to the administration.
The president is likely to propose a rate close to an average of peer nations, the sources said.
Good thing it’s Friday. This is the kind of news that makes me want to take my head off and set it down for a while.
Don’t Like Citizens United? Turn the TV Off
Antonin Scalia is a simple-minded asshat unworthy of the position he’s in:
Photo: Adm Golub / The San Francisco Chronicle
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — U.S. Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia has a simple solution for people who don’t like all the political advertisements unleashed by the court’s decision two years ago that ended limits on corporate contributions in political campaigns – change the channel or turn off the TV.
Scalia was asked about the [Citizens United] decision during a presentation before the South Carolina Bar on Saturday, exactly two years after the court handed down the 5-4 decision in the case that led to the rise of Super PACs. They are outside groups affiliated with candidates that can take in unlimited contributions as long as they don’t directly coordinate with the candidate.
“I don’t care who is doing the speech – the more the merrier,” Scalia said. “People are not stupid. If they don’t like it, they’ll shut it off.”
Yo Tony, people are stupid. They don’t turn their TV off. They watch and they get brainwashed.
(Hear me screaming now?)
I’m going to bed. I’m walking people through a food bank tomorrow.
On Strike
Write Congress Now!
NOT IN THE US? PETITION THE STATE DEPARTMENT HERE
Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian on CNBC: “Why is it that when Republicans and Democrats need to solve the budget and the deficit, there’s deadlock, but when Hollywood lobbyists pay them $94 million dollars to write legislation, people from both sides of the aisle line up to co-sponsor it?”
Think Twice Before You Click on the Huffington Post
AOL and Huffington Post CEO, Timothy M. Armstrong is a Romney supporter currently at the maximum allowed contribution of $2,500 for the current cycle.
The Recall of Governor Ass Hat Scott Walker Going Strong in Wisconsin
You go Wisconsin!
507,533 signatures to recall Scott Walker and counting. The people of Wisconsin are uniting to recall Scott Walker.
(Video via.)
Scott Walker wanted to be popular in high school but he didn’t know how to, so he kissed up to the macho guys, the athletes (as in the Koch brothers) and lapped at their feet until they turned around and gave him a pat on the head.
Now he’s following them around, doing what they tell him to do, like a mangy dog.
Thankfully, the people of Wisconsin want something better.
Outrage Overload Links
There are many days when I come across articles or bits of info that I think are worth posting but I just don’t have the energy because of, well, pure and simple: outrage overload. So I guess my new thing is going to be, at the end of such a day, to put up a post and let you all decide what you think is important; what you want to take a look at.
So, here are my outrage overload links for today:
●●● Where governments get their surveillance technology (I’m thinking boycotts here).
●●● A slide show: Suppressing Nonviolent Dissent — An anthology of police brutality at encampments across America. Check out this tank used by police in Tampa:
What happened to “protect and serve?”
●●● Journalist Suspended from National Press Club for Aggressive Questioning of Saudi Royal. That should read: Journalist suspended for being a real journalist and for not kissing Saudi royal’s ass.
●●● Michelle Obama Booed at NASCAR Race. I’m waiting for every single Republican who said we should respect the office of the presidency “during times of war” to scream bloody murder about this. So far? Crickets.
●●● The never-to-be-missed Glenn Greenwald: The Roots of the UC-Davis Pepper Spraying. (Not the best title.) He talks about the right — on paper, as in the Constitution — of American to freedom of speech and a right to assembly but how that is rather quickly being quashed by our authoritarian government:
The genius of this approach is how insidious its effects are: because the rights continue to be offered on paper, the citizenry continues to believe it is free. They believe that they are free to do everything they choose to do, because they have been “persuaded” — through fear and intimidation — to passively accept the status quo. As Rosa Luxemburg so perfectly put it: “Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.” Someone who sits at home and never protests or effectively challenges power factions will not realize that their rights of speech and assembly have been effectively eroded because they never seek to exercise those rights; it’s only when we see steadfast, courageous resistance from the likes of these UC-Davis students is this erosion of rights manifest.
Pervasive police abuses and intimidation tactics applied to peaceful protesters — pepper-spray, assault rifles, tasers, tear gas and the rest — not only harm their victims but also the relationship of the citizenry to the government and the set of core political rights. Implanting fear of authorities in the heart of the citizenry is a far more effective means of tyranny than overtly denying rights.
●●● Quote of the day: From Greenwald’s piece, immediately above:
Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.
– Rosa Luxemburg.
Wow.
●●● Reminds me of Martin Luther King, Jr’s:
A riot is the language of the unheard.
