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"The Bitch is Back"
'Came across a fascinating review of Ayn Rand books by Andrew Corsello for GQ.
"2009's most influential author is a mirthless Russian-American who loves money, hates God, and swings a gigantic d----. She died in 1982, but her spawn soldier on. And the Great Recession is all their fault."
http://www.gq.com/entertainment/books/200911/ayn-rand-dick-books-fountai...
Hey Gabriel, Very witty comeback. You shine as an example of what is wrong with this country. Seriously, you picked to argue about the picture? Ha Ha Ha Ha. Who is the smart boy? I know that I'll get accused of beating up on an invalid, but couldn't let it go. (I wonder if Gabriel can find someone to explain the historic humor)
Now for some adult discussions. The stupid picture detracts from the position. All of you cry when Obama has a distorted picture. I'm suggesting to those with abilities greater than Gabriel's that focus should be remain on the issues, a higher road taken, and also a smarter path selected.
But, we do need people like Gabriel. They keep us grounded and ensure we never forget that 'but for the grace of God go I" when we see his posts.
Having been in Tech before it was called that-since 1982-and hearing all the talk and seeing the results of that talk the past 3 decades, my point of view is from the experience of having been an employee, a contractor, and a business owner. Seen the inside of lots of name brand corporations and the greed and waste therein is ridiculous. That is where the solution is for things-facing that reality and requiring leadership that doesn’t act like those things are normal, ok or not even there. This leads into off shore –out sourcing whatever you want to call it. In the long term has never saved money for us –you and me the consumer- nationally. It has increased the profits of the corporations that do it. Prices have never gone down for the customer with any outsourcing, and continue to rise in spite of it. We must take responsibility nationally for our own money needs, and bring leadership and profit in line with that. There is more than enough money to take care of everything, it is about how much profit is reasonable (and unreasonable) that drives costs up. The mentality that Upper Management personnel should make millions of dollars a year is gross negligence pure and simple in broad daylight. Everyone is told that ‘mentality’ and how we see things makes the difference about getting things done. Start there-get Management that believes in healthcare 1st – you know do the job – and can also be the kind of human that 500k a year tops is enough to live on. I believe in free enterprise and innovation and rewards but anyone who needs more than that annually is not a ‘team’ player IMO. I have made that kind of money a year (100-500k) sometimes w/o being in management, and have done just fine even with a large family thank you and have no professional respect for anyone that personally makes millions and then is in charge of raising prices and cutting employees.
I also have even less respect for those who aren't making that kind of money and accept or justify those that do. It shows what they wish to be someday. None of this approach to 'success' is long term productive for anyone but a small few who run things into the ground and then demand to be able to continue to collect money when it costs everyone else but them. As a sales person I have to deal with this mentality climbing up the corporate ladder, or the person already there-a CEO/CFO/CIO often - and it makes it near impossible to negotiate anything based reality or saving money in spite of a great amount of talk and buzz word jargon that seems to convey that such things are what are the goal. I do have Accounts that I have prospected and obtained that are not peopled by these aforementioned types. Some of them you have heard about in the news as Healthcare innovators for cutting cost and raising services all with domestic employees They are the model of the future.
Before I start my respite, I want to share with you a ninety second video and I also want to wish you and yours a Merry Christmas.
http://news.yahoo.com/video/odd-15749658/ukulele-boy-is-a-hit-on-the-web...
Let us not forget that democracy is from the bottom up and not the top down.
I will be taking a respite from commenting and posting until after January 1. I will listen to Thom’s radio show and I will read his newsletter but I will need time to accept that wars will always be with us. Wars define Americans and America.
Quark, that would be wonderful but unfortunately corporations rule nations and they have the power to refuse a psychiatric placement. We can only dream of such a placement.
I have been ranting and venting since Bush II was fraudulent appointed president in 2000 and 2004. I have continuously said that wars are outmoded and they serve no purpose. Wars create more problems than they resolve problems. I had this idealistic belief that if people talked negatively about wars, they would become obsolete. I was wrong and I have been wrong. Wars will always be with us. They will never leave us.
Obama accepts the Nobel Prize and he lectures us that wars are necessary and he defends the use of power to continue with wars. A good article to read is by Glenn Greenwald. In fact it is a remarkable article. The article is Salon and titled, “The Strange Consensus on Obama’s Nobel Address.”
Chris Hedges speaks at UC Santa Barbara in a sixty minute speech and he shares his experiences concerning wars. He has said that wars are exhilarating and the greatest rush a person can experience, especially for a young man. Wars give persons a greater high than psychotropic drugs.
You can listen to Chris Hedges’ speech at UC Santa Barbara by going to the internet and his speech is on You Tube. The speech is on “War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning.” The speech pulls together why wars will always be with us. Wars will never go away.
Wars are a force that gives meaning to the American way. When we compare Obama’s Nobel Prize speech with Chris Hedges’ speech at UC Santa Barbara, I agree with Chris Hedges that as an American, war is a force that gives us and our nation a meaning for living. Wars are embedded into the American psyche forever. Americans view wars as a glorious experience with a tremendous high and a tremendous rush.
We must not forget Stephen Lendman’s great article, “A Culture of Violence.” This article stresses America’s five hundred years of violence. Violence is a part of Americans’ true character. It is our universal signature as a people and as a nation.
