|
|
June 7, 2010
I don’t know what is happening in other parts of the world, but in Britain there is a dispute between the news aggregators, such as NewsNow, and the so-called Fleet Street newspapers (the nationals) because the national dailies wish to prevent the news aggregators linking to their free content without paying for the privilege.
The least one can say of this initiative is that it is peevish and curmudgeonly and, up until now, you might even have described it as stupid.
But not any more.
It is suicidal.
Not only can Digg and StumbleUpon waltz around these restrictions, as can Facebook and Twitter, but a new form of open citizens’ journalism is emerging. Continue reading Newspapers die, journalism rises
May 14, 2010
Posted by seamus in: Accountability, Advice, African-American, Commentary, Comments & Discussion, Communications, Congress, Creative Writing, Current Events, Democracy, Democrat, Economics, Entertainment, Freedom, Governance, Homeland Security, Inspiration & Motivation, Islam, Journalism, Life Experiences, Minorities, Morality, Motivation, Opinion, Personal Experiences, Politics, Republican, Social Aspects, Social Classes, Social Issues, Terrorism, The Economy, The Media, The Pundit's Corner, World Issues
 Amazing how many high government officals (including the Attorney General), political pundits, politicians, school officials and religious leaders comment so harshly on the immigration law in Arizona and publicly admit they haven’t read the ten page document.
The document basically states that when being stopped for a traffic violation or questioned concerning a crime that [...]
May 6, 2010
Posted by Antonio de la Vega in: Democracy, Economic Crisis, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Relations, Freedom, Geopolitical Events, Governance, History, Latino & Hispanic, Mexico, Morality, Native American, Opinion, Politics, Social Aspects, Social Issues, Sociology, Uncategorized, World Issues
La ley SB1070 además de polémica debe encerrar otras razones de fondo, para llevar a la reflexión sobre los temas relacionados con el movimiento de personas en el mundo. [...]
April 22, 2010
My wife was born in South Africa and is thus a South African citizen – or so you might think.
She certainly was once but not, apparently, any more. She is officially deemed to have lived outside South Africa too long and has had her citizenship withdrawn.
Fortunately she is not stateless. She is a naturalised British Citizen, a status obtained after four years of residency in the UK and reinforced by marriage to a British-born British citizen.
One of her ‘friends’ said she didn’t sympathise in the least with her loss of South African citizenship. She had made her choices.
And, let’s face it, a South African passport is one of the more useless ones on this earth. When we got married, the only country in the world which would accept a South African citizen without requiring a visa was Ecuador. We went on our honeymoon to Ecuador.
Maybe all this is unremarkable, but it does raise issues as to what citizenship really means and as to where it is headed. Continue reading Pick any country – and live there
February 10, 2010
Once upon a time in a land far far away.
• “Roosevelt is a socialist, not a Democrat,” declared Republican Rep. Robert Rich of Pennsylvania during a debate on the House floor on July 23, 1935. That remark came after Republicans hinted they were considering a move to impeach Roosevelt, according to the New York Times .
• “The New Deal is now undisguised state socialism, declared Senator Simeon D. Fess (R-Ohio) today as he pictured President Roosevelt as the New Deal’s leading socialist,” reported the Chicago Daily Tribune on Aug. 7, 1934. “The president’s recent statements,” Fess said, “remove any doubt of his policy of state socialism, which necessitates increased activities of the government in either ownership or operation of industry, or both.”
• “The Russian newspapers during the last election [1932] published the photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt over the caption, ‘The first communistic President of the United States,’” said Sen. Thomas Schall, a Republican from Minnesota. “Evidently the Russian newspapers had knowledge concerning the ultimate intent of the President, which had been carefully withheld from the voters in this country. In fact, the voters of the United States were meticulously misled as to such intentions Continue reading Socialists Need Not Apply to the Tea Party Convention
January 28, 2010
Guess what. We cant afford ideologies anymore. Like our credit we have used them all up and at the end of the day they mean nothing anyway. The Democrats are socialists and the Republicans are right wing fascists who want us all to be teabaggers now and the independents want to overthrow the government. Please. Those days are over now. DEAD. Massachusetts and all.
Oh its a referendum on change. Ok. The United States has problems. Take healthcare and the charge the Democrat s want to wreck the economy. The healthcare system is fine. No. It needs changing of some kind. You cant throw sick people in the street. But the Republicans say no no no. Obstructionists. These words mean nothing now. They are IDEOLOGIES.
People are losing their homes and they are unemployed. So lets help them. Lets take money and give it to the bottom. We tried giving it to the top and that didn’t work. If you think that is is socialism then lets give people jobs. Lets give them something and don’t stand there calling names. The ideologies are mind candy, window dressing from talking heads who get paid. You don’t. They do. Continue reading The United States Can’t Afford Ideologies Anymore
January 6, 2010
 The mass of instant information that is the Internet and Mass Media could free each and everyone of us to become more informed and knowledgeable. Then we could all come together as a new smarter, kinder society and deal with all of our problems in wise and wonderful ways.
