tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79928169375155390412024-02-07T05:21:39.644-08:00Zalatix the Angry Liberal's BlogAbandon all hope, ye Conservatives who dare to read this blog. Here there be adults. Adults who are sick of you.
Note: All my blogs are Creative Commons. Share freely.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16852884294129738676noreply@blogger.comBlogger247125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992816937515539041.post-79052364118526960522014-01-23T18:42:00.001-08:002014-01-23T18:42:58.198-08:00No shortage of anything: Or, why raising the minimum wage isn't going to hurt the economy.<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 13.066666603088379px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: none 0px;">
In this economy we have more REAL deflation than inflation. This doesn’t show up in the official numbers, of course - they always tell a tale of inflation - but the key indicator of where we are is how much money is chasing the goods that are available. In short: are we seeing a shortage of ground beef or a surplus?</div>
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We have more homes available that are vacant than we have homeless people, we have consumer electronics sitting on shelves waiting to go on sale, and food is going unsold and being wasted up the wazoo - to the tune of millions of tons per year - because no one can afford to buying it. Likewise the economy sees countless numbers of surplus cars (cars sitting on the lot but no one buying them), iPads always in stock, and so on. Speaking of ground beef, for all the input costs that are supposedly rising, you’re going to find it very hard to find an American supermarket whose meat section is in any way close to bare: a lot of that food will expire and get thrown out because no one has money to afford it. The truth is, aside from oil, almost nothing is even within sight of shortage. The only shortage America face is money in the hands of the working class.<br style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;" />Giving the working class more wages is going to drive them to buy up this excess stuff and actually justify its reason for being on the shelves-equivalent in the first place. We literally do not have any shortage of goods at all in this system. We waste a lot, we produce a lot that no one can afford to buy. Raising wages at this point brings us closer to equilibrium, not into imbalance. Not even close.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16852884294129738676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992816937515539041.post-15302748475987683052014-01-14T14:18:00.000-08:002014-01-14T14:18:46.595-08:00Do you hate labor unions? Well let's take a look at that, shall we?Labor unions are primarily about collective bargaining.<br />
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What does this mean?<br />
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It means that when the company's stock is sky high and corporate execs decide that they need a raise and you workers - you know, the people who made the company successful - need a pay cut, <b>you get the shaft</b>. But wait, here comes the Union who fights back and stops your pay cut. Guess what that means? It means you get to share in the prosperity that you as a group made possible.<br />
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<li><b>Oh but you as an individual can negotiate on your own for a better salary!</b> Uh yeah, good luck with that.<b> It's you versus the entire corporate board.</b> You're hilariously outnumbered from the start. <b>And these guys would rather you work for free.</b> Giving you a raise? That hardly even happens for working class Americans anymore. You can thank the anemic job growth during the Dubya Bush years for that. But actually you could go back even further to Reagan's years.</li>
<li><b>Oh but if you don't like what you're getting paid, you can go elsewhere!</b> How's that working for most Americans today? Every job out there has at least 3 people applying for it. <b>And that doesn't even count the discouraged workers.</b> It's more likely that if you find another job, they're paying even less. And for 10 years before Obama came along, employers were cutting back on offering benefits. So when you say you don't need a union to fight for you to get benefits, what you're saying is <b>you'd rather pay for individual health care insurance elsewhere.</b> This is a financial Darwin award-winning bad move. One well known fact about health insurance is that individual rates cost a LOT more than the group rates your employer can offer. So when you have a union fighting to secure health benefits for employees you could be saving hundreds or, depending on your pre-existing conditions, <b><i>thousands of dollars per month. </i></b></li>
<li><b>Oh but you're super talented! You could always leave and start your own company. </b>Yeah, uh huh. How many of you John Galts out there have actually done that, much less been successful? 8 out of every 10 businesses fail, even those run by geniuses just like you. Take it from a successful business owner - you're going to spend less of your time applying your talents and more time hunting for clients in the first year, and then more of your efforts will go into trying to get them to pay on time. But wait, even if you clear all those hurdles, in some industries your consulting job will mean getting familiar with terms like Net 30 or Net 60. Pray you never have to learn about that. Now you know the real reason why only 20% of businesses succeed. <b>What makes you think you'll be one of those 2 in 10?</b></li>
<li><b>Employees are expendable. CEOs are not. So, you're expendable?</b> Ever see a lamb basting itself in front of a wolf? Yeah, that's you. Very few corporations die when their CEO leaves. Microsoft and Apple survived the departure of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, respectively. <b>CEOs are just as expendable as you.</b> Shocking, huh?</li>
<li><b>Oh but unions are corrupt!</b> Of course, and there's no such thing as corrupt corporate leadership doing things like borrowing against an employee pension fund and then going bankrupt to avoid paying it back. And ending with a screw-you money shot like blaming the unions for the resulting mess.</li>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16852884294129738676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992816937515539041.post-46995328383003139802013-10-21T12:21:00.003-07:002013-10-21T12:21:57.106-07:00Welfare loving Conservatives strike again! Texas has more food stamp recipients than even California or New YorkI mean, I understand why California has the biggest number of food stamp recipients. Ask any Conservative - they'll tell you we're a haven for lazy brown people and illegal immigrants. No wonder we have so many food stamp recipients... that is, if you buy their racist nonsense.<br /><br />But Texas, I mean, come on. Here's a state full of white upstanding cowboy Republicans who pull themselves up by their bootstraps from childhood onward. The state of guns, cowboys, cattle barons, rugged secessionists, proud church going communities, Chuck Norris, and Rick Perry...<br /><br />... and <a href="http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/10/food-stamp-recipients-are-about-see-huge-cut-benefits/70754/">1.278 MILLION food stamp recipients</a>, even more than California's 1.140 million. (And California's population is larger. Now consider that.)<br /><br />This is even more odd when you consider that proportionally speaking, <a href="http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/48000.html">Texas</a> has more white people and fewer minorities than <a href="http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06000.html">California</a>. <div>
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Haven't Conservatives been telling us for ages that it's mostly liberal areas and lazy brown people who get food stamps? That doesn't explain Texas.<br /><br />So how can it be Conservative Rick Perry-voting Texas have more food stamp recipients than left wing California?<div>
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<b>How will Conservatives explain away this much hypocrisy?</b></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16852884294129738676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992816937515539041.post-5761042656381647162013-09-30T13:03:00.001-07:002013-09-30T13:03:34.516-07:00Ladies And Your Prospective Husbands, Have You Considered Buying A Synthetic Diamond Instead?<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px; line-height: 15.199999809265137px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: none 0px;">
"Diamonds are a girl’s best friend." This song, performed by Carol Channing in the 1949 production of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and made popular by Marilyn Monroe in 1953, has become a de facto motto for companies selling diamonds and for the ladies who desire them. DeBeers, the world’s largest diamond mining company, invented the phrase "Diamonds are forever." Diamond rings first became popular in the 1930s and exploded in popularity after these memes began to spread. However, diamonds - or, more explicitly, diamond mining operations - are not friends of the working class and they are certainly not popular with Mother Nature.</div>
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<strong style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;">Diamond Mines are Dangerous for Workers</strong></div>
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Natural diamonds are typically mined from countries where workers are exploited - paid low wages for their work, and worked to death in deadly work environments. Child labor is rampant in the diamond industry.</div>
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<strong style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;">Conflict Diamonds</strong></div>
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The diamond trade is also often used to fund wars. These are called blood diamonds or conflict diamonds.</div>
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Diamonds mined for war funding and with the use of exploited labor typically occurs in Africa, an area which is responsible for 2/3 of all mined diamonds in the world today.</div>
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<strong style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;">The Environment</strong></div>
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Even in countries where diamonds aren’t mined to fund wars or by child labor, mining is severely damaging to the environment. The carbon footprint for diamond mines is very high as they use a lot of fuel to extract diamonds from the earth, and animal habitats are also threatened in order to make and run the mines. Hazardous chemicals also leech into nearby water supplies from diamond minds, and water is used in large amounts during the extraction process. Deforestation is another occasional consequence of diamond mining.</div>
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<strong style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;">Artificial Diamonds</strong></div>
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Enter, synthetic or artificial diamonds. These diamonds, first invented by companies like General Electric for industrial purposes, are made by machines in a laboratory, use relatively fewer natural resources, and generate less pollution. In all, they cost around 15 percent less than mining diamonds from the earth, and offer an invaluable benefit when it comes to reducing the need for diamond mines. Synthetic diamonds are scarcely different from natural diamonds when observed by the naked eye, and thus they can be as beautiful as naturally mined diamonds.</div>
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<strong style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;">Where to Get Synthetic Diamonds</strong></div>
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If you have decided to make the decision to buy a diamond engagement ring that shows your love of human rights and Mother Nature as well as your love for your spouse or future spouse, there are certain hurdles to consider. For one, there aren’t a lot of companies that make synthetic diamonds for public sale as of 2013. Traditional diamond mining companies have a lock on the industry and pressure retailers into not selling these types of diamonds. Second, the technology for making synthetic diamonds is still maturing, and synthetic diamonds over a carat in size are almost never colorless. Public perception of synthetic diamonds also depresses sales, because people see them as not being as romantic as diamonds that are mined from the Earth. </div>
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That said, there are certain companies that you can buy synthetic diamonds from. Here is a <a href="http://www.thediamondauthority.org/where-can-i-buy-a-synthetic-diamond" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.298039); box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; outline: none 0px;">short list</a>. Other companies include <a href="http://www.diamondnexus.com/loose-stones-pure-carbon-canary" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.298039); box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; outline: none 0px;">Diamond Nexus</a>, <a href="https://sonadiamondjewelry.com/cat--New-Show-Ring-Winners-2011--2011+Show+Ring+Winners.html" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.298039); box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; outline: none 0px;">Sona Diamond Jewelry Store</a>, <a href="http://www.nuediamonds.com/cheap_lab_diamonds.php" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.298039); box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; outline: none 0px;">Nue Diamonds</a>, and others.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16852884294129738676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992816937515539041.post-67286432939127532222013-08-07T21:41:00.003-07:002013-08-07T21:41:55.152-07:00Economic cognitive dissonance, summed up nice and easy.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHvsh_8m1h-mRUq4VAZGeLABnMy-qJAXefqGV86EBDFlD4LDaardcWv6mg0kokGoWWvZ9Pkcnrz0QPBLtPJY6Hu3RFLN6hfFfRhkOf1ThlpUstYcJ9FHO3ez8o1x50xeNU1t28r1yD5aU/s1600/joker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHvsh_8m1h-mRUq4VAZGeLABnMy-qJAXefqGV86EBDFlD4LDaardcWv6mg0kokGoWWvZ9Pkcnrz0QPBLtPJY6Hu3RFLN6hfFfRhkOf1ThlpUstYcJ9FHO3ez8o1x50xeNU1t28r1yD5aU/s1600/joker.jpg" /></a></div>
