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Regarding community owned sports teams I appreciated the point one of the commentators made that most communities only own the debt incurred to build the stadium for the privately owned teams. The reason communities take on such debt is that it is "good" for the communities that do so. The good that it does in terms of actual dollars in the pocket as acknowledged by all economists that look into the matter is that real estate values are increased. This is good for all property owners but not good for everyone else, i.e. renters whose rents go up. A little understood fact regarding this kind of "good" is that it is only the land portion of real estate that is increased in value and not the value of improvements. This may not be well understood but it is not that hard to figure out.
So we usually see real estate interests promoting public expenditures to pay for sports stadiums. Since it is not likely that we well ever be able to force community ownership of privately owned sports teams a simple and more doable thing to do would be to require all public expenditures and debt incurred to build stadiums or otherwise subsidize privately owned teams to be paid out of taxes on real estate and in particular by taxes on land values. This would give pause to every property owning sports fan to think twice whether they really want to subsidize their teams. Fine if they do; they just won't be getting an unearned bump in property values and rents that ultimately have to be carried on the backs of their non-property owning fellow fans. Even if I am a sports hating property owner my property value still goes up. There is no such consolation for the sports hating guy who rents the house and business next to mine.
The terrorists don't care if the plane blows up or not...they don't say look at what we did to America but rather "Look at what we made America do to herself".
No one will be saying hey let's bring back the Bushies...so quit threatening repyuub wins if dems don't get it done...they are the only choice we have at present to keep from driving America over a clifrf.
This is the point of a corporatocracy vs a democracy ruling America...our last chance and this HC issue has exposed our government for what it really is...and exposed the members for what they really are..
Necessity has forced Americans to get involved.. Voters will not be outraged at dems...they will be outraged at repubs at blocking the very agenda the majority voted for.
lore:
You have no idea what it is like to be in my shoes. None whatever. Just this morning I was going into my storage unit in Kent, WA where I was followed by a couple of the town's "finest." They refused to accept my knowledge of the key code, my unit number or even an offer to use my key open the lock as proof that I had a unit there. They wanted to see "written proof" that I had a unit there. Why was I having this problem? Because "Mexicans" are criminals, and the only possible reason why I was there was because I was going to break into something and steal someone's property. This kind of thing has happened to me countless times. I am not a human being in the eyes of the police and a great many other people. The only reason I got out of this harrassing situation was because the manager showed up earlier and was curious about what was going on. And your post suggests to me that somewhere deep inside some dark place, you share these stereotypes and prejudices.
Since TSA workers are so highly educated and work in dreadful conditions with such low pay---why would they continue doing what they do? They clearly have the necessary skills to work wherever they want. So it doesn't make any sense that they wouldn't find unionizing the highest priority.
Quark:
Maybe you didn't hear Thom's quip. In response to a caller, he suggested that Yemen is to Saudi Arabia as Mexico is to the U.S. Obviously Thom was making the kind of a belittling comment about Mexico that we often hear. What I am saying is that if he is going to compare Saudi Arabia to the U.S. in this scenario, then what does that say about the U.S. if Saudi Arabia supplies the world with terrorists-- 9-11 for example? Is the U.S. supplying the world with terrorists too? His comparison makes no sense unless it was meant to be purposefully demeaning of our neighbor to the south.
One last thought about airport screenings. I recall just 15 short years ago, running through an airport in Hawaii to catch a last minute flight back home. There were no lines, no guards and the stewardesses were cheering me on as I ran, wishing me well. If I tried that now, I'd probably find myself on the floor, hogtied with four rifles pointed at my head...
Last year as I was leaving through the same airport, I felt like a domestic farm animal (or a Jew in line to a Nazi camp) being shuttled through line after line, all holding our jackets and shoes, with sweaty, nervous people packed in all around and armed guards looking us over.
This is one of the reasons we have to constantly pour tax-payer funds into the airline industry...who wants to fly anymore?
Today's topic made me want to join Thom's blogsite. I don't have time to call the show due to work, but wanted to put in my two cents on the new, stricter TSA rules currently being discussed.
Peter DeFazio, although I generally tend to agree with him on issues, now wants to push for the 'Virtual Strip Machine". Hmm, wasn't it Peter who just about one year ago was so incensed at his airport treatment at Sea-Tac, that the rest of us have had to endure (thanks in large part to his legislation) that he threw a fit and was detained?!
