The Cancer-stage of Capitalism.
By louisehartmann
Unregulated capitalism is cancer on our nation. Like tumors, greed has metastasized, strangling once-healthy parts of our economy, and our social safety net. A new piece on Alternet lists several ways this cancer capitalism has taken hold. For starters, the hoarding of wealth by the banksters and the 1% has diverted resources away from nutritional aid programs. Twenty people in our country collected a whopping $73 billion in investment income – all taxed at a lower rate than working Americans. Compare that with the fact that President Obama couldn't even get $1 billion to improve childhood nutrition in our schools.
And, while cancer capitalism has lead to higher-than-ever corporate profits, it hasn't translated into good jobs for college grads. Because of rising tuition costs, the average student graduates with $26,000 of student loan debt, and adding to that burden, high-unemployment allows the corporate elite to underpay workers, and hoard a larger share of profits.
In addition, tax-dodging corporations have drained much-needed revenue out of our society like a tumor choking off the blood supply to our economy. According to Alternet, tax exemptions and corporate loopholes drain nearly a trillion dollars from “the body of our society” every year.
And, the worst parasite of all is the unrestrained corporate purchase of our politicians. Cancer capitalism has left voters feeling weak and powerless, while Congress repeatedly represents only the will of the corporate elite. We must stop this cancer before it spreads into every last inch of our national body.
Just like conquering any type of cancer, we must attack this problem from all sides, from getting money out of politics, to regulating Wall Street, to breaking up the monopolies that have too much power over our government. We can do all this, and we must.
Comments
#2
The only way to change the present condition the American people are now in, is through educating those who do not bother to vote or get involved in our political system. The politicians in Washington that represent the Wealthy and the Corporations that fund them only fear one thing, an American public that votes and can read through the lies that are being fed to us via our right wing Republican and left wing (progressive) Democrat info/entertainment programs and commercials that are paid to say what they are told too. Otherwise, things will never change. And, yes I am delusional enough to believe the American voters can make a change, otherwise it is time to just sit down and quit hoping. Violence will only destroy those who employ it against the Government. K.W.
#3
KW -- I would like to add that the education is best accomplished, IMO, by public protest.
#4
Since the US Government/Military-Industrial-Complex has been a big part of that cancer, in murdering hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians in the Middle East, they have created the anti-bodies, the terrorists, that are trying to kill the cancer (but I imagine they are merely seeing it as revenge for massive wrongdoing against them to begin with). It's just too bad that those antibodies don't attack the real cancers instead of the little people who are likely victims of the cancers themselves. The problem is that the cancer will increase it's own resistance and continue to choke all the healthy tissue around it. Death as a nation as we have known it...land of the free...is imminent! Maybe what we need is a massive internal antibody action against that cancer instead of foreign invaders. Terrorism against innocent civilians would do no good and harm the healthy tissue which would aid the cancer. We need to go after the cancer itself.
One such demonstration was the terrorist act in Boston. I really, really hope not, but I'm afraid we are in for many more of these demonstrations (blow back)! Maybe people should just stay home. Avoid public places... especially really big events.
By the way, check out this website if you want to see some very good photos (big, hi-def, more than full screen color photos) of the Boston Marathon Bombing (new ones) including pictures of the bombers before and after the bombs went off (but before you do, beware, some photos are very bloody and shocking...shows a close up of the man in the wheel chair whose foot and lower leg was blown off):
SHOCKING PHOTOS:
http://cryptome.org/2013-info/04/boston-bombs/boston-bombs.htm
Of course, if you were able to see the photos of what our military terrorists have done to innocent civilians for over 10 years...women and children...you'd be just as repulsed..or even more so. But they don't let you see those photos.
#5
What am I missing. I keep hearing about federal lunch programs for school kids. We do it really strange, weird way. The parents feed them. We put food in a bag and send it to school with our children. The Federal Government is feeding the kids I don't get it. Please help me out.
#6
From #81 former post:
The fact of the matter is this. Ever since the War on Drugs the US Government has defiled The Bill Of Rights by passing illegal UnConstitutional laws. The Patriot Act, Extraordinary Rendition and Federal Sponsored Torture has shredded the document to pieces. The present President even proposed "Indefinite Detention" and claims to have the right to order the killing of anyone he wants to in the world--including US Citizens. The Constitution as we know it ceased to exist a long time ago. Since then the Government, regardless of party in power, has systematically increased it's stranglehold on US citizens. As Alex Jones points out, every day we are moving closer to a police state.
When We The People argue that it is "UnConstitutional" for a State to insist on jurisdiction over itself we are actually arguing to uphold a document that no longer exists; and, advance the agenda of those who destroyed it. We are living in a fantasy world and are fooling ourselves. Mass cognitive dissonance. We are purporting to support the very doctrine of the fascist leaders that destroyed the document in the first place allowing them to pretend as though the document was actually still the law of the land because now some convenient provision of the past suits their present agenda.
In addition, we are attacking the sole group amongst us that has the brass balls to stand up to this fascist regime before they do any more damage. Not that stopping them is possible; but, if they can't be stopped now we certainly have no hope to do that after they disarm everyone. Shame on us! This may be our best hope to make a stand.
We need to support the Red States now while we still can!
#7
Form #83 former post:
Police State Tactics ~ You all may have heard about Alex Jones and his rants about the coming police state. I'm sure most of you live in comfortable areas and think he's nuts. However, I don't. Have any of you heard that the military has been ordered to make military weapons, equipment, and vehicles available to local police departments. Here in Oakland I've had several opportunities to see the results of this move. It has been a disaster of epic proportions. The police are now trigger happy. They ride their assault vehicles every chance they get.
