Recent comments

  • Should Obamacare provision be delayed?   11 years 47 weeks ago

    This may be off topic; but, does anyone notice that the plane that just crash landed at SFO has two holes blown in the roof of the passenger section. Perhaps it is just me; but, I've never seen a plane blow two holes in the roof of its passenger section before without a bomb. Even when William Shatner was flying. Please, correct me if I'm wrong. After all I don't work for the FAA, DHS, CIA, FBI, or the DOD so please shed some light if you will, anyone! That must have blown the passengers carry-ons all over the San Francisco Bay. Anyone want to go scuba diving? Did a first class meal explode? If it did, I wouldn't be that surprised. They've given me a lot of explosive gas in the past.

    http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/06/us/california-plane-incident/

  • Should Obamacare provision be delayed?   11 years 47 weeks ago

    Palindromedary ~ Great advice! I myself may try your recipe if you don't mind. I was referring to Americans who do not share your wherewithal. Unfortunately, the country is full of them. I'm sure you are already quite aware of that. Enjoy your smoothie my friend, you deserve it.

  • Should Obamacare provision be delayed?   11 years 47 weeks ago

    If I have learned anything as an American it is that Americans don't do anything they are not motivated to do. When staying healthy and leading a healthy lifestyle cost the same as being obese and being a drain on the for profit health insurance industry can someone explain the motive to staying healthy to me when both cost the same and being unhealthy is the easiest? The military industrial complex does not make the contention of suicide being less preferable to living when they suck up the majority of tax money as well. With this system can anyone tell me death where is thy sting? Anyone?

  • Should Obamacare provision be delayed?   11 years 47 weeks ago

    Good information, DAnneMarc! I noticed several things since I changed my diet and lost over 40 pounds...my blood pressure, while never going over normal (120/80) before (maybe because I stopped eating red meat over 10 years ago) but it was starting to rise... went way down ... sometimes to 90/65. I have not been bothered by Asthma as I had been for decades..and haven't had to take any inhalers for about 4 months now, I no longer have to take medications for indigestion which bothered be daily if I didn't take the meds. I don't know what my cholesterol level is now because I have not had it tested recently but had been taking medicine to lower it and it had come down a lot...I don't expect it to go back up because my diet doesn't add a lot of cholesterol to my system. I no longer take that medicine either...in fact, I don't take any medicine daily as I did before.

    I didn't subscribe to any special diet plan or take anyone's advise. I don't even take supplemental vitamins..I get all of what I need in what I eat and drink. You really don't have to shell out any money at all as one would when they get enamored by fad diet hucksters who charge for their plans..get you to buy their products. In fact, you save money. I do drink smoothies and "green drinks" frequently. I grow my own kale for the green drinks. I just drastically reduced my food intake.

    I had, for over 10 years, stopped eating red meat and I ate only chicken or fish...and very little of that. I mostly eat fruit, nuts, seeds, vegetables. I don't drink alcohol, take drugs, or smoke. All it takes is for people to develop a little will power and stick to it.

    Every morning, I drink a 20 ounce glass of tomato or vegetable juice with the juice of a whole lemon (I have my own trees) with about 7 to 10 squirts of Tapatio or Tobasco sauce. I use hot sauce on just about everything. I'll even eat a little piece of the lemon peel as it has a lot of good things in it. Since I grow my own...and I don't spray the trees...there is no chemicals to worry about. The green drinks are made of kale, celery, lemon, apple, and cucumber and a tiny piece of ginger . Smoothies are various fruits: lemon, banana, peach, blueberries, or anything else you can find....along with a fruit yogurt and ground chia seeds and ground flax seeds along with ice...sometimes I'll put honey and/or peanut butter in as well. The ground chia seeds tend to thicken the smoothy a lot. Well, it's time to make a Green drink! Then, maybe a smoothie for later on this evening.

  • Should Obamacare provision be delayed?   11 years 47 weeks ago

    Palindromedary ~ I wasn't referring to hypochondriacs. I'm talking about obese people and people who eat bad diets despite being diagnosed with diabetes. I'm talking about alcoholics and drug addicts. None of these problems existed before the emergence of the health care industry. I'm old enough to know that. I remember when folks could afford to see a doctor out of their own pockets. Doctors even made house calls and it didn't cost much more than a plumber.