I recall reading his quoted response in the Oregonian, to the security guards as something akin to, "Hey, guys, don't you know who I am? I'm one of the people who helped design these screening rules...". So, my question is, has Mr. DeFazio found a way to bypass these annoying hoops (including the new machine that captures the nude body through clothing--any thoughts on how this could be misused, anyone) on his future flights? Just wondering.
Thanks so much for the show Thom~you are the best!
Mark,
The quick and enormously inadequate comparison I would make between Saudia Arabia and Mexico is that greedy, self-important white men (starting in Europe and migrating to America) exploit and piss off people all around the globe, according to other nations' wealth/resources they (the greedy white men) covet.
What's WRONG with them?! They are all rejects in any humane culture.
Mark - not sure what you are talking about. However, I am generally sensitive to remarks about women, about democrats, about .... you get it. Not the same thing pushes others buttons. Did he really mean something bad or is that YOUR emphasis?
I often get my cousins mad by comments I make because they are right wingers.
Once, when my mother was shopping, she tried to get help from the sales clerk who was curt and abrubt. There was a meeting coming up in their department and the sales people were upset. A few minutes later a black woman received the same treatment. She thought the sales person was being racist. Wasn't so. It was a matter of perspective. The sales person was upset about her own issues. Nothing to do with my mother or the black woman.
Sometimes you put your own perspective on things that are not correct.
Don't second guess. Ask.
The problem with Thom's small-minded crack about Mexico isn't just that it is typical of the prejudicial, xenophobic and bigoted ideas being foisted on small minds, but that what does it say about the U.S. if he wants to compare it to Saudi Arabia? After all, most of the 9-11 terrorists came from Saudi Arabia, so it doesn't say very much about the U.S., does it?
when I was younger ..... at a dancing bar ..... really cute blond haired, blue eyed guy at bar - I decided to ask him to dance ---- he was middle eastern!
when I was buying boots at a western named boot store, the manager and another customer started talking. Turns out both were middle eastern but could 'pass' as Italian or Spanish. Hmmmm
So racial profiling might turn up obvious looks but not necessarily obvious terrorists!
Brain dead does not protect us! Stupid doesn't give us a future!
Plaid would be back - 4oz bottles of different colors...
Trevor, you're right...how about finger-painting?
Wake up people, all these terrorist attacks are obviously being coordinated by the old Ocean Liner companies, they want to make a come back.
The Democrats can't be doing too bad a job of protecting the US - CHENEY is no longer hiding in his bunker! Although I don't know where he lives, since he is so available to FOX he must be out and about!
President Obama needs to start an online 'TV' showing what the Democratic party is up to and how they plan to help America. Since there is no way to get Democrats on corporate TV. They can always replay too. Have selections and offer to the public - just like the whitehouse.gov website.
Set up a group that develops content and gets democratic faces in the public.
silly Gerald, you can't fly with aerosols - and it would take more liquid than TSA allows for the pump version...
Hey trevor..just skip the clothing rental business and go to the next step..spray-on clothes.
emerging business in the next decade - clothing rental businesses at airports.... order online and pick it up in a suitcase from the baggage carousel at your destination... then you don't even have to check bags...
Regarding the Green Bay Packers, the community does own the team. In other cities the community only owns the debt on the bonds they floated to build the stadium for the privately owned team.
Terrorists don't call themselves terrorists. They identify themselves as: Freedom Fighter, Holy Warriors, Heads of State, etc...
No they wont have people fly naked... they'll just pump in a gas into the passenger compartment to put everyone to sleep before takeoff.
Thom,
Thanks for your conversation with Dan Gainor today. I am truly glad to hear that he and I do agree on some things, few though they may be. I would never have guessed it! (Now if we could only get a little closer on the life and death things.)
Some things that confuses me about the Christmas day attempted bombing - was it an act of war or a terrorist attack? are they terrorists or enemy combatants? they can't be both... What if they are preemptively attacking a nation they feel threatened by? is that terrorism or military? Can it be war if it is not 2 military's fighting? Can the Taliban use a drone to preemptively attack a congressmen? or is that terrorism?
I just get so confused between what we say and what we do...
Just out of curiosity I looked up the word congregation. I thought it may have a similiar definition tothe word, union. A reasonable mind can see the similiarity in the definitions.Near the word "union", in my dictionary, is the word "union church" It (the dictionary) refers to the congregation as a union.Just like the "UNITED" STATES is a union, so are,in my opionion, churches. Jim DeMint proud UNION HATER
Maybe the Democrats get more money from Wall St because it takes more bribing to get them to give up their principles. Also perhaps its also because there are more Democrats in both the Congress and Senate.