A friend of mine recently had to stay in a hotel for six months while her apartment was repaired. Police pursued a suspect of domestic abuse into her apartment complex. Instead of knocking on the door, like they did for decades past, they surrounded the building and tossed flash grenades and tear gas into every apartment and in the crawlspace under the building. Of course at this point they weren't really sure if he was there, or which apartment he was in. Consequently, they almost killed a sleeping baby in one apartment and destroyed the life possessions of a single mother--including all her childs toys--in another apartment. Ironically, they missed the second floor apartment the suspect was in. He came out and peaceably surrendered after all the damage was done. The fumes of the explosions not only destroyed all the clothes and belongings of every tenant in the building; but rendered the building uninhabitable until it was completely renovated. Of course, the city (THE TAXPAYERS!), paid for all the damages including the hotels for the displaced tenants.
Is this really the type of community you want to live in? I don't!
#8
From #89 former post:
chuckle8/ken ware ~ It's fine to amend the Constitution to address new issues encountered in time due to progress. This, indeed, I believe to be the intent of the founders. Such examples would be the internet, or the sale of weapons of mass destruction to foreign nations. However, to Amend the Constitution to change the Constitutions founding precepts, to me, is Treason. That is why all Presidents must take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic.
Passage of laws that do what the foundation of the Constitution expressly forbids doing is Treason. There is no fuzzy middle ground! It is what it is! If we argue about upholding any part of the Constitution when our Civil Liberties have been obliterated, laws supporting religious establishments have been enacted, and our right to be confronted by witnesses, without cruel and unusual treatment, with due process and a speedy trial is no more, than we are but fools being prepared for the slaughter when we tell ourselves this document is still the law of the land..
ken ware ~ I don't consider myself a hypocrite. My opinion changes depending on what I see happen. Back when we argued about gun control and I stated that reinstatement of publicly funded mental institutions is the way to go I was shocked to see no one--NO ONE--in power attempt to drive this point home. Instead there was a total embrace of gun control. Paint lipstick on a pig and it is still a pig. Now that some of the States are officially filing grievances with the Fed, the Fed responds with threatening the State. Nonsense! As far as I am concerned when the point has gone this far it is no longer a bad idea but a policy of state dominance and the same as if a declaration of war has been announced. Regardless of our differences with the far Right, Ken, like you said before the parties are only a word starting with a "D" or an "R". The same party rules. The citizens however are all American Citizens and what threatens the liberties of a red state threatens the liberties of us all. We must join together and support our brothers while we still can.
It is you who surprise me with assuming my old position on the matter in light of the latest developments.
Outback ~ Right on, buddy! You hit the ball out of the park with that one.
chuckle8 ~ Thanks for simplifying the math. By the way, child porn is not protected by freedom of speech--it is child abuse! The violation of the civil rights of a minor. Completely different crime not needing an illegal Amendment to the Constitution. Any state that wants to change The Bill Of Rights should have the right to succeed from the union. The same goes for any politician and any citizen(s). Like I said once before, adios, siannara, arrivederci, magandang hindi importanteng bagay, adeus, and näkemiin. Don't let the door hit you where the good Lord split you.
ken ware~ As far as moving away to avoid the problems in my beloved home town is concerned--you must be smoking something potent if you think for one minute that this blatant display of audacity on the part of Oaklands Finest does anything more than annoy the hell out of me. I've survived numerous gang fights with machine guns outside my bedroom window before without once considering moving away. No, this police state is just a fly in the ointment compared to what once took place in this fine city during the Reagan administration. Troubles pass and there is no place like home.
#9
From #92 former post:
ken ware wrote ~ "The reason why the President can elect the person he feels would do the best job when a Judge steps down, is that it allows there to be a change of thought and perspective as the nation changes and our views change and mature with age."
You make a good point here ken. Perhaps we should leave the Judiciary the way it is--despite "Citizens United." I'll agree with that.
ken ware further wrote ~ "Amendments to our Constitution are the only logical way to have change as our nation changes, but to throw out the Constitution because you feel those in power are using it against us is ludicrous at best. The Bill of Rights is untouchable and should remain that way as long as we exist, regardless how we feel about our Government and the present entities that run it. "
You are absolutely right about The Bill of Rights remaining untouchable. However, that document has already been touched--BY A SHREDDER You are wrong, Ken, when you say I want to "throw out the Constitution because you feel those in power are using it against us...". If you go back and reread everything I wrote you will see that my intent is to defend to Constitution from those who have--and are trying to--throw it out. Other than that misinterpretation of what I wrote, Ken, we see eye to eye.
#10
#111 from previous post:
chuckle8 ~ I see and agree with your point. I also am in favor of background checks. I'd love to see assault weapons banned as well. But this is my problem. These are the Government's solution for widespread violent mass murders that involve not only guns; but, the mentally ill. Have you ever heard of "Operation Northwood." If not, please google it. Before you finish typing "Operation" in your search engine "Northwood" will appear at the top of the search list. It was a clandestine black op proposed by the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and rejected by the Kennedy administration. It called for such acts to be committed on American streets, killing innocent American civilians in order to justify pursuing an illegal invasion of Cuba.