These words describe America’s addiction to wars, “Fight, rape, war, pillage, burn! Filmic images of death and carnage are pornography to the military man” (and to the American people) by former sniper, Anthony Swofford (2003).
Wars are Americans’ comfort zones!!!
War and not baseball is America’s favorite pastime!!!
So Gerald, I think we should be able to get sociopathic, out-of-control corporations "committed."
Picking up where Thom leaves off, Dylan Ratigan on MSNBC grills a Democrat over the many loopholes in finance reform. It's so much fun to watch Dyaln and his take no prisoners video clip.
http://democurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2009/12/dylan-ratigan-guy-who-coined-...
I watched Television Ontario (TVO). The program title was “The Corporation – The Pathology of Commerce”. The program mentioned that the Supreme Court ruled that a corporation is a person than surely a person is a person. The program highlighted a checklist for mental disorders. Since a corporation can be considered a person, the mental disorder checklist can be applied.
Here is the checklist.
1. Callousness toward people
2. Impersonal relationships with people
3. Disregard for the safety of others
4. Deceitfulness
5. Incapacity to experience guilt
6. Failure to comply toward social norms to benefit people
From the checklist corporations displayed a psychopathic mental disorder. If we use the same checklist for politicians, like Lieberman, or entertainers, like Limbaugh, we can use the same checklist to determine their abnornal behavior or a mental disorder.
Thom has used psychopath and sociopath behavior interchangeably. Here is my understanding of these two behaviors. Psychopath was the word used to differentiate between a crook and a murderer. A psychopath was prone to murder. Now the word sociopath is the norm used for a person who can be either a crook or a murderer.
"Letting Go"
How to walk through life without holding on
http://www.tricycle.com/dharma-talk/letting-go
Richard,
My pleasure (re: article about kindness.)
I just sent Lieberman a very scathing email. I am so down right now... I am almost ready to sell my soul (except I don't believe in Satan.)
I am appalled at the Cruelty of False Hope that the Congress has engaged in. Excellent, beneficial proposals are floated and then taken away.
It is absolutely clear that the American people demand a strong public option, especially in the face of a mandate. Anything less is selling out to the insurance companies. A cynic might conclude that the leadership is taking advantage of Sen. Lieberman’s posturing to betray the true interests of the American people.
I believe it is very damaging to the country if the people send a clear message to their elected representatives and the people’s wishes are ignored.
I have this theory that because Thom surrounds himself with women (who are doing quite well, I'm sure), he feels a need to gratify their prejudices (perhaps also the apparent anti-Latino bias I often hear). I think several items should be pointed out. The dirty little secret about affirmative action in this country is that white women benefited from it far more than minorities, and we can see it in employment figures and college enrollment patterns. When they didn’t need it, and saw minorities as a “threat” along with their white men, they voted against it, as they did in California and Washington—two allegedly “blue” states.
It should also be pointed out that in the countries Thom mentioned as “proof” that where women were uneducated and “forced” to have babies that these were where impoverishment were highest. Again, this is avoids the “big picture.” You tend to find high birthrates in countries where infant mortality is high; the U.S. figure is “high,” but only in relation to other first world counties. Poverty and illiteracy is an equal opportunity “employer” where resources are scarce and subsistence farming predominates, and what wealth there is, is concentrated in the hands of “elites.” How do you measure poverty and "victimization" between the genders in subsistence farming or where jobs are scarce? I have no idea, although Thom’s handlers apparently do.
The knees on Obama’s pantsuits were greener than the knees on HRC’s pantsuits in 2007/2008.
Wesley J. Smith once upon a time was a very outspoken left wing Democrat.
He used to sit in on John Swaney's morning show on KGIL 1260 about 20 years ago. Don't know what happened to him over the past 20 years other than the usual. Conservative talk radio is filled with these sellouts and phonys. Tammy Bruce and Ken Hamblin are two others I can think of off the top of my head that changed. Guess people sell out for money. Wish you would have known this before the interview Thom.....
@Quark: Thank you for the Berkeley article.
Today's redundant expression:; CORRUPT REPUBLICAN,
Todays oxymoron: DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP
TH -- 2010 resolution?
Will Lieberman, the whine with legs, support the government taking over full payment for care of anyone being declared in a vegetative state?
Great - I can't afford health insurance now because of skyrocketing premiums - but the govt is going to force me to buy it, like car insurance??? That makes total sense!
If I don't pay my car insurance, they suspend my license. What are they gonna take away when I can't pay for my health insurance?
Thom,
Your last guest Rob made, whether he knew it or not, a convincing argument for physician assisted suicide. He kept saying "if you want to dehydrate someone to death". That is such a cruel way to have someone pass. It would be much more humane to allow Drs to administer drugs that would ease the patient's passing. So Thom make sure you put that into your last will if you find yourself in that situation.
jeremy scahill talking about war profiteerers war profiteering wasn't this what rumsfeld did right in front of our eyes the government sanctioned war profiteering.
Climate Talks Suspended After Mass Walkout
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/12/14-0
TH -- can you ask your COP15 guest about any WEATHER MODIFICATION experts represented at COP15?
thank-you for your guest list