Daily Topics - Thursday - May 13th 2010...Outsourcing. Dead Canadians? Night Reading? OH MY
Hour One - Why won't American companies lobby for better education for American workers instead of importing them? Matt Welch Editor in Chief, Reason Magazine www.reason.com
Hour Two - Where are all the dead Canadians and why does Big Pharma want more seniors to have to choose between dog food and pills? Peter Pitts www.drugwonks.com
Plus...Geeky Science..If you're reading at night...beware.....
Hour Three - How extensive is right wing and fossil fuel industry infiltration of the global warming debate? Brian Sussman www.theclimategatebook.com
Plus...Will our oceans survive? Stiv Wilson The 5 Gyres Project 5gyres.org
Comments
Is this letter correct???
FORMS ARE GOING FAST- SIGN UP TODAY! Becoming Illegal ( Actual letter from an South Dakota resident and sent to his senator) The Honorable Tim Johnson731 Hart Senate Office BuildingPhone (202) 224 3254Washington DC , 20510 Dear Senator Johnson, As a native South Dakotan and excellent customer of the Internal Revenue Service, I am writing to ask for your assistance. I have contacted the Department of Homeland Security in an effort to determine the process for becoming an illegal alien and they referred me to you. My primary reason for wishing to change my status from U.S. Citizen to illegal alien stems from the bill which was recently passed by the Senate and for which you voted. If my understanding of this bill's provisions is accurate, as an illegal alien who has been in the United States for five years, all I need to do to become a citizen is to pay a $2,000 fine and income taxes for three of the last five years. I know a good deal when I see one and I am anxious to get the process started before everyone figures it out. Simply put, those of us who have been here legally have had to pay taxes every year so I'm excited about the prospect of avoiding two years of taxes in return for paying a $2,000 fine. Is there any way that I can apply to be illegal retroactively? This would yield an excellent result for me and my family because we paid heavy taxes in 2004 and 2005. Additionally, as an illegal alien I could begin using the local emergency room as my primary health care provider. Once I have stopped paying premiums for medical insurance, my accountant figures I could save almost $10,000 a year. Another benefit in gaining illegal status would be that my 3 daughters would receive preferential treatment relative to there engineering degree applications, as well as 'in-state' tuition rates for many colleges throughout the United States for my son. Lastly, I understand that illegal status would relieve me of the burden of renewing my driver's license and making those burdensome car insurance premiums. This is very important to me given that I still have college age children driving my car. If you would provide me with an outline of the process to become illegal (retroactively if possible) and copies of the necessary forms, I would be most appreciative. Thank you for your assistance. Your Loyal Constituent, (hoping to reach 'illegal alien' status rather than just a bonafide citizen of the USA ) Todd TraskWasta, South Dakota Get your Forms (NOW)!!Call your Internal Revenue Service at 1-800-289-1040. (Please pass this on to your friends so they can save on this great offer
"Ask your undertaker if Vioxx is right for you!" -- Bill Maher
Peter Pitts is just another proof that Repub's only hire incompetent people to prove Gov't doesn't work. Why ask them about something they don't have expertise in (heck of job BROWNIE) or Joe the dumber comes to mind??????
Re: Caller Glenn at 1:40 (eastern), pharma advertising - TV ads DO NOT SELL PILLS!
They BUY influence over the media!
I would advise against entering a lottery where you might win big but everyone gets the out-the-door prize of loss of citizenship. You have to be a non-citizen to be an ilegal alien eh?. The letter appears to be tongue-in-cheek but I think it's a Tea Party organizing tool.
Yesterday Thom did a segment with Dan Gainor, who was complaining about the lefts use of certain words like "Nazi" and "Fascist."
I admitted to using the word "fascist" in connection with certain GOPhers, GWBush included. I tend to use Mussolini's definition of "Corporatist." Now I offer an quote directly from Mr. Gainor's website:
According to the news media, grassroots activism and protests are patriotic – unless they are conservative. The media have characterized conservative Tea Party protests as phony grassroots by calling them “Astroturf,” tying them to corporate lobbying efforts. But at the same time they’ve ignored corporate sponsored environmentalism.
http://www.businessandmedia.org/
How's that corporate sponsored environmentalism going for you in the Gulf of Mexico there, Dan? Unfortunately our National Security State exists at this point to further the interests of the Corporate interests.
Perhaps the international legal community can try to start to get a handle on our aggressive covert actions:
@gerald, re:Is this letter correct?
If you think this letter is something more than a right wing a-hole being a smart ass, its no wonder you think this is the United States of HELL.
C'mon.
N
Thinking minds are socialists.
I'd like to hear more about forced and coersced dependency. Think about all the ways we take the hook and become dependent upon monopolies, which rob us of our own self-reliance.
Most of the drug research is performed here in the US and it is funded by the NHS, NIS, and CDC. The reseach is perfomed by Universities. Look across the street of any major University Medical Lab, and you will find a drug company - literally. Read "The truth about the drug companies"
@Maxrot, I do not know if this letter is true. That is the reason why I have copied it to ask about it. We have primarily a conservative media and so we need help in separating the garbage from the truth.