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The cost of living has gone up more than 100% since 1970, and corporate profits have gone up by more than 500%, while wages have stagnated, and nobody bats and eyelash, but if you start talking about wages going up to match everything else, half the country loses its fracking minds about it.<br /><br />In short - everything must naturally go up <b>except workers' wages</b>?<br /><br />Are you really willing to accept this?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16852884294129738676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992816937515539041.post-76607285371097001722013-07-29T06:20:00.003-07:002013-07-29T06:20:44.992-07:00 Doctors are penalizing the poor in their war against Medicare... does society really need these kinds of "doctors"?<blockquote style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-color: white; border-left-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.117647); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 4px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.27272605895996px; margin: 10px 0px 10px 10px; outline: none 0px; padding-left: 15px;">
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Fewer American doctors are treating patients enrolled in the Medicare health program for seniors, reflecting frustration with its payment rates and pushback against mounting rules, according to health experts.</div>
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The number of doctors who opted out of Medicare last year, while a small proportion of the nation’s health professionals, nearly tripled from three years earlier, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the government agency that administers the program. Other doctors are limiting the number of Medicare patients they treat even if they don’t formally opt out of the system.</div>
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Even fewer doctors say they won’t accept new Medicaid patients, and the number who don’t participate in private insurance contracts, while smaller, is growing—just as millions of Americans are poised to gain access to such coverage under the new health law next year. All told, health experts say the number of doctors going “off-grid" isn’t enough to undermine the Affordable Care Act, but they say some Americans may have difficulty finding doctors who will take their new benefits or face long waits for appointments with those who do.</div>
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Meanwhile, the proportion of family doctors who accepted new Medicare patients last year, 81%, was down from 83% in 2010, according to a survey by the American Academy of Family Physicians of 800 members. The same study found that 4% of family physicians are now in cash-only or concierge practices, where patients pay a monthly or yearly fee for special access to doctors, up from 3% in 2010.</div>
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A study in the journal Health Affairs this month found that 33% of primary-care physicians didn’t accept new Medicaid patients in 2010-2011.</div>
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<a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/more-doctors-steer-clear-medicare-030500979.html;_ylt=Aoc7iGAicPXlHHpmbezoS_uiuYdG;_ylu=X3oDMTNyZWcyaDQ1BG1pdANGUCBUb3AgU3RvcnkgTGVmdARwa2cDYzk2YTY1MzktMjFhMy0zNmNiLWJjYjYtOGM2ZGM4MDg4YjFkBHBvcwMzBHNlYwN0b3Bfc3RvcnkEdmVyA2M1YTRlZGIwLWY4M2QtMTFlMi1hZTliLTY2OGE5ZDBjNDA4MA--;_ylg=X3oDMTFkcW51ZGliBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3BtaA--;_ylv=3" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.298039); box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; outline: none 0px;">I</a>f you’re rich, then this system benefits you. If you’re poor or elderly, well, you’re screwed.</div>
<strong style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.27272605895996px; outline: none 0px;">Do we really need doctors who create this kind of environment?</strong>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16852884294129738676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992816937515539041.post-81328818075278969812013-06-30T16:35:00.001-07:002013-06-30T16:35:35.125-07:00Any Effort To Reduce Inequality Would Make Us All Poorer? Nonsense.<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">CEO pay has gone up more than 14 fold from 1970 to now, and not because of their compensation equals their marginal output. <br /><br />It's more because of rent-seeking.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/pay-corporate-executives-financial-professionals/">The Pay of Corporate Executives and Financial Professionals as Evidence of Rents in Top 1 Percent Incomes | Economic Policy Institute</a><br /><br />Furthermore, the claim that cutting CEO compensation (and thus rent-seeking) would make the world poorer, is nonsense. For instance Harvard ivory tower-dweller Greg Mankiw states:<br /><br /><a href="http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/mankiw/files/defending_the_one_percent_0.pdf">http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/man..._percent_0.pdf</a></span><div class="bbcode_container" style="background-color: #dfe6ee; margin: 5px 20px 20px; padding: 0px;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then, one day, this egalitarian utopia is disturbed by an entrepreneur with an idea for a new product. Think of the entrepreneur as Steve Jobs as he develops the iPod, J.K. Rowling as she writes her Harry Potter books, or Steven Spielberg as he directs his blockbuster movies...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's one fatal mistake in this theory. JK Rowling chose to stay in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jk-rowling-on-high-taxes-2012-9">England despite their high taxes</a> because she had a moral obligation to their welfare system. <br /><br />So the going theory that reducing wealth inequality will make the world poorer because we'll have fewer Steve Jobs and JK Rowlings, is nonsense.<br /><br />I've got another example to refute that, too: Linus Torvalds, the maker of GNU/Linux. If Steve Jobns and Bill Gates were to just up and quit because they couldn't become a multi billionaire then we'd have those resources going to Linux instead. Which is distributed for free. So much for marginal compensation.<br /><br />Then there's the final problem of the theory of marginal compensation and its attempts to justify income inequality: if income inequality keeps rising indefinitely, then the 1% will find that nobody else can buy their products or services anymore. <b>Then who will compensate them at all?</b></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16852884294129738676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992816937515539041.post-47539179006471619242013-06-15T06:24:00.000-07:002013-06-15T06:24:30.940-07:00Let Me Be Straight Up About This... What Is And What Is NOT Liberalism<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you believe that summary executions by bombings or drone strikes is acceptable, despite the innocent lives that such acts snuff out of existence, you are not a liberal. Liberals oppose the taking of innocent human lives. Anything else is convenient moral expediency - aka warmongering. Supporting these things is a luxury only enjoyed by those who do not live under the threat of being bombarded. Supporting the use of air strikes and bombardments to take out enemy targets with no regard to civilian casualties is what you do when you are a privileged American or Northern Hemisphere Western world citizen who, by right of technological dominance, will never be the target of such acts of mass murder. If you support summary executions and drone strikes, you do so because your child will never die for the simple crime of being an innocent bystander. You live under the safety of the protection of due process: before you or anyone you know can be put to death there must be a trial and the discovery of evidence, and a jury that convicts you and sentences you to die. For you to say that people in the rest of the world don't deserve the same exact thing, makes you no better than the so-called terrorists. You are not a liberal if you believe in summary executions or drone strikes. Period.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you believe that America should in any way be involved in the Middle East, you are not a liberal. What we are doing out there is nothing short of the naked mass exploitation of natural resources in the name of protecting an outdated energy industry that is killing us all. So you say we need the oil? Do you also say we need the pollution and the global warming that comes with the burning of these fossil fuels? Do you believe the fossil fuel industry propaganda about how alternative fuels and energy aren't practical? Then you most certainly aren't a liberal, because you are clinging to outdated concepts that are going to lead to disaster for human civilization. Do you deny that burning fossil fuels is causing global warming and is causing the costly, outright disastrous droughts and floods that we are seeing today? Is your counter argument "but things will cost more if we don't stick with oil"? Then you are in fact a conservative, not a liberal, and moreover, you have a nasty surprise coming to you: global warming is already making things cost more... like food.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you say we also need to maintain a military presence in the Middle East to fight with people in the area who don't want us there? Do you argue that we have a right to be there because their governments - largely un-elected dictatorships that they are - invited us to be there? Such naked Imperialism is not liberalism - in fact it is the exact opposite, it is conservatism. You have the privilege of adopting this conservative warmongering mindset because you live in a safe Western nation where foreign troops don't routinely drive through your streets, shooting at your neighbors. If you were a liberal you would be fighting for the right of Middle Easterners to enjoy the same privileges. Oh but they're terrorists, you argue? Another bigoted conservative belief. Try having unwanted foreign troops in your city and see how fast your neighbors start taking up arms against them. If you were a liberal you'd understand the hypocrisy of this so-called "war on terror".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Does this sound like ideological purity? You betcha it does. The alternative is that liberalism will be re-defined as blind loyalty to old outdated industries with reckless disregard to the damage being done to our environment. The alternative is signing onto an ideology that saddles our children with an even more polluted world, for the sake of immediate economic gain for our generation. The alternative to the dreaded concept of ideological purity is to accept that liberalism has evolved into naked imperialism, racism and mass-murderous savagery repackaged as "bringing democracy and civilization to the East". </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you support drone strikes, Middle East intervention and resource exploitation, and the war on terror, you are not a liberal. There is already a home for your beliefs, and it is called conservatism.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16852884294129738676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992816937515539041.post-13922089780716257862013-06-12T09:43:00.004-07:002013-06-12T10:05:51.923-07:00If You Want to Shut Up a Tea Partier, Ask Them 2 Basic Questions1) Why didn't they rise up in protest when Bush proposed to bail out the banks in 2008?<br />
<br />
2) Why didn't the Tea Party rise up in protest when the USAPATRIOT Act was passed?<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16852884294129738676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992816937515539041.post-21749120180823031082013-05-20T12:11:00.000-07:002013-05-20T12:11:18.379-07:00"This Country In Its Present Form Is Beyond Redemption" - Quote from a Democratic Underground user who once screamed that this was not the case.<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2863072">http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2863072</a></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">we're endlessly at war and we do terrible things in the name of national security. We have a bloated secretive Defense and National Security Network that is hand in glove with the defense industry. In short, we do more harm than good on the world stage and we damage ourselves in the process. Our wars are driven, to a significant degree, by the relationship between government and industry. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The gap between the rich and everyone else is growing at an exponential rate. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Corporations own the government. No, they don't own each individual elected or appointed official but they own enough of them, or like Penny Pritzker, they are them. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Electing democrats rather than republicans may stave off some horrors, but it makes little difference when it comes to corporate power, who is in the White House or who is in Congress. Maybe it's become some weird form of institutional behavior- the institutions are so mired in the corpocracy that individuals have little chance of effecting real change. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I used to scoff at people who claimed that we're living under fascism. If not there yet, we're well on our way. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wonder if that poster will remember this thread:</span></span><br />
