Category Archives: economy

The History of Land Grabs

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This post by Gene Logsdon is powerful.  It’s personal, too, as I thought of losing my home and how devastating that was…

Logsdon mentions the Deserted Village by Oliver Goldsmith; I couldn’t find the exact author Logsdon mentions for the Highland Clearances, but I found this and this that seem to be the same subject.

It was stunning to read Logsdon’s piece on it and how often this has been used as a tool for the wealthy to grab even more for themselves.  I thought back to the years I was growing up and how farmers were portrayed as backwards, slow, less sophisticated…and now I wonder at this being planned..

Feminist scholars made  a connection between the Puritan Salem witch hunts and wealth.  They stated that the women who were hanged were either poor which means low regard in the community, or they were single wealthy women whom owned land.  This was significant then because women could not outright own land–they had to inherit it from their fathers or husbands.  So the women owning land were a huge threat to the status quo.  Land means power…and it came with rights not afforded to the ones without land.

Also, there was a prejudice against the single status of the wealthy women, because women who were married and wealthy were able to escape the noose….while the single ones were not.

The portrayal of farmers as hayseeds, something to look down upon reminded me of what they did with the women after World War II. (as a side note~ I found this amusing blog on the war propaganda.)  It’s really stunning how much public opinion can be swayed against our better instincts and interests.  One of the things I have read from the Depression survivors is that they didn’t go hungry because many were still in the country and could raise their own food.  Now we’re “citified” and don’t have the resources to raise our own food….thereby more dependent on the food stamp program.  Ironic, isn’t it??

In addition, I have to wonder at the web of how much this has contributed to climate change–not only adding more toxins to the environment by industry, but by cutting us off from the land–harder to see how we are destroying the environment when we don’t feel as connected to it, eh?

What they really think of the old

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Fred Klonsky has a Chicago Tribune cartoon depicting retirees as dogs that need to be muzzled.

Kind of says it all, doesn’t it?

Klonsky also has a blog up on Moral Mondays.  Update here.

This from Diane Ravitch on how to starve people so they’ll accept whatever crumbs you feel like giving them…

And in my corner of the world, Glenda Ritz continues to fight for her publicly elected position that received more votes than Pence.

Charter Schools:  it’s all in the family.

Reign of Error; Kochs, et al, planning assault on Ed.

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Patrick Walsh has a report up on Reign of Error, by Diane Ravitch.

Oh, and have you heard?  It’s open season on teachers.  The climate that No Child Left a Mind and Race to the Bottom have created—to punish students for not being perfect students and their teachers, who are under tremendous pressures to not have any stupid kids (said facetiously)–has now come to fruition.  I’m sure Bill Gates, Eli Broad, Michelle Rhee, et al, are laughing themselves silly.

Jan Ressenger put up a link to this report from the Guardian on just how far the Kochs and their comrades are willing to go….not only to destroy public education, but continue attacks on working folks and unions…

SPN’s president, Tracie Sharp, told the Guardian that “as a pro-freedom network of thinktanks, we focus on issues like workplace freedom, education reform, and individual choice in healthcare: backbone issues of a free people and a free society.”

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I wonder if she could get the word “free” in there any more…was she wrapped in a flag, too??  Because that would *definitely* mean that this program was patriotic and would strengthen democracy…

...by destroying it…

“it’s for your own good” has to be the biggest lie ever told!

Side note~ someone in the comments section linked to the Yes Men video. Enjoy. (Be sure to click on Part 2–with Surviva-balls.  Hilarious.)

Someone also kindly posted a link to a list of Kraft foods.  Again…where are the antitrust laws?  Why is one food manufacturer able to control so much of the market share?  Not that junk food, which is the majority of crap that Kraft makes, is something healthy..what if folks were able to afford healthy made-from-scratch food…?  We could do some serious damage to Kraft’s bottom line if we refused to buy their junk food and bought only fresh….and we’d be healthier, too.

Center for Media and Democracy has the scoop on SPN.  (As a side note~ I haven’t been getting regular emails of the CMD for a few months now–it’s been spotty at best…interesting.  I’ll have to make a note to keep checking their website for updates.)

True to nature, they hide their lobbying disguised to avoid paying taxes.  Good Grief, these people know how to play the game of getting someone else to pay while they reap the benefits.

