Well…from the revolutionary war that founded this country up to the tragic deaths of our four diplomats yesterday, there are few words that amply describe what the cost of freedom is….I think these are the best courtesy of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young…”Find the cost of freedom…buried in the ground…mother Earth will swallow you…lay your body down…”
Category Archives: Misc
This is what the 1% does…
Well…I didn’t get back to the first post yet since this has been a recovery day for me…mostly from not eating enough yesterday…but, I did read an interesting article in the Guardian UK that states that the rich have gamed the system across the globe so much that they have been able to hide 21 trillion dollars from being taxed anywhere…yep, that’s trillion with a t…more money than the entire US economy with Japan thrown in for good measure. So, the next time you hear the rich start bitching about paying too much in taxes, you know it’s a lie….the tax rate on the upper income folks is at an 80 year low right now and where are the jobs these low tax rates are supposed to create? Not here in Michigan that I can see…geez…
I’m in shock…
Well…not going to do a political one today…it just doesn’t seem important with the massacre in Colorado…I just can’t figure out stuff like that….what can drive a person to do that? Not much else to say….
The rantings of a crazy man…
Well….this is just going to be a short one on something that struck me as funny out on the bike ride…why don’t you get to keep your minutes on your cell phone if you don’t use them all? The corner gas station doesn’t come and siphon the unused gas out of your car at the end of the month, the grocery store doesn’t come and take the unused food out of your fridge at the end of the month, so why can the phone companies take back your minutes? Just asking….
This might not be political….
Well….I have been just trying to get my strength back all day without much luck but I thought I’d share this dream from last night before I forget it…and it is kind of political since ole Mitt is in it….okay, the dream was basically a set of vignettes where I followed ole Mitt around Michigan being an obnoxious jerk about all of his lies and blowing up the idea that he will move to the center if he is elected….got him so pissed at me that he that he had his tea party thugs drag me out a bunch of times and then barred me…but, that didn’t stop me and he and his followers got so annoyed that I was getting the press to start questioning as I was that they planted a bomb that I avoided but got the hint…..and then, I woke up at 4 and have been up since…I know, not really political but I thought it was interesting….I will try to get back later for another but I can’t promise anything…
Walmat’s brand of capitalism…
Well…just a short one to talk about the recent revelations that Walmart and it’s managers in Mexico spent 24 million dollars in bribes to allow them to build more stores there…in direct violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices act that prohibits payments of any sort to foreign governments or their agents to gain an economic advantage. But, that’s not even the worst part….while this was going on, Walmart was part of a lobbying group that was working on diluting the law so they wouldn’t be liable for their actions in Mexico. Do you need any other reason to stop shopping at Walmart? Other than the predatory practices that kill local businesses wherever they locate their stores and the fact that they regularly abuse their employees by making them work off clock and not paying overtime pay…and have been found to have insidious policies that discriminate against women and minorities? I have been really trying to work up outrage about this stuff today but I think I’m moving into overload since this kind of crap seems to be what capitalism here in the US has degenerated into…a winner take all battle where there is no sharing of the pie anymore…and that is going to ruin this country…geez…
Just some musings on Apple…
Well…there was an interesting and spirited argument that I caught on the Guardian’s site yesterday that I wanted to comment on about the possibility that Apple could or should bring it’s manufacturing back to the US since, even paying American wages, they would still be more profitable than most other US companies. I was a little amazed that most of the people that were commenting basically said “to hell with American workers”; that they brought on their joblessness on themselves and drove manufacturing to Asia because they were so greedy…and that Apple can’t really afford to pay more than the slave wages they pay in China….one of the first things that came to mind reading these comments was “when did American workers, our neighbors and friends, become such a hated group?” Then, the second thing that came to mind was “they can’t afford to pay their workers more but they can give one guy, the ceo, 376 million dollars a year?” Until we can grow some empathy in the 1% and cut back on their entitlement mentality that they “earn” every penny of their compensation, the economy here is going to just drift and the middle class will continue to die….geez…
Another short one on tax cuts…
Well…while cruising my online papers for the second time today, a thought came to me that should put the “tax cuts make tax revenues grow” nonsense that is still a staple of all of the economic plans of the repubs across the country to rest. If that is the case, why did the Bush tax cuts take the economy from the surplus that he was handed when “elected”, to the huge deficits that we now see? Shouldn’t those cuts have driven tax revenues so high that even today there would be no deficits? Just asking….
I just can’t resist…
Well….I was going to abandon the idea of a Rush watch counting the number of sponsors he has lost since his idiotic comments of last week, but I just can’t resist…the pull of seeing this moron go down in flames, finally, is just too hard to ignore…especially when the count has reached 50 and shows no signs of abating. So, now he is relegated to the same sort of sponsors that were left when Glenn Beck was circling the drain…gold sellers and herbal ED supplements….and it just makes me laugh so damn hard that I’d better stop before I choke….bye bye Rush….
I am a little torn…
Well…I was going to do the whole Rushwatch thing but I’m bored with it already….I will say that the advertisers that have left has reached 30 this morning and I can understand why…but then the question that immediately comes to mind is: “what took so long?” Ole rush has been doing this same type of nonsense for 20 years and it never bothered anyone before so why now? I think it may have to do with attacking a private citizen; not a public figure who should expect some vitriol at times…especially when they make statements that most people find abhorrent….but, that brings me to the reason why I’m a little torn with the happenings over the past week or so….that included the Rush nonsense along with the Patrica Heaton comments, and those made by Kirk Cameron bashing gays…being the huge supporter of a strict reading of the rights in the Constitution….I find it troubling that the speech of these folks is being subject to so much pressure in disregard of their first amendment rights. People have the right in the US to say outrageous things and to be stupid….and I do agree with the quote that is attributed to Voltaire but may be from other sources: I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it…” Just some thoughts….