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Elioflight: In Obama's speech today he mentioned something about what "the lone blogger" says. He most likely will never read any of our posts...there are zillions...but with the wonders of dictionary computers in the NSA spy systems like Echelon and probably others on lower levels are used to sample the general attitude electronically. Obama may have many aides, as well, who scan the more interesting ones...and just might shoot them up to Obama from time to time. And I wouldn't be surprised if Obama sometimes actually reads some blogs and posts. But I believe that it would be quite impossible for Obama, himself, to even read all of the messages that people send directly to the White House....and even more people don't know the difference between WhiteHouse.gov and WhiteHouse.com
Incidentally, many people are now aware that their cell phones can give away their location at any particular time and logs can be kept. They are also now becoming quite aware that our 3 letter government agencies, or any other law-enforcement agencies, can gather very personal data about anyone who uses Facebook and Google and just about anything you do or say on the computer. I'd venture to say that they also have computers that can analyze what we say and how we say it in order to get a profile of people they might pigeon-hole into various categories.
Everything you type here at Thom Hartmann blog, or any other blog is analyzed and anyone fitting certain profiles could easily find themselves as a target of investigation.
If you carry a credit or bank card that has an imbedded RFID chip and antenna you can also be easily tracked....of course these chips can be destroyed if you never use that particular function...it shouldn't affect the magnetic swipe strip. If you have the "radiation icon" on the back of your card then hold your card at an angle to the light and view the back near (maybe just above) the icon and you can see the little square indentation in the plastic. It's about 1/8" in diameter. The antenna runs along the outer periphery of the card and can't be seen. But it is only necessary to destroy the chip and not the antenna. This can be done with an exacto knife from the back..cut out the back layer of plastic around the chip and then scrape out the chip. Usually, you can't even tell from the front that this has been done. If you only use the swipe strip and don't use the wave over method to pay for things then you don't need the RFID chip.
Why get rid of it? Because anyone close to you with a receiver can steal your data and your account will be automatically debited for whatever amount the crook wants. It is also feasible that if you pass through store theft stations that they may be able to know who you are and your sensitive data. A network run by intelligence agencies connecting all of these locations along with CCTV can conceivably allow them to track you wherever you go.
So don't think that these politicians, like Obama, are not getting the message. I think they are keenly aware of what the majority of the people think...and they are not very happy at all. But the question is... does it even matter what the people think? It's a rigged system...a corrupt system...and the politicians might love it if we were all fawning all over them and making their larceny seem undetectable...and believing in their bullsh!t.
So yes we are all bitching, for all the good it will do....but voting won't make any difference either because no matter who is put into office will still be bending over for the ruling elite...the oligarchs...plutocrats...corporatocrats (you have to be drunk to pronounce that one..probably not even a word).
They already pay 81% of the taxes. Are you a freeloader?
My understanding is that Politicians after serving one term do get full retirement? We have No money, "Well just Who funds the IMF the most money >http://dailybail.com/home/chart-who-funds-the-imf.html
On Thom's show he said something to the effect that...if more oligarchs win in the 2012 election then there may very well be some violence....that is not to say that Thom advocates violence which he obviously does not.
He also said that in America we have a political revolution every two years. Well, that may be so but it is a meaningless revolution when the Democrat President, the Democrat Senate, and the Democrat House votes Republican or loses most of what they say they stand for in their terrible bargaining process. The Repubs and the Demos are two almost identical sides of the Business Party and very few actually represent the majority of Americans because our political system is corrupt and bought out by the ruling elite.
Thom also tried to use the logic that because about 40 years has passed since the Israelis stole the land of Palestine from the Palestinians (maybe because of guilt for having done a lot less and too late to make a real difference in the holocaust, self-fulfilling biblical prophecy, and that Americans or the British sure didn't want to welcome the hordes of Jews to our countries) that the Palestinians should just get over it and move on....just like the Mexicans should just get over losing the Southwestern US. That "just get over it" sounds a lot like what right-wingers have said about a lot of things.
