Recently in Policy Category

I've never been much of a coffee drinker.  I don't like the aftertaste.  However, I love the smell of coffee.  I'll go to Starbucks and order an Earl Grey Tazo Tea just to savor the smell of the coffee while drinking my tea!  I'm crazy, I know.

But, after reading this CNN article, I will no longer give my business to Starbucks.  I don't know if California is one of the 43 states that allow people to tote guns around with them.  But the last thing I want is to be in a Starbucks, which allows their patrons to bring their guns into their stores if state law permits it, with patrons drinking their new 31 ounce coffee!

Now some hair-trigger, gun-toting, chip-on-his-shoulder nitwit with the caffein jitters can pretend he's back in the wild, wild west when he gets in an argument with the barista over the temperature of his grande mocha latte.  No thanks.

If people feel the need to have guns in their homes to protect them, that's their business.  If people feel the need to have guns for the sport of hunting, that's their business.  But I've worked with the public too long to trust most people's spur of the moment judgement.  Put a gun in their hands at the Starbucks?! No, I won't be around to see how this turns out.

Starbucks, you just lost a customer.

Good grief!

[Image via Wikipedia]

Government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations. Today the Supreme Court (5-4) just handed the Republicans (and a lot of Democrats too) a huge bonus: unfettered access to corporate funding, effectively making a broken political system completely unaccountable the to will of the people.

The legacy of George W. Bush lives on to feast on the soul of democracy for profit.

At least Larry Lessig has a more reasoned view. Me, I'm just disgusted.

I've actually been thinking more and more about leaving the US. I mean: for good. I find myself so disillusioned with what is happening in my native land.

My country forces education reform that is destroying creativity, problem solving, deep thinking, and analysis of knowledge to inform carefully considered long term solution-making for the immediacy of factionalized curriculum memorization. My country will not move beyond prejudice and discrimination. My country is squandering our national (as well as international) resources. My country is flinging privacy and personal freedom as fast as it escalates fear. My country cares more about greed, money, and possessing things than it does about people and their basic wellbeing. My country is removing the separation of church and state and forcing people to live by tenets of religion in which they may not personally believe. My country allows business, built on greed and outsourcing, to become so large they can not fail and must receive tax payer's money to keep the executes rolling in fat bonuses with shameless abandon. My nation's government is bought and sold by transglobal corporations and makes divisiveness its core ethic.

I can do little of nothing to stop or change any of this.

I wonder if this is a natural part of getting older--seeing the world through more jaded eyes. But I see other nations, not without their faults to be sure, at least maintaining some more moderate and productive sense of balance. I just think the US government is fundamentally broken and inept.

I shared last night at dinner that I actually don't think the US will be able to move to a better place within my lifetime. This saddens me greatly.

I've supported Lawrence Lessig's work for some time. I've had his "Change Congress" link on my site for some time. In this video he sums up things, and, unlike my dismal state of disillusion, offers a ray of hope. He doesn't frame the problem as conservative versus liberal or Republican versus Democrat. He is insightful and brilliant.

This causes me grave concerns! Once again I ask, "How much of our privacy and freedom are we willing to surrender?!"

I've kept asking where the ridiculous amount of money I pay in taxes is going. And then we can't balance local, state, and federal budgets?! Is it because those agencies are spending vast sums of money on tools such as these that are never approved by the voters. In fact, it is obvious from this newscast that the police department never wanted voters to know anything about this!

How can this be happening? Government is increasingly becoming less accountable to the people it is to serve.

The title, from the question at the end of the quoted material below, is a sickening wake up call we need to all feel in our national collective stomach. We are flushing our civil liberties down the toilet for an invisible threat that some are speculating was killed several years ago.

You know those airport scanners that can see through your clothes, offering an intimate look at your junk and your love handles and every other part of you that you keep between you, your spouse, your doctor and the bathroom mirror? You know how the TSA swore up and down that these machines didn't store and couldn't transmit the compromising photos of your buck-naked self?

They lied.

The documents, which include technical specifications and vendor contracts, indicate that the TSA requires vendors to provide equipment that can store and send images of screened passengers when in testing mode, according to CNN.

