February 3, 2010
Until now, corporations only influenced politics with high-paid lobbyists and backroom deals. But today, thanks to an enlightened supreme court, corporations now have all the rights the founding fathers meant for us. That’s why Murray Hill Incorporated is taking democracy’s next step– running for Congress.
.
.
Hire a Moonlighting CIA Agent
visit: max keiser
.
.
consider nothing
.
.
Blame Us
February 2, 2010
Over the last several months, American representatives and Iranian officials have swapped visits and trade secrets. No, they’re not politicians — they’re doctors. In the last 30 years, Iran has cut its infant mortality rate by 70 percent; that’s something to pay attention to, regardless of a nation’s nuclear ambitions.
According to the Los Angeles Times, a group of physicians in the Mississippi Delta hope to open “health houses” modeled on the 17,000 medical outposts in Iran. Since 1980, Iran has had small clinics in each rural community, staffed by trained members of that community focused on preventative care. These nurses’ aides then go door-to-door performing routine tests and determining if anyone needs to be referred to the hospital. “The community health workers will know who has diabetes, who has high blood pressure, who is 10 or 12-years-old and pregnant. They will know it because they live in the neighborhood and see them at church or the corner store,” said Dr. Aaron Shirley, the state’s first black pediatrician, who has spent his career working with Mississippi’s rural poor and is leading the charge for a three-year, $30 million health house pilot program.
Mississippi has the highest infant mortality rate in the nation, running neck and neck with poverty stricken nations such as HAITI - 50 percent higher than the national average, and ranks near the bottom in many other health metrics including obesity rates, teenage pregnancies and diabetes. “I ain’t never heard of Iran. But we could sure use somebody’s help,” said 80-year-old Erleen Smith, who lives alone in a drafty shotgun shack in Baptist Town, Mississippi.
“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. ” – MLK
.
.
Will Marry For Health Insurance
Shame on the USA!
.
.
January 27, 2010
January 21, 2010
The First Amendment guarantees the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
sign quick!
updated as needed
Unlimited corporate spending on campaigns means the government is up for sale and that the law itself will be bought and sold. It would be political bribery on the largest scale imaginable.
This issue transcends partisan political arguments. We cannot have a government that is bought and paid for by huge multinational corporations. You must stop this.
.
.
.
.
Read the case
Citizens United v FEC
.
.
Supreme Court rejects limits on corporate spending in electoral campaigns
A divided Supreme Court on Thursday swept away decades of legislative efforts to limit the role of corporations in election campaigns, ruling that severe restrictions on corporate spending are inconsistent with the First Amendment’s protection of political speech.
The court split 5 to 4 over the ruling, with its conservative members in the majority.
The decision upends the court’s precedent that corporations may not use their profits to support or oppose candidates, and it rejects a large portion of the so-called McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform act that the justices had declared constitutional just six years ago. It seems likely to apply to the political role of labor unions as well.
“When government seeks to use its full power, including the criminal law, to command where a person may get his or her information or what distrusted source he or she may not hear, it uses censorship to control thought,” the court said in a decision written by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. “This is unlawful. The First Amendment confirms the freedom to think for ourselves.”
President Obama sharply criticized the decision, saying it gives “a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics” and represents “a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans.”
In a statement released by the White House, Obama said the ruling “gives the special interests and their lobbyists even more power in Washington — while undermining the influence of average Americans who make small contributions to support their preferred candidates.” He said he was instructing his administration “to get to work immediately with Congress on this issue” and coordinate with Democratic and Republican leaders on a “forceful response.”
The case arose from a conservative group’s production of a scathing look at Hillary Rodham Clinton, a documentary produced during her run for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. The case is Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
The decision does not address the restriction on direct contributions to candidates, and it upholds disclosure requirements for groups that mount advertising campaigns for and against candidates.
The far-reaching ruling marks a triumph for groups that have fought the McCain-Feingold provisions, formally known as the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002.
It also is a telling reminder of how quickly a court can change. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor supported the constitutionality of the act in 2003. But Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and O’Connor’s replacement, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., have supported each challenge to the law since they have joined the court. They supported Kennedy’s opinion, along with Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.
The court’s liberal bloc, which included new Justice Sonia Sotomayor in the case, dissented. Justice John Paul Stevens took more than 20 minutes to read a dissent from the bench, a move justices reserve for emphasizing their disagreement.
“A radical change in the law,” Stevens called the decision. He said Thursday’s majority rejects the decisions of Congress dating from 1907 and “the overwhelming majority of justices who have served on this court.”
He said the five-member majority are the only ones who believe corporate money in electoral politics should be increased, rather than controlled. Sotomayor and Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer joined his 90-page dissent.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who co-wrote the 2002 campaign reform law with Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), said he was “disappointed” by the decision. But Feingold went further, calling it “a terrible mistake” and saying it ignored “important principles of judicial restraint and respect for precedent.”
“Presented with a relatively narrow legal issue, the Supreme Court chose to roll back laws that have limited the role of corporate money in federal elections since Teddy Roosevelt was president,” Feingold added
Both senators noted, though, that the court had retained the law’s ban on so-called soft money contributions.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s largest business group, said the ruling provides “clarity and predictability” for corporations, unions and nonprofit groups seeking to take part in the political process.
“Today’s ruling protects the First Amendment rights of organizations across the political spectrum, and is a positive for the political process and free enterprise,” said Robin Conrad, executive vice president of the chamber’s litigation center.
