Daily Topics - Wednesday August 18th, 2010
By shawnt56
Quote of the Day: “Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away, and that in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.” -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Hour One: Don't cut social security, let's double it! Thom has a rumble with conservative economist Stephen Moore of the Wall Street Journal & co-author of "Return to Prosperity" http://online.wsj.com
Hour Two: Thom asks guest, "who was the bigger Nazi Osama bin Laden or George W. Bush?" Thom confronts Paul Owen, author of "The Rise of National Socialism: Part 1 Judicial Tyranny" www.pauldowen.com
Hour Three: "Everything You Know is Wrong...Warning: Racism is Bad For Your Health!" Professor Elizabeth Page-Gould talks to Thom about her new study www.page-gould.com
Comments
#2
The coolest part of posting about BSoC on FACEBOOK is that posts using their entire name, “Blue Shield of California,” gets reproduced on their page . . . SO the above post is featured on THEIR page.
#3
Donald Trump lifted himself up by his daddy's bootstraps. Poor guy only had $34 million to start with.
#4
Please explain:
Newt Gingrich, the Serial Wife-Recycler = Paragon of Virtue
Donald Trump, the Continuously Bankrupt and in Foreclosure Failure = America's Ultimate Successful Business Person
#5
I think there is an underlying desire in all to be uberwealthy, however, most of that desire there because we don't want to worry about money... after-all money is unnatural. Think about it, if you were uberwealthy, you would no longer need to worry about money... or so one would believe, but what wealthy person doesn't obsess about money, one that is on the way to a poor house. Money drives us crazy, we use it as a substitute for our real worth, to most is the only measurement that matters. In truth that is the real problem, few really care about having money, what we want is to be free from worry, to be healthy, fed, clothed and sheltered, those are natural needs, but in a civilized world we lose sight of our natural needs, and translate it as our wealth needs.
Being middle class in our country (USA) is like being uberwealthy in another, btw.
N
#6
Tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 are set to expire at the end of the year, and lawmakers are battling over whether to extend any or all of them before November's congressional elections. Using a new interactive graphic from The Post, see how the Democratic and Republican plans would affect your tax rate.
For more information, visit washingtonpost.com:
http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/46MP2V/ZBB2TH/KQH8HU/9RZ8PD/HUHHB/JY/t
#7
In America today it is becoming harder to achieve the "American Dream" that existed in the 50's. In simple terms the work environment in the 50's resembled more or less a globe; a south pole or poor class and a north pole or upper class. But today with Corporate consolidations and Big Box stores the employment environment now resembles a upside down cone; which by nature restricts the amount of workers who can move up in America today. I don't believe a so called Christian country is based on a model of the day's of Kingdoms and serfs; or maybe just in Christian America thats the plan. In this country where workers work more hours per week, work to a older age before retiring, fewer days vacation and are not 100% covered by a health plan like all of our industrialized global competitors, explain to me how where better off?
#8
President Jackson said, "the court has made their decision, now let them enforce it."
#9
I could see Roberts, Scalia and ‘Scalito’ coming in strapped . . . But three wads with guns doesn’t a reserved Executive Power made.
#10
"War assumes so much importance because of the many visual instances of cruelty, but hatred is equally unbeautiful even when it does not materialize itself into outward action" Discources, Vol 3 pp126-127 MEHER BABA before 1969
#11
WAS going to try to call in-considering I'm ON Disability!!
Oh-that's less than $700/month. On Food Stamps, (100/mo) & Medicaid, but not Section 8.
WHY do I, someone who made over $500K with her ex just 11 ago get only $694/mo? Because after my spinal injury I refused to give up hope, knew absolutely NOTHING about Social Security, finally had to give in because of medical expenses-no one would cover me & my condition was going downhill, but waited over 5 years after the accident to apply-working Part-Time, but that wasn't enough to qualify for SSD. Others REALLY should know how this works!! I know I wish I had.
