Warrior Publications has this up on what we already knew, but yeah, putting it in writing that Harper and the rest see the land rights of the First Nations folks being problematic.
See…it’s so much harder to get the oil out when you have to ask permission by folks who see it as violating the Earth. They aren’t as easily swayed by $$ because the Earth is sacred to them.
It’s even more of a problem when those folks have the law on their side.
Honor the Treaties, Canada.
Dispatches from the Underclass has an interesting post up on what is happening in Venezuela.
Ukraine, revisited, it would seem…if the allegations about being funded by a conservative, elite network including Americans, is true.
I have no illusions about how greedy oil corporations and others are and what lengths they will go to in order to get what they perceive as theirs…
…but I have to plead ignorance about the situation there and who is telling the truth–situations can be manipulated by the media, as well as helping shed light.
Here is an article with the opposite stance on the protesters. It is so lopsided and devoid of facts that I have to wonder about the author’s financial connections to those that stand to gain from Maduro’s overthrow.
Global News has this up on Russia blocking websites that favored the ouster of the Russia – leaning president. More here on Ukrainian-Montrealers protesting outside Russian consulate.
This is another example of why we need Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press and how easily those in power can block them with the claim of national security.
As I listen to and read about the uprising/civil war/revolution in Ukraine, the words I hear the most are about economic factors and standing in the world. The message is framed to turn the viewers’ gaze on how this is going to effect economic status.
And the sharks are circling…waiting to capitalize on the fallout.
Democracy seems to be an afterthought.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: most folks around the world just want peace; to take care of their families; be healthy; have a purpose in life. They want a government they elect to represent their wishes…not their economic benefactors.
Pando Daily had posted this a few days ago. A billionaire funnels money to the opposition in Ukraine. Ugh…
My first thought that this is wrong, wrong, wrong.
And then I thought of the dark money of the Kochs and Bill Gates, et al, and my second thought was “is it wrong to fund the underdog when up against dark money…?”
But I don’t know that the underdogs in Ukraine are for democracy or for authoritarianism a la Russia. Reports have been that at first the original protesters were for democratic society, and then the conservatives, leaning towards authoritarianism, had taken over.
So that begs the question of who is Omidyar supporting? Does he care, as long as he can capitalize on whomever wins?
Comments section is lively and make the point that Pando is also supported by billionaires.
They responded with this article. They make the claim the Omidyar is hands-on involved in the process, while their contributors cannot touch them with a 30-foot pole.
But back to the main theme of billionaires behind upheaval…
I come back to this is wrong, wrong, wrong in that however good intentions are…somebody always seems to twist things around to the opposite. The dark ones always seem to manage to quash the emerging light.
If only politicians were put on poverty-level wages…then we would be governed by those truly serving out of duty instead of out of their own self-serving interests. You’d see a mass exodus from government positions…
**A side note~ one of the links provided was to Glenn Greenwald’s behavior.
Warrior Publications has this up from John Kane on relearning what our ancestors knew…
Some folks are so far removed from nature that they don’t have even the very basic knowledge of…living. Living in harmony, that is…
We’ve been fed this false belief that technology is superior to nature…when nothing trumps nature. Just look at the powerful force of nature during any storm…and how technology takes a hit every time.
Technology has put up a wall between us and nature. We lose that connection. We lose the talent of our senses without engaging them daily. (Think of folks walking into water fountains or walking into traffic while talking on cell phones.)
…and when we lose that connection, we lose the ability to value nature–to understand nature. And as the post says–we lose the ability to know our place within nature and our time here.
Being poor helps with that–washing clothes by scrubbing them on a washboard gave me a sense of accomplishment–I knew that I could do a decent job of it; learning how to manage on so little helps one really learn how to prioritize on what is important–you learn what is fluff and what is substance; and the biggest re-connect with nature is your own sense of self-worth and pride in that you made it. You survived. And nature is better for it because the balance of give-and-take is restored. You no longer take and take, but realize you must give, too. Not easy…but ohhh so worth it, in the end. You gain something so much more valuable.
