Recent comments

  • ALEC is planning for a busy year...   11 years 37 weeks ago

    The issue here is what are we going to do about these attacks against our country. These thugs so called "politicians" are nothing but gangsters. We need to fight them and the people who have domain in the progressive media should come up with a plan to fight back. I remember Frank Church, Howard Zinn among others. There should be a legislation demanding that everyone read Common Sense so that we are all in the same page. What are we going to do to get rid of these "black robes" Supreme Court? The black guy Clarence should be ashamed of himself for he is on the other side against the people of the USA, and the other Scaglia, his name tells me he is descendant of Italians who happen to be Latinos.

  • ALEC is planning for a busy year...   11 years 37 weeks ago

    Politicians know who they work for. Its whoever pays them the most because they have to constantly get relected and in todays world its about advertising! Its our system and now next to impossible to save a system that will probably just keep eating itself until its gone.

    Its too bad big corporations never did a study to understand when you have a strong middle class they actually spend alot more and alot more often. Thus making corporations strong through strong arm contribution campaign funds the ropes are so tight nothing moves and everyone suffers.

    Fear and greed hurts everyone.

    We have turned public servants into public obstructiouness that pass nothing and get paid quite well for it.

  • ALEC is planning for a busy year...   11 years 37 weeks ago

    Dear lost people of Earth your problems are not what you are focusing on, you are being fed crap. All of our history is whitewashed and tooled to give false paths of self induced deception. This is then used to harvest your fears which are an energy wave of frequency. This fear is used to power the world we are described to as real. This is done through our keyboards, iphones,t.v.,even toys, anything which is a cube. These devices send energy to Saturn which is the god you pray to, you call him Jesus.

    YET...we all seek love, we love to give it, we love to get it. Love is also a frequency of being, 528. So stare at the sun in the morning and at sunset to increase your understanding that we are the fallen angels written about in the Bible. You are a star who is trapped in words which are magic spells. Don't believe me, seek out Superluminous1 on twitter.

  • ALEC is planning for a busy year...   11 years 37 weeks ago

    OOOOhhh...there's those 111s again..re: my last message time. Happens all the time...if not 1:11 or 11:11 it's 2:22 or 3:33, etc.

  • ALEC is planning for a busy year...   11 years 37 weeks ago

    2950-10k: Very good idea!...put tape over the lens. Or, if you are using home (SOHO) PC computer don't even have a camera or microphone connected. I built my own computer without including a camera and microphone. But if you have a laptop or other mobile device you probably have them built in...so...cover it up if you want to keep prying eyes from seeing your visual image. But then, if you have your photos stored on your device then they can see what you look like anyway.

    Here's some pretty informative (and scary) information that shows you just how insecure we all are. It is a 46 page pdf with color diagrams and explains how our super-sleuth agencies spy on us. This was written by someone in the UK and they refer to the BT Broadband network there..but it is applicable, with other networks, here in the US as well.

    Quote cryptome article:
    "When the DSL connection is established a covert DHCP request is sent to a secret military network owned by the U.S. Government D.O.D. You are then part of that U.S. D.O.D. military network, this happens even before you have been assigned your public IP address from your actual ISP."

    "This spy network is hidden from the LAN/switch using firewall rules and traffic is hidden using VLANs in the case of BT et al, it uses VLAN 301, but other vendors modems may well use different VLANs. The original slide has a strange number 242 with grey background, we think this represents the VLAN number/Vendor number so BT would be 301."

    "This hidden network is not visible from your "Modem's Web Interface" and not subject to your firewall rules, also not subject to any limitations as far as the switch portion of your modem is concerned and the hidden network also has all ports open for the attacker."

    "These tools allow the attacker to control 100% of the modem functionality from the Internet and in an undetectable manner. e.g., the attacker can forward all your DNS requests to their private network, they can selectively route specific protocols, ports or networks or everything to their network and by default they do."

    "It should be noted that even before your Point-to-Point over Ethernet (PPPOE) request is issued, this hidden network is already fully operational. So much so, that your LAN can be directly accessed even when you think your modem is off-line."


