Tag Archives: Cancer

Susan G. Komen fracks for cancer cure. If they’re drilling for the cause, they’re getting warmer

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pink-washingPINKWASHING has sunk to new depths with mercenary NGO Susan G. Komen of “Race for the Cure” endorsing pink-painted drilling bits used for oil and gas hydraulic fracturing. AS IF they don’t know that toxins which abound in fracking fluids are among the causes of cancer. The pink drill bits are perhaps sloppiness on the part of the NGO, as it recently announced a last ditch blitz to find a cancer cure by 2020. Cancer is a disease like alcoholism is a disease. We know its cause. The cure is to cut it off at the source.

How the US better off kill many of the US poor via Cancer

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The military people have socialized medical insurance that the uninsured in the US pay for these so-called ‘heroes’. And the rich have medical insurance for themselves, too. Here’s how the National Security State Right Wing assholes want us all to have actually works though. It kills us in mass! See Have Cancer but No Insurance? No Problem—You Can Pay With Your Life

By defunding Planned Parenthood, Komen Breast Cancer Foundation shows its true colors aren’t pink

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Is the all-things-pink breast cancer impresario bowing to Right-wing anti-abortion pressure in pulling their financial support for low-income breast exams provided by Planned Parenthood? That a nonprofit industry heavyweight like the Komen Foundation would shift its emphasis from helping the poor on quasi-moral grounds is deplorable, but hardly surprising. Their ubiquitous “breast cancer awareness” campaign is all about duplicity and greed. Instead of raising funds for awareness of where cancer comes from, research we could all use, Komen shifts the focus on mitigation. What would you think about a rape “awareness” campaign that emphasized victim convalescence over chasing down the rapists? Looking after the victims while rapes escalate? That’s practically enabling.

Shaken, stirred, totally Fukushima’d

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Now Fukushima Daiichi means the same in English as in Japanese. Although now apparently “meltdown” no longer means apocalyptic, “radiation” no longer means toxic, and to “exceed the safety levels” no longer means to pose adverse risk to your health. Curious. Because, I suppose, Japan can’t cry REACTOR FIRE in a crowded metropolis. Instead of blaming a Japanese government for being less than forthcoming about the obvious exponential horrors to come, realize they’re in hospice-caretaker mode, with little recourse but to comfort the imperiled population with big white lies. The Japanese are skeptical, but what are they supposed to do? They can no sooner stop drinking and eating than they can stop breathing. Will Fukushima be only a partial Chernobyl or verse visa? Halfway around the world, is the news being broken gently for our unknowing benefit? From across the Pacific, we can fret about the fallout –a word which now apparently means radioactive particles of no demonstrated significance. At least this president is not advising us to grab for duct-tape and visqueen. Leave the Japanese the stiff upper lip indispensable to island nations sin salida. For your own self-preservation, turn off the telly and heed experts who haven’t jettisoned the original nuclear power glossary. To those talking heads and blog comment trolls still shilling for the nuclear ambitions of the “Clean Power” Green Energy scam. Sayonara.

American Royalty, beware! Look to England to see the future…

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Bessie’s little boy Charlie was attacked in his car. Or so the headline says. By English students who had just had their tuitions raised, and their grants lowered, while Bonnie Prince(ss) Charlie got his allowance raised. Unlike some, I believe his lifelong Major Crime spree outweighs the number of times he opened the back door in the back seat. That’s beside the point. Sheets, mon, his alleged sexual escapades are TAME compared to those of his family. But that’s what gets the most reporting.
But this attack wasn’t aimed at his arse.
Not specifically at least. More like his family being a large swarm of leeches.
Seems people are noticing, and taking action against, the fact that a small minority of people gets the great majority of the income. If ten percent are getting more money than the rest of the people combined, then it jolly well makes their argument that “Entitlements to the poor” are what’s causing the economy to implode downright laughable.
Let’s try the root word and the historic basis for “entitlement”. Titles like Duke, Count, Viscount, Baron, Earl, King, Prince, Sir, Knight, Madame, Dame.

Strange ladies lying in puddles distributing swords is no basis for Kingship, true executive authority comes from a mandate by the masses, not some Farcical aquatic ceremony. If I were to go round saying i’m the bloody Emperor because some Moistened Bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they’d lock me up, hadn’t they?

So America, in the model expressed by industrialist Jay Gould “I can hire half the poor to murder the other half” has at least one group of roused rabble who are, for reasons known only to their own dark little souls, fighting a revolution not against bondage and servitude but FOR their chains, and to force others to accept the same base estate.
One of their leaders, Christine O’Donnel, New England’s version of our own beloved Sellouts Tancredo, Buck and Malkin, quipped at a Pearl Harbor Party that “tragedies come in threes” and said Pearl Harbor, the death of Elizabeth Edwards, and the unemployment benefit being extended.
Ms Edwards, for decades the Right Wing including the Demon Spawn O’Donnel, have been fervently wishing that ALL liberals, especially the most effective activists and politicians, would simply catch cancer and die. This is the level of their “revolutionary” zeal. If they’re lucky enough not to get put down like the pack of rabid chihuahuas they truly are, by the Other Half of the poor, the ones who the Modern Jay Goulds can’t possibly pay off, while they’re on their way to storm the castles of American Royalty.

One way they could help that slim survival chance along is if they develop enough smarts or lose enough stupids that they don’t try to block the way.

By the way, The BBC schlock-umentary “The Queen” is airing this week on BBC America

Failed Musicians, Earning Potential and Tort Reform

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Charlie Manson, David Koresh… described as “failed musicians” because they played the guitar, and like the vast thundering herd of people who pick the git-fiddle they didn’t make a career of it.
Adolf Hitler, a “failed artist” even though, in the economic blight of inter-bellum Vienna, he actually DID make a modest living selling painted postcards on the street. John Wilkes Boothe, said to be a “Failed actor” by some who had never trod the boards.
Because their names are vilified and the demonization of their memory has to be complete. .Something you’d practically have to be a Documentary Junkie to notice, maybe after a marathon of History Channel BioPics.. Fairly subtle. Insidious even.
What’s almost but not quite as subtle as a Taser to the testicles or a sledgehammer to the lower skull/first vertebra is the demonization of working class people throughout the world in Tort.
The civil liability sections of law.
In civil court, “earning potential” is taken seriously. So seriously, in fact, that it proves the LIE of the Capitalist Dream which is foisted onto the workers, that if we work hard and diligently, do a good job putting money into the pockets of our Wealthy Masters, we, too, could have a chance of acquiring Wealth.
Compare that BULLSHIT with the descriptions of the Workers of Bhopal, India and their children by the Captains of Industry and their Weasel Lawyers.

In the “Unlimited potential for success” of the Free Market, the children of the poorest and most vilified of the working class, were valued at a couple hundred dollars.
Apiece. Per HUMAN life. Would you sell your childs life for that?
This is about as condescending as if the CEO of Union Carbide were visiting a bordello in the slums, his limousine runs over a child and he tosses a $100 bill out the window, rolls up the window and imperiously waves his driver to proceed, with a “Home, James!” type of dismissive command gesture.

This is also the way that the people of the Gulf Coast, even employees of British Petroleum, are being treated in back to back “incidents”.
Not just the Oil “spill” that cost 11 human beings (ahem… that’s by BP count and employees who tell a different tale than BP front office do, are punished….) immediately and God alone knows how many to follow.

There’s also a chemical “leak” that was described by later censured then fired BP employees as “like a fire hose” in Texas City. Tort Reform advocates have done their job well, and limited the final tally to less than a half billion dollars.

The state of Texas is suing BP for a huge release of toxic chemicals—including benzene, a carcinogen—that went on for 40 days at the company’s Texas City refinery last spring. The lawsuit could result in civil penalties reaching into the millions.