When I see my Government responding to the acts of these extremely mentally ill people by trying to ban guns I become very suspicious of ulterior motives. In this case the ends do not justify the means. Why are we not reinstating publicly funded mental hospitals? That is exactly what this situation demands? Gun control? Did prohibition stop drinking? Did the war on drugs stop drug abuse? No, they didn't. They simply made the problem worse. Ever since prohibition there have been machine guns available on the black market. No arbitrary mass murders have occurred in history until Reagan defunded mental hospitals. The argument for gun control as a solution to this problem holds no water.
On the other hand, the argument that the Government is behind these acts, or at least using these acts to pursue a hidden agenda of disarming the American People is blatantly sound. The 1%, or 0.01% if you will, are behind this hidden agenda. Of course they can arouse the emotions of 90% of the population by staging the mass murder of children. When our children are threatened we don't think clearly--we react--often times irrationally. I tell you I see the writing on the wall from a mile away; and, this is coming from an anti-gun pacifist. I have no love for the NRA, guns, or any of the red states. But I feel we are all being played like a violin. Don't think with you heart, think with your brain on this one.
#11
From 119 former post:
ken ware/chuckle8 ~ What you call "paranoia" I call critical thinking. I simply extrapolate a logical conclusion given a set of illogical and irrational behaviors by the Government; and then, compare them to known facts and historical precidents. I certainly do not want to believe the 'WORST CASE SCENARIO'anymore than you. However, we've already seen the results once in the previous century as to what happens when facism takes hold of a nation. It's not all at once, but one carefully calculated step at a time. Most of those steps have already taken place right under our noses and both of you are more than aware of that fact.
Call me paranoid if you like. To me, brushing my concerns off as irrational sounds as foolish as the German citizens rationalizations of the 1930's. Can we really afford the same consequences of that lethargy again when we know where this trend leads? Consider the pain and sorrow to the world if Hitler and the Third Reich were to be reinvented and given the might of the current US military.
Yet, I hope and pray you are right and I am wrong. I'd much rather be a publically ridiculed fool in this case than right! Remember, It is better to be prepared for a disaster that never happens; then to be unprepared for a disaster that does happen.
#12
Kend: yes, I agree, smacks of socialism, doesn't it! Damn government won't even trust the parents to feed their own kids!
#13
DAnneMarc -- you do go back and look at yesterday also, do you not?
#14
Palindromedary ~ I just saw the Boston Marathon Bombing photos you've posted. How horrific!?! We must insure that this type of disaster never occurs again in our watch!!
#15
chuckle8 ~ I always go back and take a good look at yesterday! After all, it's so much easier to see than tomorrow! isn't it?
#16
Seriously is that the reason why. They can't trust parents to feed their own kids. Has it really got that bad down there? How did we get from the 1950's with almost no one having children out of wedlock to 50 or more percent. And now they don't even feed their own kids. WOW it makes me sick.
#17
I have addressed greed capitalism as "hoggism" in several published articles, which present a new paridigm in the opportunity for EVERY American to become an individual owner of FUTURE wealth-creating productive capital assets. Please see my article "The Absent Conversation: Who Should Own America?" published by The Huffington Post at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-reber/who-should-own-america_b_204059... and by OpEd News at http://www.opednews.com/articles/THE-Absent-Conversation--by-Gary-Reber-...
Also see "The Path To Eradicating Poverty In America" at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-reber/the-path-to-eradicating-p_b_301... and "The Path To Sustainable Economic Growth" at http://www.nationofchange.org/solution-america-s-economic-decline-1367588690
Sign the Petition at http://signon.org/sign/amend-the-federal-reserve.fb27?source=c.fb&r_by=3904687
Sign the Petition at http://signon.org/sign/reform-the-federal-reserve.fb23?source=c.fb&r_by=3904687
Sign the WhiteHouse.gov petition at https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/amend-federal-reserve-act/GYqvqGr6
#18
DAnnemarc: I know! It is horrible! Those poor unlucky people! It really is very terrible...I will probably have very bad dreams over it. I had seen that man in the wheel chair before...but it was a small picture and not very high def. This was a close up of his leg...or should I say what was left of his leg bone and mangled flesh hanging off of it. I keep finding myself imagining just how painful that must have been. And that other picture of a man, laying in a stretcher, whose leg was shattered and the foot twisted.
I don't know how someone could do such a thing to people...but I guess our military does it almost daily over in the Middle East (ho hum boys will be boys...our brave heroes gotta have their fun to prove they are men).
I have seen pictures of men, women, and children after having been hit by one of our bombs, missiles, or even just bullets. Eyes hanging out, heads blown off, skulls caved in, guts hanging out and a lot more. Children crying out in pain and agony.
When we have people like Obama campaign senior adviser Robert Gibbs say things like the 16-year-old American boy killed in an Obama administration drone strike "should have [had] a far more responsible father" ; and, when the Madeleine Albright in the Clinton administration said of the 500 Iraqi children died from the blockade "we believe it was worth it" then we have a terrible bunch of criminal psychopaths running this country. And those were just Democrat regimes...the Republican regimes were worse because they committed treason against the country by murdering so many of their own citizens as well as lying us into a criminal war of aggression.
The Republicans (papa Bush regime) used a young girl named Nayirah to tell lies about how the Iraqis went into hospitals in Kuwait and stabbed babies in their incubators.
