Category Archives: NAFTA/free trade

Shutting down the media – Russia

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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.

 

The case against Hillary Clinton as President

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Ralph Nader has this up on the actions of Hillary Clinton and why she would not be a good President.  I heart Ralph and wrote his name on a ballot once, along with 26 other souls in my republican stronghold small town.

…former Secretary of State Clinton ordered U.S. officials to spy on top UN diplomats including Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki-Moon, and those from the United Kingdom. She ordered her emissaries around the world to obtain DNA data, iris scans and fingerprints along with credit card and frequent flier numbers. Not only was this a clear violation of the 1946 UN convention, but after admitting what happened she didn’t even make a public apology to the affected parties.

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Big Brother, meet Big Sister…of course Hillary would not make an apology….she clearly feels she did nothing wrong.  Stunning.  Absolutely stunning the hubris of this politician.

Nader also notes her actions getting us into Libya with no Congressional approval.

Like I’ve said before, I’m sick of Bushes and Clintons in the White House.  They have come to believe they are entitled to the position, for one.  For another, their policies, along with Ronald Reagan, have led this country into the pit it is in now.  How anyone could vote for her or support her after the revelations of what she has done is beyond me.

Nader links to the Nixon and Kissinger article in the NY Times, as Hillary Clinton is best buds with Henry Kissinger.  Another article on Kissinger and Nixon here with more details.

If you recall, he was in the I’m-not-running-for-president video of Hillary Clinton, along with Benjamin Netanyahu:

…and Tony Blair..? Of the Downing Street Memo…?

Yes, yes, he is yet another example of ethics and humanity. /snark

 

 

The NSA uses intelligence to interfere with trade

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Well, now, just when you think things can’t get any worse with the NSA…they continually amaze one with their lack of ethics.

Liaison officials asked the NSA general counsel’s office, on behalf of the Australians, for guidance about the spying. The bulletin notes only that the counsel’s office “provided clear guidance” and that the Australian eavesdropping agency “has been able to continue to cover the talks, providing highly useful intelligence for interested U.S. customers,” according to the Times story.

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…and the question of the hour is…would any of this come to light if Edward Snowdon had not brought it to light?

And yet another example why we need diversity in media.  The whistleblowers of the world will not get a chance to be heard if media continues to be consolidated into a few privileged hands….

Starving in America **edited

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Politicker has this up on Jerry Nadler speaking out on the republican plan of decreasing the surplus population–through even more cuts to food stamps..in a  Depression…oh, wait, we’re not supposed to call it a Depression…my bad.

I’ve debated back and forth whether to write about my situation with the state.  Like so many people on food stamps, it’s humiliating to have to beg for food.  It’s humiliating to go to job interviews and not get that call, even though the interviewers seem to like you….then you are called lazy and unmotivated by these republican (and some Democrats) jackasses….so they’re going to “help you” not be lazy and unmotivated…

Briefly, I did get them reinstated…BUT the state pulled a number out of its arse that isn’t even reflecting of what I am bringing home.

Gah, this is hard talking about, but here goes:  I made a total of $520.00 since September.  The average of those months is $130.00 per month…before taxes.  The state has done some fuzzy math and now deemed me making $260.00 + what my son gives me.  I told them that he only helps me out if I don’t make enough to cover my supplements and vitamins (which keep me healthy until I can get this horrible poison out) and my gas and the basics like laundry detergent, soap, shampoo, etc.   I really hate having to ask him for money, so if he does help out, it’s never over $100, unless the car needs work or some emergency comes up.  He signed a paper stating such.

So…they decided that he helps me out *every* month, regardless, which is a lie.

Even with all the false money that I don’t have coming in, the total they have assigned is…$360.00 per month.

And they cut my food stamps because apparently I’m living high on the hog at their false total of $360. Yep.

This does not take into account taxes taken out, gas to get back and forth to work, and the weather, which has impaired my ability to work.  They don’t take into account that the car needs tires, a transmission fluid change, and other maintenance just so I can make it to work.  Doesn’t matter to them.

According to them, I’m making $360, with no taxes to pay and no other expenditures.