    There are people out there with health insurance shelling out good money every month who make a game out of disobeying their Doctors orders without a care in the world. When they say they need to see a Doctor, they really need to see a Doctor. Gastric bypass surgery is preventable and expensive. So is drug rehab. So is hypertension and diabetes treatments. Can you imagine the cost to amputate a leg and care for that person the rest of their lives. I think they got their investments back and then some. If you want to give it a name call it, "Well insured suicidal tendancies."

    There are a lot of people out there that hate the insurance racket as much as you and I; and, in my opinion, are protesting with their health; and, unlike you and I, are winning in a morbid way. My point is that this phenomenon may very well be the result of a corrupt bureaucracy that never should have been allowed to be born in the first place; and, it's unintentional consequential psychological impact on many of its clients. It is a tremendous economic liability to our people; and, in my opinion, a tremendous threat to our nation's health. The health insurance industry is a cancer on our nation and must be removed for the betterment and general well being of all. If you will, compare the historic cases of diabetes and obesity together with the increase in health care insurance costs over time. In 1980 there were 400 thousand new cases of diabetes in the US. By the year 2010 when Obama care was enacted there were 2 million new cases. This is Adult Onset Diabetes--a completely preventable condition. In 1958 before commercial health insurance 0.5% of the population had been diagnosed with diabetes. By 2009 that number jumped to 6.4%. As well obesity rates went from 4% of the population in the US in 1960 to 20% by 2004. 20% of the population is 1 out of every 5 people. That's going from 1 out of every 25 people to 1 out of every 5 people! Obesity is beyond being merely overweight and is a serious risk to health. In essence 1 out of every 5 Americans--or 20% of the population--needs immediate medical attention for a completely preventable disease! Since obesity is a major risk factor in the developing of type two diabetes this is a horrendous portent to the near future. What is wrong with this picture? The fast food industry has been around since the 1940's and the soda industry since the 1900's. Clearly it must be some other social phenomenon that is behind these trends. Genetics and diet in this country did not change enought to fully account for any of this dispite the medical communities contention that they are the root causes.

    http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/statistics/slides/long_term_trends.pdf

    http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/publications/AAG/ddt.htm

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity_in_the_United_States

    With that I agree wholeheartedly with you Palindromedary, MMmmNACHOS, and MontanaMuleGal--

    Medicare for all!!

  • Should Obamacare provision be delayed?   11 years 47 weeks ago

    I "somewhat" share in your perspective PALANDROMDARY...At least the part about poor people with higher co-pays and high deductables. But the part about "seeking medical attention for every trivial thing..."Complete speculation and rehtoric! It fits right up there with "if you legalize marijuana 'everyone' will get stoned". Complete bullshit!!! Listen P, I'm not saying that hypocondriacts don't excist...They are already seeking medical attention for "every trivial thing".

    Yes, boycott Obama's Healthcare Plan...FUCK THE FINE!!!Medicare for all!!!

  • Should Obamacare provision be delayed?   11 years 47 weeks ago

    MontanaMuleGal: Good point! Why pay the fine? I don't know..why pay for taxes that murder innocent civilians? Problem is that if you don't pay what the government says you owe then they come after you. Wouldn't it be really great if everyone refused to pay not only that fine but not pay the part of their taxes that funds murdering innocent civilians? Well, I don't pay a lot of taxes anymore anyway!

    And yes, I agree...medicare for all!

  • Should Obamacare provision be delayed?   11 years 47 weeks ago

    DAnneMarc: Of course the psychology of having paid all those big bucks every month makes most people think that they should seek medical attention for any and every trivial thing...from a slight case of sniffles...a cold...to a hangnail. And all of those trivial things bog down the system.

    Of course, depending upon the insurance plan you have, there may be a big deterrent if you have high co-pays or high deductibles. So most people who can't afford to pay high premiums get the plan with high co-pays and high deductibles. And that may be a deterrent from seeking medical help for everything but actual life and death emergencies. So, poor people are still getting shafted..both in having to pay monthly premiums and then having to pay high co-pays and high deductibles.

