Category Archives: U.S.

Business/Economics, U.S.

Global Economic Class War: Wall Street protestors grow to thousands, protests spreading to other cities

Two weeks later, instead of fizzling out like so many greedy corporate America loving right wing nut jobs predicted, the Occupy Wall Street protestors are still there, and they’re growing, nearly 2,000 at last count.

On top of that, ‘Occupy’ protests are spreading to other cities.  Some have fizzled out, while others continue.

In Los Angeles, on September 26 protestors gathered when President Barack Obama arrived for a $35,000 per plate fundraiser.  Most people in the LA area make less than $35,000 per year: “The ‘little man,’ the ‘American every man,’ just isn’t getting their voice heard. When you need $35,000 to donate to a campaign to get your voice heard, to have a meeting, that’s not democracy!”-protestor

Now, September 29, hundreds of union workers are demonstrating at LAX: “It’s just hard because the economy is bad as it is, even if they say the recession is supposed to be over, for too many people they are still in bad state and in dire need.”-Robert Branch, protestor

The Occupy Chicago rallies are in their 5th day. About 20 people started the protest on September 23, and some of them are still camped out in front of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.  Some reports say the number of demonstrators are slowly increasing, about 40 as of September 28.

Several big name celebrities, and academics have made speeches during the Occupy Wall Street protests.  Protestors in New York city say they will march on New York police headquarters.  They say it’s in retaliation for the way police have been treating fellow demonstrators. So far 100 protestors have been arrested.

People are amazed at how many highly educated protestors there are: “These are the most over educated crowd of people that I’ve even seen in my life.  People come out of college and there are no jobs.”-Daniel Levine, student at Baruch College

A university professor, and security expert, says the people of the United States don’t have the guts to turn their protests violent, like in Europe: “Americans have become too complacent with the way their society is being run.”-Patricia DeGennaro, World Policy Institute/New York University

If you don’t think the Occupy Wall Street protestors are in it for the long haul, then explain why they have formed a “winterization committee”.

 

 

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Some damn good reasons why college is a waste of money!

The cost of getting a higher education in the United States has increased by 29% in just the past five years, and, despite the rhetoric from Corporate America and universities, many jobs taken by college graduates do not require a college degree!

First off, approximately two thirds of all college students graduate with student loans. For the first time in U.S. history the total amount of student loan debt now exceeds the total amount of credit card debt!

Secondly, at least one third of college graduates are working jobs that don’t need a college degree: There are more than 100,000 janitors that have college degrees.  317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees.  Approximately 365,000 cashiers have college degrees.  24.5% of all retail salespersons have a college degree.

Next time a college recruiter pesters you, or your kids, ask them to guarantee, in writing, that they’ll get a job relating to their degree, and that it’ll pay enough to justify the student loan debt!

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? So much for christian Rick Perry’s job creation record: Texas lays off nearly 1,000 teachers

September 29, according to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, last month Texas fired 900 people from education related jobs.

It’s part of the U.S.$4 billion in cuts to Texas public schools, that Governor Rick Perry approved this year!

As an example of how bad it’s getting in Texas; near Austin, two newly built schools are empty this year because the Leander school district can’t afford to put teachers in them.

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

Government & Corporate Incompetence: U.S. unemployment now officially a “National Crisis”, economic situation “Unheard Of”

“This unemployment situation we have, the jobs situation, is really a national crisis. We’ve had close to 10% unemployment now for a number of years and, of the people who are unemployed, about 45% have been unemployed for six months or more. This is unheard of!”-Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Chairman

September 29, the man in charge of the central bank of the United States now admits that what is going on with the U.S. economy has never been dealt with before.

Bernanke also admitted that the U.S. is no longer a free trade nation, and that it no longer cares about the people, when he said that the U.S. must learn from fast developing nations, like China, which has adhered to discipline budget policies, embraced free trade, made public investments and supported education.


 

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

Global Food Crisis: Killer Cantaloupe, given away in Idaho

The number of people sick and dying from cantaloupe contaminated with Listeria could hit record levels in the United States.  In Idaho they were given away to the public after a grocery distributor decided they were not ripe enough to sell.

So far 16 people have died, and 56 people are sick across the country.  The cantaloupe are from Colorado, but not all are labeled, so the CDC says if you’re not sure where it came from don’t eat it.

At the end of August 43,000 pounds of the cantaloupe were shipped to southeast Idaho.  They were considered too ripe to sell and were donated to the public between August 28 and September 2.

Jensen Farms in Colorado says it shipped cantaloupes to 25 states.  But, the FDA says illnesses have been discovered in several states that are not on the shipping list.  The FDA has reversed an earlier statement about the fruit being shipped to Europe. They now say none of the cantaloupe left the U.S.