Bill Moyers — a National Treasure
Bill Moyers tells it like it is, as he always does.
October 25, 2011:
“Barack Obama criticizes bankers as ‘fat cats’, then invites them to dine at a pricey New York restaurant…. The President has raised more money from banks, hedge funds, and private equity managers than any Republican candidate, including Mitt Romney. Let’s name it for what it is… Our politicians are little more than money launderers in the trafficking of power and policy – fewer than six degrees of separation from the spirit and tactics of Tony Soprano. Why New York’s Zuccotti Park is occupied is no mystery. Reporters keep scratching their heads and asking: ‘Why are you here?’ But it’s as clear as the crash of 2008. They are occupying Wall Street because Wall Street has occupied America.”
He is one of the few people in the US who can make so much so clear in so few words.
See the video here.
Herman Cain, Federal Reserve
This would be Herman Cain before he was a presidential candidate who talked about hating big government:
Herman Cain (born December 13, 1945) is an American business executive, syndicated columnist, and radio host from Georgia. He is the former chairman and CEO of Godfather’s Pizza and served as chairman and deputy chairman of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Before his business career he worked as a mathematician in ballistics as a civilian employee of the United States Navy.
He lived on the dole as an employee of the United States Navy and — big time — as a member of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City for God’s sake.
Yep. “Big government” is a very bad thing.
Police State America
This is the United States of America tonight (@10:41 pm ET):
Follow JoshuaHol here.
America For Sale — Going, Going, Gone
So, Senate Republicans and Democrats have finally found something they can agree on — coddling the energy industry, polluting our air and giving us cancer:
Five Republican and five Democratic senators, mostly from coal-rich states, introduced a bill that largely mirrors recently passed House legislation to block the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating disposal of coal ash for the first time.
The bill, whose main sponsor is Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., would block the EPA rule and instead let the states regulate the ash like municipal solid waste. Last week the House passed a highly similar bill fronted by Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va.
The EPA has proposed to classify coal ash under federal hazardous-waste management law, or let states regulate it as a non-hazardous waste. The proposed rule comes in the wake of coal-ash facility spills, including one in Kingston, Tenn., in 2008 in which 1 billion gallons of ash-containing liquid flooded the nearby area.
For more on the horrors of coal ash, watch this, posted by Tennessee Riverkeeper:
Michael Bloomberg: The $18+ Billionaire
This would be our Tweet of the Day re NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg who’s worth an estimated 18.1 BILLION.
Got that?
$18+ Billion. That’s with a B.
I’m off tomorrow, volunteering at my local food bank. When I’m there, I think about how the people who come through would love to have an extra $30 much less $18 billion.
The disparity in this country is Un. Real.
H/t to #OWS for their work.
100+ OccupyWallStreeters Protest in Tiny Niles, Michigan
According to 2009 data, Niles, Michigan has a population of 11,272 and a media income of $29,601.
That said, this happened in little ol’ Niles yesterday:
Niles Daily Star / AARON MUELLER
The “Occupy Wall Street” movement that is gaining steam across the country came to Niles Wednesday when a group of more than 100 people rallied in front of Niles City Hall.
The protest, dubbed “Occupy Niles,” is out of the same vein as a series of protests that started last month in New York City and are popping up in cities across the nation against economic inequality.
Cars honked driving past the rally on Main Street, as the protestors chanted “tax the greedy to feed the needy” and “we are the 99 percent,” referencing their belief that the wealthiest 1 percent of the country thrive while the working class struggles.
Many protestors discussed rampant unemployment and the widening gap between rich and poor in the country.
They held signs, reading “Greed kills,” “Corporate welfare has to go,” and “Want your grandpa working till he dies?” There was even a man playing a djembe drum.
Event organizer Matthew Rosenhagen, a Niles resident and disabled war veteran, said he felt the need to bring the “occupy movement” to Berrien County.
“In Michigan, more than anywhere, we have loss of manufacturing, loss of jobs, and I just want to show that Berrien County is hit as hard as anybody,” he said. “It just shows that everyone, no matter what political party you are, is fed up with political gridlock. We’re looking for jobs and economic equality.”
Having “more than 100″ people protesting on a weekday in a tiny town in Michigan speaks to the power of the Occupy movement.
“Goldman Sachs Rules the World”
If you have money in the stock market, consider this:
In a scary and painfully frank interview a freaked out BBC interviewer is visibly shaken when market trader Alessio Rastani predicts that the “Market is Toast.” Apparently there is nothing Euro governments can do.
