Monday, April 26, 2010
The New GM: Just as Shitty as the Old GM
GM's new advertising campaign would seem hysterically funny if it wasn't for the fact that they were lying to the American people, and using taxpayer's money to do it. In this commercial they tout the fact (as they see it) that they have repaid the loan given to them by the government five years ahead of schedule. In reality all that they have repaid is $6.7 billion dollars. The rest of the $52 billion went in to bailing them out, and allowed the government to take a large stake in the company. So basically, they repaid that loan of $6.7 billion with taxpayer money received from the sale of their stock to the federal government. Bravo. Wall Street accounting at its best, all used to dupe the American people into thinking that it was actually a good thing to bail them out and that they did right by "repaying" their loans. Sorry, GM. That loan wont be paid in full until the American people see a total of $52 billion, which is most likely not going to happen any time soon. In order for them to repay the rest of that loan, they would need to have an IPO price close to pretty successful companies such as McDonald's or Home Depot's market cap. Not happening. GM looks like it will remain Government Motors for a very long time, remain unprofitable, and all the while dupe the taxpayer into thinking GM is back and better than ever. Still the same shitty old GM.
Everybody Draw Mohammed Day
Leave it to the creators of South Park, yet again, to cause a stir on the premise of the First Amendment. Comedy Central's blind censorship of their latest episode and their lack of any type of obvious masculine genitalia for giving in to terrorists making threats over the internet has caused a back-lash of great proportions. One political cartoonist has called for May 20th to be recognized as "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" in order to execute her right to free speech. While she concedes that she never planned for her plan to go viral, it has now taken a life of its own with many bloggers and cartoonists vowing to participate. View the story here.
Excerpt:
After Comedy Central cut a portion of a South Park episode following a death threat from a radical Muslim group, Seattle cartoonist Molly Norris wanted to counter the fear. She has declared May 20th "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day."
Excerpt:
After Comedy Central cut a portion of a South Park episode following a death threat from a radical Muslim group, Seattle cartoonist Molly Norris wanted to counter the fear. She has declared May 20th "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day."
Programmed, Categorized and Easily Referenced
I think it is important, while we rail against Obama and Pelosi and Reid and Obamacare and Stimulus Plans and Big Government as a whole, that we remember that it shouldn't be just Democrats that we rail against. Right now they hold a majority in our government and decide with an iron will the direction of our country. But November will come along, and soon we will all remember how that evil Democratic Party screwed us all and we will move to place Republicans into the government and hail them as our saviors and expect things to get better from there. Some of us will blindly agree with everything that the Republican Party does and act as apologists for that party, but many of us will realize that the regime change that is coming is in fact no regime change at all. The Republicans, should they regain control of the legislature in some way, will in many cases be just as bad or even far worse than the Democrats. Instead of large spending packages devoted to social reform, we will begin to see large spending packages for corporate and military expansion. We will see the same old farm and oil and financial subsidies, the devotion to imperialistic interventions, the subjugation of the Bill of Rights in favor of heavy-handed policy against "terrorists", both foreign and domestic.
It is my great fear, that the epic force that is the Tea Party will begin to disappear should Republicans stage a dramatic come-back this fall, and everything that we have worked so hard to do, to make this government listen to the Will of the People, will disappear as people breathe a great sigh of relief and think things will suddenly get better from there on out.
But what we should do, is have a dramatic change of our definitions on these two parties. We are not Republican or Democrat. We are not liberal or conservative. We are not Big Government or Small Government.
What in fact we are, that divides us on a philosophical, economical and social plane of existence, are INDIVIDUALISTS and COLLECTIVISTS.
We need to realize that the largest parts of both parties, both Republican and Democratic, are limbs of the same creature. They are COLLECTIVISTS. They both believe that it is okay to take money from individuals and disperse it to other groups. They both think that this action is just, somehow, and we allow them to think that. But what we need to do, this November and for years to come, is not blindly vote the bums out, for what we will intentionally do is just vote other bums in and the whole process will begin to repeat itself.
What we need to do is change our definition of who we vote out, and say that they are bums not because they are Democrats, but because they are COLLECTIVISTS and they believe that it is okay to put a group of people, or a corporation, or a whole economic industry before the individual. Who we need to vote in, are not Republicans, for many of them are in fact COLLECTIVISTS in their own way. We need to vote for INDIVIDUALISTS who believe that the single unit of a person is more important than society as a whole, that the rights of the single person are more important than the rights of an artificially-created, arbitrary group of people.