    So, the wealthy will have no problem, because they will likely get the low or no co-pay and no or low deductibles, and they will likely be the ones that will hog the available medical care because they will be the ones that will seek medical attention for trivial things. And, I'd venture to say that I suspect that doctors will actually do something to diagnose and test people in order to save their lives if you are paying for a very expensive health plan. And I believe that if you have just an el-cheapo health insurance plan with high deductibles...you may be ignored and the doctors will avoid giving the same kind of care that rich people get. I believe that we have a medical/insurance racket that are actually letting poor people die because they would cost too much to get the necessary tests in time to detect things like cancer.

    I especially believe this to be true in the VA because the person I knew who was a Vietnam Vet was ignored...in the sense that the VA doctor (who I call Doctor Death) was doing everything he could to avoid prescribing the necessary tests..scans...that would have detected his cancer. The last thing the VA doctor prescribed for him was physical therapy. The guy was in so much pain he couldn't stand up and the VA doctor wouldn't admit him to the hospital. I had to take him in to the hospital, which ticked off the doctor. I took him in twice and the last time they did actual scans and found cancer all through his body. He died...and the look on his face..I'll never forget...it looked like he was frozen in agony..mouth wide open...eyes clamped shut...and I'd just bet those nurses took away his morphine and shot up themselves.

    The poor will chance risking their lives in order to avoid seeking medical help. Of course, those who don't buy insurance also are risking their lives because they avoid seeking medical help. And, like the insurance companies, they are gambling that nothing will happen to them. Since the house always wins...(the insurance company always wins)..the odds are in favor of someone who thinks he/she can live a healthy life and avoid medical help.

    Not everyone will be lucky enough to avoid needing medical attention, though, and unless you are really trying to live a healthy life, not taking chances, being reckless, dieting, and eating the right foods, etc, you increase your odds that you will get sick or have an accident. Lose that gut and stop smoking and stop eating all that red meat.

    You are making the same bet that the insurance company does...that you are going to stay healthy and not need medical help. Making huge payments to the insurance companies is a definite continual drain on your wealth. And a lot of people, if they do get sick...need an operation, for example, get them outside of the US. The medical industry is really way overcharging for their services in the US.

    One of the things that I noticed about when you become eligible for Medicare...the Supplemental Medicare that private insurance companies try so hard to sell people is the same kind of absolute, continual drain on your wealth, even when you don't get sick you still have to make those monthly payments to private insurance companies.

    If you have medicare, without supplemental insurance, you have a deductible you have to pay before medicare pays for the rest. I don't remember now exactly what it is... something like $1100 per year. If you don't need medical attention during that year you don't pay for any deductibles...you save that money. If you get supplemental insurance..they may say they cover the deductible but, in fact, you have paid for that deductible up front...whether you get sick or not.

    I read somewhere that most people don't get suckered into buying supplemental insurance. Medicare takes care of most of your medical costs...up to a limit..and that is where the supplemental tries to sell you on their plans...but I suspect most people don't ever reach those limits...except very sick people or people who have gotten into a very bad accident and need to be hospitalized for a very long time.

  • Should Obamacare provision be delayed?   11 years 47 weeks ago

    Two points:

    1) Palindromedary - Wouldn't that be a great way to send a message loud and clear...boycott Obamacare..refuse to get healthcare insurance....pay the fine...then work to call the fine unconstitutional...or at least criminal. -

    Why pay the fine?

    2) Medicare for all!!!

  • Should Obamacare provision be delayed?   11 years 47 weeks ago

    The Twain Report

    All The News That Mark Twain Says He Would Report If He Was Alive today7-5-2013 During the Twain Report's bi-weekly seance and tea cosy crocheting contest, complete with matching door prizes for the most inventive costume and the most outrageous nose hair, our illegal immigrant janitor and medium Jose Romney (who, if he is related to Mitt, won't admit it which is perfectly understandable because who wouldn't be embarrassed by such a family member), was possessed by the spirit of Christmas past, who sonorously intoned, "Every time an old white male bigot dies, the republican party loses yet more of its energy; within ten years it will roll over, fart twice, and in a not-particularly-interesting display of entropy and quantum physics, crawl into its own asshole and disappear." Make plans now to attend the non-denominational funeral service for the republican party, which will be held everywhere all over the world, with drinking of carrot juice, free education and health care, free exercise of women's reproductive rights, local-family-owned businesses, dancing, and lots of shiny, inexpensive necklaces!

