Robber Barons

I almost can't post this because I find it so discouraging. But it's so important, it should be seen. This is from the incomparable investigative journalist Greg Palast, about the forced bankruptcy of GM.

Screw the autoworkers.
They may be crying about General Motors' bankruptcy today. But dumping 40,000 of the last 60,000 union jobs into a mass grave won't spoil Jamie Dimon's day.

Dimon is the CEO of JP Morgan Chase bank. While GM workers are losing their retirement health benefits, their jobs, their life savings; while shareholders are getting zilch and many creditors getting hosed, a few privileged GM lenders – led by Morgan and Citibank – expect to get back 100% of their loans to GM, a stunning $6 billion.

The way these banks are getting their $6 billion bonanza is stone cold illegal.

I smell a rat. (Read the rest ...)

I had few illusions about Barack Obama as president. I knew he wasn't progressive and had some tense moments with friends when I wouldn't just jump on the bandwagon. I hoped he would give me a respite from worry and fear, and it didn't take long to see how illusory that was as well. Steve Earle was right when he said that whoever got elected, the real work would begin on January 20, 2009. I feel so worn down after 8 years of BushCo, yet there is indeed work to be done.

This story stinks to high heaven.

Tax the Speculators!

As far as I can tell, the economic stimulus package that Obama is taking on the road in an attempt to drum up populist support, is another boondoggle for the poor and working people of this country. The cuts that have been made in an effort to appease the Rethuglicans (and I feel like I have to resort to name-calling in this instance, just to make myself feel a little better) are of the very things that everyday people need in order to pull themselves out of this hole that our government has been digging for nearly the last 30 years. (Thanks, Ronald Reagan. You were a saint. Not.) Look at how the cuts that are proposed by [extremely wealthy] "centrists" Susan Collins and Ben Nelson disproportionately affect women and children. Again. They just don't get it, or don't care.

What is the answer? Well it seems as if a lot of people have answers, from Jon Stewart to Paul Krugman to Ralph Nader, the man that progressives love to hate. If only Congress would listen. This is what Nader posted on Wednesday, and it makes good sense:

Let’s start with a fairness point. Why should you pay a 5 to 6 percent sales tax for buying the necessities of life, when tomorrow, some speculator on Wall Street can buy $100 million worth of Exxon derivatives and not pay one penny in sales tax? Let’s further add a point of common sense. The basic premise of taxation should be to first tax what society likes the least or dislikes the most, before it taxes honest labor or human needs. (Read the whole thing here)

Wow -- tax the rich. What a concept! I, for one, am sick and tired of being trickled down on. What would the world look like if we really put the needs of people first?

I try to make a practice of not hating ... anyone. I believe in living by nonviolent principles, and hate is violent. But I come dangerously close to hating the wealthy, corpulent politicians who are where they are today because of a lifetime of privilege, who use their position of power as a bully pulpit to preach "work ethic" to the rest of us. Now, I cannot pretend that I have known poverty. My dad was a doctor -- albeit one who worked in the public sector, so though we were never ridiculously wealthy, we were always well off.

However, I have worked for my entire adult life. We live in a modest house and have always taken modest vacations. We have very little in savings, certainly not enough to guarantee a college education for our children or an easy retirement for us. We may not be poor, but our future is looking anything but certain at this point in time. And how dare they, HOW DARE THEY, give more of our money away to the already fabulously wealthy while wagging their fingers at the general populace and talking about "work ethic"? These people who wear $1,000 shoes, maintain multiple homes, send their children to private schools, and eat out every day -- often on the taxpayers' dime?

This entire stimulus plan should be thrown out and started over. The Rethugs need to be told, "Shut the hell up!" and the Dems (including Barack Obama) asked, "Just who do you think elected you to this office?" I'm pissed off!

Dana Perrino is a nasty piece of work.

This response from the White House to the bill that would extend unemployment benefits across the country is about as callous as anything I've seen. She makes it sound like people who are unemployed are sitting on their asses, eating bonbons, and watching daytime television.

Believe me, Mr. Ether would like to have regular employment.

How do these people sleep at night?

Can we just drop the bullshit about Sarah and Todd Palin being "working class"?

Can we? Please?

Working class couples are not worth $1.2m. They do not own 3 houses, not to mention their own planes.