"In 1992, it was revealed that Nayirah's last name was al-Ṣabaḥ (Arabic: نيره الصباح) and that she was the daughter of Saud bin Nasir Al-Sabah, the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States. Furthermore, it was revealed that her testimony was organized as part of the Citizens for a Free Kuwait public relations campaign which was run by Hill & Knowlton for the Kuwaiti government. Following this, al-Sabah's testimony has largely come to be regarded as wartime propaganda."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nayirah_%28testimony%29
And the baby Bush regime..even if you discount the false flag operation they did on 911...lied us into the 2nd invasion of Iraq...preceded by invading Afghanistan.
#19
Kend: Some people don't feed their own kids...they might be drug users...or just bastards...or maybe they just can't afford it (maybe because some capitalist pigs are hogging all the money and refuse to pay decent wages).
School lunch has been around since I was a kid..a long time ago. Also, someone saw it, I suppose, as a more healthy way to do things. After all, if one kid gets sick...they can all get sick. And even the meals children get at home may not be wholesome meals, at least they can get one at school. If you don't eat right you can get sick and pass it to others so I suppose it benefited all.
And that is why I believe that we should have universal healthcare...so that sick people will go get medical attention...and reduce the probability that long term communicable illnesses don't spread.
There may come a day when rich people will dread that they ever opposed universal healthcare because even they can catch deadly communicable diseases..especially if it goes viral (pun!). Sick people who can't afford healthcare will just not go to the doctor..and then they would not get vaccines nor will any health authority (like CDC) have accurate information.
They are spending scads of dollars on terrorists, Homeland Security, but they are missing the opportunity to defend against the microscopic terrorists. And they are a lot sneakier and deadlier than any Muslim terrorist will ever be.
#20
Socialism is a parasite.
#21
Palindromedary ~ Interesting, however, "yoke the morning morning" is all I get in my translator. BTW. You haven't yet shared your interpretation of the Grateful Dead song, "Throwing Stones."
What do you think was meant be the chorus, "Ashes to Ashes, All Fall Down." Do you have any insight into this. Please don't apologize if you don't. I'm sure it is a Divine Secret. I'm just impatient to know the truth.
#22
akunard wrote ~ "Socialism is a parasite." Really? Then Corporate Socialism must be a parasite on steroids!!
#23
I don't see anything wrong with the school supplying lunches but why are taxes payers paying for it instead of the parents wouldn't that be more efficient. Or at least keep it at a local level.
So because I don't want my Federal tax dollars going to pay for someone else's local lunch program I am a capitalist pig. Seriously its like half the population would strave to death if it wasn't fot the capitalists in America. I have a real crazy idea. Don't have kids until you can afford them. Maybe we should go back to orphanages if parents can't feed them. , just don't let the catholics look after them this time it didn't go so well up here.
For the record everyone should have basic health care, but I believe it should be at a state level. The Feds ------- every thing up. Name one thing thIs adminasrtration has done right.
#24
Kend and Pal -- You have taken white privilege to a whole new level. How rich and white are you? I have heard there are 30 million children who go to bed hungry every night. For those children, the school lunch may be the only meal they get.
Oh, the wonderful 1950’s -- maximum tax rate of 92%, still enforcing the Sherman anti-trust act, no NAFTA, CAFTA or SHAFTA, tariffs similar to the rest of the world, pensions not vulnerable when a company declares bankruptcy etc.
#25
Capitalism is a parasite
#26
I thought Obama was supposed to save the world? Wasn't he the second coming? What happened??
#27
Kend -- Here is one thing that happened within the 1st 24 hours of the Obama administration. Executive order to treat the financials of the top 400 families the same as the other 100 million families or so. Bush treated the financial statistics of the top 400 as a government classified document.
#28
I too have heard there are many children that go to bed hungry. I have mixed feelings about this. If in fact their parents are unable to care for them (drugs, etc) then they should be taken away. If they honestly can't afford to feed them (honestly, no smoking, no drinking, no multiple flat screen TV's etc) then I have no problem with a short term solution to help a family get a hand up. What I do have a problem with is the entitlement attitude some people have simply because they were able to procreate. Just because you CAN have a child doesn't mean you should. If you aren't responsible enough to care for your child, DONT have them.
#29
Mored -- Who in the world ever said Obama was supposed to save the world? However, it often feels like he saved the world when you consider we went from losing 750,000 jobs a month to gaining over 100,000 per month
#30
Mored and Kend -- Did you know that half of the families receiving food stamps, have a member of the family working full time?
#31
Indeed, unregulated capitalism as the cancer invading the body of "We the People," is a great metaphor. It implies that if left unchecked it will eventually destroy both the host body and consequently itself, kind of like suicide capitalism. The treatment is to elect more progressives, and the new healthy lifestyle is called Democratic Socialism.
If more folks understood the great success citizens like Kend and others from all around the world have had with elements of Democratic Socialism, there would be no turning back. The rich and powerful know this and thus we have media like FOX controlling the message and demonizing the very path that would lead us to ," a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, but no providing for premeditated profitable offense, the successful promotion of the general welfare, and to finally secure the blessings of liberty."
This from Democratic Socialists of America, " Democratic Socialists believe that both the economy and society should be run democratically- to meet public needs, not to make profits for a few. To achieve a more just society, many structures of our government and economy must be radically transformed through greater economic and social democracy so that ordinary Americans can participate in the many decisions that affect our lives."
"Socialism is an economic concept that calls for sharing the wealth of a society among all of its members, rather than reserving wealth for an exclusive few."