The release, as we have reported [1], started April 6, just two weeks before the Deepwater Horizon explosion, when a key piece of equipment failed and, rather than stopping production to fix it, BP attempted repairs [1] while operations were continuing — resulting in a release of 538,000 pounds of toxic chemicals.

Texas City by the way is between Houston and New Orleans on the Gulf Coast corridor, and it’s a hellaciously overcrowded area. If the final tally is less than a hundred million, that’s less than fifty bucks apiece for those affected by it. Would you sell YOUR life or that of your child for that?

“Tort Reform” advocates like FOX Noose Nutwerx and Rush Limbaugh are telling us we’re being a bunch of meanies, picking on those poor, underprivileged Oil Company Big Pigs and the investors who made their fortune destroying the Earth.

Like their business partners Tidewater Oil, Halliburton, Union Carbide, Monsanto, Blackwater (aka “Murderers for Hire, Inc.”) they’re riding high on a wave of Tort Reform giving them in many cases absolute immunity from prosecution for whatever violent crimes (rape, murder, theft by murder) they choose to commit but ABSOLUTE immunity from their actions which result in deaths by the thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions…

Monsanto made a deal in 1983, after more than a decade of denying that their product Agent Orange actually caused cancer and liver disease and general Systemic Failure in the bodies of the victims, the deal was for less than a hundred thousand for each Serviceman who was diagnosed with Agent Orange before that date.. and absolutely NONE for the CIVILIAN citizens of VietNam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Guam… (the shit was loaded onto the planes partly at Anderson AFB on Guam) or for that matter any Military personnel of ANY nation or civilian employee of Monsanto diagnosed AFTER that date.

We’re approaching another deal where British Petroleum will simply skate away from their liability for their Corporate Wrongdoing.

After all, their victims are merely Peasants, and didn’t have nearly the Earning Potential as their Wealthy Masters anyway.

Isn’t it strange…

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The same TeaBags and Reagan Revolution and Christian Coalition freaks who say they’re opposed to Assisted Suicide, gladly and with a hymn on their Lying lips promote Suicide by Tobacco, Suicide by Fast Food, Suicide by dependence on motor vehicles instead of using our muscles. I know there are many of us in America who can’t get out and jog, I can’t walk more than a couple of blocks without pain. Due to my very infamous and uncompensated on-the-JOB injuries. But we aren’t everybody. Although the Cigarettes and the Diabetes will probably make it to where the ones who make all the laughing sneering excuses for their lifestyles won’t be able to walk without pain as they enter the Expensive To Everybody final stages of their lives.

Meanwhile the TeaBags and all their assorted nasty Corporate Suck accomplices, scream as loudly against actually making the Fat Food and Tobacco and Oil and Automobile industries actually pay their way, against any notion that the Tobacco and Fat Food and Automotive industries should stop chanting several THOUSAND times a day at our children to buy their products.
To make the Marketing Geniuses for McDonalds and Ford and Liggett Morris stop funding “news” outlets like Fox which promote the arrogantly murderous notions that Driving One Person In A Car Made For 8 does no harm, and that anybody who points out that they’re lying is a “whiner liberal”. Same with the McDonalds and WalMart and similar Accomplices.
Insisting in Fake “news” stories that are really commercials for the Tobacco Industry that there’s no link between second hand smoke and cancer or other diseases in non-smokers. Deny deny deny.

Denial is one of the key factors in diagnosing Addiction. The kicker of it is, the same statistics their Accomplices on one hand are denying, are provided by Insurance companies. How cool is that?
The Insurance Corporations who make money denying people health care IF their “lifestyles” include eating too much and smoking, and not exercising, are funded from the same pool of Blood Money that funds the industries of Greed and Sloth and slow suicide by deliberately concentrating, burning and inhaling the smoke from Toxic Chemicals.
And then starts wars to get the raw materials or keep the producers of those raw materials in Economic Vassal State slavery to the Corporations.
Like the agricultural interests in Central and South America which aren’t locally owned, no sir, they’re owned in America, that provide the raw material for one edge of the many-edged Suicide Sword.
Capitalism eats itself from the inside.
The Oil producing countries which are similarly owned from the least to the greatest, from the Puppet government “kings” down to the poorest Other Slaves, by the corporations. All backed by U.S. Military power, paid for on credit that will never possibly be repaid, to keep the Peasants in those countries from rebelling against their American Corporate Masters.

In case anybody thinks that’s an anti-American statement, I’ll remind once more that the Corporations keep American workers in thrall as well. Wouldn’t know it to hear the TeaBags rant and rave though. They think or at least SAY they think they’re standing for Liberty.

Yep, and the Right To Life as well. The Liberty of their corporations, and the Right To Life unless the Corporate Masters have to give up some of their privileges to allow those lives to continue.

Hypocrites, liars… a swarm of slugs in search of a bag of salt.

Think of it as enhanced evolution, Un-natural selection, cull the gulls…

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The debate turns now to whether or not to rescue marine animals from the oil. Pelicans and gulls specifically, but there’s more.
Of course, animals that took millions of years to be what they are, should learn to mutate themselves a lot faster. Seagulls and turtles and manatees and sea-otters, fish, crustaceans, jellyfish, plankton, all need to mutate in a matter of days rather than eons.
True, it would be a LOT simpler for the HUMAN species to modify our behavior, not set our entire economic plan on one focus, like Fossil Fuels. The plan with a built in Self-Destruct button that gets armed and starts ticking away once we drill the first well. Of course that first well was “well” over a century ago, BUT there’s still time to ramp down the madness, get back to a point where we can actually turn off he Self Destruct switch.

Of course, it would take eliminating some of the things the Oil Industry advertising partners have been selling us as “essential to the American Lifestyle”. Things like easily available in large quantities “food” that our bodies don’t have the ability to process correctly, at least not in the concentrations which are being sold to us as a “normal” diet.

Thus diabetes, colon cancers, increased. Also increased are heart disease, respiratory, kidney, thyroid, liver, just every part of the Human Biotic System that depends on a certain chemical balance that the McDiet not only doesn’t provide but actively disrupts.

The private automobile, sure, if you could afford to drive it, but, really, the cost to The Rest Of Us to maintain YOUR “right” to a private car is long since out of control. Witness, for instance the Oil Spills. Witness the wars being fought to secure more Oil, publicly subsidized wars. If the person driving sole occupant in a car made for 8 actually had to Pay His Way he wouldn’t be able to do it. The ultimate Welfare Cadillac. We’re required to provide “cheap” oil to the Consumer or be called Terrorist and Traitor. A system where everybody in the entire world is required to chip in to make a really expensive activity “affordable”…. for a privileged few. People in nations where starvation is in the top 5 causes of death have to chip in for YOUR automotive pleasure. But things like Public Transportation and subsidizing better forms of energy harvesting and use, that the bad ol’ wicked “Socialism”.

Summary of that, Public support of the entire population, BAD.
The entire World Population support of an elite minority GOOD.

Public Support of Mega Corporations like McDonalds altering the agricultural economy, GOOD.
Public criticism of the fact that this impoverishes other PEOPLE in other nations, to the point of people who live on gigantic plantation style “food” factory farms starve…. that’s Bolshevism and BAD. The Oil Corporations have been for the past year putting out some very expensive publicity campaigns saying that actually requiring the Corporations (mainly) and the Consumers to PAY what isn’t anywhere near the Real Cost for oil to be a “burden on the Poor”.

The lying sacks of shit actually cut off three quarters of the earths Poor PEOPLE and then claim to be concerned for “The Poor”.
Just ask any TeaBagger, it’s “unconstitutional” to give a damn about Poor PEOPLE.

