American workers got what they deserved

COLUMN — American workers got what they deserved - Holland, MI - The Holland Sentinel

Read it and weep. Many of us have been saying this for years, you need to actually participate in politics in order to get what you want out of it instead of what those who do participate dictate for you.

Are you going to continue with the same and just impotently complain about it or are you going to actually get off your couches and do something?

Intolerance and Hypocrisy Harms All of Us

Here we go again, the ugly face of intolerance and hypocrisy is being displayed on American soil by Americans. I have voiced concern over how our government is systematically stripping our freedoms from us through various manipulations of our nations laws and now this religious zealot - Florida Pastor Terry Jones - has taken upon himself further their cause by trying to ‘cleanse’ our country of an opposing viewpoint and stabbing our forefathers in the back by practicing the un-American, redneck, Nazi-like, KKK-based idea that these rights are “for me and not for you”.

The headlines read ‘Pastor plans to defy order and protest at mosque’. Here in America, we have a time-honored right to protest. I would fight to my dying breath to keep that right. But Americans and Christians also have two other tenets that are being trampled on. Freedom of Religion and Christian tolerance. These concepts are lost on this fool. It wasn’t enough that he burned a book that is holy to the Muslim religion, now he wants to defy a court order and hold a protest to their very presence here in America.

His actions is giving America and Christianity a black eye. But then again – in keeping with his narrow-minded Christian view - he is just the latest in a long list of fools who think human rights belong to only a ‘select’ few.

Denying a group of people the right to practice the religion of their choice doesn’t sound very Christian to me.

Don’t interpret this as being sympathetic to Islamic law. I am not by any means a fan of sharia and its systematic demeaning treatment of women, but, and this goes to the city of Detroit where Jones was arrested for his protest, he does have the right to protest just as the Islamic followers have a right to practice their religion. We created this country on these rights and we cannot deny those rights to anyone if we expect to remain free ourselves.

A much larger issue here is that Terry Jones was arrested and held not over something he did but what he said he plans to do. Since when is our law enforcement community authorized to arrest and detain Americans for planning?

 

 

Gypsies Protest Rome’s Shelter Plan

City officials in Rome Italy have created a temporary ‘solution’ to their Gypsy ‘problem’ and in doing so have created another problem. A Gypsy encampment, set up just outside the city, has been deemed to be illegal and an ‘eyesore’ to the locals.

In February, four children died in their sleep as a fire tore through a shack in the illegal camp, prompting the mayor to promise that the camps would be torn down and safer ones built.

The mayor’s decision to build, or have built, ‘safer’ accommodations is a very humanitarian gesture. But, he says he does not want to send a signal of “indiscriminate acceptance” that might result in more homeless in the capital. This means his humanitarianism only goes so far.

The cities interim plan is what has Gypsy families up in arms. The plan is to provide shelter for the women and children of these families, not the men. Despite the magnanimous nature of providing safer housing for Rome’s residents, the fact that families will be torn apart is not acceptable.

This is clearly an attempt by city officials to covertly ‘urge’ these roving families to move away from Rome to become the problem of some other city.

Rome is handling the ‘problem’ of homelessness much the same way every city around the world does, push it off onto someone else.

Of course, the obvious solution would be to provide jobs that would allow them to buy affordable homes. But we all know this just doesn’t happen. Short of some miracle solution, the city should allow them to live in their makeshift village as they have chosen. If officials are worried about crime then have the police force do their job and patrol and investigate. Tearing down their homes and breaking up their families is not the humanitarian solution the mayor wishes to convey.

What Kind of World Do We Live In?

A Re-thinking of ‘Social’ Programs is Needed

Social programs have become the favorite ‘evil’ of conservatism. Planned Parenthood is one of the latest to fall under the scrutiny of a small group of short-sighted, narrow-minded individuals who think our federal government should not fund an organization who is providing health support for the poor.

Republicans, hiding behind a false curtain of moral outrage, would have us believe that our tax dollars are being used for something as heinous as ‘killing babies’. Bringing down an entire organization – and negating all of the good that organization provides - over services that makeup only 3% and is not backed by government money, amounts to morality legislation.