I wonder....if the Arab countries all pulled together and invaded and occupied "Israel" for 40 years ....would the Israelis or American Israeli supporters "just get over it"? It is easy to say that other people who lost their homeland to invaders and occupiers should just get over it. I don't think many Americans, for a long time, will just get over the criminal exploitation of our economy and the underhanded schemes that the wealthy used to bankrupt Americans.
I heard that plain-clothes policemen may be walking around with video cameras to spy on people. But if civilians take videos of police beating someone the civilian can be sued by the police for violating their rights of privacy....even though it is in a public place.
And the marine that got shot 60 times by police just because he thought he was being burglarized and picked up a weapon just in case....goes hand in hand with so many other police abuses whether one is armed or not. So we all might as well be heavily armed just in case we have to "defend ourselves". The police gestapo are probably going to beat or kill us anyway. And when our government is looking more and more like countries we have berated for things like arresting and torturing or killing people then, without weapons, you are just a lamb ripe for the slaughter. If everyone had weapons the government might tread more gingerly on the issue of human rights of their own citizens. If you look and act like pushovers and couldn't present a threat then no one will take you seriously. Stalin, Hitler, and other dictators didn't allow personal ownership of guns and it helped keep the citizenry cowering and subservient to the dictators.
Since many cities are laying off so many police it would be a lot easier for criminals to get away with, say, robbing banks. The rich just shoot themselves in the foot when they try to scare the people out of more taxes by laying off policemen...or firemen...etc. Another scare tactic they use is that they release prisoners....just more people to attack and rob...hopefully they go after the wealthy Republican who thought it was beneath them to pay their fair share of taxes.
The caller from Mexico said that there are 36 wealthy ruling-elite families who have most of the wealth of Mexico. And, he said, they don't allow gun ownership in Mexico...and their Police and government is extremely corrupt. We're getting there....or, depending on how you look at it, we have already surpassed Mexico.
By the way...has anyone seen the movie Eraserhead? I know it is a cheap shot but compare Grassley to the whining baby in Eraserhead. He sure acts and looks like that little creature and every time I see a picture of Grassley I think of that baby in Eraserhead.
Why are you people ragging on about voting democrat?
What the hell other choices do you have?
You have to vote for someone. I think the alternative is....well....we already had the alternative from 2000 to 2008. I, for one, DO NOT want to go back to THAT! Do any of those republican jerks suit your fancy?
Until we demand that money be taken out of the elections, we are going to have this monkey corporate business crap on both sides--much worst from the republicans.
Get up off your asses and TELL President Obama what he's doing wrong--quit lamenting and complaining on blogs--do something!
I agree with Thom. The very idea that the rich don't want to pay for our civilization is horrible. What kind of commons can we have if the rich can't be expected to pay for it.
People power works In Wis and every other state .We must all Speak out and often Demand your reps work for you- not corps notl obbyits - not Koch bros ... www.congress.gov www.senate.gov Get busy or do not gripe
yes Wis first then Ohio then ? GOP has greatly over stepped their bonds like power hungry greedy vultures. They could barely wait to get in power so they could begin taking away workers rights to bargain & demanding even more corp tax cuts. Thats not at all what they campaigned on. Jobs jobs jobs Yet they have done nothing for job creation Voters were duped No surprise there When one is angry one tends not to think clearly .I see much voters remorse now that we have seen GOP 's true colors..which have not changed in years. Its always about corp / billionaires unfunded tax cuts - loopholes and billions in OIL subsides. GOP just voted to keep that gravy train going . Only 3 Dems voted for that. Thom, By the way Obama has shown that he is not at all a wimp as you said to a caller few days back when you were annoyed that Obama has not done all you think he should in 2 1/ 4 yrs, Patience my man Lots to do so little time Love your show .