And the other non-human species that actually FEED us. Even the plants and animals that we don’t incorporate into our diet form the basis of our Food Pyramid. For the past century that’s been known, and widely. Our focus on cultivating and nurturing a few hundred species out of the 2 billion or so on the Planet (that’s probably a low number) and then simply harvesting others, like ocean fish, crustaceans, disrupting the environments that allow the “good” fish and crustaceans to survive and multiply, and of course FEED US…

“Dang, Le-roy, we used be able to get twenty fish a day out of this here creek, now all we’re getting is them fish we always threw back ’cause they ain’t ‘good eatin’. Wonder whut happent to all them thar good fish?”

Well, it’s like this… that’s the Enhanced Evolution, but it’s not an evolution of a single species, but of an ecosystem. Sure there’ll be an ecosystem in the future. Isn’t that what the Oil Company Smugs tell us? Life will go on. Of course the species we’ve unwittingly favored are ones like Anthrax, Salmonella, e-coli, cockroaches, rats, “weeds” of every sort, animal and vegetable, Republicans, other species of Pig, yeah that was gratuitous nastiness but gosh darn it, sometimes you have to slice off a big steaming chunk of Nasty and serve it up RAW.

The parasites that thrive in our bodies, like Malaria, tapeworms, pinworms, parasitic bacteria and amoeba and protozoans, they thrive because the parasites in Human Form took their native support system, called it food, and culled every species that was in competition with that Food.

The aquatic life forms which are being killed off most rapidly are those the Consumer Economy consider to be competition for the not-very-nutritious “food” resources. Just before the Big Spill, the Oil Company Attack Dogs at Fox News were ramping up a campaign to completely ignore the Endangered Species Act on behalf of people who would pay several thousand dollars to rent a boat for a day and catch a marlin or some other honkin’ big deep sea fish. Screaming loudly that the Department of the Interior should ONLY concentrate on stocking lakes and streams with Bass and Catfish and not stocking it with those things that the Bass and Catfish actually eat. More Pesticides, of course Petroleum or Coal based, to kill off not only the “pest” species of insects, but also the ones that are considered “good bugs” so that the Sport Fishermen (just one example) and hunters can buy thousands of dollars worth of equipment and march proudly into the woods and streams and pretend to be Third World Hunter Gatherers.

Never mind that such practices drive whole tribes of ACTUAL indigenous Hunter-Gatherers into extinction. And for what, validation of ones “manhood”? If you’re so much in doubt of your own manhood that you have to resort to that, bubba, ain’t no amount of guns and fishing rods and money spent going to make you stop doubting your manhood. Sure enough ain’t going to Prove yourself.

Teddy Roosevelt, one of the most outspoken “hunters” in U.S. history, is most famous for a scathing rebuke he made to the Logical End of such pursuits. Right here in Colorado in fact. (shameless plug for the motel, but he stayed at the Buffalo Lodge on El Paso Street in Manitou Springs… the people who own it are good folks, Polish Immigrants so I get to make a slam at those “American Owned Business” assholes as well) but the outfitters of a Bear Hunt he had signed on for, had a young bear tied to a tree that he was supposed to shoot.

In his lifetime, Passenger Pigeons went from having migrations where the flocks darkened the sky like clouds, where all you had to do was point your gun upwards and fire and get several birds… to extinction.American Bison, Elk, Grizzly Bears, wolves of several species, cougars, lynx, bobcats… gone from plentiful to almost extinct in his lifetime. At the time, there was a lot of flack coming from the Religious Corner that extinction couldn’t be possible. They were actually of the opinion that they would find mammoths in some remote valley, Jules Verne even wrote about the possibility of finding living dinosaurs.

It’s been modified now, not that “extinction is impossible because God ordained against it”, it’s gone over to “Extinction is just natural, we shouldn’t care about one species or another going extinct”.

Nice of them to volunteer the entire HUMAN species to go extinct.

Think of it as Enhanced Evolution.

Our McSick McCulture McStrikes again.

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So the commercial starts, lady saying “I’ve got a picky eater on my hands…. but when her nutrition started to affect her development our pediatrician recommended Pediasure…”
Now Wait A Damned Minute Here… Sure the kid is cute, has an engaging smile and all, but the kid is 3 years old at the most. Since when does the KID make decisions to only eat junk food? Pediasure was formulated for kids with serious illnesses like Cancer or real digestive problems, who can’t eat regular food.

CAN’T, not “have mommy so whipped that they WON’T”
Jesus, lady, (ok, I’m arguing with a fictional character portrayed by an actress) or… Better Yet, the Mindless Wonders who are targeted by this ad.
This is worse than that damn Morris cat commercials. It’s a proven fact of nature, neither cats nor children will voluntarily starve in the presence of food. They’ve got a built in Smart that over-rides “picky”. If you’re letting your kids run the home to the point that you’re allowing them to be Malnourished by the advertising influenced food choices they make, that doesn’t just border on Child Abuse… it’s over the border, applied for permanent residence status and is looking seriously at citizenship.

Kid doesn’t eat, start rationing the TV and stop buying the damn junk food. If your kid is both poisoning and concurrently starving herself with candy and cookies, don’t buy candy or cookies.

I know, the Media Commercial Culture tells you fast fast easy easy buy buy instant gratification and over consumption of stuff that there’s no such thing as moderation with them to begin with. A Fat Food meal that has enough calories to sustain a human for 2 days, and doing it twice in the day, (starting with a breakfast of some cereal that used to have “sugar” as the first word of the brand name.. “Sugar” Pops, “Sugar” Smacks, “Sugar” Frosted Flakes..)

It’s not a new thing, the fictional musical group “The Archies” had a hit song for 4 weeks with “Sugar Sugar” went to number one because they put the record on a Cereal Box… of Sugar Pops and Sugar Smacks. You wouldn’t pop or smack your kid with your fist, why do it with poison? That was 40 years ago and people are still doing it, only worse.
Hence, turn off the TV. If a show has more than one commercial for candy or Fast Food, don’t let them watch. McDonalds and Hersheys and Keebler don’t own your home, your kid or your TV, YOU do.

You’ll save money several ways, you won’t have your kid down at the doctor every other week, you won’t be buying overpriced junk disguised as an Unhappy Meal, you won’t be buying a “dietary supplement” that’s designed for people in imminent risk of DYING, and you won’t be buying a funeral for your kid when the truly unhealthy lifestyle takes its inevitable toll.

For the first time since the Middle Ages average life expectancy has gone DOWN. At both ends, too, at the high end where we starve our kids by stuffing them with high priced poison, and at the low end where the poorer nations support our irrational “Eat ’em Up Yum” culture and their kids starve by having the leftover land from Hershey and McDonalds and Nestle plantations.

Right Wing Celebrating two more American Deaths.

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Melanie Shouse, a MoveOn Council leader in St. Louis, passed away from breast cancer while still fighting her insurance company for chemotherapy coverage.

While the Tea Party were forcing Congress to dick-the-dog on actual REAL non-privatized Health Care. They’ll rejoice that they “got rid of” another voice testifying to the truth that would counter their LIES.
And, in the spirit of the Bu’ush Regime celebrating the “accidental” death of Anti-War Senator Paul Wellstone, and could scarce contain their glee at the death of Senator Ted Kennedy.. now they get to grave dance for Representative Murtha, another one who stood up and told the TRUTH about Chicken(Hawk) George and the lies he told to start the massive Torture and Babykilling enterprise known as “Operation Iraqi Give Us Your Oilfields Or Die”

I’m sure some of the Tea Party and Republican and other fascist spokesfreaks will object to this, being the hypocrites they truly are. At least they’re consistent in being liars and cowards.

Col. Robert Howard

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Being eulogized on the news, most highly decorated soldier in modern times, retired in 2006 after 50 years in… Newscaster says “leaves behind a grateful nation”.
Grateful for WHAT? That he participated in spreading our Nation into an Imperial State, forcing Our Benevolence down the throats of peoples around the world? Fought for the Freedom of Corporate Thugs like Monsanto to poison his fellow soldiers, pay less than a penny on the dollar of their truly obscene profits and their lawyers walked out of court laughing about it?