But Fred Wertheimer, a veteran campaign reform activist who heads Democracy 21, called the ruling “a disaster for the American people and a dark day for the Supreme Court.”
“In a stark choice between the right of American citizens to a government free from ‘influence-buying’ corruption and the economic and political interests of American corporations, five Supreme Court Justices today came down in favor of American corporations,” Wertheimer said. “With a stroke of the pen, five Justices wiped out a century of American history devoted to preventing corporate corruption of our democracy.”
A lower court said the Clinton film ran afoul of a McCain-Feingold provision that forbids corporations, unions and special interest groups from using money from their general treasuries for “any broadcast, cable or satellite communications” that refer to a candidate for federal office during election season.
In the past, that has meant 30-second to one-minute campaign ads. But the lower court said the same rule applied to Citizens United’s 90-minute film about Clinton, which it proposed to broadcast on demand on cable channels.
But during oral arguments in March, conservative justices were more interested in the larger questions of how far government could go to corral corporate spending. Even though the law is specifically about broadcasts, justices asked the government’s lawyer whether the ban could include books that endorsed a candidate.
Instead of deciding the case at the end of the term in June, the court set a special hearing for Sept. 9 to decide whether to overturn the court’s 5 to 4 decision in 2003 declaring McCain-Feingold constitutional.
.
.
Judge Stevens
Stevens Accuses Supreme Court Conservatives of Judicial Activism
Although they make enormous contributions to our society, corporations are not actually members of it. They cannot vote or run for office. Because they may be managed and controlled by nonresidents, their interests may conflict in fundamental respects with the interests of eligible voters.
The financial resources, legal structure,and instrumental orientation of corporations raise legitimate concerns about their role in the electoral process. Our lawmakers have a compelling constitutional basis, if not also a democratic duty, to take measures designed to guard against the potentially deleterious effects of corporate spending in local and national races.
The majority’s approach to corporate electioneering marks a dramatic break from our past. Congress has placed special limitations on campaign spending by corporations ever since the passage of the Tillman Act in 1907…. We have unanimously concluded [in 1982] that this “reflects a permissible assessment of the dangers posed by those entities to the electoral process”…and have accepted the “legislative judgment that the special characteristics of the corporate structure require particularly careful regulation… The Court today rejects a century of history when it treats the distinction between corporate and individual campaign spending as an invidious novelty born [in a 1990 opinion].
The Court’s ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions across the Nation. The path it has taken to reach its outcome will, I fear, do damage to this institution
.
.
Judge Kennedy
Because speech is an essential mechanism of democracy — it is the means to hold officials accountable to the people — political speech must prevail against laws that would suppress it by design or inadvertence,”
.
.
.
.
.
.
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) warned last week that if the court found unconstitutional all efforts to ban corporations and unions from financing political ads, it would take the country “not just back to a pre-McCain-Feingold era, but back to the era of the robber barons in the 19th century.”
“It is important to note that the decision does not affect McCain-Feingold’s soft money ban, which will continue to prevent corporate contributions to the political parties from corrupting the political process. But this decision was a terrible mistake. Presented with a relatively narrow legal issue, the Supreme Court chose to roll back laws that have limited the role of corporate money in federal elections since Teddy Roosevelt was president. Ignoring important principles of judicial restraint and respect for precedent, the Court has given corporate money a breathtaking new role in federal campaigns. Just six years ago, the Court said that the prohibition on corporations and unions dipping into their treasuries to influence campaigns was ‘firmly embedded in our law.’ Yet this Court has just upended that prohibition, and a century’s worth of campaign finance law designed to stem corruption in government. The American people will pay dearly for this decision when, more than ever, their voices are drowned out by corporate spending in our federal elections. In the coming weeks, I will work with my colleagues to pass legislation restoring as many of the critical restraints on corporate control of our elections as possible.”
.
.
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) nothing on his website about this decision
“The Court’s ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions across the Nation.” He notes that the, Framers of our Constitution “had little trouble distinguishing corporations from human beings, and when they constitutionalized the right to free speech in the First Amendment, it was the free speech of individual Americans that they had in mind.”
.
.
Murder Of Democracy
.
.
What can you do?
2009 Fair Elections Now Act Bill Summary
The Fair Elections Now Act (S. 752 and H.R. 1826) was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) and in the House of Representatives by Reps. John Larson (D-Conn.) and Walter Jones, Jr. (R-N.C.). The bill would allow federal candidates to choose to run for office without relying on large contributions, big money bundlers, or donations from lobbyists, and would be freed from the constant fund-raising in order to focus on what people in their communities want. more
.
.
Time to Reign in Out-of-Control Corporate Influences on Our Democracy
Today’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission shreds the fabric of our already weakened democracy by allowing corporations to more completely dominate our corrupted electoral process. It is outrageous that corporations already attempt to influence or bribe our political candidates through their political action committees (PACs), which solicit employees and shareholders for donations. With this decision, corporations can now also draw on their corporate treasuries and pour vast amounts of corporate money, through independent expenditures, into the electoral swamp already flooded with corporate campaign PAC contribution dollars.
This corporatist, anti-voter decision is so extreme that it should galvanize a grassroots effort to enact a Constitutional Amendment to once and for all end corporate personhood and curtail the corrosive impact of big money on politics. It is indeed time for a Constitutional amendment to prevent corporate campaign contributions from commercializing our elections and drowning out the civic and political voices and values of citizens and voters. It is way overdue to overthrow “King Corporation” and restore the sovereignty of “We the People”! -Ralph Nader
Full release
.
.
.
.
