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It's just amazing that these guys think they have to see what their constituents want. All they have to do is ask their lobbyists.
Just a thought Thom..........aren't you aiding in the demise of Postal Service jobs by hawking the online "Stamps" program? Aren't we losing enough American jobs, especailly government jobs that use to pay well?????
Thom,
This is a speech I will give at the office of Rep. Jason Altmire (cong. Dist 4 PA) at 4 PM today with about 300 people present.
Thesis: The rule of the rich is a dictatorship that destroys families, communities and will destroy our nation. Jobs are for the sake of all and not just a means for the rich to further exploit us. There is not a lack of jobs to be done, but a lack of vision by the fat aristocracy. They’re afraid of losing their fat and that fear blinds them. We know and must demand jobs. For that is what makes people, workers, communities, our economy and our nation; healthy and strong!
Isaiah 10 (The Message, Eugene H. Peterson)
You Who Legislate Evil
1Doom to you who legislate evil,
who make laws that make victims—
2Laws that make misery for the poor,
that rob my destitute people of dignity,
Exploiting defenseless widows,
taking advantage of homeless children.
3What will you have to say on Judgment Day,
when Doomsday arrives out of the blue?
Who will you get to help you?
What good will your money do you?
4A sorry sight you’ll be then, huddled with the prisoners,
or just some corpses stacked in the street.
Even after all this, God is still angry,
his fist still raised, ready to hit them again.
The rich royalist of our nation who pay for the Republican fat cats are right now writing evil legislation to destroy unions, limit jobs and deny dignity to workers. What is amazing about this effort is that in their blind desire to make the rich richer they cannot see the destruction they are bringing to our nation.
They speak of deficits that have been created by refusing to tax corporations. Now of course these corporations believe taxation is theft. They don’t need roads on which to transport their goods. They don’t need workers making decent wages to buy their products. They don’t need a currency like our American monetary system to determine value. They gain nothing from the wealth of common people.
What I say is they will be in hell if they don’t have all of these things. The tax breaks for the rich, the wars for the rich, the deregulation for the rich is destroying the very sources of their wealth, and they are too blind, isolated or dumb to see the truth.
Can you believe the blindness to human need of House Majority Leader Eric (Fat Cat) Cantor who wants to hold the victims of Hurricane Irene hostage to his demand for more cuts in such things as the national labor relations board, consumer safety enforcement and to cut all together public education. God calls that evil legislation.
I live in New Castle which is in Lawrence County, PA. While 20 plus per cent of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania sits unemployed we have rotted roads, unsafe bridges, empty store fronts, increased drug usage and violent crimes. Why?
Because we cannot possibly tax corporations, fix our infrastructure or spend tax dollars for jobs, or so children can get healthcare. Instead of spending taxes in tax breaks for the rich aristocracy we need to put our nation to work and heal the sin sick soul of our nation sullied by the greed of the arrogant rich. It will be hell to pay if we do not change our ways and change our ways so government is for all people and not just the rich aristocracy making not just a million, but millions a year.
In the Bible, in the New Testament, in the book of James we are even told that getting some taxes from the filthy absurdly rich may be good for them.
James 5 (The Message, Eugene H. Peterson) Destroying Your Life from Within
1And a final word to you arrogant rich: Take some lessons in lament. You’ll need buckets for the tears when the crash comes upon you. 2Your money is corrupt and your fine clothes stink. 3Your greedy luxuries are a cancer in your gut, destroying your life from within. You thought you were piling up wealth. What you’ve piled up is judgment.
4All the workers you’ve exploited and cheated cry out for judgment. The groans of the workers you used and abused are a roar in the ears of the Master Avenger. 5You’ve looted the earth and lived it up. But all you’ll have to show for it is a fatter than usual corpse. 6In fact, what you’ve done is condemn and murder perfectly good persons, who stand there and take it.
I am a Christian pastor. I am going to speak from what I know of God right now. This is not to try to change where you are or aren’t with your faith. It is to speak what the God of Jesus wants our nation to hear.
God is angry. Maybe that is not strong enough. God is downright in any way you can imagine it, angry. Why, because segments of our leaders are worshiping at the altar of fat cats. They are so into their worship of greed that they cannot reason or be reasonable. To hell with solving unemployment, to hell with extending unemployment benefits, to hell with healthcare for the poor, they say.