Republicans should re-examine the morality of spending our tax dollars on:

• their re-election campaigns. Political campaigning has become big business and should be funded by tax dollars.
• a defense budget that perpetuates the American empire and creates huge profits for war-mongers.
• supporting corporate welfare for corporations who don’t pay one cent in income taxes. Job creation benefits them without the government giving them anything.
• http://front.moveon.org/which-corporations-are-the-biggest-freeloaders/?rc=fb.fan
• funding Wall Street bankers whose immoral greedy actions nearly destroyed our economy. Make them responsible for ensuring their success, not the tacpayers who cannot afford to participate in their greed.
• Covering higher prices for prescription drugs for Medicare and Medicaid. If the negotiation of bulk drug prices for participants was the government would save a lot of money.
• support a penal system that does more harm to society than many of the inmates. Drug users need medical treatment not incarceration.
• a failed drug war. The legalization of marijuana cut wasteful spending and create a new tax source.

Cutting back and re-directing funds from those traditionally over-budgeted programs mentioned above, which are ultimately limited in their benefit to society as a whole, and investing in the lives and well-being of those of us who are supporting those programs through the forced taxation of our hard work, would go a long way towards restoring our faith in our political system and our belief that we are working for something more than just preventing the loss of our homes.

The most urgently needed – and severely under funded - ‘social program’ that could provide the most benefit to society is an improved education system. Our children need to be taught how to respect themselves and each other in order to help prevent the further break down of our societal network. They need to be taught tolerance of opposing religious views and cultural differences. They need to learn anger management which would lead to an desperately needed improved social skill set. They need to learn our political system in order to provide better representation than what we currently have. They need to learn the concept and benefit of ‘common good’ as opposed to the current trend towards the more selfish ‘me first’ attitude that is shipping away at the foundation of our society. They need to learn self sufficiency and self reliance so as to not depend on government handouts.

Another direction in which our spending would do more good for society is in a free flow of information. Infrastructure funding should include a free internet, much the same as we do with our library system. Our citizens should not have to pay for access to news. Free wi-fi, spread out across the entire world would greatly benefit this so-called ‘new world order’ and the ‘world market’ that is trending now. A well informed public leads to a more stable and strong society.

Our political leaders are being bought off and the focus of government is being redirected towards protecting corporate America instead of the citizens who actually pay for it. As a result, we are more hated around the world today than we have ever been. More of us are losing our homes and jobs than at any other time in our history. More Americans are preying on one another in the pursuit of ‘monetary riches’ which sadly has become a more highly regarded measure of success than education, morality and conscience. We focus our intellect on ‘celebrity adulation’ instead of honoring those individuals who actually do some good for society. We choose to anesthetize ourselves with drugs and alcohol instead of life. We alienate ourselves from our neighbors because we are too afraid of being taken advantage of. Our freedoms are being systematically stripped from us in pursuit of more wealth and power.

Our democratic government was setup for the protection and benefit of all Americans, not just the wealthy. If our elected officials want to prove to us that they follow what the founding fathers laid out for us – and it is going to take a lot more than just reading the constitution at the start of congressional sessions - they need to take a hard look at what benefits we taxpayers have remaining.

Re-direct our tax dollars back to us. The wealthy can afford to support themselves without financial help from us. Let them do so. Now that would be change I can believe in.

Seven Blunders of the World

1. Wealth without work

2. Pleasure without conscience

3. Knowledge without character

4. Commerce without morality

5. Science without humanity

6. Worship without sacrifice

7. Politics without principle


—Mahatma Gandhi

The New American Dream

I have chosen to reprint this from Truthout because it is one of the best if not the best summation of how America and it’s citizens have been so totally screwed over that the concept of the American Dream is more of a nightmare for those of us who are not wealthy.

I want to take this moment to thank William Rivers Pitt, the author of this piece, for the artful way in which this summation is presented.

Sit back and enjoy:

If you are wealthy, you are living in the Golden Age of your American Dream, and it's a damned fine time to be alive. The two major political parties are working hammer and tong to bless you and keep you. The laws are being re-written - often by fiat, and in defiance of court orders - to strengthen the walls separating you and your wealth from the motley masses. Your stock portfolio, mostly made by and for oil and war, continues to swell. Your banks and Wall Street shops destroyed the economy for everyone except you, and not only did they get away with it, they were handed a vast dollop of taxpayer cash as a bonus prize.

The little people probably crack you up when you bother to think about them. Their version of the American Dream is a ragged blanket too short to cover them, but they still buy into it, and that's the secret of your strength in the end. So many of them walk into the voting booths and solemnly vote against their own best interests, and for yours, because the American Dream makes them think they, too, will be rich someday. They won't - you've made sure of that - but so long as they keep believing it, your money will continue to roll in.