Freedom of Exxon-Mobil and Halliburton to build a Feudal Kingdom, subjugate whole cultures? Freedom for truly repulsive SCUM like Blackwater “Xe” to operate above and separate from any law, even Right Here In America?

This Baby-killer Extraordinaire died of Cancer, he SHOULD have died of shame.

Shootout at the OK Fort

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Hood. Texas. At a base theater and sports complex. Some of the News people are already speculating al Qa’eda. Sounds like horseshit to me. Three guys in uniform is all they’ve been told and it leaps to being a Terror Attack.

Look at the rational side here, People… in Uniform… on a Very Large Army Base in the middle of Texas … in the middle of that base… when everybody on base is on alert and have been for the past, oh, let me see… 8 years and almost two months….

Did I mention the fact that it’s an Army base?

Now, on base, you’re not allowed to carry a loaded weapon. That’s a very important safety measure for the soldiers. Aside from the possibility of say, three soldiers going apeshit and killing a bunch of their comrades, there’s the very real probability that somebody would get accidentally shot. The US Army has about a couple of billion man/years worth of experience in the handling of Firearms. They actually know what to expect and take measures to prevent it.

IF somebody representing either a foreign or domestic hostile group managed to penetrate to the heart of Fort Hood with loaded firearms, what kind of really draconian regimentation would the Piggoes have to impose on us in order to “keep us safe”?

Think the Airline inspections are rough, try getting on a military base sometime.

Shit, the Peterson Field front gate allowed Miss Johnnie on base, followed her around, (by the way, they weren’t SPs, they were Mercenary “soldiers” and probably the Blackwater Death Squads) and then they threatened to arrest Miss Johnnie for going on their base, following instructions from the VA, to get her ID card. The best way to describe Miss Johnnie is “frail” at the best of times, VietNam widow, and at the time she thought the cancer was coming back. And these Mercenary Pigs were threatening to arrest her for claiming the health care her late husband left to her.

Given that experience, I find it really difficult to believe that any Foreign Insurgents actually infiltrated the Greenest of Green Zones on Fort Hood Texas.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I sincerely doubt it and the assumption that it’s al Qa’eda is so unjustifiable that… well, there aren’t enough words in the English language to describe how unjustifiable that kind of Panic Mongering Propaganda would be.

We bought them, why can’t we exercise ownership?

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The Big Banks, who were bailed out at public expense.  Now screaming “TYRANNY!” because the Treasury department is telling them not to be so blatant in their piggish ways.

While we’re at it, let’s do the same for some OTHER publicly subsidized “private” corporations. Insurance for instance. Health care. The Wreligious Wrong like to crow that America has the best care for cancer, all the cancer research was either supported directly by government grants or indirectly by tax-deductible “charitable contributions” to the research foundations, and the funding they received wasn’t counted as Taxable income on their end either.

We bought it.

The Aggravated Assaulted and Murder Department, aka “Defense” industry Daddy WarBucks types.

We the people financed their industries, but We the People aren’t getting any share of the profit.

Why is it unconstitutional for the government to Own the industries we paid for? It’s obviously not considered by the Libertarians to be unconstitutional for We the People to be giving them all the money they have.

And these are the same Corporate Welfare Fat Cats who look down on somebody who gets $115 a month in Food Assistance.

Big Insurance greed? COS is Sick Of It!

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KRDO‘s Eric Singer called today’s health care reform rally “very one sided,” so much so, seeing it, “you might have done a double-take.” Because it wasn’t our backwater’s customary Teabag Pity Party where agitated ignorants throw their own hopes for adequate health care into the drink; but KRDO doesn’t report those anti-rallies as one-sided. Of course, KRDO’s advertisers are the medical system conglomerates, pharmaceuticals, and big insurance! Greed. We are sick of it!
Pattie Mulkey addresses health care reform rally
The Gazette repeated their usual mantra that health care reform is unaffordable, but offered a refreshingly frank representation of Pattie’s nuanced address to the energized crowd.

The full Gazette article:

Health care reform activists rally in Springs
October 13, 2009 3:45 PM
MARIA ST.LOUIS-SANCHEZ
THE GAZETTE

Patti Mulkey wants to work and be a productive member of society. Unfortunately, she says, her health insurance doesn’t cover all of the extensive treatment she needs for her chronic kidney disease. She said her insurance plan keeps her alive, but doesn’t provide enough care that would let her go back to work.

“They make decisions without knowing how this affects everyone’s lives,” she said to a small, but vocal group of people at a rally Tuesday for health care reform in front of Colorado springs’ City Hall. “People who are ill don’t want to be ill. They want to be working and well.”

The “Rally Against Greed” attracted about 40 people carrying signs that read “Greed Sucks” and “Jesus Didn’t Charge Premiums.” The rally was organized by the group Change that Works, a liberal organization that endorses a public option for health care.

While protestors were vehement Tuesday, the rally wasn’t close to the size of other local rallies against the proposed reforms. Instead of focusing on the cost of expanded health care, organizers blamed insurance companies for the high costs in relating the stories of people coping with illnesses.

Like Mulkey, many of the people who attended the rally said they had health insurance, but it didn’t pay for their care. Pat Hill said that even with health insurance, she was paying $750 a month in medical bills stemming from complications from cancer treatments.

James Tucker, a local activist, said the people who reject the proposed reforms may regret it.

“If they don’t get involved and join us, they will pay a price when they need the care,” he said.

Race for the cure, race to the source

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I’m seeing a sea of pink gloves as receivers and defensive backs vie for the long bomb; on the sidelines, pink shoes, pink caps, pink jerseys and pennants; on the players’ helmets, pink ribbon decals next to the other patriotic flair. Have you seen the breast cancer awareness t-shirt which reads “Save the Ta-Tas?” When childbearing-age ta-tas are threatened, maybe American men will do more than commemorate cancer. Then we’ll see pink smokestacks, pink chemical tankers, and pink mammogram machines. This industrial pink-wash is as unfunny as pinkeye.

Homeland for Jews & military production – destroyed homes for Palestinians

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The specialty of the Jewish State is destruction, whether it be in Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, or Gaza. Without destruction there can be no expansion of the Jewish State which has now become like a spreading cancer. Central to this Jewish State expansion is the Israeli military-industrial-security complex, the Israeli one becoming an appendage of the American one.

For a Jewish population of 5 1/2 million, 60,000 jobs are directly related to the manufacture of hardware products for the military-industrial-security complex, many for export elsewhere. There are multiple connections to all the US companies also involved in the same production. That’s a lot of firepower to fuel war around the planet, let alone merely in the Middle East. The result? See the BBC’s Audio slideshow: Homeless in Gaza for just one example at a personal level.

Corporate Murderers get away with it… AGAIN!!!

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High Court Rejects Agent Orange Case -3/3/09 -Associated Press

The other two suits were filed by U.S. veterans who got sick too late to claim a piece of the $180 million settlement with makers of the chemical in 1984. In 2006, the Supreme Court deadlocked 4-4 on whether those lawsuits could proceed.

Guess if you die after the “Deadline”.. ….

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court has turned down American and Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange who wanted to pursue lawsuits against companies that made the toxic chemical defoliant used in the Vietnam War.

The justices offer no comment on their action Monday, rejecting appeals in three separate cases, in favor of Dow Chemical, Monsanto and other companies that made Agent Orange and other herbicides used by the military in Vietnam.

Agent Orange has been linked to cancer, diabetes and birth defects among Vietnamese soldiers and civilians and American veterans.

The American plaintiffs blame their cancer on exposure to Agent Orange during the military service in Vietnam. The Vietnamese said the U.S.’ sustained program to prevent the enemy from using vegetation for cover and sustenance caused miscarriages, birth defects, breast cancer, ovarian tumors, lung cancer, Hodgkin’s disease and prostate tumors.

