Category Archives: antitrust

A discussion on population…

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Gene Logsdon has put up a post on his thoughts on population growth and food availability.

It’s a touchy and uncomfortable subject….to say the least.

It brings up eugenics–there are stories out there of people like Bill Gates and the Rockefellers advocating for population control via eugenics and even through genetically modified food.  There is a video out there of Bill Gates advocating vaccines for this purpose.  I don’t know what to make of the video, so I’m not posting it– you’ll have to go find it yourself.

I think advocating de-population is morally and ethically wrong.  We get into the self-righteous, superiority of those who think they are *more special* than the rest, therefore, they should live while others die.

The comments are as interesting as the blog–with one suggesting that the population growth perhaps was a spiritual one of bringing more light into the world….

…with that, I would disagree.  There is so much negative energy on Earth that I would happily volunteer to go right now if God would take me.   Just give me enough morphine to stop my heart, and I’m good to go…

Speaking of negative energy, I was just thinking last night how much I missed teaching.  I enjoyed it and the kids’ earnest quest for knowledge.  I also liked that I didn’t have to put up with office politics nor office gossip.  When I was teaching, I would stay in the room and eat my lunch so I didn’t have to hear the teachers gossip (yes, they gossiped…mostly about stupid substitutes…).  I went in, did my job, and went home while avoiding all of that negative energy.  I didn’t have to put up with the tired questioning of my single status–there is definitely a prejudice against single people in this country.  The downside, of course, is the pay and the work-on-demand instead of a steady schedule.

And if you try to avoid the gossip and cut people off…as some suggest you do…you’re still screwed because the gossips then turn on you as a target.  I’ve actually had that happen to me.  I ended up leaving a good job because of it.

I suppose the questioning of population growth is related to our bad economy…not enough jobs that pay living wages….while jobs are shipped to other countries for even lower wages…and Burger King and their ilk go to other countries so they don’t have to pay their fair share of taxes….while war hawks push us towards another war again…while not taxing the rich….

Yeah, I’m in a negative mood…how could you tell?  😦

 

The crises in Haiti continues…with the “help” of Bill and Hillary Clinton

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...disaster capitalists….(no wonder Hillary Clinton supports Israel’s bombing innocent Gazans…she probably wants a piece of the action, too, to gain financially from the “rebuilding” of Gaza.)

…because you know, the poor are just “useless eaters” (Hillary Clinton supposedly said that although I haven’t been able to confirm it.)

I have a question–why isn’t Bill Clinton in jail for misappropriation of funds?

My other posts on Haiti:

Earthships in Haiti (this would be a big help to the poor)

Where’s the money, Bill and Hillary??   Be sure to click on the mismanagement link–good source of info.

 

 

ALEC and Fossil Fuels

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PRWatch has this up on ALEC continuing its dirty campaigns against everything that is logical.

From the piece:

ALEC is even going after people who want to generate solar power for their homes. The boom in home solar energy generation—there has been a 60 percent increase in domestic solar installations in the past year—is a threat to ALEC’s dirty energy producing members, so they have a bill to amend so-called net metering laws that allow homeowners to sell excess electricity back to the grid. It is the ability to do this that makes solar an increasingly affordable possibility for homeowners. ALEC’s bill would charge homeowners additional fees, with ALEC environment task force director John Eick telling The Guardian that these users are “free riders on the system.”

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You know, it’s one thing to try to promote your heavy-metal containing pollution, but it’s a whole ‘nother thing to try to prevent people from taking a proactive stance against your dirty fuel.  Unreal.

Solar energy has sooo many benefits–one of which is independence from the greedy energy producers whom have stripped our lands of trees, poisoned our water and soil, and then not paid for the land use nor taxes on top of that.

Sixty percent increase in solar energy use…just in the last year…this is a *huge* threat to them.

Mike Pence, doing ALEC’s bidding, along with the coal industry.