Update: If you are on Facebook Alessio is commenting further. This may be one of the most important debates on Net at the moment! http://www.facebook.com/alessiorastani
(Via.)
April, 2009: Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill): “Frankly [the banks] Own the Place.”
Obama is Out-Bushing the Bushes
Yes we can! turns into the-corporatocracy-and-the-GOP-have-me-by-the-balls-so-no-we-can’t-because-I’m-scared-of-them:
Not only that, he pushed air quality standards back more than 20 years.
I just created a new category: Obama: Don’t Count on my Vote
No, It Isn’t a Movie
Check out this must see video clip from CSPAN of a man (the guy in glasses to the left of center) walking past Texas Governor Rick Perry and saying: “Bank of America. We’ll help you out.”
Amazing to see something that happens all the time caught on tape.
Memo to My Fellow Liberals: Rick Perry Isn’t the Only Owned Politician
My liberal friends are all atwitter today about this:
Rick Perry is Big Oil’s $11 Million Man
Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX), even before establishing super PACs to rake in unlimited contributions from Texas billionaires in his presidential run, has been one of the best funded politicians in history. Since his 1998 candidacy to be George W. Bush’s lieutenant governor, Perry has raked in $117,091,642 in campaign contributions, with the oil and gas industry the top contributor. Big oil has fueled Rick Perry’s career, the top industry contributor at $11,189,103, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics.
But when they post an article like the one above, implying outrage that a Republican is taking millions of dollars from corporations, they should, IMHO, include at least a link to the info below because Democrats are doing it too. The outrage should be that the folks in Washington are all being bought, not just Republicans.
For Fundraising, Obama Relies Even More on Wall Street
But a new study by the Center for Responsive politics out Friday morning shows that Obama is relying more on Wall Street to fund his re-election this year than he did in 2008.
A copy of the study was obtained in advance by CNBC.
In fact, the Center found that one-third of the money Obama’s elite fund-raising corps has raised on behalf of his re-election has come from the financial sector.
“Individuals who work in the finance, insurance and real estate sector are responsible for raising at least $11.3 million for Obama’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee,” the Center reported.
All of Obama’s bundlers have raised a minimum of $34.95 million.
The Big “Job Creator” Lie
As I’ve asked a million times on this blog, why, oh why, do the American people believe the big Republican lie that if we cut taxes on the “job creators,” they’ll create jobs? I mean, just look around. Where are those jobs?
The Republicans in Congress have been on a spending cut frenzy since they began their assault on workers and jobs earlier this year, and the economy has not improved or grown like it should have if the GOP’s assertions were correct. At last count, the spending cuts Republicans have proposed will cost Americans nearly 2 million jobs making the GOP the job-killing masters. It is really a twisted concept to understand, but for some unknown reason the Republicans have convinced their supporters that the jobs picture and the economy will improve by enacting spending cuts and maintaining the Bush-era tax cuts. Both spending cuts and the wealthy’s tax cuts will never ever result in job creation and it reinforces the notion that Republicans are not the least bit serious about creating jobs or growing the economy.
If the Republicans had their way and slashed education, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and all programs that Americans depend on, there will still be bills to pay for the bloated defense budget, oil subsidies, and the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy. The savings from severely cutting those programs will still not add revenue, and when those programs are slashed, the millions of jobs lost will result in lost tax revenue that puts the economy in a worse position than it is now. The only difference is there will be millions more Americans living in poverty with no safety nets to sustain them, but of course, that is part of the Republican’s plans over the long term. When President Obama suggested keeping the payroll tax holiday to stimulate spending that does create jobs, Republicans balked because they need the revenue to maintain the military, oil subsidies, and tax cuts for the wealthy. Increasing the payroll tax will not affect the wealthy or the corporations they own so Republicans are happy to see it increase.
[...]
The spending cuts Republicans have proposed are for one purpose and one purpose only; to maintain the wealthy’s entitlements and the defense budget. They have nothing whatsoever to do with creating jobs or helping the economy much less setting America on a stronger financial footing.
Wake-up America.
If Larry Kudlow Backs Harry Reid’s Plan, I’m Scared as Hell
This would be let-them-eat-cake corporatist Larry Kudlow on Harry Reid’s “deficit reduction plan,” which Obama endorses:
What’s so bad about the Reid plan?
The big sticking points between the House GOP leadership and Sen. Harry Reid’s latest plan are 1) the House wants two debt increases, one this year and one next year (Reid has just one increase) and 2) the House Republicans want a guaranteed balanced-budget-amendment vote.