<a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=882068"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=882068</span></a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In short:<br /><b>TO HELL with "small, incremental solutions". WE NEED MAJOR, RADICAL CHANGES</b> to save this country! We have Stage-4 societal CANCER and we need CHEMOTHERAPY.</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Welcome aboard, Cali.</b> The first step is to realize that America is beyond redemption in its present form. The next step is to realize that you need MAJOR, RADICAL SOLUTIONS in order to save the country.</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16852884294129738676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992816937515539041.post-14238516227390245632013-04-29T08:36:00.002-07:002013-04-29T08:52:30.897-07:00Honestly, why don't liberals show more spine?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 2009 the Tea Party came out in droves to oppose Obamacare. Liberals, whom they always accuse of being unemployed and so on, never came out to meet them. There were tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of these guys out there, and hardly any counter demonstrations.<br /><br />Tea Partiers insulted Parkinson's Disease victims and even <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjBp6PG07dw">stomped on a woman's head while she was protesting Rand Paul</a>. Tea Partiers even <a href="http://motleynews.net/2011/07/23/tea-party-of-35-intimidates-peaceful-picnic-of-18-elderly-liberal-thinkers-in-oregon-sunday/">had the nerve to harass elderly protesters at a picnic out of a park</a>, and then follow said liberals to their home and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjj5P84MDIc">drive up on a private road right up to their driveway</a>, nearly hitting someone in the process. Then there's the infamous episode of Tea Partiers openly carrying firearms at townhall meetings. Let's not forget the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVD5pdS9EOw">other instances</a> of outright violence by conservatives. <br /><br />Tea Partiers <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElapY71oM3M">verbally attacked</a> this woman <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7b5x14VBSM">who was relating a story</a> of a woman who died and lost a baby because of a lack of insurance. She had no backup at her side to shout down these bullies.<br /><br />Liberals let this happen, most of it went unanswered, and the results are pretty much history. The Tea Party earned the respect of America with its hard charging tactics, and swept into Congress in 2010.<br /><br />Liberals need to learn the first rule of politics: that America respects an ass whupping, and does not respect people who back down and retreat. Don't get me wrong, nobody's saying that 18 old ladies should go fist to fist with 30 or more Tea Party male brutes who drove up onto their property without permission. Nobody's saying a single woman should go Wonder Woman and pound 2 or 3 guys who are stomping her at a Rand Paul rally. <b>What we liberals should be asking is why wasn't anyone else there to kick these guys' asses when they got violent? <span style="font-size: large;">That's legal, folks. It's called the God given, court-affirmed right to self defense.</span> Failure to make use of that right emboldens bullies and makes your entire movement look weak in the eyes of the public.</b><br /><br />Big protests make progress. Liberals could have avoided the jaw dropping losses of 2010 had they come out in force against the Tea Party. Look what happened when they came out in force afterwards: the Conservatives suffered huge losses in 2012. People say Occupy Wall Street didn't achieve anything but they brought the term "99%" to the country and it has yet to go away. <br /><br />The problem is, the same mistakes are starting to get made again in the run-up to 2014. We're not out there. 90% of people support background checks and we're not out protesting for this. Mass protests of the sequester never happened. America is seeing this, and they're losing respect, because we can't stand up for ourselves.<br /><br />It's not like liberals haven't had monstrously big protests in the past. So if the problem isn't the lack of a spine, then what's holding us back? Fear of Tea Party bullies? Apathy? What's up?</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16852884294129738676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992816937515539041.post-87761443999286092462013-04-27T09:51:00.001-07:002013-04-27T09:51:26.772-07:00More Free Traitor Nonsense: "The Manufacturing Jobs We've Lost Weren't Good Jobs Anyway"<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A popular meme put forth by people who feel America benefits by closing factories and putting Americans out of work, is that we don't need those jobs anyway. Or worse, they are bad jobs and we should get rid of them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Case in point:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; line-height: 48px; white-space: pre-line;"><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/edwardlawler/2012/12/11/lost-manufacturing-jobs-good-riddance/" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 48px; white-space: pre-line;">Lost Manufacturing Jobs: Good Riddance?</a></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">There is no question that the U.S. has lost an enormous number of manufacturing jobs to lower wage countries. These countries include mega economies like <a class="exit_trigger_set" href="http://www.forbes.com/places/china/" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">China</a> and a number of smaller countries such as <a class="exit_trigger_set" href="http://www.forbes.com/places/vietnam/" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Vietnam</a> that have large numbers of workers willing to work for low wages. Given the current high unemployment rate in the <a class="exit_trigger_set" href="http://www.forbes.com/places/united-states/" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">United States</a>, it is understandable that politicians point out that we need to regain manufacturing jobs and that the loss of jobs to other countries is a major problem for the U.S.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">But before we accept the loss of many low skilled manufacturing jobs as a major negative for the U.S. and that it should be halted and perhaps even reversed, it is important to put it in the context of what we know about the social impact of simple, repetitive work. The fact is that this type of work often has numerous negative impacts on both individuals and society in general. This was highlighted recently by the news about riots taking place in Foxconn’s Chinese factories.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Even in China, low wage repetitive work can create major conflicts between workers and corporations and be destructive to society. We learned this long ago in the U.S. and it resulted in major U.S. corporations offshoring repetitive, manufacturing work or upgrading it through technology to the point where it became skilled work. In terms of social sustainability, repetitive low skilled work is a major negative. It causes employee dissatisfaction and turnover, stress-related mental and physical health problems, dysfunctional union/management relationships and large social class differences in wealth.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The bottom line is that instead of complaining about offshoring manufacturing jobs, we should be focusing on keeping and creating the right kind of manufacturing jobs. What kinds of jobs are those? In essence, I am talking about the kind of knowledge work jobs that exist in the high-tech world and the advanced manufacturing plants of some major manufacturers. We can only keep these jobs in the U.S. if we have a skilled workforce who can meet the challenges that knowledge, information technology, and engineering present.</span></div>
</blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you hear these arguments, remember there are two obvious fatal flaws in this argument that you probably already know, but haven't been able to point out clearly before:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) The knowledge economy that these guys talk about, is inherently too small. So is advanced manufacturing. The number of jobs that these fields will produce are high-paying and we do need them as part of our economy and industrial base, but the inherent reality of both advanced knowledge-based jobs and advanced manufacturing is that they are high productivity jobs. <b>Knowledge-based and high-tech manufacturing industries are inherently designed to employ fewer people to do the same amount of work</b>. Take a look around you. How many innovation-based jobs and advanced manufacturing jobs are there? How many people are out of work? The enormous ratio of unemployed people to "advanced" jobs ratio is one that is not going to change by much even in the best of times. <b>These jobs are tragically insufficient in numbers to cover even the people who were put out of work from regular manufacturing by foreign outsourcing.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Simply put <b>there will never be as many of these knowledge based jobs or high tech manufacturing jobs to cover the number of people thrown out of work when we send the lower end manufacturing jobs overseas</b>. Period. No economist can hope to keep a straight face and tell you otherwise. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The other thing you will want to remind someone of when they spout these stupid arguments is that we already have tons of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">college graduates in the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) industries out there right now, and they cannot find work in the STEM fields. <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/stories/mee-the-brainiac-homeless-man-with-a-ph-d-that-cant-find-a-job/">Consider a man who holds a Ph D in plasma physics</a> - not even he can get a job in this so-called knowledge based economy. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Consider <a href="http://www.techjournal.org/2012/02/many-engineers-remain-unemployed-despite-reported-tech-skills-shortages/">these statistics</a>, too:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are 101,000 U.S.-born individuals with engineering degrees who are unemployed.<br />There are an additional 244,000 U.S.-born individuals under age 65 who have a degree in engineering but who are not in the labor market. This means they are not working nor are they looking for work, and are therefore not counted as unemployed.<br />In addition to those unemployed and out of the labor force, there are an additional 1.47 million U.S.-born individuals who report they have an engineering degree and have a job, but do not work as engineers.<br />President Obama specifically used the words “highly skilled.” In 2010, there were 25,000 unemployed U.S.-born individuals with engineering degrees who have a Master’s or Ph.D. and another 68,000 with advanced degrees not in the labor force. There were also 489,000 U.S.-born individuals with graduate degrees who were working, but not as engineers.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If knowledge based jobs are the next big thing <b>then why do we have so many knowledge workers who are unemployed or not even working in the STEM industry?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is where free traitors retreat to their last resort: bigotry against American workers. "They're all incompetent!" </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) We're already shipping knowledge work overseas. <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Are-biotech-jobs-next-to-go-Stronghold-of-Bay-2791964.php">Biotech has research already moved overseas</a>. Intel has <a href="http://www.intel.com/cd/corporate/icrc/apac/eng/170371.htm">moved a major research center to China</a>. And let's not mention <a href="http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Management/Offshoring-Will-Drain-Another-450K-Tech-Jobs-by-2014-Report-765488/">the devastation that foreign outsourcing is inflicting upon the knowledge jobs of the tech industry</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The problem with globalization is that knowledge work - innovation and research - is as easily mobile as manufacturing. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It doesn't matter if you have a Ph D - someone in India could have a Ph D, too, <b>and do the same work for pennies to your dollar</b>. Free traitors like to avoid discussing this. Remember to hammer them about it. Mercilessly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) China faces unrest not because manufacturing jobs are inherently jobs where workers get abused, <b>but because China, unlike the United States, still allows rampant abuse, overworking and underpayment of their workers.</b> America had beaten this problem of worker abuse with workplace safety laws and wage laws, to name a few basic rights that Chinese workers don't have. <b>In China they put you in a dorm and wake you up at random in order to fulfill a company's emergency order for a new product.</b> They can't get away with that in America.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As for the "</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">dissatisfaction and turnover, stress-related mental and physical health problems" - <b>all of which are less severe in American manufacturing jobs, mind you (thank labor unions for that)</b> - there is one other point to consider: <b>does this genius of an author think unemployment causes less of this</b>?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4) Knowledge based jobs and high-tech manufacturing jobs require workers with college degrees. Anyone who tells you otherwise is blowing smoke out their butts. Has this author looked outside for a second to see what the cost of such degrees are, nowadays?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So the plan here is for unemployed American manufacturing workers to run the gauntlet of high tuition costs and massive student debt to get a STEM based degree to compete with the other STEM grads out there who are unemployed and looking for work. And to compete with cheap STEM labor from other countries, too. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What could possibly go wrong with that?</b></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16852884294129738676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992816937515539041.post-81545179674829332092013-04-02T11:50:00.000-07:002013-04-02T11:50:06.912-07:00Do you feel like humiliating a FREE TRADER globalist today? Then ask them these questions<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; outline: none 0px;">
