Category Archives: bankers finance

Burr on your being paranoid

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Thomas Burr, a *cough* reporter for the Salt Lake Tribune,  was on CSPAN this morning telling everyone what paranoids they are…the NSA is not spying on you, they are just gathering data.

And that 1 million square foot facility in Utah?  Pshaw…it’s only got a tiny, tiny bit of space devoted to that data.

And they *only* have 200 employees for that giant space (well…as far as we know….the exact number is…you guessed it…secret.)

And they’re not analyzing the data collected.  Really.  Would he lie to you?  Why are you so paranoid?  You probably need to take something for that.   /extra snarky

And when a  caller point blank said this was illegal and needs to be stopped, Burr spent the next few minutes speaking in double speak evading the question she asked about the legality of it.

 

 

Cultural Revolution of the United States – a la destroying public schools

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Diane Ravitch has this up on the lack of accountability and oversight of a voucher program.  Children watching DVD’s in a gymnasium…seriously??

I found the comments particularly poignant–that what is happening to public schools is akin to the Chinese Cultural Revolution.   Can you imagine how the American public would react if these were called Communist Revolution programs?  The * fit * would hit the * shan *….

And I like the idea of some of these folks bankrupting school systems to be brought up on criminal charges and serve some jail time for fraud.

Why aren’t they?

Nina Olson, Taxpayer Advocate

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…was on CSPAN today.

She is responsible for advocating for the lowly taxpayer and gives an annual report to Congress…which they promptly ignore.

She stated what I had surmised what the real problem was when this whole IRS mess came up–that there weren’t enough people to process applications for those wanting tax exemptions.  She stated that this has been an ongoing problem.  The graphic they showed was that it now takes 17 minutes of waiting on hold before an IRS staffer can take someone’s call.  It was only 3 minutes in 2004.

So…the whole whining by the Tea Party/repub conservatives who want tax exempt status for their dirty little political organizations but don’t want to pay up like everybody else…was a…wait for it…repub fiasco by wanting to shrink the gov’t down to drown it in a bathtub….which means cutting federal employees….

…but yet they’re whining about not getting fast enough service for the IRS to do its job of investigating whether they are political organizations or not….where’s Mrs. Alito when you need her?

Is anyone else sick of the Tea Party whiners?

And can we define mental illness by the act of cutting the budget, cutting employees but demanding that they get a speedy answer on their applications….and then playing the victim?

 

Sudan bloodshed ongoing

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I had hoped that things were going to move in a positive direction for North and South Sudan, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Story here:         satellitetoday.com/st/feature/George-Clooneys-Satellite-Sentinel-Project-Reveals-War-Crimes-Security-Violations-Using-DigitalGlobe-Imagery_41401.html

The satellites clearly show damage done, I get that—but the thing that bothers me about the satellites is that last paragraph:

DigitalGlobe made headlines of its own in February 2013, when it completed its merger with GeoEye, resulting in a total constellation of five satellites. According to DigitalGlobe’s website, the company globally collects more than 3 million square kilometers of imagery per day and supports a wide range of defense and intelligence clients, including several responsible for the monitoring, storage and development of weapons.

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[italics mine]

Yeah…the Big Brother aspect bothers me….

…something that is used to bring about good can also be used for the Dark side.

Here is a good interview that explains what is happening in Sudan.  It is the best video I have seen that not only explains what is happening, but what is going on behind the scenes, as well.

So much blood shed for oil…

The Food Stamp Lie **edited

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**edited.  I missed the claim that he purchased all of this on $21.55  + 6.03 …. So, he’s saying that he used this for a week? At five weeks, that would be $137.90…and that’s only if you live within walking distance of a big box store (that pays minimum wage to its employees) …..but it still stands that this is not  healthy nor sustainable, without meat, fruits and veggies, butter (or olive oil) and eggs.

Donny Ferguson, an aide in the office of Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX), made the bogus claim that he could eat well on the amount of food allowed with Food Stamps, or SNAP, as it is officially called.

I was surprised to see such a well thought out response here.  Not expecting that from Forbes, for sure. 🙂

I read a rather lame article on MSNBC.  (not linking to it, you’ll have to google it.)   The article writer didn’t bother listing the food items that Ferguson bought, but started with the headline “Republican Staffer Beats Food Stamp Challenge”   I don’t know why folks think MSNBC is liberal…it’s not.  Save for a couple of the more enlightened ones.  I’m sure they’ ll be gone, however, if they really stick their necks out….a la Phil Donahue.  (I find it highly ironic that I grew up on Phil Donahue and my kids have control freak and bully Dr. Phil.)

The llist of the items bought by Ferguson:

For $21.55 Ferguson purchased at Dollar Tree:
Two boxes of Honeycomb cereal
Three cans of red beans and rice
Jar of peanut butter
Bottle of grape jelly
Loaf of whole wheat bread
Two cans of refried beans
Box of spaghetti
Large can of pasta sauce
Two liters of root beer
Large box of popsicles
24 servings of Wyler’s fruit drink mix
Eight cups of applesauce
Bag of pinto beans
Bag of rice
Bag of cookies

For $6.03 at the Shoppers Food Warehouse next door Ferguson bought a gallon of milk and a box of maple and brown sugar oatmeal.

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First, there are no can sizes listed. Highly suspect.  How big a box of sugar-coated cereal?  How big a can of chemically suspect red beans and rice?  How big a jar of grape jelly?

Speaking from a Celiac viewpoint, I couldn’t get past Day One of this wheat based diet.  I would be ill after the first meal, and in a hospital by the end of the month….if I made it that long.

Secondly, as the Forbes article mentions, this diet is void of fruits and vegetables.  And meat, too.  Not one egg.  No flour.  No butter. It has everything to encourage heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and dental decay.  There is nothing nutritious or healthy about this diet.

