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Michelle "Bat Sh*t Crazy" Bachmann
Thirty years of supply side thinking on taxes, thirty years of military over spending, thirty years of wars not needed, all with one common goal, dismantle any and every social program.
I truly believe this to be a plan set in place to put this country so far in debt that there would be no way out, other than destroying the safety net the protects the poor and the working class from the predatory capitalism.
Thirty years they have been waging class warfare, and our media won't even say the words. CLASS WARFARE.
LOL Thanks for the encouragement, mathboy! But put that way - it sounds like a lot of hard work!
We need a tax code with no loop holes and everybody pays. progressive in one way and regressive in an other.
Progressive in that it starts at 10% and goes to 40% the top rate. But regressive in that you continuously earn more before moving up the scale.
example; 0 -15,000$ 10%
15,000 - 17,500$ 11% +2500
17,500 -20,500$ 12% +3000
20,500 - 24,000$ 13% +3500
goto
55,500 - 62,500$ 20% +7,000
All money up to this point goes to FICA ,now, this is my guess and may need to be something else, but from here up all money goes to general funds
62,500 - 70,000$ 21% +7,500
70,000 - 80,000$ 22% +10,000
80,000 - 100,000$ 23% +20,000
goto
920,000 - 1.2M$ 30% +100,000
goto
65M -85M 39% 20M
85M and up 40%
Everybody pays and everybody has S.S. and Medicare . No loopholes, no capital gains, no notes from your mother, no ducking your taxes. The right always goes on about those that pay no taxes, this is why we should start at 10%. This many generate more money in FICA, for S.S. and Medicare than is needed but, the real burr under the saddle of the right wingers would be that, the poor could pay for the health care for the whole nation. Poor people need not pay for military needs in money , because they pay for it in blood.
Go for it, Wendy. Erosion will turn those rocks into soil eventually.
Nicole "Stoneleigh" Foss
Thom, PLEASE have Nicole Foss as a guest on your show!
I recently saw her sobering and intelligent film: "Stoneleigh's A Century of Challenges"
I HIGHLY recommend watching A CENTURY OF CHALLENGES for anyone who is able to sit through an 80 minute power point lecture on the energy and economy. Nicole Foss presents many denial-smashing realities about converging phenomena that threaten to sink our age of prosperity. She warns that most people are woefully unprepared to face the consequences of the devastating deflation that is now unfolding.
Carolyn Baker writes at: http://www.countercurrents.org/baker021110.htm
"Her online presentation 'A Century of Challenges' is a must-watch, complete with Powerpoint slides which de-mystify the world of finance that often leaves our heads spinning and our eyes glazed."
Nicole M. Foss is an energy industry consultant and financial analyst from Ontario, Canada. She blogs at http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com
A CENTURY OF CHALLENGES can be ordered as an interactive DVD or it can be viewed online.
Well indeed Wendy, definitely attempt to find those that will listen. Not trying to disuade you from such a noble cause, and in fact I encourage it. I just don't want you or any other progressive to wear themselves out on entrenched minds, when they can far more easily work with open minds. BTW I also second your call for information that is clear and useful in such endeavors.
N
Maxrot, point taken. Perhaps "NeoCon" wasn't the appropriate term for my comment. Thank you for the parable and I understand the point you're trying to make. However, I suspect I will continue to beat my head against the wall at times in the hope of reaching those that will listen. It's my stubborn nature. =)
Why does the government have to pass a budget every year? The constitution limits military expenditures to 2 years because of the idea that expenditures can be made for longer. So why do they go through the motions of renewing everything every year? The budget should be a matter of law that doesn't change until a bill is passed to do so. Then programs wouldn't alternate in funding.
Well Wendy, I suppose you and I have different definitions of a NeoCon then. I figure a NeoCon is a someone who is politically minded and bought into the extreme rights' platform, whereas I view "low information" people as those who are not all that interested in politics and therefore not informed, they may vote for Republican't or Democratic candidates, but just out of an emotional response.
But it comes down to this, you can't change the mind of someone who refuses to have it changed. You will spend a lot of energy and time, and risk frustration and collapse of morale. Focus on educating those who are not informed. By all means engage in discussion with someone who thinks the Republican'ts are the way to go, and see if they are ardent supporters, or just misinformed. If their ardent, then let it go, you'll only find that you are an unstoppable force encountering an unmovable object. In the end, nothing will be accomplished there. Its time and energy that can be spent on minds that can be swayed.
Take the parable that Jesus presented about a farmer that was sowing seeds. Some seeds fell on rock, and would not grow, some fell in thorns and weeds, and was choked off, and some fell in fertile ground and flourished. Now the farmer didn't waste all his time trying to break up the rocks, or clear the thorns and weeds, no he happily harvested the plants from the fertile ground. Now I don't mean to get all Christian preachy on ya, its just a well know parable, and in this case it seems to apply aptly. (BTW, I'm sure there are others on this site that can give you a more precise re-reading of the parable from the New Testament, but I figured the point of it is clear enough without the verbatim recount of it).