The TSA has stated publicly on its website, in videos and in statements to the press that images cannot be stored on the machines and that images are deleted from the scanners once an airport operator has examined them. The administration has also insisted that the machines are incapable of sending images. Source: Airport Scanners Can Store, Transmit Images via: Digg

Just more US government employees doing Al Qaeda's business: undermining the quality of life in the "free" world. Osama's still free, how about you?"

[Source: TSA lied: naked-scanners can store and transmit images.]

For me, this case has always been about civil rights. It harkens back to the civil rights era and to women's suffrage. No majority vote should ever be allowed to remove civil rights for non-criminal conduct. Whatever the outcome, this case could be of a similar magnitude to Brown vs. Board of Education and will probably be appealed by either party all the way to the US Supreme Court.

Sponsors of California's gay marriage ban want a delay in the trial over its constitutionality so they can appeal a judge's decision to allow videotaped testimony on YouTube.

The trial is scheduled to start Monday.

Earlier this week, U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker decided to allow daily video recordings of the trial on YouTube, a first for a federal courtroom in the West."

[Source: Gay marriage foes want delay in Calif. trial to appeal allowing video testimony on YouTube - latimes.com.]

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker, a Republican named to the bench in 1989 by the first President Bush. Walker, who has a reputation as an independent thinker, was randomly assigned the lawsuit will preside over the case. He has gone on record for admonishing Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for remaining neutral "on an issue of this magnitude and importance."

Over vigorous objections by supporters of Prop 8, the judge is allowing the case to be placed on YouTube, another thing I find interesting. I have always thought democracy functions well only when it is public.

On what planet am I living?!

A year-long trial of "full body scanner" machines at a UK airport (the kind that display clear images the human body, including genitals and breast implants), was only permitted to go into effect after children under 18 years of age were exempted from the scans. Privacy advocates say the "naked images" would violate Britain's child porn laws (Guardian UK)."

[Source: Creepy "naked scanners" violate child porn laws in UK Boing Boing.]

And then these Facebook screen grabs from war-blogger Michael Yon via Boing Boing...

[Source: War-blogger Michael Yon says he was harassed, cuffed, detained in Seattle; via: Boing Boing.]

The terrorists are winning. Because of our reaction to extremists, we are not the nation I grew up in as a child. I don't like what we are becoming.

So apparently, the wretched experience that is international travel just got even worse: no getting out of your seat for the last hour of flight, no electronics for the entire flight, and only one carry on bag, every passenger gets a full body pat down. Who the hell wants to put up with this! I'm sick of the hassle! It's time to stop international travel. Maybe that's what George W, I mean Orwell wanted all along.

What will the new restrictions be when someone does something else stupid?! Strap all passengers into straight jackets before boarding?? Traveling in the nude?? Body cavity search?? Where will it stop?!

Who among us today, in the media, will die being remembered as "the most trusted name in news." Oh, I know: Glenn... what's his last name?! You know, the one that cries on TV.

The former CBS anchorman cared not just about the next story but about the future of reporting in a country where was known for the better part of a half century as 'the most trusted name in news.'

So it should come as little surprise that what worried Cronkite in the last years of his life was the collapse of journalistic quality and responsibility that came with the increasing dominance of newsgathering by a handful of media corporations.

'I think it is absolutely essential in a democracy to have competition in the media, a lot of competition, and we seem to be moving away from that,' Cronkite told me the last time we spoke about media issues.

The definitional American anchorman, who has died at age 92, recognized that Americans would always need diverse and competing media outlets, with the resources and the skills to examine issues from a variety of perspectives -- and to challenge entrenched power.
"

(Via Why Cronkite Fretted About Media's Future - CBS News.)

As technology radically changes journalism, with the "citizen journalist" movement lacking sufficient voice and resources, as Rupert wants more money, I worry that our future may be increasingly filled with unexposed corruption and undiscussed issues of the great import.

Funny guy. How dare he slap people in the face with their own hypocrisy. He supposedly was going to interview people in front of WalMart about defending traditional marriage and then, when they blubbered on about their support, ask them to sign his petition banning divorce. He says he's confident they will support his bill because it's not about taking their rights away. It's about defending traditional marriage. Hysterical. I wonder how things are going.

