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ADHD: Hunter in a Farmer's World
Thom Hartmann has written a dozen books covering ADD / ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder.
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$250-million for 10 model helicopters -- Whooboy, I shoulda stuck to my hobby rather than career. I had this idea 30-40 years ago. in a simplified way, it was becoming very do-able back then. What took them so long? Maybe just the gall, to ignore other countries air-space. Just wait until pissed-off low-budget folks bring the technology back here. (... and it sure won't take $25-million each for rogue-drones).
I keep thinking that it won't be long until Iran or Packastan or some other country that doesn't like us will get the technology to build these things and then won't we have fun.
We have been under constant observation in many of the larger cities and especially in areas that are mostly Latino or African American that have a high crime rate. In Southwest L.A. (a poor minority area) a few years ago one of their eyes in the sky helicopters came crashing down due to a malfunction. Eventually they will switch from choppers to drones to keep an eye on hot spots of crime. I have not heard anyone cry out with complaints of losing our privacy when it occurs in those areas in our major cities across the nation. Now people are concerned because the eyes in the sky may start watching their homes and neighborhoods in predominately white middleclass areas. Like most events in our society it is never an issue to people until it may happen near them. I personally could careless whether it is a drone or helicopter if it helps prevent crime and hopefully domestic terrorism. Our civil rights started slipping away decades ago when it was alright for the law enforcement agencies to spy on poor neighborhoods, and what is good for the goose is good for the gander. Corny I know, but I think you get the point. If it is good for one group to be watched, than why are we white folks in the middleclass neighborhoods beyond being monitored by big brother. Perhaps we should have raised our voices and spoke up a lot sooner than now. Get used to being monitored because it has been going on for the last decade with the installation of cameras on every stop light and with high recognition software privacy is a thing of the past....Smile your on candid camera!!
I say this so many times with no response, I know that I am ignored.
When Reagan cut the tax rate from 78% to 35% (or something like that) on the top earners, the top earners paid 2 or 3 times as much in taxes (depending on who you call rich and over what time period). Also, we went into the greatest recession since the great depression.
So increase the tax rate on the rich. The result should be they pay less in taxes and the economy will boom.
I have a detailed explanation of why I think this is not anamoulous (it is just Thom's explanation), but I am entering this so late no one will probably read it. I will wait for a reply to provide my detailed view of what Thom says all the time.
I try NEVER to shop at Walmart. It's a rip off store to consumers and its workers.
i was just thinking that!
Conservatives always get off on the "immigration problem" but they fail to realize that undocumented immigrants are actually more anonomous in our country than citizens are.
Think about it - If anyone in the gov wants to locate you - they can do it within hours. Yet there are thousands of non-citizens in our country, both undocumented and on visas, who could be anywhere.
We do a great job keeping an eye on us, but have no clue where the bad guys are.They could save a ton of money by focusing just on the threats and leaving the rest of us alone.
If you think about the fact of drones flying around that can monitor our every move, and then consider the military's call to start developing completely autonomous "killer robots", it's beginning to look like "Judgement Day" (a-la Terminator) is not that far off. SkyNet here we come.
Under the guise of "Homland Security" our rights under the Const. are being rapidly striped from us.
Both sides of the isle are in this camp.
What better way to remove an enimy of the State, drone missle.
Trichophobically ugly? A fear of hair. Hmm.
Never shop there, ever.
And back to work! Mark Warner and others have introduced the "FAST" Voting 2012 Act.
A Summery of FAST by NBC :
"FAST legislation would award federal grants to states based on how they are able to improve access to the polls. To qualify for the grants, states would need to improve these following aspects of their voting system:
• Providing flexible registration opportunities, including same-day registration;
• Providing early voting, at a minimum of 9 of the 10 calendar days preceding an election;
• Providing absentee voting, including no-excuse absentee voting;
• Providing assistance to voters who do not speak English as a primary language;
• Providing assistance to voters with disabilities, including visual impairment;
• Providing effective access to voting for members of the armed services;
• Providing formal training of election officials, including State and county administrators and volunteers;
• Auditing and reducing waiting times at polling stations; and
• Creating contingency plans for voting in the event of a natural or other disaster.
The program also requires the establishment of performance measures and reporting requirements to ensure a state’s progress in eliminating statutory, regulatory, procedural and other barriers to expedited voting and accessible voter registration."
In my opinion, the "FAST" bill does not go far enough. It is absolutely critical to ensure a voter verifiable paper trail, to change the partisan nature of elections officials, and to de-privatize the voting machines and the tabulation machines. These absolutely must remain in the public domain and be entirely open to scrutiny and review, to be run and administered by non-partisan, non-corporate branches of federal and state governments. Getting money out of elections also needs to be taken care of, but that needs to be addressed through campaign reform legislation.
Let us begin by having a safe vote.
No other single act of legislation is more important to the survival of our Democracy now. Voting day must be a National Holiday and the guarantee of voting rights must not just be encouraged -- it must undisputed law, as fundamental to the American Experience as saluting Flag.
We need a national movement to swing into action immediately to get these reforms in place by 2014 and not just nibbled at.
