This blog will focus on political images I have found all around the Internet, though I will intersperse some commentary and quotes that I find interesting.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
NSA continues to violate our constitutional rights - with the blessing of Congress
Wyden, Udall, Heinrich blast intelligence committee NSA 'reform' bill (Click on this headline to read more)
Wednesday, November 27, 2013, 7:27 pm
Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Mark Udall (D-CO) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) are not happy with the NSA "reform" bill that passed the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this month. They detail their principle objection in this op-ed in The New York Times.
The usefulness of the bulk collection program has been greatly exaggerated. We have yet to see any proof that it provides real, unique value in protecting national security. In spite of our repeated requests, the N.S.A. has not provided evidence of any instance when the agency used this program to review phone records that could not have been obtained using a regular court order or emergency authorization.
Despite this, the surveillance reform bill recently ratified by the Senate Intelligence Committee would explicitly permit the government to engage in dragnet collection as long as there were rules about when officials could look at these phone records. It would also give intelligence agencies wide latitude to conduct warrantless searches for Americans’ phone calls and emails. [...]
Congress has a crucial opportunity to reassert constitutionally guaranteed liberties by reforming the N.S.A.’s overbroad collection of Americans’ personal data. But the Intelligence Committee bill squanders this chance. It would enable some of the most constitutionally questionable surveillance activities now exposed to the public eye. The Senate should be reining in these programs, not giving them a stamp of approval.
How about a little fairness?
If Corporations Are People Too, Why Do They Get Taxed Differently Than People? (Click on this heading to read more)
Wednesday, November 27, 2013, 2:05 pm
Well, for starters, we would have no, repeat no, federal deficit and individual taxes would drop precipitously. Why? Because PEOPLE don't get the advantages and tax loopholes of the Federal Corporate Tax Rate that allows them to skate on their tax obligations to this country. They would just pay the federal individual tax payer rate, like all of us "people," which they will then be.
Gone would be all those corporate write-offs, jets, yachts, huge parties and outings. Those huge offices and off-shore holding accounts. We could say bye-bye to tax credits for sending business overseas. If individuals don't get those benefits, either will the new "individuals." Oh, and too big to fail? That's gonna be gone too as no individual is too big to fail.
It's a political joke
Political
speeches
are like a
steer: a point here, a
point there and a lot of bull
in between.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
There should be civil/criminal penalties for news networks that lie
Fox Blames Obamacare For Imaginary Layoffs at Cleveland Clinic (Click on this heading to read more)
Tuesday, November 26, 2013, 10:07 pm
Fox News reported that the Cleveland Clinic was instituting "massive layoffs" due to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, but when asked about the reports, a Clinic spokesperson told Media Matters, "We're not."
On November 25, The Daily Caller published an article titled, "Top U.S. hospital laying off staff due to Obamacare." On Fox Business' Markets Now, host Connell McShane reported on the "massive layoffs." America's Newsroom host Bill Hemmer claimed that the Cleveland Clinic was going to "shed workers." Later, during the America's News HQ, Fox reporter Chris Stirewalt claimed that the layoffs "rocked the community there in northeastern Ohio."
[...]Despite Fox's reporting, Sheil reiterated the Clinic's support for the Affordable Care Act, stating:
We believe reform is necessary because the current state is unsustainable. The ACA is a step toward that change and we believe more changes will come/evolve as there are still many uncertainties. Hospitals must be responsible and do what we can to prepare and support the law.
Employers dropping health insurance for employees not an Obamacare phenomenon.
Memo to media: Employers have been slashing insurance, shifting costs for years (Click on this heading to read more)
Tuesday, November 26, 2013, 10:01 pm
Of course, reading those dire predictions, you'd never know that those exact trends in employer-provided health insurance have been underway for years and have resulted in the number of uninsured Americans jumping from 37 million in 2000 to over 50 million today.
Will HBO cancel Real Time?
I have not yet seen a response from HBO - but it they cancel, I will cancel both HBO and Cinemax. One of the things I respect about HBO is their commitment to free speech. I won't tolerate censorship from them - Bozo
Bill Donohue calls to fire Maher over Dan Savage’s rant on ‘kiddie-f*cking priests’ (Click on this heading to read more)
Catholic League President Bill Donohue on Monday demanded that HBO cancel Real Time with Bill Maher after the late night comedian invited on a gay guest who blasted priests who sexually abuse children.
On his Friday night show, Maher pointed out to sex columnist Dan Savage that a Catholic Bishop who opposed marriage equality in Hawaii had said that children with same sex parents were at a greater risk of suicide.
“That’s total bullsh*t,” Savage shot back. “He’s confusing children with gay parents with children who are raped by Catholic priests.”
