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You can't fix stupid.
Please, help me understand this:
"CCR wrote a letter to Fox News President Roger Ailes – asking him to force Beck to tone down the rhetoric and end the false accusations against Piven before someone carries out one of these deadly threats."
Okay, so in this case, you agree that it's a good idea to use a corporation to silence free speech?
"This is about Republicans – with the help of their commentators on Fox News and talk radio - trying to win elections…by any means necessary."
I see. So this is only about Republicans "trying to win elections...by any means necessary." By this logic, we should completely ignore unethical abuses of voter manipulation when Democrats do it?
It is fascinating to me that there seems to be a complete unwillingness -- by both sides -- to ignore things when they are perpetrated by their own side. If one wants to see "any means necessary" carried out in practice, look no further than organized labor and the tactics they employ during election campaigns.
To address the Piven issue, there is more in question than the articles she wrote 46 years ago, considering she has recently advocated "an effective movement of the unemployed will have to look something like the strikes and riots that have spread across Greece."
In other words, she advocated violence for political gain. Less than a year ago. Where were the cries for "toning down the rhetoric" when she wrote that?
Thom is generally well-informed, but this plan is fraught with problems. Consider:
(1) We're already facing some tough political choices in regard to Social Security, e.g., raising taxes, because of the number of boomers, choices further compounded by the likelihood that tomorrow's SS recipients are likely to live longer than today's recipients.
(2) Thom's argument doesn't account for the fact that a lot of wage earners pay into the system but never recover because they die early. While it sounds morbid, the system depends on this result. Reducing the retirement age to 55 would completely change the landscape, and result in benefits being paid to a whole new cohort.
(3) Thom's plan presumes the labor market will tighten because those age 55 will stop working. This is a pretty bad assumption, as many people already receiving Social Security continue to work in order to supplement their income, e.g., Wal-Mart greeters. Additionally, I suspect a lot of people have saved enough to adequately supplement their Social Security benefits, which would result in a lot of older workers continuing to work given that the present recession has wiped out a lot of 401k accounts. Additionally, mortgages are not usually satisfied by age 55; and parents are often forced to delay saving in order to send their children to college, a necessity given the outrageous growth in college tuition. Accordingly, I suspect that allowing people to retire at 55 will not tighten the labor market, but instead result in a lot of double-dipping, thereby raising the costs of Social Secuity without the attendant benefit of decreasing unemployment.
(4) Thom's argument also fails to account for the lost productivity we'd likely experience. Frankly, at least as far as white-collar industry is concerned, there's a lot of productivity left between 55 and 65, given that experience is paramount. I'm not sure that we'd want to throw all that experience overboard. To the extent we allowed people to continue working, you're right back at square one, only now you're paying them Social Security, too.
(5) Finally, Thom's argument assumes an insular labor market. Jobs are already being shipped overseas as fast as they are created, however, thereby rendering his forecast concerning greater opportunities available for younger Americans in this country shaky, at best. Any benefits are likely headed to China and India, Mexico and Indonesia.
I have to say that I disagree with the idea that this is the worst of times. Actually I think it is the best of times. Throughout most history we have been ruled by paternalistic authorities being 3 to 5 percent of the people controlling 90% or more of the wealth. It seems an impossibly difficult struggle unless you look at the big picture. To see how far we have come. We will never be as organized and well funded at that 3 to 5 percent, nor should we aspire to be. They are reptiles standing by in terror as we make way for the Homo Superior. Namaste.
Fox is sillyyyyyyyy. And the Re-pubs fit that mold as well. In due time Thom, in due time. Soon they'll have Folgers in their cup.
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Obama/Boehner/Pelosi are in the pic!!!
Canadians consistently prefer their system to ours even when they visit for extended periods or even repatriate Or reside here permanently. Don't accept statistics, anecdotes or"facts" uncritically.
Thom lets his "guests" get away with too much. Heneeds to be rougher on them.
The caked or hardened animal and human dung can be used as heating fuel during the winter months. Nothing would be wasted. For example, the food we have eaten would be nutrition for our bodies. The food leaving our bowels would offer us a delightful experience in taking a crap. The saved human dung would be caked and stored for our heating fuel during the winter months. We would be returning beauty to our planet.
Persistence is important.
http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/01/24/sophias-battle-with-the-dog-door.aspx
January 24, 2011
Burrito
The 30-inch burrito story came from the Yahoo News Service. Yahoo did not mention whether or not the burrito was an all bean burrito. An all bean burrito would have put the burrito in the WMD category.