Learn more about Agent Orange

All three cases had been dismissed by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.

The appeals court said that lawsuit brought by the Vietnamese plaintiffs could not go forward because Agent Orange was used to protect U.S. troops against ambush and not as a weapon of war against human populations.

The other two suits were filed by U.S. veterans who got sick too late to claim a piece of the $180 million settlement with makers of the chemical in 1984. In 2006, the Supreme Court deadlocked 4-4 on whether those lawsuits could proceed.

The appeals court ultimately said no to both. In one case, the court said companies are shielded from lawsuits brought by U.S. military veterans or their relatives because the law protects government contractors in certain circumstances who provide defective products.

In the third suit, the appeals court ruled that the companies could transfer claims from state to federal courts.

The cases are Isaacson v. Dow Chemical Co., 08-460, Stephenson v. Dow Chemical Co., 08-461, and Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange v. Dow Chemical Co., 08-470.

Little Eichmanns, anybody?

$180 million divided among thousands of veterans.

Miss Johnnies husband had more than $180K in hospital bills. Still unpaid by the VA.

Monsanto and Dow made BILLIONS selling their Death.

The Military Contractors, they’re shielded from responsibility for the lives of any of their Victims being destroyed or ended.

There’ll be Rejoicing in the Republican Households, they got away with it, AGAIN.

They sell Murder by the Ton.

I haven’t told Miss Johnnie about this one yet.

Hopewinked

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hypeSupreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is fighting pancreatic cancer. What kind of comfort is it that Ginsburg survived the Bush regime in time for President Barack Obama to ride to the rescue and appoint a conservative replacement?! If there’s a centrist path toward repealing Roe v. Wade, surely Obama can find it.

Like he’s done with his cabinets picks, maybe Obama can replace Ginsburg with either a simple minded Republican partisan like the chief justice who flubbed the presidential oath, or a flat-out crook like Alito.

Maybe Obama should reach across the moral divide and ask Rush Limbaugh for a recommendation.

What is this NEObama doing? Either he has no wits at all, or the most powerful political post in the history of the Earth isn’t what it was two weeks ago. Obama gives me the distinct sense that somebody else is in charge.

Barack’s 1/2 measures, 1/4 measures, 1/8 measures and… his new health care ‘reform’

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cancer childObama signs bill for kids health care program. But look again! Like Obama’s ‘withdrawal’ from Iraq, his ‘renouncement of torture,’ now his new health care measure is a fraud too! Everything about Barack Obama is a fraud! Here is the gist of his public pretense regarding giving kids health coverage. Obama is going to leave 4,000,000 children uncovered, even 5 years down the road!

Sure, this is better than worsening the situation as the Bush murderers did, but why such a 1/2 measure. Wait! It’s not even that, is it? These parents need coverage, too. What happened? This is not even a 1/4 measure! Might we have a 1/8 measure being announced by Obama then?

When it came to bailing out the gigantic fraudulently operating Bug Guys out, Barack Obama is not for any 1/2 measures, 1/4 measures, nor 1/8 measures or less. He goes all out at throwing public tax monies their ways. Can’t let the Big Guys suffer, he says. But he feels a little different about the poor kids, does he not? They can wait! That’s the Barack Obama con game in full measure.

Shame on you, Democrats!

RIP- Maria Dimitriadi

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Maria Dimintriadi, an antifascist Greek singer whose music is famous world wide, has just recently died of lung cancer. Her songs have also been an inspiration for the youth uprising against the current Greek regime.

Here are four selections of Maria Dimitriadi’s music on youtube “diokse ti lypi palikari”, MARIA DIMITRIADI, “thalassa platia”, “Mia fora ki ena kero”

Alexandros Grigoropoulos was killed by the Greek police in Athens in December 6th 2008. He was only 15 years old and his death sparked extreme violent riots all over Greece. Here is Maria Dimitriadi’s singing once again used as a tribute to this child murdered by the Greek police. R.I.P. Alexandros Grigoropoulos

Also see The Red-Hearted Voice of Greece; Mourning Maria Dimitriadi By CHRIS PAPALEONARDOS for a link to more music by this great Greek singer.

Work in a capitalist society does make people sick

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chain gangIn a previous commentary here at Not My Tribe … I wrote that there was scientific evidence, as well as everyday common sense evidence, that work as defined and dished out by our upper crust bosses under capitalist society in America makes people sick. I was amazed that such a simple and easily verifiable observation provoked so little intelligent discussion by our esteemed readers! What gives?

Personally, I have easily worked about a dozen made-dangerous-by- capitalism job types in my lifetime and feel fortunate that I have not been totally crippled by the experience. Apparently not all of us have had these work experiences though, and not having actually done any of the dangerous work in America might put rather rosy blinkers over the eyes of some few folk about the dangers of American capitalism as well as world capitalism as a whole?

The experience of writing here on this blog about how work under capitalism eats away at workers, and then getting dissed off personally for having brought the subject up at all, I have found profoundly demoralizing. (what discussion began to occur about my previous commentary was quickly erased from this site//// I hope and trust that it does not happen again?). Why write about everyday life for me and others in this country, when one only gets disrespected and put down as being an idiot for doing so? There may very well be much better venues for political expression than this blog if this sort of thing was to become routine here on Not My Tribe?

Back to the subject at hand though. Much work in the US, as in all other capitalist societies is undertaken with little concern for the physical safety, let alone emotional well being, of the workers doing the actual work. Farm workers are put out into fields with cancer causing chemicals all around, not given adequate water to drink under the hot sun, and then are harassed like they are some sort of human vermin by Immigration. Yes, work in a capitalist society does make people sick, and many farm workers get sick here in America. Only a totally hard and contemptuous person would actually call such observations about the dangerousness of work in capitalist America into any kind of real question, IMO.

Farm work is only one single egregious example of the abuse of the American worker (YES, Migrant workers are from the Americas and should be considered American workers), and this abuse of us all who do the actual work goes on in each and every sector of our economy, and the damage to our health is extreme. This is a rather simple and obvious truth, and it should not need for multiple examples to be listed out to anybody, who has been living in US society and not born with a totally dead soul.

I have vacationed myself (kind of) from writing for over a week now, and will not write any further on Not My Tribe unless I feel it has some value. The value I have seen for my writing previously, was that simple observations of current events that were not totally rank with corporate lies was of some value even if done for only a small readership. That can still be of value if allowed here by the powers to be of this blog?

A blog that is written from a consistent Left perspective is a novelty here in Colorado Springs, as it is everywhere in this imperialist and hate driven society we call the USA. There are those who either don’t want that, or are in fact totally lacking in any appreciation for why Left viewpoints need to be given opportunity to rise up from out under the blanket of total corporate censorship and non-sponsorship of such? The motives are many for some folk not wanting a Left perspective ever to be expressed anywhere and always, and I won’t attempt to guess the motives of all who dislike what I have said about work under capitalism. We live in a soceity with multiple life viewpoints and perspectives.

Work under this capitalist society is a sickening experience, and some relief from it can actually be obtained by just being exposed to some simple honesty. That is what I strive to do when I write my commentaries here on Not My Tribe. Most all of you who have read this commentary actually do realize the simple truth that work under bosses put above us in the work force as overseers, is a profoundly alienating and deadly daily grind to our souls and our bodies. Not hard to figure out. I will write about it and other similar topics that express simple truths from a Left perspective. (if allowed to do so?)

Jonah and the Obama Chinese food story

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(Editor’s note: Jonah posted this account yesterday on Alfrankenweb, which reached the Rec List on Daily Kos. Now I’m fielding emails and calls inquiring whether Jonah is real. Here are the Alfrankenweb posts, until Jonah can give us an update.)