The Citizens United Supreme Court decision swept away the last tattered shreds of the façade of fairness in politics and electioneering, and now you own the whole store. You can use your vast financial resources to lie on a national level now, lie with your bare face hanging out, because it works. You're not the bad guy in America. Teachers, cops, firefighters, union members and public-sector employees are the bad guys, the reason for all our economic woes. NPR and Planned Parenthood are the bad guys. You did that, and when governors like Scott Walker rampage through worker's rights on your dime, you chuckle into your sleeve and enjoy your interest rate.

We're firing teachers and missiles simultaneously, to poach a line from Jon Stewart, and the inherent disconnect fails to sink in among those serving as dray horses for your greed and ambition. They're in the traces, bellowing about what you want them to focus on thanks to your total control of the "mainstream" news media, and they plow your fields with the power of their incoherent, misdirected rage.

They pay their taxes. Isn't that a hoot? They pay their taxes dutifully and annually, and that money gets shunted right to you and your friends, thanks to the politicians who love you and the laws that favor you, not to mention the wars that sustain you. They pay their taxes when they should just pay you, right? Talk about getting rid of government waste. They should just pay you directly and cut out the middle man, because it all goes to the same place in the end. You.

You are General Electric, and you paid no taxes in 2010. You made $14.2 billion in worldwide profits, $5.1 billion of which was made in America, and your tax burden amounted to a big fat zero. In fact, you claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion, thanks to your anti-tax lobbying efforts in Washington and your use of offshore tax havens that protect and defend your profit margin.

You are ExxonMobil, and you paid no taxes in 2009. In fact, you got a $156 million return.

You are Bank of America, and despite receiving a massive chunk of the taxpayer-funded bailout, despite recording a profit of $4.4 billion, you paid no taxes and received a $1.9 billion rebate.

You are Chevron, and you made $10 billion in 2009. You paid no taxes, and got a $19 million refund.

You are Citigroup, and you paid no taxes despite earning more than $4 billion, and despite getting a sizeable chunk of the taxpayer-funded bailout.

Your favorite part of it all?

The part that makes you laugh out loud?

It's when you hear the politicians you own talk about "shared sacrifices" and "fiscal responsibility." Man, that's a hoot. You watch them rave and froth on Capitol Hill about shutting down the government because the country doesn't have enough money to fund "entitlement programs" the little people have been paying into for decades. The very term - "entitlement" - cracks you up; how is it an entitlement if people paid for it? Nobody asks that question, of course. Nobody asks about cutting the bloated defense budget. Nobody asks where the billions diverted to Iraq and Afghanistan actually went, or where the money for Libya is going. For damned sure, nobody demands that you pony up and pay your fair share. You made sure of that, and the show goes on.

The United States of America has undergone a powerful transformation over the course of a single generation, and you are right up there in the catbird seat, watching it all unfold. For you, the New American Dream is "I got mine, kiss my ass, work and die (if you can find work, sucker), and pay me." For everyone else, the New American Dream is about simple survival, about running as fast as they can while going inexorably backwards.

Maybe you can even see the cancer eating away at the country that has treated you so royally, but you don't really care. You are safe and comfortable behind your gilded walls.

For now, anyway.

Applause Mr. Pitt, applause. You have definitely nailed it and I thank you for putting it into words. No one could have said it better.

Case to Abolish Society

Dictators Must Go

Uninstalling Dictators

Corporate Media Cherry Picking the News – No Surprise Here

As reported by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting - a nonpartisan media watchdog organization - A sparsely attended Tea Party rally in Washington, D.C., on March 31 in support of federal spending cuts received generous media attention. One report (Slate, 3/31/11) suggested there was "at least one reporter for every three or four activists," and a Republican politician joked that there might be more journalists than activists at the event.

An antiwar rally in New York City on April 9 was in some respects very similar. Protesters were speaking out on an equally timely issue (wars in Afghanistan and Libya), and connecting them to the budget and near-government shutdown in Washington.

The difference? The ratio of activists to journalists. The antiwar protest had thousands of attendees--and received almost zero corporate media coverage.

According to the Nexis news database, the rally was apparently deemed not remotely newsworthy. The local New York Times didn't cover it--though it did have time for the D.C. Tea Party rally (4/1/11). NPR's Morning Edition (4/1/11) and the PBS NewsHour (3/31/11) reported on the Tea Party rally, which was also mentioned a few times on CNN and previewed on NBC's Today show (3/31/11).

Who did cover the antiwar rally? You could find reports from local New York outlets like the news site Gothamist (4/10/11), WABC and NY1, the left-wing Socialist Worker (4/11/11) and a handful of other sites.