Rob Cockerham interviewed John Marcotte, a Sacramento man who filed a petition with the California Secretary of State to get a voter's initiative onto the 2010 ballot in California that would make it ban divorce"

(Via Interview with John Marcotte, author of bill to ban divorce - Boing Boing.)

A banker reminded me recently that capitalism creates more wealth than any other economic system. It just creates it very unevenly.

I think that it also treats disenfranchised people with little to no kindness at all--harkening back to that whole notion of "survival of the fittest." And as jobs have been outsourced abroad to those willing to work for wages well below what a typical American can sustain in the average American market, wage earning capacity is dropping to precipitous levels. I suspect that, rather than passing along cost savings to consumers, corporate execs have enhanced their own wealth aggregation with corporate jets, fat pensions and bonuses, etc.

I worry that the capitalist machinery of this nation has lost its moral compass, and the situation will only get worse. As markets explode in Asia, the fact that they are drying up here in the USA is of little concern to corporate America who sees a new cow fat for the slaughter house. Is it possible that, in time, America will in fact become the largest third world nation on earth as people lose their homes, their jobs, their spirit, their influence on democratic government, their voice, their access to news and critical information...

While in Ireland I noticed local villages took a very dim view of corporate ownership. "Buy local!" the signs read.

When you know the face of the wo/man who made/purchased the product or provided the service, it's more difficult to take advantage of her/him. You have an ancient social contract with them, as old as "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

Corporations have mastered the art of hiding their faces, have become inaccessible and unaccountable for their egregious conduct, are perpetuating a growing divide between those who have more than they will ever need and those who need just to survive.

I'm paying far more attention to my own purchasing habits. I want to "buy local" more than I want to support big box impersonal corporations whose first allegiance is to the bottom line. Doing so generally costs me a little more, but is this the price for taking better care of people, of attending to community?

If the US has 8,000,000 criminals using just Sprint as their cell phone provider, then it's time for me to leave this place!

Call me crazy, but our government is out of control!

"Sprint Nextel provided law enforcement agencies with its customers' (GPS) location information over 8 million times between September 2008 and October 2009. This massive disclosure of sensitive customer information was made possible due to the roll-out by Sprint of a new, special web portal for law enforcement officers. "

(Via slight paranoia: 8 Million Reasons for Real Surveillance Oversight.)

OK, so this post is only being written for 2 people... :o)

Most people who only quasi-know me, mistakenly assume I'm a just a liberal. In some ways I am. But most mistake my strong libertarian views for liberalism. And on most social issues, I tend to be very libertarian and sometimes liberal as well--and proud of it too might I add. However, I have a few notable exceptions.

On crime and punishment I tend to be rather conservative. I'm all for compassion and mercy, but when I hit the wall, I hit it hard.

When Mike Huckabee, a former Southern Baptist minister then serving as governor of Arkansas, granted clemency to Maurice Clemmons nine years ago, he cited his age: Mr. Clemmons was 16 when he began the crime spree for which he was sentenced to more than 100 years in prison.

link: Old Clemency May Be Issue for Huckabee - NYTimes.com

From where I sit, if a 16 year old is sentenced to over 100 years in prison, I suspect the little @*&! should never see the light of day again. Period. His/her only redemption is to remain in prison. Period.

Huckabee's clemency wasn't just a lapse of good judgement. 

In my humble opinion, anytime an official grants clemency or parole to a convicted criminal who then goes on to commit further crimes, s/he isn't just exercising bad judgement, s/he is complicit in their criminal conduct and should be treated as such. In so doing, we would have fewer horrible decisions made for political gain, financial reasons, and social ruin.

Huckabee has the blood of 4 officers on his hands. He too is responsible for this act.

Uninsured patients with traumatic injuries, such as car crashes, falls and gunshot wounds, were almost twice as likely to die in the hospital as similarly injured patients with health insurance, according to a troubling new study.

The findings by Harvard University researchers surprised doctors and health experts who have believed emergency room care was equitable.

"This is another drop in a sea of evidence that the uninsured fare much worse in their health in the United States," said senior author Dr. Atul Gawande, a Harvard surgeon and medical journalist.