$143 is all they will give me for an entire month’s worth of groceries.  And now they want to cut that even more.  They spend more than that on a month’s worth of coffee.

Oh, and what was that about the automatic pay raises of Congress?  You can’t “make it” on $100,000 per year?

Mitt Romney and his cronies, gutting jobs while raking in the cash….and looking the other way while people go hungry.

My post on being lazy and unmotivated here.

My other posts on food stamps  here, here, and here.

My piece on the media slamming the poor ..I should note that I also saw the South Bend station doing the exact.same.thing within months after this piece aired.

So…you can’t find a job, you’ve got food stamps that don’t last a month, and you’re not supposed to beg for money…vicious, heartless, and punitive.

And when the sociopaths talk about wanting to cut food stamps because of fraud, they neglect to mention  the program is one of the best run with only a 3% error rate!

Meanwhile, they look the other way at rampant fraud with the Dept. of Defense….and the welfare queens of McDonald’s and Walmart.

 

**edited to add:  I just want to make it plain that this is not a pity post.  Like I said in the previous post, we don’t want your stinking charity.  We want jobs with livable wages.

Understanding the gravity of NAFTA

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Idle No More has a post up on the far-reaching effects of NAFTA.  This is especially important because now we have NAFTA on steroids with TPP being fast-tracked through Congress.

Here’s an update on Blackfire.

More here.

From the article:

Though officials did meet with NGOs opposed to the mine, they accepted Blackfire’s take that protestors were out to squeeze money from the firm, says MiningWatch’s analysis of the emails.

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Of course….because the mining company execs see everything in $$, they think everyone *else* thinks as they do.  It is inconceivable to them that there are people who value the environment, their health, their children’s health, the Earth, etc.

Note how the company was unable to substantiate claims against Abarca.  It appears he was thrown in jail under false claims.

NAFTA, and I fear TPP, are all about taking power and control away from the local people.  It means losing their autonomy to decide what happens in their communities, as the mega million dollar lawsuit illustrates.

These trade agreements are not supportive of the democratic process, rather a dictatorial process.  How is this representation of taxpayers?

Gov. Pence wants to give $1 billion to businesses

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…in the form of a tax break…by eliminating property taxes for businesses.

From the article:

An analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency determined that if the tax were eliminated, schools and cities in Lake County would lose $74.2 million, Porter County $14 million and LaPorte County $7.2 million. That’s about the same annual impact as property tax caps, which have decimated government services in all three counties.

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I can smell ALEC all over this push to eliminate taxes for the wealthiest while putting more of the burden on the middle class and poor, if they try to make it up through sales tax.

And then there’s the continued assault on Glenda Ritz’ authority as a duly elected official who got more votes than Pence.  (Indeed, they were practically begging people to attend his inauguration.  A website reported that 1500 people attended his inauguration….I’m betting that 1,000 were homeless people given $20 to be there. Or perhaps state workers threatened with their jobs if they didn’t attend. /snark)  I also tried to access the site that lists Pence’s contributors for his inauguration day–the website was listed as suspicious!  Nope, not going to risk that.

Anyway, here we are still under the death grip of the Koch brothers and neocon toadies….

Vanishing New York

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New York Observer has a link to this, among other stories:

Vanishing New York.  All the businesses that closed under Michael Bloomberg.

If you look only at this list and add up all the years in business represented, we lost approximately 6,926 years of New York City history in only a dozen years. And we know the real number is much higher than that.

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Pretty sad, eh? A hardware store in business for 100 years!  A bakery in business for 89 years! A restaurant in business for 48 years! A records store in business for 60 years! A hotel in business for 127 years!  A book store 86 years!

…and Shea Stadium destroyed.

That is a lot of history.  Think of all the people that passed through the doors…in their youth, in their adulthood, with their children, grandchildren…seeing familiar faces and catching up with each other’s lives.

Our culture is being destroyed before our eyes–everything that makes us connect with one another.  One of the things I loved about Fort Wayne is that somehow it’s managed to hold onto some of that culture–it’s known as the city of restaurants and churches….for good reason.  They still have many independent restaurants…not McRestaurants.  The downtown is walkable–pleasant—with many independent stores.