Dear Free Traders,</div>
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Riddle me this, riddle me that…</div>
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Do you think it’s better for millions of Americans to be perpetually unemployed than to bring back the factory jobs or call center jobs they used to work in?</div>
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iPads sold in America should be made in China and not America because of what now… help me out here… phobia of China, <strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: none 0px;">or phobia of American workers?</strong></div>
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America is supposed to run a $500 billion trade deficit? Why doesn’t any other country want to run that kind of deficit?</div>
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Japan is negotiating a 1,000% tariff on rice for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, but you think America should not ever raise tariffs?</div>
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Which one of you foreign outsourcing advocates out there have ever had your call center or factory job shipped overseas?</div>
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What’s going to happen to those poor people in the third world when America’s economy collapses from all this unemployment and we can’t buy their stuff anymore? Any answers for that?</div>
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Have you ever told an unemployed American to their face that losing their job to China, Mexico or India was good for them, or the economy?</div>
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You say we’re ditching factory jobs in favor of knowledge jobs. Where are these knowledge jobs? How many knowledge job openings are there? How many unemployed are there? Compare the numbers and please explain how that knowledge-based economy is coming along. While you’re at it, would you care to explain why so many research and development jobs are going to India and China despite a glut of Science, Tech, Engineering and Math graduates here in America?</div>
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So you say that opponents of foreign outsourcing are xenophobes. Considering that international trade is a mostly one-way street vacuuming jobs out of the United States, why should YOU not be called out as an America-phobe?</div>
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Please name one other nation on Earth that is foolish enough to outsource as much work as America does. Per capita, even.</div>
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Have a nice day.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16852884294129738676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992816937515539041.post-83675804581179448542013-03-17T20:03:00.001-07:002013-03-17T20:03:10.476-07:00The Depression, Globalization and the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Myths: Something to Think About<br />
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It has been argued that the Smoot-Hawley series of tariffs did enormous damage to the economy during the Great Depression. The pro-globalist interpretation of the historical facts is that because America imposed massive tariffs, and other nations retaliated, this led to serious damage to the economy.<strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: none 0px;">According to the pro-globalist story, Smoot-Hawley caused, or exacerbated, the Great Depression because it severely impaired global trade.</strong></div>
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The problem is, factually, this is simply not true.</div>
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<strong style="margin-top: 0px; outline: none 0px;">1) The nation’s GDP fell by almost half (46%) - and this affected international trade, not the other way around</strong>. We lost jobs, people stopped producing, and what little we produced, was being consumed here. And with other nations suffering as badly or worse than we were, they were in no position to buy anything from us. Which meant that their retaliatory tariffs were redundant when it comes to their effect upon trade. <strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; outline: none 0px;">International trade was hindered because whole nations’ economies took a nosedive.</strong> Not the other way around.</div>
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<strong style="margin-top: 0px; outline: none 0px;">2)</strong> There is another factor that pro-globalists do not consider when arguing that Smoot-Hawley caused (or exacerbated) the Depression. <strong style="outline: none 0px;">This factor is almost never even brought up by anti-globalists</strong>. History shows that when Smoot-Hawley was passed, the United States was not running the kind of monster $250 billion annual non-oil ($500 billion with oil imports) trade deficit that we are running today. <strong style="outline: none 0px;">The United States, at the time, <a href="http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c190/unlawflcombatnt/10-11-07grphGDP1929-38T-XX.gif" style="color: #444444; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: none 0px;">was running a slight trade surplus for most of the Depression years</a>. </strong>Think about it. <strong style="outline: none 0px;">Exporting goods generates more domestic jobs, and better-paying domestic jobs, than importing goods.</strong> If you pass massive across-the-board tariffs when you are exporting more goods than you are importing, and everyone else retaliates, you stand to lose your net export activity. You stand to suffer a net loss of jobs.<strong style="outline: none 0px;">IN THEORY; this did not really happen in the Great Depression <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: none 0px;">because the jobs had already disappeared</em>.</strong> Now, if you are importing far more than you export, you stand to lose imports - <strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; outline: none 0px;">and you also stand to end a situation where domestic factories are closing down to move overseas.</strong></div>
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If Smoot-Hawley was ever going to do even the slightest harm to the United States economy, <strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: none 0px;">the only time it would ever do so is if the United States is running a trade surplus: that means, Smoot-Hawley can only ever hurt the economy if we are exporting more than we are importing.</strong> Again, that is not the case today. We are importing more than we are exporting, and we are bleeding jobs out of the country as a result.</div>
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Ever wonder why China has succeeded so well? They slapped <em style="margin-top: 0px; outline: none 0px;"><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: none 0px;">heavy tariffs</strong></em> on American products, for one. They also devalued their currency, for two. <strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; outline: none 0px;"><a href="http://positive-press-daily.tumblr.com/post/45256832214/proudly-sa-says-buy-local-accord-is-paying" style="color: #444444; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: none 0px;">South Africa is also raising other, de facto trade barriers (“buy local”), and it’s working marvelously for them</a>. </strong>Yet globalists say that trade barriers won’t work for America?</div>
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<strong style="margin-top: 0px; outline: none 0px;">3)</strong> Finally, there is one last factor that the pro-globalists are wrong about: none of the anti-globalists are calling for an across the board shutdown of imports that Smoot-Hawley was aiming for. What we want is to reduce the trade deficit to zero. <strong style="outline: none 0px;">America runs the largest trade deficit of any country in the world, and we run a net trade deficit with almost every major country in the world.</strong> We are bleeding out more jobs than any other nation in the world. <strong style="outline: none 0px;">A $250 billion non-oil trade deficit is deadly, <a href="http://www.fee.org/the_freeman/detail/the-trade-deficit-is-debt-it-just-aint-so/" style="color: #444444; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: none 0px;">and it is most certainly unsustainable</a></strong>. Trade deficits like what America is running, have a direct impact on the national debt - <strong style="outline: none 0px;"><a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/businessdesk/2009/03/why-is-the-trade-deficit-impor.html" style="color: #444444; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: none 0px;">$250 billion (much less $500 billion) annual trade deficits make the national debt grow</a></strong>. And you cannot stop this type of debt growth by cutting domestic spending. <strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; outline: none 0px;">Moreover, trade deficits of the magnitude that America is running, <a href="http://www.frbsf.org/education/activities/drecon/1999/9910.html" style="color: #444444; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: none 0px;">also devalue the United States dollar</a>.</strong></div>
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<strong style="margin-top: 0px; outline: none 0px;">Here is the ultimate reality that pro-globalists do not want to discuss.</strong>These trade deficits will end. There is getting around this. <strong style="outline: none 0px;">They will end.</strong> The question is whether they end <strong style="outline: none 0px;">with laws that act to balance out trade</strong>, or they end when the deficits destroy our economy - and all the other economies (such as China) <strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; outline: none 0px;"><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonchang/2012/01/22/china-is-175-6-dependent-on-the-u-s/" style="color: #444444; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: none 0px;">that depend on exports to America</a>.</strong></div>
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<strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: none 0px;">There’s only so far an economy can go by bleeding another nation’s working class of their jobs.</strong></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16852884294129738676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992816937515539041.post-71180453313396857992013-03-06T20:32:00.003-08:002013-03-06T20:32:45.849-08:00Let me explain to you what Conservatism is all about.<br />
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<span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Conservatism is about creating a Plutonomy - an economy driven by the rich and which serves only them. It is about forging a world in which</span><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><em style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-top: 0px; outline: none 0px;">Les Miserables</em><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">is to be looked upon as</span><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><strong style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; outline: none 0px;">not going far enough</strong><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">.</span></div>
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The Conservative dream world is one in which the poor are <strong style="margin-top: 0px; outline: none 0px;">left to starve, quietly</strong>, and if they protest, <strong style="outline: none 0px;">they are to be put down, violently</strong>. The Conservative world is one in which those left who toil for the rich, <strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; outline: none 0px;">are serfs in a revived feudal society</strong>.</div>