In fact the all bean burrito may be our answer to an alternative energy source. When people eat the all bean burrito, the gaseous emissions from our human bodies may offer an important research project to keep Americans away from their gluttonous and voracious appetite for oil that places our country in a constant war mode.
It is my understanding that Cheney and his band of goons and thugs have now a patent on caked animal and human dung that can be used as an alternative fuel source for Americans in northern states. The sale of caked animal and human dung should be on the shelves before the winter months commence. An insider says that the hold-up for announcing the sale has to do with the settled price for the sale of this dung. The insider also says that the settled price for caked animal and human dung will qualify Cheney and his band of goons and thugs for the “Golden Fleece Award.”
January 24, 2011
The Great Eight
I need to share with you a dream I had. President Obama had sent his secret service staff to take me to Washington, D.C. I was taken to Camp David in the mountains of Maryland. The president said to me when we met that he had read some of my comments and he wanted me to put together a team to share information with him in helping our world move forward, especially the United States of Mortal Sin. I could not leave Camp David until I had a list of names to be on my team.
I have many names for the list but I wanted to keep the team small enough to be a workable team. Here are the names for the team – Bishop Thomas Gumbleton (a peace activist cleric), Thom Hartmann, Paul Craig Roberts, Ray McGovern, Stephen Lendman, Rachel Maddow, Karen Kwiatkowski (a retired military officer), and Joan Walsh (writer and editor for Salon magazine). These eight names are the core for my team.
I have four names to be called in as consultants from time to time – Doug Soderstrom, to offer inspirational words, Ed Schultz, to offer passionate pep talks on various subjects, Robert Reich, to share his economic information, and John Perkins, to keep us informed as to the United States of Mortal Sin’s predatory ways to take control over a country’s human and natural resources.
At the start of each meeting we would read the lyrics from John Lennon’s song, “Imagine.” Some words may be altered to meet current times but the central theme of his song will be evident to all who read the words.
The date, time, and place were not set because my wife in her melodic voice asked me a question that awakened me from my dream, “Jerry, what time is it?”
Now that Keith Olbermann is history, the next target for history by the fascist-Nazi groups in the United States of Mortal Sin is the really Big Enchilada, Thom Hartmann, after Hartmann will be Rachel Maddow. Progressive radio will be history with the election of Jeb Bush as president on January 20, 2013. January 20, 2013 will be the starting date for Americans to wallow in the abyss of a natural hell until they enter their manifest destiny of a supernatural hell.
January 24, 2011
Let me be the first person to predict that Obama’s State of the Union message will offer great rhetoric through smoke and mirrors and bait and switch tactics. Obama will sell out average Americans. I guess Kim was the first person to tell it like it is. She was a call in person on the Thom Hartmann Show.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Cut-Social-Security-at-you-by-Timothy-Gatto-110120-177.html
Cutting social security!
http://www.salon.com/news/china/index.html?story=/opinion/feature/2011/01/21/sirota_corruption&source=newsletter&utm_source=contactology&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Salon_Daily%20Newsletter%20%28Not%20Premium%29_7_30_110
America is too corrupt!
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/01/21/bush_gulf_war_reunion&source=newsletter&utm_source=contactology&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Salon_Daily%20Newsletter%20%28Not%20Premium%29_7_30_110
Not a good war!
http://www.opednews.com/articles/What-Audacity-President-O-by-michael-payne-110121-900.html
What audacity!!!
http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/when-generosity-love-and-kindness-are-public-policy-the-violence-we-saw-in-arizona-will-dramatically-diminish/
Love and kindness must be a part of public policy.
http://www.tikkun.org/article.php/winter2011flowers
The struggle for universal health care!
Here are some countries that the United States of Mortal Sin should emulate.
http://travel.yahoo.com/p-interests-37522775
January 24, 2011
Here is my mini formula for justice and peace in the world.
Read Matthew 25:31-46! When you do it to the least of my brethren, you do it for me.
Read Matthew 5:1-12! The beatitudes!
Read Luke 10:25-37! Who is my neighbor?
Read Luke 12:13-21! These verses warn us against greed.
Read the Psalms in the Bible because they offer us hope.
Love the poor and your life will be filled with sunlight and you will not fear the hour of death. - St. Vincent DePaul, the first social worker
If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. – Mother Teresa
St. Ambrose says, “I shall pass this way but once, any good that I can do let me do it now, because I shall not pass this way again.”
We must practice the Golden Rule. “Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you.”
We must also follow and practice the Eleventh Commandment that Jesus gave to you and me at the Last Supper. “Love one another as I have loved you.”
