Posts filed under ‘We the People’
Letter Carriers Refuse to Deliver Mail Based on “Moral Convictions”
Think about this:
In response to the Obama Administrations’ rules that insurance companies cover birth control of female employees who work with religiously affiliated organizations, Republicans are pushing legislation that would allow any employer to deny health services to employees on “moral convictions.” Among the Republicans pushing the legislation is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
On Sunday, during an appearance on Face The Nation, McConnell claimed that requiring employers to cover crucial health services for women is a violation of freedom of religion and admitted to Bob Scheiffer that he supports Roy Blunt’s legislation that would allow any employer in the nation to deny health services to employees if such services conflict with their “moral convictions.”
Are you serious Mitch? Fine. The thing is, you’re proposing going down a two-way street buddy.
Let’s say the Postal Service decides, ahem, based on “moral convictions” of course, it won’t deliver flyers from Republican candidates. Or let’s say a left-leaning telephone company decides it won’t — based on “moral convictions” — route campaign calls from a Koch-brother-funded organization to its customers. Or lets say a liberal-leaning bank won’t — based on “moral convictions” — cash checks deposited by people who belong to the Republican party.
Do we really want to go down that road? Really? REALLY?
Imagine having the wisdom to think things through and to bust out of your hermetically sealed Fox-encased brain and to think about the reality of what you’re proposing.
Geezus.
Athens is Burning
People in Greece are reacting to economic cuts along the lines of what Republicans want to do here:
Photo: Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s parliament has approved an austerity and debt-relief bill, crucial for the country to avoid bankruptcy and remain in the eurozone.
Lawmakers voted early Monday in favor of the bill that imposes harsh new austerity measures in return for a euro130 billion ($171 billion) new bailout agreement and related deal with private creditors to shave euro100 billion ($132 billion) off the country’s national debt.
The vote occurred after extensive rioting and looting swept through the Greek capital.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) – Demonstrators set buildings ablaze and fireballs lit up the night sky in Greece’s capital on Sunday amid widespread rioting before a historic parliamentary vote on harsh austerity measures designed to prevent the country from going bankrupt.
The clashes erupted after more than 100,000 protesters marched to the parliament to rally against the drastic cuts, which will ax one in five civil service jobs and slash the minimum wage by more than a fifth.
At least 10 buildings were on fire, including a movie theater, bank and cafeteria, and looters smashed dozens of shops in the worst riot damage in years. Dozens of police officers and at least 37 protesters were injured, and more than 20 suspected rioters were detained.
See more photos here.
Rick Berman, Millionaire Lobbyist, Gives We the People The Finger
Rick Berman gives us all a big freakin’ finger:
Big-time lobbyist Rick Berman creates nonprofit front groups to push corporate interests. Now he’s in an anti-union ad pretending to be an auto mechanic.
(Via.)
This is how brazen the corporatocracy is getting. They’re buying elections and they don’t care if we know it because we can’t do anything about it. They have the money and we don’t. Period. We’re on the outside looking in. Welcome to Campaign 2012!
(With special thanks to the activist Republican judges on the Supreme Court who brought us Citizens United.)
New Hampshire Republicans Hope to Eliminate Lunch Breaks
Photo: dylizi.blog.com
Do you think every single business can be trusted to give their workers a lunch break without it being mandated by law? You know, out of the goodness of their heart? Republicans in New Hampshire do: New Hampshire Republicans Propose Bill To Eliminate Workers’ Lunch Breaks.
Folks, if you think there are” too many government regulations” and that those regulations are strangling businesses, vote Republican, because this is what they mean when they say they want to undo those “job killing regulations.” They want to make it so businesses can do anything they want, including screw you out of a lunch break.
You think corporations run things now? Just wait.
Egyptians — Still Fighting and Dying for Freedom
A year after the huge rallies in Tahrir Square, people in Egypt are still fighting and dying for freedom:
Photo: flickr: Mosa'aberising
Photo: flickr: Mosa'aberising
Photo: flickr: Mosa'aberising
Here is a slide show of what went down there today.
