Category Archives: Opinion

Business/Economics, Opinion, U.S.

Dumb ‘mericans & Incompetent Media! Fiscal Cliff done deal! Almost the exact same politicians trying to ‘stop’ fiscal cliff are the ones who created it!

21 December 2012, I wonder how many Dumb ‘mericans out there think the “fiscal cliff” is some kind-o-god sent law, like the ten commandments.  Well, it’s a done deal but not because of any divine power, it was created by almost the very same ‘elected’ republicans and democrats who now act like they’re trying to stop it.

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, John Boehner, cancelled 21 December’s vote on a proposal designed to draw concessions from President Barack Obama.  But don’t blame Obama, that starts with President George W. Bush, and it was Congress who wrote the law!

The tax increases and government spending cuts can be traced back to the Bush tax cuts, aka Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001.  But it’s not that simple, as it involves successive Acts passed under the Bush and Obama administrations (Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, Tax Relief American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 [aka Stimulus] Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010 and finally Budget Control Act of 2011).

All those ‘Acts’ were intended to save the economy through tax reductions and government spending increases.  However, most of the tax reductions helped only the ultra-rich and the Too Big to Fails (it’s now clear they did not spend it on creating the millions of new jobs economists said were needed), and most spending increases (like the military) came with spending cuts elsewhere (like social programs).

So almost every elected official in the U.S. Congress, now, are the same people that created those Acts, and if not the same person it’s the very same political parties controlling the House and Senate, remember the recent ‘elections’?

In their wisdom they threw in massive ‘automatic’ austerity cuts if their previous efforts to save the U.S. economy failed.  They claim they’re ‘automatic’ because they can through up their hands and say “Oh, we can’t do anything about it, it’s the law!”  Yeah, the very law they created!

And then there’s the incompetent media, who’s giving us daily reports on the ‘progress’ being made to stop the fiscal cliff.  Idiots!  It’s a done deal!  Think about it, what is(are) the plan(s) our elected officials are coming up with?  Tax increases and spending cuts!  In other words what we’re facing is either massive austerity measures or tax increases and government spending cuts.  Austerity is austerity, but if you’ve been paying attention to what’s happening in many European countries then you should know this isn’t over.  Most Euro countries (especially Greece) have been passing austerity measures, only to have to turn around and pass more tax increases and government spending cuts just a few months later.

No matter how you look at it, the Fiscal Cliff is a done deal!

 

International, Opinion, U.S.

U.S. Civil War(?) & Media Evil: U.S. reporters calling for gun control after deadly school shooting, but no mention that in China almost as many students were attacked by a man with a knife!

14 December 2012, for some as yet unknown, or more typically unbelievable, reason someone, or more than one person, entered an elementary school in Connecticut and began killing as many people as possible.  At this writing 26 children and adults have been found dead.

As I watched the U.S. main stream broadcast news media, it was so obvious that many of the reporters were implying, and even demanding more gun control.   One CBS reporter actually suggested bringing back the Assault Weapons Ban.

But from reports I heard from an interviewee on NBC, the shooter didn’t use assault weapons, the interviewee said the guy was armed with hand guns, aka pistolas (Spanish for pistols).

Other reports said the guy had “high powered” guns, with multiple magazines.  These comments are vague, to a lot of anti-gun activists a .22 caliber long rifle is “high powered”.  Multiple magazines could simply mean having more than one six round magazine for your old fashioned Colt 1911 .45 caliber pistol.

But did you know another school attack took place the day before the Connecticut attack?

In China’s Henan Province a man attacked a primary school, with a knife!  At least 22 children were wounded as was one 85 year old woman. Most of them were stabbed in the head! Police arrested the man, and said he was known to be mentally ill, however locals said they never saw the guy before.