The study, appearing in the November issue of Archives of Surgery, comes as Congress is debating the expansion of health insurance coverage to millions more Americans. It could add fodder to that debate.

link: Uninsured ER patients twice as likely to die // Current

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) - With the establishment of government-mandated death panels just days away, grandmothers began fleeing the United States in record numbers today, reports Fox News.

"I am never one to yell 'Fire' in a crowded theater," said Fox News host Glenn Beck. "But run for your lives!"

Across the country, slow-moving caravans of 1980s-era Cadillacs with turn signals blinking were making the torturous journey to the Canadian border, their back seats laden with cats, knitting projects, and bottles of Ensure.

Fox News may have set off the mass exodus by warning grannies that if they did not flee quickly enough they would face government-mandated organ harvesting.

Elsewhere, anti-healthcare protesters objected to the language of the House bill, saying there were too many polysyllabic words.

link: Fox News Reports: Millions of Grannies Flee U.S. as Death Panels Loom - Borowitz Report

I make the plea to return to small business models using anti-trust laws. This may be a less efficient business model, but it provides critically needed employment (jobs) and a social net that tends more to local people instead of just share holders.

A senior administration official said on Sunday that after extensive consultations with Treasury Department officials, Representative Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, would introduce legislation as early as this week. The measure would make it easier for the government to seize control of troubled financial institutions, throw out management, wipe out the shareholders and change the terms of existing loans held by the institution.

link: Trying to Rein In 'Too Big to Fail' Institutions - NYTimes.com

For some time now I've thought the insurance industry was a corrupt monopoly that needed to go to the woodshed. Maybe that time has come!

Democrats launched a drive at both ends of the Capitol on Wednesday to strip the insurance industry of its decades-old exemption from federal antitrust laws, part of an increasingly bare-knuckled struggle over landmark health care legislation sought by President Barack Obama.

If enacted, the change would put an end to "price-fixing, bid-rigging and market allocation in the health and medical malpractice" insurance areas, said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Leahy said he would seek a vote on the plan when the Senate debates health care legislation in the next few weeks.

Leahy made his comments at the same time the House Judiciary Committee voted 20-9 to end an industry exemption that dates to 1945. Three Republicans supported the move.

Senior Democratic officials said the leadership was inclined to incorporate the measure into the broader health care bill expected to be brought to the floor for a vote within a few weeks. No final decision has been made, they added.

together, the actions reflect the fury Democrats have shown in response to recent insurance industry attempts to influence the shape of legislation. The events occurred less than a week after the insurers' trade association issued a report saying a measure that cleared the Senate Finance Committee would produce sharp increases in premiums for millions who currently have insurance. end of excerpt Source: MSNBC

link: Dems aim to strip insurers' antitrust protections // Current

I was shocked a few weeks ago to learn that Blackwater, a company with a DOD contract, has more troops in Iraq and Afghanistan than the US military has--a lot more, actually! And these troops, unlike our Department of Defense soldiers, have salaries in the 6 digits! These troops are not counted in any death toll of US soldiers because, well, they are not US soldier. In fact, I wonder who, if anyone, has any level of oversight over what this contracted company is really doing. My gut tells me that neither the Congress nor the President do.

I'm increasingly worried that our representative government is broken beyond repair, is bought and sold at the whim of national and transglobal corporations. "We the people?"

The fact is our all volunteer military has long since departed from the citizen soldier military our founders had in mind and is now professional force that is close to becoming a permanent class of mercenaries set apart in virtually gated communities rather than citizen soldiers. And with today's contractors we've taken the fateful next step: America now fields a truly imperial mercenary force. ...

Fighting wars without national mobilization is a sign of decadence. It means that sacrifice is denied and ignored by most while a few pay the price for a system that depends on an out-of-sight-and-out-of-mind military. This is also part of a crazy anti-government right wing nuttiness, wherein "privatizing" everything, now even our military, is seen as "good." Everything must turn a profit, right? Everything is about choice. right? ...

The United States needs to face the truth: If we don't have the stomach to reintroduce the draft and have a military large enough to do the military's job we should stop fighting wars around the globe. We should also stop lying to ourselves. If the American public doesn't support our wars to the extent that they will tolerate a draft and much higher taxes then our wars are bogus.