OK, so this is the story as I finally got straight.

I was out scrounging scrap metal today, to get enough food money to last us through the weekend.

I came home and Miss Johnnie, my landlady, was crying and showing me a table full of food.

I thought one of our friends or my relatives had come over and bought for us.

But it was bought, according to the lady who owns the restaurant, by Barack Obama over the phone.

After the Obama Campaign Workers came to the door, and were listening to Miss Johnnie describe why she, a registered republican, was voting for Obama.

She showed a picture of her daughter Michelle the Marine who had been deployed to Iraq twice, and is still pending discharge because of the Stop Loss.

All her kids in fact.

And her late husband, who had died of Agent Orange from his service in VietNam.

About that time the campaign workers started making phone calls and she got to talk to Obama.

She was in tears while telling me all this so I got the story wrong at first.

She talked about the War, about the health care bill that got turned down because it was “too expensive” but the Rich Thieves got to take 16 times as much just because they had broken the economy with their wild schemes.

About the VA messing around with the repayment of the medical expenses she had borne by herself over the 12 years since her husband died, over nitpicky paperwork errors on Their Part.

About me being out against doctor’s orders scrounging scrap metal just to make it through til monday.

One of the volunteers was a Marine and a Nam Vet, so much for the notion that Veterans are all voting for McCain, (despite his continued votes to screw the veterans the same way the VA is messing up Miss Johnnie’s paperwork and payments)

Miss Johnnie, understandably, doesn’t talk without a great deal of emotion on those subjects.

So after the Volunteers left, about 20 minutes later a very large order of Chinese food charged to Obama came to the door.

The Delivery man is a recent immigrant and doesn’t speak English, so he called his boss, who confirmed it but said it was supposed to be a surprise.

Enough food to last until Monday.

I came in with this really pitiful half gallon of milk and about a meal worth of food and some cat food.. and she was crying and showing me all the food.

And said that Obama had bought it for us.

I didn’t get the story quite right the first time, so I thought he had been there in person.

Not quite, but you know how in the Churches people say “I’ll be there in spirit”?

He was there in a way that really counts.

McCain has a fake falsified made-up “Joe the Plumber” who turns out to be a white-collar person named Sam and not even a plumber…

Obama now has Miss Johnnie the Viet-Nam Widow and a Real Joe the Ex-Roofer with Busted Feet.

That’s why Obama wins.

He’s Real, his concern for the people is Real, and the people who supporting him, WE’RE real too.

…

Hell, I don’t know where to research it myself.

There’s been a flood of out-of-state volunteers past two days, because Ms Sarah was doing her Schtick at the baseball park to a tame crowd.

Tame as in no Nasty Obama Supporters being let through to ask all kinds of icky-poo questions.

I went in yesterday and mentioned at the welcome desk at Obama HQ about the FreakSquad chalking the death-threat or death-wish either one on the sidewalk essentially directly across the street from them.

The restaurant is “Coal Mine Dragon” at 1720 W Uintah, the Springs. The lady who runs it is Second Generation Chinese. She told Miss Johnnie that it was Obama paying the tab, and that it was supposed to have been secret.

If it was merely the Volunteers calling in the order, and the restaurant owner not getting it out clearly distinguished, that’s still great.

as to was he the one who spoke to her, he identified himself as such.

If he was a clever impostor doing a good imitation that’s more improbable.

Not much reason anybody would, especially as Obama wouldn’t tolerate it.

if he confirms it himself is the best proof I could think of.

…

Who has that kind of pull to hotline direct to Obama during a rally?

Congressman Mark Udall, that’s who.

He told Miss Johnnie about being a Marine himself, I had thought “damn, that sounds a lot like Mark Udall…”

And, sure enough…

…

Run the pack of clowns out of office.

There’s some tidying up to do, seems like a herd of Elephants has gone through the national living room, pooping on the floors, breaking stuff and drinking out of the toilet.

If I’m not mistaken, some poor clerk at the VA in Denver is going to have a rude surprise Monday morning.

Mark Udall is running on Workers Rights, and Veterans Affairs… very large issues here in Colorado.

The “Terror Connection” they’ve been trying to tar Obama with, with Udall it’s “the Department of Peace” and Labor Unions.

His opponent is making big talk from those same National Attack Ads just like with the “Daschle Democrats” Ads with the bobble heads…

Well, Daschle was proven RIGHT about Iraq.

Trying to paint Udall as a hippie-dippy doper (seriously, they’ve been using that angle) when he’s a Marine and a Nam Vet, I think they bit off a chunk of the wrong sandwich.

I don’t know what all the names of the meals are, one involved a lot of chicken and broccoli, mushrooms… oh man..

Another same recipe, stir fried, with steak in it.

Cabbage rolls and rice with more chicken in it…

I think I like this restaurant and plan to give them my patronage.

The bill came to just under $40 bux.

If you’re in Colorado, vote no on 47 and there’s two more Blatantly union busting amendments there.

Oh, there’s an attack ad on right now….

These freaks need to be slapped repeatedly, in fact I’ll start a thread about that…

…

I had to reboot the puter, knocked my keyboard connection loose.

We have one cat, Keenan, neutered male.

She built him cat-runs at three of the windows, we can’t let him outside because our next-door neighbor is a Confirmed Cat-Kicker.

Last summer she contracted Leishmaniasis, which is also called the Baghdad Boil, in Mesopotamia it’s spread by the bite of a flea…

They gave her Antibiotics for it, and for the Mycelin Resistant Staph Aureole that goes with it.

This has affected her inner ear, because the antibiotics were so strong.

At the time we thought it was her lymphatic cancer coming out of remission.

After her husband died, she was waiting on getting her Widow’s Pension, the VA wasn’t even acknowledging that her husband had died of Agent Orange.

It took a few years for that. That’s when she had the lymphoma.

She was out on the street while taking chemo.

Last year she started to try for her CHAMPVA benefits, so she could get meaningful health care.

The ones who come to the forum to blast “Socialized Medicine” don’t know the least part of what the hell they’re putting out, or putting down.

We had the paperwork and forms from the VA to take to the Air Force to get her Widowed Spouse ID card, to get the CHAMPVA started.

We rode the bus across town to Peterson AFB, they allowed her onto the base, but not me, made me get off the bus and wait outside.

Which I prefer anyway, when I left the Air Force, I LEFT.

The guards at the gate, they weren’t Air Force, didn’t have any insignia or rank or name tags, but I knew they weren’t SPs because the SPs are stone freaky about maintaining a spit-shined appearance.

Turns out they’re mercenaries, I thought at first Blackwater but it seems it’s a different group of Mercs.

All the same to me.

At the Admin building another Mercenary, not Air Force personnel, clerk told her that the VA was full of shit, everything changed with nine eleven, don’t you know there’s a war on yadda yadda and threatened to have her arrested.

This year we finally got her ID card, got her CHAMPVA started.

Any Vets reading this, be-the-hell-ware because this is what they’re fixin’ to do to YOU next if McInasane gets in power.

So she’s owed 11 years worth of reimbursement for all the medical care she had to pay for out of pocket, even with the next to worthless Colorado Indigent Care Program insurance (Look up “worthless” in the dictionary and right next to it will be a picture of CICP) one of those “Massive Entitlement Programs For Bums” that McCain bitches about.

She got some reimbursement but is owed about 5 times as much more.

They keep bouncing her claims back, saying the forms are “incomplete”.

Utter bullshit, because I went over their claim as to what information was missing, and it was all right there in the papers.

That’s why I believe somebody from Mark Udall’s office is going to give them a Nasty Note Monday.

That’s the status so far.

The Health Care meltdown in Colorado is almost as bad as it was in Texas when I left.

Privatized everything. Well, I can testify, it didn’t work in Texas, and it surely ain’t working in Colorado either.