Horrible.
My thoughts are with them ♥.
Bomb Iran? No!
Occupy and other groups are rallying today in New York City to protest sanctions on Iran, the murder of Iranian scientists, and the increasingly hostile rhetoric coming from the United States and Israel concerning Iran.
The intrepid reporter Tim Pool is sending out pictures of some of the signs people are carrying (see them at his link above). This is my favorite so far:
Ain’t that the truth.
Interesting isn’t it that the usual crowd that screams about cutting government spending isn’t screaming about not going to war again. When it comes to cuts, they only want to cut the programs that benefit we the people. Defense contractors? Not so much.
Republicans Want to Freeze the Pay of Federal Workers — But Not Their Own
As part of their effort to pull us down, instead of lifting us up, Republicans in the House want to freeze pay for Federal workers:
The GOP-led House is ushering forward bills to freeze federal employee pay and ban welfare recipients from accessing their benefits through ATMs at casinos or strip clubs — moves intended to give Republicans leverage for including those proposals in negotiations to extend President Obama’s payroll tax holiday for the remainder of the year.
[...]
Republicans in the House also sought to freeze federal employee pay, confronting Obama’s proposal to lift the federal pay freeze that has been in effect since fiscal year 2010 and give federal workers a half-percent pay hike.
Thing is, I can’t find anything out there about Republicans committing to freezing their own pay:
Members of Congress have the only job in the country whose occupants can set their own salary without regard to performance, profit, or economic climate,” said Tom Schatz, president of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste in a press release.
[...]
Congress has now voted itself a total of $16,700 in raises over the last six years. Since 1990, congressional pay has increased from $98,400 to $154,700 in 2003.
Oh, okaaaay.
House Republicans Protect Gas Industry, Arrest Director of Gasland at DC Hearing
This is horrifying. Welcome to police state USA folks:
In a stunning break with First Amendment policy on Capitol Hill, House Republicans directed Capitol Hill police to detain a highly regarded documentary crew that was attempting to film a Wednesday hearing on a controversial natural gas procurement practice. Republicans also denied the entrance of a credentialed ABC News news team that was attempting to film the event.
Josh Fox, director of the Academy Award-nominated documentary “Gasland” was taken into custody by Capitol Hill police this morning, along with his crew, after Republicans objected to their presence, according to Democratic sources present at the hearing.
[...]
“Gasland” received strong critical acclaim and takes a critical eye toward the practice of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” a process in which several tons of highly pressurized water and chemicals are injected into the ground, allowing valuable natural gas to escape.
[...]
Fox had hoped to film Wednesday’s hearing for a follow-up to “Gasland.”
Fox did not have formal Capitol Hill credentials, but such formalities are rarely enforced against high-profile journalists. … The right to a free press is protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Documentary crews are almost never denied access to public meetings of elected government officials.
A separate ABC News crew, which did have official Capitol Hill credentials, was also denied access to the publichearing.
Republicans to all journalists and to America: Fuck the First Amendment. I mean seriously. This was a public hearing being held in the United States Capitol, a building owned by We the People, and the hearing was being conducted by people who We the People elected and who work for us! What the hell is going on around here?
If this isn’t a form of terrorism I don’t know what is.
Mitt Romney Campaigns For His Millionaire Donors
Who is Willard Mitt Romney campaigning for? You? Me? No. He’s campaigning for the folks who give to his SuperPAC, Restore Our Future, Inc.
Restore Our Future Inc.? A more appropriate name would be, Restore Rich People’s Future Inc.
Details here
Remember When Voting Was Thought of as a Sacred Right?
Remember when Iraq held its first election after the U.S. invasion and all of us, including conservatives like Bill Bennett, held their breath hoping the elections would be “free and fair?”
Let’s see many Americans color their right index finger purple in solidarity for the people voting in free elections in Iraq. Americans should watch closely the voting in Iraq.
I think it will do us all good to see democracy in action.
We watched from a high and mighty place back then because after all, we were the United States of America, where everyone has a voice, everyone has a vote and voting is sacred and respected above almost all other rights.