Oh, as an aside-I'm more content & peaceful NOW, than I was with 2 homes, 2 cars, (my ex is blind), and a once healthy bank account. My apartment is a mess, but, hey, I'm the only one who has to look at it...most of the time anyways. :)
Although, I WOULDN'T mind moving closer to friends &/or family sometime soon.
elaine
<in the ultra-conservative, Beck-obsessed Poconos>. ;)
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Everyone is kneaded out of the same dough but not baked in the same oven. -Yiddish proverb
#12
My radio went dead. Anyone else experience this or is it just WDTW and their usual audio engineering problems?
#13
@n8chz, my radio went dead for awhile too, kptk, so I don't think it was your local station.
N
#14
I'm just waiting for someone to start crying "minority rights" because the uberrich are being attacked in the tax codes.
#15
Last week, to encourage manufacturing, Obama signed a bill to lower tarrifs on raw materials. I would like to hear some analysis of this. I am having a little trouble getting my head around how that fits into the whole economic mess. It seems to me like it is generally a good thing, unless you are a miner or logger.
#16
Thom, the NAZI's were not a Government, they were a political party. Fascism is more a form of Goverment. NAZI's were a political party that took control of their government, like... I don't know, say the Republican'ts.
N
#17
If we can prosecute people as adults at age 13, then it's only sensible that 13 year olds get the right to vote.
Or, we can stop pretending that 13 year old children are fully developed with respect to criminal statutes.
#18
OK lets vote on everything then. First thing I want to vote on, should Bill Gates have to give all his money to the Social Security fund. Then we get to vote on Trump, then Forbes then...
N
#19
Another silly rant: The Tea Party movement is calling for tax cuts, pretending to follow in the foot steps of the patriots who dumped tea in the Boston Harbor. The issue though was no taxation WITHOUT representation, which by default implies that taxation is fine, so long as the people who are taxed have a say about what those taxes are spent on. It didn't mean that we the Americans of the revolutionary period were anti-tax.
Morons.
N
#20
Education
We have serious educational problems. Our students are bailing out of graduating from our high schools. Students are taking less math and science courses and many students are showing less interest in skilled trades programs. The federal government and American corporations go outside the United States of Hell for educated and skilled trade persons. Even with students who graduate from high school and our colleges many are not prepared for the world of work. I do not have answers for our many educational problems. From Nixon and the dummying down of Americans to Reagan and his disdain for educated students, such as his disastrous policies regarding higher education in California as governor of that state, we have seen the creation of our educational mess for our students.
#21
Expand Our World
I will share with you four sources that have expanded my world. These four sources are Dave Belden and the Tikkun Daily Blog, Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun Magazine, Network of Spiritual Progressives and its co-founders, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Sister Joan Chittister, and Dr. Cornel West, and Uri Avnery, an Israeli writer. All four sources are pro-Israel but they will criticize Israel in favor of justice and peace.
#22
Education
It is difficult to stay with an article or a topic when so much is happening in America and the world.
During the Bush II years as the appointed president by the Supreme Court I was listening to Greenspan and Snow before a Senate Committee meeting. John Kerry asked the question on education. He said that we were giving tax breaks and not investing in education. He went on to say that China and India graduate 200,000 engineers each per year. That number does not include how many engineers graduate per year from Taiwan, Japan, other Asian countries, and the European countries.
America does not have to invest in education because the trained engineers can be recruited more cheaply from foreign countries. We already know that foreign countries train more computer science and information technology majors than the United States.
If Americans watch very closely we can see the noose tightening around the neck of every American. I have only mentioned the job situation and I have not even discussed the rigged of American elections, the sale of American companies to foreign countries and foreign nationals. And, I haven’t even mentioned that our democracy, freedoms, and rights are taken away. I did not even mention that our middle class has received the death notice. Employers are also dropping their hired slaves from health care coverage.
America is growing in two areas. Preachers (Evangelists) and service jobs, like flipping burgers. I take the burger flipping jobs back. These jobs are being taken over by illegal immigrants. We rank second to none with preachers on each corner of our communities. Let me also say that under the Hitler Bush Family employment will proliferate in military service, military adventures, and nuclear weaponry beyond our wildest dreams in order to continuously fight for the Hitler Bush Family’s empire building schemes.