A Call For the Arrest of 5 Supreme Court Justices For Treason
Five members of the Supreme Court declared that a “corporation” is a person, not a “regular person” but one above all natural laws, subject to no God, no moral code but one with unlimited power over our lives, a power awarded by judges who seem themselves as grand inquisitors in an meant to hunt down all hertics who fail to serve their god, the god of money.
Their ruling has made it legal for foreign controlled corporations to flush unlimited money into our bloated political system to further corrupt something none of us trust and most of us fear. The “corporation/person” that the 5 judges, the “neocon” purists, have turned the United States over to isn’t even American. Our corporations, especially since our economic meltdown are owned by China, Russia and the oil sheiks along with a few foreign banks. They don’t vote, pay taxes, fight in wars, need dental care, breathe air, drive cars or send children to school. Anyone who thinks these things are people is insane. Anyone who would sell our government to them is a criminal and belongs in prison. There is nothing in the Constitution that makes this “gang of five” bribe sucking clowns above the law. There is nothing in the Constitution that even mentions corporations much less gives them status equal to or greater than the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of government.
more
.
.
Wall Street Immunity
.
.
Keeps getting worse – this is like an underground coup
EFF: Court ruling means ’surveillance of Americans immune from review
Nine plaintiffs — five customers of telecom companies from California and four others from Brooklyn — had sued the NSA arguing that their rights had been infringed by the wiretapping program, which potentially could have spied on anyone in the United States.
“This ruling robs innocent telecom customers of their privacy rights without due process of law,” EFF legal director Cindy Cohn said in a statement. “Setting limits on executive power is one of the most important elements of America’s system of government, and judicial oversight is a critical part of that.”
full
.
.
The Supreme Court Renders Voting Obsolete
Davis Fleetwood
Corporations have been running the country for decades, now. The recent Supreme Court ruling just makes it easier, more transparent. Now that voting is- temporarily anyway – obsolete, we can focus on more constructive activities. more
.
.
Professor Lawrence Lessig’s Essay on the Need for a Constitutional Amendment
Our single common purpose must be to end this corruption. No side in this debate has the right to demand rules that benefit them against the other. But all sides need to recognize that this corruption is destroying American democracy. We need a system that the people trust — that gives the people a reason to participate, and convinces them that their participation is rewarded by the substantive policies that they have pursued. more
.
.
State Of the Union
Justice Alito’s ‘You lie’ moment?
POLITICO’s Kasie Hunt, who’s in the House chamber, reports that Justice Samuel Alito mouthed the words “not true” when Obama criticized the Supreme Court’s campaign finance decision.
“Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests – including foreign corporations – to spend without limit in our elections,” Obama said. “Well I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people, and that’s why I’m urging Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong.”
The shot of the black-robed Supreme Court justices, stone faced, was priceless.
Chuck Schumer stood up behind the justices and clapped vigorously while Alito shook his head and quietly mouthed his discontent.
.
.
Alito – Up Close and Personal
“simply untrue”
.
.
.
Clickables
.
.
.
January 18, 2010
Hoffa Says Goldman Sachs Driving YRC Into Bankruptcy
17 DEC 2009 – International Brotherhood of Teamsters President James Hoffa said Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is creating derivatives trades that would profit from the bankruptcy of YRC Worldwide Inc., the trucking company trying to avert failure with a debt exchange.
The most profitable securities firm in Wall Street history “is actively soliciting bond trades for clients and underwriting credit-default swaps to benefit from a failed exchange and resulting bankruptcy,” Hoffa, the union leader, wrote in a letter dated yesterday to Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein.
YRC, the biggest U.S. trucker by sales, is extending the exchange offer deadline to Dec. 23, after investors holding 75 percent of its debt initially agreed to the exchange, below the 95 percent required by bank lenders. As of 5 p.m. in New York yesterday, participation fell to 57 percent, the Overland Park, Kansas-based company said in a statement. The company said it believes some bondholders have withdrawn because they want to tender their notes only on the expiration date.
The company has faced opposition to its plan to exchange $536.8 million of notes for equity from bondholders who also own derivatives that pay out in a default, according to people familiar with the matter. The Teamsters’ pressure comes as Goldman Sachs is under fire from other labor groups over its role in the subprime mortgage crisis.
YRC, which has posted more than $1.7 billion in losses in the past five quarters, must complete the exchange offer as part of agreements with its bank lenders, the Teamsters and multi- employer pension funds, according to a Nov. 24 regulatory filing. more…
.
.
Then Hoffa told Goldman Sachs he’d tell the Feds where all the bodies are buried…
.
.
Goldman Sachs Helps YRC Avert Bankruptcy Following Hoffa’s Plea
1 Jan 2010 Goldman Sachs Group Inc. helped YRC Worldwide Inc. complete a debt swap to avert bankruptcy after the Teamsters union said the bank was trying to profit from a failure of the largest U.S. trucker by sales.
A group consisting of Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank AG, Aristeia Capital LLC, Silverback Asset Management and a Smith Management LLC unit, “got us over the goal line by going into the market, buying bonds and tendering them,” YRC Chief Executive Officer Bill Zollars said yesterday.
YRC extended the deadline for the bond exchange six times in December as it sought to overcome resistance from bondholders owning derivatives that would pay out if the company defaulted. YRC, which has posted $1.7 billion in losses in the past five quarters, needed to complete the exchange by Dec. 31 to avoid a bank payment that would have left the trucker in an “unsustainable” position, the Overland Park, Kansas-based company said in a regulatory filing two weeks ago.