The Dems would help things a lot by not rushing to take half measures, thereby taking the air out of the issue with a diluted bill -- but by truly tackling fearlessly the entire mess -- I thank people for taking steps -- but they must not be half-steps.
We need to get out in Front on This....
Why don't they have fire fighting drone aircraft-they would have been useful in cooling the Fukishiima reactor? Why do we put firefighter's lives at risk? Why are there not search and rescue drones? Why can't this technology be used more usefully and lucratively in civillian applications? Why was there no water spraying helicopter when the Twin Towers were in flames?
Grateful for Hunter School and their ground-breaking work! Thom you may talk much more about that as much of it applies to all of us!
And Yes, you have done amazing things with your life -- for which I am deeply Grateful -- and for Louise!
And to you for giving Higgins a home!
I'd like a real news source to cite on Facebook about the real reasons for Hostess's shutdown. A post on Democratic Underground just isn't good enough.
You could punnily call this mandated day off "Vegetation Day". It's a day to vegetate, or a day to go outside and visit the vegetation.
"inflame anti american sentiments" I hate to break the bad news to you but Pakistans nasty thoughs about us where inflamed already. Remember thats who was hidding Osama Bin laden. I feel a lot safer knowing those little birds are watching those nut cases.
yes I do enjoy a beer or two but it is legal. Our province of British Columbia sells more pot world wide than anybody, and apperantly it is some good stuff. The city of Vancouver has shoot up stores right down town we are pretty liberal up here. But I stick to the legal stuff I can't come and enjoy your great counrty with a drug charge on my record.
Don't be hard on David Moberg, Thom. I met him before here in Chicago. He's a brilliant writer but not the greatest speaker. Some people are like that.
Rove DID look perplexed and distraught...so I have to think this is not a theory.
This guy has SUCH A DISDAIN for anybody who's not a one percenter. "Walmart workers are not like you and me," (HIS ACTUAL WORDS), "they don't have business acumen" therefore they don't deserve a decent compensation. It might be worth mentioning that most Walmart workers and, therefore, Our Walmart members are African American or Hispanic so there is probably a fair amount of racism in Selig's analysis of the situation and his plantation definitions and understandings of people and their relative value.
Drones flying overhead with High Def cameras and facial recognition systems that have a 98% accuracy with a recognition and identification response time of just seconds.
Yup, we're in for a very scarey time ahead. Some articles and blogs I've read suggest that these facial recognition systems can be beaten...if you want to walk down the street and everywhere you go by tilting your head 15 degrees or disguise your face with something that would throw the computer recognition system off...like a mask or, perhaps, even if you scowl or grimace...wear a fake nose? But if you are carrying a cell phone, especially the newer, fancier ones, even one that is powered off, you can still make a very good target for these drones.
These organizations like the FBI, Homeland Insecurity, etc. are spending huge amounts of our tax dollars on all of these things....to spy on us...not so-called terrorists...THEY are the terrorists who are spying on us!
The Clinton years showed the effects of a large tax increase that Clinton pushed through in his first year, and that Republicans incorrectly (fraudulently) claim is the "largest tax increase in history." It fell almost exclusively on upper-income taxpayers. Clinton’s fiscal 1994 budget also contained some spending restraints. In addition, capital gains taxes brought in much revenue from the booming stock market of the period. Taxes on capital gains - in the truest sense, gains or profits made from other people's labor - have been all but eliminated by subsequent Republican tax policies and would have been completely eliminated if Mitt Romney had gotten his way, hence Mitt Romney's Santa Clausing (All elected politicians are Santa Claus or are playing Santa Claus to some constituency or other, the only question is to which. That's only democracy and good governance, "Vote for me and I will do things your way and serve your interests". To make government work for the 99% rather than the 1%, I would say, is more democratic than the converse.).
Clinton’s large budget surpluses also owe much to the Social Security tax on payrolls. Social Security taxes now bring in more than the cost of current benefits, and the "Social Security surplus" makes the total deficit or surplus figures look better than they would if Social Security wasn’t counted. But even if we remove Social Security from the equation, there was a surplus of $1.9 billion in fiscal 1999 and $86.4 billion in fiscal 2000. So any way you count it, the federal budget was balanced and the deficit was erased, if only for a while.
I thank factcheck.org for most of this information.
Both in Clinton's case and in LBJ's before, the balancing of the budget came from the cyclical effect of taxes and the beneficial effect they have on the economy which results in more revenue for the government. For this reason, at a time of economic crisis government should operate on a deficit since only government would make the investment necessary to turn such an economy around.
A shill can be paid or volunteer their services pro bono either because they fell for a lie and now believe it or have a vested interest in the sham they promote. By that definition, of course, you might choose to call me a shill, although I don't think that would be at all accurate - usually.
Too funny! You busted my gut!! Cheers to the Twain Report!!!
Cheers!
Yep...Pot head or not, it makes more sense to legalize, regulate, and educate then to keep on with an failed 30 year zero drug tollerance policy and draconian drug laws that are more criminal than the act of smoking a joint.