June 2009 archive

Jun 20 2009

Lobbyists up, voters down. Status quo kicking and screaming

Crosspsoted at daily kos

Top 5 Lobbyists for the First Quarter of 2009

1. Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A.: $9,996,000

2. Exxon Mobil: $9,320,000

3. Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America: $6,910,000

4. Chevron U.S.A. Inc: $6,800,000

5. Lockheed Martin Corporation: $6,380,000

    No wonder there are so many alternatives to real reform and real change. If the buck stops in Washington the buck started in a lobbyists briefcase.

    Simply put, if they can afford to lobby, they can afford to change.

    This goes for every Special Interest and every Big Business. While they fight change and kick and scream we here in Real America are fucking dying. We are dying while fighting your wars, we are dying waiting for health care reform, we are going broke waiting for Wall St to clean up it’s act, to make a long point short, Americans know you have the money, and now it is time to ante up.

Jun 20 2009

Iran Police Open Fire On Crowds Defying Protest Ban

From BBC Persian/Iran:

Jun 20 2009

SHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

                               Photobucket

Simulposted at Daily Kos

All of you “Shrill Liberal” children really need to settle down, shut up, and get back in your assigned seats, places, and closets! The Adults in DC know what they are doing, just look at their record!

And once you are in your assigned seats, place your head between your knees and kiss your rights, your healthcare, and the Rule of Law goodbye.

Just because the Republicans, lobbyist and shills are yelling louder and on the verge of establishing their paradigms, frames, and conventional wisdom….just because THEY are effectively Yelling Louder on every frikkin issue…..doesn’t mean you should be allowed let your voices raise above a polite whisper and a golf clap.

After all! Just think how bad things would be if McCain had won!

So OBVIOUSLY now is the time to be vewy vewy qwiet! We are hunting mediocrity here!

Or worse.

Jun 20 2009

A day of reckoning for the “FREE” American mainstream press

Yes. Support of dissent is part of democracy. Suppression of dissent leads to totalitarianism and dictatorship. Yes. We get it, assholes. And now, YOU’RE gonna get it.

Perhaps you can tell me where were the so-called “free” American press when AMERICAN protesters were filling the streets by the hundreds of thousands in NYC, DC and elsewhere during the Bush administration?

This prurient interest to support dissent abroad is the ultimate in hypocrisy and only serves an agenda bound for destabilization and warmongering in the Middle East. Let’s do our own dirty laundry first – if we want Iran to have a democracy, we haven’t exactly been setting anybody the best example to follow over the last few years.

I have photographs of massive AMERICAN ANTI-WAR protests from 2002 all the way up to 2008 that never saw any mainstream media coverage. Do any of you creeps working for the “free” American mainstream press want to try to explain to me why that is? Go right ahead. I have all day.

Jun 20 2009

I want your opinion (Good thing I’m on the internet)

I was googling my name to try to find an article where I had argued with a wingnut (yeah, I know…but he DISSED RUSS! Fucker). Anyway, one of the hits came up with this Kabbalah site about my name. I’ve never studied Kabbalah, don’t know anything about it, and I tend to be skeptical of claims that peeps can know stuff about you from your name, the stars, your palms, tea leaves, etc., etc.,

But this is eerie in how accurate it is.    

Jun 20 2009

Medicare Part D — The Product of a Broken Process

I am posting this article from the New England Journal of Medicine http://content.nejm.org/cgi/co… in full and admitting to all the laws and rules I have broken, so sue me. The article was written by Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY) who was the ranking member of the committee on rules. I am doing this to inform those who need informing, you know who you are – hold up your hands, how K street, lobbyist, and corporate $ have taken our government and are in the process even as we speak of stealing from seniors and the disabled via plan D. I was caught in this and am still hot about it. This article shows the depth of corruption and how legislators operate with impunity, disregard of the law and, without fear of criticism from their ethics committee. We must keep hammering these guys and get more folk involved if we are to counter the big $. Article, written June1, 2006, begins:

“Most Americans agree that affordable drug coverage under Medicare has been needed for some time. But instead of a solution to a growing problem, Congress gave the country a prescription-drug plan that achieves few of its original goals. The current problems with Medicare Part D are largely the direct result of the undemocratic way in which the plan was authored and passed. The final legislation, heavily influenced by drug-company and health insurance lobbyists, focused mainly on the needs of those industries instead of those of the seniors it should serve.  

