I took the day off, I felt poorly, as if someone had hit me in my kidneys. I feel better now. Now, the news.
YouTube - Keiser Report: People Power Age (E577). This is an amusing video discussing how the United States wants to count manufacturing jobs overseas as American jobs. Treating "job creators" in America as American jobs if the parent company is in America. When you figure out how you are being lied to and taken advantage of let me know. The second part of the show highlights how electronic currencies are already taking over in Africa.
Yahoo - No, the U.S. Isn’t Really Giving Up the Internet—It Doesn’t Own It Anyway. A group I have written extensively about, ICANN, is being put under the "control" of an international body and the writer wants you to know how they will no longer report to the federal government but wants to assure you that the federal government never owned the internet anyways. It is all lies, we will always control the internet. It just proves what I have been writing about for years.
Huffington Post - WATCH: Fox News' 'Preferential Option for the Rich'. A great little critique of Jon Stewart pointing out the lies of those who want to get rid of food stamps. The videos are priceless. In one, a person, claiming to be a Christian says that we shouldn't feed people, we should teach people how to feed themselves and then in another a conservative complains that food stamps can be used to buy bait for fishing.
Forbes - Can Corporate Leaders Push Through Immigration Reform In 2014?. Well, if they cannot send the jobs overseas then they want to bring foreigners in to the United States to work for less and take yours. Get it through your head that your "representatives" don't care about you and only care about the corporate interests that pay them.
Yahoo - The Wall Street Journal - Mortgage tax breaks trickle up, new study shows. When the Wall Street Journal talks about how the wealthy are benefiting from tax breaks you better believe they are not looking out for the poor. Lets get rid of ALL tax deductions. The truth is that the average person only qualifies for about 2% of all deductions available and the rest are limited to the rich and corporations.
None of the articles were particularly novel or exciting, more of just the same old garbage; but, that is the point of picking them. The real point is about what is under attack and what the average person who is willing to work hard can no longer expect and shouldn't.
Firstly, you shouldn't expect that going to college means you can get a good job. Nope, we are giving a preference to foreign students at our colleges and are making college so expensive that the average middle class person cannot afford to send his children to college or the child will be forced to take on more debt than he or she can expect to see in increased income. I have a simple solution to this, any state college or university that takes in foreign students should immediately cease getting and state or federal funding.
Secondly, you shouldn't be able to count of working towards a retirement. You should work till you die and even if you contribute to a retirement fund for 50 years you shouldn't be able to collect it because others have a better use for your money. I contributed to Social Security since I was 12 until I was 30 and won't see a dime of it coming back to me because I have a pension. Yeah, that is fair. We are not talking about an "entitlement", how bout if they just gave me the money I contributed back? I can live with that as I will have a pension; but, for those who only have Social Security, they want to take that from you too.
Thirdly, a home in which to raise your family. Nope, we are destroying home ownership and making everyone a renter. That is the purpose behind housing bubbles, the people living in them now make a profit and houses become unfordable for future generations. Are you seeing your future yet?
Fourthly, Mini-apartments and a life without personal transportation. Live in 250 square feet and never own a car and you will be a hero in the future because you are so environmentally friendly. Stop using up oxygen and maybe you can get a tax rebate.
Music for the generation about to be taken advantage of. YouTube - X - "The New World"
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Monday, March 24, 2014
Stop the Hype About Obamacare
I wasn't going to talk about this because there is already nothing but bias and lies about the healthcare law and most people don't even understand what it does. Over the last few days Matt Drudge or the Drudge Report was complaining that he had to pay a tax for not getting health insurance. Well, turns out he wasn't being totally honest and had chosen to pay anticipated taxes as he is self employed. His income is in the millions probably and that tax would be like $68. Now, he would only pay it if he chose not to get health insurance. Here is my first question, who would anyone with his money not have health insurance? Is he a complete imbecile or somehow immune from sickness? All it takes is one heart attack to understand how expensive this stuff can get and cancer can be a lot more expensive than that. So, I have to question the intelligence of a man who can afford the best health insurance getting none by choice.
Apparently his complaint is that people should not be required to have health insurance. I have read a lot of people complain about this. These are the same people that will end up in the hospital and then declare medical bankruptcy or wait until they are sick to get insurance and complain that they have to pay more. When you put other people at risk we often require you to have insurance or a bond equivalent to a high amount, that is how car insurance works. You don't have to have car insurance in many states, you only have to have a bond equivalent to what the insurance amount would otherwise be. All policies have limits, car insurance used to have a limit of $250,000 exposure by the insurance company; but, I don't know what it is now. If you live in a flood zone, you have to have flood insurance. We require insurance for all types of activities so why shouldn't we require people to have medical insurance?
Personally, I am in favor of having nationalized medicine as they have in England and Canada and many other western countries. I am in favor of socialized medicine that guarantees medical care for all of a nations citizens. Unfortunately Obamacare keeps the control of healthcare in the hands of the same people who have been raising rates for the past 40 years, the medical establishment, the pharmaceutical establishment and the private hospitals.
The reason so many hospitals and colleges were created by the Catholic church is because the wealthy wouldn't create either for anyone other than themselves and that is a fact. Ask yourself how many private hospitals invested in African countries. Yeah. The Catholic church sent missionaries who had medical training to Africa and South America.
Nothing infuriates me more than someone telling me they are a Christian and then complaining about taking care of the poor or taxes. I don't have a problem with an Atheist or Satanist telling me that (I am not comparing the two, Satanists tend to look down on the poor); but, I have a problem with someone saying they are a Christian and making these complaints. When the rich young man said he wanted to follow Jesus, Jesus told him to give up ALL his possessions and follow him daily.