And ultimately, Tea Partiers must realize that the Tea Party itself is not a group, is not a political party and should never be one. They must realize that they are simply INDIVIDUALS who are campaigning for the same thing and that is the recognition of their own individual rights over some unified idea that the Tea Party has become. We must not become shills of a political party. We must not become a political party unto ourselves. We should take heart in the fact that both parties are scared of us and that is because we refuse to be programmed, categorized, and easily referenced into a larger group that they can begin to quantify and manipulate.
That wont mean they wont try to categorize us. We are already racists and rich, white people, and crazy domestic terrorists. But ultimately we must fight back, and every chance we get we must assert that we are INDIVIDUALS.
So please, come November, and even (more importantly) before that as you run to the voting booths during primaries, don't blindly flick that switch for your simple run-of-the-mill Republican just because he isn't a Democrat. Flick the switch for someone who is an INDIVIDUALIST because he isn't a COLLECTIVIST.
It is my great fear, that the epic force that is the Tea Party will begin to disappear should Republicans stage a dramatic come-back this fall, and everything that we have worked so hard to do, to make this government listen to the Will of the People, will disappear as people breathe a great sigh of relief and think things will suddenly get better from there on out.
But what we should do, is have a dramatic change of our definitions on these two parties. We are not Republican or Democrat. We are not liberal or conservative. We are not Big Government or Small Government.
What in fact we are, that divides us on a philosophical, economical and social plane of existence, are INDIVIDUALISTS and COLLECTIVISTS.
We need to realize that the largest parts of both parties, both Republican and Democratic, are limbs of the same creature. They are COLLECTIVISTS. They both believe that it is okay to take money from individuals and disperse it to other groups. They both think that this action is just, somehow, and we allow them to think that. But what we need to do, this November and for years to come, is not blindly vote the bums out, for what we will intentionally do is just vote other bums in and the whole process will begin to repeat itself.
What we need to do is change our definition of who we vote out, and say that they are bums not because they are Democrats, but because they are COLLECTIVISTS and they believe that it is okay to put a group of people, or a corporation, or a whole economic industry before the individual. Who we need to vote in, are not Republicans, for many of them are in fact COLLECTIVISTS in their own way. We need to vote for INDIVIDUALISTS who believe that the single unit of a person is more important than society as a whole, that the rights of the single person are more important than the rights of an artificially-created, arbitrary group of people.
And ultimately, Tea Partiers must realize that the Tea Party itself is not a group, is not a political party and should never be one. They must realize that they are simply INDIVIDUALS who are campaigning for the same thing and that is the recognition of their own individual rights over some unified idea that the Tea Party has become. We must not become shills of a political party. We must not become a political party unto ourselves. We should take heart in the fact that both parties are scared of us and that is because we refuse to be programmed, categorized, and easily referenced into a larger group that they can begin to quantify and manipulate.
That wont mean they wont try to categorize us. We are already racists and rich, white people, and crazy domestic terrorists. But ultimately we must fight back, and every chance we get we must assert that we are INDIVIDUALS.
So please, come November, and even (more importantly) before that as you run to the voting booths during primaries, don't blindly flick that switch for your simple run-of-the-mill Republican just because he isn't a Democrat. Flick the switch for someone who is an INDIVIDUALIST because he isn't a COLLECTIVIST.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Happy Earth Day, libertarians!
Most people see Earth Day as a liberal, tree-hugger holiday where nutjobs chain themselves up to giant redwoods and place themselves in the way of giant chainsaws threatening to dice up Mother Earth's most valuable resources. I am proud to say that I am a tree-hugger, but I am in no way a liberal. Libertarianism and Earth Day go hand in hand, although I would think that we attack the problems of pollution and rampant resource gobbling a different way. Liberals would like to see big government come in with massive and invasive legislation that would protect the environment at the expense of the common man. The way I see it, it is in fact the other way around. Big government has a habit of handing the keys of the Earth-Destroyer 2000 to gigantic corporations, subsidized by tax-payer money.