The mention of the Goldwater Institute raises huge red flags–Hillary Clinton was a Goldwater Girl.  An excellent blog here on her history…er, her trying to re-write her history…and Bill’s.

The Clintons LOVE poor black people on welfare

• The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) that was dreamt up by past Republican administrations, was actually passed by Congress and signed by Clinton. This act was filled with vindictive measures aimed at the poor. Among other things, it set a five-year lifetime limit for cash assistance and gave the states power to adopt stringent restrictions in several other areas. Another key part of the Act, was the imposition for the first time of lifetime limits on welfare. Once a welfare mother uses up this lifetime limit, set at five years by the federal government, she and her children can never again receive federal cash benefits, no matter how desperate their condition and no matter what happens to the overall economy.
Bill Clinton has certainly laid his Mack game down heavy in the black community. Maybe that’s why the African-American community has been so thoroughly duped by lip service, prominent public appearances and appointments, and an office on Harlem’s 125th (although Clinton certainly hasn’t used it much).

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Ahem.   There are white people on food stamps, as well.  The Clintons, along with the Kochs, et al, don’t like POOR people.  Period.

We can’t talk about Bill Clinton’s love for his “black race” without mentioning Rwanda. You remember what happened in Rwanda? If you don’t, then I suggest you rent the movie “Hotel Rwanda” and be prepared to be thoroughly disgusted. Bill Clinton not only refused to intervene to save over one million people from being hacked to death, but he even declined to convene his Cabinet to discuss the crisis.

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I highly recommend Hotel Rwanda.  Just don’t watch it and Schindler’s List on the same weekend.  I actually had to call my son after watching them both one weekend….I needed to talk to a sane human being…

And let’s not forget this piece on the secretive group Hillary Clinton belongs to.  As I’ve said on many occasions…it never ceases to amaze me how people who call themselves Christian act nothing like Christ.  Who would Jesus bomb, Hillary?

I’ve read this piece before, but this sentence just packed a punch:

It emerged, he [Reverend Don Jones] says, as a third way, a reaction against both separatist fundamentalism and the New Deal’s labor-based liberalism.

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…a reaction against….the New Deal’s labor-based liberalism.  In other words:   unions….working folks….public education…social security…medicaid…..livable wages…(and the environment, too, but that would come later).

…and if you listen carefully to conservative media, you’ll hear subtle and outwardly snide attacks on Roosevelt’s New Deal.  Get it, now?

And this:

Niebuhr and Tillich’s combination of aggressiveness in foreign affairs and limited domestic ambition naturally led Clinton toward the gop. She was a Goldwater Girl who, under the tutelage of her high school history teacher Paul Carlson (whom Jones describes as “to the right of the John Birchers”), attended biweekly anticommunist meetings and later served as president of Wellesley’s Young Republicans chapter.

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…she attended biweekly anticommunist meetings.  Wellesley…if the movie “Mona Lisa Smile” is any indication, is a conservative’s utopia…so Young Republicans chapter there?  Pretty hard to swallow that this was a fluke -a flash in the pan….especially when one turns a critical eye to Hillary’s record.  I mean, if they call themselves Democrats, but act as Republicans…

“Mind conservative but a heart liberal” tells me that she is like so many guys who say they’re “socially liberal, but fiscally conservative”.  What this means is:  I’m selfish and self-absorbed.  And I don’t follow my heart.  I let my purse strings do the thinking for me.   In other words, I choose money over God.  (Jesus said that we could only serve one Master–money or God.  Not both.)

Okay, there is more to write, but I’m really tired from the day and need to call it quits.

 

More adventures in gluten free cooking

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So…there weren’t any gluten free pie crusts at the grocery, and I was going to go without pumpkin pie, my favorite at Thanksgiving.  But I just couldn’t imagine a Thanksgiving without it…

I saw rice flour was available, with a pie crust recipe, and decided to attempt it.  So, I’m following the recipe, and I get to the end, where you roll it out.  Then it says to cut the crust in slices, and put the slice into the pie pan.  I kid you not.  Normally, one just rolls out the crust and put it as a whole piece into the pie pan.  I thought, “well, this will be interesting…”  Some slices were put in place neatly, and others….well…let’s just say the crust looks like a patchwork quilt. Heh.  Oh well, I’m sure it will taste okay. (she says with fingers crossed).