But that’s not exactly what’s happening is it? Instead, we search the Ether and Net for information and opinions that match our own. We listen to our favorite music, read our favorite writers, and watch our favorite stars. In effect, we’re creating tribes of like minded individuals who do not share truths, but rather, protect their own ideals against the onslaught of “absolute wrongness” being spouted by other tribes.
Conservatives go to the sites and channels that they like, liberals read the blogs and view the videos that they prefer. It’s not as simple as that, just because there are so many variations on each major theme, If you are an angry conservative, small government supporter who likes to shout at the TV from your hard-earned arm chair there are lots of shows, blogs and sites waiting to enthrall you with your own “cosmic rightness.” Continue reading Our own little worlds
December 17, 2009
Joe Lieberman needs to be bitch slapped. We need Hillary or someone to get in and fight for us now. The President is too remote, too Ivy League, too government by deal. As Keith Obermann said in a piercing comment, “there is a big difference between compromise and compromised. “With the loss of the Public Option, no Medicare buyi n and the ability to charge whatever they want for preexisting conditions, surely President Obama has gotten his hat handed to him and told to not let the door hit him on the way out. Insurance has won. The Republicans have won. The American people have lost because no one has fought for them. The case for a legislative victory becomes weak when we are the Poles who just lost the Danzig corridor in the name of appeasement. You can almost see President Obama on a carrier, “I have just secured healthcare reform in our time!”
So we need Hillary. We need someone who will get in there and burn these namby pamby conservative Democrats to the ground and push the obstructionist Republicans to the side. We need someone not afraid to get dirty. Barack is looking a little too crisp these days, a little too polished while Harry Reid and the boys look like they have gone though a war. They have. They have had to fight without a commander. Mr. President, get in there and fight for us! Don’t take this watered down garbage that is now passing for reform. Make Joe Lieberman accountable. The man got a million dollars this year from the insurance companies. He is as tainted as any Tammany Hall politician ever was. Continue reading We need Hillary to bitch slap Lieberman
October 21, 2009
Well now why isn’t the economy turning around? Why is the combined unemployment and underemployment in this country topping twenty percent! Why is Wall Street booming? Why is Goldmans posting record profit and giving out record bonuses? Why does the average American have no credit? Why does no money trickle down at all? Why is the housing market still in the dumps? Why can no one qualify for a mortgage? Why are the insurance companies launching an all out counter attack to stop healthcare reform? The answer is easy: we live in a plutocracy where the economy serves only one group of people…the top one percent.
We gave them seven hundred billion dollars. They have taken that money and made themselves richer. The bonuses of Wall Street are in the billions again. Well now why wouldn’t they be? If someone gave you seven hundred billion dollars and said go put it in the market and you are the market and you know that buying treasuries or stocks with billions of dollars will send them skyrocketing then you would clean up also. It’s like we gave the OWNERS of the casino the money to bet on their craps table. Talk about a stacked deck. Continue reading The Rich Just Get Richer
October 15, 2009
In 2012, the new rulers of China will “all” have been educated in the West. After Mao died and the gang of four, responsible for the horrors of the Cultural Revolution, went to prison, Deng Xiaoping and his supporters “rebuilt” the government. The party instituted term limits, two five-year terms for any political position and an age limit of sixty-seven, something we don’t have in the United States.
These changes were implemented to avoid having another modern emperor like Mao. Those who spoke out against Mao usually were killed, went to prison or fell out of favor. Deng Xiaoping was one of those people. When his son was dropped from the top of a high rise and was paralyzed for life, the message to Deng was to “shut up or else”.
A high-ranking, retired Communist that fought with Mao during World War II and the revolution told me that the seventy million party members (like America’s Democrats and Republicans) do not always agree on issues. The difference is that the world hears little of what goes on behind the scenes in China. Doing business that way has little to do with the party. That type of behavior is classically Chinese—not to talk about the Elephant in the room or to hang out your dirty laundry for everyone to see as the West does.
In addition, in America, the outcome for a Presidential Election is decided by the Electoral College, card-carrying members from the two major political parties. The popular vote does not elect the American president. The Communist Party acts similar to America’s Electoral College without the hypocrisy of a popular vote. Critics argue the American Electoral College is inherently undemocratic. Continue reading China in Transition, Part 2
October 13, 2009
Posted by seamus in: Attitude, Current Events, Democracy, Democrat, Economic Crisis, Economics, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Relations, General Topics, Republican, Social Issues, Uncategorized
Back from Italy and bummin’-caught a massive cold….funny, in March I was in the UK and they were really slurping Obama. Same in June in Germany although in July it changed when Merkel said he wasn’t going to ruin the German economy.
Obama is not a happening thing now. Saw Obama voodoo dolls in [...]
October 9, 2009
 Well, well, well. I can certainly imagine why so many media pundits and regular Americans are surprised that their president won the Nobel peace prize. They don’t watch the world news much, and our own American media doesn’t give much thought to events that happen to the rest of the Earth’s 6 billions.
Many of us hardly noticed the chain of events that led up to this well deserved honor. People in Europe are not surprised, people in the middle east aren’t either, I don’t suppose even China’s billion are surprised. That’s because he deserved it. It’s as simple as that. Barrack Obama made a campaign promise “to change the face of America” the one the rest of the world sees, and he has.