    Well, heck, then just power it down or disconnect the RJ11 telephone plug to your modem. And unless you have a dedicated IP and you use DHCP to assign a new public IP each time you power up your modem then this should work fine.

    http://cryptome.org/2013/12/Full-Disclosure.pdf

    The article goes on to show how you can defend yourself against such privacy violations...(for home computers) ..but has delayed suggesting how to protect yourself from mobile devices.

    I suspect that one of the reasons why AT&T is pushing so hard to sucker people into signing up for Uverse is because once you do so you are stuck with using only their residential gateways (comparable to the DSL modem/router). You cannot use any other ones...the firmware must be what AT&T provides. You may as well junk that ADSL2 plus modem you went out and bought.

    By the way, I got my letter from AT&T Uverse on Sept 3, 2013 saying that they will be upgrading my internet to fiber optics on AT&T Uverse in 45 days and that I have to sign up with them in order to have internet over the phone lines. I refused to sign and told them I didn't want AT&T Uverse. I didn't want it then because I considered their marketing tactics to be suspect. For one thing they say they are upgrading to fiber optics but it doesn't go all the way to the home (FTTH-fiber to the home) like they do only for newly built homes. We are still stuck with old noisy copper pair lines coming into the home.

    I'm still going strong on my DSL phone lines with my original ISP. Nothing has changed yet.

  • Walmart should pay a living wage or face the corporate death penalty!   11 years 37 weeks ago

    I certainly agree that the Waltons are among the stingy, rapacious, capitalist-pig class of Americans who I'd love to see lose all their ill gotten gains some day. I guess it does make them Welfare Queens, indirectly...not paying their employees and having them apply for government handouts.

    But what would all those Walmart employees do if they weren't getting a paycheck (however meager) from Walmart? They wouldn't have a paycheck at all...would they? Walmart is not forcing them to work at there. Do you think there are jobs out there from all those other businesses? All those Republican-leaning businesses, who are also looking for ways to cut costs in order to maximize their profits, are shipping all the jobs overseas?

    Because of the Reagan-lover business people out there who have voted for those Republican politicians, over the years, and loved their "Government hands-off", laissez faire policies and deregulation, they let businesses like Walmart be created.

    Let's not be fooled and misused by all the propaganda that mostly comes from the whining from those "poor" Republican business people about how people shouldn't shop at Walmart. They are just jealous and envious that they are not a Walmart. They'd all do the same thing if they could.

    The devious right-wingers are very good at originating propaganda and making it look like it came from left-wingers...and then left-wingers unknowingly become the amplifiers of the right-wing propaganda.

    Deception is what wins most wars. And the wealthy have been waging war against the rest of us for many years. We greatly outnumber them and they know that they need to control the propaganda in order to keep us all in line and working against our best interests. They know that they need to be very deceptive and disarraying in order to keep their power and money.

  • Walmart should pay a living wage or face the corporate death penalty!   11 years 37 weeks ago

    I agree with Mark Saulys. Whatever "savings" there are to be had at Walmart are an ill-gotten gain.

    Palin, we'll just have to disagree on this one. I think it's outrageous for a huge company like Walmart to instruct their employees on applying for welfare benefits because they're too stingy to pay a living wage. Meanwhile the Walton Welfare Queens have sucked up 40% of this country's economy!!! As a taxpayer, I resent enabling these parasites. Talk about suckers! We're all suckers.

    What you do is your affair. - AIW

  • Should lawmakers have to disclose when their legislation is written by ALEC?   11 years 37 weeks ago

    I felt they both were right answers, but could only vote fo rone lol" they shouls also have to disclose who wrote the bill, and whose idea it was,also ALEC should not be tax exempt, and should have to pay back taxes as well.

  • ALEC is planning for a busy year...   11 years 37 weeks ago

    The private powers not only sit on all of the ALEC task forces, they also vote with the legislators to approve the so called "model Bills." In other words the big money private powers both craft and vote on the "model bills." These same bills eventually get passed into law by our unrepresentatives.

    As Thom clearly points out, these laws are of great financial benefit to the private for profit powers while at the same time being extremely anti-American and causing monstrous harm to the rest of us 99.9 %.