China has really strict gun control laws, but they obviously didn’t stop a “deranged” man from attacking a school. China has been experiencing a steady increase in such attacks, and they are referred to as “…social revenge attacks by frustrated people marginalized by China’s rapid development in recent years, the attackers mainly targeted school children to make maximum impact.”-ZeeNews

Maybe China needs knife control laws?

In both cases. If someone at both schools was armed, with a gun, both of these attacks would have been stopped right away. There are plenty of cases where a person who goes berserk is stopped cold by a potential victim who is armed!

The U.S. media coverage of the latest school shooting just proves the U.S. main stream media is against our Constitutional Rights!

International, Opinion, U.S.

World War 3: United States to invade Mali in 2013, is it really about the oil? Blame the British Empire!

On 07 December 2012, the Washington Post reported that President Barack Obama is planning to invade northern Mali, on the pretext that the northern half of Mali is being ruled by Islamists friendly to al Qaeda.

The invasion will be joined by France, but officially it will be an African led invasion.  The Washington Post even quoted a U.S. official: “…the military concept proposes an Africa led effort, but several key questions must be answered to ensure that this effort is also well planned and well resourced.”-Johnnie Carson, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs

The West African country of Mali (which by the way borders Algeria which borders Libya, hmmmm) is considered by some sources to have “…no known commercially exploitable oil or gas resources.” 

However, for the past few years Canadian and European oil companies have been actively involved in oil exploration, in the northern areas of Mali.

Canadian oil giant, Heritage Oil Corporation, is specifically involved with block 7 and block 11 seismic and exploration fields in the northern part of Mali.  This information comes from Africa Oil Corporation (also a Canadian company, despite the name), which says they are 25% involved with the Heritage Mali operations.

Heritage, on their own web site, admitted they were concerned about the security of their area of operations: “Following the coup in March 2012, Heritage is monitoring the security situation and considering all options.”

Other oil companies involved include: Eni, an Italian company. Selier energy, another Canadian outfit.  Sonatrach, an Algerian (formerly French?) company.  And Centric Energy, based in United Kingdom, they also have a 25% stake in Heritage’s block 7 and block 11 operations in Mali.

With the majority of oil companies involved in Mali coming from Canada and United Kingdom, is this another case of the evil British empire getting the United States to do its dirty work?

 

Opinion, U.S.

2nd U.S. Civil War: People, and media of the Big Apple complicit in murder of Asian man? New twist on push for Arms Control!

05 December 2012, an Asian man was pushed to his death by an attacker in a New York City subway.  Such violent crime might not seem too surprising in the Big Apple, but what is is the fact that no one in the subway tried to help the man to safety, they just stood there and took pictures as he gets smashed by the train!

Even a New York City newspaper incriminates itself as they publish pictures of the man’s impending death, taken by a freelance photographer.

Why didn’t anyone help?  The photog gave this answer: “I wanted to help the man, but I couldn’t figure out how to help. It all happened so fast.”

Obviously not so fast that he didn’t have time to pull out his camera and take pics.

Was this because the victim was a yellow skinner from Korea?  The attacker was a black skinner. The photog was a brown skinner (going by his name). Bob Costas is a white skinner.

This should be ammo for the anti-violence crowd, you know, Arms Control.  Not Arms as in guns, but arms.  Obviously in this case it was a deranged man’s arms that killed the other man.  People’s arms should be banned, lest they try to kill other people with them.

Bob Costas should get in on this one, after all it involved someone with mental problems and probably prescription meds (just like that football player who shot his wife and himself).  Using Bob Costas rationalization, it’s not the fact that the guy had mental problems that led to the killing, it’s the fact that he had arms and he knew how to use them to kill!

Even the freelance photog is guilty.  He has arms and he didn’t use them to save the man’s life, he used them to document the man’s death.  Off with his arms!

And this isn’t the first time, there’s at least one other high profile case, back in 1999, when a New York City woman was pushed to her death on the subway tracks by a mentally troubled person, who had arms!