To the Herbalist that called: Why doesn't all the Herbalist (nation wide) form a co-op, same for all the unions (ALL-nation wide), or Chiropractors, form a co-op health insurance to cover their services??
@ZeroG -
Does Mr. Gainor give any examples of this alleged "corporate sponsored environmentalism"? I'd be REALLY interested to see some of that!
re: TV's and Computer light suppressing hormones... if this is true, isn't my computer screen at work keeping me awake? I can't tell you how much I just want to nod off here at my desk.
N
@gerald, THE LETTER IS BS!!!!
Does that help you?
N
Tea Party Crazy Has a History By William Blum
May 12, 2010
Here we go again, undereducated HACK of a weather man, more BS. I ASK WHY?????
@maxrot re: #51: Today's college grad has 2 choices; join the army, or work at Walmart. Do you want to face death and dismemberment every day? Do you want to work in the grimiest, squalid conditions? Do you want to have to stand at attention at 5AM while a red-faced CO screams in your face?....or do you want to join the army?
@Mstaggerlee
And one has to look no further than Earth Day 2010 to see the corporate fingerprint on so-called green activist efforts. Major U.S. corporations like Proctor & Gamble, Siemens, Wells Fargo, AT&T, UPS, Philips and Ford all had a major presence at the so-called Earth Day “Climate Rally” on the National Mall back on April 25. That’s in addition to a sponsorship from NASA, a federal government entity and media outlets, including the Washington Post and Gannett’s USA Today.
So you have all the components – corporate interests and government bureaucracies collaborating to push a political agenda. Isn’t that the textbook definition of “Astroturf?” Yet that label has failed to become a part of any green efforts.
But was that label ever applied by any media outlet to describe this particular Earth Day event? A Nexis search of the last 90 days reveals no media outlet has used the “Astroturf” marker for Earth Day.
And it goes much further than just a clever marketing gimmick or effort by big corporation to appease an activist movement. On Glenn Beck’s May 4 program, he explained how the leaders of the green movement are actually set to profit off of environmental policy. Global warming is lucrative, and regulations that would make carbon usage a commodity will profit some, perhaps even much-maligned Wall Street boogeyman Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS)
“The global warming hoax continues to be one of their best tools,” Beck said. “We've shown you the CCX, the Chicago Climate Exchange, a carbon-buying and selling business that has been estimated to become potential $10 trillion gold mine – that's if cap-and-trade is passed. - Excerpted from: http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2010/20100512110126.aspx
From my perspective, the corporate pr that masks as environmentally friendly is just that, a mask. It is a way to continue the global rape of the collective environment. We didn't hear much from the corporate media about the Cochabomba Summit for example.
@pjsemail1 re: Here we go again, undereducated HACK of a weather man, more BS. I ASK WHY?????
Basic military principle: Know your enemy.
N
Beware treading on sensitive toes...speaking from experience....
Environmentalist groups suing wind farms for killing birds? Let me take a wild guess here, fossil fuel companies have organized groups that they call environmentalist and then sue alternative energy companies over BS reasons like the Wind Mills are killing birds. How many of these groups are suing glass window manufactures for the same symptom?
N
Earth Day in Austin was great for the first few years; but corporations soon co-opted it; including huge pneumatic beer cans. Less so with Eeyore's Birthday. It's even too weird for corporations. ie. guys walking around in huge penis costumes, with testicles for feet.
Mr. Sussman didn't seem to make any points about global climate change not being real... At all... Just kept pointing out that megacorporations are scamming and trying to take up all the air in the room. Looks like ground for some agreement there...
@Maxrot re: #73: How about suing raptors for the birds they kill? How about the chemical companies?
"Drop Dead Economics": The Financial Crisis in Greece and the European Union The Wealthy Won’t Pay Their Taxes, So Labor Must Do So
by Michael Hudson
Riddle: How are the Greek rioters like America’s Tea Party movement?
Answer: Both reject government being taken over by the financial oligarchy to shift the tax burden onto labor.
The difference is that the Tea Partiers have lost faith in government. This is just what the financial oligarchy wants, of course. Giving up hope of gaining electoral control to pursue a fair fiscal agenda, the Tea Partiers have abandoned the centuries-long fight for reform to make governments better by giving them the power to check predatory finance and wealth. Sliding to the right wing of the political spectrum and acting mainly out of frustration, they have succumbed a utopian desire simply to shrink government that they see acting adversely to their interests.
garbage patches move like lava in a lava lamp. I guess that's why everybody just sits and stares at it. :)
@ZeroG - Exactly! - and THAT is why the Green movement isn't referred to as Astroturfed. The Corporations that DO get involved are NOT the leaders, they are bandwagon-jumpers (and reluctant ones, at that!).
I understand the sea-water itself is saturated with plastic, or plastic compounds.
@ZeroG, re: #77 - didja catch John Stewart the other night? He played a bunch of clips from the Fox Business channel talking about how Obama's "Nanny-state" policies were likely to make America the next Greece.