Well, that was then, this is now. Since then, the people in Bill Bennett’s Republican party have pushed through extraordinarily repressive voting rights laws in several states and now the international community is focusing attention on one of our most deeply held rights and traditions:
A wave of restrictive laws passed in Republican-held state legislatures will mean that a disproportionate number of ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, the elderly and the young, will find voting difficult and in many cases impossible.
Among the legislation is a requisite that aspiring voters present a state-issued photo identification card to cast their ballot. That would affect around 21 million people who do not have the ID.
The apparent reason for the ID requirement is to prevent voter fraud, yet an extensive analysis by the US Justice Department.found that incidents of vote fraud are exceedingly rare and that the new laws would not solve the eligibility issues.
Some analysts say the restrictions would have a severe impact on the country’s presidential vote in November, favouring the Republican candidate.
Al Jazeera’s Rob Reynold travelled to the state of Wisconsin, where he spoke to one woman whose right to vote may have been stripped by the new restrictions.
(Via.)
Fundamental rights in the United States are under assault people. We are facing an emergency.
Newt Gingrich attended a rally in The Villages, Florida yesterday and he said something about how he isn’t going to stand around while President Obama presides over America’s decline. Time to look in the mirror Newt.
Poor, Suffering Chevron
This would be our Tweet of the Day:
Poor thing.
By the way, those subsidies come out of We the People’s pocket, as in Our Tax Dollars. We pay Chevron because, according to our screwed up tax code, it can make $51,00o every minute of every day of the year and still claim it needs our tax dollars to stay alive and be a “job creator.”
Shopping at the Pentagon
Yep, it’s true. There are shops at the Pentagon. Given the nature of the corporatocracy we live in, I don’t know why I’m surprised:
America’s Most Dangerous Mall: Going Shopping at the Pentagon
Take a tour at the link above.
Here are some of the high low lights:
Chocolate Rain (of Terror)
If it has patriotic value, the Edward Marc candy shop can make something chocolatey out of it. (The Marine Corps logo? Semper Fi, fat boy.) Inexplicably, the chocolatier is one of the first things a visitor sees after coming up the escalator from the Metro entrance. This edible model of the building costs only $1.95.
The World’s Deadliest Tchotchkes
By far the most meta store in the Pentagon. From windbreakers to shot glasses to snapback baseball caps, the gift shop turns the movie version of the Pentagon — the fantasy one where it’s all war-planning, all the time — into cheesy collectables to hawk to the out-of-towners and class trips that take the daily guided tours. If only they made a sweatshirt with an image of an idle lieutenant colonel waiting to be promoted.
Filed under: We the People, Wars, Terror, Financial Crisis, Corporatocracy, Fear and Our Tax Dollars.
The United States Drops 27 Points in Freedom of the Press Index
Botswana, Namibia, Papua New Guinea and Niger are among the countries that rank higher in press freedoms than the United States in a new index released by Reporters Without Borders:
“Crackdown was the word of the year in 2011. Never has freedom of information been so closely associated with democracy. Never have journalists, through their reporting, vexed the enemies of freedom so much. Never have acts of censorship and physical attacks on journalists seemed so numerous. The equation is simple: the absence or suppression of civil liberties leads necessarily to the suppression of media freedom. Dictatorships fear and ban information, especially when it may undermine them.
[...]
“This year’s index finds the same group of countries at its head, countries such as Finland, Norway and Netherlands that respect basic freedoms. This serves as a reminder that media independence can only be maintained in strong democracies and that democracy needs media freedom.
[...]
Led by President Yoweri Museveni, Uganda (139th) launched an unprecedented crackdown on opposition movements and independent media after the elections in February. Similarly, Chile (80th) fell 47 places because of its many freedom of information violations, committed very often by the security forces during student protests. The United States (47th) also owed its fall of 27 places to the many arrests of journalist covering Occupy Wall Street protests.
Read more and see how other countries rank, here.
