Thursday, June 7, 2012

Obama takes superPAC money and does the will of his donors--he won't do anything to reverse Citizens United



"As super PAC money from millionaires, billionaires and corporations dominates the 2012 election campaign and may determine the outcome, former Republican presidential candidate John McCain filed an unsolicited brief with the Supreme Court asking the Court to rethink its ruling in Citizens United that "unlimited political contributions to "independent" committees by corporations do not lead to "corruption or the appearance of corruption." (and as subsequently held by a Federal Appeals Court, wealthy individuals)

"McCain was joined in his brief by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). At about the same time, Democratic and Republican attorneys general from 22 states and the District of Columbia filed a brief with the Supreme Court arguing that the history and present reality of political corruption in many states means that Citizens United should not apply to state campaign finance laws...but the president--who takes money from unlimited superPACs--doesn't care. This guy is useless. We'd be better off with McCain because campaign finance reform is THE most important issue we face."~Cenk Uygur

The Fortunate 400


The Fortunate 400 - top 400 wealthiest Americans pay an average of 11.6% in taxes. The poorest class of Americans pay 25%. In a depressed economy, this doesn't work. I couldn't care any less if the wealthy get tax breaks during a strong economy. But as long as the economy is in the tank, the wealthy need to pony up and help pull us out of the mess they helped to get us into. Once the economy produces substantial growth from which it can gain momentum, give them their tax cuts back, who cares? but the whole philosophy with that should be:

No tax cuts:
A: during a bad economic slump, and/or
B: while funding multiple wars

The dumbest thing any president did (other than riding in an open convertible) is cut taxes while embroiled in two wars. Hello budget problems in a debt based economy!

GM producing 70% of autos outside US

GM producing 70% of autos outside US

Dan Akerson, CEO of GM, says that seven out of 10 GM automobiles are built outside the U.S.  They have 11 joint ventures with Chinese government controlled auto manufacturers.

They are moving R&D to China.

When the federal government bails out an industry or provides tax incentives or subsidies, or when state economic development agencies do the same, there need to be terms that benefit the U.S. in terms of production and job growth.  We can’t subsidize offshoring.  Producing here and selling to our wealth consumer market need to go together.

Vince Wade has the video documenting GM’s actions.

Under Our Skin - Lyme Disease in Explicit Detail

According to the film, Under Our Skin, Lyme Disease gets misdiagnosed as other serious neuro-muscular diseases (ALS,MS). A patient is diagnosed with ALS, therapy is non-responsive, and if Lyme disease had been properly diagnosed, a more appropriate therapy would have been implemented sooner with better results. Lyme disease mimics other diseases, mostly neuro-muscular, but also Fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and others.




Lyme disease is caused by bacteria called Borrelia burgdorferi (B. burgdorferi). Black legged ticks carry these bacteria. The ticks pick up the bacteria when they bite mice or deer that are infected with Lyme disease. You can get the disease if you are bitten by an infected tick.



Lyme disease is the fastest growing infectious disease in the US currently.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Toys Col. Gentleman wishes he had when he was a lad but they hadn't been invented yet

A Crossroads

The predominant subject matter of my blog depresses me. Paying such close attention to how things work in the world depresses me. Being awake and knowing about what's really going on depresses me (even if I don't have the complete picture), especially when so many are still asleep and refuse to wake up.

I've joined a band, the Loafing Oafs. I have a bunch of songs to learn, and that's how I am going to spend most of my free time. This does NOT depress me.



I'll still post occasional articles more along the lines of what I posted the last four or five times. I'll try to post more positive stuff, though that sounds silly. And of course, I'll post details about the Loafing Oafs as they become available.

Peace. May we get to the point where we understand what that word REALLY means.