  • This is movement politics.   11 years 47 weeks ago

    And the next place it pops up is in DC and elsewhere saying: Restore The Fourth!!!

    Quote Kevin Gosztola @ The Dissenter:

    At the rally in Washington, DC, another National Security Agency whistleblower, Thomas Drake, declared, “On this day, the 4th of July, 2013, I call for a new American revolution declaring our independence from the surveillance state and government control of information.”

    He called on citizens to “reflect on how the US has become the very kind of secret undemocratic authoritarian imperialist nation against whom we fought the first American revolution.”

    Drake condemned the government for “unchaining itself from the Constitution” and for “vacuuming and harvesting vast amounts of personal information about each and every one of us.” He warned the government is using “general warrants” to “find out everything there is to know” about Americans and collecting data with few, if any, restraints.

    “We the people do not consent to the surveillance state,” Drake declared. “We will not forsake our rights for the sake of national security. We will not accept that the ends justifies the means. We will not accept that the government granting itself license to steal our liberty and our information away from us.”

    Remarkably, NBC News posted video of what appears to be the entire speech Drake delivered at the rally in DC. It is a rousing and passionate call to action for citizens on this Independence Day.

    It appears Thomas Drake has been using his crowds as focus groups, practicing and refining his message. And when I say focus groups he is not just learning what works, he has been trying to get people to focus on the national security state that has secretly grown so huge that USA now carries the meaning Under Surveillance AllWays. [pun intended]

  • Should Obamacare provision be delayed?   11 years 47 weeks ago

    Palindromedary ~ I once knew someone who used to have a lot of car accidents decades ago. His auto insurance rates went up really fast. At one point he got fed up with the insurance company and cancelled his insurance. He drove without insurance for decades--very, very, carefully. Finally, when California passed the mandatory auto insurance law he got insurance again. Sure enough, shortly thereafter the accidents started again. Don't get me wrong, insurance can be a great thing. It gives us peace of mind. However, can excessive insurance fees make us complacent and irresponsible? Is Health Insurance a substitute for taking care of ourselves? Food for thought!

  • Should Obamacare provision be delayed?   11 years 47 weeks ago
    Quote Palindromedary:I know people who have saved a fortune, after they were laid off 5 years before they were eligible for medicare because they didn't have to pay $1,000/month to health care insurance companies. $60,000 is a lot to some people. They maintained a healthy lifestyle...not pigging out eating unhealthy foods...and stayed healthy. Yes, they took a risk and it could have been way more costly had they developed a medical problem...but you have to figure that the reason why health care insurers get so rich is because they have gambled that most of their insured will not be sick enough to cost them more than the insured paid in...that... and the fact that they keep two sets of books...they conspire with the health care providers in fixing the higher prices in the bills you get...so that they are inflated...then the actual cost is passed to the insurance companies. Some people want to take the risk.

    Palindromedary ~ Interesting set of facts! It made me think. What is the psychological/biological impact of the health insurance industry vs that of a non-profit single-payer system on the overall health of our citizens? Seems to me that buying health insurance is gambling that you might get sick. Staying healthy takes effort--an effort expended to loose the gamble. Shouldn't we look for ways to reward staying healthy rather than charging for it?

    You seem to be saying that you know people who forewent the insurance route in favor of taking care of themselves to save money. It worked for them. They saved money and stayed healthy. My question is could the converse be true as well? Could people who pay huge insurance premiums feel cheated by staying healthy? Could they subconsciously wish to develop medical conditions in the hopes of getting a return on their investment? Finally, could this subconscious desire, fed by the for profit insurance industry be what is behind the poor health of our citizens and the skyrocketing costs of medical care?

    I know it seems a ridiculous notion that anyone would sacrifice their own health to get a return on an investment; however, in this country people have risked a lot more than just their health to make a profit. It certainly seems to me to be a valid suspicion that in this country our for profit health insurance industry may be a major contributing factor in what is making us sick.