Time to hit the refresh button on what “they” tell us, that the United States is the worldwide beacon for freedom of the press.
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.
The Language of the Unheard
Martin Luther King, Jr.:
I would be the first to say that I am still committed to militant, powerful, massive, non-violence as the most potent weapon in grappling with the problem from a direct action point of view… But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard.
Something to think about as we head into an election year during which the voice Washington will hear is the voice that “speaks” with money.
We’re all unheard now.
Free Speech — As Long as the Government Approves
This would be our quote of the day (and maybe of the year), from Air Force Colonel Morris Davis, the former chief prosecutor at the Guantanamo Bay military base/prison in Cuba. He resigned in 2007, protesting political interference in the military commissions of Guantánamo prisoners. He was a guest this morning on DemocracyNow! on a show marking the 10th anniversary of the United States detaining prisoners there.
Photo: Wikipedia
Yeah, I—as I said, I was very optimistic when President Obama took office that he was going to follow through on what he promised [to close Gitmo within a year of taking office]. You know, I believed in hope and change. When he began to backpedal, I wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that accused—that said it was a double standard, what we were doing. And I got my termination notice the next day. So, it was disappointing I spent 25 years defending the Constitution, and then to be told that it didn’t apply to me. You know, we have free speech for everyone that has nothing to say. But if you have an opinion, then it’s speak at your own peril. And so, I was fired for expressing an opinion.
Davis was fired for expressing an opinion by the administration of Mr. Hope and Change Constitutional lawyer, Barack Obama. If a president who’s a Constitutional lawyer will fire someone for exercising their freedom of speech, anyone will.
(If you’d like to hear more of what Col. Davis had to say, see the “rushed transcript” or the video at the DemocracyNow! link above.)
Law Enforcement Asked Google to “Remove Videos of Police Brutality”
Check out this Google “Transparency Report:”
We received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove YouTube videos of police brutality, which we did not remove. Separately, we received requests from a different local law enforcement agency for removal of videos allegedly defaming law enforcement officials. We did not comply with those requests, which we have categorized in this Report as defamation requests.
Thanks to Google for not complying with the request but woohah, it’s pretty darn scary that a “law enforcement agency” would make a request directly in conflict with laws regarding freedom of speech. If they’re embarrassed about their acts of police brutality, maybe they shouldn’t beat people anymore, rather than attempt to delete evidence that they did.
Seven Occupy Protesters in Texas Charged with a FELONY
Geez. The more I hear about Texas, the more I never want to go there:
Seven Occupy protesters were indicted on felony charges by a grand jury in Houston on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office says, in connection with their demonstration at the local port as part of a national day of action by the movement.
The decision comes nearly a week after a judge initially dismissed the charges, saying the protesters could not be charged with possessing or using a “criminal instrument” – a felony in Texas – for their use of PVC pipe.
The protesters — three from Austin, four from Houston — put their arms through the pipe and used latches on it to connect together, making their arrest more difficult but not preventing it, said one of their attorneys, Daphne Silverman, of the National Lawyer’s Guild in Houston. Donna Hawkins, a spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office, confirmed the indictment.
“They are feeling, ‘wow,’ is the word. … They’re in a lot of shock. They were very happy with the justice’s decision last week, they believed in her, they believed in the justice system,” Silverman said. “These people … are not criminals. These folks are out there attempting to make the country better for all of us.”
[...]
The protesters had joined with other Occupy outfits across the country that were conducting port shutdowns on Dec. 12 to economically disrupt what they called “Wall Street on the waterfront.”
Arrests on felony arrests were occurring in other cities, such as Denver and New York. Civil rights lawyers have suggested the use of felony charges was another form of crackdown on the movement.
The Houston Police Department has used the “criminal instrument” against protesters on previous occasions, according to Attorney Randall Kallinen, who is representing one of the seven protesters. The charge usually does not hold up in court in such cases, but because it is a felony charge it has a chilling effect on would-be activists, he said.