Oh, and to Joe Donnelly–yeah, I will have a Happy Thanksgiving, thanks to my family.

While I’m working in the kitchen,  I have the TV station tuned to the 70s music station.  I hear some familiar notes…but it’s the middle of one of my favorite songs, Dialogue, Parts 1 and 2, by Chicago (Robert Lamm).  In perhaps the last ten years or so, I’ve only heard Dialogue on the radio once….even on the 70s stations.  I have to wonder at the reasons for it after this station cut off the first part of the song, which asks people to examine their consciences.  The song is as relevant today as it was when it was written:

Don’t it make you angry the way war is dragging on?
Well, I hope the President knows what he’s into, I don’t know

Don’t you ever see the starvation in the city where you live
All the needless hunger all the needless pain?

Thank you for the talk, you know you really eased my mind
I was troubled by the shapes of things to come

Well, if you had my outlook your feelings would be numb
You’d always think that everything was fine

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On to lighter subjects–we got about 3-4 inches of snow last night.  I love it. I think I’m the only person in Indiana who loves snow.  Pookie likes it, too–she’ll put her nose deep into the snow, and come up with a snow “beard”…looks so comical it makes me laugh.  They’ve got warnings for northern Indiana, however, with 7-10 inches expected in the northwest corner (lake effect from Lake Michigan).

Hope everyone has the comfort of food and those you love around you this holiday.

Many Blessings to you…

The War against Teachers

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Reclaim Reform has this somber post up on the worldwide attack on the teachers, the teacher’s unions, and free speech, as well. The last video (world wide) really got to me–treating these folks like animals!  Take note that World Bank demanded the austerity measures….

Money for me, not for thee

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Continuing the saga of the Food Stamp *cough* savings….

Here’s another article on it.

The comments are interesting, and someone links to this page on Stephen Fincher, whose family farm received…wait for it…$8.9 million in farm subsidies…

…they must be the farmers Joe Donnelly consulted with for the farm bill. /snark

Oh, and Jesus gave loaves and fishes to the hungry.   It’s interesting what portions of the Bible the so-called religious choose to quote to justify their meanness and cruelty.

 

 

 

 

 

Scrooge’s children

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…must be republicans…and some democrats.  Joe Donnelly was on the local radio station this morning, talking about the Farm Bill.  I guess the new catch word is “savings” when describing cuts to food stamps.  Yep, he actually was promoting the idea of “savings” when taking food away.  He stated that farmers helped write the bill….that he was big on farmers having a say in the bill.

….and then, after stating there would be savings in the farm bill, (from food stamps), he ends his talk with the radio host with “Have a Happy Thanksgiving”.  I kid you not.  Utter callousness and indifference.

Meanwhile, we spend $$$ on overpriced defense suppliers:

Makes you sick, doesn’t it?  Republicans, who are always whining about the budget, never mention this.  They would much rather take food out of someone’s mouth than hold contractors accountable, and save millions in the process.

The witch hunts of teachers

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The latest from Teacher’s Letters to Bill Gates.  Queen Melinda seeks to rule education high atop her perch in her gated castle.

I’m glad that someone else has noticed the disturbing similarities between the Puritan witch hunts of Salem and what is happening to teachers.

Again, I say that it has been happening in the private sector for awhile now, but unrecognized by others.  As I read this disturbing piece, from the above link, the “good enough” mother espoused by Phyllis Chesler** popped into my head.  Teachers will never be perfect.  None of us will ever be perfect, even though some of us might try to reach for it. Again, there are disturbing similarities between the demands for teacher perfection and motherhood perfection.   The demands against mothers has largely gone unreported and unnoticed by the mainstream media…except to pile on the negative.  Mothers and teachers both have been pilloried by the media.

**A side note~ Wilson mentions in her article that uppity women and lesbian/bisexuals are likely to lose custody.  One doesn’t even have to be a lesbian in order to lose custody–all the ex has to do is allege she is lesbian in order to lose custody.  A woman who does not have a gentleman friend can be alleged to be a lesbian….and on the flip side, if she is a party girl and has dated frequently, she will also lose custody.  In other words, if she isn’t screwing around, there’s something wrong with her.  If she is screwing around, there’s something wrong with her.  She can’t win.