So in short, I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm just trying to point out a more effective way to inform the ignorant, focus on the ones that have open ears and minds. Pick the low hanging fruit first so to speak.
N
Re: Tom's Remark that Independents are low information voters
I would argue that point. I used to be a Democrat, now I am an Independent. You may regard me as a low information voter because I took off my rose colored glasses & left the party, but that does not necessarily make it so. My belief is that as long as you are going to vote for the "lessor" of the two evils, then the Democrats have no need to listen to you. Why would they, you are going to vote for them regardless!
Maxrot, we have to talk to them. I know many "low information" people who vote Republican and have NO IDEA what they're doing to themselves and to this country. If we can make them understand what they are truly supporting with their one vote, the light just might come on for some of them.
Why bother talking to neocons, its a huge waste of time, instead focus on finding and talking to the undecided/uninformed voter. Apparently there's a helluva a lot of them out there, and they're not as likely to stubbornly stick their fingers in the their ears chanting "Neener neener neener I can't hear you!"
N
Noone will go to jail for their crimes. Wealthy people are only sent to jail in democracies. This is the United States.
Thom, would it be possible for you and your team to create a graphic illustrating the point you just made about Paul Ryan's tax plan? Maybe a chart or something that we could use when we talk to the NeoCons.
Nixon wanted to nuke Viet Nam
It was Henry Kissinger who talked him out of it... because it would be bad PR.
The audio of that conversation between Nixon and Kissinger is in the film, "The Most Dangerous Man in America", the documentary about Daniel Ellsberg.
I know using the nukes on Nam was a proposal in the Goldwater campaign... not sure about which, if any, sitting Presidents were serious about that.
I'll be interested to see if Bradley Manning eventually gets the status of someone like Daniel Ellsberg. Ellsberg was absolutely vilified after the relase of the Pentagon Papers but eventually aquired folk hero status. I suspect that because Manning was in the military they'll sue this to throw the book at him and he'll get a lengthly sentence as an example to others.
This is part of the reason why the Chinese can afford to be so dismissive of American calls for greater civil rights in China and Tibert. As long as these sorts of thing keep happening (and now Amnesty is involved) China can afford to say 'Get your own house in order beofre you start to lecture us'.
With regards to Assange the situation is trickier. Because they can't prove any link between him and Bradley any possibility of getting a conviction there has gone out of the window. I would have thought it would make sense for them to stop harassing Assange quite so openly as it just gives him martyr status and helps cement his support.
I think the great failing of the Obama administration will not be its failure to close Guantanamo, roll back tax cuts for the rich or bring the wars to an end.
What will have the greatest negative impact on American society is his utter disdain for accountability of executive branch officials in the previous Administration and for rich businessmen during both the Bush and Obama years.
I keep waiting for someone to commit murder then stake out a defense of immunity from prosecution under the Equal Protection Clause.
It's never going to happen, of course - justice in America is, for the most part, only for the wealthy. But this contempt for legal accountability will affect everyone - it erodes the Commons at its very roots.
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Thom,
Regarding Skins. I have not seen the show. Does it have any couples who are gay? If not, I think the purpose of the show is to reach young people and make sure they understand very clearly what is normal: This is what a "normal" relationship is, this is how normal people have sex. Any deviation and you don't fit. To me, it looks like propaganda to try to counter the uprise in support that the gay community is seeking and finding in some other venues.
SP
He is in the army so different rules apply, and if I were suspected of being a traitor, I think I would prfer solitary to general population.
We have situational justice. Manning is being pilloried because either a) they want to show how mad they are at assange and wikileaks for compromises their big dark secrets which turn out to be neither very big nor dark, or b) as an object lesson to potential whistleblowers. It's hard to say which at this point, but the idea of innocent until PROVEN guilty before a court of law has apparently gone out of fashion in 21st century America. It is also very apparent that only a few of us care enough to raise a stink. Rendition is still a part of our act, and indefinite detention. The Patriot Act is still in force. Do you like your fascism better under Mr. Obama? Of course, any prosecution of any of the Bush gang for their wanton disregard of the laws against torture, and even the basis for our prosecutions at Nuremberg - Starting a war - goes unpunished. It killed thousands of innocent Iraqis and American service men, but that's just collateral damage. The empire will be imperial (until it's not).
There was a time when I thought the Obama administration would do the right thing, not so sure now. Hope I'm wrong!
I'm convinced that this IS the way American Justice system works in more than a few cases AND it IS the way the military justice - an oxymoron?- system works.
Gates was the target i chose to address with a "Shame on you" letter since he seeems to be less of a political animal, comparatively, and I have the impression he is less supporting of the 'wanna be Rambo' types. I hope this impression isn't badly flawed-it is just an opinion however.
The Beadley Manning story is such a miscarrige of justice but then again when "Power" is embarassed some must pay and pay dearly as a warning to others.
Viva Assange!