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Question for you, folks, what do you have when every plot of land <strong style="margin-top: 0px; outline: none 0px;">is privately owned and governed</strong>? That’s called Feudalism! What do you think privatization is all about? The private ownership and administration of all public lands and services: privately owned and governed. Want to see a clear example of private ownership and government? Check out ANY homeowner’s association or charter school. It ain’t a pretty picture. In some homeowner’s associations <a href="http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/ethicalperspectives/free_speech.html" style="color: #444444; outline: none 0px;">you can’t even fly the American flag</a>, and <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/charter-schools-discriminate-against-students-disabilities-220900875.html" style="color: #444444; outline: none 0px;">charter schools discriminate against students with disabilities</a>. Now think of an America <strong style="outline: none 0px;">where this goes on. everywhere</strong>. Want another example? Think of <a href="http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/abc11_investigates&id=8537997" style="color: #444444; outline: none 0px;">toll roads</a>. Now, think of EVERY road being a toll road. That’s feudalism, and it is being revived as we speak. By Conservatives - Conservative Republicans and even a few Conservative politicians who label themselves Democrats (see: Blue Dog Democrats). You might have also heard of the term Corporate State. Also known as Fascism. <strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; outline: none 0px;">That is what Conservatives want</strong>.</div>
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The next time you see a debate about taxes, privatization of public services or lands, international trade policies, welfare “reform”, or educational policy changes, ask yourself this:</div>
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1) Does it mean higher costs for you?</div>
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2) Does it mean less services for you?</div>
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3) Does it mean less jobs? Does it mean employers can screw you over even more? Does it mean more acts of discrimination are allowed?</div>
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4) Does it mean poor people will have less to live on?</div>
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5) Does it mean closing schools or excluding groups of people from said schools?</div>
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6) Does it mean closing down a factory and sending those jobs overseas?</div>
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On any given issue, whatever solution leads to a “yes” answer to the above, is what Conservatives will fight for.<strong style="margin-top: 0px; outline: none 0px;"> It’s just that simple.</strong> If you are not rich, <strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; outline: none 0px;">the Conservatives want you quietly dead, or as a serf</strong>.</div>
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Believe it. It is the truth.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16852884294129738676noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992816937515539041.post-82071607273523065032013-03-05T20:42:00.001-08:002013-03-05T20:42:12.888-08:00So, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez died on March 5th and people are out dancing on his grave...<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So people say he was an evil dictator? Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't. But, while history sorts that question out, let us first do some comparisons, shall we?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Between the United States and Venezuela:</span><br />
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Which country has the most people per capita, in prison?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Which country has warrantless surveillance programs?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Which country routinely kills unarmed foreigners with drone strikes, without due process?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Which country uses drones to watch over its own populace?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Which country imprisons peaceful protesters?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Which country has police gangs that run around shooting at people they THINK are suspects, without even determining that they are in fact suspects?</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The answer: we've got plenty of our own problems to be calling Chavez a dictator.</b></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16852884294129738676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992816937515539041.post-15714280104561100662013-02-26T19:43:00.001-08:002013-02-26T19:43:20.803-08:00#UniteBlue America Can't Survive Being United Anymore Than a Marriage Can Survive Rampant Domestic Violence.<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You are GUARANTEED not to like this blog. But we have no other options left.</span><div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">America is dysfunctional, and it is becoming more so because of Conservatives. It is like this song:</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="https://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/uelHwf8o7_U/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="https://www.youtube.com/v/uelHwf8o7_U&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/v/uelHwf8o7_U&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This song by Eminem and Rihanna is about a relationship being destroyed by a self-sustaining death spiral of strife and domestic violence. If you look at the relationship between Conservatives and anyone to the left of their ideology, <b>it is playing out across the country just like this song</b>. In fact, the <a href="http://articles.marketwatch.com/2013-02-24/economy/37254643_1_obama-and-congressional-republicans-cuts-flight-delays">sequester that threatens to devastate America</a> this Friday on March 1st is clearly analogous to <b>Eminem talking about setting the bed on fire with his girlfriend in it</b>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How much more of this can America take?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The truth is, if we're going to stay a united country, this political version of rampant domestic violence will continue, with Republicans tearing the walls down and setting things on fire, until finally, one time, America won't avert a total economic catastrophe. Whether it comes this Friday or it comes at some other time, this disastrous economic collapse is inevitable. The Conservative movement will drive America to collapse: in fact, <a href="http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/30-years-starving-beast-politics">it is their explicit intent to do so</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nobody wants to talk about cutting Conservatives loose. <b>So instead what we will eventually do is talk about America as a nation ruined by hyper-austerity and </b><b>economic collapse</b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The only solution for dealing with a habitual domestic abuser is to remove them from the household, or to leave. Likewise, the only way to deal with 60 million people who voted for Mitt Romney is to split the country and cut these kooks loose. </b>If you believe that dividing America in half is a terrible option, it is. But it's even more terrible to keep these domestic abusers around when at any given time they could burn the bed with you - namely, the working class 99% - lying in it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Split America or watch the whole country burn. There is no third option left.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16852884294129738676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992816937515539041.post-16189897262686006582013-02-23T08:07:00.000-08:002013-02-23T08:07:24.645-08:00In Case You Haven't Noticed, the Free Republic Conservative Website Went Down for 3 Days, and Is Now Back<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Free Republic is a Conservative website, probably the largest in terms of population online. It boasts 30 million comments with hundreds or even thousands of posts coming in practically per day. That's a lot of activity. That's a lot of people. Suffice it to say, the Free Republic website is a major haven for Conservative knuckle draggers to sit around and spew their hate.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, recently, the site went down for about 3 days. There have been many stated reasons, the most oft-stated one being a database crash. In any case, <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022409881">people on other sites have been cheering its downtime</a>, hoping that it would not come back up. There have been other discussions, such as why it costs so much to run the site, but this is not the main issue.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The main issue is, as long as these Freeptards infest this country, they need their own website. Free Republic needs to stay up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why, you ask with a palm slapping your forehead?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Simple.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because if Free Republic goes down, the threat of one of these people going on a shooting rampage, increases dramatically. The threat that they will attack, troll or even hack other websites, skyrockets. The permanent loss of Free Republic is </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16852884294129738676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992816937515539041.post-72593675459964332013-02-20T07:16:00.000-08:002013-02-20T07:16:30.021-08:00Population Control Will NOT Save Our Environment - Sustainable Living Will<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg71iMqDHXJcl0A5GwU1bbmy_sL13Tvkm5213ycIZTfTUebK1DuFdBcme1Igiv_tGVqwmL3dAR8Q9Nf7GEf7FcIfiSYxY7WGV9n-3mV8I3q67t95YxxCyQjdt-urr6zf_r5g8jKHiZtKpk/s1600/The_Earth_seen_from_Apollo_17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg71iMqDHXJcl0A5GwU1bbmy_sL13Tvkm5213ycIZTfTUebK1DuFdBcme1Igiv_tGVqwmL3dAR8Q9Nf7GEf7FcIfiSYxY7WGV9n-3mV8I3q67t95YxxCyQjdt-urr6zf_r5g8jKHiZtKpk/s1600/The_Earth_seen_from_Apollo_17.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Overpopulation
is not a new refrain; it was a subject of complaint even as far back
as the Roman Empire. The problem is, you can have a small population
of humans and still over-consume your way into a crisis or even
ecological ruin and a catastrophic population crash. Malthusian
theories can argue all day long about how much physical room the
Earth has for human beings, but history shows one certainty: even 100
million is enough to ruin the ecosystem. <br /></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzXKiDXmzZGAEcZAGYf3DkHQWk4oIVe-4ym_Bijz3tPcIhiF4tjtDyugVc9cDDlKQTTW3MJ9ZoauIztJILt5cpiUVZ5CFWeV1sG0wDeDfsQCkHcd6VQ2vV-aB391VM0JgHY_vLgSG5tkk/s1600/Moai_Rano_raraku.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzXKiDXmzZGAEcZAGYf3DkHQWk4oIVe-4ym_Bijz3tPcIhiF4tjtDyugVc9cDDlKQTTW3MJ9ZoauIztJILt5cpiUVZ5CFWeV1sG0wDeDfsQCkHcd6VQ2vV-aB391VM0JgHY_vLgSG5tkk/s1600/Moai_Rano_raraku.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /><br /><br />Take the
deforestation that occurred on Rapa Nui aka Easter Island, for
instance. Or better yet, look at deforestation patterns in Midieval
Europe, from the 13th to 16th centuries, where the populace in the
area never exceeded 150 million. There weren't a lot of humans there,
at least compared to now, but they wrought much devastation on their
ecosystem, with catastrophic consequences, such as famines and
plagues that were fueled by the resulting waves of mass starvation
and malnutrition. <br /><br />Ironically, the mass deforestation was
slowed down by the growing use of coal. Compared to Medieval times,
coal was the first form of alternative energy, and petroleum was the
alternative energy to whale oil. Alternative energy slowed the
destruction of forests and saved the whales. <br /><br />Of course,
deforestation is still happening at a breathtaking pace, and the
practice of using fossil fuels in place of trees is itself catching
up with us in the form of pollution and global warming. At the same
time the Malthusian crowd is again blowing the overpopulation
trumpet. <br /><br />Populations have swelled and declined, but
regardless of the size of the world's population, or that of any one
region, <b>two things have always been constant</b>: overconsumption
and wastefulness. Malthusians incorrectly base their predictions of resource crashes on the size of the human population. The problem is not the size of our population. <b>The problem is, at its core, all about overconsumption</b>. No matter what size a given population is,
<b>overconsumption and wastefulness still make for an unsustainable
society and will lead to the Malthusian sky falling on our heads</b>. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><br /><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The key to protecting our environment and global habitat, therefore, is
sustainability</b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">. We need a system of recycling that is as close to
perfect as possible, and one in which we cut pollution to a bare
minimum. We need to build consumer goods in a way that they can be
recycled in an environmentally-friendly way, and build them to last.