    If so, perhaps making medicare for all a reality would do more to improve the overall health of our citizens and reduce our medical costs than any other reformation possible. Make it free either way to get sick or stay healthy and it seems to me that the logical choice would be staying healthy.

  • GOP dooms its own bill to failure.   11 years 47 weeks ago

    So, House Republicans doomed the bill that they had no intention of supporting, by vote for a shark repellent knowing that Democrats would not swallow it.

  • Should Obamacare provision be delayed?   11 years 47 weeks ago
    Quote DAnneMarc:What's going to happen to all these big business employees who have no health care? Are they going to be fined too while this rich companies get a pass? Who in their right mind could justify that travesty? I want my vote back!

    I hope 2014 is the year we all finally take to the streets.

    Right on! DAnneMarc! But I don't want my vote back because I didn't vote for Obama this last time. Being fooled once was enough for me. The only reason why I was really fooled twice was because I voted at all. We are all being fooled when we vote because the whole exercise is folly. The game is rigged by fascists. The only way things will change is to stop voting and take to the streets en masse! "They" want us to think that "they" beat Occupy Wallstreet. But unless Occupy Wallstreet becomes Occupy Fascist America by masses of real Americans to expel the cancer that has infected us we won't see anything change for the better. It will just keep getting worse.

  • Should Obamacare provision be delayed?   11 years 47 weeks ago

    DAnneMarc: Yes, I believe it is extortion! I don't remember, now, exactly what the fine is supposed to be..it's been a long while since I read the bill...but it seemed to me that it was something on the order of just over $1,000**...and if you compare that to what you would have to pay the insurance companies...most likely 12 times that amount in the year...well, a lot of people are most likely going to opt to pay the fine. When you also consider that the health care industry (doctors, nurses, hospitals, clinics) will likely be swamped (they don't have enough people now) then you can imagine how little care you will really get. You will have paid all that money and you still won't be able to get real health care in a timely fashion. The insurance companies will, like the housing market scammers, will take the money and run. By running, I mean they will squeeze our government to turn a blind eye...perhaps they'll say something like..."Oh, it is too complicated...too confusing...we have to wait to reimburse the insured"...or they will find a way not to reimburse people. They will do even more so what they do now...raise healthcare costs and make it seem like the insurance companies saved the day by paying for most of the bills...when actually..the insurance companies and the health care industry are in cahoots with one another setting the prices so that the small percent that the insured has to pay...say 10%, 20%, or 30%...is so much larger than what they should have paid had the prices not been fixed at higher amounts. Now, with government strong-arm enforcers working in tandem with the health care insurance/medical industry mafia we will all be sucked dry of everything we own.

    ** It might have been expressed in a percentage...but this could also vary depending on various factors like what your income is. If you have very little income then, perhaps, your "fine" would be very little. On the other hand, if you have very little income then, maybe, if the government really does supplement, or subsidize, people with little income, then it may be a good idea for them to just not fight it. Maybe it will be to their advantage...I don't know...but someone who does have some substantial income, even though it is not a lot, may find it better to just pay the fine. Someone who is fairly young and healthy and doesn't have a family may be willing to take the risk of just paying the fine. I know people who have saved a fortune, after they were laid off 5 years before they were eligible for medicare because they didn't have to pay $1,000/month to health care insurance companies. $60,000 is a lot to some people. They maintained a healthy lifestyle...not pigging out eating unhealthy foods...and stayed healthy. Yes, they took a risk and it could have been way more costly had they developed a medical problem...but you have to figure that the reason why health care insurers get so rich is because they have gambled that most of their insured will not be sick enough to cost them more than the insured paid in...that... and the fact that they keep two sets of books...they conspire with the health care providers in fixing the higher prices in the bills you get...so that they are inflated...then the actual cost is passed to the insurance companies. Some people want to take the risk.

    And let's not forget that the whopping premiums we pay to the insurance companies usually are couple with co-pays, deductibles, and other surprises. So those people who saved $60,000 over that 5 year period also saved a whopping amount over $60,000 because they didn't even have to go to the doctor.

  • This is movement politics.   11 years 47 weeks ago

    Though normally I don't return to these threads after their first day, today some curious impulse brought me back, and I'm glad it did.

