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Hmmm....What do Wyoming, Dick Cheney and Halliburton have in common? Anybody making any book on the political pressure that judge was subjected to? (Or maybe she's been on the payroll all along...)
Not sure that any government should be in the "m-a-r-r-i-a-g-e" business, it carries too much baggage with it. Meanwhile we should be reforming, adding and supporting many and various useful "family" or "communal" living arrangements. This includes "single-moms" banding together for support and task/expense-sharing, orphans, foster-children, foster-elders, communal group homes, homless-shelters; etc.. Our wasteful massive single-family homes are untenable for our projected high-energy-cost future.
While experiencing divorce, I searched our state laws. "Love" and "affection" are not mentioned anywhere, (except on Humane-Society auto-license-plates). Judging by the divorce process, "marriage" is about nothing but property -- splitting the sheets (and perhaps custody, if there are kids) -- that's all.
Were "marriage" really justified as a socially useful institution for procreation (more cannon-fodder for the state?), to be subsidized; then why pray tell, do we issue marriage-permits to 50-year-old Seniors?
Let the Churches or any other Social Support-Groups handle "Marriage" as a ritual relationship -- while having various governments subsidize living relationships where public or individual "benefits" and "rights" are involved.
Would you rather have terrorist or Haliburton live next door.
At least one is honest and you know what to expect?
If a driver does a hit and run, killing a pedestrian with a vehicle, and if the driver is ever caught..do you think the driver has a good defense if the driver were to claim his/her driving that day, including whether or not he/she was inebriated or not, was a 'trade secret'. Corporations get away with mass murder, using their 'trade secret' alibi, and the crooked legal/political system protects the criminals.
Kend, I suppose you never watched that movie where this gas fracking victim was able to light his tap water with a cigarette lighter. Your claim that fracking is so deep that it wouldn't affect drinking water is just not very credible to me.
The thing is that the pollution by fracking is a fact and it is well known and undisputed by most major authorities.
No! I live in the crazy state of texas, 5th generation, but i can not stand the cRaZy politics that go on here. Gov. Ann Richards and Austin are the best things that ever happened here. <#LOVE the state - just not the poliTICS (they r tics that will suck u dry)
Not 100% sure - but I think it was yesterday (March 25th, 2013) that I heard Thom speaking on XM 127 radio about the 'rich' - and metioning Bill Gates:
Please note, while I have no idea about Bill Gates wealth and relationship to 'his' Microsoft: he has however taken a special initiative with Warren Buffett - whereby at least half of his wealth will go towards charitable purposes. In fact, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated over $300 million in the last 3 years towards the Polio eradication scheme - initiated by Rotary in the late 1980's. Rotary matched a good part of this. I am a Rotarian (in southern Alberta, Canada). While Rotary initiated this polio-eradication drive, the WHO, US-CDC, national governments, etc. came on board and the annual infections of over 350,000 in 1985 in over 120 countries, has been reduced to almost none (2 cases so far this year: in Pakistan), with only Afghanistan and Nigeria also remaining as 'polio endemic countries'. However - Bill Gates is involved in numerous such charitable endeavours! And he and Warren Buffett are taking the lead in trying to get other billionaires to contribute (and are having some success there).
What is "matrix math by echelon reduction methods"?
Isn't Halibertun's toxic sludge protected by Patent Law? Do they not want to make additional money from lawsuits. Lawsuits so punitive it bankrupts competition giving them more of a monopoly? There is only one reason not to follow protecting their "invention" with the enrire U.S. court system behind them! To follow secrecy; there is something to hide! Otherwise they leave their invention to accidental discovery, then being patented and being sued! High risk, and I hope someone follows this; thus taking them down!
Something caller Wayne said is interesting. He doesn't want government to tell him what he has to do for other people. As an aspiring science fiction writer, I've been working on a fictional constitution, whose preamble mentions the right to do as one will in the absence of obligation to society. Paying your taxes is the basic way of fulfilling one's obligation to society. And the use of that money on welfare programs (those that work) is how government fulfills its part of the process. People like Wayne just seem to want no responsibilities, but that's not how life works unless you're a hermit.
You all watch to much TV. Fracking is done so far below any ground water that you would drink it has no effect. This whole fracking thing is just one more way for environmentalists to get you to send your hard earned money to them. Hundreds of billions we have spent on this crap and it hasn't changed a thing. Oh ya but we have reduced green house gases by ah ah ah oh ya zero. Take you enviro money and feed or house someone that needs help.