#32
Chucked. Good there is the hand up Mored mentioned I too have no problem with that. I have a problem with five children with four different fathers none of which are around and you blaming me for not paying my fair share. I have a problem with our governments pissing away billions on green energy companies that are failing and making the Al Gores rich with my tax dollars. You have no idea how much I pay. Way more than my fair share And plenty enough to feed the children in my community.
#33
Thank you Mored I appreciate the support.
#34
10K Sounds nice but I will say it again. " The problem with Socialism is sooner or later you run out of other people's money" just look at Greece.
#35
DAnnemarc:
Some people seem to think that it was referring to the Plague..the Black Death. This was a children's song called Ring Around the Rosie and the ring referred to the reddish ring that one gets on the the skin when one gets the disease. Not to be confused with other relatively minor skin diseases like Rosacea. The "pocket full of posies" could be posies carried in a pocket to put on the grave site. But I wonder if it doesn't have more to do with what they did during the Plagues in order to both cover up the smell of rotting bodies and to scare off evil demons that they believed caused the plague. The people handling the bodies would wear these funny looking masks with large protruding noses which formed a "pocket" and they would stuff "nosegays" or "posies" inside the pockets which would help cover up the odors.
In the song: "Ashes to Ashes, and we all fall down".
Said at many funerals:"from dust to dust...ashes to ashes" ..or something like that...I try to stay away from funerals...especially my own.
----------------
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080801182957AAEOLHj
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http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107859226232/
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Here is an album they did that is a palindrome:
Aoxomoxoa
Greatful_Dead: G_D
G_D : Some religions, I think the Jews, won't spell out GOD...they use G_D instead.
----------------------------
John Barlow, of the Greatful Dead, wrote the lyrics:
http://www.answers.com/topic/john-perry-barlow
----------------------------
But, some people believe that the 'Ashes to Ashes, we all fall down" has nothing to do with the Plague...because it was taken from a Mother Goose Nursery Rhyme in 1881. And the rhyme was because the children would go around in a circle..then fall down. They argue that a Nursery Rhyme would not have anything to do with what happened centuries earlier. I don't know...
--------------------------------
"It's basically a ring dance, where all the kids get to "dance and shake their bones," and fall down at the end."
http://artsites.ucsc.edu/GDead/agdl/throwing.html
------------------------------
I really couldn't understand the words of the song when played forward..even though I followed along with the printed lyrics. So I played it backwards and at a very slow tempo.
Well, I just freaked myself out...I played that video "Throwing Stones" backwards in Audacity and changed the tempo length from 2000 to like 5887 and the music sounds really, really Satanic..with very strange organ music and with lots of frogs croaking and groans and I kept hearing a female voice saying over and over again: "God Is Dead"..."God is Dead".
If you can capture the video, then import the sound portion in Audacity then click on Effects then Reverse...then after it updates...do a Change Tempo and then move the Length slider toward the left until you can get about 5887 in the right hand box. Then after it updates.. And then play it. Freaky, maaaaannnnnn! And I haven't even smoked any weed, or dropped any acid yet! ;-} no shrooms either! No Sacred Mushrooms tonight! Because it won't be G_D I would be seeing in my dreams...but Satanic Demons! You don't play with Oija Boards or listen to music backwards without opening some doors...know what I'm sayin'!!!
#36
Quote DAnnemarc:
akunard wrote ~ "Socialism is a parasite." Really? Then Corporate Socialism must be a parasite on steroids!!
Good one!! They can't really argue that Corporations don't get handouts from the Government! In fact, they are the biggest "welfare queens"!
#37
Quote Kend:
Name one thing thIs adminasrtration has done right.
Wait! I'm thinking...I'm still thinking...killed Bin Laden? No that's not it....ended the wars in the Middle East...no that's not it...made the Health$care and Pharmaceutical companies happy with forced customer participation with no real benefits...no that's not it...ended our torture gulags...no not that...increased openness of government...no not that..welcomed whistleblowers and encouraged them to keep government honest...definitely not that!
Man, I can't think of anything that Obama has really done for us. But I can think of a lot of things he has done for the ruling elite...Wall Street...Corporations...the Banks...the MIC.
And yes, I agree, why should those of us without any children that would benefit from anything having to do with schools be expected to pay taxes to benefit those with children. Octomom sure pulled a big one on us didn't she? Maybe we should be like China...and force people to have no more than two children and heavily fine them for having more. And why should any of us pay taxes to support any of the corporations that often don't even pay taxes anymore. Why should we pay taxes so that these welfare queens (the corporations) can get hand outs?
#38
Quote chuckle8:
I have heard there are 30 million children who go to bed hungry every night. For those children, the school lunch may be the only meal they get.
Well, hell, chuckle8, why don't we just let the little buggers starve. Sniveling little brats will just grow up to mug us in the streets anyway. Besides, the US military has killed or maimed many thousands of children over in the Middle East. And US politicians starved over a half million children in Iraq...but as M.Albright said..."We think it was worth it!" See! And she was a liberal...Clinton was a liberal! Our US military must know what they are doing, right? Get rid of any future terrorists! I get it! Never mind the angry surviving parents, or relatives, or countrymen who see us as cruel and inhumane satanic devils who murder their children. They are so dumb they can't even set off the explosives in their underwear. We'll catch them all at the border, or kill them all over there so we don't have to fight them over here! "It has served us well, this myth of Terrorists."..Pope George Barack Bush-Obama.