    Let me begin by stating I have the greatest respect for DAnneMarc, who is first person I've encountered in many years who understands it was capitalist savagery that forced many unions to turn to Cosa Nostra for protection against corporate hitmen and thugs.

    But to assert "the future is brighter than it seems" is to ignore not only human history, about which more in a moment, but to deny the impending double-apocalypse of terminal climate change and fossil-fuel bankruptcy. The former will make most of Earth uninhabitable by humans or any other sort of sentient life; the latter, because of our dependence on petroleum byproducts for virtually everything, will not only deny our species vital mobility; it will in fact end forever the very technology upon which we have become helplessly dependent. Which is, of course, precisely what is at stake. The Ruling Class -- let's call the One Percent by its correct name -- intends to survive at any cost. And to ensure its survival, it is methodically reducing all the rest of us to slaves, the "human capital" that will enable its survival, much as the slaves of Rome, Medieval Europe and the Antebellum South enabled the survival of their respective owners. Indeed the chronic failure of the Left to understand and name the diabolical purpose that fuels the One Percent's global thrust to impose zero-tolerance tyranny is the worst most devastating failure in the entire (long) history of humanitarian politics.

    Moreover, because of its mastery of technology, the Ruling Class is now more powerful than at any time in human experience. Its power is in fact a replication of the omnipotence formerly presumed to be divine. Its mercilessness is shaped, not coincidentally, in the exact image of the bloodthirsty and sadistic god of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam): it sees all, knows all and relentlessly punishes those who do not bow to its mandates and submit to its whims. And in the face of such dreadful might, we humans are defenseless. The chasm of inequality that sets the oppressive power of the Ruling Class over the powerlessness of the masses has never in our species' history been greater. It is far greater than the financial inequality that separates the two classes. In fact there has never been an inequality of power that even approaches what it is now; it is literally as if we had been conquered by some inconceivably advanced alien species. Note the lessons of history: the French, for example, made a revolution by seizing the arsenals; so did the Russians. But any such attempted seizures today would be defeated by weapons more deadly than we can imagine. Even were the seizures to succeed, no more than one one-hundredth of one percent would have the education required to operate the unimaginably high-tech weapons so captured.

    While in former times such inequalities of power prompted nonviolent resistance -- Gandhi in India is a classic example -- the success of nonviolence depends on two factors: these are its ability to evoke humanitarian feelings amongst the Ruling Class, and the unspoken threat that if nonviolence fails, violence will take its place. Both these factors are now utterly and forever nullified. The defining characteristic of the present-day Ruling Class is its moral imbecility; it is no more capable of humanitarianism than Ted Bundy was. It's moral imbecility is reinforced -- indeed demanded -- by the Ayn Rand doctrines that shape its paradigms of governance. As to unspoken threat, in Gandhi's case this was the certainty the superb intelligence services of the Soviet Union would do as their Tsarist predecessors had done in 1858 via the Sepoy Mutiny and foster armed rebellion throughout British India. But the existence of any such potential died forever with the collapse of the U.S.S.R. and the capitalist co-optation of China.

    Unfortunately most USians who think of themselves as "progressives" do so from an emotional basis that has no grounding in historical reality. The truth of the human condition is that tyranny -- often unspeakable tyranny -- has been the norm since the advent of patriarchy about 4,000 years ago. To understand patriarchy's impact, think of it as the intellectual equivalent of the smallpox-infected blankets with which the Europeans, particularly the English, fatally weakened the First Nations peoples. Then reflect on the fact that as Abrahamic religion evolved from patriarchy, so did capitalism evolve directly from Abrahamic religion -- and so did fascism evolve directly from capitalism. By functional analysis of the resultant conditions -- hierarchy, private property, the notion of a favored class (men, the chosen, the saved, the successful) and a despised class (women, the poor, the disabled, the elderly) -- the kinship of patriarchy, Abrahamic religion, capitalism and fascism becomes undeniable.