One things for sure, I bet there are even more people throughout the United States who’re are not going to shed anymore tears for the people of New York City.  U.S. sponsored al Qaeda, stock market collapse, Mother Nature’s fury, bring it on!

 

Opinion, U.S.

2nd U.S. Civil War: How many cops does it take to kill two black skinned people armed with soda pop can? 12 white cops, 1 brown skinned cop and 137 bullets! Or: Drink & drive & get shot hundreds of times! Or: Why gun control is evil! Medical examiner officially calls it Homocide! Audio reveal cops blatantly lieing about situation!

“We want to ensure the community that this will be fully and fairly investigated.”-Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, 03 December 2012 statement

“….multiple (24) gunshot wounds of head, neck, trunk, and left arm with multiple visceral, vascular, and skeletal injuries. HOMICIDE.”-04 December 2012, Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office statement referring to female victim

On 29 November 2012, 13 Cleveland city cops chased down two unarmed black people (a man and a woman) then blasted them with 137 rounds of ammo!

12 of the 13 cops are white skinners, one is a brown skinner.

From the beginning there were doubts about the cops’ explanation.  They said the 22-25 minute car chase started when a cop claimed he heard a gunshot aimed at the police headquarters, however no evidence of a gunshot at that location has been found (like a bullet, bullet hole or casing).  Another cop said the man and woman pointed a gun at them during the car chase, however no gun was found in the victim’s car.

A local news source said the police justified shooting the victims 137 times because they ran into a police car.  The cop car that was hit was being used as a barricade anyway, called a “zone car”.

Police officials have released an audio recording of the police chase (hear it here).  The recordings are from 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th police districts.  In it you can heard 2nd district cops making up claims about their victims, such as they were shooting at cop cars and they shot a policeman (1st district dispatcher disputes it), none of which happened.  A 2nd district cop clearly says the victims are “possibly loading a weapon”, again no weapon was ever found, and no evidence of gunshots from the victims.  Dispatchers request 1st and 3rd district cops to stay out of chase! 3rd district dispatcher says a man is pointing a gun out the back window of the car. At one point a 2nd district cop clearly says “everybody’s in custody”, when in fact they were dead!  A 5th district dispatcher says “It’s not a gun, it’s a pop can in his hand!”

Some reports say the cops are on paid vacation, I mean paid administrative leave. Other reports say they’re on “desk duty”.  (where’s the mainstream media on this one? And why is the main stream media so infatuated with gun control [Bob Costas anyone?] after a football player who, probably suffering from past head injuries and the effects of his prescription meds, killed his wife and himself?)

It was reported that the Cleveland Police Foundation (CPF) has been actively taking guns away from citizens, through a gun buy back program.  In the month of October alone, they bribed citizens out of 298 guns.

The donation funded program started in 2010.  It involves seven police charities (by contrast here in Idaho our local police/sheriff has always told us not to donate to “police charities”, as they have not authorized any charity to represent them).  On 17 November the CPF held a fundraising ball, and even Steven Dettelbach of the U.S. Department of Justice, north Ohio district, attended.

Obviously it’s an elitist thing because tickets to the ball started at $150 USD, and “table packages” started at $2,500.

We are already in the second U.S. civil (ethnic & class) war.

 

Business/Economics, Opinion, U.S.

Corporate Evil: After blaming Unions for their shut down, Hostess now wants to pay out big bonuses to their execs! Shut down really part of Romney style crony vulture capitalist plan!

29 November 2012, gee after saying they didn’t have the money, and blaming unionized labor for the shut down of Hostess, suddenly they’ve got the bucks to pay bonuses to their incompetent executives!

Hostess officials are asking a bankruptcy judge to approve the paying out of $1.8 million USD in bonuses to their 19 executives.  Company officials say it’s necessary to keep the execs on board until they finish selling off their brands.

It’s starting to look like the running into the ground and eventual shut down of Hostess is really a Romneyesque vulture capitalist plan to chop up and sell the company off.  Hostess officials say there are more than 100 potential buyers chomping at the bit.

