Category Archives: fourth amendment

Being Peace

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Rev. John Dear has this up on Sister Anne Montgomery, and her work for peace.

I was raised to believe that peace would only be attained if we were all Christians.  After studying Buddhism, Hinduism, Tao and Confucious in college, I discovered that all religions said the same thing–they all say, in so many words, “Do unto others as you would have done unto you.”  All of them say it…so in my view, it isn’t that we should all have the same way that we worship, but that we actually follow that simple sentence.

I think peace will only be attained when we put it into action…not as easy as it seems…it takes actively thinking about it with every action/every decision we make–and not believing that we all have to have the same religion.  I truly believe that we are individuals led along a certain path and those experiences along that path lead us to our spirituality–and no one has a right to interfere with that or impose their own beliefs upon another.  That’s just wrong to me.

Doublespeak

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…is a word in Communications for when you’re talking in such a way that it seems you mean something when you really mean something else…

…such as this.

This is why I am upset that people who went to Obama fundraisers didn’t put that money towards a third party candidate–someone who will restore the Constitution, not sign anymore Free Trade agreements, not sign legislation that gives the top 1% tax breaks, push for livable wage, get us out of all conflicts, and will push for re-regulating banks and sustainable farming/regulating environmental polluters.  And what happened to our antitrust laws, again?

That’s the candidate I want…

Well, this is depressing…

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…but not really that surprising:  http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2012/08/07/court-ruling-brings-end-to-legal-challenge-against-bush-warrantless-wiretapping/

And yet there are still those who criticize the public for not speaking out and getting off their duffs to do anything–where is the justice?  Who are the people obeying the law of the Constitution?  Not the courts–as someone pointed out, this is the Ninth Circuit–a court that the rightwing continually blasts as “liberal”.  Pffft.

 

Romney’s tax returns

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The Sunlight Foundation has this up on the lack of sunlight by Romney.  (hat tip to washington post)

The rightwingers are all over this–saying that Romney is a private individual who does not have to disclose his returns.

Um…does anyone else wonder why the rightwing (and the Dems)  are all about snooping into other people’s lives…saying “if you have nothing to hide, you shouldn’t mind someone reading your emails, watching what books you check out, who you call on the phone (and what you say), and generally destroying the Fourth Amendment…so, um…why do they have a problem with Romney laying his tax return out there?  I mean, if he has nothing to hide….

Looking at the stats on Romney…good grief look at the disparity between him and Obama.  And man, it warmed my heart to see Obama was paying 32%, but as the article states, it’s because of the classification of income–Obama’s coming from book sales.

The rightwingers will make the case that Romney somehow deserves to only pay 13 -15% of his income because it’s investment income…they have wrongly stated that he would be paying taxes on income he’s already paid taxes on. Not true–the investment capital is not taxed again, but the profits he makes on those investments is.   He should be paying 35% on the profits he makes–whether its from investments or from a paycheck.  Incidentally, if he loses money, he gets to deduct that from his taxes owed.

Lastly,  I’m sick of hearing about how great the rich are in contributing to charity–some statement was made awhile back on how much more they give to charity.  Sitting where I am, there is just as much charity with the poor–only they don’t get to deduct that off their taxes, so it isn’t documented.  They will help others out the best that they can–a few bucks or few sheets of typing paper or a few slices of bread to tide one over…that sort of thing.

So…speaking of taxes…here is the 2011 tax table figures:  http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040tt.pdf

If one takes the standard deduction (single), they start taxing you when you make $15,000–minus the $7,000 standard deduction.    It’s stunningly pathetic that the one-percenters like Romney can take taxes off to feed his horse, but a person who every week has to decide whether to pay the light bill or food on the table has to pay taxes on a measily $15k.  Poverty level….

Here is the poverty level, by the way–which is waaaay too low:  http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/11poverty.shtml

A person making $20,000 per year would be more like it–you can’t afford decent housing at even that level.  You certainly couldn’t put any money away in savings nor could one take even the most simple vacation (camping, etc.).  You’re one paycheck away from being homeless.

I think the reasons for keeping the level so low are listed on the page–it’s used to determine food stamp eligibility and other social services…it’s the same with the false 8% unemployment figures…if you don’t acknowledge a problem exists, or acknowledge the scope of the problem, then you don’t have to get off your butt and do something about it.

 

Greenwald on Extremism Normalized

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…continuing to boil the frog…

From the comments section, a few posters are arguing about the uninformed public making poor choices because…they’re uninformed.  SiouxRose makes the point that a single mother with 2 kids doesn’t have the time to do what we do–looking for the news on the internet…because she sure the hell isn’t getting the information she needs to make an informed decision on the network news.

Then another poster comments that people need to take responsibility.

The problem with that is  with media consolidation into the rightwing mania, the information access is extremely limited.  It’s difficult to get accurate, mostly unbiased (there’s no such thing as un-biased) news reported by intelligent individuals with a grasp of the subject at hand.  Like I reported earlier, the only station that reports news like it used to be reported, prior to Reagan’s assault on the Press and Marketplace of Ideas, is a rightwing station.  They report every half hour.  The other stations?  You’re lucky if you get the news in the morning, and then you’re SOL for the rest of the day.  Nothing. Nada.  And when the storm hit my area, there was nothing the next day–Saturday–to tell folks what was happening and where they could go for a cooling center.  But you can be sure that there will be half-hour segments when/if a ter__ist event is happening.

So…to blame the public for not getting access to information is blaming the wrong folks–they already have very little power.    And if you’re like me, you only get access to news through the internet.  As has been said before–you control information, you control people.

I just wish there were as much outrage over the consolidation of media and the end of the Fairness Doctrine as there is against war.

DN! today

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DN has this up today.

Let’s only hope that the carbon emissions news is followed by actual, you know, action.  Because if anything this administration is famous for–it’s tough words with no backbone.  The other day, I was listening to Limbaugh rant about the immigration law and Arizona and how the Obama Administration was instituting an “800” number for anyone observing a police officer violating someone’s civil rights.  Limbaugh was all for civil rights and said it was about time that they started doing something about it.

bwahahaahahahahahaha. *snort*

Um, okay, he really didn’t say that.  He was incensed that the Obama administration was actually trying to provide a way for folks to speak up.  He immediately said it would be the sniveling liberals who would be calling in and the police officers would be afraid of lawsuits, yada, yada, yada.

My heart was lifted at the news of an “800” number…but then I recalled all the past “strong” words by this administration, followed by…no action.  So, yeah, unless there is a full time staff behind this 800 number, and the people at the other end of the phone are actually empowered to DO something, well, I don’t see it providing much help.  And it might even hurt someone who calls in thinking they are doing a service for the community, give their name, phone number and they themselves are harassed.  I’m just saying this is a possibility.  An administration that allows illegal wire-tapping against the Fourth Amendment leaves me doubting the sincerity of this program.  Why now? Especially after record deportations?

Onto the other stories on DN:

The Tar Sands pipeline being once again pushed by Big Oil and the Obama Administration going along is another red flag that this administration continues to say one thing and do another.  I’m just cynical enough to wonder if the sudden decrease in gas prices has anything to do with the Administration’s agreeing to Tar Sands?

Lawmakers making money off of legislation? No way. They’re the most fine, upstanding individuals ever to walk the Earth. /snark

You see, entitlement only applies to little old ladies trying to collect Social Security and the poor trying to collect food stamps to eat.   They make the laws, so members of Congress are entitled to make profits off of it.

Sorry to see Nora Ephron has passed.  I was watching “When Harry Met Sally…” last night.  Peace to her.