25 Giant Corporations That Paid Their CEOs More Than They Paid Uncle Sam

Dylan Ratigan (rightfully) Loses It On Air

Liberal media? HUH?

Ten Years In Afghanistan

The U.S.-led Afghanistan war is 10 years old today. As Americans protest on Wall Street and even Wichita, the longest war in our history passes quietly.

On Oct. 7, 2001, President George W. Bush told Americans that “their patience would be tested in the months ahead.”

Ten years on, there are more than 10 times as many U.S. troops there as when the war began. And a majority of Americans now say the war is not worth fighting.

According to the Los Angeles Times, “Almost half of the population of Afghans is younger than 15 and have little or no firsthand memories of the day. Older Afghans seem to feel the war, which ended Taliban rule, has moved beyond its original intent.”

Although President Obama plans to withdraw 10,000 troops this year, few people know the facts.  Numbers like these;- $1.28 trillion,- 1,801 U.S. troops killed, 11, 200 Afghan civilians killed. These numbers, even when seen and heard, have little effect on people today.

Are we so desensitized by ongoing war, political bickering, and the world’s poor economy that we forget? 

Didn’t we go there with intentions to make the world a better place and help those oppressed by the Taliban?

Of course, I do not have the answers, only doubts and questions. I do know one thing in my heart; might, power and money do not make anyone’s point of view more correct than another’s, but only serve to hide the truth…. and, history repeats itself.

PRAY FOR PEA CE

This is a poster that hangs in my bedroom. It’s the real thing, printed in 1969.

For those readers who are not old enough to remember, there was something you don’t see today; real, honest reporting directly from the war-front & great journalism by people like Walter Cronkite, always accompanied by the nightly “body count”.

Printed at the bottom: All statistics from Department of Defense – March 1, 1969

Related articles

• Ten years on, McChrystal says US still does not understand Afghanistan (colonel6.com)
• Afghan war hits 10-year mark to little fanfare (cbsnews.com)
• Taliban propped up by Pakistan, says Karzai (independent.co.uk)
• Karzai: Pakistan Props Up Taliban (huffingtonpost.com)
• Afghans demand immediate U.S., NATO pullout (cbsnews.com)

Got An Idea to Save the Middle-Class?

“Trickle-up” is an accurate description of the present condition.

I want to mention “Reaganomics, trickle-down, and public safety, all in the same short post, so let’s talk about a “tipping point” in American history.

That point would be when Reagan ‘busted’ the Air Traffic Controller’s union. That single action began the long decline that American workers, of all varieties have been on ever since. It also marked a sharp increase in industrialists gaining more and more power over politics and government.

Reagan didn’t invent this stuff, it has always been a corporate tactic to bust unions and buy politicians, but Ronnie put such a spin on it, that it made people feel that it was okay and even damned patriotic.

Good, reliable data, charted and graphed, shows that time as the starting point of the decades long rise of corporate profits. At the same time that profits rose and the wealthy thrived, blue collar worker’s ‘real’ wages stagnated.

This entire scenario puts all in our society in an increasingly dangerous class-warfare that effects public safety. Our workers and therefor our society face a new phenomena: the “flat world”.

Thomas Friedman article here: 

http://reginaphelps.com/pdfs/FlatWorld.pdf

In conclusion; The corporate buyout of American government has been complete for may years. Fox News conservatives would have you believe that regulation (protecting the public) is the big problem causing poor job growth, but that’s just not the case.

It is just this simple; we may pay $10 per hour, foreign companies may pay $10 a day. Our wages stay at the same level or decline while theirs slowly creep up. We are on our way to being the same waged employees as China and Mexico, or we will have no jobs at all.

Our middle class is disappearing into poverty while our corporate, financial and government masters get pushed up even farther into wealth and power.

Solutions? Hmmmm….

List a few common sense ideas to save our middle/lower economic classes, and I’ll bet I can find the Fox News footage demonizing those same ideas as unpatriotic, nanny-state government that is just seeking to hinder business from growing and employing here.

Middle/lower classes of white people are flocking to conservatism, drinking their kool-aid, and sealing their fate in serfdom for generations to come.

Stupid is, as stupid does.

The proliferation of talking heads and lobbyists leading the stupid into their own demise on the many new forms of media, almost guarantees the continuing gridlock in government, and class warfare from the top on the bottom.

Any progressive or populist solutions to the nation’s problems are always crushed by ‘Captain Obvious”, that is, by the overwhelming amount of money being spent on propaganda (talk radio, Fox News, PAC’s, etc.) that plays to the average person’s most base emotions while ensuring nothing sensible and logical is ever presented to them.

Good luck. It’ll happen when Hell freezes over!

You unpatriotic, communist, socialistic dullard.