    Once again......."The first truth is that liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power where it becomes stronger than the Democratic State itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism- ownership of government by a group, or any other controlling power."

    Franklin D. Roosevelt ...... 1930 message to congress.

    Today Thom mentioned something about computer users being tracked both by the NSA and marketing groups. I'm fully aware that this happens, but there's one big problem here. Unless the NSA or marketing group has a picture for positive identity of the user at the very moment that user is at said location on the computer, how can they positively be sure of, or prove, the identity of the user? Not only is it very possible to hack passwords, it's pretty easy to sign in and share usage with family, friends, or anybody. It would seem to me the NSA and marketing groups can only speculate on who the user is. Related to my point, I have a sister in law who recently retired from a pretty sensitive position with Air Force intelligence, she always has the camera eye taped over on her computer......just saying!

  • ALEC is planning for a busy year...   11 years 37 weeks ago

    Kay Hagan for US Senate. Sign her petition to help repeal Citizen's United:

    http://www.kayhagan.com/landing/w1309cufms/?subsource=CK.KH-CU.S-A02-FB-FBLP.D-FKW-NA-SD-BO-50p-B01

    Here is another one by Representatives Braley and Peters:

    http://endcitizensunitednow.com/?subsource=CK-BP-CU-A01-FB-FBLP.D-FKW-NA-CT1-BO-30p-A02

  • The Banksters are getting off easy...   11 years 37 weeks ago

    Aliceinwonderland ~ You're most welcome!

  • Listen to Thom's Daily Newscast   11 years 37 weeks ago

    I called them banksters back in the 80's and 90's when I was suing them. I'd find a ederal or state law settle a lawsuit and watch them go to their paid representatives in Congress and get themselves exempted from the law.

  • The Banksters are getting off easy...   11 years 37 weeks ago

    Marc, thank you. I am quite ignorant about such matters, and I really appreciate you taking the time to explain all this. Presently, I am overwhelmed with other issues in my life that are more urgent, that will have to be resolved first. But once my efforts pay off and our circumstances have stabilized, this will be the next order of business. Thanks again for your excellent, common-sense advice. - AIW

  • ALEC is planning for a busy year...   11 years 37 weeks ago
    Quote DAnneMarc:Blind Christians in name only being motivated by blind greed.

    You have hit that nail so squarely on the head!

    Quote DAnneMarc:There is nothing illegal with what ALEC is doing.

    Their methods may be legal, but their goal isn't: overthrowing the constitution, even by legal means, is still a crime. But, I do agree, we need to fix the laws, <strong>and in such a way that the fixes can't be undone by future generations</strong> - for their own protection. I wonder if I will live long enough to see this happen.

  • ALEC is planning for a busy year...   11 years 37 weeks ago
    Quote stecoop01:A thought occurred to me today: a capitalist and a christian are diametrically opposed entities - a person can't be a TRUE christian and a TRUE capitalist at the same time. When I look at who's running our country and our churches, I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone!

    stecoop01 ~ Submitted for your approval... Everything in moderation is good. Too much of anything is bad. It is possible to be a good person and be a Christian and a Capitalist. Each in moderation, each placing the foundation of Christian teachings above everything else. Unfortunately, not everyone is practicing either moderation or Christianity. What I am seeing mostly is almost a biblical fulfilment of the prophecies of Carl Marx. Blind Christians in name only being motivated by blind greed. When the blind lead the blind both fall into the ditch. (Mat 15:14)(Luke 6:39)

    Quote stecoop01:Anyway, why can't these ALEC people be charged as traitors and enemies of freedom and the constitution? I just seems obvious to me that they are trying to destroy the United States.

    stecoop01 ~ There is nothing illegal with what ALEC is doing. Just because it is wrong doesn't always make it illegal. The underlying problem here is that our system allows this activity to be legal. All the problems being caused by ALEC are a direct result of the lack of Campaign Finance Reform law and the manner with which we run our political processes. We don't need to blame ALEC for doing what the law allows them to do. We need to focus on changing the law.