International Brotherhood of Teamsters President James Hoffa said in letters last month to regulators and lawmakers that Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank were among banks that “have a history of making markets in these types of derivative financial products.”
Goldman Sachs spokesman Michael DuVally said Dec. 17 that the bank was “actively exploring ways to help” YRC.
Bondholders with 70 percent of YRC’s $150 million of 8.5 percent notes due in April offered to tender, meeting the required threshold, the company said yesterday in a statement. That’s an increase over the 59 percent that participated by Dec. 29. Holders of 88 percent of all of the company’s outstanding bonds, with a face value of $470 million, participated in the exchange, the company said. more…
Maybe the American People could hire Hoffa to take care of the banks.
Mr. Hoffa, if every working and unemployed American gave you $1.00 (that’s roughly $200 million in cash), would you do it?
January 16, 2010
Six Mistakes Mankind Keeps Making Century After Century:
1. Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others.
2. Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected.
3. Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it.
4. Refusing to set aside trivial preferences.
5. Neglecting development and refinement of the mind.
6. Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do.
— Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC – 43BC)
freedom is participation in power
.
.
Iceland
each segment is roughly 11 min.
fortunately, Mr. Jones allows her to do most of the talking
.
.
Latvia
more
there are 14 segment, each is only few minutes, the link is to the You Tube complete playlist
.
.
December 31, 2009
This year I didn’t spend time like years past (2008 & 2007 ) looking at endless videos.
Things have changed, You Tube has changed. The creativity and interest, for the most part, has transformed to the quick, silly and popular. Creativity has given way to more sophisticated technology and the interesting or even daring has taken on more professional tones.
None of those are necessarily bad things, just often redundant and lacking a certain uniqueness and innocence only those engaged in the creative process are able to captures with the limited tools that are available. In other words they aren’t always perfect or very shiny, but usually full of heart.
In the mix this year there were a few gems floating around that I really appreciated, and I thought this year I would be more thoughtful in why I liked a number of them rather than just plopping them up on this blog to click and play.
I’ve toyed with posting the best of some pretty good vlog arguments; socially, philosophically and politically, but there are so many that I would be hard pressed to chose the best of the best and since I’m fairly good at posting them on this blog post haste… if you are interested feel free to click above and browse through the archives or topics on the main page (click above)
In the mean time, here it it! A short list of some of my favorite finds. All of them, to a certain degree, are intentional and for the most part happy accidents or discoveries. I hope you enjoy them.
BTW if you have your own favorites share the link in the comments, I and those who read this blog will enjoy watching all your picks.
Happy New Year!
Top Of The List
Even though this video is pretty old; it wasn’t uploaded until 2009 – I picked this as my most favorite this year, in part, because the king of pop is dead; though I must confess I was never a big Michael Jackson fan, honestly, I don’t own one of his cds and never even bothered to see Thriller, but after his passing I was surprised by how many people I discovered were huge fans. Just the sound of one of his tunes seemed to make most people smile or start to dance and move smooth; of course, that could actually be the Quincy Jones effect, regardless, and all bad jokes aside, this particular video seems to represent perhaps, a little of whatever MJ had inside him that is inside us all.
I chose this particular video, not because the guy is a great MJ impersonator or even a good dancer demonstrating all the right moves, what struck me most is the effect the story behind the video has on people who watch it. It’s like finding a little bottle of joy.
First, there are two ways to view this video:
1. watch it like any other video, then read the story, then watch it again.
2. read the story, then watch the video.
my suggestion, go with #1.
The Story
From YouTuber livejamie – from the You Tube sidebar:
“This video was posted to YouTube and Vimeo but deleted after it reached the reddit homepage, I’ve merely mirrored it here.
Cedelman1 commented on Guy dancing like Michael Ja… (2 weeks ago) “Thank you! I had a blast putting it all together~ I just hope I see him again so I can give him a copy.
Cedelman1 commented on Guy dancing like Michael Ja… (2 months ago) “Nope, not staged & not danny oliver– just a guy… I filmed him over a 15-month period as he waited for the bus. He always made my day 
“
Cedelman1 uploaded a new video (2 months ago) I love this guy. He used to wait for the bus outside my office window and was quite entertaining. He hasn’t been around for a couple years, so I hope this video finds him some day “
.
.
.
Minimalism – Kinetic Typography Poem
I chose this video because it encompasses all creativity, everything starts with a dot. It is the first move, the actual commitment to create. What I also found fascinating was how it was so cleverly put together and on the fly by the author Azrienoch. He said he was playing around with some new software (AfterEffects) and this is what happen. A very happy and creative discovery. Second year Azrienoch made my year end list.
.
.
.
Almost forgot! we came we saw we kicked its ass
.
.
.
girl in the machine
Another old video not uploaded until 2009 – Curiosity got the better of this tike, and through the whole thing, no doubt, worried and probably angered her caregivers, I couldn’t help, but wonder what was going through her mind as she decided, like Alice, to crawl inside the hole and make her way through to the other side. In a Siegfried like moment she turns away from the cries of her mother and climbs on top of the many plush and stuffed animals, she situates herself, stretches out and experiences a brief moment of complete bliss. Her thoughts never seem to be with taking any of the toy prizes, but just wanting to know what it’s like to be on the other side of the glass. One security cam happy accident.
.
.
.
Halloween Math Class
a teacher who goes the extra mile and one you’ll never forget.
.
.
.
sit back, relax and have a good time
have to wonder if the pantie-bomber would have had second thoughts if this attendant was on his flight.