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Other stories the Observer posted:  Starchitects and the luxury apartment boom in NY, related to the previous story–

Don’t get me wrong, I love architecture.  I love the work of Frank Lloyd Wright.  But if it comes a the expense of neighborhoods, then, no, I can’t go along with that.

People deserve to have decent housing at rents they can afford.  Small business should be afforded the same.  Something needs to be done so that if a luxury building is built, those around it are not made to suffer by enormous rent increases.

Third Way

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You might remember this post with a quote that says the words “third way”.  Not long after I posted it, Ed on the Ed Show (MSNBC) mentioned the Third Way.  I can’t remember exactly what he said, but it was negative and the segment intrigued me.

I’ve just now gotten around to doing a bit of research on Third Way.  Whew…do you smell a rat??  Me, too.

Red flags are going off with Elizabeth Warren being attacked by supposed Democrats for…speaking out against selling us out to the 1% by cutting Social Security and other social programs….calling them “populist”. Um-hmmm…that and the word “entitlement” are key words for the “I’ve-got-mine-screw-you” crowd. 

Now, getting back to the previous post with Hillary Clinton’s religious leader saying those words:  third way…and how they wanted to do away with New Deal programs:

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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Social Security. Public Schools.  Medicaid.  Medicare.  Public employees like fire fighters, police.  Public Libraries.  A decent living wage.

I know that it’s hard to believe they want to destroy it all, but all signs are pointing towards that very end.

Elizabeth Warren stands in the way of that.

Here’s a humorous video up on it:

Please, please run for President, Elizabeth.  Please!!  I’ll go knocking on doors…whatever needs done to help get you votes.  Hillary Clinton is nothing but a Goldwater Girl doing the dirty work of the bankers, warmongers, education profiteers, Big Oil, Monsanto, and no doubt countless other organizations that don’t give a crap about Americans or America, the poor, the elderly, the children, the environment, nor the middle class.

Please run, Elizabeth.

We will not obey TPP

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Wisconsin, bless their little hearts, have drafted a resolution that they are a “TPP-free” zone.  The negotiations have been shielded from public scrutiny but the article states that bits have leaked out and…it’s scary as hell–a Monsanto lobbyist is leading the negotiations.

From the article:

Countries, including those in the European Union, could also find it increasingly difficult to ban, or even require the labeling of, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) if biotech companies determine that those countries’ strict policies restrict fair trade and infringe on the companies’ “rights” to profit.

To top it off, corporations would be allowed to resolve trade disputes in special international tribunals, effectively wiping out hundreds of domestic and international food sovereignty laws. Products labeled fair trade, organic, country-of-origin, animal-welfare approved, or GMO-free, could all be challenged as “barriers to trade.”

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It’s an attack on local autonomy….the right to decide what is best for your community.Good Grief, these corporations can.not.get.enough.profits.  Greed, greed, greed.

 

Boiling the frog…

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Idle No More has a virtual “teach-in” up on the web (scroll down) by Sharon Venne.   It’s a really interesting piece on the historical treatment of the indigenous and how s-l-o-w-l-y their culture and their land has been “disappeared”.

As she says in her talk, it goes on over such a slow period of time, that one doesn’t realize what is happening until it’s almost too late….like the frog put in a pan of water that the heat is turned up so slowly that the frog doesn’t realize it’s being boiled to death.

It’s really worth watching it all the way through–she has such a good story to tell of her own struggle to get an education.  She tells the story of not being able to read until going to university.  (By the way, Literacy Volunteers are out there to help folks learn to read–check with your local library). She was continually kept in stress mode by them not sending her monthly stipends on time so she could pay her rent.  God Bless the administrator who helped her.

She makes an important point at about 29:00 minutes in– of what sounds like the precursor to “corporations are people, too”.  If anything, we need to pay better attention to what is going on in other countries…especially to the poor and minorities…because it seems to be a worldwide power grab–given that there have been austerity measures all over the globe and attacks on teacher’s unions and such.  More here.

And here.