…

I get SSI and Medicaid. Miss Johnnie gets a Widows pension and CHAMPVA.

I supplement it by repairing computers and selling them, and the Scrap Metal.

I’ve been making more money off the scrap metal than the computers though.

The internet is part of our Cable package.

And, it’s necessary for the repairs I do to the computers, otherwise we would have ditched that part and just used dial-up.

The past month I haven’t been able to scrap, doctor’s orders.

That drop in income brought us near the edge.

We have for vehicles three bicycles, two of them mine, and she can’t ride hers anymore because of some of her injuries.

And ride the bus for further transportation.

I don’t drive anyway, never learned because it would be too dangerous.

Trust me on that.

But I’ve been getting on fairly well using the bicycles.

Until last month.

On top of that, scrap prices are down, way down… and there’s more competition for what scrap there is.

This is what’s happening across America.

I find out on November 5th what exact kind of surgery is going to be needed, for the foot I thought was uninjured 16 years ago.

I do know part of it is going to involve removal of a bone, the Cuboid.

I won’t have a leg to stand on.

It would be really really cool, you know, if this situation were anywhere near being unique.

Fact is, it ain’t.

That’s why there’s this:

I’m not dancing with joy that McCain is going to lose…

I’m rejoicing that America now has a chance to WIN.

…

Thanks, but we’re getting there. You might need it yourself soon anyway.

Stocks are tanking like mad.

Gas prices are down to 3 a gallon but that’s mostly because so much business, small and large, has crashed that there’s a huge drop in actual consumption.

First law of economics, supply and demand.

There’s going to be money coming in, just a question of when.

We both know how to make money, just we aren’t going to try doing anything on credit, build from a cash-only base.

Johnnie used to be a business owner, she and her husband did custom printing. Before his illness got to him they had over a million in the bank.

That’s how quick a catastrophic illness can do you down.

“difficult” and “impossible” are two separate equations, if something is difficult that just means it’s possible.

It’s a challenge more than anything. I hope.

I’ve got good skills I can adapt, like these computer skills.

This one I’m using now I built up from parts I salvaged, part of the scrap metal deal.

Here in town there WAS a steady supply of one-off computers, like, HP would come out with the newest mainboard and all the HP employees would get a discount on the new one, and either sell the older ones cheap or donate them to the ARC or Goodwill. Here’s a really good business tip, something you might want to invest yourself into, a new mainboard combination comes out roughly every 6 months and the older one, the one that’s King of the Jungle today, is going to be only worth half of what it is today.
Same with all the parts.

And for all practical purposes, the best there is today, in 6 months will still be able to run any software package there is. Not much point in buying a brand new computer, unless you’re developing software specifically for the newest chipset. so I’m developing a base of people who will want to buy good computers, that’ll do whatever they want, just at an amazingly lower price than they would pay to HP or Dell.
it’s more a matter of timing your purchases than anything else.

Now HP is closing down most of their local operations here, moving some to Albuquerque and some to iirc Little Rock.

But I’ll adapt. Part of it is that I don’t have a huge monetary investment in anything, mostly my investment has been in skills.

At least we have a plan, and are getting, slowly to be sure, but it is building up, the means to implement the plan.

Dire straits are familiar territory for me. At least I know my way around.

There’s good coming onto the horizon.

Stop the Senate of would-be thieves!

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wallstreet-bailoutCall your Band of Thieving Senators now to tell them you don’t want to give $700 Billion –more honestly likely to be $5 Trillion– to the robber bankers of Wall Street! Telephone Colorado Senators Ken Salazar at 202.224.5852 and Wayne Allard at 202.224.5941 NOW. Why not call OBAMA too! (phone: 202-224-2854) Tell them you want them to consult with at least ONE economist of repute! At least one analyst not on the corporate payroll. As he promised yesterday, Michael Moore suggests a 10 PART PLAN, only IF pressure can be brought to bear right now to stop the Senate bill.

Friends,

The richest 400 Americans — that’s right, just four hundred people — own MORE than the bottom 150 million Americans combined. 400 rich Americans have got more stashed away than half the entire country! Their combined net worth is $1.6 trillion. During the eight years of the Bush Administration, their wealth has increased by nearly $700 billion — the same amount that they are now demanding we give to them for the “bailout.” Why don’t they just spend the money they made under Bush to bail themselves out? They’d still have nearly a trillion dollars left over to spread amongst themselves!

Of course, they are not going to do that — at least not voluntarily. George W. Bush was handed a $127 billion surplus when Bill Clinton left office. Because that money was OUR money and not his, he did what the rich prefer to do — spend it and never look back. Now we have a $9.5 trillion debt. Why on earth would we even think of giving these robber barons any more of our money?

I would like to propose my own bailout plan. My suggestions, listed below, are predicated on the singular and simple belief that the rich must pull themselves up by their own platinum bootstraps. Sorry, fellows, but you drilled it into our heads one too many times: There… is… no… free… lunch. And thank you for encouraging us to hate people on welfare! So, there will be no handouts from us to you. The Senate, tonight, is going to try to rush their version of a “bailout” bill to a vote. They must be stopped. We did it on Monday with the House, and we can do it again today with the Senate.

It is clear, though, that we cannot simply keep protesting without proposing exactly what it is we think Congress should do. So, after consulting with a number of people smarter than Phil Gramm, here is my proposal, now known as “Mike’s Rescue Plan.” It has 10 simple, straightforward points. They are:

1. APPOINT A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR TO CRIMINALLY INDICT ANYONE ON WALL STREET WHO KNOWINGLY CONTRIBUTED TO THIS COLLAPSE. Before any new money is expended, Congress must commit, by resolution, to criminally prosecute anyone who had anything to do with the attempted sacking of our economy. This means that anyone who committed insider trading, securities fraud or any action that helped bring about this collapse must go to jail. This Congress must call for a Special Prosecutor who will vigorously go after everyone who created the mess, and anyone else who attempts to scam the public in the future.

2. THE RICH MUST PAY FOR THEIR OWN BAILOUT. They may have to live in 5 houses instead of 7. They may have to drive 9 cars instead of 13. The chef for their mini-terriers may have to be reassigned. But there is no way in hell, after forcing family incomes to go down more than $2,000 dollars during the Bush years, that working people and the middle class are going to fork over one dime to underwrite the next yacht purchase.

If they truly need the $700 billion they say they need, well, here is an easy way they can raise it:

a) Every couple who makes over a million dollars a year and every single taxpayer who makes over $500,000 a year will pay a 10% surcharge tax for five years. (It’s the Senator Sanders plan. He’s like Colonel Sanders, only he’s out to fry the right chickens.) That means the rich will still be paying less income tax than when Carter was president. This will raise a total of $300 billion.

b) Like nearly every other democracy, charge a 0.25% tax on every stock transaction. This will raise more than $200 billion in a year.

c) Because every stockholder is a patriotic American, stockholders will forgo receiving a dividend check for one quarter and instead this money will go the treasury to help pay for the bailout.

d) 25% of major U.S. corporations currently pay NO federal income tax. Federal corporate tax revenues currently amount to 1.7% of the GDP compared to 5% in the 1950s. If we raise the corporate income tax back to the level of the 1950s, that gives us an extra $500 billion.

All of this combined should be enough to end the calamity. The rich will get to keep their mansions and their servants, and our United States government (“COUNTRY FIRST!”) will have a little leftover to repair some roads, bridges and schools.

3. BAIL OUT THE PEOPLE LOSING THEIR HOMES, NOT THE PEOPLE WHO WILL BUILD AN EIGHTH HOME. There are 1.3 million homes in foreclosure right now. That is what is at the heart of this problem. So instead of giving the money to the banks as a gift, pay down each of these mortgages by $100,000. Force the banks to renegotiate the mortgage so the homeowner can pay on its current value. To insure that this help does no go to speculators and those who have tried to make money by flipping houses, this bailout is only for people’s primary residence. And in return for the $100K paydown on the existing mortgage, the government gets to share in the holding of the mortgage so that it can get some of its money back. Thus, the total initial cost of fixing the mortgage crisis at its roots (instead of with the greedy lenders) is $150 billion, not $700 billion.