Instead of the big bully and policeman of the planet, we have suddenly gained the pleasant light of being a kinder friendlier country. How much better is that for some european who wakes up every morning to news of yet another American demand or exercise of power? Many people in the world of almost 7 billion wonder why a single country of 300 million feel they rule the planet. Continue reading Bravo! Mr. President!
October 1, 2009
Ken Burns newest film is amazing. The parks are amazing. We watch and watch and I have been at it eight .jpg) hours now after four episodes. At times it is like a marathon with the people and parks running by you in a mind stream of sequences of people and events that you struggle to keep straight as the Juggernaut of Burnsian vignettes hits you. Still…you want more.
It is that these people are no longer with us and they are just like us. The couple who tried to go to every park in five different Buick’s and took pictures and kept them in albums is heartbreaking to know that the husband died and she kept going and found herself at the end alone in the vast wilderness she knows she will never see again. Or the couple who went down the Colorado on their honeymoon and disappeared forever. Or the man who went to the Smokies after losing his family and found himself and then began to campaign to turn the area into a national park. Continue reading America’s Best Idea is Us–Ken Burns Film
September 26, 2009
The facts about the Bird Flu, 911 and beyond reprinted in this article, which was in ConspiraZine magazine, and read on their radio show. are very relevant to the Swine Flu Vaccine scheme of today. The official plans currently are for vaccines to be ready Oct. 15th or sometime in December, depending on what they are going to do about adjuvant ingredients in the vaccines. Who knows what the future holds. Baxter’s Bird Flu vaccines contaminated with the Live Virus were discovered before they set off a pandemic with their vaccines. Now, they’re about to do it again, without needing to test normally, be transparent, or be liable. States are taking up the forced vaccine laws Read some of the history leading up to this here related to 911 and martial law and more.
from ConspiraZine Magazine–posted below:
911 and Avian Flu Legislation Were For the Sake of Martial Law: Just Say No to Mandatory Vaccines
In America, we may be on the verge of martial law, the current excuse being the threat of Avian Flu. While remaining calm, we do need to address this potential while we still have the freedom to do so. Perhaps we can stave it off if we look squarely at what is happening, and why. We have to look more deeply into the reality of vaccines, and why they are really being imposed upon us. We can look at 911 to realize that the government will use any deception to control us more. 911 didn’t work to bring total martial law, which is what it was intended to do, so bird flu is now being used to accomplish that state. Martial law is not being used as a last resort because of disaster out of our control. Martial law is the goal, and the disasters are hoisted on the public for the express purpose of making them give up their freedoms. Let’s not. Continue reading 911 and Avian Flu Legislation Were For the Sake of Martial Law: Just Say No to Mandatory Vaccines
September 16, 2009
Posted by Alan Caruba in: Accountability, African-American, Business, Cap and Trade, Congress, Current Events, Democracy, Economic Crisis, Energy, Environmental Issues, Global Warming, Governance, Healthcare, Opinion, The Economy
 By Alan Caruba
I cannot tell you how relieved I was to hear Ben Bernake, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, announce that the United States is “technically” out of the recession. I spent much of the day waiting for my phone to ring with offers of work.
Chairman Bernake did add that jobs would lag, but all the experts say that jobs always lag and, if that’s the case, I am thinking this time around jobs are not only going to lag, they are going to disappear, run away, and leave much of the work force unable to live the “American dream.”
There was a time when the American dream included the opportunity for everyone to own their own home. That dream was based on having a steady job and a decent wage. It was dependent on people saving some of their income for a down payment. It was not dependent on federal government programs that put pressure on banks and mortgage lenders to make loans to people that ACORN had dragged in off the street.
I would feel a lot better about Bernake’s announcement if Congress wasn’t right now getting ready to pass a piece of legislation that every single poll says the MAJORITY of Americans do not like and do not want.
I speak of course of Obamacare. The same polls also suggest that the more Obama shows up on television giving speeches, being interviewed, and otherwise sucking all the air out of the room, the more a MAJORITY of Americans distrust and dislike him. Continue reading “Technically” We’re Out of a Recession
September 15, 2009
Posted by psuedowriter in: Accountability, Current Events, Democracy, Economic Crisis, Economics, Education, Environmental Issues, Family, Finance, Geopolitical Events, Latino & Hispanic, Opinion, Recovery, Social Aspects, The Economy
In the greater scheme of global brotherhood and advancement, all of the aims of these “special schools” are wonderful things. In the meanwhile, the taxpayers of today are suffering, and I don’t think most of us like it. [...]
September 14, 2009
A Million People Prove NPR Doesn’t Count
by John Armor
How many people still listen to NPR (National “People’s” Radio) and take it seriously? Apparently that list doesn’t include the editors and reporters for NPR. Two cases in point, both having to do with numbers.
As I was driving up to D.C. for the Rally on the Mall on Saturday, I heard NPR gushing over (excuse me, reporting on) the President Obama’s speech to a Joint Meeting of Congress. In that speech, the President said that “there are 30 million uninsured Americans.” Notice that the number dropped from 45 million because that part of the uninsured are not Americans. They are mostly citizens of Mexico.