Also mentioned in the Teacher’s Letters articles are the tent cities.  They’ve been on my mind, lately, especially with all the happy, happy news that the economy has turned a corner and the jobs are flowing again….yeah, I’m not seeing it, either…

Here’s a list of Bush/Clinton cities.

A good article here.

Another here:

They fail to go into more depth about all the factors leading to the economic collapse, which is so important because those factors–deregulation of the banking/insurance industry, NAFTA, ignoring antitrust laws, not taxing corporations nor the rich, 40% of the budget going towards the defense department,  and stagnant wages–have not been dealt with and the economy will not become robust again without correcting them.

 

 

 

Cheap Real Estate – your local school **edited

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Jan Ressenger has this disturbing link to a Philly.com article on investors buying school building cheaply.  She also has this link to a Valerie Strauss report in the Washington Post.

Strauss reprinted a report by Helen Gym:

For more than 10 months, Parents United for Public Education and our lawyers at the Public Interest Law Center of  Philadelphia have been fighting to make public the Boston Consulting Group’s list of 60 schools recommended for closure and the criteria it used for developing the list. In 2012, BCG contracted with the William Penn Foundation to provide “contract deliverables,” one of which was identifying 60 public schools for closure. William Penn Foundation solicited donations for this contract, including some from real estate developers and those promoting charter expansion. The “BCG list” was referred to by former Chief Recovery Officer Thomas Knudsen in public statements. But District officials refused to release the list, saying that it was an internal document and therefore protected from public review.

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Does anybody else smell ALEC involvement?  I mean, the playbook of hiding what should be public information is sooo ALEC.

Gym makes the point that these records, although termed “internal” are shared with philanthropic organizations and stakeholders.  I would like a definition of stakeholder—because from where I sit, the public IS a stakeholder.

And she is right on with the query: is Right to Know now Pay to Know?

**edited to correct attribution. Oops.

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Diane Ravitch has a link up to this excellent article by DSWright.  Notice how Duncan ignores the racist remark and patronizes people once again by dismissing it as just awkward delivery of the message.  He again lies about how our kids are doing in schools–they are not failing, No Child Left a Mind and Race to the Bottom are failing!!  Common Core is an outrageous legalized plan of child abuse that requires kids to answer questions that are above their psychological development.

Duncan also slips into the conversation how “partnering” with corporations is being promoted.  The lines are being blurred between public and private sectors.

Nowhere in Duncan’s speech does he talk of better educated kids for well-rounded citizens to sustain a democracy.  The promotion of the corporate octopus into public education will use schools as their personal training centers (more than they already are)—NOT for democracy.  Well educated people ask too many questions.  They know too much to take whatever is dished out.

CEO to worker pay gap

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I went looking for the latest figures on CEO to worker pay gap and found this piece.  The speech given by Mary Jo White is good, too.  Although, I think she protests a little too much on the power of the SEC and its ability to stay unbiased in an increasingly biased world.  It just seems to me that Bush, Cheney & Co., did everything they could to diminish any agency that could thwart them and their banker, oil, and defense contractor friends.

This from Canada Broadcasting–the Swiss and Europeans are enacting a law capping executive pay at twelve times the lowest worker’s salary.  Boy, you’ll start seeing those poverty level wages start to go up pretty fast, eh?

Businesses such as Glencore Xstrata and Roche, which are headquartered in Switzerland, say they may consider leaving the country if the rule is passed.

The fear is that they will not be able to attract top talent if pay is capped.

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Remember when Phil Gramm said people losing their homes were a bunch of whiners?  And now that they want to enact laws closing the enormous pay gap….the business pooh-bahs are the ones saying they’re going to take their marbles and go home?  Who’s whining now…?

They fear not being able to attract “top talent” if pay is capped?  Seriously?  Um, yeah, I’m pretty sure if all exec pay was capped, they would have no choice but to accept the pay offered.  And that statement leads one to believe that the talent is actually worth all that moolah.  As we saw in the previous piece with Ron Johnson at JCPenney…um, yeah, not worth the ungodly sum they paid him.  Oh, and Penneys, you might want to consider not using sweatshops for your clothing lines….