Not long ago, Indiana ranked in the top five for low cost of electricity. Now, thanks to an onslaught of regulations from Washington, Indiana ranks somewhere firmly in the middle of the pack.

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Reading between the lines, this is as much an admission of guilt for polluting our air, water, and soil with heavy metals (lead, mercury, arsenic) from coal. They were getting away with it until regulations prevented the free-for-all.

I keep thinking about that 17 million pounds of toxins put into our waterways every single year…and BP dumping mercury into Lake Michigan every single year, courtesy of Indiana Dept. of Environmental Mis-Management….and the lack of action when the toxic spill floated down the Ohio…

 

 

 

Everything you (didn’t) want to know about Walmart practices

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Here.

Note the blatant discrimination against women….paying them less than men in the same positions; pregnancy discrimination; not promoting them.

I try to avoid the place, but with limited access to other stores (that they elbowed out), it’s not easy.  They have destroyed the right to choose, basically, so that folks like myself that don’t agree with their labor practices have limited choices.

I have actually paid more for products at other stores in order to avoid them.  But I know that it is likely that those other options may be gone someday due to the Walmart octopus….but I’m not going down without a fight.  This is another part of doing unto others as you would wish done to you–I want to support stores that pay their workers fairly.

 

Sirota is back…

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Woot.  

(hat tip Diane Ravitch)

A voice that was silenced by those proclaiming to be progressive and open-minded weren’t quite so much when put to the test.  It’s not hard to see why when you read this article blasting Hillary Clinton.  There’s a powerful push to get her into office, despite the coy “I haven’t decided” b.s. that she is spewing.  I’ve said it before, but I’m sick of Clintons and Bushes in the White House.  Time for a real change for a politician that actually speaks up for the “little people” who don’t have big lobbyists, big PACs, nor big money to influence Washington.

More on ALEC

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Reading the post from Diane Ravitch the other day, this caught my eye:

The “Property Insurance Claims Act,” on which both the Civil Justice and Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development Task Forces will vote, tilts the playing field in favor of property insurance companies. It would benefit those companies that are represented by the ALEC member Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCIAA). The bill would restrict the time frame for the insured to bring a claim, require the insured to submit to mandatory appraisal, and cut back existing law protecting property owners in many states. PCIAA’s vice president of state government relations, Joe Woods, is the private sector co-chair of the Financial Services Subcommittee of the Commerce task force, which will vote on the bill first. – See more at: http://www.progressive.org/news/2014/07/187796/alec-agenda-dallas-evisceration-medicaid-school-privatization-and-expansion-gas#sthash.yQQZCEtA.dpuf
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The thing is…they are already doing this.  Like everyone else (that is greedy), they want to up your premiums…and then not pay when there is a claim.
When I still had my house, there was an issue with brand new eaves troughs I had installed by a so-called professional.  They ended up putting water into the house instead of taking it away.  But it was so gradual (and being mercury poisoned, not as “with it” as I would normally be), the damage wasn’t discovered until I noticed mold on several pairs of shoes, a book bag I used in college, and other stuff in a dark closet.
The insurance company refused to pay for the damage, even though the whole house had spots of mold, along with the attic.  The “inspector” they sent used a penlight…read that again: a penlight…to “inspect” the attic.  After which he proclaimed that he “didn’t see anything”.  Lied through his mossy green teeth…
I knew they were lying, but like I said, I was pretty toxic at the time and didn’t have the wherewithal to even think about how to fight back.  Nor could I trust any lawyer in my town, which my ex’s family owned.
I had been with this insurance company for decades, so I trusted them.  They had an A-1 rating by the insurance rating company…
None of that mattered when the fit hit the shan.
So…yeah…this may be news to y’all, but isn’t to me.
It’s a different world, folks.  They take your money and then refuse to pay a legitimate claim….after years of paying premiums.
Now ALEC will make sure they pay even fewer claims.
…because they want it all.
The Koch brothers and their ilk want it all.