The agricultural industry is one of the heaviest subsidized industries in the United States. It is this money that is used to drive the prices of our crops down, mostly corn here in the U.S. Cheap corn that doesn't reflect the natural supply/demand of the market is used to make cheap food. Over half of that unnaturally cheap corn that we grow is used for livestock feed. This unnaturally cheap feedstock is used to feed our cattle, which doesn't have to roam vast areas of grassland for food, and can be kept in unnaturally tiny corrals and fed an unnatural diet that ultimately kills them unnaturally, if they weren't going to be slaughtered any way. That unnatural diet gives rise to an unnatural amount of fat in the animal and also raises the E. coli in their guts to unnatural levels, that can eventually harm consumers who eat this unnatural meat and get unnaturally fat themselves. The unnatural amount of bacteria also winds up in the feces which makes its way into streams and rivers and lakes and can contaminate any crops in the area. It is why sometimes you hear of tomatoes and lettuce giving rise to E. coli outbreaks in the consumers who eat them. And since cattle doesn't have to roam for grass to eat, we can keep so much more of these large animals in tiny unnatural corrals which creates more feces lumped together in one area and can contaminate more land around them with the deadly (unnatural) amounts of bacteria.
The same is true for chickens and pigs. Our meat is made cheap and unhealthy for us by our government. If Michele Obama really wanted to stop obesity in our youth, she would go after these corporate subsidies that create the problem of unhealthy foods in the first place. And by doing so she would also be helping the environment and would allow our farms a more naturally ecological way of growing their crops and livestock. And the livestock would live in better conditions and live a more natural lifestyle. Before they were slaughtered. The fact remains that if libertarians and other champions of small government fight for less corporate welfare, we will stop enabling these multinational corporations from exploiting our land, resources and animals.
But a liberal who believes big government is the answer would say that the FDA needs more power to fight these corporations, that we need more bureaucracies to regulate the industries, that we need legislation that will force companies to comply with environmental standards. It's ironic that government subsidizes the destruction of our environment, and then creates environmental standards that companies need to follow in order to get more subsidies so that they can continue destroying the environment. It is a vicious circle that has no end.
But I digress. As an example of poor government programs at work, I point a big, unnaturally fat finger at the Energy Star program which has a great number of flaws. In short, it gives incentives to consumers to buy products that are supposedly energy efficient, but in many ways are not. In any government program there are loopholes and flaws that turn out to be more hazardous than helpful. Follow this link for a recent article on the Energy Star inefficiencies.
And then there is the oil industry and its obvious effects on our environment. Not only do we subsidize a lot of this industry, but there are also external costs involved. How much have we spent over the course of the last few decades, especially the last few years, on our interests in the Middle East? Sure we were "spreading democracy," as Bush said, but even the most ignorant ten year old can tell you that we were only involved so heavily with Iraq because of its oil reserves. How many billions of dollars have we spent on this war, and how many more billions are we going to spend in the future? All this to keep the oil flowing and to keep it relatively cheap for the American consumer. The oil market that we have now, like the agricultural one, is highly impacted by government involvement, whether it be a Republican or a Democratic administration. It's all the same. Do whatever you can to keep oil prices down so that Americans can buy their SUV's, and corporations can keep funneling subsidized oil into their subsidized industries. If we had never had these subsidies (and our imperialistic interventions over seas) the price of oil would likely be higher. Likely those prices would have risen gradually and our companies may have had the chance to look for alternate resources elsewhere, pouring money into solar and wind and other renewables in order to drive the costs of their energy usage down, maybe using our abundant natural gas reserves in the process as a stepping stone into truly cleaner energy. Instead, what we find ourselves risking, is the chance of a ginormous oil spike if Middle East events take a turn for the worst while we scramble about the world, place flags on ice caps, and drill for whatever drippings of black gold are left in the world. Our country and our industries are not prepared with the necessary infrastructure for a spike in oil. And all the while we devour and destroy our environment using tax-payer money.
So, listen all you fellow tree-huggers out there. If you want to protect the environment and the many different species of flora and fauna living in that environment, the best thing that you can do is end government's forays into the private sector. End corporate welfare. End our endless subsidization of unhealthy and destructive industrial sectors. Stop foreign imperialistic overtures overseas. Allow prices of commodities to fluctuate naturally with supply and demand. Allow man to live with the earth. Mother Earth hates big government too!