.
.
.
sunny with a slight chance of cats
ich möchte in diesem land leben
.
.
.
Worthwhile, Funny, Honorable Mentions and Channel Of The Year Videos
books
.
.
somalia vacation
.
.
the shower
.
.
sudan movie baby
.
.
b-roll
.
.
utter fraud
.
.
flight info
.
.
pepi
.
.
now
.
.
the subtle humor of the understated
.
.
The Best Trilogy
big ass rental
good ass bbq and foot message
cheap ass legal and day care
.
.
drum roll…
how 2009 felt and channel of the year
December 24, 2009
December 24, 2009
This Christmas and New Years give yourself a gift – Your Country!
That’s right take it back!
Here’s the plea and how you can help.
Banks Bundled Bad Debt, Bet Against It and Won – Are you Outraged yet?
Dear Friends,
In Japan, they know the meaning of shame. Citigroup does wrong in Japan, and the CEO is forced to make a public bow of apology. In the United States, when Citigroup does wrong, there’s no apology – just subsidies, bailouts and bonuses.
Indeed, one year after it crashed the global economy, drained people’s pensions and retirement savings, and threw millions out of work, Wall Street is back to business as usual – in Washington and Manhattan.
One group is leading the charge against Wall Street, issuing a clarion call to rein in the banksters. That group is Public Citizen.
.
.
442 days.
That’s how long it took after the collapse of Lehman Brothers before the House of Representatives passed some financial reform legislation.
It’s still pending in the Senate. The long delay between the onset of the financial crisis and Congressional movement toward passage of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 did not well serve the cause of reform.
.
.
First, the Good News.
Thanks in no small part to the work of Public Citizen, the bill would set up a consumer financial watchdog agency.
Wall Street said it wanted to “kill” – their words – the agency. Public Citizen was here to say, “no way.”
Public Citizen experts made the case for the agency and they went after Wall Street lackeys, like Representative Melissa Bean (D-Illinois), who tried, unsuccessfully, to defeat or weaken the agency beyond recognition.
If passed by the Senate, the agency will prevent predatory mortgages, rip-off overdraft fees, fine-print bank billing tricks and complicated loan terms designed to deceive.
But besides the consumer watchdog, which we hope will be headed by the magnificent Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren, the bill will be little more than an annoyance to Wall Street.
That’s because the bill fails utterly to address the structural problems that led to the financial crisis. As the financial regulation debate moves to the Senate, no one is better positioned to fix these problems than Public Citizen.
.
.
Here the Public Citizen Plan.
Step one: Break up the banks. It’s that simple. The banks are too big to fail, make them smaller, make sure that the commercial banks where you maintain your checking accounts are separated from the investment banks that gamble on Wall Street.
Step two: Crack down on derivatives, which Warren Buffett called “financial weapons of mass destruction.”
Ban exotic financial instruments that are too dangerous. Make purveyors of new derivatives prove they are safe and subject whatever is permitted to stringent controls.
Step three: Rein in executive pay and end Wall Street’s ruinous bonus culture.
Wall Street aims to pay tens of billions of dollars in bonuses – in the same year it has received trillions of dollars in public support.
Really?
YES!
Then slap a windfall tax on the bonuses. Public Citizen called for it, and the United Kingdom is now doing it. Washington can follow and the bonuses that are paid should only be a reward for long-term success by companies or divisions in companies.
.
.
The Purpose of Public Citizen
The idea behind Public Citizen has always been to create a base of talented advocates who could read convoluted legislation and regulations, translate technical language into everyday English and highlight corporate abuses; use the media to get the word out; petition, lobby, litigate and agitate; and mobilize the public around proposals to advance health, safety, justice and democracy. All to go toe-to-toe with corporate power and WIN.
For almost four decades, that’s what Public Citizen has done. Like no one else in Washington. Now they are ready to take on Wall Street and WIN!
You can count on Public Citizen to name names. They will connect Wall Street campaign contributions to their Congressional allies’ fake solutions. They will lay out a hard-hitting agenda to reduce Wall Street’s power and with your help they will organize the populist rage needed to impose new rules on Wall Street.
With the House of Representatives finally passing its financial reform bill earlier this month, the whole legislative package moves to the Senate. Where it will very quickly move to the front burner in early 2010. There’s no time to delay.
Together, we do have the power to defeat the corruption on Wall Street.
.
.
I urge you to make a contribution before the end of the year to support Public Citizen’s Campaign to help in Wall Street.
Please make your contribution of $25, $50, $100, $500 – or whatever you can afford, even if it is One Single Dollar.
Contribute before midnight, December 31, and your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar by a small group of committed Public Citizen donors – up to $100,000! Please help Public Citizen reach this target.
Most of all help spread the word.
Help take your country back.
Every Effort Does Make a Difference.
Onward to Justice!
.
.
.
Links To and About the Financial Crisis
US Indentured Slavery
December 17, 2009
.
.
If Crowned Chair of the Federal Reserve, after Free Market Ayn Randian Fraud De-regulator Allen Greenspan, Ben Bernanke isn’t part of some mass quasi Illuminati diabolical plot to convert the United States into the king pin of the New World Order then Ben is just a big fat miserable failure. That goes for Hank Paulson, Timothy Geithner, Christina Romer and Larry Summers.
.
.
December 16, 2009
December 13, 2009
December 9, 2009
MAJOR SUPREME COURT CASE DECISION TODAY?