Gulen Charters, Ohio, Indiana, and politicians lining their pockets

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Diane Ravitch has this up on the apparently greased palms of Republican Cliff Rosenberger and how Gulen schools have flourished in Ohio.  The article states that the investigation includes Indiana, as well….

Meanwhile, I’m reading a press release of Governor Mike Pence taking his family to England…on a “jobs creation trip”.  The release I read noted that he is paying for his children’s portion of the trip…but it left off his wife, whom is also going.  They’ll be gone for two weeks.  Unbelievable.  What a snow job–does anybody actually believe this guy is going to create jobs by this trip?  How many hours do you think he’ll devote to schmoozing for jobs?  I’m betting a day.  Half a day.  An hour.  A few minutes on the elevator down to the pool..

This article states that it is funded by the Indiana Economic Development Foundation through private donations.  I want to know who the donors are and what exactly Pence is doing–I don’t trust the tea partier at all.  They are good about saying one thing and doing the exact opposite–such as government being “too big”–and then, as I noticed yesterday in yet another press release, Pence created four more positions in his office for people who are no doubt cronies of his.  So, how does one “shrink government” by creating more useless positions while eliminating important ones, such as child welfare workers?

So, I’m waiting to see the fallout of this investigation and its connection to Indiana.  Pence and his henchmen are trying to wrest away what little control Glenda Ritz, an official elected by the people of Indiana, has on the Dept of Education.

 

 

Hillary Warren…

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…er, I mean, Hillary Clinton has once again morphed like a chameleon to put on the false face of concern over the general American public….what an opportunist.  Pfft.

…cause, you know, she was poor once, too. /snarky to the extreme

My post on the case against Hillary as President here.  In the non-ad, McCain says that she “gets attention when she arrives”  Really? That’s a qualification for running the most powerful country in the world?  Because I could gain attention when I arrive, too, by tripping down the steps.  *snort*

And the comments about her flying all over the world?  What’s up with that??  Yeah, I’d take trips all over the world if I could charge it off to the American taxpayer.  (Not really, I have more ethics and scruples than that.)  But one has to wonder what exactly she was doing on those trips…because they never really quite get around to telling us that, do they?

And if Henry Kissinger gave me “very high marks”, I’d want a recount. He doesn’t hold humanity in high regards.

Finally, in the end, when President Obama is slobbering over her, I begin to wonder if this isn’t as much a political ad for Israel’s chosen candidate as it is America’s….

Hillary and Bill Clinton with Eli Broad, who wants to destroy public education.  Note pictures of Arne Duncan and Michelle Rhee with the Broads.  Poor impoverished Hillary Clinton…she must have had to use the drapes, a la Gone with the Wind, to make her dress…../snarky, for sure

$31 million.  Pocket change, apparently, for Hillary Clinton (along with $200k speaking fees).

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Warren, among others, came out against the Keystone XL.  You won’t hear that from Hillary, as you see in my other posts on her–she is all for it.

The Third Way, Clinton Democrats….not to be confused with real Democratic Party.

Hillary Clinton, Rose Law Firm, Bill Clinton, and Monsanto.  This, alone, should be reason enough not to vote her into office.

Finally, a recording of Hillary Clinton laughing about how a rapist she represented as a lawyer was not convicted…and she knew it and was laughing about the lie detector test that he passed.  Note also her description of someone on the “wrong side of the tracks”…clearly a poor/racial prejudice.

She got a rapist off with time served…two months.  For raping a 12 year old girl.  And bragged and laughed about it.

 

 

 

The toxic waterways

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I had heard this report was out but hadn’t seen it until now–about our toxic waterways.  Indiana, unfortunately, heads the list for toxic load.  It’s worse than I first read about–the number now is 17 million pounds of toxins into our waterways.  43 million pounds released into the Ohio river, THE most toxic river.  Good Grief.