So they’re charging Occupy protesters with felonies for linking together with PVC pipe –it would be funny if it weren’t so serious — and now they face up to two years in prison. Last I looked, not one of the banksters who brought down the world’s economy have even been charged with so much as a misdemeanor. Gosh. Don’t you just love how “justice” is dispensed in the good ol’ US of A? And isn’t it interesting the way the judicial system seems to be working to intimidate the Occupy movement on behalf of the corporatocracy?
Obama Administration Issues Rote Statement About the Brutal Egyptian Military
If the United States (it contributes $2 billion annually to the Egyptian “military”) doesn’t say something stronger than this
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday she was “deeply concerned” about continuing violence in Egypt and urged Egyptian security forces to respect the rights of protesters
about this,
12-17-11 -- Reuters
who will?
Lowe’s: UnAmerican, Hateful Bigots
You probably heard that Lowe’s,
sided with the “Florida Family Association” (what a deceitful name), and pulled its ads from the TLC show “All-American Muslim” the other day.
Unfortunately for the artificially patriotic, flag waving Lowe’s, this would be the First Amendment of the United States Constitution:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Note to Lowe’s: It ain’t easy being a democracy. Sometimes you have to actually read the Constitution and digest and comprehend what it means. Then you have to fight to uphold it.
The “Florida Family Association” doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the Constitution. All it cares about is its private, hateful agenda.
Lowe’s: Are you a hater or do you love what the United States of America has stood for since its inception?
Slap Your Face Quotes from the Durban Climate Change Conference
I haven’t put up any posts about the climate change conference that took place over the last two weeks in Durban, South Africa because because, well, because of a general sense of outrage overload and a feeling that nothing would get done there.
I’ve been peeking in on it and now though and now that the conference has ended, I’m reading some summaries that pretty much confirm what I feared. Like this one from CommonDreams. (This is the second half of an article you can read in its entirety at the link above.)
Chris Huhne hailed the conclusion of the talks as “a triumph of European co-operation”.
I’m thinking we need worldwide cooperation, not just European cooperation.
“We have taken a significant step forward. This will give business confidence and stop us locking in a whole generation of high-carbon technology,” he said.
I’m sick beyond belief of thinking about giving “business confidence.” How about we give the planet and We the People confidence once and for all already?
But Martin Khor, director of the intergovernmental South Center in Geneva, said poor countries would be obliged to cut emissions proportionally more than the rich. “It’s like the starving will be made to give up half their small amount of food but the rich just a bit,” he said.
The powerful countries shit on the little ones.
Green groups said the ambition shown by countries to reduce emissions was paltry. “Negotiators have sent a clear message to the world’s hungry: let them eat carbon,” said Celine Charveriat, director of campaigns and advocacy for Oxfam.
When will the rich and powerful countries come to grips with the fact that we’re all in this together?
“Governments must immediately turn their attention to raising the ambition of their emissions cuts targets and filling the Green Climate Fund. Unless countries ratchet up their emissions cuts urgently we could still be in store for a 10-year timeout on the action we need to stay under two degrees [of temperature increase].”
Greenpeace International director Kumi Naidoo said: “The chance of averting catastrophic climate change is slipping through our hands with every passing year that nations fail to agree on a rescue plan for the planet.”
“This will force governments to admit their current pledges to cut emissions are not enough to achieve 2C rise and will have to be strengthened,” said Michael Jacobs, of the Grantham climate research institute of climate change.
Nnimmo Bassey, chair of Friends of the Earth International, said: “Delaying real action till 2020 is a crime of global proportions.
“This means the world is on track to a 4C temperature rise, a death sentence for Africa, small island states and the poor and vulnerable worldwide. The richest 1% of the world have decided that it is acceptable to sacrifice the 99%.“
I have friends and neighbors who have babies. Babies as in cherubic 7-week-olds and enthusiastic 2-year-olds. When I look at them I wonder what kind of world they will live in when they’re 30 or 40 or 60. I think it will be awful.