The agricultural industry is one of the heaviest subsidized industries in the United States. It is this money that is used to drive the prices of our crops down, mostly corn here in the U.S. Cheap corn that doesn't reflect the natural supply/demand of the market is used to make cheap food. Over half of that unnaturally cheap corn that we grow is used for livestock feed. This unnaturally cheap feedstock is used to feed our cattle, which doesn't have to roam vast areas of grassland for food, and can be kept in unnaturally tiny corrals and fed an unnatural diet that ultimately kills them unnaturally, if they weren't going to be slaughtered any way. That unnatural diet gives rise to an unnatural amount of fat in the animal and also raises the E. coli in their guts to unnatural levels, that can eventually harm consumers who eat this unnatural meat and get unnaturally fat themselves. The unnatural amount of bacteria also winds up in the feces which makes its way into streams and rivers and lakes and can contaminate any crops in the area. It is why sometimes you hear of tomatoes and lettuce giving rise to E. coli outbreaks in the consumers who eat them. And since cattle doesn't have to roam for grass to eat, we can keep so much more of these large animals in tiny unnatural corrals which creates more feces lumped together in one area and can contaminate more land around them with the deadly (unnatural) amounts of bacteria.
The same is true for chickens and pigs. Our meat is made cheap and unhealthy for us by our government. If Michele Obama really wanted to stop obesity in our youth, she would go after these corporate subsidies that create the problem of unhealthy foods in the first place. And by doing so she would also be helping the environment and would allow our farms a more naturally ecological way of growing their crops and livestock. And the livestock would live in better conditions and live a more natural lifestyle. Before they were slaughtered. The fact remains that if libertarians and other champions of small government fight for less corporate welfare, we will stop enabling these multinational corporations from exploiting our land, resources and animals.
But a liberal who believes big government is the answer would say that the FDA needs more power to fight these corporations, that we need more bureaucracies to regulate the industries, that we need legislation that will force companies to comply with environmental standards. It's ironic that government subsidizes the destruction of our environment, and then creates environmental standards that companies need to follow in order to get more subsidies so that they can continue destroying the environment. It is a vicious circle that has no end.
But I digress. As an example of poor government programs at work, I point a big, unnaturally fat finger at the Energy Star program which has a great number of flaws. In short, it gives incentives to consumers to buy products that are supposedly energy efficient, but in many ways are not. In any government program there are loopholes and flaws that turn out to be more hazardous than helpful. Follow this link for a recent article on the Energy Star inefficiencies.
And then there is the oil industry and its obvious effects on our environment. Not only do we subsidize a lot of this industry, but there are also external costs involved. How much have we spent over the course of the last few decades, especially the last few years, on our interests in the Middle East? Sure we were "spreading democracy," as Bush said, but even the most ignorant ten year old can tell you that we were only involved so heavily with Iraq because of its oil reserves. How many billions of dollars have we spent on this war, and how many more billions are we going to spend in the future? All this to keep the oil flowing and to keep it relatively cheap for the American consumer. The oil market that we have now, like the agricultural one, is highly impacted by government involvement, whether it be a Republican or a Democratic administration. It's all the same. Do whatever you can to keep oil prices down so that Americans can buy their SUV's, and corporations can keep funneling subsidized oil into their subsidized industries. If we had never had these subsidies (and our imperialistic interventions over seas) the price of oil would likely be higher. Likely those prices would have risen gradually and our companies may have had the chance to look for alternate resources elsewhere, pouring money into solar and wind and other renewables in order to drive the costs of their energy usage down, maybe using our abundant natural gas reserves in the process as a stepping stone into truly cleaner energy. Instead, what we find ourselves risking, is the chance of a ginormous oil spike if Middle East events take a turn for the worst while we scramble about the world, place flags on ice caps, and drill for whatever drippings of black gold are left in the world. Our country and our industries are not prepared with the necessary infrastructure for a spike in oil. And all the while we devour and destroy our environment using tax-payer money.
So, listen all you fellow tree-huggers out there. If you want to protect the environment and the many different species of flora and fauna living in that environment, the best thing that you can do is end government's forays into the private sector. End corporate welfare. End our endless subsidization of unhealthy and destructive industrial sectors. Stop foreign imperialistic overtures overseas. Allow prices of commodities to fluctuate naturally with supply and demand. Allow man to live with the earth. Mother Earth hates big government too!