The polling of the American people on health care reform has made it crystal clear they do not want American tax dollars paying premiums for foreign citizens. Remember that Cong. Joe Wilson called out, “You lie,” when President Obama was claiming that health care “reform” did not include the illegal aliens. Joe should certainly apologize for interrupting the President, with a true statement. Continue reading A Million People Prove NPR Doesn’t Count
September 13, 2009
Posted by Alan Caruba in: Congress, Current Events, Democracy, Economic Crisis, Energy, Freedom, Global Warming, Governance, Heroes, Opinion, Politics
 By Alan Caruba
There have been many mass marches on Washington, D.C., so the locals know how to make plans to anticipate the congestion and the police are polite and skillful in the science of crowd control. They can afford to be polite because the crowds, no matter how large, are too.
Oh, sure, they shout a lot, but that’s what a protest march is all about. Back in April 1894 unemployed workers known as “Coxey’s Army” showed up to demand that Congress do something. It was the second year of an economic depression that would last another two years, but it was the worst that had hit the nation barely three decades since the end of the Civil War.
Americans know where to head when they are at odds with their government and most know or suspect that the source of their problems can be found in Washington, D.C. and they are always right.
Bloodshed has been extremely rare at such events. On June 17, 1932 a “Bonus Army”, some 20,000 World War One veterans and their families massed in the Capitol seeking advance payment of bonuses from the Hoover administration. The year is significant. It was four years passed the beginning of the Great Depression that began in 1929. Continue reading The Fine Art of American Protest
September 11, 2009
2nd e-mail from the person that filed the complaint.
Thursday, 2/12/09, 9:49 AM
As parents it is our responsibility to make sure our son is safe and doesn’t do thinks like pull down blinds. As responsible tenants it is our job to make sure that nothing in the apartment is damaged and if something becomes damaged during our tenancy, we of course know we will be financially responsible for all damages we incur. As the landlord of this property I’m sure you would write this financial responsibility in the lease. If you feel that the only reason you would not rent to us, is because of our young child, and the slight possibility that he might pull down your blinds I assure you there are plenty of ways of resolving this issue. One being that we would remove the blinds as we have done at our current residence and will put them back when we vacate the unit. If after reading this email you still feel that you can not risk the liability, I would appreciate and email letting me know that we are denied. Thank you.
Excerpt from wife’s response to May 18, 2009 letter from “2nd Consultant of Fair Employment & Housing”.
As (1st Consultant ) I talked to suggested, I attended and completed the Fair Housing training class (5/18). I was glad that I went. I learned that I don’t have to be afraid of coming forward with the truth regarding why I considered renting to other applicants. While I was showing (complainant) the unit, they allowed their son to play with the dials of the stove, turning on the gas, turning on the dish-washer and pulling on the nine foot-long blinds (not the cord as you wrote in your letter). I witnessed that the ( parents) didn’t discipline their child. (The father) played ball with his son. The ball was either a child-sized basketball, or a football. They threw the ball back and forth over the kitchen counter and the hanging light. I had a hard time keeping my smile up. I couldnt’ help but conclude that the (parents) were not responsible … Continue reading Political Correctness Gone Wrong # 4
September 11, 2009
On September 9, President Barack Obama addressed Congress to discuss health care. The news media has focused on that speech, giving scant attention to his address to the nation’s school children one day earlier. Despite the dire predictions of the right-wing, the republic is, regardless of that speech, somehow still standing. No doubt the Rush Limbaughs of the world will explain how that is possible. But there is no need to wait! This writer has seen through Mr. Obama’s words. He was crafty: we must read between the lines to understand how he fostered his socialist agenda in his remarks to the United State’s students this week.
Space does not permit a line-by-line translation of the speech, so only some of the most salient points will be covered here.
What Mr. Obama said:
“When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.” Continue reading Education, Health Care and Hypocrisy
September 10, 2009
 Someone let a craker in the house
by Bill Hazelgrove
C’mon Mr. South Carolina lets cut to the chase here.  You can do better than YOU LIE. You wouldn’t do that to a white man now would you boy? I’m from Virginia Wilson…I know the score. My people fought in the Civil War on the side of the Confederacy…you can be straight with me. You wanted to say it didn’t you boy? You just got a little tangled up with them issues and figured you’d’ call him a liar first. Well thats a good first step.
Now I know you wouldn’t have said it to President Bush. Course not. You’re a good old boy. I know. See in Virginia we had these crackers my father wouldn’t let in the back door. Poor white trash we called em. In my fathers day blacks had to walk in the curb when a white man approached and he wasn’t allowed to play with Jews or Catholics. Now those were the days.
Course. You can’t build Rome in one day. So I think your outburst was a good first step. You kind of let the world know what a cracker can do in the United States of America. We elect just about anybody don’t we? Hell, what’s the big deal? So you called a black man a liar. Yeah, he’s the President and all and he was giving a speech to Congress, but you can’t pick your places either. I think you timed it just right. Let the whole world know what a cracker can do. Continue reading Someone let a cracker in the house
September 8, 2009
President Obamas speech–victimized again by television
by Bill Hazelgrove
 Television may appeal to what is banal and base and it may be low art but it should not be used to hurt our democracy. We have been victimized again. Talking heads on the left and the right have hacked it out over the Presidents speech to school children. We now have parents keeping their children home, protesting against indoctrination by the Obamaites to socialism. What is going on? Where does this post McCarthyism come from?