Listen you greedy fat cats, listen you politicians feeding at the pig trough of greed, this is what God is saying to you, “To hell you go and in hell you will stay, because you have rotted within yourselves for the sakes of yachts and corporate jets and many houses. You have done all of this at the expense of your neighbors, the workers who gave you your wealth by their labor. You have paid billions for your lobbyists to lobby in their under table deceitful ways. And what do you really have? Nothing for by my action you will go to hell and in hell you will stay.”
Luke 4 (The Message Eugene H. Peterson)
16He came to Nazareth where he had been reared. As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to read, 17he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,
18God’s Spirit is on me;
he’s chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor,
Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners
and recovery of sight to the blind,
To set the burdened and battered free,
19to announce, “This is God’s year to act!”
Today hear what is needed. Good news for the poor is jobs. Pardon for the prisoner out from jail is a job. How can the blind see if they do not have healthcare that comes from good jobs.
We stand here under what I believe is a divine mandate to act together in a war of love and non-violence. We stand here under a divine mandate to demand jobs and realism and an end to the nonsense and lies the fat cat aristocracy has put upon us.
The truth is we can afford job stimulation from our government. The truth is we cannot afford the pain and suffering that is unemployment. For the healing of the soul of our nation we demand jobs.
We need to organize, organize, organize. The truth is we can beat the arrogant fat cats and all their money, because God is on the side of the working people, because as working people no amount of money can steal democracy away from us. The truth is working people are the heart of this nation. Let’s get that heart beating full time! God is on our side! God will win! God is on our side! Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!
"Valium and a beer" is that a Rush Limbaugh? or would that be "Vicodin and scotch" How that addresses the issue of problems in vote counting with election machines I don't know. Nor do I understand how it forwards your claim that the new voter ID laws do anything but discriminate against the poor and minorities.
A revolution is not too far fetched. When we STOP expending our energies on blognets and redirect this energy onto the streets is when the rich and politicos will shiver where they stand.
But, now, that the churches are hedging their hell, fire, and brimstone into the political arena, is another way we can bring the deficits down . . . time to start taxing them big time!
Imagine what it would be like to have a sufficiently left, progressive, etc Prez :
-- willing to back the largest corporate tax increase in history -- as Reagan did.
-- that protected the environment at least as well as Reagan did -- for instance, more old-growth forest was cut during the first four years of Clinton/Gore (with "Green Al" [sic] as the go-to guy on environmental matters) than in TWELVE years of Reagan/GHWB...and O-bomb-a's love of "Clean Coal," BigNukes, drillbabydrill, fracking, etc, makes him a worthy successor to Clinton/CheneyBush.
-- willing to withdraw troops from overseas deployments in response to less than 300 deaths (Lebanon) -- as Reagan did.
-- who suppported increasing capital gains taxes to the rates under Reagan.
-- who supported returning the police state to its extent under Reagan -- repealing all its expansions under Clinton, Bush43, and O-bomb-a.
Wow! Such a Prez would be SO much better than what we have now! A measurably lesser evil! Unfortunately...neither of the factions of the Ruling Class Party will nominate anyone with such tendencies.
ALEC and the 30 yr. plan for Republicans and super wealthy is working. The reason is when Democrats or Obama say or do something they are asked to justify everything in detail while the Republicans are given a free pass by the media to say what they want without ever having to justify or prove anything factual. The Democrats continue to do a terrible job of acting like they care and this is the toughest to swallow. The average Joe is begging for someone to stand up and defend their rights. Once again it is being left up to the little guy to save himself. What I fear most is a repeat of 2010 when the Republicans won a landslide majority simply because they showed up and voted. The Democrats did not show up, especially the younger voters and the minorities. People may learn too late not to expect someone else to do the right thing but to stand up and demand that average citizens have rights equal to the privileged few. Otherwise it will not happen. This country is very close to being taken over by the wealthy and corporate America. In the final analysis, if the little guy doesn't stand up and vote the Republicans out in 2012 the country as we know it will no longer exist. We need 100 more Thom Hartmann's.