The bible says that when we go to heaven many will call out the name of Jesus and he will say that he didn't know them. They will say that they know who he is and what he is; but, are so selfishly blind that they cannot understand his answer. It is not about knowing he is the Christ, it is about knowing his heart, his essence, that which makes him the Christ. It is not some ritual that you learn to do right, it is about loving your neighbor as yourself. He will tell them, those who know his name; but, not his heart, that he never knew them and they will say they never met him and he will explain that everytime they saw the poor, the troubled, those in pain that they had the chance to know him by helping those in need.
Apparently his complaint is that people should not be required to have health insurance. I have read a lot of people complain about this. These are the same people that will end up in the hospital and then declare medical bankruptcy or wait until they are sick to get insurance and complain that they have to pay more. When you put other people at risk we often require you to have insurance or a bond equivalent to a high amount, that is how car insurance works. You don't have to have car insurance in many states, you only have to have a bond equivalent to what the insurance amount would otherwise be. All policies have limits, car insurance used to have a limit of $250,000 exposure by the insurance company; but, I don't know what it is now. If you live in a flood zone, you have to have flood insurance. We require insurance for all types of activities so why shouldn't we require people to have medical insurance?
Personally, I am in favor of having nationalized medicine as they have in England and Canada and many other western countries. I am in favor of socialized medicine that guarantees medical care for all of a nations citizens. Unfortunately Obamacare keeps the control of healthcare in the hands of the same people who have been raising rates for the past 40 years, the medical establishment, the pharmaceutical establishment and the private hospitals.
The reason so many hospitals and colleges were created by the Catholic church is because the wealthy wouldn't create either for anyone other than themselves and that is a fact. Ask yourself how many private hospitals invested in African countries. Yeah. The Catholic church sent missionaries who had medical training to Africa and South America.
Nothing infuriates me more than someone telling me they are a Christian and then complaining about taking care of the poor or taxes. I don't have a problem with an Atheist or Satanist telling me that (I am not comparing the two, Satanists tend to look down on the poor); but, I have a problem with someone saying they are a Christian and making these complaints. When the rich young man said he wanted to follow Jesus, Jesus told him to give up ALL his possessions and follow him daily.
The bible says that when we go to heaven many will call out the name of Jesus and he will say that he didn't know them. They will say that they know who he is and what he is; but, are so selfishly blind that they cannot understand his answer. It is not about knowing he is the Christ, it is about knowing his heart, his essence, that which makes him the Christ. It is not some ritual that you learn to do right, it is about loving your neighbor as yourself. He will tell them, those who know his name; but, not his heart, that he never knew them and they will say they never met him and he will explain that everytime they saw the poor, the troubled, those in pain that they had the chance to know him by helping those in need.
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Doing a Little Cooking and Americans Cheating America
I am not a chef and my sister can easily out cook me; but, we come from a family that had many great cooks in it. Unfortunately, I failed to learn anything from any of them and am self taught. My sister is an award winning cook. When she was younger, she was not that good a cook; but, she traveled the world and learned things I could only wish I had. I could never keep up with her anymore; but, I do have a few signature dishes and know how to spice and use some tricky techniques.
I prepare French food, Japanese Food, Italian food, Cuban food, Mexican food and of course American classics. While I do make some Chinese dishes, I don't consider them restaurant ready. I will put my braised ribs or mustard crusted rack of lamb up against anyone; but, not my Chinese food. The fact is that I used to really love cooking and stopped when I was ill. It is nice to be cooking again and I am getting crazy about it.
Tonight I made a Lobster bisque with clams that I cooked in a French manner separately. It was fantastic and if my doctor knew what I made he would probably chastise me; but, it was good. I also made a meal for a couple of days from now, I made Cuban shredded beef an a Cuban barbeque sauce from a reduction, that only took about 10 hours. It was completely made from scratch. I had never made the Cuban shredded beef before, ended up spending a hundred dollars on spices and it was the best shredded beef I have ever had in my life.
I am finding myself more and more drawn to Cuban food. I used to make Cuban sandwiches on Sundays when we would watch the show Dexter. There are different approaches to making Cuban sandwiches and the one I use involves marinating the pork tenderloin overnight after it has been given a special rub that includes lime zest. The flavor is amazing and very distinctive, it just takes two days to make the sandwiches. There is a famous Cuban restaurant in Southern California and the few people that have had both mine and theirs agree my mine is better. It isn't it is just a little more flavorful for a different part of Cuba.
The point is, I like cooking and do it the best when I am feeling well and I am feeling better and better. I like that it shows in my cooking, cooking is love and joy and hope. There is actually someone who reads this blog that has had a complete 5 course meal made by me for around 15 people, in a foreign kitchen, in a distant town for people I barely knew and they all asked that I publish some of my recipes to them and I did. I am much more limited in scope and abilities than my sister; but, I am pretty good at the ones I do know and fairly inventive. I should also say that I detest baking because it is so measured.
Now, lets talk about the news. I am an American and am not in favor of electing Anti-Americans; but, more and more the Republican party is becoming anti-American and it really annoys me. Too many Republicans believe that it is more important for companies to make a profit than whether or not they hire Americans. Reagan believed that the reason jobs were being sent oversees was because this country had too much red tape to get things going, thats why he de-regulated industries; but, he was wrong, de-regulation only led to more jobs being shipped overseas.
FoxNews - Humans are the true wealth of nations. The article from the notoriously right wing Fox news says that the most valuable asset of a nations is it's human capital. There conclusion is that we should let more intelligent Asians move to America, read through the nonsense and understand who we are putting in our universities and you will see that it is Chinese students. I disagree with the article, what if we invested in the most innovative workforce in the history of the world, Americans. What if rather than allowing in the best from other countries, we made sure that we had best educated our children first. These Republicans are not following the history of the party and don't care about Americans, only profit.