He’ll zap any hint of paying someone a decent wage…no qualms about it…
So…when the corporations, and their toadies in Congress, are spewing forth the lie that corporations pay too much in taxes, inhibiting job growth, you can cite this.
S&P 500 members citing effective tax rates of 0% in past twelve months, ranked by market value (in billions):
Verizon: $146.4
MetLife: $53.9
Eaton: $32.7
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals: $29.6
Public Storage: $29.5
Ventas: $19.3
Avalonbay Communities: $17.4
Agilent Technologies: $16.9
Vornado Realty Trust: $16.8
Boston Properites: $16.7
Seagate Technology: $15.9
Broadcom: $15.7
News Corp.: $9.8
Lam Research: $8.8
Kimco Realty: $8.6
Waters: $8.5
Macerich: $8.3
Plum Creek Timber: $8.4
PulteGroup: $6.4
Apartment Investment & Management: $4.3
Perkin Elmer: $4.2
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Story here on paying a living wage…why can Costco pay a living wage and be successful..? Because the owners are not looking to be super-rich like the Waltons…
Protestors in Venezuela were blocked on twitter from posting images of the protests.
PBS, which is supposed to be free from corporate influence, is now under fire for airing an anti-Pension series sponsored by John Arnold. David Sirota’s article on it here.
In recent years, Arnold has been using massive contributions to politicians, Super PACs, ballot initiative efforts, think tanks and local front groups to finance a nationwide political campaign aimed at slashing public employees’ retirement benefits. His foundation which backs his efforts employs top Republican political operatives, including the former chief of staff to GOP House Majority Leader Dick Armey (TX). According to its own promotional materials, the Arnold Foundation is pushing lawmakers in states across the country “to stop promising a (retirement) benefit” to public employees.
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…both PBS’s “Pension Peril” correspondent and the AP reporter did not mention that according to budget data, pension shortfalls in Illinois are far smaller than the amount the state is spending on expensive taxpayer subsidies to corporations.
[…]
The state is just choosing to spend that money on huge subsidies to corporations like Sears and Google rather than paying its bills or making its required pension payments.
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See…the money is there…but it’s going into the pockets of the 1%, see? Note the $4 billion per year in subsidies in New York! OMG talk about greedy, greedy, greedy!
And here we have the smoking gun of executives knowing who was funding it and refusing to disclose it:
“We were sitting in a meeting talking about another issue and (PBS officials) were drawing examples of how they were working with other campaigns, and one of their executives said they’ve got a series called pension peril coming up talking about the threat of pensions at the state and local level,” said the source. “I asked who was funding that project, and the executive said that at this point they are not disclosing who their funders are, and everybody sitting around the room kind of paused.”
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Link to Jane Meyer’s article in the New Yorker here.
In 1997, he [David Koch] began serving as a trustee of Boston’s public-broadcasting operation, WGBH, and in 2006 he joined the board of New York’s public-television outlet, WNET. Recent news reports have suggested that the Koch brothers are considering buying eight daily newspapers owned by the Tribune Company, one of the country’s largest media empires, raising concerns that its publications—which include the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times—might slant news coverage to serve the interests of their new owners, either through executive mandates or through self-censorship. Clarence Page, a liberal Tribune columnist, recently said that the Kochs appeared intent on using a media company “as a vehicle for their political voice.”
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$50 for Christmas bonus? Are you kidding me? So much for trickle down economics, eh?
Meyer’s piece brings up the ABC News story on Disney hiring pedophiles being cancelled…because Disney owns ABC. If I recall correctly, the reporter of the story was asked if he was crazy for investigating it….
Even more depressing is the upcoming PBS pieces by Chitester on the “evils of the welfare system” I can hardly wait. What a bully this guy is…pick on the ones who are least likely to fight back. Creep.