Jun 20 2009

Docudharma Times Saturday June 20

Google – thank you –

NOW CHANGE YOUR LOGO FOR TODAY –

Sea of Green – RT – #Iranelection

RT RT RT RT RT RT




Saturday’s Headlines:

he 5 Year Old Space Age

A sea of tears: the flooded people of South Bangladesh

Pakistan army closes in on Taleban leader Baitullah Mehsud

France split over plan to outlaw burqa

Submarine hunts for Tsarist gold ‘worth billions’ in Lake Baikal

Arab neighbors watch Iran’s troubles

Iran rooftop chorus swells in the night

Come home, Tsvangirai tells expats

In Venezuela, Land ‘Rescue’ Hopes Unmet

The Ayatollah speaks – and the protesters are warned

Opposition will be held responsible for bloodshed, says Supreme Leader

By Peter Popham

Saturday, 20 June 2009

The delivery was mild, but the words were incandescent: now Iran’s protesters know exactly where they stand. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei finally spoke on the crisis gripping his nation yesterday, and while he had emollient words for presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi, his threats were explicit.

He demanded an end to the protests that have brought millions on to the nation’s streets this week, insisted that their cause was wrong, that his ally Ahmadinejad was the election’s rightful winner, denied there was any possibility that the election had been rigged, and warned of fearful consequences if the people come out in force again today. “The result of the election comes from the ballot box, not from the street,” he said. “If there is any bloodshed, leaders of the protests will be held directly responsible.”

Greece to unveil Acropolis museum

The long-awaited Acropolis Museum in Athens is to be unveiled later.

The BBC

The modern glass and concrete building, at the foot of the ancient Acropolis, houses sculptures from the golden age of Athenian democracy.

The £110m ($182m; 130m euros) structure also offers panoramic views of the stone citadel where they came from.

Culture minister Antonis Samaras said he hoped it would be the “catalyst” for the return of the Parthenon sculptures from the British Museum.

Some of the sculptures, also known as the Elgin Marbles, originally decorated the Parthenon temple and have been in London since they were sold to the museum in 1817.

The museum has long argued that Greece has no proper place to put them – an argument the Greek government hopes the Acropolis Museum addresses.

Mr Samaras said: “After several adventures, obstructions and criticism, the new Acropolis Museum is ready: a symbol of modern Greece that pays homage to its ancestors, the duty of a nation to its cultural heritage.”

The building, set out over three levels, holds about 350 artefacts and sculptures that were previously held in a small museum on top of the Acropolis.

USA

Primary-Care Doctor Shortage May Undermine Reform Efforts

No Quick Fix as Demand Already Exceeds Supply

By Ashley Halsey III

Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, June 20, 2009

As the debate on overhauling the nation’s health-care system exploded into partisan squabbling this week, virtually everyone still agreed on one point: There are not enough primary-care doctors to meet current needs, and providing health insurance to 46 million more people would threaten to overwhelm the system.

Fixing the problem will require fundamental changes in medical education and compensation to lure more doctors into primary-care offices, which already receive 215 million visits each year.

The American Academy of Family Physicians predicts that, if current trends continue, the shortage of family doctors will reach 40,000 in a little more than 10 years, as medical schools send about half the needed number of graduates into primary medicine.

Jun 20 2009

World Refugee Day, 20 June 2009

Remember on this day, We as a Nation are Directly Responsible for the plight of millions of recent refugee’s through our failed foreign policies of Wars/Occupations of Choice in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and now in Pakistan.

We have many, supporters of our occupations mostly, who rail against any illegal immigrants crossing our borders for the jobs companies will give them, while at the same time forcing millions to flee to their neighbors countries, leaving those countries to absorb and support them.

We Are Directly Responsible!

Jun 20 2009

The Internet Is For (Riot) Porn!

(Crossposted from The Free Speech Zone)

   

“Despite all the diversions, our people are faithful,” he said, but urged young Iranians to lead more spiritual lives. “The youth are confused. Being away from spirituality has caused confusion. They don’t know what to do,” he said.

   He accused what he called arrogant Western powers, particularly Britain and the United States, of showing their hostility to the Iranian Islamic revolution in remarks casting doubt on the election. And he warned them not meddle in Iran’s affairs, accusing them of failing to understand the nature of Iranian society.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06…

Yeah kids, don’t hang out or talk to us, we’re bad influences.