    Though most people dismiss these realities with the claim "it was ever thus," archaeology suggests otherwise. The matrifocal, probably matriarchal civilization we know as Minoan, for example, successfully evacuated the entire island we call Thera in advance of the volcanic debacle of 1600 BCE (Google "evacuation of thera," no quotes). The evacuation was total: not just all humans, but all pets, livestock, all movable goods. This suggests the correct answer to the lengthy dispute between capitalist-minded archaeologists, who identify the large Minoan government complexes as "palaces," and socialist-minded archaeologists, who identify these same structures as "administrative centers." Obviously to organize an event the size of the Theran evacuation -- at least 25,000 people and possibly many times more -- a vast and efficient administration was required. Contrast this to the abandonment of New Orleans to Katrina and you'll understand why a growing number, archaeologists included, regard Minoan civilization as representing the true apex of human achievement -- that we've literally been on a downward spiral since the sack of Knossos.

    Be that as it may, the question before us today -- and it is my failure I did not make this clear in my original post -- is not only (false) hope versus (true) hopelessness. It is equally whether one has a moral obligation to resist even when one knows resistance is doomed. I will write and photograph as long as I am able. But I cannot answer for others. The best I can do is cite Jean-Paul Sarte:

    ...Resistance was a true democracy: for the soldier as for the commander, the same danger, the same forsakenness, the same total responsibility, the same absolute liberty within discipline. Thus, in darkness and in blood, a Republic was established, the strongest of Republics. Each of its citizens knew that he owed himself to all and that he could count only on himself alone. Each of them, in complete isolation, fulfilled his responsibility and his role in history. Each of them, standing against the oppressors, undertook to be himself, freely and irrevocably. And by choosing for himself in liberty, he chose the liberty of all... (from "Republic of Silence," pgs. 498-500, for which Google).

  • Should Obamacare provision be delayed?   11 years 47 weeks ago

    Good point, Willie W. !

    Kings (the Corporations) and paupers are people too and the paupers have historically overthrown the Kings. It usually only takes a little bit of a push...as in...desperate masses on the verge of starvation...or a continued pressure from the "Kings" on the paupers to pay all the taxes so that the dandies don't have to...because they refuse to pay their share anyway.

    In fact, the Kings, historically, have literally "lost their heads" when they have ticked off the paupers bad enough. There is great strength in great numbers. And the Kings, unless they are totally stupid, are quite aware of it and use the tools they can to keep the paupers in line...propaganda. "Want to SuperSize those fries?" "You go, Business Pro, you deserve it!"

    The key is to recognize the King's propaganda...their symbols.. like flags...especially the "false flag operations"...like 9/11. Even Pearl Harbor was a "false flag operation". USS Maine in Havana Harbor. USS Lusitania. USS Liberty. We have a long list of "false flags" that these Harvard educated, foppish, dandies have used over the history of our country to rile up the paupers to support the greedy criminal acts of these capitalist pigs.

    Conniving, capitalist, hucksters are usually always at the root of despicable atrocities around the world. Now the whole world is seeing how corrupt and despicable the US is now that it has committed this last act of desperation to get it's toady countries, it's lap dogs too pusillanimous to say no to the US, to force the Bolivian jet down to look for Snowden. Especially after Snowden revealed to the EU that they were being spied on. Snowden did the EU a big favor and then the EU knuckled under to the dictates of their Big Brother, the US. What cowardly hypocrites! The whole of our southern hemisphere is now, likely, going to expel all those EU ambassadors out of their countries. And I say GOOD! The US will soon fall full force into it's own selfish conniving, capitalist, cesspool. Capitalism will sell, to it's executioner, the rope to hang them with. They will sell out their own mothers for another dollar. Despicable!

    According to Max Keiser...the housing bubble in Canada is getting ready to POP! Look out Kend...you'd better dump all those properties before you get caught holding a bunch of worthless junk.

  • Should Obamacare provision be delayed?   11 years 47 weeks ago
    Quote Palindromedary:Wouldn't that be a great way to send a message loud and clear...boycott Obamacare..refuse to get healthcare insurance....pay the fine...then work to call the fine unconstitutional...or at least criminal. Obamacare would fall like a stack of dominoes. By the way...that fine is not very big compared to what it will cost you to pay those health insurance premiums.

    Palindromedary ~ A very good point! Any idea what the fine might be? It seems pretty stupid to me that we don't just demand single-payer for the price of the fine. Charging us for not buying something from someone else that the government should be providing for free seems like extortion to me. Imagine! We elected this man on a platform to create single-payer health care. His solution is to find a way to charge us for single-payer and provide nothing except aiding and abetting the extortion of the insurance industry.