PandoDaily - Revealed: Apple and Google’s wage-fixing cartel involved dozens more companies, over one million employees. Apple is as anti-American as you get. All there manufacturing jobs are in Communist China. I am happy to say I have never owned an Apple product and don't plan on owning one. Bill Gates gives his money to Charities, Jobs gave his profit to the Chinese.
Apple and Google and other high tech companies conspired to fix the salary of their employees so they didn't move from one company to another. Think about that. These companies have been fixing salaries and want to bring in foreign citizens to compete with Americans; but, pay them less.
I prepare French food, Japanese Food, Italian food, Cuban food, Mexican food and of course American classics. While I do make some Chinese dishes, I don't consider them restaurant ready. I will put my braised ribs or mustard crusted rack of lamb up against anyone; but, not my Chinese food. The fact is that I used to really love cooking and stopped when I was ill. It is nice to be cooking again and I am getting crazy about it.
Tonight I made a Lobster bisque with clams that I cooked in a French manner separately. It was fantastic and if my doctor knew what I made he would probably chastise me; but, it was good. I also made a meal for a couple of days from now, I made Cuban shredded beef an a Cuban barbeque sauce from a reduction, that only took about 10 hours. It was completely made from scratch. I had never made the Cuban shredded beef before, ended up spending a hundred dollars on spices and it was the best shredded beef I have ever had in my life.
I am finding myself more and more drawn to Cuban food. I used to make Cuban sandwiches on Sundays when we would watch the show Dexter. There are different approaches to making Cuban sandwiches and the one I use involves marinating the pork tenderloin overnight after it has been given a special rub that includes lime zest. The flavor is amazing and very distinctive, it just takes two days to make the sandwiches. There is a famous Cuban restaurant in Southern California and the few people that have had both mine and theirs agree my mine is better. It isn't it is just a little more flavorful for a different part of Cuba.
The point is, I like cooking and do it the best when I am feeling well and I am feeling better and better. I like that it shows in my cooking, cooking is love and joy and hope. There is actually someone who reads this blog that has had a complete 5 course meal made by me for around 15 people, in a foreign kitchen, in a distant town for people I barely knew and they all asked that I publish some of my recipes to them and I did. I am much more limited in scope and abilities than my sister; but, I am pretty good at the ones I do know and fairly inventive. I should also say that I detest baking because it is so measured.
Now, lets talk about the news. I am an American and am not in favor of electing Anti-Americans; but, more and more the Republican party is becoming anti-American and it really annoys me. Too many Republicans believe that it is more important for companies to make a profit than whether or not they hire Americans. Reagan believed that the reason jobs were being sent oversees was because this country had too much red tape to get things going, thats why he de-regulated industries; but, he was wrong, de-regulation only led to more jobs being shipped overseas.
FoxNews - Humans are the true wealth of nations. The article from the notoriously right wing Fox news says that the most valuable asset of a nations is it's human capital. There conclusion is that we should let more intelligent Asians move to America, read through the nonsense and understand who we are putting in our universities and you will see that it is Chinese students. I disagree with the article, what if we invested in the most innovative workforce in the history of the world, Americans. What if rather than allowing in the best from other countries, we made sure that we had best educated our children first. These Republicans are not following the history of the party and don't care about Americans, only profit.
PandoDaily - Revealed: Apple and Google’s wage-fixing cartel involved dozens more companies, over one million employees. Apple is as anti-American as you get. All there manufacturing jobs are in Communist China. I am happy to say I have never owned an Apple product and don't plan on owning one. Bill Gates gives his money to Charities, Jobs gave his profit to the Chinese.
Apple and Google and other high tech companies conspired to fix the salary of their employees so they didn't move from one company to another. Think about that. These companies have been fixing salaries and want to bring in foreign citizens to compete with Americans; but, pay them less.
Friday, March 21, 2014
Some More Media Misdirection at Fox
This is the third version of this blog and still goes back 4 years. I don't even know how much I wrote the first few years because I destroyed the past; but, the stats say I started the blog in 2007. I find it amazing that I have been writing this blog for 7 years and still find news to write about. I find it even more amazing to know that there are people who have been reading it for that long. I also find it odd that I have been giving sermons for about 3 years. My mother used to say that I began talking at 9 months and never shut up.
As I look forward to retirement this year, I am constantly thinking about what I want to do next. Firstly, there is a good possibility that I will move back into the Mojave desert, I like the desert and it is good for my arthritis. I am also considering putting my doctorate to use and teaching; but, recently I had a new idea. I am thinking about doing a radio show in the desert in the early am when nobody is listening. I would basically talk about the same things I talk about in this blog; but, take calls from other night dwelling desert rats and the random trucker. I have already found a channel that will put on such a show for a relatively modest amount and the truth is, it is cheap enough that I can make it my hobby without having to rely on advertisers or contributions, sort of a self funded deal.
I think that might be fun. Pulling into a radio station in the middle of the night in the dark of the desert, spewing my nonsense and take on the news and letting people who don't have a life themselves call me and give their opinion. To me that seems sort of a romantic ending to my life. I remember what Raymond Chandler said about Philip Marlowe, he said he always saw him living in some drabby little apartment, doing sad jobs for sad people or something to that effect and always being truthful to himself. I like that, I think there is honor in just telling your truth and not worrying about whether or not you personally benefit. As for preaching, I never felt the passion for it, I have been told I am good at it and enjoy it when I am doing it; but, I have always felt that I am a place setter waiting for the permanent assistant preacher to show up. LOL.