Hostess product sales were down, but last week a company official told the bankruptcy judge they still had $2.3 billion in sales last year!

So 18,500 people lost their jobs, and Hostess wants to pay $1.8 million in bonuses to 19 executives, that’s about $94,736 each (if my math is correct).  And those execs are still being paid big salaries as well; for example, CEO Gregory Rayburn has a monthly salary of $125,000!

I don’t think the Hostess shut down is about not having enough money.

 

 

Business/Economics, International, Opinion, U.S.

Corporate Evil: Was Sears involved in counterfeit clothing? “Books” show Sears was client of illegal fashion factory! Don’t think 18 cents per hour is good money in Bangladesh, it’s not! Walmart blames you!

“It was my fault. But nobody told me that there was no emergency exit, which could be made accessible from outside. Nobody even advised me to install one like that, apart from the existing ones. I could have done it, but nobody ever suggested that I do it.”-Delowar Hossain, factory owner

Days after a fire killed more than 120 people (reports now say there will be more bodies found, as the initial body count was a guess) and injured 200, the factory owner accepts blame, and three of his supervisors are now charged with locking the workers in the building because they thought the fire alarm was fake (they actually believed the workers were trying to escape their wretched working conditions), another ‘illegal’ fashion factory goes up in flames (this time no one was locked in, but there were injuries), and the disaster reveals that unAmerican Corporate America is involved more than ever in slave wage factories (to get those high profits to make their investors happy, it’s not about keeping prices cheap for the lowly consumer).

The police and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh said they believe the fire was “an act of sabotage”.  A disgruntled employee perhaps?

Other reports say the factory was operating illegally anyway.  Both Walmart and Disney issued statements saying they canceled contracts with the factory at least 12 months ago, on the grounds the factory was dangerous.  Yet clothing with their brands on them were being made right up ’till the fire broke out.

Here’s some other companies/brands that were having clothing made at the illegal factory: ENYCE, Teddy Smith and Edinburgh Woollen Mill.  But another company was found listed in the factory account books: Sears.  If companies like Walmart and Disney swear they canceled their contracts a year ago, then who were those shirts, sweaters and hoodies (with Walmart’s Faded Glory label, and the Disney label) being made for?

I hear Sears is in big trouble money wise and has been struggling to get its profits up.  Just sayin’.  But of course Sears Holdings denies they’re involved, and yet at the same time plans to rectify the fire safety issue: “We can also confirm that Sears Holdings does not source from this factory….In addition, Sears recognizes that fire safety is a critical international issue that we intend to address through specialized training for management in those factories that produce merchandise for Sears Holdings.”-Sears Holdings statement

If they’re not involved then why is Sears in the fashion factory’s client account books and why did Sears say they will address fire safety at such factories?

According to the Associated Press, since 2006 at least 313 people have died in fashion factories in Bangladesh.

According to industry watchdog groups, labor rights groups and even the World Bank, the average pay for a fashion factory worker in Bangladesh is the equivalent to $38 USD per day!  And that’s double what they were being paid last year, they had to go on violent strikes to get the $38 per day!!!

Another report said they get paid the equivalent of 50 cents per hour in the United States!!!

And don’t think the fashion industry in Bangladesh can’t afford to pay more, last year they made $20 billion USD, making up 80% of Bangladesh’s Gross Domestic Product!!!

Companies that help retailers like Walmart hook up with fashion suppliers,  blamed the U.S. consumer:  “You have relentless pressure that consumers put on retailers and that retailers put on their suppliers to deliver lower and lower prices. And that pressure is a key reason why you see factories cutting corners.”-Josh Green, Panjiva

The only reason the average U.S. consumer “demands” lower prices is because their pay and benefits continue to go down year after year.  Blame unAmerican Corporate America!

 

 

 

Business/Economics, International, Opinion, U.S.