Let's talk about the hockey mom thing: hockey is one of the more expensive sports in which to have your kids involved. It is outside the realm of possibility for many working families.

We are going on year 2 of unemployment for my spouse. We own (sort of) a very nice, but modest, house. (And 3 tents. Do those count as houses?)

I am aware that we are far better off than many others.

Sarah Palin's down home populist crap is offensive.

Pretension R Us

Tonight I swallowed my pride and went to see a movie at Sundance 608. I know I swore that I would not patronize it; when they announced they were opening their first Sundance theater here in a small upscale shopping mall, the locally-owned theater that had been at the other end of the mall for 40 years closed its doors. I wanted to see a particular movie, however, and wasn't sure it would make it anywhere else.

Sundance is outrageously overpriced. Every ticket has a $3 "amenities fee" attached to it. What amenities? Free peanuts? No, they claim you get to reserve your seat. That means, when you walk in and buy your ticket just as the movie is starting, as we did tonight, they show you a touch screen and you pick your seats from what it shows as available. Then you walk into the half empty theater and sit where you want. All that for $3! Such a deal. Such pretension.

I get it. The amenities are getting to mingle with the upper crust -- the men in their sweaters and tasseled loafers, the women with their haircuts. Yuck. The seats weren't even all that comfortable, and because the theater is relatively new everything is still off-gassing like crazy.

Sigh. I miss the old Majestic Theater days where we always sat in row 5 under the precariously hanging chandelier, where the seats were broken, the floor was sticky, there was brewers' yeast to shake on the popcorn, and an interesting double feature every night -- all for a couple of bucks! And when you came out at 11 p.m., the prostitutes were out in full force across the street and you got another show for free.

Those were the days ...

The REAL John McCain

How is it that these obscenely wealthy politicians manage to convince a percentage of hardworking Americans that they are "one of them"? Please spread this around.

McCain is a Weenie

“Some of the richest people I’ve ever known in my life are the most unhappy. I think that rich is — should be defined by a home, a good job and education and the ability to hand to our children a more prosperous and safer world than the one that we inherited. I don’t want to take any money from the rich. I want everybody to get rich. I don’t believe in class warfare or redistribution of the wealth. But I can tell you for example there are small businessmen and women who are working 16 hours a day, seven days a week that some people would classify as, quote, ‘rich,’ my friends, who want to raise their taxes and raise their payroll taxes. Let’s have — keep taxes low. Let’s give every family in America a $7,000 tax credit for every child they have. Let’s give them a $5,000 refundable tax credit to go out and get the health insurance of their choice. Let’s not have the government take over the health care system in America.

“So I think if you’re just talking about income, how about $5 million. But seriously, I don’t think you can — I don’t think, seriously that — the point is that I’m trying to make here seriously — and I’m sure that comment will be distorted, but the point is — the point is — the point is that we want to keep people’s taxes low and increase revenues. And my friend, it was not taxes that mattered in America in the last several years. It was spending. Spending got completely out of control. We spent money in a way that mortgaged our kids futures. My friends, we spent $3 million of your money to study the DNA of bears in Montana. Now I don’t know if that was a paternity issue or a criminal issue, but the point is — but the point is it was $3 million of your money. It was your money.

“And you know, we laugh about it, but we cry and we should cry because the Congress is supposed to be careful stewards of your tax dollars. so what did they just do in the middle of an energy crisis when in California we are paying $4 a gallon for gas, went on vacation for five weeks. I guarantee you, two things they never miss, a pay raise and a vacation. And we should stop that and call them back and not raise your taxes. We should not and cannot raise taxes in tough economic times. So it doesn’t matter really what my definition of rich is because I don’t want to raise anybody’s taxes.”

Umm, George -- I mean John? (I never could get those Beatle names straight.) Can I make a few points here?

• 3 million dollars to study the DNA of bears in Montana (for which there probably was a good reason; have you ever noticed how the wingnuts just love to highlight the "ridiculous" ways that "our tax money" is "wasted" by elite intellectuals?) is a drop in the bucket compared to the over half a trillion dollars spent so far on Bush's War.
• Congress went on recess for 5 weeks. How many days of vacation has that mean,rich little man in the White House taken since he first ascended to the presidency? An average of 69 days a year? (69, hmm? My brother Jim, when he was about 14, painted a great big 69 on a t-shirt and wouldn't tell me what it meant. But I digress.)
• You keep saying "they" like it's someone else taking the flargin' Congressional pay raises!
• "Let's not have government take over the health care system in America" Um, except for the Congressional health care plan. That can stay.