Now to some stupid reporters.
Fox News - Kristen Bell tweets 'rich people should pay higher taxes'. The lovely actress Kristen Bell tweeted (I actually used that word) that rich people should pay more in taxes and Fox News brought on someone to ridicule her. The first thing the person said was that if she wanted to pay more taxes than she could make a gift. They said the same thing about Warren Buffet when he suggested the same. Rather than addressing the issue that Ms. Bell raised, they deflect and seek to make the issue about her.
I will start with Ms. Bell's comment and tell you why she is mistaken in her presentation. The problem is not the tax rate, it is the deductions. Over 98% of the tax code is deductions for the wealthy that do not apply to the rest of us. What she should have said is that we should eliminate all tax deductions, then, the wealthy would actually have to pay their taxes. Why should someone who actually works for a living pay a higher tax rate then someone who inherited their money? By the way, Ms. Bell and Mr. Buffet work for a living and are quite good at what they do. Fox doesn't want to talk about tax deductions because the average person doesn't advertise on Fox; but, the grand scoundrels of the finance industry do.
The guest talks about how Ms. Bell is a "savvy" social media user and self promoter whose film "Veronica Mars" is not doing to well. What his comments have to do with the issue of taxation is beyond me; but, then maybe he didn't really want to talk about tax disparity. We should understand that his comments are just bitter over her talking about taxes at all. The fact is that the Veronica Mars movie did not have to make a dime and did. It didn't have to make any money because it was already paid for by the fans of the show who did not invest in the film; but, financed it just to see it get made. I wrote about this when it came out, nothing new on my part. As to being a self promoter, Ms. Bell is not very good at it. In fact, she has gone after the paparazzi for taking pictures of people's children and is making a lot of enemies in the process.
The next part of the conversation is really interesting. The interviewer says that we should consider where these taxes are going when discussing taxes. Hmmm. I can tell you where a lot of it is going, it is going to pay for killing people in other countries and buying weapons. It also goes to the banks. He doesn't really talk about that.
The next game by the interviewer is to say how maybe we should ask what the right rate is, again this is true misdirection. What does it matter what the rate is if nobody pays it. It is the deductions that people should be focused on, not the rate.
The truth is that the whole report was garbage by a station that claims to be balanced and logical. Is the question of whether or not the tax rate appropriate to be decided on whether or not Kristen Bell wants to promote a movie? Is the most balanced and fair manner in which the issue of tax rates can be addressed or is it merely a character smear to avoid the real issues. Fox is completely insincere, pandering and prostituting themselves for the wealthy.
Lets try this, lets talk about how much the wealthy did not pay in taxes, the total valuation of all the deductions that the wealthy and businesses took last year. It is a fair question. What if I told you that American businesses had more in deductions than they paid in taxes, would that interest you? What if the reality was that for ever $100 you made in wages you paid $17 in taxes and got $3 in tax deductions; but, the wealthy paid only $19 in taxes for all income; but, got a tax deduction of $10? Would that seem fair or equitable to you?
Here is the biggest shame. We send the children of the poor to die in wars to profit the war machine (just as the great soldier and former president, Eisenhower, warned us of, and we pay the taxes to send our children to die. We pay to have our children die protecting the interests of oil companies that don't even pay their taxes.
The tax code is corrupt and it is not designed to benefit workers, it is designed to benefit owners. I don't want to tax people, I want to tax income and I don't care who it goes to or how they earn it, I want people to contribute to this nation proportionately to how they benefit from this society. A sales tax doesn't do that; but, an flat income tax does if it has no deductions. If you don't benefit from living here then you shouldn't have to pay. It is a very simple philosophy and the person who introduced it to me was Richard M. Nixon. Yet, that famous anti-communist and Republican was the first to introduce the idea that I know of.
Rabid "liberals" hate Nixon because of Watergate. The fact that Kennedy had help getting elected from the Mafia or that Johnson kept us in Vietnam doesn't seem to bother then as much as Nixon does. Nixon believed in the middle class and no president has since him.
As I look forward to retirement this year, I am constantly thinking about what I want to do next. Firstly, there is a good possibility that I will move back into the Mojave desert, I like the desert and it is good for my arthritis. I am also considering putting my doctorate to use and teaching; but, recently I had a new idea. I am thinking about doing a radio show in the desert in the early am when nobody is listening. I would basically talk about the same things I talk about in this blog; but, take calls from other night dwelling desert rats and the random trucker. I have already found a channel that will put on such a show for a relatively modest amount and the truth is, it is cheap enough that I can make it my hobby without having to rely on advertisers or contributions, sort of a self funded deal.
I think that might be fun. Pulling into a radio station in the middle of the night in the dark of the desert, spewing my nonsense and take on the news and letting people who don't have a life themselves call me and give their opinion. To me that seems sort of a romantic ending to my life. I remember what Raymond Chandler said about Philip Marlowe, he said he always saw him living in some drabby little apartment, doing sad jobs for sad people or something to that effect and always being truthful to himself. I like that, I think there is honor in just telling your truth and not worrying about whether or not you personally benefit. As for preaching, I never felt the passion for it, I have been told I am good at it and enjoy it when I am doing it; but, I have always felt that I am a place setter waiting for the permanent assistant preacher to show up. LOL.
Now to some stupid reporters.
Fox News - Kristen Bell tweets 'rich people should pay higher taxes'. The lovely actress Kristen Bell tweeted (I actually used that word) that rich people should pay more in taxes and Fox News brought on someone to ridicule her. The first thing the person said was that if she wanted to pay more taxes than she could make a gift. They said the same thing about Warren Buffet when he suggested the same. Rather than addressing the issue that Ms. Bell raised, they deflect and seek to make the issue about her.