What explains the wildly different treatment of the events? The organizers of the antiwar rally say they put serious resources into media outreach, and held a press conference the day before the event (which was reportedly attended by one reporter from Russia Today). The rally was framed as a way to talk about war and the budget debate, so it's hard to argue that it wasn't timely or relevant.

Corporate media has taken the reigns of ‘main stream media’ to become the ‘voice of America’. This is a sad state of affairs for Americans. Citizens who still believe in their right to receive the truth about what goes on in America need to understand that the internet and independent newspapers will soon be our only source of reality reporting.

Since major news media outlets are now owned by corporate America the citizens of this country can only receive a myopic and sanitized view of world events. This defacto censorship of events that are contrary to corporate views undermines First Amendment guarantees.

To all non-profit sources of information I salute you. To all muzzled journalists I applaud your tenacity. To all organizations seeking to suppress minority and dissenting viewpoints I condemn you you.

To all you passive consumers of news who sit in your easy chair and complain about the direction this world is taking, get off your butts and do something about it. Vote, voice your opinion, help those who are out there struggling to keep your freedoms from being trampled on.

Todays Op-Ed: Wealthy are out to destroy middle class

From the Op-Ed page of the Elmira New York Star Gazette:

President George W. Bush and the Republican Party destroyed the American financial system, resulting in an enormous deficit that has radiated to state governments.

Now aided by the Tea Party, many of these same Republicans plan to balance the budgets on the backs of the middle class. The billionaire Koch brothers, their millionaire friends and the Tea Party want to destroy all public unions, including those of police and firemen. As Rep. Michele Bachmann says, "We are going to take our country back." That's true — back to the Depression of the 1930s.

In the House, the Tea Party is working hard to restrict a woman's right to choose, remove gays from the military, defund National Public Radio, demonize Planned Parenthood, reduce unemployment benefits, repeal the minimum wage and sell Medicare and Social Security to its rich corporate friends. It has absolutely no interest in the unemployed or the cost of health care.

This is class warfare! The Republicans and Tea Partiers are out to destroy what's left of the American middle class.

Jim Goodwin

Montour Fall, New York

That wacky Michelle Bachmann. If everything she is fighting for comes true she and all other women will be relegated to the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant, wallowing in the blissful happiness that only the totally ignorant can appreciate.

Today’s Protest Roundup

Uganda – opposition parties to protest the government and recent increase in commodity and fuel prices.

California - College students and faculty in California and other states on Wednesday planned to protest state budget cuts to higher education that could lead to higher tuition, larger class sizes and lower enrollment.

Texas - Hundreds of students in the Katy school district walked out of class Thursday to protest teacher layoffs caused by a feared $50 million budget shortfall.

Michigan – Hundreds protest federal debt at Capitol rally.

Missouri – Westboro Baptist Church announced that it will have protesters at the Saturday funeral of Staff Sergeant Jason Rogers of Brandon.

Utah – Environmental groups protest Kennecott mine expansion

North Carolina - Planned Parenthood protests proposed bill to cut government funding for healthcare clinics that provide abortion services

Vermont - 125 jeering, sign-waving union members and others protested the appearance of RNC Chairman Reince Priebus at a party dinner.

California - A Native American group in Vallejo is opposing the potential construction of a parking lot on their ancient burial site that could begin later this month.

Kansas – Kansas City teachers wear ‘pink slips’ in protest before school board.

‘Truth and Facts’ Continue to be Ignored – America is the Loser

This OP-ED piece written in the Kennebec Journal by Jim Murphy just has to be repeated.

Kudos to those GOP senators signing the op-ed piece: "Government by Disrespect."

They're missing a nastier issue, however: The attack on Maine seniors, families and working people, while increasing handouts to the rich, that's being replicated in all GOP-run states.

Why are different states being attacked with the same strategy? Why do the various bills often have the same wording? Because distant corporate interests have scripted, funded and staffed long-range plans to rule our statehouses. "Suspects," such as Americans for Prosperity, Freedom Works, American Legislative Exchange Council and the Koch brothers, are working through the GOP-tea party to privatize and deregulate state economies for investors, erode basic rights and corrupt democracy.

Rep. Kimberly Rosen, R-Bucksport, said one anti-labor proposal is being driven by out-of-state interests.

Another odd similarity: In all these GOP-run states, truth and facts don't matter. One big lie is that Americans are with them. The tea party is big on this one.

The Opinion Research/CNN poll showed its favorability dropping by 21 points. It's now down to 47 percent disapprove, 32 percent approve. Recent rallies are tiny. Witness the huge upset in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election.

The crime here is theft: Transfer of the people's resources and commons to the very rich. But that, after all, is only money.