It's even worse than it seems. Fracking is being done on public as well as private lands and public health and environmantal damage is equally at risk in both cases. Instead of protecting trade secrets (disingenuous I know) we should demand that no trade secrets apply to this endeavor. I understand trade secrets when it comes to manufacturing widgets, but firms engaged in fracking should be required to compare methods and share costs of developing best practices methods. If energy indepedence is a matter of national security (and even if it isn't) the energy we develop should be done in the best way so that we get the most energy at the least environmental and public health cost.
right wingers have been calling other shows with the same bogus statistics about suicide, depression, etc
Not only have most Christians not read the Bible, but most aren't deep enough thinkers to examine basic facts of their belief. The imminence of Easter provides an extra reason for me to bring this up now: Most Christians think that Jesus was dead for three days, even though it's actually only 36 hours from sunset on Friday to sunrise on Sunday. They're off by a factor of 2.
The unexamined belief is not worth believing.
shathawa ~ With all due respect, if President Obama "approves" of any budget passed that has cuts in Social Security and Medicare by signing the bill into law, he will be responsible for those cuts. He is perfectly free to veto the bill and send it back to Congress with the instructions that he will not sign any budget into law that has these cuts period; and, wait for the appropriate budget to reach his desk. President Bush had no problem using the veto. I'll never forget him vetoing a bill for funding of stem cell research. It can be done and it requires very little effort on the part of the President. He can even veto the bill by doing nothing. That is called a "pocket veto."
Furthermore, it is within the power of the President to extend the debt ceiling with an Executive Order and Congress would be helpless to do anything about it other than suing him in the Supreme Court. It would be unlikely that the Justices would uphold that action.
Quite frankly, if this fiasco comes into being, there is no one more to blame for it than President Obama. He is the leader chosen by We the People to manage the affairs of this nation and secure the welfare and common good of all of it's citizens. If he fails to do so, there is no one else to blame. We gave him the power to act and he failed us. If the Republicans accuse him of allowing this travesty to occur they will be 100% right. The Democrats will be doomed in the next election.
I only hope that if this disaster occurs We the People will finally decide to pursue a third party candidate; because, it will be obvious to everyone by then that these two parties are two sides of the same coin.
douglas m wrote ~ "I don't see how a political process that eats itself for money/contribution campaign funds can survive for long if the end results doesn't benefit the long term goals of keeping its core (the working middle class) healthy."
A former military veteran told me he learned in the military to, "Just do what you are told, no more, no less." I have often reflected upon what a ridiculous piece of advice that was. It removes humanity from the chain of command and limits any critical thinking or contribution down the chain of command. Is that really what we want in our work place or government? My guiding philosophy has always been, "Do what you are told, and anything else that needs to be done." After all, the person giving the orders isn't going to be there with you constantly to think for you. If you can't think for yourself you might fail.
To me, this principle was invented by the military because it realized it was sending solders into situations that were unethical, and it wanted to discourage any critical thinking that might interfere with following orders. Unfortunately, this practice is so common in our society today that critical thinking has become a handicap. Why do we think drugs and alcohol are so popular? They help inhibit critical thinking and make functioning in today's society easier.
The same is true of our politicians. Since their major campaign contributors are in the minority these bought political representatives strive to subject the majority to the will of their constituents. The politicians are accustom to taking orders from that chain of command and doing what they are told--asking as little questions and doing as little critical thinking as possible. The misconception here is that they do this of their own free will. The reality is that they have no free will. They also have no vision. They are myopic. They wish to make their money ASAP, get out, and screw the country. Many are anxious to get out quick to become lobbyists and further help taint the political process for more money. Money is all they see and they have no concern over We the People. Is it any wonder that many of the most fervent proponents of all this antisocial legislation agenda tend to have alcohol issues? Those without substance abuse issues tend to be sociopaths.
The bottom line is that we will never have a benevolent Democracy until we remove the dominant influence of money from our representatives. We must make Campaign Finance Reform a major priority with our law makers.
PS I believe it was Dewey, Cheetham, and Howe. Attorneys at Law. (AKA The Three Stooges.)