I will start with Ms. Bell's comment and tell you why she is mistaken in her presentation. The problem is not the tax rate, it is the deductions. Over 98% of the tax code is deductions for the wealthy that do not apply to the rest of us. What she should have said is that we should eliminate all tax deductions, then, the wealthy would actually have to pay their taxes. Why should someone who actually works for a living pay a higher tax rate then someone who inherited their money? By the way, Ms. Bell and Mr. Buffet work for a living and are quite good at what they do. Fox doesn't want to talk about tax deductions because the average person doesn't advertise on Fox; but, the grand scoundrels of the finance industry do.
The guest talks about how Ms. Bell is a "savvy" social media user and self promoter whose film "Veronica Mars" is not doing to well. What his comments have to do with the issue of taxation is beyond me; but, then maybe he didn't really want to talk about tax disparity. We should understand that his comments are just bitter over her talking about taxes at all. The fact is that the Veronica Mars movie did not have to make a dime and did. It didn't have to make any money because it was already paid for by the fans of the show who did not invest in the film; but, financed it just to see it get made. I wrote about this when it came out, nothing new on my part. As to being a self promoter, Ms. Bell is not very good at it. In fact, she has gone after the paparazzi for taking pictures of people's children and is making a lot of enemies in the process.
The next part of the conversation is really interesting. The interviewer says that we should consider where these taxes are going when discussing taxes. Hmmm. I can tell you where a lot of it is going, it is going to pay for killing people in other countries and buying weapons. It also goes to the banks. He doesn't really talk about that.
The next game by the interviewer is to say how maybe we should ask what the right rate is, again this is true misdirection. What does it matter what the rate is if nobody pays it. It is the deductions that people should be focused on, not the rate.
The truth is that the whole report was garbage by a station that claims to be balanced and logical. Is the question of whether or not the tax rate appropriate to be decided on whether or not Kristen Bell wants to promote a movie? Is the most balanced and fair manner in which the issue of tax rates can be addressed or is it merely a character smear to avoid the real issues. Fox is completely insincere, pandering and prostituting themselves for the wealthy.
Lets try this, lets talk about how much the wealthy did not pay in taxes, the total valuation of all the deductions that the wealthy and businesses took last year. It is a fair question. What if I told you that American businesses had more in deductions than they paid in taxes, would that interest you? What if the reality was that for ever $100 you made in wages you paid $17 in taxes and got $3 in tax deductions; but, the wealthy paid only $19 in taxes for all income; but, got a tax deduction of $10? Would that seem fair or equitable to you?
Here is the biggest shame. We send the children of the poor to die in wars to profit the war machine (just as the great soldier and former president, Eisenhower, warned us of, and we pay the taxes to send our children to die. We pay to have our children die protecting the interests of oil companies that don't even pay their taxes.
The tax code is corrupt and it is not designed to benefit workers, it is designed to benefit owners. I don't want to tax people, I want to tax income and I don't care who it goes to or how they earn it, I want people to contribute to this nation proportionately to how they benefit from this society. A sales tax doesn't do that; but, an flat income tax does if it has no deductions. If you don't benefit from living here then you shouldn't have to pay. It is a very simple philosophy and the person who introduced it to me was Richard M. Nixon. Yet, that famous anti-communist and Republican was the first to introduce the idea that I know of.
Rabid "liberals" hate Nixon because of Watergate. The fact that Kennedy had help getting elected from the Mafia or that Johnson kept us in Vietnam doesn't seem to bother then as much as Nixon does. Nixon believed in the middle class and no president has since him.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
3/19/14 and News, juicy, intriguing news just like momma used to make
The Telegraph - Fire-sale of US Treasuries is a warning of acute stress across the world. Some nation is selling off it's US Treasury bonds, if they are selling, who will be buying from us when sell them this Friday?
The Street - U.S. Government Ceding Control of Key Internet Body. I have been writing about ICANN for years and years and saying that they were controlled by the Federal Government. I have been called a fool and conspiracy theorist for saying it and I have been told that nobody controls the internet by systems people. Please show me the number of shows people like Jesse Ventura have done about ICANN or where people like Alex Jones have talked about such things, I am patient and will wait. Nope none of these clowns have talked about it until now and how we are "giving up" our control of the internet. The truth is that we are not giving up control over anything, we still own the 13 computers that control how the internet works and are the only ones that can bring down the whole thing and restart it.
ABC News - Court OKs Barring High IQs for Cops. I understand beat cops not being brilliant; but, from them come the detectives. If the beat cops are not allowed to be smart than who will become detectives, Sherlock Holmes was smart. Can you become a detective without having been a cop? No.
Myfoxny.com - 'Smart' houses to become a reality. 50 billion devices connected to the internet in a world with 7 billion people.
CNBC - Raise the minimum wage, we slow hiring: Businesses. I am willing to debate the effect on hiring of people if the minimum wage is increased; but, the articles are pure propaganda and silly. You hire people because you believe you will make money off of them, not because they are cheap. That is just stupid. Imagine the same companies saying that if metal costs increase 5% they will stop using metal. Think about that. I detest threats; but, I know how to respond to them. I will agree to not support increasing the minimum wage if the same companies that took the survey promise to increase hiring by 10% next year. We have given trillions in taxpayer dollars to the banks and businesses and have they haven't hired anyone.
Huffington Post - Reuters - Fed Trims Stimulus By Another $10 Billion. Lets keep an eye on Friday and see what happens as countries dump billions in treasury bonds and the Federal Reserve buys fewer, who will buy the remaining ones?