  • The Banksters are getting off easy...   11 years 37 weeks ago

    Aliceinwonderland ~ I definitely advise using a living trust for anything you want to leave to anyone; if only, to avoid inheritance taxes. Definitely to avoid internal conflicts. Don't feel bad every family has at least one... "special" person. I just found out that at least half of my family are Republicans. I guess nobody is perfect. Now I understand why my father moved us 500 miles away. He never told me why. I guess it's just been our family's dirty little secret. Maybe he was too embarrassed to mention it. Go figure. Now I get to reconcile the truth alone.

    Protect yourself and your loved ones from financial predators. When you are gone you never know who or what is going to go after your precious assets. It could be the government, the state, the city, greedy financiers, your own family, or your own families friends. Some predators make a career out of "claim jumping" grief stricken heirs. Some do it for revenge. Many times your true loved ones don't even know what you are worth when you die. They tend not to make that their business if they truly love you. One good friend of mine lost her house because of a greedy ex wife after her husband died. After going through probate she got sued for half and lost. Make it simple and easy for your loved ones and impossible for your potential enemies. As the old saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. A living trust is easy, cheap, and provides you and your loved ones a sense of security nothing else can. I highly recommend it.

    By the way, along with a Trustee you will want to set up a successor Trustee in the same document. Something to think about beforehand. Also, make sure your Trust includes all assets, property, jewelry, and monetary. State each asset by name and send copies with cover letters to any and all holding sources demanding the asset be placed under power of Trust. Your preparers can walk you through the process. Keep copies of all documents and make sure your successor Trustee and Trustee have them too. Make sure you provide them with a list of all your assets too. Specify on that list that you want to leave all these worldly belongings exclusively to them and sign it. Ask your preparer whether a notary is necessary in your state. It is very helpful for grief stricken heirs to have a simple list of things to claim when the time comes. The memory isn't reliable when grief stricken; and, the people who really love you don't always care about being exact about all your possessions after your death. When the time comes to change title they will have to provide copies of the trust documents along with your death certificate and the appropriate forms. (Through the USPS of course.) Change of title is automatic and hassle free. Hopefully, that time is a long, long, long time away.

  • Walmart should pay a living wage or face the corporate death penalty!   11 years 37 weeks ago

    Dumpstering is subversive.

  • ALEC is planning for a busy year...   11 years 37 weeks ago

    I am sick of these fascist pigs ryan, johnson, cruz and all members of this fascist organization. They need to be tried for treason and hanged on the Capitol steps in D.C. Otherwise the American people are going to become fed up, rise up and do it themselves.

  • ALEC is planning for a busy year...   11 years 37 weeks ago

    A thought occurred to me today: a capitalist and a christian are diametrically opposed entities - a person can't be a TRUE christian and a TRUE capitalist at the same time. When I look at who's running our country and our churches, I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone!

    Anyway, why can't these ALEC people be charged as traitors and enemies of freedom and the constitution? I just seems obvious to me that they are trying to destroy the United States.

  • Walmart should pay a living wage or face the corporate death penalty!   11 years 37 weeks ago
    Quote Mark Saulys: They have a great dumpster though.
    But, by getting Walmart goods the cheapest way..ie: free (out of the dumpster)...isn't that also taking away business from other businesses? And some people might think that getting stuff thrown away in a dumpster is an "ill gotten gain"..actually, it could be considered stealing. You may not be making Walmart any richer, true, but you are really not helping Walmart employees. In fact, maybe you are taking away the ability of Walmart employees from doing a little "dumpster diving", themselves. I have never dumpster dove, myself, but who knows, one day I may have to. We may all have to!

    As far as "the high cost of low prices"...there's always some rhetorical nonsense that seems to make sense to some people. I don't think rhetoric will outdo the cheapest prices. And I know that not all things at Walmart are cheaper than elsewhere and if you aren't aware of the price differences then you will get taken.

    I definitely agree with Aliceinwonderland, though, that many of the supermarkets will rip you off if you are not careful. They will put food on sale...say a certain kind of apples. And when they key in the products at the cash register you find that they charged you for the more expensive apples. I get this all the time. I bet most people don't even scrutinize their receipts. They may be too shy to hold up the line to say anything even if they know immediately that they've been charged more. The only way to stop these criminal merchants from stealing from us is to raise hell...or, at least call them on it...hold up the line. Hold them to their advertized prices and make them get it right!