“Sorry, I am just done being lectured about children and their safety by Catholic-fucking bishops, priests, cardinals.” he continued. “The pope, himself, has let it go. The new pope, who I kind of dig, has let it go.”
Savage noted that Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas John Paprocki had recently performed an exorcism on the state of Illinois after Gov. Pat Quinn (D) signed a bill legalizing same sex marriage.
“To exorcise the state of gay people of having full civil equality!” Savage said. “No exorcism, exorcising the demons of, like, kiddie-fucking Catholic priests. They never got around to that exorcism.”
More on the Pope's new proclamation
I posted that little image about the Pope's speech yesterday - here are some of the details.
In case there was any doubt left, Pope Francis made it clear that he shares little in common with U.S. conservatives.
The pontiff released his Evangelii Gadium, or Joy of the Gospel, attacking capitalism as a form of tyranny and calling on church and political leaders to address the needs of the poor.
“As long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality, no solution will be found for the world’s problems or, for that matter, to any problems,” the pope said in the 84-page document that essentially serves as his official platform.
Pope Francis said that inequality was the root of social ills, and prayed for world leaders with more empathy and sense of social justice.
“I beg the Lord to grant us more politicians who are genuinely disturbed by the state of society, the people, the lives of the poor!” Pope Francis wrote. “It is vital that government leaders and financial leaders take heed and broaden their horizons, working to ensure that all citizens have dignified work, education and healthcare.”
[...]
The pope lamented that people had “calmly accepted (the) dominion” of money over themselves and society, which he said was expressed in the recent financial crisis and the continuing promotion of consumer-based economies.
“We have created new idols,” the pope wrote. “The worship of the ancient golden calf has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose. The worldwide crisis affecting finance and the economy lays bare their imbalances and, above all, their lack of real concern for human beings; man is reduced to one of his needs alone: consumption.”
[...]
“Such an economy kills,” he wrote. “How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This is a case of exclusion. Can we continue to stand by when food is thrown away while people are starving? This is a case of inequality. Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape.”
[...]
“It is no longer simply about exploitation and oppression, but something new,” Pope Francis wrote. “Exclusion ultimately has to do with what it means to be a part of the society in which we live; those excluded are no longer society’s underside or its fringes or its disenfranchised – they are no longer even a part of it. The excluded are not the ‘exploited’ but the outcast, the ‘leftovers.’”
Pope Francis rips capitalism and trickle-down economics to shreds in new policy statement (Click on this heading to read more)
The pontiff released his Evangelii Gadium, or Joy of the Gospel, attacking capitalism as a form of tyranny and calling on church and political leaders to address the needs of the poor.
“As long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality, no solution will be found for the world’s problems or, for that matter, to any problems,” the pope said in the 84-page document that essentially serves as his official platform.
Pope Francis said that inequality was the root of social ills, and prayed for world leaders with more empathy and sense of social justice.
“I beg the Lord to grant us more politicians who are genuinely disturbed by the state of society, the people, the lives of the poor!” Pope Francis wrote. “It is vital that government leaders and financial leaders take heed and broaden their horizons, working to ensure that all citizens have dignified work, education and healthcare.”
[...]
The pope lamented that people had “calmly accepted (the) dominion” of money over themselves and society, which he said was expressed in the recent financial crisis and the continuing promotion of consumer-based economies.
“We have created new idols,” the pope wrote. “The worship of the ancient golden calf has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose. The worldwide crisis affecting finance and the economy lays bare their imbalances and, above all, their lack of real concern for human beings; man is reduced to one of his needs alone: consumption.”
[...]
“Such an economy kills,” he wrote. “How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This is a case of exclusion. Can we continue to stand by when food is thrown away while people are starving? This is a case of inequality. Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape.”
[...]
“It is no longer simply about exploitation and oppression, but something new,” Pope Francis wrote. “Exclusion ultimately has to do with what it means to be a part of the society in which we live; those excluded are no longer society’s underside or its fringes or its disenfranchised – they are no longer even a part of it. The excluded are not the ‘exploited’ but the outcast, the ‘leftovers.’”
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
The Cardinals have got to be thinking, "We made a BIG f'ing mistake!"
And liberals are thinking, "It's about time they got a NEW TESTAMENT pope!"
10 Biggest Myths About Retail Workers (Click on this heading to read more)
November 25, 2013
Reality: The average age of a retail worker is 37 years old (pdf), and more than half of year-round retail workers contribute a significant portion (pdf) of their family's total income. For example, researchers found that a third (pdf) of New York City retail workers support at least one dependent.
I don't picket, but I DO boycott.
In fact, I NEVER shop at Wal*Mart - I haven't shopped there in 20 years and I won't shop there until they treat their employees better.
Monday, November 25, 2013
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