And let’s set the record straight. People who have defaulted on their mortgages are not “bad risks.” They are our fellow Americans, and all they wanted was what we all want and most of us still get: a home to call their own. But during the Bush years, millions of them lost the decent paying jobs they had. Six million fell into poverty. Seven million lost their health insurance. And every one of them saw their real wages go down by $2,000. Those who dare to look down on these Americans who got hit with one bad break after another should be ashamed. We are a better, stronger, safer and happier society when all of our citizens can afford to live in a home that they own.

4. IF YOUR BANK OR COMPANY GETS ANY OF OUR MONEY IN A “BAILOUT,” THEN WE OWN YOU. Sorry, that’s how it’s done. If the bank gives me money so I can buy a house, the bank “owns” that house until I pay it all back — with interest. Same deal for Wall Street. Whatever money you need to stay afloat, if our government considers you a safe risk — and necessary for the good of the country — then you can get a loan, but we will own you. If you default, we will sell you. This is how the Swedish government did it and it worked.

5. ALL REGULATIONS MUST BE RESTORED. THE REAGAN REVOLUTION IS DEAD. This catastrophe happened because we let the fox have the keys to the henhouse. In 1999, Phil Gramm authored a bill to remove all the regulations that governed Wall Street and our banking system. The bill passed and Clinton signed it. Here’s what Sen. Phil Gramm, McCain’s chief economic advisor, said at the bill signing:

“In the 1930s … it was believed that government was the answer. It was believed that stability and growth came from government overriding the functioning of free markets.

“We are here today to repeal [that] because we have learned that government is not the answer. We have learned that freedom and competition are the answers. We have learned that we promote economic growth and we promote stability by having competition and freedom.

“I am proud to be here because this is an important bill; it is a deregulatory bill. I believe that that is the wave of the future, and I am awfully proud to have been a part of making it a reality.”

This bill must be repealed. Bill Clinton can help by leading the effort for the repeal of the Gramm bill and the reinstating of even tougher regulations regarding our financial institutions. And when they’re done with that, they can restore the regulations for the airlines, the inspection of our food, the oil industry, OSHA, and every other entity that affects our daily lives. All oversight provisions for any “bailout” must have enforcement monies attached to them and criminal penalties for all offenders.

6. IF IT’S TOO BIG TO FAIL, THEN THAT MEANS IT’S TOO BIG TO EXIST. Allowing the creation of these mega-mergers and not enforcing the monopoly and anti-trust laws has allowed a number of financial institutions and corporations to become so large, the very thought of their collapse means an even bigger collapse across the entire economy. No one or two companies should have this kind of power. The so-called “economic Pearl Harbor” can’t happen when you have hundreds — thousands — of institutions where people have their money. When you have a dozen auto companies, if one goes belly-up, we don’t face a national disaster. If you have three separately-owned daily newspapers in your town, then one media company can’t call all the shots (I know… What am I thinking?! Who reads a paper anymore? Sure glad all those mergers and buyouts left us with a strong and free press!). Laws must be enacted to prevent companies from being so large and dominant that with one slingshot to the eye, the giant falls and dies. And no institution should be allowed to set up money schemes that no one can understand. If you can’t explain it in two sentences, you shouldn’t be taking anyone’s money.

7. NO EXECUTIVE SHOULD BE PAID MORE THAN 40 TIMES THEIR AVERAGE EMPLOYEE, AND NO EXECUTIVE SHOULD RECEIVE ANY KIND OF “PARACHUTE” OTHER THAN THE VERY GENEROUS SALARY HE OR SHE MADE WHILE WORKING FOR THE COMPANY. In 1980, the average American CEO made 45 times what their employees made. By 2003, they were making 254 times what their workers made. After 8 years of Bush, they now make over 400 times what their average employee makes. How this can happen at publicly held companies is beyond reason. In Britain, the average CEO makes 28 times what their average employee makes. In Japan, it’s only 17 times! The last I heard, the CEO of Toyota was living the high life in Tokyo. How does he do it on so little money? Seriously, this is an outrage. We have created the mess we’re in by letting the people at the top become bloated beyond belief with millions of dollars. This has to stop. Not only should no executive who receives help out of this mess profit from it, but any executive who was in charge of running his company into the ground should be fired before the company receives any help.

8. STRENGTHEN THE FDIC AND MAKE IT A MODEL FOR PROTECTING NOT ONLY PEOPLE’S SAVINGS, BUT ALSO THEIR PENSIONS AND THEIR HOMES. Obama was correct yesterday to propose expanding FDIC protection of people’s savings in their banks to $250,000. But this same sort of government insurance must be given to our nation’s pension funds. People should never have to worry about whether or not the money they’ve put away for their old age will be there. This will mean strict government oversight of companies who manage their employees’ funds — or perhaps it means that the companies will have to turn over those funds and their management to the government. People’s private retirement funds must also be protected, but perhaps it’s time to consider not having one’s retirement invested in the casino known as the stock market. Our government should have a solemn duty to guarantee that no one who grows old in this country has to worry about ending up destitute.

9. EVERYBODY NEEDS TO TAKE A DEEP BREATH, CALM DOWN, AND NOT LET FEAR RULE THE DAY. Turn off the TV! We are not in the Second Great Depression. The sky is not falling. Pundits and politicians are lying to us so fast and furious it’s hard not to be affected by all the fear mongering. Even I, yesterday, wrote to you and repeated what I heard on the news, that the Dow had the biggest one day drop in its history. Well, that’s true in terms of points, but its 7% drop came nowhere close to Black Monday in 1987 when the stock market in one day lost 23% of its value. In the ’80s, 3,000 banks closed, but America didn’t go out of business. These institutions have always had their ups and downs and eventually it works out. It has to, because the rich do not like their wealth being disrupted! They have a vested interest in calming things down and getting back into the Jacuzzi.

As crazy as things are right now, tens of thousands of people got a car loan this week. Thousands went to the bank and got a mortgage to buy a home. Students just back to college found banks more than happy to put them into hock for the next 15 years with a student loan. Life has gone on. Not a single person has lost any of their money if it’s in a bank or a treasury note or a CD. And the most amazing thing is that the American public hasn’t bought the scare campaign. The citizens didn’t blink, and instead told Congress to take that bailout and shove it. THAT was impressive. Why didn’t the population succumb to the fright-filled warnings from their president and his cronies? Well, you can only say ‘Saddam has da bomb’ so many times before the people realize you’re a lying sack of shite. After eight long years, the nation is worn out and simply can’t take it any longer.

10. CREATE A NATIONAL BANK, A “PEOPLE’S BANK.” If we really are itching to print up a trillion dollars, instead of giving it to a few rich people, why don’t we give it to ourselves? Now that we own Freddie and Fannie, why not set up a people’s bank? One that can provide low-interest loans for all sorts of people who want to own a home, start a small business, go to school, come up with the cure for cancer or create the next great invention. And now that we own AIG, the country’s largest insurance company, let’s take the next step and provide health insurance for everyone. Medicare for all. It will save us so much money in the long run. And we won’t be 12th on the life expectancy list. We’ll be able to have a longer life, enjoying our government-protected pension, and living to see the day when the corporate criminals who caused so much misery are let out of prison so that we can help reaclimate them to civilian life — a life with one nice home and a gas-free car that was invented with help from the People’s Bank.

Yours,
Michael Moore

P.S. Call your Senators now. Here’s a backup link in case we crash that site again. They are going to attempt their own version of the Looting of America tonight. And let your reps know if you agree with my 10-point plan.