Grrrrrrrrr. Mr. McCain, you are not only a weenie, but a blithering idiot. And a whole lot more, but the cuss-meter inside my head is about to go sproing.

"Let them eat cake."

Chances are, you've already seen this. The G8 pigs are at the trough, while much of the rest of the world starves. Why do we allow this?

It reminds me of the book I am currently reading, Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization. The hubris, the thirst for war, and the absolute cruelty of the world's leaders at that time (and I'm not just talking about Hitler; Churchill and Roosevelt were equally inhuman in their own ways) was shocking. Nothing has changed, the thirst for power and profit rules the planet.

Happy Thanksgiving?

I watched some t.v. with my daughter last night. (I'm not a t.v. watcher, but sometimes it gives me an excuse to sit and knit.) I was disgusted by ad after ad after ad for "day after Thanksgiving" sales, many starting at 4 a.m. And our newspaper yesterday weighed at least 3 lbs. -- I'm not exaggerating -- because of all the circulars. It is obscene. All the more so, after reading this article today about hunger in the U.S.

I have to say, I take issue with the wording of this last paragraph:

“At least at this time of the year they are prepared to give generously but the worry is that a system based on charity will mean that the supply of donated food will always ebb and flow,” he [Mark Winne] said. ” We may be entering one of those perfect storms where everything goes wrong but if we depend on food charity rather than ending poverty, this is what is bound to occur.”

Calling it "a perfect storm" somehow implies that the hunger crisis facing Americans and those who would help them is an act of God. Make no mistake -- this is one more product of the greed and callousness of the Bush administration, whose policies have willfully created a shrinking middle class, a rise in the number of "working poor" and homeless families, a culture of rampant materialism, selfishness at the top, despair at the bottom, and no "safety net."

I think that statistics show that people with less income tend to give a greater percentage of what they have, than those with more. I have no problem with charitable giving. I honor anyone, rich or poor, who sees a responsibility greater than themselves to help others.

But I also happen to believe that a government has a responsibility to take care of its citizens (both those born here and those born elsewhere.)

The teachings of Jesus were essentially about not hurting others and taking care of the poor.

Most politicians like to bray loudly about their faith, and no one brays louder than George F.W. Bush.

I am disgusted.

For Ed, With Love

That'll Larn 'Em To Get Sick ...

This is the lead story at Huffington Post this morning:

Immigrants' Emergency Care Is Limited By U.S. Rule
The federal government has told New York State health officials that chemotherapy, which had been covered for illegal immigrants under a government-financed program for emergency medical care, does not qualify for coverage. The decision sets the stage for a battle between the state and federal governments over how medical emergencies are defined. Read more and be outraged ...

Whatever one may believe about so-called illegal immigrants and their rights or reasons for being in the U.S., this is just immoral (and remember, it's the policy of the family values spewing Bible thumpers of the Bush Administration.) It effectively imposes a death sentence on illegal immigrants who have the bad fortune to develop cancer. I can extrapolate from there that, Medicare coverage probably would be denied for immigrants' end of life care, including effective pain management.

And hey, I imagine it's not much better for any resident or citizen of the U.S. who doesn't have resources to cover their medical care.

Furthemore, I suspect there are a lot of Americans -- liberal and conservative -- who believe that this is as it should be. ("I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps and why should anyone else blah blah blah woof woof ...")

I'm disgusted by such mean-spiritedness. I'd like to hear a presidential candidate talk about rebuilding the safety net that was dismantled under Ray-gun (the Insane Anglo War Lord) and reinstate welfare as we knew it before Hillary's husband ended it. And then I'd like to see that candidate elected!

Talks to Squirrels

Here is an interesting tidbit about Bob "It's Not My Fault" Murray, owner of both the Utah mine where 6 miners are currently trapped and the Sago mine where 12 miners died in 2006.

Ask most of the miners working at the Maple Creek or Powhatan No. 6 mines to tell you owner/operator Robert Murray's squirrel story and you're in for a treat.