[From Frank Schaeffer: Military Contractors and Our Buck-Stops-Nowhere "Wars"]

The corporate influence is certainly the worst--that whole greed thing, win at all costs. Take what you demand. Add to this mix the religious extremists that accept whatever their religious leaders tell them without any question or soul searching--one of whom, Anderson in AZ, is publicly espousing praying that Obama will die of brain cancer and the righteous need to kill gay people. Now, push the NRA's demand for the freedom to tote your AK47 to political rallies, with Anderson's encouragement. Get people worked up and then send them to yell words, like "Nazi" and "socialist," designed to incite fear and panic at "town hall" meetings. Have some prominently featured political leaders, like the governor of Texas, trot out the "secede from the union" phrase a time or two. But, I think the corporate dominance is the most insidious.

The Republican fear machinery is working a new angle: make Americans fear the physical violence of America's baddest bullies.

The main difference between left and right wing extremism is that corporate interests ally with the right. Right wing extremists might be crazy, but the corporate interests are not, and they know how to manipulate the crazies on the right.

So the idea that what we're seeing now isn't as bad as what we saw in the sixties and seventies on the left might be true on one level, but it's not on another. Left-wing extremists were always fringe and never accomplished much of anythiing; right-wing extremists might be fringe in their psychology, but they are not fringe politically, and they have been fairly effective in getting their agenda recognized and implemented. The left never had a major cable news station, and it never had major funding. You don't have to be a majority to dominate in the political and economic spheres. You just need to have a lot of money and most of the power and an effective media megaphone.

[From After the Future: Whither America?]

The simple truth of the matter is this: We can no longer afford to be the police force for the world. The amount of money we have wasted in military spending for the past 8+ years has accomplished nothing but the bankrupting of the nation.

Once we can take care of our own people's basic human needs for housing, food, and medical care, then we can think about beating up on little nations like Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Our priorities are totally screwed up, and too many people are being duped into the corporate mind games that will continue to enslave us as a nation purported to be of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Marion Nestle, NYU professor and blogger at FoodPolitics.com, gave a great presentation at the GEL conference about why we have doubled the percentage of our US population that is over weight in just 25 years. She offers these sensible ways to control your weight and eat healthfully:

• Eat Less
  
• Move More
• Eat Fruits and Vegetables
  
• Don't Eat Too Much Junk Food
  
• Enjoy Food

Watch her presentation:

Marion Nestle at Gel 2009 from Gel Conference on Vimeo.

I get to meet and have engaging conversations with a number of amazingly bright people around the world as a result of my work. Today, on the way to the airport with Wayne was another such opportunity. Some noteworthy points from the conversation:

American society is built on three pillars: representative government (democracy), capitalism, and the Judeo-Christian ethic. After World War II perhaps the strongest pillar was democracy with an emphasis on civic responsibility.

Subsequently, democracy and civic responsibility has been overshadowed by capitalism, which has been elevated to the point of a religion focused on short term material gain in our modern culture. (He also added that the ultimate end of unfettered capitalism is one surviving corporation that has endured the fight of "survival of the fittest." Is that what we really want?)

Couple this with a significant shift in the original basis of the Judeo-Christian ethic: a move away from service to others, the golden rule (do unto others as you would have them do unto you), and love/compassion to a new emphasis on the self, personal gain in both power over others and materialism.

I recently heard a minister at a wedding say that if you will put your trust in God, "he will bless you with material gain beyond your wildest imagination." A couple of days ago I read an article in the NY Times about a thriving religious empire that profits (at staggering levels) from prodding people's superstitions with the notion that the more you give to their ministry, the more God will give to you in these difficult financial times; therefore, you should sacrifice and do without to give to them. (What charlatans! I'm delighted their "ministry" is under investigation for fraud and tax evasion.)

Hopefully (but doubtfully) we have seen the end result of the horrific marriage of this distorted view of the Judeo-Christian ethic and unfettered capitalism--the collapse of the entire financial system in the United States with significant collateral damage to the financial infrastructure of the entire world. Interesting to me that the nations that all along controlled the greedy capitalist machinery of their economy have already seen economic recovery!

In the process of a small number of people in this nation becoming exceedingly rich, we have done long term damage to the financial health of the nation our children will inherit.