  • ALEC is planning for a busy year...   11 years 37 weeks ago

    Well, you know, they, by the gospel of Ayn Rand, are free - even obligated - to put their personal gain ahead of the well being of society.

    To a topic discussed on today's program, Jesus may've been a carpenter by trade (which makes him a blue collar worker or proletariat not a petty bourgeouis business owner) but he and his disciples lived by begging (and that tradition is continued as churches sustain themselves by donations and pass the plate every service). In fact, it's impossible to fully understand Jesus or Christianity if you don't recognize it as the teachings of a homeless man.

  • ALEC is planning for a busy year...   11 years 37 weeks ago

    We have to keep REMINDING lawmakers who they're working for?! Wow is that a sad commentary. It seems Obama forgot that basic premise awhile ago, given his efforts to fast-track the TPP. These toadies can't bring on the next level of corporate fascism fast enough, can they?! Oink.

  • Walmart should pay a living wage or face the corporate death penalty!   11 years 37 weeks ago
    Quote Aliceinwonderland:We vote with our money. Don't forget that.

    And I haven't forgot that...I AM voting with my money...and I am voting against all of those Republican merchants who made Walmart possible.

    The Walmart clan...how many voters are they compared to all those Republican merchant voters? I think the biggest hurt, by shopping at Walmart, is on the many, many Republican merchants who don't get the business that they would have had they not made it possible for behemoths like Walmart to exist. They are being beaten by the masters of the game...their own kind playing their own game. And now they want our sympathy or our empathy...shop their businesses instead of Walmart? Ha! Wallow in it Republican crap hounds!

    And I would argue that the majority of merchants ARE Republicans or who have, one way or another, tried to maximize their profits by squeezing their employees and squeezing the customers for all they can get. They all have played the marketing game and may have internalized their faux benevolent super-egos to believe they are magnanimous beings when they are really just lizard-brain connivers out to take people for all they can.

    Oh, yeah, and there are plenty of very well to do people who think they are Democrats or liberals or progressives but who don't see themselves in the the mirror of truth. They are also out to take other people for all they can get, as well, only they hide behind their "liberal" facades".

    Have you ever wondered how many people who run charities actually divert those funds to their own bank accounts? Have you ever wondered how many of those people behind those petition sites will either sell your identity or use your identity themselves to plead for money...most of which, no doubt, goes to enrich themselves rather than go for the "cause" they promise?

    "There's a sucker born every minute!" They prey on your ego. They prey on your empathy. They prey on your desire for heaven or earth. Others will just beat the crap out of you and take your money. Even Mother Theresa was no saint! She took money from gangsters who stole from other people and she gave very little of it to the poor. She gave most of it to the Church. Her main goal was not really to feed or educate the poor but to proselytize and win converts to Catholicism.

    But I do shop at Costco, too. They, at least, pay their employees a bit more than Walmart.

  • Walmart should pay a living wage or face the corporate death penalty!   11 years 37 weeks ago

    Ever hear of "the high cost of low prices"? I don't shop at Walmart, I consider the savings an ill gotten gain.

    They have a great dumpster though.

  • Walmart should pay a living wage or face the corporate death penalty!   11 years 37 weeks ago

    Oh yes, the great debate about working at a no skill job yet wanting top dollar. I do agree that the minimum wage is greatly outdated and needed to adjusted periodically to keep pace with a no skill or schooling type job level of job. I do offer those that are really unhappy with their present pay level at the driveup window or Walmart greeter job, go to school and better yourself. You truely will love yourself in the long run becuz you would qualify yourself for a field or line of work you have worked for. Employers do have a clear idea of what they can pay in a given area and still stay in business. COSTCO employees for example make around $20/hr and I have yet to see a COSTCO store that is boarded up and shutdown. Walmart tends to be the very last place I shop as I don't like the way they do business and their prices are actually higher then the grocery store across the road. I have compared my sales slip many times against Walmart and yes they are screwing us about as simple as it can be said. The big 18" high price sign does not mean it's really cheap, it just means they have big numbers.

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