And Joe Donnelly, Dan Coats, and Jackie Walorski, paid by their bosses (in the form of campaign $$, and God knows what else), are fighting for the industries’ right to poison us.    Some of them are so bold to say they’re fighting for us and our families….seriously.  17 million pounds of toxins.  Whom is irresponsible, Mr. Coats?

NY Times has a page up on fines and violations…and how nobody takes responsibility.

The Sierra Club’s take on the Indiana Dept. of Environmental Mis-Management, including a dog boiled alive by hot water discharge, and a coal industry lobbyist being appointed to…wait for it…the IDEM–for prosecuting the polluters.  If this wasn’t so serious, I would be laughing my arse off.

 

 

Teachers, the wage gap, and the nearly homeless

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Diane Ravitch has a blog up on one of the teachers involved in the Vergara case.  Ms. McLaughlin had replied to the “witch hunt” charges that she was a bad teacher…made by a student who also said there were five bad teachers and only one during her education–the one that wanted revenge apparently for being let go.

As I read the comments, the one by Chi-Town Res made me cry:

Yeah, and just wait until he hits retirement age and realizes that teachers with no union protections like me are exploited terribly. We are very low paid (and often hourly workers), don’t make enough money to get by on, let alone to save, have no pensions and are expected to live on about $900 per month from Social Security when we retire.

I could go live in a ghetto, since I will officially retire next month, because I can’t afford to continue living where I’ve been (renting) for the past 15 years, but I have no money to move. (Yes, homeownership was never an option for me.) Anyway, that’s the kind of income that even poor people in the ghettos can’t survive on in my area.

The reality is that I’m in arrears on my rent due to a further decline in my already low income and a high increase in my rent. I have applied to many places but I’ve been unable to find additional work. SS won’t actually start paying me until mid-September, my job put limits on our income and wouldn’t give me work for July, and I don’t qualify for unemployment compensation. I won’t get paid my measly wage again until the end of August. My landlord will not wait to be paid, and anyway I won’t get paid enough money then to cover back rent. I’ve been fighting becoming homeless for about three years now but, at this point, I have no more resources or anyone to turn to for help, and absolutely no one cares. So I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I will lose everything I own and be put out on the street and homeless before the fall. The only thing that could save my life now would be winning the lottery, but that is an intolerable hope.

The truth is that I could never afford to really stop working either, but SS has a limit on the amount of income I can earn. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. No one fully appreciates the “I’m living on a fixed income” cries, because the elderly are not revered in our society. No wonder the suicide rate for seniors is high.

As problematic as unions can be, not valuing the protections that unions provide workers is extremely short sighted.

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Also noted in the comments was that one of the plaintiff’s lawyers was Ted Olson, who ended the vote recount and handed George W. Bush the presidency, against the American public’s wishes.  Blood is on his hands, as well, for the wars and the economic mess Bush left us in.

Be sure to click on the link for Diane’s original post on Ms. McLaughlin.  Really stunning to see how she is “witch-hunted” by those with their own agendas.  She seems to be an outstanding person with true caring about her students, as a good teacher needs to be.

From the link:

“Indeed, this whole Vergara trial was like something out of Mao’s “Cultural Revolution” in China during the 1960′s. For those not acquainted with this, here’s primer: zealous students, under party leaders’ directions, would persecute their teachers. Kids would get their jollies as they put their teachers on a stage, put dunce caps on them, then screamed at them while forcing their teachers to bow their heads, kneel down, and confess their “crimes” and on and on…

These kids—appointed and empowered as “Red Guards” by Mao’s henchmen— would parade their former teachers through the streets…

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Diane has also put up a link to a short film clip on the red army of children that illustrates the terrible time.

(A side note~I got this weird message that Diane Ravitch’s site was “untrusted”.  Say what??  It’s on a wordpress platform…why would I get that message?  Is someone trying to interfere with the traffic to her site??)