You’re just another “Meathead”, you hippy-type character from the ‘All In the Family’ sitcom.

Stifle it. Dingbat!….Where’s my supper?

How To “Fix” Congress (in 8 easy steps)

This was sent to me as one of those “chain” emails. You know, if you pass this on to 20 friends we can change the world. Sorry, I just don’t do the forwarding thing. I did find this interesting enough to share here though. If you enjoy this, reblog it, stumble it, recommend it, or whatever you do to show your approval.    Thanks ~ sekanblogger

1.    Term Limits –  12 years max, some possible options are below.

        A.    Two Six-year Senate terms

        B.    Six Two-year House terms

        C.    One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House terms

2.    No Tenure / No Pension 

        Members of Congress receive a salary while in office, that salary ends when they leave office.

3.    Congress members (past, present & future) are to participate in Social Security.

        All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately.

        All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with all Americans.

4.    Congress can purchase their own retirement plan,  just as all Americans do.

5.    Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.

           Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

6.    Congress loses their current health care system….

           and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

7.    Members of Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

8.    All contracts with past and present members of Congress are void effective 1/1/12.  

  The American people did not make the contracts members of Congress enjoy, in fact, Congress made all these contracts for themselves.   

       Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career.   

       The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators,  Congressmen should serve their term(s), then go  home and back to work like the rest of us. NOT AS LOBBYISTS.

Related articles

• Sen: Sherrod Brown: Congress Should Have Same Retirement Age As Public In Spirit of ‘Shared Sacrifice’ (crooksandliars.com)
• “Congress Reform Act of 2011″ (atcservices.wordpress.com)
• Should Congress make a ‘shared sacrifice’ by cutting its pay, benefits? (cnn.com)
• Congressional Reform (worldofgrandpadon.wordpress.com)
• Ladies and Gentlemen Lets Fix Congress (socyberty.com)

GOP Extremists

Are these people for real?

• Rick Perry says Social Security is a “Ponzi scheme” and “monstrous lie.”
• Michele Bachmann joked that God sent Hurricane Irene to warn against federal spending. Aren’t jokes supposed to be funny?
• Eric Cantor says disaster relief must be offset with other spending cuts.

 I believe in Social Security, workers’ rights, and helping the middle class. Republicans pander to the far right daily with ludicrous statements and attacks on President Obama. These statements motivate Tea Party voters like nothing else. It’s not enough to criticize them – we need to fight back!

They’ll have outside help – Karl Rove and the Koch Brothers will make sure of that.  If we don’t all stand together now, they will gain an edge – and we saw in 2010 what happens when they do.

They’ve got their Big Oil benefactors. We’ve got half a million grassroots donors. Keep fighting on the ground, on the air and online.
Perry, Bachmann and Cantor don’t speak for me!

From The Sixties To The Future….

In OUR future thinking & practices: No racism ALLOWED! No idiotic male chauvinism nor bigoted discrimination ALLOWED! No ideological nor religious motivated terroristic stupidity ALLOWED!No xenophobic isolationism, dumb criminality, abusive exploitation or violence against women and children, nor avaricious global exploitation of humanity ………ALLOWED!

“All Power To All The People!” Righteous down home people’s power is what I advocated in the sixties, and what I say today. That is, “…toward a future world of cooperation-al humanism!” Beyond the myopic notions and strict doctrinaire ideologies of past “politburo” state control command economy socialism. More important let’s get beyond the present extremist practices of avaricious racist corporate monopoly globalizing capitalism having evolved a system which concentrates 90% of all the political-economic power in to the hands of the one percent cooperate money-rich around this, OUR earth.

Democracy? HOW ABOUT Greater constitutional “direct” democracy? i.e. greater people’s’ decision making participatory Community Control democracy? This form has a greater three-dimensional democratic character. A true people’s’ democratic synthesis are ideas to begin to get creative with. “All power to all the people,” was my BPP sixties creative protest demand. ~ BOBBY SEALE

Concrete Canvas Shelters

Dear elvis, look how Obama has spent all our money! (via Whatever Works)

In an earlier post, kitchenmudge asked if this nation ever had a balanced budget. I don't know, but this post says the last time we did it was 1957.  He has some nice clean tables there. In this one, note that the deficit went down every one of  Clinton's 8 years in office and it went up in 7 of 8 years of George Bush. Say no more.   And this is a good summary of historic trends in our debt; it sounds like any law demanding a balanced budget … Read More

via Whatever Works

Memo to Dems: language matters (via Whatever Works)

I'm listening to Obama's press conference right now and getting a bit frustrated. If I could whisper in his ear, I'd tell him: Don't say  "I think this is what the American people want".  Say "This is what the American people want." Don't use the future tense, as "I"m willing to move in their direction", be firm and say "We … Read More

via Whatever Works