Listeria is more deadly than salmonella and E. coli.  The bacteria can grow at room temperatures and even in your refrigerator. It can linger long after the source of the contamination is gone, people should clean and sanitize any surfaces the killer cantaloupe might have touched.

Symptoms of Listeria can show up as soon as three days after eating the contaminated fruit, or as long as 70 days later.  Symptoms could include fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, convulsions, diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms.

 

 

International, U.S.

Government Incompetence: U.S. backed Columbia sells secret spy documents to rebels and drug dealers

“Ever since it was known that DAS would close down, lots of people started doing business and looking for ways to make a few bucks. Others started pilfering information as a kind of insurance, in case one day they would face a criminal investigation or disciplinary hearing.”-A former unnamed DAS detective

In retaliation for the shutting down of Columbia’s Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (state intelligence agency), it appears that employees sold off secret documents to the highest bidders.

According to the Colombian magazine La Semana, over the past two years tens of thousands of classified documents have been sold to militias, foreign governments and drug traffickers.

The scandal came just days after the former head of DAS, Jorge Noguera, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for colluding with U.S. backed right wing  paramilitary death squads.

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: Obama about to go all Nixon on Pakistan’s ass

“I think that the fact that there are links that exist between the Pakistani government and the Haqqani network, the nature of those can be assessed and is complicated. But there is no question that they have safe havens in Pakistan.”– Jay Carney, White House spokesman

September 28, U.S. President Barack Obama has endorsed the claims of Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, who accused Pakistan’s intelligence agency of “exporting” violence to Afghanistan.

In 1969 President Nixon (a Republican) secretly ordered the bombing of Cambodia and Laos (Operation Menu), believing they were helping the Viet Cong in South Vietnam.  The Operation Menu bombing lasted from March 1969 to May 1970, and failed to stop Viet Cong, or North Vietnam’s efforts to unite the country.  The failure led to Nixon making peace with the Viet Cong and North Vietnam.

Will Obama (a Democrat) follow in Nixon’s footsteps?

But wait, we’re already bombing Pakistan with our UAVs.  Oh, but the U.S. was already secretly bombing Cambodia under President Johnson (a Democrat), four years before President Nixon!  It turns out that Nixon’s bombing of Cambodia and Laos were simply an escalation of Johnson’s actions.

U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Obama had to consider military action against Pakistan.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Passing the Buck: Obama blames Arab Uprisings and Europe for bad economy in the U.S.

“The changes that have taken place in the Middle East sent oil prices up, and that gave a shock to the world economy.”-Barack Obama, President of the United States

First off, President Obama, oil prices are no where what they were a couple of years ago. What’s been driving up the price of gas (which is just as high as when oil was more than $100.00 per barrel) is not the current price of oil, but refineries that’re purposely keeping production of gas below the demand for gas (which makes the price go up).

Secondly, it was your attack on Libya, President Obama, that caused oil prices to go up!

President Obama also blamed the Europeans: “Some of the challenges that we’ve had over the last several months actually have to do with the fact that in Europe we haven’t seen them deal with their banking system and their financial system as effectively as they needed to.”

First off, if the U.S. banking system wasn’t so involved with the European banking system the U.S. wouldn’t be as affected by their problems.

Secondly, many of the actions taken by European banks, that got them into trouble, were the same mistakes that got U.S. banks into trouble.  By the way, those banking troubles started here in the United States, and have yet to be resolved!

Stop passing the buck President Obama!

U.S.

Government Incompetence: Obama staffers say Denver is located in…Wyoming?

U.S. President Barack Obama just finished a three state campaign; California, Washington and Colorado.  There’s one problem, the White House press credentials indicate Wyoming, not Colorado.

According to the press credential Obama made stops in San Diego, San Jose and Los Angeles, California; Seattle, Washington and Denver,…Wyoming?

I did a quick check, and no Denver, Wyoming showed up.  I guess there’s only one Denver, and that’s in Colorado.  Is this a Freudian slip, showing just how out of touch those on the east coast are with those on the west coast?

U.S.

United Police States of America: Sicko Miami ICE boss was a covert child pornographer

The boss of south Florida’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is in jail facing charges of child pornography.

“According to the indictment, between March 2010 and September 2010, Mangione allegedly transported and received visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. The indictment also alleges that Mangione possessed electronically stored messages that contained additional images of child pornography during the same time period.”-U.S. Justice Department statement

The arrest brings into question the competency of all ICE agents, because not only is the former Miami ICE boss charged with child pornography, but he is being evaluated for psychological problems, at his attorney’s request!

Also, one of the tasks of ICE agents is to investigate human trafficking, which includes child pornography!

Current ICE officials say they are cooperating with the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation.