Open Thread–6/17/2013

 Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Jun 172013
 

I’m writing early, as usual.  Day two is proving more difficult.  In spite of the Chantix and a 21 mg. patch, I’m Jonesing big time.  nevertheless, I remain committed.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:20 (average 4:47).  To do it. click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Alternet: Military contractor Booz Allen Hamilton of McLean, Virginia, has shot into the news recently over two of its former employees:  Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who has just revealed the extent of  US global spying on electronic data of ordinary citizens around the world, and James Clapper, US director of national intelligence.

Clapper has  come out vocally to condemn Snowden as a traitor to the public interest and the country, yet a review of Booz Allen’s own history suggests that the government should be investigating his former employer, rather than the whistleblower.

Clapper worked as vice-president at Booz Allen from 1997 to 1998, while Snowden  did a three-month stint at their offices in Hawaii in spring 2013 as a low-level contract employee. Both worked on intelligence contracts, which are estimated to make up almost a quarter of the company’s $5.86bn in annual income. This past weekend, Clapper condemned Snowden’s leak…

I’m going to disagree with this author, in part. Because Snowden, by his own admission has leaked US sources and methods to China regarding electronic surveillance of that nation, he should certainly be investigated, and in all probability prosecuted. However, I agree with the author that Booze Allen Hamilton should be investigated for criminal negligence, and Clapper should be fired and criminally investigated for corruption.

From Common Dreams: An interactive database allowing users to search more than 100,000 secret companies, trusts and funds created in offshore tax havens including the British Virgin Islands has gone online.

The data, part of a cache of 2.5m leaked files that has already led to a series of exposes of the offshore financial sector by the Guardian and other global media organisations, has been launched by the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

The ICIJ, a non-profit organisation that has analysed the files with more than 100 journalists in dozens of countries and is continuing to do so, hopes the Offshore Leaks web app will trigger further investigations and revelations by making the information more widely available.

 

This resource may be difficult to use, but I consider it an extremely valuable tool to ferret out the 1% vulture capitalists that the Republican Party represent exclusively.  Major kudos to the ICIJ!!

From Huffington Post: Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) criticized President Barack Obama while speaking at the annual meeting of the Faith and Freedom Coalition Saturday, saying the United States should not intervene in Syria while he’s in office.

“Until we have a commander in chief who knows what he is doing… let Allah sort it out!” Palin told the conservative crowd, according to The Hill.

 

God forbid that I I should ever be perceived as agreeing with Blood Libel Barbie, aka Drill Baby Dingbat, aka Mooseolini. I think intervention in Syria is a mistake for different reasons, and it should be noted, the ones who are pushing hardest for it are Republicans, but Obama painted himself into a corner when he threatened increased US involvement if Assad was proven to have used chemical weapons.

Cartoon:

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Don’t tell Republicans it’s from France, or they’ll send it back!!

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Open Thread–5/24/2013

 Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 242013
 

I’m still on the weak and tired side, but I’ve started to exercise by walking laps in the hallways inside to avoid the stairs to begin to rebuild my strength.  I have another article today as well.  That’s two days in a row.  Woooo Hoooo!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:58 (average 4:20) :-(   To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MoveOn: This Is The One Video That Conservatives Hope You Don’t Click On Today

 

We need to pass this and expand it to include LGBT families.

From Huffington Post: The likelihood of a knockdown fight over the filibuster this summer increased on Tuesday as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) pulled back a vote on the confirmation of Richard Cordray to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Cordray is a contentious nominee because 43 Republicans have demanded changes to the structure of the CFPB before they will approve any nominee to run it. That means Republicans can deny Democrats the 60 votes needed to begin debate on a CFPB nominee. President Barack Obama gave Cordray a recess appointment in January 2012, which Republicans have challenged as illegal, citing a recent court case that invalidated other recess appointments.

Reid indicated Tuesday that he would bring Cordray’s nomination to a vote in July, and a Senate Democratic aide said that vote will come at a time when Reid is ready to launch into a broader fight over all of Obama’s stalled nominees. The "plan is to wait until immigration is complete before engaging in total all-out nom[ination] fight," said the aide.

Based on historical precedent, I fear it’s far more likely that Reid, the Nevada Leg Hound, will hump a few GOP legs begging for votes, whine, roll over, and play dead.

From NY Times: \…A study by the Congressional Research Service found that subsidiaries of United States corporations operating in the top five tax havens (the Netherlands, Ireland, Bermuda, Switzerland and Luxembourg) generated 43 percent of their foreign profits in those countries in 2008, but had only 4 percent of their foreign employees and 7 percent of their foreign investment located there.

All in all, it is a race to the bottom on the part of revenue-starved governments eager to attract even a relatively small number of new jobs.

As a consequence, the effective corporate tax rate in the United States fell to 17.8 percent in 2012 from 42.5 percent in 1960, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis…

In return for the privilege of doing business in the US, all corporations, foreign and domestic, should pay US tax at the prevailing rate on all income, regardless of where that income is accounted. To properly avoid double taxation they should also receive a 100% tax credit for all taxes paid to foreign governments on the same income. I see no other feasible way to take away their incentive to offshore US profit to evade US taxes.

Cartoon:

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Now, if we can just get Congressional Republicans to believe it.

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Open Thread–5/21/2013

 Open Thread, Personal, Politics
May 212013
 

Yesterday I caught up on sleep.  Thoughts and prayers to all caught up in the Oklahoma maelstrom.  Since the area is solidly red, I trust aid should be forthcoming without objection.  I only hope that Wayne LaPierre does not crawl out of the woodwork, raving that every American has the right to own a tornado.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:02 (average 4:46).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From NY Times: Even as Apple became the nation’s most profitable technology company, it avoided billions in taxes in the United States and around the world through a web of subsidiaries so complex it spanned continents and went beyond anything most experts had ever seen, Congressional investigators disclosed on Monday.

The investigation is expected to set up a potentially explosive confrontation between a bipartisan group of lawmakers and Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, at a public hearing on Tuesday…

This is wha1 I call vulture capitalism. Instead of making THEM pay, Republicans are trying to raise YOUR taxes.

 From Alternet: A woman died on a courthouse floor because Alabama sheriff’s deputies refused to give her her medicine – after arresting her for an old traffic ticket, the woman’s daughter claims in court… [emphasis added]

The cruelty this woman endured is what the Republican Party proscribes for the poor, the RepubliCare death benefit.

From Daily Kos: The media and Republicans may be screeching about President Barack Obama’s scandals, but the American people are seeing through the bullshit.

CNN reported on Sunday that 53% of people questioned in the survey said they approve of the job the president is doing, with 45% saying they disapprove. The president’s approval rating was at 51% in CNN’s previous poll, from early April. The two point rise was well within the survey’s sampling error.

The new numbers indicate that Obama remains popular, with 79% of Americans saying the president is likable.

But it’s not just Obama. The Democratic Party went from a 46-48 favorable-unfavorable rating a month ago, to 52-43 in this latest poll. That’s a net gain of 11 points.

As for impeachment-screeching Republicans? They’re DOWN a net eight points from 38-54 a month ago, to 35-59 this week…

Fool me once? Shame on you. Fool me twice? Shame on me. Fool me 500 times? Even some sheeple aren’t THAT stupid!

Cartoon:

21Cartoon

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When Corporations Agree They Aren’t People

 Politics
Apr 112013
 

Most of the time, corporations claim that they are people, as Little Lord Willard proclaimed during his failed bid to become President.  However, there are times when corporations agree they aren’t people.  One is when their officers claim immunity from responsibility for corporate crime.  The other, and the focus of this article, is every April 15, or the equivalent in their corporate fiscal year.

11execute-corporations

 

Corporations are quick to claim “corporate personhood” and their First Amendment rights when it comes to their ability to donate to political candidates, influence elections, and lobby or when it comes to advertising their products, especially those deemed dangerous or socially destructive. But on tax day, corporations are quite content with a tax code full of perks and privileges for corporations that are not available to living, breathing human beings.