Are we really that selfish and evil as a people? I suspect so, as we continue to allow the same greed and selfishness to dominate the health industry rather than caring about the health and physical well being of the people in our nation.

But my favorite quotation from our conversation: "Challenge the status quo every chance you get."

8 ways reform provides security and stability to those with or without coverage

1. Ends Discrimination for Pre-Existing Conditions: Insurance companies will be prohibited from refusing you coverage because of your medical history.
2. Ends Exorbitant Out-of-Pocket Expenses, Deductibles or Co-Pays: Insurance companies will have to abide by yearly caps on how much they can charge for out-of-pocket expenses.
3. Ends Cost-Sharing for Preventive Care: Insurance companies must fully cover, without charge, regular checkups and tests that help you prevent illness, such as mammograms or eye and foot exams for diabetics.
4. Ends Dropping of Coverage for Seriously Ill: Insurance companies will be prohibited from dropping or watering down insurance coverage for those who become seriously ill.
5. Ends Gender Discrimination: Insurance companies will be prohibited from charging you more because of your gender.
6. Ends Annual or Lifetime Caps on Coverage: Insurance companies will be prevented from placing annual or lifetime caps on the coverage you receive.
7. Extends Coverage for Young Adults: Children would continue to be eligible for family coverage through the age of 26.
8. Guarantees Insurance Renewal: Insurance companies will be required to renew any policy as long as the policyholder pays their premium in full. Insurance companies won't be allowed to refuse renewal because someone became sick.

and you are making them fabulously rich!

The ugly fact is that every year we fail to reform the existing system, that failure condemns tens of thousands of people to die—either because they have no insurance or because their insurance companies deny coverage or benefits when they become ill.

via Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines

And another thing that makes me rigorously angry about the California Supreme Court's decision and much of the work of the Bush administration: this is classic religious persecution--not where the religious are persecuted, but where those who do not share narrowly defined religious beliefs are forced to live within their context regardless.

Religious ideology typically is rather narrow and highly defined. If people, on their own accord choose to adopt and live by a set of narrowly defined religious ideas, they should be allowed to do so, as long as their doing so is not hurting others. (This horrid, current example of a parent refusing chemotherapy for her young teenager (13) who would otherwise have a 95% cure rate if treated now, because of her religious objections, is a classic example of when a person's religious beliefs must be curtailed by the state. Her narrowly defined "values" are literally going to kill her child. This is immoral and intolerable.)

To otherwise deny a person the practice of their religion is persecution. But, to allow people to force others to live by their narrowly defined religious beliefs when they do not share them, in fact, may fully find them loathsome, is the very religious persecution this nation was founded to escape and prevent.

And one final thought on this matter, at least for now <smile>, that some 18,000 gay couples can remain legally married while the court makes legal marriage impossible for any other gay people utterly makes no sense at all. This just flies in the face of horse sense. Because of a well-funded religiously-based effort, the state of California has stripped away the civil rights of an entire group of people that are defenseless to protect themselves. Let's not redefine words. This is discrimination. This is religious persecution. This is wrong.

As child I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears ministers standing in the pulpit spewing hatred against black people. I heard them talk about the Bible's endorsement of slavery. I heard them say that slaves were to serve their masters as part of God's plan. I heard them rail against civil rights for blacks and against the evil of interracial marriage.

Yes, I actually witnessed this myself growing up in the conservative religious south. Maybe this is why I am so opposed to all forms of discrimination today. These experiences were so distasteful to a young child.

I recall seeing black people for the first time on the beaches, it was during a Blue Angels show on the island of Pensacola Beach. I was so surprised, I asked my father why I hadn't seen black people on the beach before, assuming they just didn't like the heat and the humidity. He told a then very young Tim about a new law that was passed that forced a change in the local laws that had banned black people from the beaches. What?! A law had banned black people from going to the beach?!

I still marvel that today, in the 21st century, religion is used to deny people rights. God is still used as a tool to promote hatred, ignorance, intolerance, and sheer discrimination. The ugly face of evil is painted holy with a sanctified white. Today, even though racism certainly still exists in this land, the battle for respect and equality is being waged against a less visible group: gay people.