This Ohioan heard or read somewhere that the provisions Kasich and the republicans want to keep in the bill will slyly be part of another piece of legislation--so it really won't matter legislatively. More people need to be in the streets--enough to shut down ALL Ohio business and make Kasich look bad. I also read that Kasich isn't interested in a second term; it's been his MO to come in and do damage and leave--someone (maybe the Kochs) must have promised him a great job after.
Ohio is a truely disgusting place to live these days.
Fascists don't like Art or artists, unless it's the old masters they can make $$$ off of.
As Joeseph Campbell says in his "Masks of God" series, artists are the creators of the new mythologies and can push shamanistic messages. Because, we're, like, tuned into the cosmos, baby.
I could also wish Thom woudl cease his "the Democrats are good" or "the democrats are better" meme when I haven't seen a sinlge thing Obma has managed to change from the trajectory of Bush. In fact, thing sahve gotten worse.
Obama will be re-elected as he's beena good corporate henchman. Expect the velevet glove to come off in his last four years and all the New Deal programs to disolve und er his watch.
Heck, he's even said he's a "New Democrat". What's the deal? Is it team sprots or democracy?
The Supreme Court just shredded more privacy rights a couple of days ago:
Supreme Court OKs More Warrantless Searches
Politically driven programs usually get comprimised results at best and complete disasters at worst. Welcome to to the ugly side of big corrupt government, working for those who got the connections.
The President today made an oblique verbal swipe at these governors, not that I think the nuance was apprehended by them.
I trust that the good people of Ohio will be successful in removing him from office. I will light a candle for their freedom. I wish elected officials who try to strip us of our Constitutional rights could be arrested and charges and tried for treason, which I believe they are committing; perp walks for Kasich, Walker, Snider, Daniels.
We need to fight back one vote at a time.
"Beware the military-industrial complex." 1/17/1961, by someone who we can be sure knew for sure..
ESTATE NOTES:
CONTINENTAL BANK Number: C0408144 Date Filed: 1/17/1961 Status: merged out Jurisdiction: California
aka Wells Fargo
1/1/1870 Institution established. Original name: Crocker-Citizens National Bank (FDIC#3511)
NIC History:
1959-12-31 UNITED STATES NATIONAL BANK OF SAN DIEGO located at 202 BROADWAY, SAN DIEGO, CA was established as a National Bank.
1961-07-31 CONTINENTAL BANK located at 8730 SUNSET BOULEVARD, LOS ANGELES, CA was established as a Non-member Bank.
1964-02-01 UNITED STATES NATIONAL BANK OF SAN DIEGO was renamed to UNITED STATES NATIONAL BANK and moved to 190 BROADWAY SAN DIEGO, CA.
1966-03-01 CONTINENTAL BANK moved to 9430 WILSHIRE BOULEVARD BEVERLY HILLS, CA.
1968-08-31 CONTINENTAL BANK was acquired by UNITED STATES NATIONAL BANK.
1968-08-31 CONTINENTAL BANK was renamed to BEVERLY HILLS OFF and changed from Non-member Bank to Domestic Branch of a Domestic Bank. 1973-01-19 Institution is closed
7/1/1971 Changed name to Crocker National Bank (FDIC#3511)
5/19/1972 Acquired The First National Bank Of Upland (#3536) in Upland, California.
1973-10-19 UNITED STATES NATIONAL BANK failed. CROCKER NATIONAL BANK acquired the remaining assets
10/19/1973 Acquired United States National Bank (#3506) in San Diego, California.
12/31/1973 Acquired Imperial Valley National Bank (19518) in El Centro, California.
5/30/1986 Changed name to Wells Fargo Bank, National Association (#3511).
XXXXX
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/05/19/how-goldman-sachs-created-the-food-crisis.aspx
Goldman-Sachs has created the food crisis!!!
http://www.opednews.com/articles/America-s-Appalling-Human-by-Stephen-Lendman-110518-701.html
The Anti-Christ’s appalling human rights record!!! Stephen Lendman’s article is eight pages but it is worth the read!
http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/112754/recession-lost-generation-cnnmoney
The Anti-Christ’s college graduates will experience lost generations for at least two hundred years. But, there is no guarantee that the Anti-Christ will be here in two hundred years.