Martha Coakley Becomes First Sitting AG to Support Overturning Citizens United
I think it’s just astounding that it has taken until today — December 9, 2011 — for the first sitting Attorney General in the United States to come out in support of repealing Citizens United, a ruling that was handed down in January, 2010. I.e., we’ve had almost two years of silence from the top law lawyers in the country.
Really sad and so indicative of the hold the corporatocracy has on our elected officials.
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has become the first sitting state attorney general in the United States to support a constitutional amendment to overturn the US Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. FEC ruling issued in January 2010. The ruling swept away a century of precedent barring corporate expenditures in US elections and has unleashed a torrent of unlimited corporate money in the political process.
On Wednesday, December 7, 2011, Attorney General Coakley issued a letter to the chairs of the Massachusetts state senate and state house judiciary committees declaring support for a pending resolution that calls on Congress to pass and send to the states for ratification a constitutional amendment restoring free speech and fair elections to the people.
Denver Police Trash Occupy Protesters in Emails
A slew of “car-to-car” emails exchanged by members of the Denver Police Department about Occupy Denver protesters have surfaced. “Denver Police spokesman Lieutenant Matt Murray concedes that some of them are unprofessional.”
Ya think?
(Image via.)
There was this, “text message sent by an unidentified officer from a squad car that read in part, “A few of us set up a Twitter account to harass the ‘Occupy Denver’ people.”
And this, showing an utter lack of understanding of what the Occupy movement is all about:
“They’re supporting the same BS protests that are going on on Wall Street. The typical ‘Tax the Rich’ ‘Eff the Cops’ anarchist crap.”
“Denver protesters are too pathetic for us to have anything like that.”
“lol, that might not be a bad thing… at least we aren’t in the media ;) — for now that is.”
“If you think about it, large scale protests are a good way to waste city money and possibly cripple the system.”
And this:
“I bet if you guys dropped a box of skunks in the middle of the… they would probably scatter real quick.”
Another set of messages refers to the protesters as “stupid” and “retards.”
Here’s a log of all the texts that have been released.
So, good to know the DPD is so respectful of our first amendment rights, huh?
We’re Gonna Get Ourselves a Prison
Take a look at this video from the 1980′s.
Flora, Illinois was competing with at least 33 other communities to become the site of a new prison. Unemployment was high. In a bid to promote the town as a prison site, Flora’s former police chief recorded a song titled “All We Want’s A Prison,” but the town failed to win its bid.
So sad.
Corporations set the stage such that we beg them to come to our towns. They demand tax breaks and subsidies and this and that, all in the name of jobs, jobs, jobs. We give them those things, nixing parks and schools and roads, etc., and when they’re done sucking the life out of us, poof, they’re gone.
Bottom line is we make fools of ourselves while we in essence set ourselves up to let them make fools of us.
Newt Debuts His Divide and Conquor Theme
This would be Newt Gingrich on November 29 in Newberry, South Carolina:
On the jobs front, Gingrich says he wants to be an advocate for American products that produce American jobs and he wants to decrease dependency on the federal government.
“Barack Obama has put more people on food stamps than any president in history,” said Gingrich. “I want to be the best paycheck president in American history.”
This would be Newt Gingrich on November 30 in Council Bluffs, Iowa:
“Remember, this is the best food stamp president in history. So more Americans today get food stamps than before. And we now give it away as cash — you don’t get food stamps. You get a credit card, and the credit card can be used for anything. We have people who take their food stamp money and use it to go to Hawaii. They give food stamps now to millionaires because, after all, don’t you want to be compassionate? You know, the Obama model: isn’t there somebody you’d like to give money to this week.
Obama’s the “food stamp president” and Newt wants to be the “paycheck president.” Divide us! It works every time.
Support Your Local Army!
I’m thinking that a time is rapidly approaching when use of the terms “police department” and “peace officer” will become obsolete, replaced instead by something like “army” and “soldier.” Here’s why:
The U.S. military has some of the most advanced killing equipment in the world that allows it to invade almost wherever it likes at will.
We produce so much military equipment that inventories of military robots, M-16 assault rifles, helicopters, armored vehicles, and grenade launchers eventually start to pile up and it turns out a lot of these weapons are going straight to American police forces to be used against US citizens.