I don’t drink milk, but if I did before the crash and burn, I would have stopped by now because it’s too expensive and nutritionally questionable with pasteurized milk from grain-fed cows kept in captivity shot up with antibiotics.

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This is not a sustainable diet–for the planet nor for its inhabitants.  It’s disingenuous.  And no doubt if someone follows this diet, the repubs would be blaming them for getting sick and costing taxpayers $$$ dollars in healthcare costs.  Pffft.

The Voting Rights Act

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What can I say?

Roberts says that times have changed and things are different now.  Yes and No.

Yes we have our first African American president.  I see African American professionals in many places.  It was especially poignant to watch the coverage of the recent tragedy in Philadelphia–when the building collapsed.  The mayor, the head of the fire dept., and another official were all African Americans.  That was a proud moment.

But, No,  racism has not been eliminated.  Roberts should know this….in his own backyard of Laporte County, Indiana, was a case of someone spraying racial slurs on the sidewalk of an African American church about three years ago.  There was snow on the ground, to make tracking easier….but somehow the culprits got away….

Voting Rights Act was put into place because of the stuff we’re seeing yet today…

…like the attack on ACORN…an organization that sought to get the poor and others registered to vote…

…Florida thwarting voters…

…so to say that everything is just fine and it’s okay to let these states once again do as they please is just plain wrong.

Saying racism is “over” is like saying that sexism has been eliminated because we see *some* women in positions of power.  And those women don’t necessarily speak for women who stay home, out of the rat race, so to speak.  So it’s not a fair representation of all thoughts.   It’s also not a representation of actual progress.  When women who stay home are acknowledged as contributing to society as much as a woman who brings home a paycheck;  when rape is no longer seen as the fault of the woman; when domestic violence is acknowledged for its devastating effects on women, children, and society; when tenderness is no longer seen as weakness….only then will anyone convince me that sexism is no longer an issue.

And racism and sexism are created from the same mindset of power-over.

Solid Canada

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Color me shocked:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-june-24-2013/money-boo-boo—the-canadian-banking-system

Canada has NEVER had a financial crash. Yep.  Even during the Depression here, they were solid….because they were…wait for it…REGULATED.

Unbelievable, eh?

Listening to the American Tabacco’s *cough* joke at the end kind of tells of his mindset not only of women, but of those he perceives as weaker.

(….and anyone not willing to profit at others’ expense is…weaker….in his sociopathic view.)

 

 

Failing to disclose NSA ties

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Psuedo-journalist David Gregory of Meet the Press failed to disclose a lobbyist for a private defense contractor that is employed by the NSA. (hat tip crooks and liars.com)

John Amato has this up, too.  A good summary of the media’s coverage…

…and their lack of true journalism.

Intelligent discussion

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…is hard to come by on the airwaves, but the CSPAN discussion with Scott Amey of the Project on Government Oversight  is one of those discussions:

 

POGO has this link to the NY Times OP-Ed on Snowden and the exposure of the extent of outsourcing government work…and we’re not getting our money’s worth. Color me shocked. Not.

From the article:

At a Senate hearing on intelligence contractors in September 2011, a witness from the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog group, cited research from 2008 showing that the government paid private contractors 1.6 times what it would have cost to have had government employees perform the work.

I haven’t watched today, but in the past few days, MSNBC has been running a rabid campaign on Edward Snowden, making his fleeing capture the story instead of the warrantless wiretapping, which should be the object of discussion.

CNN is doing a little bit better–it depends on which broadcaster is on at the moment.

It’s just mindboggling that these are supposed journalists who are like rabid dogs going after a whistleblower…especially after the revelations of phones being tapped at the AP.

What is really intriguing is that Judge Vaughn Walker had ruled that the wiretaps were illegal.  So….why were they still doing them?

Another story on the cyber surveillance here.

Electronic Frontier Foundation has this up.  Note that they claim there are “no names”, but as the article states there are names kept separately.  I mean, really, what would be the point if there were no names attached to the phone numbers?  Wouldn’t that be counter to the objective of tracking people?

Here is an excellent point:

They contain information on criminal activity or a threat of harm to people or property.   

—This is not very comforting – the Fourth Amendment wouldn’t mean anything if the government could search your house everyday, but would only act if they found evidence of a crime inside.

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(italics mine)

So…I have a question…why is it NOT okay to track someone with GPS without a warrant…but quite all right  to track someone by phone without a warrant??

This also from EFF.  They are fighting the good fight trying to get this out in the open…where it belongs.

…and it gets worse…

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common dreams has this up on the Big Brother-spying-on-Big Brother program…the dark side showing its paranoia and utter control of information and those who might actually uphold the law…you know, the Constitution, not the Patriot Act.

The program could make it easier for the government to stifle the flow of unclassified and potentially vital information to the public, while creating toxic work environments poisoned by unfounded suspicions and spurious investigations of loyal Americans, according to these current and former officials and experts. Some non-intelligence agencies already are urging employees to watch their co-workers for “indicators” that include stress, divorce and financial problems.

“It was just a matter of time before the Department of Agriculture or the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) started implementing, ‘Hey, let’s get people to snitch on their friends.’ The only thing they haven’t done here is reward it,” said Kel McClanahan, a Washington lawyer who specializes in national security law. “I’m waiting for the time when you turn in a friend and you get a $50 reward.”

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If they start paying people to turn in one another, we’re toast as a country (not that we’re not there on the ledge, already).

In this economy, folks facing a quandary of feeding their families/paying the mortgage/keeping the lights on and turning in a coworker that really hasn’t done anything wrong, but…

The Salem Witch Hunts on steroids…

…..it’s worse than we thought…