Class Warfare! Average Californian justified in voting for higher taxes for wealthy. Golden State has highest number of poor AND highest number of rich! Just ask the Chinese

“They will keep struggling until the economy levels off. This is just a reflection of the bad economic situation we’re living in with high unemployment and lower income.”-Maria Pia Chaparro, UCLA researcher

20 November 2012, according to reports from Rhodium Group, and Asia Society, California is now the top U.S. state for investments from Chinese investors, accounting for at least 25% of all Chinese investments (more than New York, Texas, Illinois and North Carolina combined).

In the past 12 years China has invested $1.2 billion USD into California.  According to Rhodium Group, that’s expected to rise as high as $60 billion in the next eight years! Yet, for all the money China is throwing at the Golden State, the U.S. Census Bureau (The Research SUPPLEMENTAL POVERTY MEASURE: 2011) says California now has the highest rate of poverty in the United States; 23.5%, or one in four Californians in poverty!  (Florida is second worst with 19.5%)

“We’re seeing a very slow recovery, with increases in poverty among workers due to more new jobs which are low wage…..California is struggling more because it’s relatively harder there to qualify for food stamps and other benefits.”-Timothy Smeeding, University of Wisconsin-Madison economist

The Census Bureau is using new poverty measures which finally take into account the cost of living (even including the taxes you pay), and California’s outrageous cost of living/taxation is the prime reason for the huge jump in official federal government poverty ratings.  (I used to live there, and between the cost of living/taxation and overwhelming number of ludicrous laws I am amazed the people haven’t held a full blown revolution. No problem going on the rampage after the Rodney King verdict, but when it comes to the economy and their livelihoods I guess they like being raped by the Man)

But other reports say that while more and more working class Californians are hitting the skids, the rich elites are not only still making money, they’re making more and more money!  Evidence of that is how much money rich Californians gave to political campaigns: “It’s very hard to pass an initiative, but it’s not that hard to defeat an initiative if you have money on your side.”-Kim Alexander, California Voter Foundation

According to MapLight rich Californians gave an estimated $350 million to support, or fight, the 11 propositions Californians just voted on.  And that’s got to be lowballed, because, according to the Associated Press, just two rich Californians spent nearly $100 million trying to influence the voters on such things as higher taxes on out of state companies and making it easier for insurance companies to change their rates.

But while rich Californians are willing to spend money on elections, they don’t seem willing to spend money on bettering the economy. Back to the Chinese investors.

According to Chinese media reports, continued Chinese investing hinges on the U.S. Congress’s recent extension of the EB-5 visa program: “Under EB-5, an applicant is given permanent U.S. residency if his investment of at least $1 million leads to 10 full-time jobs within two years. The threshold is just $500,000 if the jobs created are in a rural or high unemployment area of the U.S.”-China Daily

This means that Chinese investing also involves people from China being able to move to the United States, as one California mayor admitted: “This can guarantee a steady rate of return for stimulating purchases of bonds (for publicly funded development projects), and people are able to immigrate because of EB-5, so you’ll see more of this in California.”-Jean Quan, mayor of Oakland

The Oakland mayor said that Chinese middle and upper income earners want to take advantage of the EB-5 program, as did Oakland businessman, Tom Henderson, who said his Chinese clients want to move to California through the EB-5 program which will help create new jobs:  “We are bringing in $100 million to Oakland alone. Over the next 18 months, we’ll create 2,000 jobs in Oakland through the EB-5 program.”

The fact that California’s officials are putting so much of their hopes on China to save them economically, and that the U.S. rich have money but are spending it on things that do not stimulate the economy (California is considered the billionaire capitol of the world!), is proof that the elitist rich in the United States are unAmerican and a threat to U.S. National Security.

Business/Economics, Idaho, Opinion, Technology, U.S.

What Democracy? Idaho voters fools, lap top proposition a done deal to help save HP!