As a side note let me share some additional information!
January 22, 2011 was confirmation for fifty-three students. The monsignor had the Liturgy of the Eucharist. He gave a great homily. He said that he has tried to come up with a word for each confirmation class so the students can remember it for some future time. The word that he had chosen was “click.” With a car having seatbelts and they are necessary the driver clicks on the seatbelts. Or, when people meet and they may click. There are times when thoughts come to us and they click in the person’s mind.
As I sat listening to the homily, a thought clicked. Why is it that our politicians, our government officials, and our citizens cannot understand we are all God’s children? Everything on this planet is a gift from God and He wants for His children to share in His gifts. Will it ever click upon our world leaders that wars are outmoded and they serve no positive purpose? Wars create more problems than they resolve these problems. Will it click in our minds that maturity is needed in resolving problems?
In our church’s newsletter we had these words. A Supreme Court justice who does not grieve over the plight of Americans will consistently find ingenious reasons not to support efforts to relieve their pain. Economists and social theorists who are not affectively moved by poverty will offer dazzling rationalizations for the very conditions that foment and sustain poverty.
The root causes that threaten us with disaster are in the heart and not in the head. More precisely the problems are a disembodied, technological intelligence that is devoid of an affective awareness of our actual environment and its value. If we do not care enough about people born and to be born, if we do not prize the earth enough to preserve its miracle, there is no hope for it or us.
The world will change when we begin to ache with the heart of God and not before. I believe we need a heart transplant for most of the church and most of the United States.
January 24, 2011
Equality Trust and the remedies!
http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/why/remedies
I truly believe that the inequality in income is an orchestrated, planned, and strategic effort by the conservatives, the American corporations, the American government, and the American rich to kill off as many Americans as possible in a country that I call the United States of Mortal Sin.
Those 1,000 Civil Servants tend to spend their money within the community they live in. The scum-sucking millionaire and billionaires tend to stash their ill-gotten gains in Swiss and other foreign banks skimming interest and leaving the rest of us holding the bag.
How do we win this war against corporate fascism?
Beyond amazing to me that people don't understand the idea of social security; I guess they want to roll in their limos by the miles of poor standing by burn barrells on the streets, rubbing their hands together in the flames. Survival of the fittest, does that mean?
The rest of the Developed, Civilised world has pretty much done social security 60 or 70 years ago, as well as public health care.
It works
Thom
As you may already know, America is being destroyed from within. Not by terrorists, not by anarchist, but by a more sinister threat – neo-conservatism (really fascists masquerading as neo-conservatives). The Republican Party, who maybe were well intentioned 50 years ago, has now morphed into a fascist political party serving new masters – world Corporate/Bank conglomerates. And if not stopped or neutralized soon, it will prove to be the end of Democracy as we know.
I am a Vietnam veteran, worked for the DOD for 30 years, and I am very familiar with Propaganda and how it is used. 30 Years ago Never in a million years would I ever have believed that the American People would be so ignorant and/or fearful enough to ever be swayed by fascist rhetoric and demagogues. Boy was I ever wrong!
I noticed this coming prior to the 2000 Elections, especially on Fox News. When the majority of the American people were lied into invading Iraq and believed the lies, I knew something was very wrong with America. I knew then, as we all know now, that it was all a “Big Lie”, to the detriment of nearly 5000 American killed in that bogus war!
Since then I have noticed how the Propaganda machine has grown and morphed into one giant monster. This was brought home on Friday, 21 Jan, when Keith Olbermann of MSNBC announced his resignation. I kind of figured this was what was going to happen when I read a couple weeks ago that COMCAST was going to merge MBC/MSNBC.
The neo-cons/New Fascists are seeking COMPLETE control of Means to Media. It’s all in the messaging and now with this merger, the machine is in place (Citizens United clinched it) to stifle almost completely the Adversary for the 2012 elections, which is everyone else but the neo-cons/New Fascists and their corporate masters.
What needs to be explained to the American people is the how and why Propaganda works. Most of the time against their own self-interest. Thom needs to address this and explain exactly how it works.
“Goebbels’ Principles Of Propaganda”. If you have not read this gem, do so. This is exactly how the messaging from the Right is being controlled and delivered. I mean, it’s like a word for word blueprint as to what they, the neocons, are practicing! It is very frightening!