It comes from that blue box in front of you. We take the passive act of watching television for granted but we do not register that is has been hijacked by people who do not have our best interests at heart. Television is selling. It is all about selling. Ever since RCA did field tests in 1936 they knew that this would be a sponsor based entertainment medium. Ratings. There must be ratings to sell the product. Ratings are produced by drama. Drama is produced by exaggeration. This is true in fiction as well. Continue reading President Obamas speech–victimized again by television
September 8, 2009
Posted by Prentiss Gray in: Accountability, Attitude, Congress, Current Events, Democracy, Democrat, Economics, Geopolitical Events, Politics, Republican, Women's Rights
 That’s it. I’m done. This once staunch Republican, is out of the party. Frankly, I’m just too embarrassed to stay associated with what has swiftly become a party of low life, low brow, say anything to get votes, jerks.
We lost the election. Aren’t we supposed to be at our noblest in loss? Aren’t we supposed to be good losers? I liked John McCain, I really did. In fact, I still do. But even I ended up voting for Barach Obama. Sorry, my fellow Republicans, just too many nuts came to the party.
I just can’t count myself with Jerry Falwell, Russ Limbaugh and Ann Coulter (even her name gives me the creeps). I don’t think marriage is about “a man and a woman”, it’s about love and commitment. I just don’t think a woman’s right to choose has anything to do with church doctrine, further, I can’t think of anything that does. Religeon can be a nice, and a possibly uplifting practice/belief, but when it starts telling other people how to live their lives, count me out. It definitely doesn’t go with politics.
It used to be such a nice party, Republicans won elections because they knew how to work together; be a team. The Democrats were always the “all-other” party, and spent so much time fighting over 10,000 individual agendas, I was always amazed to see them win any office.
We had some great Presidents, great Congressmen and great Governors. It was not an embarrassing thing to be a Republican. Continue reading The Embarrassed Republican.
September 7, 2009
Posted by Alan Caruba in: Accountability, Congress, Current Events, Democracy, Democrat, Economic Crisis, Governance, Healthcare, Opinion, Politics, Republican
 By Alan Caruba
Barack Obama has crashed headlong into a wall of distrust. If he had any understanding of American history he would know why, but his sole interest is himself and he proved that by writing not one, but two memoirs.
The men who waged the American Revolution and then met in secret to write the U.S. Constitution all shared a distrust of government. They understood government was necessary, but they wanted to keep a federal government small and ensure that most powers resided in the individual states and in “the people.”
For most of American history, the federal government was small. Its main function was to maintain armies and navies to protect its sovereignty and its commercial interests. Early presidents encouraged the exploration of the continent and its populating by the many discontents who arrived seeking a better life than the Old World could or would provide.
America promised the intoxicating opportunity to be free to make a life for oneself that had few restraints so long as one did not break the law, honored one’s contracts, and took part in the process of debating issues and electing representatives. This necessity to rise above family bonds and other allegiances to participate in the affairs of one’s community, one’s state, and one’s nation has been the glue that has kept generations of old and new Americans connected. Continue reading A Very American Distrust
September 4, 2009
The conversation we can’t have–politics
by Bill Hazelgrove
A lady the other day started spouting off about how Obama was ruining the country. I was working in  the corner of this coffee shop and didn’t say anything. Then she started going on about how she hates the media because of the way they treat Sarah Palin and how she would never watch the condescending talking heads. I say nothing and continue working. Then she goes on about how Obama is a socialist and has created the mess we are now in. So I said something.
You got to be kidding. Bush created this mess over a period of eighty years. The woman stares at me and then says with an imperious brush of the shoulders. “I’m not going to talk to you.” And that was that. Another gag order on political dissent. This woman was shocked I had called her on her beer hall speech of one. I had dissented with the majority view. The real problem is not that she had said anything or I responded but that we couldn’t even have a real conversation Continue reading The conversation we can’t have–politics
September 3, 2009
The first e-mail that my wife wrote:
Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 2:26 PM,
I received the documents that you faxed over. I looks quite impressive. I appreciate your interest very much. However, what happened at my showing (twenty potential renters showed up) last night after you were gone led me to a concern. A couple came by with a young son about your son’s age. The boy pulled down my 9 foot blinds (in the living room) and almost got his face cut. I was so afraid for him. As you might recall, I have three large ceiling to floor glass-doors in living room, master bedroom and kitchen, all with the standard vertical blinds, to which I could do nothing to prevent it from being pulled by a small child.
So, I don’t think I can afford that liability. I am still in the process of reviewing candidates, however, I must be honest with you that the liability issue is on my mind. If you don’t hear from me by tomorrow, please move on. I wish you all the best.