America’s demise is eminent!
#23
School Education
American education is a disaster. We know that public schools have been a disaster for many years. Private and parochial schools are functioning close to public schools in being a disaster.
Students, especially teenagers, are into fairness and idealism not just for themselves but for friends and other persons.
The school dropout rare is at thirty percent plus. That percentage is too high and we are losing many students who are discouraged. Teenagers know that we are in a Great Depression. They know that unemployment will remain high for many years. They see the unfairness between the rich and the middle class. They also know that the return of jobs will take generations.
About twenty-years ago I read that some states have been hiring foreign students to teach math and science classes for high schools and middle schools. American students are avoiding math and science classes because they want to keep their Grade Point Average to remain high. When they are refused entry to certain colleges and universities, the reason will be that their transcripts have lacked completion of quality courses.
Our son has talked to his former college advisor and the advisor has not had an American born student to counsl in the past fifteen years. Our son was his last American born student.
Our K-12 schools systems face many problems to overcome. It will not happen in my lifetime and it will not happen in our sons’ lifetime.
America is a divided nation and she will not heal for generations. America is a disaster in many areas. Here are some of the areas – politics, economics and the economy, religions, social justice, education, environment, and the filth and garbage in our movies and on our televised programs.
I have not even discussed America’s murderous appetite and the killing of God’s children that delight most Americans.
#24
He looks like a winner!!!
http://original.antiwar.com/levesque-alam/2010/08/17/bin-ladens-rising-influence-in-america/
#25
Words from the above #24 article!
Perhaps conservatives are more interested in inventing Islamic extremism than quelling it because prejudice is the easiest path to power. But it is more likely that in their zeal to slander another civilization they have simply forgotten the lessons of their own.Socrates believed that “when men do wrong it is only because they do not know better,” and that the aim “is not to choose the right but to become the sort of person who cannot choose the wrong.” (1) Having bought into bin Laden’s worldview, the modern conservative has become the sort of person who cannot help but choose the wrong.
#26
#27
Israel's ongoing genocide of Palestinians!!!
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Palestinians-Denied-Access-by-Stephen-Lendman-100806-566.html
#28
Is Israel's genocide of the Palestinians nearing completion?
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Gaza-s-Poisoned-Water-by-Stephen-Lendman-100814-6.html
#29
Recent Israeli provocations to kill people!
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Recent-Israeli-Provocation-by-Stephen-Lendman-100805-106.html
#30
Does the Israeli government have the same DNA as Adolph Hitler???
#31
Israel may soon pass the United States of Hell as the most evil nation in the world.
#32
REPOSTED FROM 08/17/2010:
Holy crap Gerald . . . Drop knee-jerk, mindlessly hyperbolic rhetoric about Israel.
Israel does not seek the genocide of the folk who label themselves “Palestinians.” In fact since the Arabic neighbors of the “Palestinians” abandoned all support of Gaza and the West Bank, the major of support for the “Palestinian” territories has come from Israel. The “Palestinian” territories remain a huge/gigantic drain upon Israel’s resources and Israel craves peace in the region so they can get on with own business.
The running issue is the sovereign nation of Israel is being forced to attempt to make peace with a marketing gimmick composed of flesh and blood humans, designed with the specific intention to destroy it. Financial backing of the “leadership” comes from folk whose rhetoric for the last 60 plus years has been the destruction of Israel. Peace is difficult to obtain when that folk cross the table shoot thousands of missiles at you civilian population every time you stand down. The “leadership” of the “Palestinians” has zero interest in peace or anything remotely looking like it.
You exhibit a marked tenancy to toss about NAZI references about nearly everything but they are offensive to folk with any relationship to that period of history and have no relationship to the topic at hand. The Christ that you go on about so often would mostly likely consider your characterization of this subject dramatically outside of Halakaic parameters . . . SO please show restraint and refrain from being . . . well . . . yourself on any posting you make regarding this topic.