The Street - U.S. Government Ceding Control of Key Internet Body. I have been writing about ICANN for years and years and saying that they were controlled by the Federal Government. I have been called a fool and conspiracy theorist for saying it and I have been told that nobody controls the internet by systems people. Please show me the number of shows people like Jesse Ventura have done about ICANN or where people like Alex Jones have talked about such things, I am patient and will wait. Nope none of these clowns have talked about it until now and how we are "giving up" our control of the internet. The truth is that we are not giving up control over anything, we still own the 13 computers that control how the internet works and are the only ones that can bring down the whole thing and restart it.
ABC News - Court OKs Barring High IQs for Cops. I understand beat cops not being brilliant; but, from them come the detectives. If the beat cops are not allowed to be smart than who will become detectives, Sherlock Holmes was smart. Can you become a detective without having been a cop? No.
Myfoxny.com - 'Smart' houses to become a reality. 50 billion devices connected to the internet in a world with 7 billion people.
CNBC - Raise the minimum wage, we slow hiring: Businesses. I am willing to debate the effect on hiring of people if the minimum wage is increased; but, the articles are pure propaganda and silly. You hire people because you believe you will make money off of them, not because they are cheap. That is just stupid. Imagine the same companies saying that if metal costs increase 5% they will stop using metal. Think about that. I detest threats; but, I know how to respond to them. I will agree to not support increasing the minimum wage if the same companies that took the survey promise to increase hiring by 10% next year. We have given trillions in taxpayer dollars to the banks and businesses and have they haven't hired anyone.
Huffington Post - Reuters - Fed Trims Stimulus By Another $10 Billion. Lets keep an eye on Friday and see what happens as countries dump billions in treasury bonds and the Federal Reserve buys fewer, who will buy the remaining ones?
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Goodbye David Brenner
I don't know how to describe his humor. He was mostly clean, he wasn't exciting; but, could always be counted on to amuse. He liked to talk about stupid things we do and say. He told one joke about how people always say that they know that whatever they are looking for will be found in the last place they look. He asked, why wouldn't it be, why would you keep looking once you found it.
Here is what I do know about Mr. Brenner, he helped young comedians get noticed and with their work. Comedy is pretty cut-throat and a lot of comedians steal jokes from other comedians. I never heard of Mr. Brenner being accused of that. His official website posted that he had a sex related injury and was being cared for by his family and three undisclosed ladies. In fact, he died from cancer; but, joking till the end. I am posting a link to his last big televised concert.
Youtube - David Brenner: Back with a Vengeance!
Here is what I do know about Mr. Brenner, he helped young comedians get noticed and with their work. Comedy is pretty cut-throat and a lot of comedians steal jokes from other comedians. I never heard of Mr. Brenner being accused of that. His official website posted that he had a sex related injury and was being cared for by his family and three undisclosed ladies. In fact, he died from cancer; but, joking till the end. I am posting a link to his last big televised concert.
Youtube - David Brenner: Back with a Vengeance!
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Veronica Mars and topical news
I took today off work. For the past few years taking a day off meant taking care of personal business or seeing the doctor. Nope, I just took the day off. I went out to the movies and saw "Veronica Mars" and then had dinner with friends. My dear friends don't get a lot of time out, they spend a lot of time taking care of others and while they have an interest in world affairs, they really don't have the time follow it the way I do.
A few people that know me in the real world have told me that I write just like I talk. I guess that could be good or bad. When we go out the subject matters usually have a little personal information (obviously I showed them pictures of my grandchild and talked about how she was doing) and news of the day. Because they don't have time to read the blog or much else, often I sort of go over things that I have recently written about. We talked about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the Malaysian flight that disappeared, I haven't written about that and may tonight, we shall see.
The great thing about having these conversations is that I get feedback and questioned. My friends are fairly traditional conservatives with spiritual beliefs and old school family type people. To those who don't personally know me I have to explain something, while my thinking may be different and my views all over the place, I live the most conservative and quiet lifestyle and attempt to avoid conflict in my personal life. The Pimpernel is quite boring and prefers to listen to music, read and write. I am also very tolerant about other people's lifestyles, my friends span the gammit. I am not very social, as a rule, and prefer to be around people I already know well. The people I work with and know through business often assume that I am very social, some have said they thought I was a ladies man of some sort and I don't even date. Only my closest friends know how personal I really am. Even on this blog you really only see a very small part of who I am because I rarely discuss how I feel and try to keep to issues that I am pondering. It is partly magic, the closer you look, the less you see and the best part of magic is not the trick; but, the show.
At dinner, my friends and I discussed what the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac thing was really about. I brought up the articles and issues in the same order that I recently wrote about them. As I dripped bits of information, one of my friends followed the line of thought I expected from someone with conservative views to the tee. Because of the progression of the articles being explained as we talked, the point could be made and the biases could be looked past. That is the key to how the media works, The first article is released and our response is judged, then the second balloon is floated and again our biases are monitored. By the time the story gets to it's next phase, you stop listening to the questions and only hear your biases.
Now, to Veronica Mars. My daughter was a fan of the show; but, as she just had the baby could not go to the opening today. I never watched the show until I read about the Kickstarter campaign. I decided that if over 91,000 people would donate $5.7 million to have a movie made, I should find out why. I watched the series on the computer and it was good enough. I thought the writing was snappy and the acting showed a true connection between the actors. I did not believe that you could make a movie with the production values needed for the amount of money being spent; but, it turned out the actors worked way below what they could have gotten.