We need a society where few things go into the trash and almost
nothing goes into landfills. </span><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We need a global agreement of hard and
inflexible pollution REDUCTIONS, not just "cap and move
pollution around to whatever nation can pay the pollution fee."</b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
We need to make use of solar energy, which can now be generated at
night as well as during the day; the sun bathes the Earth in more
energy </span><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">PER DAY</b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> than modern society will use </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">in centuries</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">,
and we need to harness a respectable portion of that. We must all
become like Germany, who now uses more solar energy than the whole
world combined. Composting must also become a religion, while
research in nano-pesticides must begin so that we can ditch the use
of chemicals. I could list the specifics all day long, but I think
Democrats can get the picture. </span><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Waste not, want not, is an old but
wise and very relevant saying.</b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> We had mass recycling programs in World War II, why not have them now? </span><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Consider it a world war in defense of our environment</b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /><br />Which brings me to Stephen
Hawking, who once famously said that for our survival, we need to
colonize other worlds. He's correct. <b>The truth is, Earth will be hit by a massive asteroid one day, one that will destroy human life on this planet</b>. This is guaranteed to happen. Large asteroids have wiped out life across the Earth in the past and it will happen again. But there's another reason for space colonization: <b>it is also a huge creator of jobs
worldwide</b>, and would result in access to more resources beyond Earth.
Outer space is, potentially, the world's biggest jobs program, ever;
it is likely to create an employee's market for anything from manual
labor (think: asteroid miners in space suits, or people piloting
mining drones) to jobs in the hard sciences and engineering. The
prospect of putting factories on the moon, by itself, offers huge
ecological benefits for the world. In the long term it will also
solve the imaginary Malthusian problem of physical space. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /><br />However,
there is an even bigger benefit to listening to Hawking's advice. The
biggest benefit of all is that when it comes to long-term existence
in outer space, <b>you are forced to research and implement a system of
total sustainability</b>. Even short term trips into orbit require some level of recycling and sustainability, but people working in offworld factories and
those taking trips to places like Mars will need total sustainability. Recycling of all
resources is a must, as is the use of alternative and renewable
energy. The sustainability issues that must be solved to achieve
long-term space travel and colonization of inhospitable worlds <b>will
be of enormous benefit for us back on Earth</b>.<br /><br />There's another
reason to shoot for sustainability over population control: <b>whenever
you hear about population control, it's YOU AND YOUR FAMILY who
will be controlled</b>. The Plutocracy will have no skin in the game
at all; they won't use less resources or make any sacrifices, but YOU
WILL. <b>Malthusians are quick to say that it's the poor who
overpopulate the most</b> - problem is, they're talking about <b>MANY
OF YOU</b>, as in the many of the people who are reading this and
saying to themselves, "No, that can't be right". <b>Yeah,
it is right</b>. It's all about controlling YOU so that the
Plutocrats can have mansions the size of college campuses and yachts
that rival the size of aircraft carriers, along with all the
resources that these luxuries use. </span></span>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16852884294129738676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992816937515539041.post-68896528199661544462013-02-19T09:05:00.000-08:002013-02-19T09:05:02.343-08:00Who Pays Teachers The Most For Their Time?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.imgur.com/HltjMLY.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/HltjMLY.jpg" height="320" width="238" /></a></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16852884294129738676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992816937515539041.post-17158712651895123982013-02-17T04:50:00.003-08:002013-02-17T05:22:43.801-08:00WTF Do Gun Control Advocates Expect a Woman to Do to Defend Herself?<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First of all, I'm sick and tired of the National Rifle Association. They represent gun owners like me just like the Ku Klux Klan represents white men like Veep Joe Biden: <b>NOT AT ALL</b>. They are opposed to the most sensible of restrictions, like universal background checks and bans on semi-auto rifles. Their response to everything is, "MORE GUNS!!!" Let's get that bullshit out of the way - <b>the NRA has no solution to the question of how a woman can defend herself when she is cornered</b>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the other side, however, is this nonsense, while not as stupid as the NRA, it is still nonsense.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEiFQ7iqKrKHndH7yMVqmH1zZQ2-E9eo6c3yDSOx0svIbkEHr9RjHk2_4OAlsFwPdshoYU2PWkzzioS-jYcYKz6rZntfxsjplV_HbZCVx0UO8X69E8Ny6m2So4PEuolInkkpQpJ1vVtVGcajT50R1Uon_bgmSHZzrJoo7TgFN_I0Ik6U39d-qPs=" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn.front.moveon.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/womensafe500.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've got a question for people who push this meme.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU EXPECT A WOMAN TO DO TO PROTECT HERSELF???</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Can we get an answer to that, from someone? If you don't advise her to own a gun, what should she do when she's faced with domestic violence, or some rapist breaking into her house, with kids huddling behind her?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What, no answer? Don't worry. I'll wait. I've got all the time in the world for you to figure that out. Those women out there with animals beating down their door? Not so much. Think on that. WTF is she gonna do to defend herself?</span>
<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEiFQ7iqKrKHndH7yMVqmH1zZQ2-E9eo6c3yDSOx0svIbkEHr9RjHk2_4OAlsFwPdshoYU2PWkzzioS-jYcYKz6rZntfxsjplV_HbZCVx0UO8X69E8Ny6m2So4PEuolInkkpQpJ1vVtVGcajT50R1Uon_bgmSHZzrJoo7TgFN_I0Ik6U39d-qPs=" with "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEiFQ7iqKrKHndH7yMVqmH1zZQ2-E9eo6c3yDSOx0svIbkEHr9RjHk2_4OAlsFwPdshoYU2PWkzzioS-jYcYKz6rZntfxsjplV_HbZCVx0UO8X69E8Ny6m2So4PEuolInkkpQpJ1vVtVGcajT50R1Uon_bgmSHZzrJoo7TgFN_I0Ik6U39d-qPs=" --><!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.front.moveon.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F02%2Fwomensafe500.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEiFQ7iqKrKHndH7yMVqmH1zZQ2-E9eo6c3yDSOx0svIbkEHr9RjHk2_4OAlsFwPdshoYU2PWkzzioS-jYcYKz6rZntfxsjplV_HbZCVx0UO8X69E8Ny6m2So4PEuolInkkpQpJ1vVtVGcajT50R1Uon_bgmSHZzrJoo7TgFN_I0Ik6U39d-qPs=" -->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16852884294129738676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992816937515539041.post-77160367737182915042013-02-16T07:32:00.003-08:002013-02-16T07:32:47.636-08:00Okay Can Someone Explain This 'Nice Guy' Thing To Me?<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been reading these long series of posts on Tumblr about the 'nice guy' thing. From all their accusations, one thing rings consistent: women absolutely hate nice guys.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't get it. Fortunately, being married, my love life doesn't depend on getting it. But still, it's confusing and I hate confusion.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let me see if I get this right.... </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) 'nice guys' is another way of saying self-proclaimed nice guys.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) nice guys are actually deceitful men who just want to get into a woman's pants.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) plus they get mad if a woman doesn't sleep with them</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4) and they pester a woman who rejects them</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5) because they feel entitled to her affections, especially if she is good looking.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">HUH?!!!!!</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_TcY4hai1PZEhyAR8IHt567ZmVFaZOoY1XSRAFGYw53jGwYREeEcIyFlPdby4G4cVR_wISGGdoxowN8en3gJGjif44LyZ_eKGHyd0F86v-cg0hKZ22VV1NjcG8_GJ0jOngVDXd5-l7Kk/s1600/picard_WTF.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_TcY4hai1PZEhyAR8IHt567ZmVFaZOoY1XSRAFGYw53jGwYREeEcIyFlPdby4G4cVR_wISGGdoxowN8en3gJGjif44LyZ_eKGHyd0F86v-cg0hKZ22VV1NjcG8_GJ0jOngVDXd5-l7Kk/s1600/picard_WTF.jpg" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Let me first say if there are men out there like that, they're utter dumbass wastes of oxygen</b>. The ladies of Tumblr have spoken enough hatred of these dirtbags so I'll leave it at that.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the nice guys I hung with, back in the day, didn't feel entitled to anything. In fact we had long talks between us men about how the only thing we were entitled to, when it came to everything from love to just putting food on the table, was to work our asses off and HOPE something came of it. In short as far as we were concerned it was all about luck. We knew men who felt they were owed sex and we avoided being seen with these dudes. Oddly enough they were the rich guys and jocks. Now, apparently, self proclaimed nice guys share this twisted sense of entitlement? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<a href="http://25.media.tumblr.com/6789c916d88e509c9264ffc06822b190/tumblr_mhnrcacowX1qjp83ko1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/6789c916d88e509c9264ffc06822b190/tumblr_mhnrcacowX1qjp83ko1_500.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">....the fuck? </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is this some kind of 20something problem where guys don't know this instinctually? I was one of those nice guys who didn't like getting friend-zoned, <b>and I never needed to be told such basic shit as this</b>. None of the self proclaimed nice guys I shared my woes with, needed this reminder, either. I can't help but believe that this is nonsense.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I'll tell you what really plagues the nice guys:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) Desperation. Years of deprivation will do that to you, especially if you're a male.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) Having mostly-indoor hobbies that women don't (or didn't used to) like, or even respect. Comic Con used to be an almost all-male thing. (Then, suddenly for some reason, it wasn't. Huh??) There also still aren't many women computer geeks. Some, but not many.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) Awkward. Their jokes rarely ever fly. Neither did mine, but I hardly ever cared. Didn't kill me, either, I got married anyway.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4) Timidity. Guys didn't approach a woman romantically for fear of being humiliated. Not just rejected, but humiliated. Watching too much TV sitcoms will do that to you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Timidity, now that's where I have a big problem with what I'm seeing on Tumblr. Most nice guys are too timid and afraid of crossing the jerk line to do HALF of the nutjob things I'm seeing women complain about. The problem is that they're too timid to pester a woman, or even express any sort of anger or frustration - <b>which is part of how they earned the reputation of being so spineless!!! </b>Oddly enough, despite all these failings, the nice guys in my age group all got married.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can see the mythical monsters these women talk about nowadays not getting married, though. If these douchebags actually exist. Well, in this world of 6 billion people I imagine all sort of d-bags can actually exist... even someone so stupid as to not realize that being nice to a girl doesn't mean romance. And if people that dumb ever manage to breed, then this is our future:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16852884294129738676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992816937515539041.post-58975600818895686462013-02-15T07:09:00.001-08:002013-02-15T10:26:00.757-08:00If You Are a Republican and You're Not Rich...<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Then </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>THIS</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>IS</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>YOU.</b></span><br />