…meanwhile *crickets* from the corporate owned media…
…which is why we should be alarmed at even more consolidation by the media with this deal which most certainly violates the Sherman Act of antitrust law.
I read a couple of reviews which were light and not really addressing the seriousness of the deal. Our democracy depends on a robust press that is diversified.
Let’s start with the beginning of the country–when a publisher printed unflattering things about the King of England, he had the publisher thrown in jail and the printing presses destroyed. No matter that the publisher was printing the truth. If I recall correctly, the newspaper had printed a story that the King had syphilis. He in fact did have syphilis (which there was no cure and led to madness), but the presses were still destroyed anyway.
So…if you didn’t want your printing presses destroyed (therefore, your means of income), you printed only nice things about the King. The King could accuse you of Sedition (treason, basically), and that was that.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t just the King of England that resorted to this:
Related — Book Burnings History
So, with Reagan and Clinton, our media has been more and more consolidated, meaning you, the American public, does not get the coverage and opposing views necessary to make an informed decision about what is happening in your country and the world, such as TPP. If it weren’t for Ed Shultz on MSNBC, you would not hear about it at all.
1987The Fairness Doctrine — the rule held since the founding of the FCC that mandated time for opposing viewpoints on significant issues of the day — is eliminated. This paves the way for the existence of entire networks (Fox and Sinclair) that proudly proclaim a one-side point of view. Thus “fair and balanced” becomes a trademarked phrase, instead of a principled and regulated way of presenting opinion. While the congress voted to extend the Fairness Doctrine, it was vetoed by President Reagan.
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The Fairness Doctrine explained here.
Only alternate sources such as commondreams, democracynow.org, and alternet.org have you heard about TPP….and even then, you’re not really informed because the White House has not been forthcoming with what is in it or allowing the press to examine it.
Additionally, more concentrated media means you don’t get fair coverage of whistleblowers like Edward Snowdon, Brad Birkenfeld, Thomas Drake, et al.
President Jefferson or perhaps it was President Madison said,”Information is Power.” when referring to the Freedom of the Press. This is why the NSA is doing all it can to gather information that it does not deserve….gathering more power.
And we all know too much power concentrated in a few hands leads to corruption.
Power corrupts. Absolute Power corrupts absolutely.
We’re dangerously close to absolute power.
Incidentally, in case you didn’t know, the American public owns the airwaves. Here’s a group explaining ways to hold the media accountable.
I’ve dragged my feet looking this up, and it was as depressing as I thought…
Not only did they cut food stamps again in the Un-Depression, the heartless creeps gave the corporate interests lots of goodies. I really don’t know how these people sleep at night. But then again, when you have no conscience, your guilt doesn’t keep you awake…
I was thinking about my post on food stamps, and thought I’d add a little depth to the folks behind the faces–
I mentioned in this post about the man getting only $16 a month in food stamps. He’s in a wheelchair, not too much older than me. He was a fire fighter, once, and then was paralyzed in a hunting accident.
Another lady limps with one leg as she had a stroke. Her left arm is basically useless–some mobility to it but not much. She, too, isn’t too much older than me. She had been married once and had children from that union. She had once suggested that her husband look into a security business. He did. He now lives quite well while she lives in poverty with a small income from disability.
An older African American gentleman once played in a jazz band in Chicago during the 50s and 60s (and probably longer, but that’s what I heard about). He had his picture in the paper once. Now he lives in public housing, unable to afford a better place.
A younger gal is a student nurse who somehow ended up here from Hawaii. She’s in public housing and on food stamps until she gets her degree.
Another gal my age used to work for a national grocery chain. She stood on concrete floors for eight hours every day for years…..it took a toll on her back and knees and now she is on disability and food stamps.
I just wanted to put a face on the folks on food stamps so people understand.
You never know the story until you walk a mile in their shoes…
Eagle 
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