I liked the movie. I thought they gave the audience their moneys worth. I will not give any specifics about the plot; but, it worked. I love film and would have enjoyed film making; but, I had a different career that I was committed to. I am always disappointed when someone takes over $100 million and makes a piece of garbage with no heart, I think about how much more they could have done with that money making a worthwhile film. This was a very worthwhile film. Now, to the news.
The Guardian - Feinstein accuses CIA of 'intimidating' Senate staff over torture report. The press has either been talking about how she shouldn't care because she thinks it is okay for everyone else to be monitored and others in the press are talking about how "Obama" is monitoring politicians to influence their decisions. Neither is the real point of the story. The fact of the matter is that all people that are given certain information are monitored, we monitor anyone with access to secrets and Fienstein knows that, she is faking outrage. The real thing to watch for is her solution to the "problem".
The Guardian - Dianne Feinstein statement on CIA torture report 'cover-up' – full text. Now, I want you to read the actual text of what she said and it shows some interesting things. Firstly, she is the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, do you really believe she didn't know that the congress was also monitored. EVERYONE with top secret clearance can be monitored at any time.
Yahoo - How the jobless deal could cut your pension. Everything that this writer says is garbage and I will pick some of them. Firstly, he talks about how congress is going to restore benefits for people who were long term unemployed. Further down the article he states that this will give people about $300 a month. LOL. Welfare pays more and general relief pays about the exact same amount. The difference between putting people on general relief (what long term unemployed and people who never worked) get is the same cost; but, by showing them as unemployed, it changes the employment numbers.
What is really disturbing is that congress is using this promise of paying "unemployment benefits" to justify allowing companies to not fund their pensions. There is no connection between private pensions and unemployment benefits at all. This is about stealing from any retirement that they can. They have been working on this for years and will continue down this path.
Huffington Post - Reuters - FDIC Sues 16 Big Banks For Rigging LIBOR Rates. Taxpayers, pensioners, governments and just about everyone else has lost more because the big banks conspired to fix markets than they pay for benefits for citizens. Think about that.
Yahoo - Investors Business Daily - Fannie Mae Foreclosure Perks Go To Residents, Not Investors. Another article with a writer completely ignorant of what is going on or a complete shill. Lets start with this little bit, it talks about "owner occupants" and "residents", what do you think that means? I can assure you that there are very few renters in foreclosed upon properties, these are the people who used to own the homes and got foreclosed upon but still live in them and that is why they were not called renters in the article.
The "investors" that are being taken advantage of, they are not investors in Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, they are potential buyers of the properties, speculators. The same people who helped create the housing bubble. The real issue is that once this program is in place, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will see a windfall in profits for the taxpayer and the banks don't want to see that, they want to buy up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from the government at a low price before they become really profitable.
Bloomberg - Fannie Mae Liquidation Seen Sparing Preferred Holders. I like the lies in this article because just about nobody is going to get it. Lets start with this, the article says, common share values (the shares the government holds; but, it doesn't tell you that) dropped in value when it came out that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would turn a profit for taxpayers and Preferred Stock has had a five fold increase in value even though their payouts should not increase more than the payouts for common shares (please read the previous few posts if you don't understand this - common shares get the increased profits and preferred shares get what they were promised).
Basically, members of congress want to sell Fannie and Freddie Mac to the large banks, the same ones that have rigged all the markets. If you continue down the article it becomes very clear that the plan, now that these two companies are making big profits, is to sell them off cheap and the supposed benefit is that taxpayers will be responsible for any losses these companies have that are greater than 10%. If the government sells the stock to private investors, why should we keep the liabilities?
Here is a quote from the article, "Any wind down of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would have to address whether the companies’ values -- from the loans and bonds on their balance sheets to income from their existing guarantees on about $4 trillion of securities -- is split up among several stakeholders or left for taxpayers." I don't know who wrote the article; but, they should know that it is not okay to have one sentence paragraphs. The lie within their statement is that there is a question over how the profits of the sale are to be split, there is no question, all profits in the sale of common stock goes to the Federal government, to taxpayers as it should.
The article also makes this statement, "The Corker-Warner bill called for the proceeds from unwinding of the companies’ estates once their replacement was established to be first used to pay down the government’s investment and then their preferred shares. Anything left would go to holders of their common stock." So, this bill, intended legislation, requires that the government be paid back it's "investment" and then pay the preferred shares giving the profit to the common shares. Huh? But the government is holding the common shares, so how does this plan change anything? Oh, it is the purchasers of the common shares that get all the profit, the people who buy the shares from the government. That is some tricky propaganda their kids.
A few people that know me in the real world have told me that I write just like I talk. I guess that could be good or bad. When we go out the subject matters usually have a little personal information (obviously I showed them pictures of my grandchild and talked about how she was doing) and news of the day. Because they don't have time to read the blog or much else, often I sort of go over things that I have recently written about. We talked about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the Malaysian flight that disappeared, I haven't written about that and may tonight, we shall see.
The great thing about having these conversations is that I get feedback and questioned. My friends are fairly traditional conservatives with spiritual beliefs and old school family type people. To those who don't personally know me I have to explain something, while my thinking may be different and my views all over the place, I live the most conservative and quiet lifestyle and attempt to avoid conflict in my personal life. The Pimpernel is quite boring and prefers to listen to music, read and write. I am also very tolerant about other people's lifestyles, my friends span the gammit. I am not very social, as a rule, and prefer to be around people I already know well. The people I work with and know through business often assume that I am very social, some have said they thought I was a ladies man of some sort and I don't even date. Only my closest friends know how personal I really am. Even on this blog you really only see a very small part of who I am because I rarely discuss how I feel and try to keep to issues that I am pondering. It is partly magic, the closer you look, the less you see and the best part of magic is not the trick; but, the show.