A more monstrous moral evil is taking root: The destruction of our key values of dignity, cooperation, democracy, justice and the common good. These are the shared beliefs that bind us as a community, and they're getting in the way of corporate rule.

"Kiss my butt" and "Go to hell" mask this deeper malignancy at work.

Jim Murphy

The Tea Party, and their financial backers the Koch Brothers, do not represent the majority of Americans and yet the majority of Americans do nothing to stop the corporate take-over of our federal government.

The figure-heads in Washington, puppets of the corporate agenda to tear down any and all legislation that restricts their activity in any way, are more than happy to accept financial benefits in order to keep their ‘prestigious’ positions.

We did not elect these people to become ‘puppet spokes-persons’ for corporate America and yet by our very unwillingness to participate in government affairs our representatives are emboldened to answer only to those with fistfuls of money to give them direction.

America, if you are not pissed off then you are not paying attention.

The only incentive remaining for most working adults to get out of bed in the morning is to keep their paycheck in hopes of keeping their home. That job and that family home is no longer a guarantee backed by honest hard work. Corporate America is taking these once-solid American foundations away from us bit by bit and they are doing it through federal legislation.

You think your vote doesn’t count? Well thanks to the years of voter apathy the cumulative effect of low voter turnout has made that question moot. Only those people who give a damn about the ‘common good’ vote and those numbers are dwindling.

We need to stop viewing the political process from the selfish mindset of ‘what is in it for me’ and wake-up to the fact that how we vote or don’t vote affects ‘everyone’.

We need to start behaving as a community because it is a guarantee that corporate America is behaving in this way and they are winning.

Latest Puppet Show - House Oversight and Government Reform Committee

Darrel Issa’s puppet strings are being tugged again by his benefactors Charles and David Koch. This time the puppet show will be perfomed during House Oversight and Government Reform Committee of which Darrell Issa (R-CA) is the chairman.

The committee will hold a hearing on state and municipal debt. Parading a roster of ultra-conservative ideologues including Gov. Scott Walker to the witness stand, Issa will attempt to prove that the best way to move America forward is to deny hard-earned benefits to working Americans and their families in order to preserve tax breaks and other benefits for corporations and the wealthy.

This hearing will provide further evidence of the massive influence corporate money has on our democracy, specifically the power of Charles and David Koch, who have lavished financial support on Chaiman Issa, committee members and witnesses.

From People For theAmerican Way

“Darrell Issa is just another mouthpiece for far-right interests that wish to make the rich richer on the backs of hardworking Americans,” said Marge Baker, Executive Vice President at People For the American Way. “The Chairman has turned this committee into an echo chamber for the pro-corporate, anti-worker agenda of the billionaire Koch brothers and their allies.  The extent of their influence over the witnesses and the committee members themselves all but guarantees that the GOP will continue to justify putting government at the service of corporate interests while demanding that middle class Americans make difficult sacrifices.”  According to public disclosures, the Koch brothers have contributed $107,000 to 13 Republican members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee; $12,500 in Koch funding has gone to Issa specifically, along with $5,000 to his PAC.  Among the witnesses are representatives of the National Right To Work Committee and American Enterprise Institute, both of which have received significant support from the Kochs.

“These hearings aren’t about budgets; they’re just more political theatre,” said Baker. “Issa and his allies are using our real economic problems as an excuse to push their extreme political agenda, shifting the burden of our debt to working Americans, while shielding their corporate donors from paying their fair share. This sham hearing is about legitimizing this assault on the middle class, and it just won’t fly.”  

The Puppet Show at "House Oversight and Government Reform Committee" chaired by Darrell Issa (R-CA) sponsored by Charles and David Koch, lavishing financial support on government officials for a more healthy environment for the corporate agenda.

 

A government ‘by the people…for the people…if you have the price of admission’

April 18 – U.S. Tax Day (April 30 for Canadians)

Did you know: In the U.S., the usual April 15 IRS filing deadline has been extended by 3 days this year, thanks to a weekend and a D.C. holiday called Emancipation Day. One of the few breaks you can get from the IRS.

A little trivia about taxes: In the 1730s, all residents paid the same tax. Benjamin Franklin circulated an essay decrying “the inequity of this tax -  since a poor widow housekeeper - paid as much as the wealthiest merchant.”

This led to a reform law with a tax that was proportional to the property. Ben’s proportional tax — the greater the wealth, the higher the percentage assessed — resembles the U.S. federal income tax, enacted in 1913, with its progressive rate.

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.

–Benjamin Franklin

Our Tax Dollars at Work for YOU