Maybe, if our Government can special rendition those 30 million children over to the Middle East there would be lots of target practice for our brave heroes. Keep them from getting bored! Isn't that what our brave soldiers did in the War of the Philippines? Tied young Filipino boys and men up on a bridge and used them for target practice? Yup, they did! Just like the Japanese made sport of lopping off heads in China..our boys made sport of shooting unarmed civilians, including children, from helicopter gunships. God, I hear the song "The Ballad of the Green Beret" even as I type. Go get em boys! Kill em all and let God sort em out! ......Sorry, man, I almost came that time!
Or, maybe our government can revive the old selective genetics programs (Eugenics) and forced sterilization programs that they had back in the 40s and 50s. Instead of using those poor animals for medical experimentation we can just use some of those 30 million starving children for human experimentation. Nobody is going to miss them anyway...certainly not their parents who are likely all strung out on drugs and into prostitution and don't want to have anything to do with their kids anyway. I mean, what kind of a home life is that? Wouldn't it be better off if they were all dead anyway?
But, darn, I forgot...what would the US use as cannon fodder for fighting all those wars in the future? Especially the ones against their own rebelling, starving and homeless citizens right here in the US. The military will have those young minds so mangled that they wouldn't hesitate to kill us, now would they? "Hit the deck and give me 50 pushups, solder!" "Yes, sir!" They'll be turning us old people into Soylent Green and won't bat an eye of guilt or regret. They might gag a little if they actually knew what was in it. But call it a McGreen Double burger and served with fries...they'll gobble them right down. It's either us or them, I'm tellin' ya'!
No, you liberals, or should I say libtards, just don't know how to survive in a mean and cruel world. You gotta be tough...tough love...that's it!
Did not God, himself, command Moses to send his men down into the land of Canaan to rape, pilliage, and slaughter those people so the Jews could steal what was not theirs? So, which God should we listen to...maybe he is just a psychopath? Or, maybe he is just an imaginary myth that exists nowhere but in the minds of believers. You can manipulate that puppet anyway you choose to. But when you start hearing it talk back to you then you know you are close to insanity. Just don't listen to music backwards and slowed down...it'll freak you out! I don't believe in demons...I don't...I don't...I don't! Onward Christian Soldiers, marching off to war...with the cross of Jeeeesuuuus....duh, duh, duh, duh, duhhhhhh! Oh, God that was fun!
So, how many "offensive" clicks did I get on this one? What? No one read it?
#39
Quote chucke8:
we went from losing 750,000 jobs a month to gaining over 100,000 per month
Yeah, that's only because McDonalds just learned that they have exclusive rights on McGreen Double burgers and they hired all those minimum wage workers to handle the load.
#40
Quote chuckle8:
Mored and Kend -- Did you know that half of the families receiving food stamps, have a member of the family working full time?
No, but thank you for telling me anyway!
As Bill (libtard) Maher would say..."but..I kid chuckle8!"
You do know that I am just kidding you (mostly) with all this stuff I am saying, right? I consider myself to be a liberal. I'm really just trying to mock capitalist pigs who won't pay their fair share of taxes. Maybe my attempt at Jonathan Swift shock style is not working...oh, well, I tried.
But, I do agree with Mored about the fact that some of these people on food stamps and receiving social assistance often have bought fairly expensive things like big screen TVs (along with having to pay for HiDef TV satellite or cable), and fairly nice cars.
I know people like this...constantly complaining about not having much money yet they go out and buy all these things I just mentioned. I don't even have those things and I am not too bad off...yet! That could change in an instant! But, of course, it is better to live frugally or at least within your means than to constantly live way over your means.
And, I am very suspect at the figures that are flashed around concerning the number of people who "go to bed hungry" but are often so fat ...they SHOULD go to bed hungry more often and lose all that weight which will only end up straining an already over burdened health system.
More people die because they are fat...because they eat all the wrong things and too much of it and they are too lazy or undisciplined to even try losing weight. They say things like... "oh, I tried to diet but I just get hungry and I have just got to eat!" NO SELF DISCIPLINE... LAZY.. BURDEN TO EVERYONE ELSE! And no, I wouldn't want to have to pay taxes to pay for this person's heart operation to keep him alive to keep gorging on unhealthy, fattening food! And I certainly don't want my taxes to go to feed this porcine, heart-attack-waiting-to-happen deadbeat.
Some people won't change even if they know it is killing them! Same thing goes for other unhealthy things like smoking and drinking...and skydiving!
#41
Ken Ware: Well said. I agree that the "voting population" can stop most of this. The vote is utimately more powerful than money and the "common people" outnumber the wealthy. And we need more peaceful protesting, but these actions need to be large, country-wide--like every man and woman leaving their desk or machine and taking to the streets--they cannot fire us all. When we show them that we have to power to stop the economy and corporate profits, I think we can be heard.
I know so many people and family who know so little about what is really going on--who tune out on "reality" shows or rely on the blather from talk radio or Fox or their church--and spout these lies verbatum whenever I challange them. I can rely on their answer everytime. So much so that I could write a book and call it Neocon Answers for All Occasions. Note that I say "neocon," because this new type of conservative is nothing like the "old" conservatives (people I have great respect for even though I may disagree with them on some issues), who at least came together with the other side to get things done for the good of the country.