Regarding the Reid plan itself, it really looks like a Republican plan: A $2.7 trillion spending cut to raise the debt ceiling by something like $2.5 trillion, and no tax revenues. So, really, what’s so bad about the Reid plan? Increasingly, Wall Street gurus want one debt-ceiling increase, not two.
Time for some Quaaludes. Oh, and I think we’re watching the implosion of the Democratic Party.
“Budget Extremists” Are America’s Greatest National Security Threat
I agree with the gist of this article by Nick Kristof. I just wish he’d included Democrats in those he is lambasting, particularly President Obama, who is the one who wanted to “do something big” in terms of cutting the deficit.
IF China or Iran threatened our national credit rating and tried to drive up our interest rates, or if they sought to damage our education system, we would erupt in outrage.
Well, wake up to the national security threat. Only it’s not coming from abroad, but from our own domestic extremists.
We tend to think of national security narrowly as the risk of a military or terrorist attack. But national security is about protecting our people and our national strength — and the blunt truth is that the biggest threat to America’s national security this summer doesn’t come from China, Iran or any other foreign power. It comes from budget machinations, and budget maniacs, at home.
What a Life
Break time!
Looks like I might have to invest in some chairs — hey, how about a tiny couch? — for my backyard squirrel friends:
Was that a burp?
(Via.)
The Tea Party Abandons Our Veterans
Remember back in the day when if you didn’t wear a flag pin you were considered un-American? And remember the crowd that drove that meme? Republicans.
Republicans saw themselves as the penultimate supporters of “the troops,” and hey, “the troops” were untouchable.
If you think Republicans the Tea Party-controlled Republican party still holds those values, think again. They are literally abandoning fundamental American values in order to “reduce the deficit.” We’re talking insane, manic, crazed slash and burn here folks:
Republican Paul Ryan and the House of Representatives are looking to end VA healthcare for over 1.3 million veterans. These veterans are the least disabled veterans using the system, usually with disability ratings of 0 percent or no service-connected disability. Currently, the VA spends over $4 billion yearly to treat these vets, despite co-pays intended to offset the expense. Ryan’s cuts are intended to save $6 billion off the VA’s tab and $62 billion over the next 10 years. Instead of merely increasing the co-pay or taxing Wall Street, Congress wants to just cut your benefits out, all together.
Disabled American Veterans (DAV) is fighting the across the board cut because many of the veterans in question have come to rely on VA healthcare over the years. In times when healthcare costs are astronomical, these veterans will go without the care they were promised, if the proposal becomes law. DAV voiced additional concerns that this attempt is just the start of a gradual and specifically focused erosion of veterans’ benefits.
I wonder what these guys think:
And I wonder when the “liberal media” (hilarious, huh?) will be all over it, like pollen on a bee:
Tweet of the Day
The MSM will spend the weekend talking about Anthony Weiner and Sarah Palin and who know who the hell else so we don’t think about how corporate America is trashing us and our planet:
Obama’s Caving Again
The oil and gas lobby freaked out about this and it looks like it paid off:
The Obama administration is backing away from a plan to make millions of acres of undeveloped land in the West eligible for federal wilderness protection.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a memo to his agency that officials will not designate any public lands as “wild lands.” Instead Salazar said the agency will work with members of Congress to develop recommendations for managing millions of acres of undeveloped land in the West. A copy of the memo was obtained by The Associated Press.
“…[W]ill work with members of congress…” I.e., will work with members of congress who are owned by the oil and gas industry.
This is another notch against Obama on my this-isn’t-what-we-voted-for notch pole.
Texans: Republicans Are F-ing You
Or, How Republicans are Screwing Us Today
I was off most of the weekend but when I came back to the Internets just now, this was one of the first headlines I saw.
Freakin’ unbelievable.
Vote Republican!
Texas Taxpayers Finance Formula One Auto Races as Schools Dismiss Teachers
Texas, which may balance its budget by firing thousands of teachers, plans to commit $25 million in state funds to Formula One auto racing each year for a decade.
As many as 100,000 teachers in Texas may be fired because of spending cuts to cope with the state’s budget crisis, according to Moak Casey & Associates, an Austin-based education consultant. For $25 million a year, the state could pay more than 500 teachers an average salary of $48,000.
“I have to wonder why the state of Texas is all over funding for this racetrack and not the school-funding crisis,” said Ewa Siwak, 44, who teaches German in the Austin Independent School District and whose job at Bowie High School is being cut. “Tax dollars for education should be a higher priority.”
Ya think?
“Special Interests”
Tweet of the day from drgrist:
That, and referring to Workmen’s Compensation and Social Security — which workers pay for via deductions from their paychecks — as “entitlements.”