Rumors abound here in Washington that today’s the day the U.S. Supreme Court hands down its decision on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission — a case that has the potential to notably change campaign finance laws at the federal level. (Most notably, the decision could allow unlimited corporate funds to be used for political expenditures.) Now, we had a few false alarms last month. Court decisions that were supposed to come down didn’t. But since it’s been nearly three months since the case’s oral arguments, brush up on the battle here, here and here. And check back here later today for coverage and analysis of the decision — if there’s anything to cover.
Will a corporation continue to be regarded he same rights as a living breathing human being or will it finally come to an end?
these nine people will decide if you are a slave to the system or the master of your life
Wiki – Corporate Personhood Debate
Corporate Personhood
The word “corporation” or “company,” or the words “political party,” do not appear anywhere in the U.S. Constitution. How then can these two excluded corporate institutions have such power over Americans who, as “real people,” are the only “persons” protected and given rights under our Constitution?
Corporations are artificial legal entities. They are not human beings. They do not vote. They do not breathe. They do not have children. They do not die in Iraq. Why have they been given all the rights under our Constitution, except for the right against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment, and why did they obtain these rights from judges, not from the legislature?
I put these and other questions in writing to Justice Antonin Scalia — deemed an extremely conservative judge who believes in “originalism,” or strict interpretation of the Constitution.
Recently, Justice Scalia and I caught up together on the phone: I asked him how the application of the Bill of Rights and related constitutional protections to the artificial creations known as corporations can be squared with a constitutional interpretation theory of “originalism?”
Justice Scalia said he had not put much thought into unconstitutional corporate personhood, but if a case was brought before him on the topic, he would be happy to delve into it.
Unconstitutional corporate personhood is the central issue that prevents equal justice under the law and provides privileges and immunities to corporations completely outside of the framers’ frame of reference in that large hot room in Philadelphia during the summer of 1787.
The $700 billion blank check bailout of Wall Street is the latest manifestation of private corporate domination of our national government, a situation that Franklin Delano Roosevelt foresaw as “fascism” in a message to Congress in 1938. The relentless decline in the livelihood of America’s working families and growing unemployed reflects the radical concentration of power and wealth in a few hands.
To turn back this tide, the first step is for someone among the legal community — the sooner the better — to bring a case centering on unconstitutional corporate personhood to the fore on the floor of the Supreme Court.
And then, perhaps, Justice Scalia’s originalism can be brought to bare on restoring justice and allowing the Constitution’s words “we the people,” to once again ring true.
From Nader Urges Courts to Challenge Constitutionality of Corporate Personhood
October 27, 2008
Nader’s Stump Speech on Corporate Personhood 2008
To see our call to crack down on corporate crime, click here.
In 1886 the Supreme Court, in the case of Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, was interpreted to have ruled that corporations were “persons”—before women were considered persons under the 19th amendment to have the right to vote.
Ever since, corporations have enjoyed most of the same constitutional rights granted to real people.
But corporations are not humans. They don’t vote. They don’t have children. They don’t die in Iraq.
The people who work for the corporations are of course real people, but the corporate “entity” should never be given equal constitutional rights to real human beings.
Even Business Week magazine, in a 2000 editorial, declared that “corporations should get out of politics.”
We cannot have equal justice under law between real people and corporations like Exxon Mobil.
Multinational corporations can be in 1000 places around the world at the same time obstructing governments, states, buying and renting politicians, and going to Washington to get bailed out by taxpayers.
Congress did not legislate corporate personhood. The courts performed this jolting display of runaway activism all by themselves.
The courts destroyed the semblance of equal protection under law because there is no way even an individual billionaire can approximate the raw power of these large corporations with their privileged immunities, and their control over technology, capital and labor.
Nader/Gonzalez will work to end corporate personhood.
Nader/Gonzalez will work to subordinate the artificial corporate entity to the constitutional sovereignty of the people.
Right now it is the reverse. The sovereignty of the people is subordinated to the sovereignty of the giant multinational corporations.
But the constitution still reads, “we the people”, not we the corporations.
Corporations were chartered in the early nineteenth century by state governments to be our servants, not our masters.
They are now our masters.
Time to restore the supremacy of real people.
December 7, 2009
November 26, 2009
as long as you’ve got your health…
.
.
Estimating the Risk of Food Stamp Use and Impoverishment During Childhood
Between the ages of 1 to 20 years, nearly half (49.2%) of all American children will, at some point, reside in a household that receives food stamps. Households in need of the program use it for relatively short periods but are also likely to return to the program at several points during the childhood years. Race, parental education, and head of household’s marital status exert a strong influence on the proportion of children residing in a food stamp household.
The best way to give thanks is by giving of your time to help another human being.
Happy Thanksgiving
November 23, 2009
an interesting lot
very good independent media outlet
keep an eye on these guys
November 22, 2009
Taliban trying to turn US troops into heroin addicts
Insurgents in Afghanistan are using heroin as a tactical weapon against US forces, hoping to emulate the drug problems that plagued US troops in Vietnam and Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s, says a new investigative report.
In a report at the Daily Beast, author Gerald Posner cites “an internal US intelligence report” that “concluded [insurgents] are targeting American troops in an effort to undermine their effectiveness, while raising cash to pay for new recruits and weaponry.”
The report brings up inevitable comparisons to the Vietnam War of the 1960s and 1970s and the Soviet war in Afghanistan that ended two decades ago. It also raises the possibility that the conflict in Afghanistan will spill over into the streets of America as returning troops bring their addictions home with them.