  • When corporations break the law, they get a tax break…
  • When corporations fall on hard times, the tax code helps makes them whole…
  • Many corporations get to choose where in the world to report their income, allowing them to choose a nation with low or no taxes…
  • Superstorm Sandy devastated millions of American families, but corporations got to deduct the full value of their losses from their taxes…
  • If you are an American citizen working abroad you pay American taxes on your foreign earnings; if you are an American corporation you can indefinitely delay paying U.S. taxes on income you earn abroad…

As many people work hard to make corporations less human on election day, perhaps it is time to make them more human on tax day.

Inserted from <Alternet>

I have given you the headings of the article’s five points, but the bulk of the good material is in the supporting text for each point, so I recommend that you click through to read it.  I concede that, on tax day, corporations should be people, but regardless we must remember this:

11moneynotspeech

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Open Thread–4/10/2013

 Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 102013
 

I’m way pooped, but as always, I could not be more proud of my guys.  We met with a dozen yesterday, and one of the things we discussed was how to deal with catastrophic life events.  You’d be amazed how often such an event triggers a downward spiral of dysfunctional choices ending in prison.  Their honesty and self-awareness was exciting.  Three of them are up for decisions on parole, so please remember them, however you connect with the infinite.  Critter sends greetings to Critter.  I get to replies either later today, after I get some sleep, or tomorrow.  Tomorrow appears routine. 

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:55 (average 5:33).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From MSNBC: Lawrence O’Donnell debunked Republican bullshitology on taxes.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Even ‘Iron Pants. Thatcher was far more generous to the 99% that today’s Republicans. Despite Republican claims, we are one of the least taxed nations in the industrialized world. That’s not so true for the 99%, but the 1% pays so much less that they pull the percentage of GDP down. Except for welfare for the 1%, we are one of the least industrialized nations in public services for the taxes we pay. That is the landscape in which Republicans are trying to reduce taxes and increase services for the 1%, while increasing taxes and reducing services for the 99%.

From The New Yorker: Senate Republicans today vowed to filibuster a controversial bill supporting the right not to get shot.

G.O.P. leaders lambasted the bill, arguing that the right to go to school, work, or one’s home without fear of being shot was not guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

“The Second Amendment makes it very clear,” said Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming). “The right to bear arms shall not be infringed by a tiny minority’s desire not to be shot.”

Once again Borowitz’ satire is as real as actuality.

From Think Progress: Late last month, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) filed a petition asking the full United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to reinstate Virginia’s “Crimes Against Nature” law, which makes oral and anal sex a felony. A three-judge panel of that same court had struck down the law, noting that it cannot be squared the Supreme Court’s decision in Lawrence v. Texas, which prohibits laws criminalizing non-commercial sexual activity between consenting adults. Yesterday, the Fourth Circuit issued an order rejecting Cuccinelli’s request. Notably, not one of the court’s judges requested a poll of the court to consider Cuccinelli’s petition, so his petition received no support whatsoever from the court’s members.

Republicans want government too small to interfere with the corporate right to steal, but just big enough to put a cop in every bedroom. Perhaps sex that produces little Republicans should be a felony. Winking smile

Cartoon:

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Animals are people too, and cat is where it’s at, but who let that dawg join?

Good night!

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Social InsaniTEA

 Politics
Apr 072013
 

Republicans are in love with conspiracy theories, because, after years of brain numbing by the Republican Ministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, sheeple are sufficiently dumbed down to believe anything.  They want you to get your gun and head to the border, Granny!  They say those Obama illegals are after your Social security benefits.  Call it Social InsaniTEA.

7SSplotThe Senior Citizens League, a conservative outfit focused, as the name suggests, on scaring the crap out of senior citizens in order to best solicit money from them, is out with a new mailer that claims:

"of all the items being considered by our leaders in Washington, the illegal immigration amnesty plans hatched by the Obama administration presents the greatest potential threat to Social Security." The mailer also contains a personalized complaint form that individuals can fill out and return to the Senior Citizens League, which the group would then send to their elected officials in Congress. Not surprisingly, the reply form asks for a donation "to help cover the cost" of the national petition. The group used similar scare tactics to derail President Barack Obama's health care reform law.