The way Murray tells it, he had just been let go in 1987 as CEO of North American Coal Company and was feeling extremely down about the whole situation. At home one day, Murray was sitting on his back porch, contemplating his future, when he was approached by a squirrel. Murray says the squirrel hopped up next to him, looked him square in the eye and said "Bob Murray, you should be operating your very own mines." Unfortunately for UMWA miners, this seemingly intelligent rodent wasn't too keen on fairness, so it neglected to add the words "and make sure you treat your workers the way you would want to be treated."

Well, you'd think someone who talks to squirrels would be some kind of a humanitarian. Maybe care about his employees. Here's what one of them has said:

"Bob Murray is so anti-union that he wants to bust us even after we kept him in business. He has exploited his workers. We must stop his efforts to cut our members out of work."

And finally, this quote which describes the Bob Murray the public has been seeing this week:

"Sometimes it's like watching Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

Read the article here. Then remember which presidential candidate is staunchly pro-union. (Hint: It's not Hillary, Obama, or Edwards. Can't guess? Check my sidebar.)

Labor unions -- the folks who brought you the weekend.

One question: Why is this company allowed to mine in a national forest? BushCo:Degradation -R-Us.

Friends in Faraway Places

When I returned home from vacation and picked up the most recent copy of our local weekly newspaper, The Isthmus, I was surprised and delighted to find that the leading story -- A Letter From Lesotho -- was written by my friend Madeline. (It's a welcome change from the usual sensational drivel they feature.) Almost a year ago she quit her job, gave up a lovely rental house on the lakeshore, put her possessions into storage, and went into the Peace Corps. Since then I have followed her adventures in Lesotho, Africa via email letters she sends to her friends. I especially like this quote in the article:

Greeting everyone slows my day. People often talk about slower lifestyles in poor countries, but they seldom explain the richness this gives a day. I have effectively traded a 90-mile-an-hour lifestyle for one at 40 kilometers-per-hour (about 25 m.p.h.). But, going slower, you see much more.

Slowing down is something that I give a lot of thought to. During the summer I consciously slow down, walking or biking to my destinations, taking the time to hang laundry out to dry, to talk with my neighbors. It's such a welcome change.

I appreciate many of the things that I have: the computer, the car, the dishwasher, the clothes washer, decent roads ... but I do not appreciate how, if I am not mindful, they control me.

I am currently reading the book Ancient Futures: Learning From Ladakh by Helena Norberg-Hodge, where she describes how Western-style development is putting the squeeze on people all around the world (including us), essentially creating a human monoculture that only benefits the multinational corporations. She paints a pretty depressing picture, but also offers a blueprint for what she calls "counter-development" that is humane, sustainable and earth-centered.

Continuing on this train of thought ... yesterday at the vet's office I got into a conversation about our government with the receptionist. She referred to the "Pandora's Box" that BushCo has opened up, and reminded me of what was left in the box after everything else had flown out -- hope.

So when I start to despair I have to go back to hope; to focus on all of the people who are working on good things all around the world.

Peace.

It's not easy being rich ...

A few days ago I posted about the über rich, with their 5-story yachts and private submarines. You think those people have it good? Well, think again. This little piece of news just caught my eye when I was reading Harper's Weekly:

It was reported that during intercourse the owners of private submarines are sometimes troubled by peeking dolphins.

I hate when that happens!

Trickling Down

America's super-rich have returned to the days of the Roaring Twenties. As the rest of the country struggles to get by, a huge bubble of multi-millionaires lives almost in a parallel world. The rich now live in their own world of private education, private health care and gated mansions. They have their own schools and their own banks. They even travel apart - creating a booming industry of private jets and yachts. Their world now has a name, thanks to a new book by Wall Street Journal reporter Robert Frank which has dubbed it 'Richistan'. There every dream can come true. But for the American Dream itself - which promises everyone can join the elite - the emergence of Richistan is a mixed blessing. ["Mixed blessing??!!" the blogger says, incredulously.] 'We in America are heading towards 'developing nation' levels of inequality. We would become like Brazil. What does that say about us? What does that say about America?' Frank said. Read the rest, if you can stomach it.

Private submarines? 5-story luxury yachts? This disgusts me. The only thing that trickles down is the golden shower as they piss on the poor and middle class.