Jun 20 2009

KATV, Channel 7 in Little Rock, Promotes Racism

I read a comment by a very offensive person the day before yesterday and wrote KATV, Channel 7, in Little Rock, Arkansas to complain about rank racism, with the racist words, on their site.  I got no reply to my email address, except for “news updates”.

This same commentator is back tonight, and I will reproduce the entire story and his comments.  I believe that Fair Use protects us here, since this blatant racism is news in and of itself.

Here is the KATV story.

Plumerville Officer Shot, Killed

posted 06/19/09 6:12 pm

Plumerville – A Conway newspaper says it has confirmed the name of at least one person being held in connection with the shooting death of a Plumerville police officer Friday morning.

According to Conway’s Log Cabin Democrat, 22-year-old Shane Ashton Lonix of 19 Rolling Pine Cove, Conway, was being held Friday morning at the Faulkner County Detention Facility on suspicion of capital murder. The newspaper said the information was obtained through an FCSO jail intake report.

Officer Joseph C. “Joey” Cannon, was shot after he pulled over a stolen pickup truck on U.S. Highway 64 in Conway County on Friday morning. A Conway County Sheriff’s spokesman says Cannon was shot one time in the chest, but was able to return fire. (Scene Video)

State police spokesman Bill Sadler confirmed that the driver and passenger in the vehicle had both been caught, and that a weapon was recovered. The truck, which police say was stolen in Pulaski County, was taken into evidence. Sadler says the driver was caught while fleeing on foot in Mayflower, and officers captured the passenger near the scene of the shooting.

Say It On 7:

Click Here to Comment on this Story

Conway County authorities could not confirm that Lonix is suspected in Friday’s murder. The identity of the truck’s passenger, who was being held this morning in a Conway County facility, has not been released.

Lonix was also wanted for violating the conditions of parole stemming from a hot check conviction.

Plumerville Mayor Ed Paladino says Cannon was a police officer in the city for about nine years, and had 27 years of law enforcement experience. His son works as a deputy for the Conway Co. Sheriff’s Office, and his daughter is a law enforcement dispatcher.

Cannon, who was the Assistant Chief of Police, was planning to retire from the Plumerville force next month.

Paladino says the shooting is the worst thing to happen in his small town in more than 100 years, when a candidate for U.S. Congress was shot to death.

I can not get a fix on the picture of the accused, but suffice it to say that he appears to be a relatively young black man.

KATV has a blog response area.  Most of the comments are pretty harmless, but this one is not.  I complained to KATV yesterday about this particular commentator about racism, but they did not do anything.  So now it goes national.  Here is the comment:

When will the nation wake up? They will be free in 2 -3 years max.  I say again, when will the nation wake up?

What we need is public courthouse hangings every Sunday afternoon.

Hang them all… and stop kissing their butt.  But I will also say it is a proven fact that the majority of these crimes are comitted by the negra.

that is why i have no respect for negra, and firmly believe they should all be working in my cotton fields.  They are the root of all problems.  Send em on down to my cotton fields I got a “hoe” fer em…..

This is just past any decent thought that a person could have.

The real problem is that KATV allows racists like this to post without any repercussions.  

Jun 20 2009

Late Night Karaoke

Moral Support

Jun 20 2009

Random Japan

 By the numbers

The health ministry announced that Japan’s population stands at 127.6 million.

The country’s fertility rate increased for the third consecutive year, and is now 1.37 children per woman.

However, there were 51,300 more deaths than births in Japan in 2008, which means that the overall population shrank.

It is estimated that a quarter of Japanese people will be over age 65 by 2015, and that the population will shrink by a third within 50 years, according to Reuters.

A Cabinet Office survey revealed that 45.4 percent of Japanese people give more priority to their careers than their private lives, even though just 1.6 percent want to do so.

The survey also found that 58.7 percent “want more rest.”

Despite this, 55.8 percent of respondents said they were “satisfied with their current family lives.”

The National Police Agency announced that the number of articles turning up at lost and found centers around the country increased a whopping 36.3 percent in 2008.

A total of 17.34 million items were turned in, of which 6.17 million were eventually retrieved by their owners.

The amount of cash turned in fell 2.2 percent, to ¥14.2 billion. Of this, ¥9.7 billion was returned and ¥3.8 billion given to the finders, according to Kyodo.

The NPA says the rise in turned-in articles is due, in part, to a new system where people can search for lost items on the internet.

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