______________________________________________
The follow up letter to the phone conversation that was posted with PCGW #2
May 18, 2009
Dear Ms. (my wife):
Pursuant to our conversation today I attempted to review with you the complainant and conciliating process. You informed me that because English is your second language you need to have our communications in writing. I am sending you this letter to (address). Continue reading Political Correctness Gone Wrong # 3
September 3, 2009
Pfizer has just been fined for the FOURTH time since 2002 for various violations, some of which have left people dead from their drugs. What do they get? A fine, a slap on the wrist. I want to know how much Pfizer made on Bextra. I’ll bet it was more than the fines. And [...]
August 31, 2009
Posted by Bob Grant - Editor in: Accountability, Business, Congress, Current Events, Democracy, Economics, Foreign Affairs, Governance, Marriage, Medical, Opinion, Politics, Relationships, Religion, Social Issues
Whether it is in personal, or business matters, I have always tried to conduct myself where “My Word” matters. If I say something – promise something – commit to something – I give “My Word” and try to follow through with my commitments. I bothers me tremendously, when for one reason or another, I [...]
August 25, 2009
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse in: Accountability, African-American, China, Democracy, Freedom, Legal, Minorities, Politics, Social Classes, Social Issues, Uncategorized
My wife grew up in China during Mao’s Cultural Revolution (it is estimated that thirty-eight million died because of Mao’s policies). When she was a teenager, she was sent to a labor camp. She arrived in the United States in 1984 at twenty-eight. At the time, she did not speak English. She learned enough to survive after several months.
Her first language is Mandarin. If someone speaks English fast, she gets lost. Under pressure, her ability to translate breaks down. She translates (in her head) every word she hears. While attending college in Chicago and working several jobs over the years, she saved enough to invest for her retirement and bought one four-unit apartment building and one condominium. Today, she is an American citizen and she loved capitalism until recently. Now she has a bitter taste in her memory.
Soon after escrow closed on the condominium, an incident took place when my wife first listed the unit so she could rent it. An African American couple came along with many other couples to see the condominium. When my wife didn’t rent to the African American couple, they sent her an e-mail wanting to know the reason why. Continue reading Political Correctness Gone Wrong # 2
August 18, 2009
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse in: African-American, Democracy, Education, Freedom, Governance, Latino & Hispanic, Minorities, Morality, Opinion, Politics, Social Classes, Social Issues
Each post will be less than 700 words.
This is the first entry—an introduction.
There will be several more on this topic.
By Lloyd Lofthouse
During America’s Civil Rights era, laws were enacted with the intent to correct wrongs in America. I strongly agree that it was wrong to segregate schools and provide an education for people of color inferior to the education offered to whites. It was wrong to make people walk in the gutters because the sidewalks were reserved for whites. It was wrong to have one bathroom for people of color and another for whites. It was wrong to deny someone the right to a job due to color or religion. It was wrong to deny someone the right to rent or buy a house or apartment because of race or religion. It is still wrong for violent, racist groups like the KKK and white supremacists to terrorize and victimize anyone they do not approve of. To fix those wrongs, government organizations were created to enforce these new laws.
Today, most people are terrified to publicly express honest opinions about topics that fall under political correctness and what has gone wrong with the complex system designed to correct those inequalities. Since this column is going to cross that line, there is a strong chance I will be criticized for what I write. There may be incidences where what I write will be taken out of context.
Because I am white, I may be the wrong person to write this column. After all, to many, I’m already guilty due to my skin color. It doesn’t matter that my father was a second generation American and my grandfather was born on the boat inside the three-mile limit. It does not matter that my mother’s ancestors arrived with the Pilgrims and started out in the New England states as indentured servants. Continue reading Political Correctness Gone Wrong # 1
August 17, 2009
Posted by seamus in: Accountability, Attitude, Congress, Current Events, Democracy, Economics, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Relations, General Topics, Geopolitical Events, Homeland Security, Military, Morality, Opinion, Social Aspects, Social Classes, Social Issues, The Writer's Corner
With double navy crosses, a distinguished flying cross, a bronze star and three purple hearts, I was singled out by a long haired professor my first week back in college as a baby killer. Welcome home, right? [...]
August 13, 2009
 By Alan Caruba
All during the long campaign leading to his election and inauguration, the media kept telling us what a genius Barack Obama was. He was a lecturer on the Constitution at the University of Chicago. He was in the Illinois State legislature. He had graduated from Harvard Law School and, before that, Columbia University. Curiously, throughout all that time, few of his fellow students or faculty had any recall of him.
No records from those days exist or are available. He was (and is) a cipher.
When you’re the President of the United States, however, everything you say and do is under close examination. Obama must like that part of the job because he has held five prime time press conferences in the first six months, about the same amount as his predecessor held in eight years.
Unfortunately for Obama, the number of people tuning in became less and less with each press conference. The last one blew up in his face as he made an offhand remark about the arrest of a friend of his. At a recent town hall meeting to promote his healthcare “reform” plan, he compared it to the U.S. Postal Service, thus inadvertently telling the truth for a change.