<br /></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16852884294129738676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992816937515539041.post-2125052517022999992013-02-14T22:30:00.001-08:002013-02-14T22:30:50.663-08:00The Chris Dorner Manhunt: Get to Know the Victims<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With the manhunt of alleged cop-killer Chris Dorner apparently over, let's take a look at the victims of this tragedy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First, the people whose deaths kicked off this rampage of terror in Los Angeles: <a href="http://graphics.latimes.com/towergraphic-who-they-were-dorners-alleged-victims/">Monica Quan and Keith Lawrence</a>. Monica Quan was the daughter of former LAPD Captain Randal Quan, the man who represented Dorner at his LAPD termination hearing. She was an assistant coach for women's basketball at Cal State Fullerton. She was apparently killed in retaliation against Randal Quan, apparently because Dorner felt he betrayed him at the hearing. Keith Lawrence was her fiance, and was apparently killed because of that. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then there were two police officers who died in the line of duty: Michael Crain and Jeremiah MacKay. Michael Crain was a former US Marine and an officer with the Riverside police department. He was killed in an ambush attack. Jeremiah MacKay was a sheriffs deputy for San Bernardino County. He died in a gun battle with Dorner, and another officer was seriously injured.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, we get to the other victims of the rampage by the police. The ones that were <b>marked for death by summary execution by the Los Angeles and Torrance Police Department</b>. These victims survived the murderous rampage by law enforcement officers only by the grace of God. The police did not attempt to look them in the eye or identify these innocent people, and the police did not ask them to surrender. <b>The police just opened fire on these following people without so much as looking</b>. This was worse than shoot-on-sight: <b>it was shoot-before-sight</b>. Fortunately, probably as a direct result of their recklessness, they failed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Maggie Carranza and her mother Emma Hernandez were a mother and daughter team delivering newspapers in the morning on February 8, when officers from the Los Angeles Police Department approached their blue truck and opened fire without warning. Maggie Carranza's hand was injured <b>while her mother Emma Hernandez took 2 bullets in the back</b>. The police attempted to justify this shoot-before-sight attempted summary execution by saying the truck resembled the one driven by Chris Dorner. First of all, it didn't even look the same; second of all, this was a clear message being sent to all citizens: <b><span style="font-size: large;">that the police are not going to ask for a surrender, and they're not even going to waste time identifying, much less verifying, their target.</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perhaps this is why, subsequently, David Perdue was shot at by Torrance police officers who rammed his car, didn't bother to get a look at him, and opened fire without so much as an order to surrender. Fortunately, they missed him.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>We don't get much biographical information about these three victims... why? Because, unlike Dorner's victims, they survived. But they survived simply because the police who shot at them, didn't shoot accurately enough. Thank goodness.</b></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But make no mistake: these three people </span></b><br />
<b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">were victims of attempted summary executions. </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Summary executions outside of wartime are ILLEGAL.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>(And should be illegal under any circumstance.)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chris Dorner monstrously - and I repeat, <span style="font-size: large;"><b>monstrously</b> </span>- targeted his victims. But if you weren't on his hit list and didn't engage him in battle, you were safe. The LAPD and the Torrance Police Department, on the other hand, deployed a blind, shoot-anything-that-moves "strategy" that terrorized the California Southland. <b>Nobody was safe from the shooting rampage carried out by the police</b>! Innocent lives were not lost ONLY BECAUSE THE POLICE WERE NOT GOOD SHOTS. Two innocent women were shot and hospitalized by the police.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Where is the Federal Bureau of Investigation? Where are the calls for these trigger happy wanna-be summary executioners to be thrown in prison for recklessly endangering the populace they're supposed to protect? Chris Dorner's actions were evil and monstrous - <b>but the actions of those trigger happy cops were even worse</b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dorner is apparently dead. Justice served. Now it is time to deal with those shoot-before-sight cops. Identify those trigger-happy police officers NOW. Prosecute them NOW. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Attempted summary executions of American citizens on American soil IS ILLEGAL. PROSECUTE THEM NOW!!! </b><b>And may the Federal Government never, ever let those trigger-happy cops see the outside of a prison again</b>.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16852884294129738676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992816937515539041.post-87811929625618345882013-02-13T22:55:00.002-08:002013-02-13T22:55:17.531-08:00Do the Police Think They're Gods?<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Or the guardians of gods? </span><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" />It's fairly obvious that they see themselves as such.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let's talk about the abuses that the police inflict upon law abiding citizens:</span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“We’ll come look for you, each and every one of you.”<br /><br />“You like that, he knows these guys know, ’68. You guys know all about ’68. What did they say back in ’68?”<br /><br />“Billy club to the fucking skull.”</span></b></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But maybe that's not awful enough for you. How about the fatal beating of a homeless man?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="https://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/e6yaeD-E_MY/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="https://www.youtube.com/v/e6yaeD-E_MY&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/v/e6yaeD-E_MY&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This video is of cops beating a homeless man to death as he begged for mercy.</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perhaps you don't think that's a bad enough example of police officers gone nuts. Perhaps you'd like to know</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> about cops committing RAPE, such as the case of </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5P4Bko0dhOI" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lydia Cuomo</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> who was sexually assaulted by an off-duty cop?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can come up with a thousand more cases like these - that is, if you're not plugging your ears by now and screaming curses at me for daring to question the unimpeachable saints in blue. A million, perhaps, but if you don't believe the police are out of control, then it won't matter. At some point, <span style="background-color: white;">a rational person must ask: are we not headed for much worse abuses by the cops if we stay our current course? </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Well, first let's look at how bad it is now. The police </span><span style="background-color: white;">routinely don't even bother to respond to thefts. In Oakland, recently, they declined to deal with a hostile intruder in a man's house and the man got killed as a result - <a href="http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/02/21/ignored-911-call-turns-fatal-in-berkeley-police-busy-with-occupy-protest/">they were too busy handling an Occupy protest</a>.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">BERKELEY (KCBS) — Berkeley Police acknowledge they didn’t immediately respond to a call in the hills <a href="http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/02/20/man-fatally-attacked-outside-home-in-berkeley-hills/" style="border: 0px; color: #266ec4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">that would eventually result in a homicide this past Saturday</a>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Officers were preparing for an Occupy protest headed to UC Berkeley from Oakland and said it didn’t appear to be an emergency.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What were the cops doing? They were out preparing to protect the PLUTOCRACY and their holdings from protesters. Protect little people like us? You gotta be kidding me. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/politics/28scotus.html?_r=0">The police are not even required by law to respond to your call for help</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; line-height: 21.34943199157715px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">WASHINGTON, June 27 - The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the police did not have a constitutional duty to protect a person from harm, even a woman who had obtained a court-issued protective order against a violent husband making an arrest mandatory for a violation.