This is what President Hayes had to say:
Rutherford B. Hayes (19th U.S. President), from his personal diary, year not provided (between 1881-1891) December 4 Sunday. “In church it occurred to me that it is time for the public to hear that the giant evil and danger in this country, the danger which transcends all others, is the vast wealth owned or controlled by a few persons. Money is power. In Congress, in state legislatures, in city councils, in the courts, in the political conventions, in the press, in the pulpit, in the circles of the educated and the talented, its influence is growing greater and greater. Excessive wealth in the hands of the few means extreme poverty, ignorance, vice, and wretchedness as the lot of the many… Henry George is strong when he portrays the rottenness of the present system. We are, to say the least, not yet ready for his remedy.
Not much has changes but now we have mostly forgotten the remedy proposed by Henry George. We should have adoped George's remedy a hundred years ago. But it is not too late.
This is what Henry George said:
“What has destroyed every previous civilization has been the tendency to the unequal distribution of wealth and power”
Henry George
Yes we have a "For The Rich By The Rich" economy, but thats nothing new. It started with SLAVERY for that very purpose.
Give the rich an adjustable tax rate , based on unemployment rate, higher the unemployment the higher the taxes rate, They would think twice about shipping jobs overseas.or gambling on wallstreet.
The Twain Report
All The News That Mark Twain Says He Would Report If He Was Alive Today
Special Emergency Edition, 8-29-11
Anonymous sources close to Dick Cheney told the Twain Report today that Cheney, who has for some time suffered visible neurological symptoms, some time ago realized that his time on earth was drawing to a close, and when he realized it, he sneered, "You know, my only regret is that I don't have time to go duck hunting with every American."
Driven by his distress over this perceived failure, Cheney decided to write what he called, "My unauthorized autobiography, which will make people's heads expode."
A wave of terror washed over Twain Report employees Sunday, when they heard that their heads might have exploded. Then a wave of relief washed over them when the editor-in-chief checked them all and pronounced their heads to be as-yet unexploded. Unfortunately, his subsequent admission that he was only pretending to be a doctor, sent shock waves through the employees as they frantically pulled out pocket mirrors, ran to bathrooms, and asked for feedback from each other, hoping to determine whether their heads had exploded. The more fiscally perspicacious among them phoned their insurance agents to see whether their policies cover exploding heads.
The White House is urging all citizens to remain in their houses until it can be determined whether the heads of all Americans are going to explode, or only the heads of certain select portions of the population. Mr. Cheney has not yet revealed whether the exploding of heads will extend to other countries.
Halliburton and KBR have signed a $50 trillion dollar no-bid contract to clean up the exploded heads, with a clause that assures them of payment even if no one's head explodes.
Frankly, our social, political, and financial environment reminds me of Britain, where for generations the people have been hypnotized into saying, "God save the queen/king," even though the queen/king never says, "God save the people of Britain." Even though the British royalty has NEVER said, "You starving people can fish in the royal rivers and hunt for deer in the royal forests." No, the British royalty has always said, "We couldn't care less that you and your families are starving. You stay off of our millions of acres of royal property that we neve ruse, or we will kill you or send you to Australia." God save the queen? Why?
What happened- both in Britain and in America- is that the hyper-wealthy realized that it's easier to maintain control over a population by hypnosis than by force. Convince the public that they love and respect the people who are abusing their trust, stealing their money and houses, defrauding them, overcharging them, and in pretty much every other way totally abusing their trust. But the evening news- which coincidentally is owned by extremely wealthy people- keeps informing us that we love and respect the people who are driving Ameica into a ditch.
And the most foolish middle class and poor Americans say things like, "Free market! Why, any of us could become that rich if we just put our minds to it." Yeah, sure they could get that rich. If they were willing to totally abandon their ethics and morals, which is exactly what it takes to get that rich.
You need a Valium and a beer to wash it down with.
Where I live you MUST show ID to get any of the above mentioned. As for my credit cards I do not sign them with my name, I write "ask for photo ID" on them. Common sense. I am going back to steal elections.