None of these suggests a finely tuned sense of political reality and, in particular, the introduction of two pieces of legislation, Cap-and-Trade and Healthcare “reform”, that just about everyone hates except some brain-dead Democrats in Congress, now seem a very bad idea and very bad timing. Continue reading Obama: American Demagogue
August 11, 2009
 Audacity of Barack Obama
By Ben Cerruti
He says that he personally, as if a Congress wasn’t involved, will not allow any tax of a family making under $250,000 a year to increase by one dime. He continues to say this despite the fact that both his Treasury Secretary and Director of his National Economic Council have said that such a tax could not be taken off the table. Both of these gentlemen are economists while B.O. has no such education or experience. In addition, the fact that the Cap and Trade bill, if passed, would admittedly increase the cost of everyone utility bills and the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office has indicated that the proposed Health Care bill could not be paid for without more tax revenue further contradicts his rhetoric. To expect that the people will continue to believe he can fulfill this campaign promise is the height of audacity.
The audacity continues when he says about the proposed health care plan that people can keep their present medical insurance if they so desire when Insurance Co’s, unjustly so, are being blamed for the high cost of medical care. In fact, the public option plan is designed to put the medical insurers out of business and lead to a fully nationalized program. Video clips have shown Congressman Barney Franks saying as much and B.O., prior to his election, stating that he favored a single payer plan..Further, he has stated the seniors should not worry about losing their coverage despite the fact the health care plan states that they must accept counseling relating to their final years of life. This is a precursor for government making decisions affecting the necessity of specific health care to prolong one’s life. Decisions that morally should be left up to the individual and their family. Again the Messiah is demonstrating his audacity. Continue reading Audacity of Barack Obama
August 2, 2009
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse in: African-American, Attitude, Communications, Current Events, Democracy, Freedom, Journalism, Morality, Motivation, Opinion, Politics, Republican
Last Friday, I drove to the airport and on that drive, I listened to a discussion on this topic. After I heard all the “facts” in detail, clearly, this issue is racial and driven by a political agenda from the idealistic, far right that cannot stand anybody that does not believe as they do.
It was mentioned that Obama provided a copy of his birth certificate to CNN before the election, and experts verified it was real. Another search found birth notices in the archives of two newspapers in Hawaii. In addition, the governor of Hawaii, a Republican, said that there is no doubt that Obama was born in Hawaii. Yet, this issue will not die just like the “Swift boat Veterans for Truth”, or whatever they called themselves, didn’t die as they took facts about Kerry’s life and smeared them all over the place casting doubt on his honesty and courage.
Just because Kerry received minor flesh wounds does not make him a coward. It sounds like I have changed topic, but both are related because both show how political agendas turn lies into truth in the public arena of misinformation designed to influence opinions and votes.
Even if Obama printed a hundred million copies of the original birth certificate and mailed them out, those that want to believe he is not a citizen and shouldn’t be in the White House will still believe. Nothing will change their minds. Even if someone took those people by the ear and led them to the evidence, they would claim it was forged. Even if nonbiased experts said they examined the birth notices in newspapers, the records in the hospital and the birth certificates and found all to be valid (which they have), there would be doubts because that is the goal as another election looms. There are racist, far right conservative idealists out there that would not admit the truth if they were in that operating room the day Obama was born. In addition, even if Obama was born in another country, his mother was an American citizen and at that time, that automatically made him an American citizen because that was the law. Continue reading Where’s Obama’s Birth Certificate
July 19, 2009
 By Alan Caruba
I recently read an interesting book by Christopher Kelly, “The End of Empire: Attila the Hun and The Fall of Rome.” Our popular image of Attila is that of a barbaric pagan, but Priscus of Panium set off to meet Attila in 449 AD and, as Kelly relates, “Attila turned out to be surprisingly civilized and a dangerously shrewd player of international politics.”
It’s always a good idea to review one’s assumptions about the world in which one lives, such as the current politically correct view that Islam is “a religion of peace” and that the barbarity of Al Qaeda, the Taliban and other Arab groups is an anomaly, the result of their incorrect interpretation of the Koran. Their interpretation, however, is quite accurate and the Koran is a call to arms and battle plan for the conquest of the world.
From America’s earliest years, it has had to deal with marauding Arabs and in modern times we have put our troops in harm’s way in the Middle East in Beirut in the 1980s and to drive Saddam Hussein’s Iraq out of Kuwait in August 1990.
Following 9/11 we returned in 2001 to drive Al Qaeda and the Taliban out of Afghanistan. They took refuge in the frontier provinces of Pakistan and have since returned to the killing fields of our choosing…if killing one’s sworn enemies can be called a choice. Continue reading How Empires Die
July 14, 2009
 We need amnesty for the middle class. We are going through the closest thing we have to the Great Depression and it has torched middle class credit. Forget the millions who have lost their homes or the people who have declared bankruptcy. They will be effectively shut out of the credit market for years. But you now have millions of people whose FICO scores have fallen below the magic number of 620 which is the minimum for a government loan–or FHA. These people have now been shut of the credit market as well. What does this mean? It means that the recovery will not come. People have to be able to secure credit to buy homes again and if they can’t then supply will outstrip demand and the values will continue to fall. Credit is the lifeblood of the economy. Because someone is late on a credit card payment or cannot pay a medical bill does not mean they should be denied credit for buying a home. If we go with the assumption that these are extraordinary times then there must be an extraordinary remedy–middle class amnesty.