I am astounded and deeply saddened that the California Supreme Court would support the notion that Ken Star promoted in his arguments to uphold Proposition 8: the majority of people in this state's democracy can vote away any group's civil rights. One of the justices asked Mr. Star, "So you are saying that the people can vote to remove freedom of speech?" To which Mr. Star responded, "Yes."

Perhaps next November Californians should pass a proposition banning all non-white people from going to the beach?

The court had the opportunity to do what was right, to take a stand for civil rights. They failed in their duty to give voice to people who have no voice.

Photo credit: Cafe for White Only by jonnyphoto at Fickr. Click the photo to see the large version to read the sign on the door.

I have never bought an American made car. Know why? Because every car my father ever owned was an American car. And every one of them was junk--pure junk. I vividly recall my father about to have a stroke almost every time he went to crank his Cadillac. He would completely run the battery down because the car just wouldn't start most of the time. The dealership was never able to figure out what was wrong with it, even joked about a bolt with a note from a factory worker some dealer had allegedly found rattling around inside of a car door.

Why were all of his American-made cars garbage? Because, prior to the arrival of affordable, well-made Japanese cars, the American car industry could rip off every one of us, like the American drug companies are doing now.

So I exacted my revenge. I feel bad for the American workers, but I will not support corporate abuse of trapped customers. Over the years I purchased a VW Rabbit (diesel), numerous Honda Accords, an Accura, a Nissan Murano, and a Toyota Prius. As far as I am concerned, the American auto industry needs to go through bankruptcy to get its act together!

But now I have a new list of companies to never support with my purchasing power.

Here is a list of the "Billion Dollar Bailout Club" which I prefer to call corporate welfare recipients who have stolen our money to cap off their greedy, reckless business practice. Frankly, "bailout or no bailout," I will try to avoid doing business with them at all cost. I'm just glad the Republican spin machine didn't get to this one before it got labeled what it is: bailout! Imagine if it had been called: Anti-terrorist Freedom Defense Investment Fund! (Think: No Child Left Behind, and The Patriot Act... spin baby, spin!)

Click to enlarge the list so you can see who the welfare recipients are.

Source: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/02/billion-dollar-bailout-club/

Yes, more technology goodness! This goes way beyond crazy!

SamSam says: "Gov. Deval Patrick wants to charge drivers by how much they drive on state roads, and at what times. How is he planning on doing this? By adding GPS units to cars, giving at least some state employees the ability to track cars where ever they go."

"It's outrageous, it's kind of Orwellian, Big Brotherish," said Sen. Scott Brown, R-Wrentham, who drafted legislation last week to prohibit the practice. "You'd need a whole new department of cronies just to keep track of it."

Massachusetts Gov. wants to track cars on state roads with GPS units in each car

[Source: Massachusetts Gov. wants to track cars on state roads with GPS units in each car]

Lets face it. We've been had. We're in a serious depression. Thank you capitalism. We believed in you. We were told it was our patriotic duty. And now we learn about the run on the banks in September, 2008, that was never reported in the media. We learn that the government just pull the switch on the massive ATM withdrawal of banking assets to prevent the end of the US economy followed by the collapse of the world economy and sheer anarchy. Astounding!

And the %$#*&^ Republicans want to keep cutting taxes and deregulating? What is wrong with these mad men?!

In the video below get past the frustrated caller. The facts come out at about 2 minutes and 20 seconds into the clip. Representative Kanjorski says:

The Treasury opened its window to help. They pumped a hundred and five billion dollars into the system and quickly realized that they could not stem the tide. We were having an electronic run on the banks. They decided to close the operation, close down the money accounts, and announce a guarantee of $250,000 per account so there wouldn't be further panic and there. And that's what actually happened.

If they had not done that their estimation was that by two o'clock that afternoon, five-and-a-half trillion dollars would have been drawn out of the money market system of the United States, would have collapsed the entire economy of the United States, and within 24 hours the world economy would have collapsed."

"It would have been the end of our political system and our economic systems as we know it."

This is an interesting take on the financial crisis. The last question on the table was, "Who will recover first?" China. With their growth, assets, and manufacturing sector will be the first to stabilize in the world economic meltdown. And who wanted to send all of our manufacturing jobs over to China? Hmmm???

And just what will the impact of that be in the USA?!