Start with an Agenda, Objective or goal. One central authority plans, executes and issues all directives. The central authority oversees all other propaganda activities. The propaganda must impact the enemies policies and actions. The propaganda must evoke the interest of the target audience and be TRANSMITTED through an Attention COMMUNICATIONS Medium! Whether the Message is True or False does not matter. Material from enemy propaganda can be utilized and used against them when it helps diminish the enemy or lends support to the propagandists own objective. Propaganda may be facilitated by LEADERS with PRESTIGE! Propaganda must be CAREFULLY Timed! Propaganda must reach target audience ahead of competing Propaganda. It must begin at optimum Moment. Propaganda must be repeated, repeated Repeated. Propaganda must LABEL EVENTS AND PEOPLE WITH DISTINCTIVE PHREASE OR SLOGANS! It must evoke DESIRED RESPONSES which audience previously has (Emotional prejudices). Must be EASY and simple to Learn! Repeat over and over and over again! Must be boomerang proof. Propaganda must create an OPTIMUM anxiety Level! Then you must reinforce the anxiety by repeating what would happen if defeated. Propaganda must facilitate the displacement of aggression by specifying THE TARGETS FOR HATRED! Propaganda must offer some form of action or diversion or both. (Just by reading this distilling of the Principles, bet you can apply it immediately to almost any issue being aired on Fox News?)
I don’t know about you, but after reading the principles a chill went down my spine! This is exactly what is happening in America today and being delivered ad nauseam by the neo-cons and New-Fascists. I mean, you can take anything that Fox News ( and ALL other Right-Leaning organizations) deliver and just follow the 19 points of the Principles and they almost all apply!
The WE, in the American Constitution, have to end this. We must or we are all toast! Literally.
Thom and his WEB Site and His Cable show can go a longs ways to combat this. As long as there are few FREE media outlets, we can expose this corrosive Propaganda. It could be a multipart thing where the 19 Principles are explained. Then when that is done, dissect and expose all messaging coming from the Right using any and or all of the 19 Principles to dissect it line by line. This would be a perfect teaching tool. It is not just enough to counter a lie, it would be much better to explain how and why it is a lie.
But more interesting – who is the “One-Authority” in all this? Carl Rove? Bill Kristol? Corporations? Religious Groups? “Who is the Propagandist-In-Chief”? What is the Agenda? Goal? For certain it is an AGENDA in progress and if WE The People do not do something about this WE will all most suffer for it.
It is interesting that when a Democratic Representative brought up Goebbels, the Nazis and the use of Propaganda concerning the Health-Care bill the other day, there was nothing but horror and condemnation from the Right! I mean a real knee-jerk. Why? They do not want to be exposed. Imagine discussing the very thing they are using to flummox and dupe 200 Million Americans with!
Yes they are using Propaganda. Yes they are lying. Yes they are basically Fascists. And of course they don’t want to discuss Goebbels, the Nazis or the methods they used that eventually ended in a world War and 40-50 Million dead! This is actually one of the Principles – suppressing propagandistically desired material that would help the enemy!
This has to be addressed and not shoved under the rug. I watched in horror after Fox in almost an apoplegtic fit denounced the use of Goebbels, Nazis and propaganda as un-civil in our discourse, while Maddow of MSNBC said, yes, we must NOT use these highly charged words in our Civil Discourse! No more discussion! I shouted at the TV but of course only silence responded. I mean she and everyone else in the Media basically gave up without a fight! I can see and hear the Ultimate-Neo-Con Puppet master dancing and laughing at this one!
The COLA thing is interesting. I've partially designed a tax system for individuals where everyone takes tax deductions for food, clothing, shelter, transportation, education and medicine. That's it. Any thing else is non-essential.
Video games and other forms of entertainment aren't a cost of living; they're a cost of luxury. (I'm still playing my 8-bit Nintendo from 1986.)
Of course Social Security is socialist, but so is private insurance. That how insurance works. You pay into a pool according to your abilities, and withdraw from the pool according to your needs. Whether it's run by the government makes no difference.
On SS, why not eliminate the employer tax for self employed workers?
Maybe Faux Insanity is one of those diseases you can develop an immunity to ?
If their trust ratings are falling, perhaps some sufferers are recovering.
I agree LeMoyne, but I voted Yes just cuz it made me fool good to consider the downfall of Faux News....
"cash for geezers"...
I think this may need to be coupled with an opt-in at reduced age for Medicare in order to get a significant response. I'm 62 and would retire but have a wife at 57 who, though in good health, has a pre-existing condition record that makes insurance prohibitive. I will keep working until that can be fixed, no matter what Social Security options are available.
HOur `1: yes.
Hour 2 no.
HOur 3 yes.
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