My dear husband died in 2010 I have been deeply sad. Now we find Wall St- banks- AIG- Goldman Fed boys scammed us ,duped us, sold us out more than we knew .The Giant Fox GOP mouthpiece rules cable news. CNN is not best in News any longer. Far from it. I am very depressed I'm thinking whats the use anymore ? Lobbyists who used to work for our Gov't are now making millions working to screw and scam us. Why is that even legal. ? Why can reps vote their own raises at 1 am without our appoval ? What became of Public Service ? GOP Tea baggers- huge Corps, Robber Barons like Dick Armey / Kochs / Rove / Limbaughs / big OIL run the US - economy - US courts- run our lawsmakers . Goldman trained 90 % of the Fed guys Is that why they took such good care of Goldman Sachs and AIG who owed Goldman billions or the Paulson 700 billion TARP joke on taxpayers with . NO safe guards for our money. Home owners lose homes & jobs . Wall ST- big powerful banks like Chase & Bank of America etc & AIG get huge rewards for being crooks- using unethical business practices . S & P gets away with fraud aka labeling JUNK MORTGAGES AS TRIPLE AAA .Reagan Bush GOP Deregulation made that ' legal ' and thats a fact .
Thom,
I'm a 1968 MSU Alumni Hippi from E. Lansing and thought you'd appreciate this rant of mine....
It is incredible here in Florida we have over 60 Minor Political Parties, almost all are Extreme Conservative! Along with the Tea Party are included the American Wealthy Persons Political Party, the American Multi-Milllionaires Political Party, the American Billionaires Political Party, the American Economic Elites Political Party, and separate American Corporate parties for the CEO's, CFO's and COO's of this country. Oh in addition, every Christian religion also has its own party. But as far as I can figure, only one Liberal/Progressive part exists, the Green Party of Florida, Inc. and if you type in these letters in your search engine you you get a landscaping company! No wonderer Progressive/Liberals in this state have no place to gather and become a counter influence to the madness in this State and Country!
Check it out: http://election.dos.state.fl/candidates/parties.shtml
Go with it Guy!
Ron Bernt
I know why you are not making sales you are not listening to your potential customers.
Before I get to which side cheats more on elections Republicans and Democrats on, your id issue. You stuff is crap. I haven't been asked for Driver License to use a credit since I visited California. I regularly use my credit cards with out ID. I don't need a driver's license to get my prescriptions. So please stop using Fox talking points and do your research. I know that is a novel concept for a tea bagger but try it you might learn something.
Besides a driver licenses you can find out what other forms of id are consider legal at http://www.ehow.com/about_5415458_legal-forms-identification.html including birth certificates that do not have pictures. If you think drivers license's will make a difference go to google click news and click fake drivers licenses and see how many rings have been busted. You still haven't address this issue why this isn't racism since it impacts minorities and the poor more than any other group.
I asked for convictions not allegations. You provided 1 alleged article, here is 8 article
s including how the republicans stole their presidental elections.
If you want a list of Repulican crimes and stolen elections here is a list
http://arran.wordpress.com/2007/01/19/how-the-republicans-stole-the-2004-election-in-ohio/
How the Republicans Stole the 2004 Election in Ohio
i Rate This
//
Fact-esque‘s eRobin has called eVoting “the story of the century so far”, and she’s probably right. Greg Palast, an American investigative journalist who works for the British newspaper, The Observer because US papers aren’t much interested in investigating anything any more, more-or-less single-handedly proved that the 2000 election was stolen from Gore and handed to Bush by Jeb and Katherine Harris.
For these various irregularities, see New York Times, 30 November 2000 and 15 July 2001; Boston Globe, 30 November 2000 and 10 March 2001. A relevant documentary is Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election, L.A. Independent Media Center Film, 2004.
New York Times, 15 September 2002; the investigators were from California Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Mark Crispin Miller, Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election and Why They’ll Steal the Next One Too (Basic Books, 2005), 7-31, 262, and passim.
All the various instances that follow—with the exception of the Rick Garves and Gregory Elich testimonials-- are from Miller, Fooled Again, passim; Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman, How the GOP Stole America’s 2004 Election and Is Rigging 2008 (CICJ Books/www.Freepress.org, 2005); Anita Miller (ed.), What Went Wrong in Ohio: The Conyers Report on the 2004 Presidential Election (Academy Chicago Publishers, 2005); Andy Dunn, “Hook & Crook,” Z Magazine, March 2005; Greg Palast, “Kerry Won: Here Are the Facts,” Observer, 5 November 2004; Steven F. Freeman (with Joel Bleifus), Was the 2004 Presidential Election Stolen? (Seven Stories, 2006).