Another Doom Loop
Afghan Heroin part 1
Afghan Heroin part 2
…
Pot Plantations in Afghanistan
a lot of sticky
weed grows like weeds
high and fighting
…
Are Americans Fighting and Dying in Afghanistan for Chinese Profits?
China’s Winning Bid For Copper Rights Includes Power Plant, Railroad
China Metallurgical Group agreed to invest billions of dollars in the project and related infrastructure development — including the construction of a coal-fired electrical power plant and what would be Afghanistan’s first freight railway.
By the estimates of some geologists, deposits at Afghanistan’s Aynak copper field in Logar Province make it the world’s largest undeveloped copper field.
The deal gives China Metallurgical Group the right to extract high-quality copper from the area south of Kabul. China gains with US Military protection
Copper deposits worth $88 billion
why are we still there?
Voice of Reason pt1
Voice of Reason pt2
November 15, 2009
November 13, 2009
Wait for it…
Blankfein ‘I’m doing ‘God’s work’
Wall Street Front Running Goldman Code
Goldman Sachs – No Health Care Reform is Best
Goldman Sachs Abandons Kittens (really)
Goldman proves once again that they will makes promises they never intend to keep. They will exploit and take advantage of even the weakest of creatures to fill their coffers.
Up to date News On Goldman Sachs goldmansachs666
….
Quotes From Lloyd Blankfein and on Goldman Sachs
“I know I could slit my wrists and people would cheer,” CEO Lloyd Blankfein told reporter John Arlidge.
On Goldman Sachs they are “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money” Matt Taibbi
“And as far as doing God’s work, I think the bankers who took government money and then gave out obscene bonuses are the same self-interested sorts Jesus threw out of the temple.” -Maureen Dowd
From SNL Really with Seth and Amy “Can you not read how mad people are at you? When most people saw the headline ‘GOLDMAN SACHS GETS SWINE FLU VACCINE’ they were super happy until they read the word ‘vaccine.’” -Amy Poehler
More Max Keiser
The Bitch Is Back
2009’s most influential author is a mirthless Russian-American who loves money, hates God, and swings a gigantic dick. She died in 1982, but her spawn soldier on. And the Great Recession is all their fault
November 7, 2009
Visit
Max Keiser & Max Keiser TV
have anything special to add, leave a comment with the URL…
update
Financial Suicide Bombers
Say no to the Banks
.
.
.
Clickables
.
.
.
.
poster
bumper sticker
.
Matt Taibi on Goldman Sachs
“a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.”
November 4, 2009
Justice For Crimes Against the American People and The World
click to watch how they did it
Arrest Them!
October 31, 2009
here’s a few tips
some suggestions
switch banks – join a credit union – as the big banks raise their rate upwards to 30% on credit cards you can find some great rates at a credit union – most hover around 6% and 8%. If you’re credit isn’t so great you can find a rate around 13%. better than double that to the big banks – remember you are shelling out interest and fees right into the pockets of these crooked thieving CEOs. Why not pay yourself instead? There are no CEOs and wasteful connected crooked board members to deal with at a credit union – the people who work at these institutions are part owners, when you join you also become part owner. Everyone is watching out for each other. You also gain at the end of the year – instead of bonuses going to people who use hard sell tactic to unsuspecting and naive consumers you gain honest money because everyone is watching each other. You split the profits and share the wealth. You can also attend the open meetings where decision are made and you get to have your say, speak up or get educated on finance. No one is out to stomp on anyone to get ahead at a credit union. It’s a civilized business, but you have to take the first step. You Got The Power!
Stop buying products Made in China. Yes, it’s tough, we’ve lost so many of our jobs to China, there are so many of their products you think they owned the stores we shop in, but make an effort, try and find products made in America or at least in a democratic nation, not a communist nation that treats it’s people like chattel, your purchase encourages only bad behavior in their government. I found socks today actually made in the USA the cost compared to the one’s made in China .49 more and they were better made. Worth it! You Got The Power!
Stop shopping at box stores, I know this is tough, but if you have no choice ask to speak to the manager, then ask him or her where they keep the product made in the USA. If they hear those words enough they will make their way up the food chain. Remember business wants to sell to the demand not leave stock sitting on the floor. You Have The Power!
Also, try resale shops, even ebay, support each other. It takes a little more effort to do, but we have to start somewhere, we have to dig or build our way out of this mess together. The little things add up – ask any person of wealth how they got or stay wealthy.
Support the local grocer and co-op. It costs a bit more, but give it a go, bring it into your consciousness when making a list or thinking about dinner. Start by trying to waste less food. Hook up with friends by having a pot luck instead of eating out several times during the week, then take what you saved and give it to a food bank, or add it to you credit union savings account, even if it’s only a few dollars. You’ve Got The Power!
If you choose to donate most churches will provide you with an envelop where you can write on the front, For Food Bank Only. Did you know that many Catholic Parishes in urban areas have come together and offer breakfast, lunch and dinner for the homeless?
If you have any more saving or sharing tips to help dig us out and unite US citizens against the crooks and corruption please leave them in the comments. Let’s spread these things around.
Thanks
Update:
more tips
Catherine Austin 2
stop watching MSM
move corruptions out of your life
know there is no privacy, be careful who you share your details with
do not break the law
simplify your life
Get Smart
ask what’s really going on
pull family closer, organize
network with like minds
read history
build equity including; healthy and knowledge
buy commodities – think long term and sound investments
demonetize
How they did it and what they are doing to you
How Goldman secretly bet on the U.S. housing crash
foreclosure frets?
walk away, but keep the credit card alive
October 27, 2009
Dear Senator Dodd and Members of the Senate Banking Committee,
Greetings,
We bailed out the banks, currently we are giving them 0% on borrowed money, our wealth, and their greed will not allow them to give the American Public a break.