#42
The Koch-Teapublicans, NRA, Big Oil, Corporations are about to try what Prescott Bush and his gang of 7 tried to do in June of 1933. They planned to have a Military Coup, named their party The American Liberty League and over throw the USA Government and replace FDR with a Dictator. However they pick the wrong man to lead their coup and were stopped. Although the plot was stopped, when the report was released to the citizens all 8 names were blacked out so as not to start panic in the streets. FDR and his split congress, then declared Capitalism the best tool in the world, but sited GREED as the devil that caused the Great Depression and then together voted in 5 Regulations and the Saving Account that would keep the Families in the USA safe from this ever happening again. The saving account was Social Security, the 5 regulations were "electricity, heating fuel, telephone, gasoline, banking" and it worked so well that the USA became the wealthest, strongest and greatest Nation in the world for the next 49 years. However the Right never forgot, so in 1982 they started dismantling one by one the 5 items plus one (JOBS) that kept the USA families secure. Oh yes it took them 30 years and 4 presidents ( Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush) to do it, but together they broke not only the people but also the Nation and almost the world. Now they are stopping anything in Congress that could put citizens back to Work, stop corruptions in Banking, eliminating Loop Holes, ETC, ETC, and if they can find a high military person that would lead them you bet they would attempt a coup of the USA. The citizens of the USA better wake up to what is taking place in our Congress today before it is to late.
#43
Palindromedary ~ Thanks for that interpretation of "Throwing Stones". I'll check out your links. LOL That was indeed more than I expected. Backwards? Different tempo? "God is Dead"? I seriously doubt that is where the boys were trying to go with that song.
However, I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A lot of time we read our own meaning into art. Great art allows us to do that. It's like a mirror to the soul. I always say If there is no meaning forward at the original speed stop looking. Like you said, "you might open doors that are better left closed!"
#44
Palindromedary ~ I must say you take sarcasm to a new level. What a rant. Offensive? I think not. Thought provoking? Yes, indeed!
By the way, I researched your sources supporting the 'myth' of Christ argument. They check out. However, it is disputed whether or not Pope Leo X actually said, "It has served us well, this myth of Christ." However, a little more digging has him documented as saying, "Since God has bestowed upon us this Church, let us enjoy it." It doesn't take a great amount of imagination to conceive that the man saying the later also said the former.
I still find it hard to believe that the "faith of ages" is based on a black op from antiquity. The problem I have is that there are so many good aspects of the teachings of Christ that even if he never existed, perhaps the truth about that would do more harm than good. After all, there's a little bit of truth in every con. This 'truth' could potentially one day lead to world peace. The only problem with that is that for this to happen the extremely wealthy need to live by these laws as well. Like you said there is the rub. By putting on only a pretense of belief amongst the members of the circles of power we will never experience world peace or the benefits of universal Christ-like kindness to our fellow man.
Other than that, I wish I had a convincing counter argument to offer on the matter; but, quite frankly, you knocked the air right out of my sails. If I think of any counter argument worthy of stating in the future I will post it for you. Till then, Thanks for the insight--as always!
#45
In my book, "Ultimate Poverty, Unlimited Wealth", the reader will find many unpleasant truths about the American government, Capitalism and other related fields of endeavor. The statements made have been researched and an extensive bibliography is provided. An open mind, a productive nature and a willingness to help others less fortunate are necessary for every humane person. Yet there are those whose actions reflect fear, expressed by intolerance of others. Ways may be found to resolve differences and meet the needs of human society without recourse to violence and war. This book is presented as a personal analysis of the world’s two basic problems; fear and the use of money. Working to rid the world of both is to work for freedom, truth, lasting peace and a healthy, happy humanity. <antigoldrush.com> As long as we use money as a medium of exchange, we will always have poverty. It's the basic economic principle of supply and demand. There must be a constant and increasing demand for money; otherwise it's valueless. Those who most need money must continually labor for it simply to survive. The more people need it, the more willing they are to do abominable things to get it. Wealthy and politically powerful people control the money supply, restricting global trade for profits. Used for world domination and the spread of terrorism, those who control it wage wars and pass trade agreements impoverishing the many to benefit the few. We don't have to barter individual goods and products. By voluntarily using our skills and abilities to benefit humanity by structuring service, social and industrial unions to produce, develop and distribute the world's resources we can abolish the overwhelming social ills caused by money: poverty, homelessness, global environmental destruction, waste, illiteracy, war, injustice, crime, slavery, governmental and corporate corruption and fraud, overpopulation and ill health around the world. Only by abolishing money can international cooperation secure genuine world peace, aided by the use of Esperanto, the international language of peace. Fascism: government by rigid, one-party dictatorship, forcible suppression of the opposition (unions, other, especially leftist, parties, minority groups, etc.,) the retention of private ownership of the means of production under centralized government control, belligerent nationalism and racism, glorification of war, etc. See also Nazism. (Webster’s New 20th Century Dictionary). A sociopath is ‘a psychopathic personality whose behavior is aggressively antisocial’. To be antisocial is to be ‘hostile to the existence of society or the principles on which it is founded; against the welfare of the people generally’. A psychopathic personality is ‘characterized by emotional instability, lack of sound judgment, perverse and impulsive (often criminal) behavior, inability to learn from experience, amoral and asocial feelings, and other serious personality defects,’ (Webster's New 20th Century Dictionary These definitions fit Republican politicians and Blue-dog Democrats to a “T’. Why do we give these fascist, antisocial psychopathic Republican politicians credence? Why are we allowing them to destroy America? Americans are suffering, starving, dying and it’s their fault! Feckless* Democrats are also to blame, allowing this to happen so political capital can be generated and the Democrat re-elected. Why must we fight Congress, our elected representatives, for our civil rights, and why the antipathy politicos and CEO’s show to unionization? Because Congress does NOT act in our interests, and employers busting unions do NOT want workers to have better working conditions, higher salaries or better lives. Both Government and Business oppose the worker. Why does our government support dictators? Why do our industries move to countries known to be police states? Why does our government support the murder of peoples’ advocates? Why oppose unionization and workers’ safety? It’s in their economic interests to do so. It has nothing to do with freedom, democracy or rights; it has everything to do with money and therefore power. International economic institutions like the World Bank and programs such as NAFTA* have been engineered to benefit the G-8*, WTO*, IMF*, International Banking System, politicians and the haute of the world, not the lower classes, about and to whom they pay exquisite lip service and little else. “There is no Western …concern for issues of aggression, atrocities, Human Rights abuses and so on, if there’s a profit to be made.” Noam Chomsky.