#33
Gerald and Richard...
Wow, Gerald, you're a piece of work, that's all I can say. Have you checked your meds lately? Israel's policies toward the Palestinians can be quite nasty, but it falls far short of Nazism or genocide. Drawing equivalencies between the two is odious.
Now, as to Richard, I'm tempted to say the same thing. Putting the term "Palestinians" in quotes is quite a cute (but old) rhetorical device, which I'm surprised is still being used by some throwbacks. As a Jew and a Zionist myself, I am often amazed that the Palestinians (or "Palestinians") question Israel's "right to exist" -- but we question the Palestinians' very existence. Or erase it, perhaps, as you have tried to do -- the same drivel I was force-fed in Hebrew school some 30 years ago.
You may have heard of Ze'ev Jabotinsky, the founder of the Revisionist movement within Zionism, which gave birth to both the IZL (Irgun Zva'i Leumi, often shortened to "Irgun" -- a right-wing Zionist group viewed by both the British and the Hagana as terrorists, to which future Israeli PM Menachem Begin belonged, and the even more extreme LHI (Lohamei Herut Yisrael, or "Stern Gang", to which future Israeli PM Yitzhak Shamir belonged). Here's what he had to say about your "Palestinians":
"Today the Jews constitute a minority in [Palestine]; in another twenty they could well be the vast majority. If we were Arabs, we would not agree to this either. And the Arabs are good Zionists too, like us. The country is full of Arab memories. ... I have been accused of attaching too much importance to the Arab national movement. [Some say] I admire this movement unduly. But the movement exists...."
--Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Prague, July 1921, remarks to meeting of the Actions Committee of the Executive of the World Zionist Organization. (Quoted from Paul R. Mendes-Flohr, ed. A Land of Two Peoples: Martin Buber on Jews and Arabs (Oxford Univ. Press 1983, 1984 paperback edition), p. 6). Emphasis added.
He wasn't alone.
"[We] may be a people without a home, but alas, there is not a country without a people....Palestine has an existing population of 700,000, a people who have lived there for centuries and rightfully consider this country as their fatherland and homeland. That is a fact which we must take into account. ... [A] relationship [of mutual trust] can only be established if those who are the newcomers -- and such are we -- arrive with the honest and sincere determination to live together with the other people on the basis of mutual respect and full consideration of all their human and national rights. ... World public opinion cannot forget the existence of a large native population in Palestine; the growing sympathy with the aspirations toward national self-determination of the native peoples will make Zionism unpopular in many circles, *not out of anti-Jewish feelings but out of consideration for the natural rights of the Arabs.*"
--Robert Weltsch, editor of Zionist weekly Judische Rundschau, editorial, August 1925. Quoted in Mendes-Flohr, pp. 14-15. Emphasis added.
That was in 1925, in case you missed it, and Jabotinsky's quote was from 1921.
And then there was Martin Buber in 1929:
"Assuredly there are many aspects of the Palestinian Arabs which are annoying to us (just as there are things in us which, in certain respects, are displeasing to me); but we must not ignore the fact that among them the connection with the land -- something which will take us a long time still to accomplish -- has taken a positive, even organic, form; it is an accepted fact which is no longer even considered. ...
"We have not settled Palestine together with the Arabs but alongside them. Settlement 'alongside,' when two nations inhabit the same country, which fails to become settlement 'together with' must necessarily become a state of 'against.' This is bound to happen here -- and there will be no return to a mere 'alongside.' But despite all the obstacles in our path, the way is still open for reaching a settlement 'together with.' And I do not know how much time is left to us."
--Martin Buber, October 1929, "The National Home and National Policy in Palestine," in Mendes-Flohr pp. 87-91 passim. Again, emphasis added.
What's that? He was talking about the "Palestinian Arabs"... in 1929? Without scare quotes? What could he have been thinking?
So much for your scare quotes around the name of a nation, Richard. Do us all a favor, eh? Please show restraint and refrain from being . . . well . . . yourself on any posting you make regarding this topic.... OK? Thanks.
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