Why don't Dems make the obvious argument that they've already given up many spending cuts and it's time for the Republicans to give up some on taxes? Because Obama is very good at negotiating with himself and the Dems are afraid that Fox News will tag them as big spenders. The Democrats operate on what they fear the right wing media will say about them. It's a reactive strategy when they should be proactive.
I don't think the Republicans are "set on balancing the budget." Balancing the budget is merely a ploy to dismantle any government that works for people. In the real world Paul Ryan's budget is a deficit budget. It only balances in fantasy land.
For our Senate passing a budget is like passing a kidney stone, or suffering through a migraine. The pain is there, and out of touch to what really needs to be done, all leveraged by a commercial on cable suggesting which pharmaceutical to take to cure your problem, but beware of the side effects that may cause suicide or a heart attack, talk to your doctor for a sample try out. Are you laughing yet?
The Senate and the Congress are responsible to address the money needs of the country however mass media seems to place the burden of the problems on the president, who just is responsible to execute the details of the legislation. The president isn’t doing enough however the Congress has openly expressed the opinion that it wants to get rid of him even though he was popularly elected. Airing their facts and figures ignoring popular opinion always charactering Obama as a jizz bag goofy and does not know what he is doing Allah Hannity style.
That said while watching MSNBC or CNN, or Fox News which has been totally corrupted in what really happens in day to day operations reporting to the American people for the past years has been in what many are saying done by a dysfunctional bunch of professional punks called the main stream media directed by the banksters. Complete media distortion by six figure electromagnetic journalist, and banksters that fill their tanks at the federal reserve board money gas station ATM do not have the slightest idea what is really going on with life in poor and middle America.
Watching Thom on the big picture and the Good bad and ugly parts was a relief. I am convinced that I am not a bipolar or a schizophrenic, no how could I be when I call myself a megalomaniac. You’re not laughing hard enough. Or my satire is not good as Colbert.
A really great interview was done on the free speech section with Richard Wolf an author about economics. He was terrific in explanations about the economy and how it is in a spiral down direction. It seems he was on par with Kurgman but a lot tougher. Austerity is not the way to go. As many know in my studies about the derivative as the problem in the tool the rich use have known all along they are creating a desperate economy to control in power and wealth. The matrix math by echelon reduction methods is always reduced or indexed in a normal way that bankers use. It is mathematically normal but not always people practical.
I conclude that the banksters want to introduce indexing into the system to cut spending in Social Security or Medicare, but surprise it was always there. They just want more to cut to diminish pay outs, to have more money to play with. You who did you get that. The banksters squeeze the system then corruption is motivated, the perfect Republican right wing Wahhabi algorithm. Then blame it on Jizz bag Democrats.
May be they do so many huge settlements that $54 was not accountable for them. Who knows what plans are actually going behind but this is neither good for public nor for banks.
settlement payments
US and WE need to start NOW to make sure that the amendment on Citizen's United IS overturned ASAP. http://www.sfgate.com/business/prweb/article/Consumer-Mattress-Reviews-Supports-Findings-in-4147587.php
e Medicare patients because of the reimbusement schedule. All of these improvements would cost money, money which the federal government does not currently have. http://www.sfgate.com/business/prweb/article/Consumer-Mattress-Reviews-Supports-Findings-in-4147587.php
uses of the two metaphors that played the central role in the latest Supreme Court rulings - and for ways to keep them from being extended to impose conservative beliefs and doctrines
<a href="http://www.sfgate.com/business/prweb/article/Consumer-Mattress-Reviews-Supports-Findings-in-4147587.php">http://www.sfgate.com/business/prweb/article/Consumer-Mattress-Reviews-Supports-Findings-in-4147587.php</a>
designate little radiation at the plant, we should all breath a sigh of relieve. Unfortunately, those measurements were taken with the monitors inside of lead boxes. http://www.sfgate.com/business/prweb/article/Consumer-Mattress-Reviews-Supports-Findings-in-4147587.php
and if nothing has changed. She is now taking medication for her illness (without hospitalization) and hopes that the system here "gets better". I hope sharing my story will in some small way help others. http://www.sfgate.com/business/prweb/article/Consumer-Mattress-Reviews-Supports-Findings-in-4147587.php
s turned his regime into a bastion of secrecy and whistleblower persecutionists. The ruling elite win, and we lose, when either the Republicans or the Democrats win. http://www.sfgate.com/business/prweb/article/Consumer-Mattress-Reviews-Supports-Findings-in-4147587.php