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The decision, with an opinion by Justice Antonin Scalia and dissents from Justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, overturned a ruling by a federal appeals court in Colorado. The appeals court had permitted a lawsuit to proceed against a Colorado town, Castle Rock, for the failure of the police to respond to a woman's pleas for help after her estranged husband violated a protective order by kidnapping their three young daughters, whom he eventually killed.</span></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what does the fact that the police aren't required to respond to emergencies, have to do with how bad they have become or how bad they can get? Think about it for a second... they're not Constitutionally required to protect you. So who are they really there for? Not you, if they don't feel like it, or if they have orders to guard the rich people's interests first. Think I'm wrong? Ask Peter Cukor in Oakland. Oh wait, he's dead because of exactly what I said.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Still think I'm wrong? Then why not ask New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg what the purpose of the police is? He <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2068428/Bloomberg-I-army-NYPD-State-Department-New-York-City.html#axzz2KlYrt1lY">said this about the New York Police Department</a>: "<span style="background-color: white;"><b>I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh largest army in the world</b>." Did any politician call him out or take him back a notch? Nope. Not one. Not a single one.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyone left to say I'm wrong? Then please, go look up the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Move_bombing#1985_bombing">MOVE bombing</a> where a police helicopter dropped a C-4 plastic explosive bomb on an apartment in Pennsylvania and killed innocent civilians, <b>plus kids</b>. Or look at the FBI's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO">COINTELPRO</a> program, or the summary execution of a woman with a baby in her arms at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Ridge">Ruby Ridge</a>. Speaking of Ruby Ridge, did you know that Randy Weaver was actually acquitted in court of the very criminal charges you're think of as your counter argument against me? Now how does an acquittal happen <b>after he shot a Federal agent</b>? Simple. <b>Law enforcement was in the wrong</b>... egregiously so.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ever thought of catching a cop committing a crime, on film? <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/22/emily-good-arrested-videotaping-police-rochester_n_882122.html">You might want to think twice about that</a>. Of course <a href="http://technorati.com/technology/article/federal-courts-rule-it-is-not/">it's legal to film the police</a>, but do the cops care? <a href="http://animalnewyork.com/2012/woman-arrested-for-filming-stop-and-frisk-sues-nypd/">Of course not</a>. Oh, yes, and about that last cite, police in New York City are engaging in a widespread <a href="http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-06-07/stop-and-frisk-policy/55453732/1">racist stop-and-frisk</a> campaign where they target blacks and Hispanics for pat-downs and harassment, but not white people. Of course the racists out there thought that was fucking funny - that is, until Lady Justice became a poetess <b>and the same thing started happening in the nearly all-white city of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/radley-balko/the-police-state-comes-to_b_2321878.html">Paragould, Arkansas</a></b>.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"[Police are] going to be in SWAT gear and have AR-15s around their neck," Stovall said. "If you're out walking, we're going to stop you, ask why you're out walking, check for your ID."</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stovall said while some people may be offended by the actions of his department, they should not be.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"We're going to do it to everybody," he said. "Criminals don't like being talked to."</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gaskill backed Stovall's proposed actions during Thursday's town hall.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"They may not be doing anything but walking their dog," he said. "But they're going to have to prove it." . . .</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"This fear is what's given us the reason to do this. Once I have stats and people saying they're scared, we can do this," he said. "It allows us to do what we're fixing to do." . . .</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then we get to the wonderful boys in blue at the Los Angeles Police Department. In February of 2013, a former LAPD officer named Chris Dorner, an African American man, allegedly began a shooting spree which started with the murder of 2 innocent relatives of a police officer, and then a police officer. In a stunning display of respect for due process and public safety, the LAPD engaged in a manhunt for Dorner in which they shoot up a truck suspected to carry Chris Dorner. <a href="http://laist.com/2013/02/07/police_shoot_motorists_mistaken_for_dorner.php">Except they never even tried to identify the occupants of the truck</a>. Then they <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2013/feb/09/local/la-me-torrance-shooting-20130210">went and did it again</a>. That's right, folks, if you were driving around in Los Angeles and you were African American from February 9th and after, <b>your life was very much in danger at the hands of the LAPD</b>. The LAPD opened fire without warning and without any order to surrender. And worse than that? The police cornered Dorner in a cabin at Big Bear Mountain and were caught on audio <a href="http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_22576737/audio-police-appear-give-orders-burn-down-cabin">giving orders to burn the building down</a> with Dorner supposedly still inside!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see where all this is leading to: a world where the police are the raiders, terrorists and thugs that we are scared would plague us if they never existed. You just have to spend a day visiting the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison%E2%80%93industrial_complex">prison-industrial complex</a> to see the smelly guts of the world of tomorrow for a great number of Americans: </span><i style="background-color: white;">for them, it's here today.</i><span style="background-color: white;"> For you, it could be here tomorrow morning, literally, if you do so much as </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/22/emily-good-arrested-videotaping-police-rochester_n_882122.html" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">catch a police officer</a><span style="background-color: white;"> on film. Ever wonder why America has the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/world/americas/23iht-23prison.12253738.html">largest prison population in the world</a>? It's because of not only our crazy drug laws, but the police who are not only trigger happy, but all too willing to arrest those who survive their psychotic rampages.</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">And you cannot despise these thugs because to hate them is to be a psychotic demon. Because, despite all of what they do to society, they are gods, or the guardians of the gods. <b>They are part of the new religion of America: the cult of the Blue servants of Robber Baron Capitalism</b>.</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">What should we do about this? We need to eliminate their sources of funding. We need to replace America's psychopath-dominated police force with a new system of law enforcement. One that, for instance, doesn't come equipped for an all-out war against the American people: </span></span><br />
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<a href="http://media.cnbc.com/i/CNBC/Sections/News_And_Analysis/_News/_SLIDESHOWS/G20_protest_euro/G20_protestor_tank.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://media.cnbc.com/i/CNBC/Sections/News_And_Analysis/_News/_SLIDESHOWS/G20_protest_euro/G20_protestor_tank.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.davidicke.com/images/stories/March20118/police_tank_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.davidicke.com/images/stories/March20118/police_tank_2.jpg" height="241" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><br />Most importantly, when you are considering the hellish possibility of a world without the police gangs that we have now, consider this also: what kind of world are we creating when we give the police thugs <b>A MONOPOLY ON THE USE OF EXTREME ARMORED... NOT JUST ARMED, BUT HEAVILY ARMORED... FORCE</b>? I'll tell you what kind of world we're creating: a POLICE STATE. A state infested with the cancer of <b>Government-sponsored terrorism</b>. Want an example of a police state? <a href="http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/are-we-living-police-state?page=0%2C0&akid=10048.1077804.ns9FJM&rd=1&src=newsletter793774&t=15">Visit Denver, Colorado</a> for a good example. Or ask the citizens of Los Angeles about the Dorner manhunt.<br /><br />Obviously unquestioning fans of the police don't care what I have to say. How about the words of <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/164501/paramilitary-policing-seattle-occupy-wall-street">Norm Stamper</a>, the former chief of police in Seattle during the World Trade Organization protests in 1999? </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #e6e6e6;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m convinced it is possible to create a smart organizational alternative to the paramilitary bureaucracy that is American policing. But that will not happen unless, even as we cull “bad apples” from our police forces, we recognize that the barrel itself is rotten.</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Or how about the words of former Philadelphia police Captain Ray Lewis?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">America's law enforcement system is rotten to its core. It attracts violent people and it encourages them to be violent. <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352566,00.html">The police can shoot you for pulling out a wallet</a> and get away with it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/08/us/california-police-beating/">Get caught by a cop in the wrong mood</a> and you might as well have run into a gang of psycho killers...</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thomas cries out for help and. toward the end of the beating, for his father: "Dad! Help me. Help me. Help me, dad."</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His voice gets softer and trails off.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By the end of the video, he is lying in a pool of blood as the officers wonder out loud what to do next. </span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One can be heard saying: "We ran out of options so I got to the end of my Taser and I ... smashed his face to hell."</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We need to re-think the concept of law enforcement. Quickly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The whole system needs to be reconstructed from scratch. All the old players need to be fired, and new applicants for law enforcement jobs need to be screened. <b>And most importantly, cops should never be given access to drones, tanks, carbine rifles, or riot gear</b>.</span></div>
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