This is an Act of War on the American People by the Corporate Lending Institutions.
The time has come for the US Congress to protect all American Citizens. this time bailing out the Public Citizen.
I’m afraid Sen. Dodds cordial request to the Federal Reserve doesn’t go far enough. This will require an immediate act by President Obama.
I purpose a Public Debt Relief Option:
1. The Federal Government assumes all credit card holder debt – They, Congress, have the power to cut a deal with the Banks. Since these ungrateful institutions exaggerated their needs then quickly profiting off the backs of the American People it is the least our Government can do to help make amends.
2. If a citizen owes $12k to the bank and they sign up for the Public Debt Relief the Federal Government will pay the banks $8K. Two-Thirds of what is owed.
3. The American Citizen will now no longer have a credit debt to that Bank.
4. The Credit Card is now also closed.
5. The American Citizen utilizing this public debt option now owes the Federal Government $8k plus 3% interest.
6. Monthly installments will be made, no more than 17% of net income, automatic deductions from wages optional and IRS returns kept. Late fees of 1% within the first 30 days, 3 strikes maximum.
7. By law, once the debt has been paid this transfer will not affect one’s credit rating unless late more than 3 times.
8. However, until the debt is paid in full to the Government, Banks must be regulated with a hands-off policy to that debtor.
9. If a bank or a lending institution violates this policy they will be fined the amount offered in their letter of credit invite.
10. When the economy turns around; unemployment numbers below 4%, and depending on an individual’s income, the 3% rate can go up to as high, but no higher than 8% until that debt is paid.
This is a one time debt relief option only.
Since the Banks wish to terrorize the American Public with these new and higher interest rates, plus throw all the toxic waste on the backs of our children, which they created and Congress allowed, under these heretofore stressful conditions the Banks have decided to ignite incendiary financial bombs all across the nation, thus destroying our peaceful coexistence and happiness and forcing the American People into indentured-servitude for decades to come.
It is the responsibility of the Federal Government to step in, take action and protect the American People from these Financial Predatory Terrorists.
Anything less will put the American People and the nation in grave danger and in harms way.
Senators I implore you to please act quickly!
Thank you for your time.
Reminder: Fraud
New York Fed’s Secret Choice to Pay for Swaps Hits Taxpayers
Bernanke’s trillion-dollar decision
Debtor’s Revolt this is only a start
The American People, in general and in great numbers want to be and act responsibly, but they also want a fair shake, they are a hearty people and believe in justice.
These are tough times, the majority of citizens, unlike the banks and corporations, are not looking for a hand out, they want to work and be productive, but the cards are stacked against them now and their freedom to move forward and provide for their families is systematically being suppressed through financial means.
This is a shock to all liberty loving people, President Obama has to act immediately. He must show the same mercy the previous Administration showed towards the banks now upon the American People.
He must avoid the coming calamity set into motion by the The Wall Street Banks and the Federal Reserve.
Time is running out, On 30 November 2009 Banks will be raising interest rates across the board on the American People. During these tough economic times the American People have relied on credit cards to make ends meet, pay utilities, rent or mortgage, medical bills and buy food. They are not using their cards for frivolous things, but due to unemployment the majority of Americans are now using their credit cards for survival.
This is a direct attack on the well being of citizenry throughout the nation.
As commander and chief and head law enforcement for the peace and well being of this nation I implore President Obama to act now and freeze all credit card interest rates.
Those who are at a rate beyond fair, 5% above prime, must be given the opportunity to receive a fair rate. Debt must be repaid, but not at the price of forcing the American People into indentured-servitude or death.
We must be fair and we must learn from our mistakes if we want to be a nation that can trust our government, business and each other again.
October 26, 2009
Is it too late?
Unless you’re waiting for Goldman Sachs, Bernanke, Geithner and the Bankers on Wall Street to spontaneously grow halos and wings there are few options left to avoid indentured-slavery.
Here’s One
October 18, 2009
I am profoundly pessimistic about the US recovery and here’s why. At this late date, and looking at all those who surround Obama; the very same people who surrounded Bush and Clinton btw, we are being sucked dry by a massive parasite.
Not only does this parasite deprive the host, us, from nourishment, but in order to survive the parasite takes over the host’s brain, ours, to make the host think the parasite is important to the host’s, our, survival. Even to the detriment of the host itself, us.
I know, sounds like something out of Star Trek or Red Dwarf, I know
In order to get rid of the parasite we will have to undergo a painful procedure, the hard work of organizing and stocking the operating room. The only tools that will work to rid us of this parasite are our feet, a pitch forks, some rope and constant vigilance. However, there is only a small window of opportunity and it’s closing fast.
Sure, we can keep this parasite under control for a little while with a short term relief made of some fancy words, but keep in mind that this possible cure is also being distributed by the parasite. Maybe the cure has good intentions, but maybe it has been convinced like the host.
Regardless, if we wait much longer the parasite will destroy the host, us, and from the looks of these big wide, open and empty streets it might be time to get used to the charms of the local peasantry and put on your feudalism.
This is what the banks are trying to do in the US
more info
Why Iceland and Latvia Won’t (and Can’t) Pay the EU for the Kleptocrats’ Ripoffs
By Prof. Michael Hudson – Krugmen pails in comparison to this man
|