The Idaho media reported that the majority of Idaho voters turned down propositions that were an attempt to make public education better (Idaho consistently ranks low in quality of education in the United States, I guess most people in Idaho are happy with that).

What the dumb voters (encouraged by the dumb Idaho media) don’t know is that those propositions are not going away.  State legislatures will simply revisit those proposals, and can even pass them as laws without voter input (they’ve done it before).

But here’s one good reason that Proposition 3 (provision of computing devices and online courses for high school graduation, aka lap tops for students proposal) isn’t dead: Hewlett Packard was already awarded an eight year $180 million USD contract to provide those lap tops, back on 23 October!

Now you voters in Idaho don’t want to be responsible for anymore layoffs there at the Boise HP Center, do you?

Here’s some of the latest data to show you how bad education is in the Gem State:

Montana State University:  Idaho ranks 33rd for teacher quality.  Idaho ranks 35th for education input.  Idaho ranks 33rd for education social impact.  Idaho submitted no data for the education output & education efficiency rankings.

Quality Counts Education Survey, 2012: Idaho ranks 47th (tied with Nevada). 

CNBC Business ranking 2012:  Idaho ranks 48th in the survey’s Education category, a drop from 45 in 2011.

U.S. Census Bureau: Idaho ranks 50th in school spending.  I’m normally against increased spending, especially since most of the money goes to administrative costs and not actual education, or is not even accounted for, (and it seems year after year I have to pay more fees, besides property taxes, for my high school aged kids).  But maybe there is a correlation here?  However, according to National Kids Count Program (2009 data), when you adjust spending on regional cost of living then Idaho actually spends more than California, per student! Ah ha!

Here’s the problem I have with increasing funding: For example, School District 25 gets millions and millions of dollars from local property taxes (technically they’re called fees, which is why school officials get away with telling voters that school bonds/levies will not raise “taxes”.  A few years ago a local newspaper article revealed that just one major employer in Pocatello pays $1 million yearly in school fees on their property tax bill!).  Then they get money from the State and Federal governments (again from our taxes we pay).  Then, supposedly, they get millions from Powerball Lottery (at least that’s what the lottery advertisements say).  Oh, and I almost forgot the grant money, and computers they get donated from corporations, like the Albertson’s Foundation (I remember when my kids were attending Chubbuck Elementary [little more than ten years ago], seeing the school get new computers almost every year, and one year one of my kid’s teachers admitted that she didn’t even use them ’cause it was too stressful for her to learn how!)!  Yet school district officials are always whining that they don’t have enough money!  I want to see an investigation and a detailed breakdown of where all that money goes!

And if the votes of Idaho voters really count, then what’s going to happen to the $180 million HP is getting for Proposition 3, the Proposition voters just rejected?

(Here’s an update for 09 November 2012: my youngest daughter came home from school [she’s a Junior at one of the local high schools] saying that teachers were trying to explain that the “lap tops for students” was still happening, despite the election results.  You see, your votes really don’t count!)

Opinion, U.S.

Voter Incompetence & What Economic Recovery? Your elected officials spent $6 billion to get you to vote to maintain the status quo! Election monitor says election process defective! Black Sabbath is right!

“…there are real concerns over issues such as voting rights, the accuracy of voter lists, the transparency of campaign finance, recount procedures and access for international election observers.”-Daan Everts, Head of the OSCE/ODIHR Limited Election Observation Mission

So the big concern is over the looming automatic austerity measures/fiscal cliff? If that’s so, then why did the political leaders of the United States spend at least $5.8 billion USD tricking the voters into maintaining the status quo?

According to the U.S. main stream media, U.S. voters picked the same president, same Congressional House and same Congressional Senate (political party wise)!  So much for Hope & Change/Real Change!

Just think what that $5.8 billion could have been used for!  “You’re all fools! the Mob rules!”-Black Sabbath, 1981

https://youtu.be/cATPLk559XY