We did it for the banks and the car companies and the insurance companies. The rational there was yes they made bonehead decisions but these are extraordinary times and for the common good they must be bailed out. So we did. We basically forgave their very bad creditworthy decisions and gave them billions to get their house in order. Isn’t that what we should do now for the middle class? Forgive their bad decisions under the umbrella of extraordinary times? Continue reading Middleclass Amnesty–what is good for the goose…
July 14, 2009
Judge Sonia Sotomayor: Liar?
by John Armor
Here is what Judge Sotomayor said in her opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday. She said, “my judicial philosophy… is simple: fidelity to the law. The task of a judge is not to make the law — it is to apply the law.”
On seven occasions, one by example in an opinion, she made clear an opposite opinion, that the outcome of a case decided by a judge of her style of decision-making, can and should be varied according to the “experience” of the judge. She wrote and published, “a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion that a while male who hasn’t lived that life.”
Although the White House has mounted the defense that the second quote is “taken out of context,” that is a false defense. People in the position of Judge Sotomayor of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, do not give off the cuff speeches. Her speech was prepared, written out, and supports the quote. If that were not enough, the speech was published in a journal later – another opportunity for Sotomayor to correct it, were any of its statements wrong. Continue reading Judge Sonia Sotomayor: Liar?
July 14, 2009
Should everyone really have the right to vote? [...]
July 12, 2009
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse in: China, Congress, Current Events, Democracy, Economics, Environment, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Relations, Freedom, Geopolitical Events, Military, Morality, Motivation, Politics, Republican, Social Issues, Uncategorized
Is China a danger to the world? This is a topic I have wanted to write about for some time. I suspect my motivation for writing this comes from being sent to Vietnam [...]
July 12, 2009
 By Alan Caruba
If you can have a pride of lions and a gaggle of geese, then I suggest that the forthcoming July 17-20 meeting of the National Governors Association can be described as a “crisis” of Governors.
This once-esteemed office, a platform from which some launched campaigns to become President, has become a sinkhole of sexual misconduct and corruption; witness New York’s unlamented Eliot Spitzer, New Jersey’s James McGreevey, and now South Carolina’s pathetic, moon-struck Mark Sanford and Illinois’ Rod Blogovitch whose alleged sins involved money.
Because states are sovereign republics and because being governor is primarily a “local” responsibility, the job requires significant administrative and political skills to ensure the state meets those obligations closest to voters. Infrastructure must be maintained. Issues of public safety, health, and education are paramount concerns.
With a few exceptions, today’s Governors are struggling with bloated budgets and huge deficits despite the fact that most states require a balanced budget or at least the semblance of one. Watching Arnold Schwarzenegger announce that California will be paying its bills with IOUs would be comic if it were not so serious. Continue reading A “Crisis” of Governors
July 11, 2009
By Jack Rochester
 In the song “Taxman,” the Beatles sang, “If you take a walk/I’ll tax your feet.” A similar phenomenon is being considered by the Supreme Court: If you cook up an idea for a way to do business, can you call it unique enough to patent it? The end result being, of course, that you can then charge others who want to use it: If you think of an idea I already thought of/I’ll sue your butt.
“Here’s an Idea: Let Everyone Have Ideas“ What’s considered intellectual property in the past decade has grown like weeds in a garden. According to the National Football League, a journalist can’t use “NFL” in a news story without advance, written permission. Now, according to a story in the New York Times, a couple of yahoos named Bernard L. Bilski and Rand A. Warsaw think they own an “idea,” masquerading as a “business process,” which is described in the Times article as “a method of hedging risks in the sale of commodities, including the risks associated with bad weather.”
The notion is absurd. In his blog discussing the first court opinion of this case, Joe Mullen wrote at his blog, “I suppose Mr. Bilski’s company, now run by his old partner Rand Warsaw, will have to keep making its money the old-fashioned way: allegedly, by helping power companies overcharge consumers with dubious billing schemes.” Continue reading Are There No Limits To Intellectual Property?
|
Books by SWI Contributors
|
The Town Hall Revolt, One Year Later
Question Time Isn’t the Answer
The Missing Bone Hunters of Politics
The Missing Bone Hunters of Politics
On our way through eastern Tennessee on US 26 for the fortieth time, give or take a few, we decided to visit the Gray Fossil Museum. It is one of the most extraordinary preserves of fossilized bones of long-extinct creatures ever found.
An excellent book describes how this sink hole that preserves thousands of whole skeletons of ancient creatures was discovered, preserved and exploited. The book is The Bone Hunters by Harry Moore.
In some cases, the scientists can identify a species from a single tooth. Compare paleontology to political science. We know more about the life and death of creatures which lived three million years ago, than we do about types of governments which have died within the memory of living people.
The first fact a tooth can give us about a long-dead creature is whether it is an herbivore, living on vegetation, or carnivore, living on animal flesh. There is a simple characteristic which divides governments into two, opposed categories. Continue reading The Missing Bone Hunters of Politics