At dinner, my friends and I discussed what the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac thing was really about. I brought up the articles and issues in the same order that I recently wrote about them. As I dripped bits of information, one of my friends followed the line of thought I expected from someone with conservative views to the tee. Because of the progression of the articles being explained as we talked, the point could be made and the biases could be looked past. That is the key to how the media works, The first article is released and our response is judged, then the second balloon is floated and again our biases are monitored. By the time the story gets to it's next phase, you stop listening to the questions and only hear your biases.
Now, to Veronica Mars. My daughter was a fan of the show; but, as she just had the baby could not go to the opening today. I never watched the show until I read about the Kickstarter campaign. I decided that if over 91,000 people would donate $5.7 million to have a movie made, I should find out why. I watched the series on the computer and it was good enough. I thought the writing was snappy and the acting showed a true connection between the actors. I did not believe that you could make a movie with the production values needed for the amount of money being spent; but, it turned out the actors worked way below what they could have gotten.
I liked the movie. I thought they gave the audience their moneys worth. I will not give any specifics about the plot; but, it worked. I love film and would have enjoyed film making; but, I had a different career that I was committed to. I am always disappointed when someone takes over $100 million and makes a piece of garbage with no heart, I think about how much more they could have done with that money making a worthwhile film. This was a very worthwhile film. Now, to the news.
The Guardian - Feinstein accuses CIA of 'intimidating' Senate staff over torture report. The press has either been talking about how she shouldn't care because she thinks it is okay for everyone else to be monitored and others in the press are talking about how "Obama" is monitoring politicians to influence their decisions. Neither is the real point of the story. The fact of the matter is that all people that are given certain information are monitored, we monitor anyone with access to secrets and Fienstein knows that, she is faking outrage. The real thing to watch for is her solution to the "problem".
The Guardian - Dianne Feinstein statement on CIA torture report 'cover-up' – full text. Now, I want you to read the actual text of what she said and it shows some interesting things. Firstly, she is the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, do you really believe she didn't know that the congress was also monitored. EVERYONE with top secret clearance can be monitored at any time.
Yahoo - How the jobless deal could cut your pension. Everything that this writer says is garbage and I will pick some of them. Firstly, he talks about how congress is going to restore benefits for people who were long term unemployed. Further down the article he states that this will give people about $300 a month. LOL. Welfare pays more and general relief pays about the exact same amount. The difference between putting people on general relief (what long term unemployed and people who never worked) get is the same cost; but, by showing them as unemployed, it changes the employment numbers.
What is really disturbing is that congress is using this promise of paying "unemployment benefits" to justify allowing companies to not fund their pensions. There is no connection between private pensions and unemployment benefits at all. This is about stealing from any retirement that they can. They have been working on this for years and will continue down this path.
Huffington Post - Reuters - FDIC Sues 16 Big Banks For Rigging LIBOR Rates. Taxpayers, pensioners, governments and just about everyone else has lost more because the big banks conspired to fix markets than they pay for benefits for citizens. Think about that.
Yahoo - Investors Business Daily - Fannie Mae Foreclosure Perks Go To Residents, Not Investors. Another article with a writer completely ignorant of what is going on or a complete shill. Lets start with this little bit, it talks about "owner occupants" and "residents", what do you think that means? I can assure you that there are very few renters in foreclosed upon properties, these are the people who used to own the homes and got foreclosed upon but still live in them and that is why they were not called renters in the article.
The "investors" that are being taken advantage of, they are not investors in Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, they are potential buyers of the properties, speculators. The same people who helped create the housing bubble. The real issue is that once this program is in place, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will see a windfall in profits for the taxpayer and the banks don't want to see that, they want to buy up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from the government at a low price before they become really profitable.
Bloomberg - Fannie Mae Liquidation Seen Sparing Preferred Holders. I like the lies in this article because just about nobody is going to get it. Lets start with this, the article says, common share values (the shares the government holds; but, it doesn't tell you that) dropped in value when it came out that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would turn a profit for taxpayers and Preferred Stock has had a five fold increase in value even though their payouts should not increase more than the payouts for common shares (please read the previous few posts if you don't understand this - common shares get the increased profits and preferred shares get what they were promised).
Basically, members of congress want to sell Fannie and Freddie Mac to the large banks, the same ones that have rigged all the markets. If you continue down the article it becomes very clear that the plan, now that these two companies are making big profits, is to sell them off cheap and the supposed benefit is that taxpayers will be responsible for any losses these companies have that are greater than 10%. If the government sells the stock to private investors, why should we keep the liabilities?
Here is a quote from the article, "Any wind down of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would have to address whether the companies’ values -- from the loans and bonds on their balance sheets to income from their existing guarantees on about $4 trillion of securities -- is split up among several stakeholders or left for taxpayers." I don't know who wrote the article; but, they should know that it is not okay to have one sentence paragraphs. The lie within their statement is that there is a question over how the profits of the sale are to be split, there is no question, all profits in the sale of common stock goes to the Federal government, to taxpayers as it should.
The article also makes this statement, "The Corker-Warner bill called for the proceeds from unwinding of the companies’ estates once their replacement was established to be first used to pay down the government’s investment and then their preferred shares. Anything left would go to holders of their common stock." So, this bill, intended legislation, requires that the government be paid back it's "investment" and then pay the preferred shares giving the profit to the common shares. Huh? But the government is holding the common shares, so how does this plan change anything? Oh, it is the purchasers of the common shares that get all the profit, the people who buy the shares from the government. That is some tricky propaganda their kids.
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