"NO!" he then cried, "the one thing that we CANNOT let America become is Grease 2!" :-D
On the plus side, the Gulf is now being filled with the one substance that can dissolve the plastic ...
Are you referring to the dispersants they're spraying to break up the oil, Mark? That is an unexpected positive!
A therapist can only help those who know that they need help. Glenn Beck doesn't seem to be one of those.
@Mstaggerlee,
My TV killed itself...I refused to buy a converter and I don't pay for cable.
Anybody remember the days when you could buy a coke only in a returnable bottle with a penny or 2 deposit? That worked OK.
George Carlin thought the only reason that we deveoped plastic is because the earth needed it, so we are just another doomed species.
@Zero G: re: TV: at my country cabin, I used to get one channel, and it was a joke. they were more incompetent than WJM and WKRP combined. When they went digital, I bought a converter, but the signal was too weak. At my city house, I dropped cable 15 years ago, but get 5 over-the-airwaves channels.
The dispersant is like detergent - it will dissolve into the water more of the heavy fractions that normally sink to the bottom and more of the lighter fractions which would normally float up or evaporate. The dispersants will actually make the oil more poisonous to the water and help it spread around the world. They will only make the plastic float a little differently or maybe a little cleaner.
@Zero G-
Great article post- thx
@Zero G. you know there's a lot of TV programming you can watch on your computer (sorry to be the one to tell you) :-(
You can even pick up a TV tuner for your computer pretty inexpensively. (as cheap as $20 on newegg.com).
N
The Greek crisis shows how far the “European idea” has shifted from 1957 when the six-member European Economic Community (EEC) was formed. At U.S. prodding, Britain and Scandinavia created the rival seven-member European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Even so, the promise of Euroland – at least before Maastricht and Lisbon – was to elevate labor to middle-class prosperity, not to impose IMF-type austerity programs of the sort that devastated Third World countries. The message to indebted economies is stark: “Drop dead.” And they are obediently committing economic suicide (emulating Japan in the 1985 Plaza Accords) to endorse the Washington Consensus – the class war of finance against labor and industry.
Political, social, fiscal and economic power is being transferred to the EU bureaucracy and its financial controllers in the European Central Bank (ECB) and the IMF, whose austerity plans and related anti-labor programs direct governments to sell off the public domain, land and subsoil wealth, public enterprises, and to commit future tax revenues to pay creditor nations. This policy already has been imposed on “New Europe” (the post-Soviet economies and Iceland) since autumn 2008. It is now to be imposed on the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain). No wonder there are riots!
For observers who missed Iceland and Latvia last year, Greece is the newest and so far the largest battlefield. At least Iceland and the Baltics have the option of re-denominating loans in their own currency, writing down their foreign debts at will and taxing property to recapture for the government the revenue that has been pledged to foreign bankers. But Greece is locked into a European currency union, run by unelected financial officials who have inverted the historical meaning of democracy. Instead of the economy’s most important sector – finance – being subject to electoral politics, central banks (the designated lobbyists for commercial and investment bankers) have been made independent of political checks and balances.
In truly Orwellian fashion, right-wingers in Europe and the United States (such as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke) call this the “hallmark of democracy.” It actually is the stamp of oligarchy, stripping away control over the economy’s credit allocation – and hence, forward planning – while giving high finance a stranglehold over public spending programs.
Further Excerpts from:
"Drop Dead Economics": The Financial Crisis in Greece and the European Union The Wealthy Won’t Pay Their Taxes, So Labor Must Do So
by Michael HudsonWould Thom, maybe give Mr. Hudson one segment?
There have been scientific papers that posit grasses as the dominant genera and we in the US do their dirty work through deforestation and then enshrine them in our lawns.
@Nels,
I learn better by reading than by watching...sometimes I do catch C-Span via the net, though.
Careful Zero G. its my understanding that the more that people learn the more they learn that they know less than they thought, you may get caught in an endless spiral. ;-)
N
@LeMoyne re: 93: yer right, lawns are like altars for some people. Personally, I don't think we can afford to keep lawns anymore. I zeriscaped mine. Mowing, fertilizing, chemicals, pest control; we need to save that for growing food, and not meat animals.
The liability of companies with regard to their initiating environmental disaster should be the actual cost PLUS punitive costs PLUS public costs PLUS the cost of regulation that actually works, PLUS the loss of balance in the environmental system that affects fishing, etc.
Climate Bill sounds like a loser to me. 20 nuclear power plants, that give off what-- water vapor- a serious greenhouse gas. Everyone repeat SOLAR THERMAL
Nels,
It is true that the more I know, the better I can define what I don't know.
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.
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Ohhhhh, this is all coming together, KTLK just aired a National Guard commercial. Now this all makes sense, because we need to free up as many Amercian citizens as possible so they can join the military... duhhhh. The military can't use immigrants with Visas, because their country of orgin wouldn't go for that.
So our current choices, join the military, commit a crime and go to jail, or live on the street.
N