Nobody in my corner was supporting Newt anyway. Secondly, abortion is about 'another' body. The one inside, that is unless you feel that 'thing' in a woman's body is nothing more than just a glob of flesh, by the way has: a nose, hands, eyes, a heartbeat, its own DNA etc., etc., etc.,
But I know, you've never considered that.
And George W. Bush took this to heart when he started the War on Terror. But the truth is – there’s nothing worse for a nation than endless war.
Were you asleep Thom on 9/11? Were you in a closet in 1996 when Bin Laden declared war on the United States? What followed after that declaration? USS Cole, Kohbar Towers, Two U.S. Embassies and 9/11. And you have the guts to say that "Bush declared a War on Terror"? Have you ever thought Bush's declaration was in 'response to' the above mentioned atrocities. Afterall, Clinton didn't do anything following the attacks on his watch.
I wish you could be consistent with what war you're trying to fight. Cuomo in NY went on the record last year and the Mayor this year regarding cutting teachers from the payroll, yet somehow the Governors in both NJ and WI are evil and Cuomo is not?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/education/21teachers.html
Damnit! I just got excited for Thom when he started talking about his sds days. Then he went up to the threshold of saying we need Civil Protest now. But he instead fell back onto: Vote Democratic. Unreal!
Cornell West says "I don’t think in good conscience I could tell anybody to vote for Obama." Progressive Intellectuals like Chris Hedges, Cornell West, Robert Scheer all say we've lost our democracy and the only thing we have left is Civil Action.
The Obama Deception: Why Cornel West Went Ballistic
http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/the_obama_deception_why_cornel_west_went_ballistic_20110516/
“We have got to attempt to tell the truth, and that truth is painful,” he says. “It is a truth that is against the thick lies of the mainstream. In telling that truth we become so maladjusted to the prevailing injustice that the Democratic Party, more and more, is not just milquetoast and spineless, as it was before, but thoroughly complicitous with some of the worst things in the American empire. I don’t think in good conscience I could tell anybody to vote for Obama. If it turns out in the end that we have a crypto-fascist movement and the only thing standing between us and fascism is Barack Obama, then we have to put our foot on the brake. But we’ve got to think seriously of third-party candidates, third formations, third parties."
“Our last hope is to generate a democratic awakening among our fellow citizens. This means raising our voices, very loud and strong, bearing witness, individually and collectively. Tavis [Smiley] and I have talked about ways of civil disobedience, beginning with ways for both of us to get arrested, to galvanize attention to the plight of those in prisons, in the hoods, in poor white communities. We must never give up. We must never allow hope to be eliminated or suffocated.”
Hey, Shawn -- will you please get Tom Evans back on the show on Monday?
Thanks!
I live in Kansas. After all of the budget slashing, the budget is expected to be in surplus. Still, the governor fired the Arts Commission on the grounds of no money for it. Dare I say, Sam Brownback does not speak the truth? In other words, he's a big fat (metaphorically speaking) liar.
Severe economic crimes deserve severe punishments.In China if you embezzle $1 million, you will be executed-I don't hve a problem with that.Here fraud and embezzlement are treated as "victimless crimes".White collar crime certainly does pay here.Anyone void of conscience can become fabulously rich by screwing others.The American Dream is a dystopian nightmare.
67 cents of every dollar in the US is spent on the military, Canada under Bush's biggest surviving backer, Theivin' Harper, is quickly propelling Canada into a similiar situation.
The way I see it when need to have a peaceful revolution NOW before we have to have a bloody one later!
LarsMac, if you go to http://www.thomas.gov and search on National Defense Authorization, select the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (H.R. 1540), and select what is currently the second version (Reported in House - RH), it is there. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr1540rh/pdf/BILLS-112hr1540rh.pdf