Benjamin Carlson at The Daily reports on a little known endeavor called the “1033 Program” that gave more than $500 million of military gear to U.S. police forces in 2011 alone.
1033 was passed by Congress in 1997 to help law-enforcement fight terrorism and drugs, but despite a 40-year low in violent crime, police are snapping up hardware like never before. While this year’s staggering take topped the charts, next year’s orders are up 400 percent over the same period.
And just think, this is all being paid for by you and me. We shell out the money, the defense contractors get rich, and then the stuff they sell to the government is used against us.
It’s the military industrial complex gone berserk.
(Image via.)
Occupy the Bathroom — Drown That Job Creator Myth in the Bathtub
Why in the world aren’t we all raising our arms and shrugging our shoulders and saying hey, where are all those jobs the “jobs creators” were supposed to create? All we’ve heard for the last ten years is that we little people should put our present and future lives on hold for the “jobs creators” because they are our salvation. Wait just a sec, they say, those jobs are comin’!
Yeah? So where where the hell are they?
Tired old Newt is stuck on rerun when it comes to that:
I repudiate, and I call on the President to repudiate, the concept of the 99 and the 1. It is un-American, it is divisive, it is historically false.
When I am president, I will be president of all the American people, not part of the American people. And I will seek to unify the American people, not to divide them against each other. And I think that’s an important distinction. You are not going to get job creation when you engage in class warfare because you have to attack the very people you hope will create jobs.
(Via.)
Forget Grover Norquist. We 99%ers need to drag that job creation crap to the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.
Mike Bloomberg Brags About Having His Own “Army”
Wow, this is a revealing statement by 1%-er Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York:
“I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh biggest army in the world. I have my own State Department, much to Foggy Bottom’s annoyance. We have the United Nations in New York, and so we have an entree into the diplomatic world that Washington does not have,” Mayor Bloomberg said.
The moto of the New York Police Department, as inscribed on the side of NYPD police cars,
Photo: Robert Caplin for The New York Times
is: Courtesy, Professionalism and Respect. It, like all other police departments around the country, was established to protect and serve the people. The department is funded by tax dollars paid by the people of the city of New York.
Mike, you work for and are paid by the people of the city of New York too. The NYPD is not your personal army. You should disabuse yourself of that notion inmediatamente.
LA’s “Democratic” Mayor Launches a War Against People Who Want to Be Heard
This is happening in the United States of America on November 29, 2011 @ roughly 7:12 p.m. PT:
Follow Kevin Gosztola here.
Emma Sullivan is My New Hero!
I keep thinking about Emma Sullivan.
Ms. Sullivan is the 18-year-old high school senior who attended an event in Topeka, Kansas last Monday which was billed as a “Kansas Youth in Government” forum. Ms. Sullivan pissed off Kansas Governor Sam Brownback — the keynote speaker — when she sent a tweet about his speech that Brownback’s staff didn’t like.
(Apparently Brownback’s staff is sitting around in pajamas in their parents’ basement, eating Cheetos, trolling the web for negative tweets about Brownback instead of creating jobs.)
Sullivan tweeted that Brownback “sucked” and “blowsalot.”
How dare she?!
Sam – Fidel Castro — Brownback’s office (don’t forget, Brownback sets the tone for what his office does) contacted the principal at Sullivan’s school, who (being the tool that he or she is) demanded that Sullivan write a letter of apology to Brownback by today (11-28-11) or face who-knows-what kind of discipline.
Sullivan refused, and today Brownback backed down, saying his staff “overreacted.“
Overreacted? Ya think?
Anyway, this incident got a lot of press and I’m willing to bet Ms. Sullivan received some ugly tweets and possibly even death threats so her decision not to apologize can’t have been easy. That’s why I want her to know how proud I am that she stood up for her fundamental right to freedom of speech. I respect her guts.
Oh, and as for that principal — you’re a pathetic example to the kids in your school.
You are my new hero Emma!