    What's going to happen to all these big business employees who have no health care? Are they going to be fined too while this rich companies get a pass? Who in their right mind could justify that travesty? I want my vote back!

    I hope 2014 is the year we all finally take to the streets.

  • Should Obamacare provision be delayed?   11 years 47 weeks ago

    I thought corporations were people! So how come some people have to buy and some don't?

  • This is movement politics.   11 years 47 weeks ago

    Eco Tech: Powering Up: Malmo,Sweden

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9e1pou-db4

    Eco Tech: Zero Waste: M.R.F.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvd8ekI6Ma4

    Eco Tech: zero waste: e-scrap

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETNaO2Pa8q4

    Eco Tech: zero waste: landfill

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4F5pIyyhhU

    BI4SP: POWER: manure farm

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CONSJWaLOqw

    Eco Tech: Zero Waste: worms

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St-NHGBj5f4

    INVENTION NATION: ZEGEN

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QYSMY_s5js

    INVENTION NATION: wetland sewers

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7bVx8FBx5s

    Eco Tech: zero waste: restrooms

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATrH9zaVpuE

    Eco Tech: Powering Up: Wind Power

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJXzhFDPM7M

    Eco Tech: Future Fuels: Biodiesel (grease)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySLDCt5MmTc

    Eco Tech: Future Fuels: Biodiesel (grass)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFhaTN7QkT8

    Eco Tech: Zero Waste: plastic bottles

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9B9Ui4BJAU

    BI4SP: Build: Pre-Fab houses

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHI7JRMg4QI

    BI4SP: Paper or Plastic: plastic

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyDdRe9EkSE

    Eco Tech: Zero Waste: Z-WEED

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmzY8PcyKeY

    INVENTION NATION: solar prism

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zo3wB6D7yE

    BI4SP: Grow: Roof Top Garden

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17hRZgsFEXE

    Eco Tech:Powering Up: Solar

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXru5GhB3Uk

    Eco Tech: Future Fuels: hypercar

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a8TTmOj-vg

    INVENTION NATION: earthhaven

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7udAPebTnU

    Eco Tech: Building Green: earthships

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUTVLpTNBwk

    Green Party Debates 2008 hour one

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKHr-azwtso

    Green Party Debates 2008 hour two

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72k1ElvwBKI

  • Should Obamacare provision be delayed?   11 years 47 weeks ago

    Good gawd, wtf--like the ACA isn't bad enough! How in hell can Obama expect to "push" (apparently a word he does not understand anyway) it on governors when he so obviously has little faith in it himself?

    Look, to me its all the same. I am disabled and have been stuck on Medicaid for years. I accept that, as long as I am a US citizen (ugh) I will never be able to try to work again, and I will never receive what is considered to be "adequate" health care. Medicaid is awful (and can neoliberals not confuse Medicaid and Medicare just ONCE?!..Medicaid is the one you would move to Europe to avoid, ok?)

    HR 676 was our chance to be civilized...one reason I supported Hillary over Obama was that I thought she might strike a better deal for heatlh care. But, that was when I still had any faith at all in the US as a "democracy". I am now a Socialist who would be willing to die to overthrow this Imperialist Capitalist govt.

    Obama can go to hell

  • Should Obamacare provision be delayed?   11 years 47 weeks ago

    Careful: Businesses will not provide health care, they will provide health insurance. Health care is what hospitals do.

  • Should Obamacare provision be delayed?   11 years 47 weeks ago

    Ok, here's some more doom and gloom...our authorities are not the only ones to have UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles...drones) in the US....get out your gas masks kiddies it's post 9/11 all over again...

    http://cryptome.org/2013/07/parastoo-uav-launch2.htm

    ..are ye scared yets? UAVs are just so easy to build and fly..and they can carry almost anything that could cause lots of damage. And no one even has to hijack them with box cutters!

  • Is Egypt heading for another revolution?   11 years 47 weeks ago

    Well they tried Fascism and Theocracy, so it looks like true democracy has become their goal. I wonder if they'll beat us to it?

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