The premise is that if we were to allow a path to citizenship for people already in the country, those people would then expect Social Security benefits and all the other accoutrements of citizenship, and how dare they, and somehow that's going to mean less money for you and yours, grandma.

There's an obvious flaw in this logic, of course. Many undocumented workers already pay Social Security taxes, as well as a great deal of other taxes, and they don't get much benefit back because, as undocumented workers, they don't have a right to. Right now, the Huffington Post points out that undocumented workers have contributed almost 10 percent of the overall total in the Social Security Trust Fund; allowing a more secure legal status for those people is, if anything, only going to boost the taxes they pay… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

Needless to say, the bigoted Republican claims are pure garbage.  There remains one severe threat to Social Security, the Republican plan to give it to Banksters.  Some of you might disagree, over Obama’s purported intent to adopt chained CPI.  While I believe that we should continue to protest it with all vigor, keep in mind, that that offer depends on Republicans agreeing to significant revenue increase through cuts in tax welfare for the 1% and corporate criminals.  I don’t see that happening, and the Republican response is that they’ll take the chained CPI only, but not the revenue increases.  When Republicans do agree to tax increases for the rich, the Stanly Cup playoffs will be held in hell.

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Open Thread–4/7/2013

 Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Apr 072013
 

I’m running way behind today for two reasons.  First, I overslept more than two hours.  Second, I had to look harder then my norm to find material I want to cover.  I’m current with replies, and please pardon the brevity of my responses.  Tomorrow appears routine, but I do have prep work to do foe Tuesday’s volunteer work in prison.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:40 (average 5:26).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Hillbilly Video: Red State Update: Real Mad Obama Won

 

This is a few months old, but I just found it. They do capture the essence of TEAbuggery!

From NY Times: …No other lawmaker [than Baucus] on Capitol Hill has such a sizable constellation of former aides working as tax lobbyists, representing blue-chip clients that include telecommunications businesses, oil companies, retailers and financial firms, according to an analysis by LegiStorm, an online database that tracks Congressional staff members and lobbying. At least 28 aides who have worked for Mr. Baucus, Democrat of Montana, since he became the committee chairman in 2001 have lobbied on tax issues during the Obama administration — more than any other current member of Congress, according to the analysis of lobbying filings performed for The New York Times.

“K Street is literally littered with former Baucus staffers,” said Jade West, an executive at a wholesalers’ trade association that relies on a former finance panel aide, Mary Burke Baker. “It opens doors that allow you to make the case.” …

I’m not surprised. In my opinion, BARF (Baucus Against Real Financial reform) Baucus is the Senates most bought DINO.

From Alternet:

In a week’s time the wide range of what was once considered routine GOP bigotry was on full display. Dave Agema, a former West Michigan state representative, and Republican National Committeeman called gays “filthy homosexuals." Next, Alaska Rep. Don Young blurted out the epitaph “wetbacks” in discussing the immigration issue. Then 23 members of the so-called White Student Union attended the Conservative Political Action Conference where its leader tacitly endorsed segregation and even slavery.

In times past, the silence from the GOP officials and rank and file would have been deafening. It would have reconfirmed the standard knock against the GOP as a party of Kooks, cranks misanthropes, and, of course, bigots. But in each of the three cases, there was an outcry from local GOP officials, bloggers, and GOP campus groups. They publicly denounced the bigotry, and in the case of Young, House Speaker John Boehner, Arizona and Texas Senators John McCain, and John Cornyn, and Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus blasted Young’s remarks.

At first glance, this seems a signal that the GOP recognizes that it’s widely considered the party of bigotry, and that it’s willing to do something about it. But the sea change may be much less than meets the eye. Many top GOP officials are still mute on its party’s bigots. The official record still stands that no top GOP official aggressively and consistently denounces the bigoted remarks or acts by a GOP operative, representative, or senator…

I’ll bet that in 2014, the GOP leadership remains active in supporting the worst of the worst in the general election. Whatever limited remorse we are seeing now reflects only their embarrassment of having their true colors exposed.

Cartoon:

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The first one someone could buy.

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