Jonathan Simon and Ron Baiman, “The 2004 Presidential Election: Who Won the Popular Vote? An Examination of the Comparative Validity of Exit Polls and Vote Count Data,” Freepress.org, 2 January 2004; . Freeman, Was the 2004 Presidential Election Stolen? 99-134 and passim; Fitrakis and Wasserman, How the GOP Stole America’s 2004 Election, 51, 55-57.
GOP stole 3 recent Presidential elections http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLvqI3i9oy8
The Middle Class has become the Indentured Class, because for decades now American families have managed their budgets in the same irresponsible way that the corporate-state has managed the Federal Budget. Families kept borrowing more than they should have to purchase lots of stuff they wanted but did not need, while Congress kept borrowing to fund the serial wars of aggression that 99% of voters kept providing popular mandates for although only those with the highest incomes, lowest relative taxation, and greatest degree of depravity benefited from them.
We have the war debts, ravaged domestic economy, no sensible single-payer healthcare, and no effort to responsibly mitigate climate change because 99% of voters have regularly and reliably restricted themselves to only ever choosing between the corporate person preselected candidates of the corporate (R) & (D) party... always wasting every opportunity for an election to ever serve any good purpose.
2010 Comparison Average Household Net Worth:
http://chenangogreens.org/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id...
The Oil Industry issued a press release a few months ago anouncing they would sponsor a politicial rep. I didn't think that we citizens are allowed to sponsor our own politicians, so why is a corporate conglomerate representing an industry able to sponsor its own politician? Even a corporation operating in a fascist police state like USA has to obey the laws, doesn't it?
The trick seems to be working: the non-rich believe that they have a chance to become wealthy. All that is needed is to join the cast of a reality show. Since we all can become rich why complain about inequality? Too bad that the myth of America as the land of opportunity has lived longer than the stark reality. If you are born poor in the US, your chances of staying por are greater than in any other civilized country.
Now that corporations are people and can buy politicians without disclosing their idenity or purpose, the rich have moved to the fast lane. I live in Texas and the first person being "sponsored" for President is our Gov. Rick Perry. I really hope the U.S. of A. wakes up. It may be to late already.
I think the longer this goes on - the more likely we the people will revolt. That may be what the Oligarchs want - a revolution - because that seems the only way we're going to get through to these people. London is the latest city to revolt for this exact reason - are we next?
I'm convinced they want us all living in cardboard boxes.
I mean, look at what's happening now after the Hurricane where the party which has always been for the rich is demanding balancing the budget on the backs of these natural disaster victims. Meanwhile, they've taken $$$$ from renewable energy. They need infrastructure spending ANYWAY what a great opportunity to not play politics with people's lives.
I'm watching a smug Texas senator on Al Sharpton telling Al, once again, that the federal budget is like a family's budget.
I'm sure people are falling for it.
Meanwhile, the rich get richer. The gov, the corporations are robbing US in broad daylight and getting away with it
PS: we wouldn't be in debt if we hadn't bailed out the banks and Bernanke hadn't printed off the rest of our economy and sent it to central banks all over the world under the cloak of TARP. What a great name, HUH?
Although they haven't come out and admitted it yet. They do that and it will really be official.
You could probably find a list of the country"s wealthiest on the internet. The startrib publishes this oln a regular basis--on their business pages. Or you could look up ALEC and find out who its members are. Koch brothers a big one.
Hi:
When Reagan came to office the Laffer Curve (Wiki) was presented. At that time the marginal tax rate (the rate for the next dollar of income) for the wealthy was in the 80% to 90% range. The idea then was that by lowering the marginal tax rate for the wealthy the government would collect more taxes. It worked. Note there's no tickle down in this theory, it works based just on the Laffer Curve.
But today the marginal tax rate is very low, i.e. we are on the left of the Laffer Curve and so raising the marginal tax rate will generate more income (not lower it like the young Republicans think since they have not heard of the Laffer Curve) and stimulate the economy.
For a Laffer Curve plot see: http://www.end2partygovernment.com/#TaxRate
Have Fun,
Brooke