#46
Palindromedary ~ Just finished going through all those links for "Throwing Stones". The biography of John Barlow was particularly interesting. He had a degree in religion. I didn't know that, though, not surprised. Interesting point about G_D. Their album cover for "Reckoning" has a flowery G_D on it. I didn't know it was the Jewish spelling of God. I did once buy a Grateful Dead refrigerator magnet that had their famous symbol of a top viewed skull with a thunderbolt inside of it. The inscription on the bottom of the symbol was "The Grateful Dead" written in ancient Hebrew. Just a bunch of symbols. The girl I bought it from in the concert parking lot explained what it was.
I didn't think too much about it at the time, but now it makes a lot more sense. At the time, I believed that the symbol of the skull with a thunderbolt was in reference to part of The Book of Revelations that talks about hearing the voice of singers who have the harps of God, and sing the "Song of The Lamb". The voice is called, "The Voice of A Great Thunder." That section of The Book of Revelations also describes the presence of a voice called, "The Voice of Many Waters."
Interesting stuff, indeed, especially when you come to find out that several times The Grateful Dead and the leader of Creedence Clear Water Revival, John Fogerty, teamed up to do free charity concerts on stage together. One, called "Live Aid" was held right here at the Oakland Coliseum in 1989, I believe. John Fogerty wore an A's baseball cap during one song. (Interesting fact: "A" in ancient greek is "Alpha". Alpha is the name of God in Revelations--along with "Omega".) Certainly if that prophecy is fulfilled in any literal way, those charity events might clearly explain an otherwise rather vaguely prophesied event. LOL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KevO0E_fdYs
The downside to this whole theory, is that there are only 144,000 people out there who know what I'm talking about. Only the 144,000 who were redeemed from the Earth can learn the "Song of The Lamb." "Oh, how I want to be in the number, When The Saints Go Marching In." No, that's not The Song Of The Lamb. It's a "New Song" as it was. For providence sake, I'll leave it at that. You should have no problem figuring it out.
Interesting stuff, indeed! Thanks again for sharing, Palindromedary.
PS On my last trip to Mexico I noticed a convenience store chain called "Oxxo." It's everywhere down there. Yes, its a palindrome. It's pronounced like it's spelled. However, I kept calling it, "Hugs and kisses." LOL The Mexicans in the car with me didn't get the joke. Too bad.
#47
Fascism has arrived, and we need to start using the word FASCISM.... as many Americans really do not understand the meaning OR the implications for themselves and their loved ones.
Thom you can deliver this and using the word and drawing comparisons with 1920's and 1930's Italy would help people understand.
The current trends must be reversed or civil strife and ultimately revolution, is around the corner.
#48
mmuoio and Timothy Gilmore ~ I fully concur with both of you. I too hope Thom starts to call it the way it is. He can do much good in informing the American people.
Timothy Gilmore ~ When you say "Money is the root of all evil," you are preaching to the choir. I've said the same thing many time myself--at least once here this very week I believe. Eliminate money and eliminate war and poverty. Thanks for doing such a great job of saying that, buddy. Soon, I hope such a goal will be in our grasp.
#49
DAnneMarc wrote ~ "The downside to this whole theory, is that there are only 144,000 people out there who know what I'm talking about. "
Correction, that should be 143,999 people out there who know what I'm talking about. Sorry about the math.
#50
Palindromedary ~ Something I just realized I could add to your religious theories. This actually may support them as well. It is the question of why when Jesus appears before people it is usually just one or few people--like the Mormon's founders. However, when Mary appears she appears before many. How could the female human vessel of Christ have authority over the Son of God?
Could it be that such apparitions as The Lady of Guadalupe, or The Miracle at Fatima were actually Goddesses? Perhaps it is simply The Church that puts labels on these supernatural phenomenon in order to perpetuate the myth of the patriarchal dynasty of The Church and conceal the fact that God may actually be female?
Sorry Palindromedary, I hope I'm not being a pest. Just thought it was an interesting notion to share.
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Reply to yesterdays #111 comment:
DAM - The Government staging the mass murder of Children! Paranoia must run rampant in your mind to think the Government killed children as a prelude to some type of martial law in order to take away our guns. I am not stating that as a put down on your state of mind, but you really need to think before you make comments of this nature. I know, I am one of those fools that have been duped by our Government because I do not think they killed innocent children to impose their agenda on the American people, nor do I believe they flew remote controlled aircraft into the Towers and used Terrorists as fall guys! What type of medicine was or is mother or father presently on? They have shown clinically that paranoia may be passed on from one generation to the next. It is not your fault; it is in your genes. Get help before you see them coming after you and act out because of your delusions and hurt yourself or a child. This is what happened in Conn. to those innocent children and adults. K.W.