How to Identify GMOs
Any libertarian's struggles and outcries should not only focus on government and politicians, but also on companies that are monopolies and oligopolies, heavily subsidized by the federal government. The agricultural industry is one of these oligopolies where a few companies control the entire market of the United States. This video shows how to identify genetically modified organisms in your produce aisle. I am inclined to go test this out at my nearest supermarket, and heed this girl's advice. Besides, who can resist a pretty farm girl. :)
South Park vs Islam
For anyone who is a fan of South Park, you know that they are number one in trying to exercise their freedom of speech, whether it is making fun of celebrities (that's right Bono, you're a number two), or politicians, or even religious figures. In the current series of episodes they have struck out again against the idea that the Prophet Muhammad is unassailable and devoid of any type of criticism. In the Islamic world it is considered blasphemous to show the Prophet in any type of picture, painting or drawing, so South Park, who once did show Muhammad without any outcry from Muslim critics, now must hide him inside the costume of a big fluffy bear in order to portray him on T.V.
Well it seems that South Park has once again hit a nerve. They are now the focus of a radical Islamic group that has begun to threaten them. I just find it funny that in the latest episode they showed Buddha doing lines of coke, yet so far I haven't heard of any violent Buddhist radicals threatening to destroy the makers of South Park for the blasphemous depiction of their "Awakened One". Muslims need to chill out, relax, and gain a much needed sense of humor.
Read the story for a laugh.
Well it seems that South Park has once again hit a nerve. They are now the focus of a radical Islamic group that has begun to threaten them. I just find it funny that in the latest episode they showed Buddha doing lines of coke, yet so far I haven't heard of any violent Buddhist radicals threatening to destroy the makers of South Park for the blasphemous depiction of their "Awakened One". Muslims need to chill out, relax, and gain a much needed sense of humor.
Read the story for a laugh.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Repeal the 17th Amendment
There's a lot going on in the nation today, a movement to limit the power of the federal government and bring more liberty back to the individual. Whether you are a Tea Partier, a libertarian, an Austrian economist, a member of the Tenther movement, or are just sick and tired of the big government role we have been subjected to today, we should try to realize where it may have all went wrong. There are lessons in history and the passage of the 17th Amendment may have started our country on the wrong path towards absolute tyranny by the feds over the states. This article by The Free Press is a must read.
Prior to the ratification of the seventeenth amendment of the Constitution of the United States in 1913, senators were appointed by state legislatures. Since then, senators, like representatives, have been directly elected by the voters in their states. Many wonder why this wasn’t always the case, and why the framers of the Constitution did not establish the direct election of senators in the first place. However, as we will see, the reasoning behind having senators appointed by state legislatures was quite simple; it was another check on the growth of the federal government....
Prior to the ratification of the seventeenth amendment of the Constitution of the United States in 1913, senators were appointed by state legislatures. Since then, senators, like representatives, have been directly elected by the voters in their states. Many wonder why this wasn’t always the case, and why the framers of the Constitution did not establish the direct election of senators in the first place. However, as we will see, the reasoning behind having senators appointed by state legislatures was quite simple; it was another check on the growth of the federal government....
Monsanto Monopoly
This video goes out to my Monsanto-hating friends: a monopoly if I ever saw one, and a company that is starting to finally get much press on the tactics they use to corner the market and make slaves out of small-time farmers.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Audit the Fed Banner Bomb
I just find it absolutely amazing how much support he can get through his grassroots network. If you haven't donated to the banner bomb, and you would like to, please follow the link. Take action!
I'm Back!
After a long hiatus, I have decided to come back to blogging. I have neglected it for so long, that I have become complacent in the face of extraordinary world events that have been playing out. The media, and our politicians would both have you believe that everything in this country is going right. Indeed, the market rally from March 2008 until now has been extremely powerful and persistent and is giving fodder for our pundits and politicians in claiming that the crisis is over. But we all know that it isn't. Our country is still on the road to bankruptcy. Our tax code still sucks and is very unjust and unfair. Commodity prices are climbing ever heaven-ward. The dollar is conversely sinking like a stone and is expected to test its lows in the very near future. Housing prices are still flat, bankruptcies and foreclosures are still hammering the American people, alongside an unemployment rate that refuses to come down from its lofty highs (unless you seasonally adjust it, then all is possible). Congress passed a bad medical insurance bill requiring everyone to have insurance, or else. The list goes on and on and on...
We all know that this country is falling down around us. We can all see it in the minutiae of our daily lives. Maybe your family is focused on the fact that schools are closing, state by state. Maybe you are getting increasingly worried about the health of your pension. Maybe you wonder if the Social Security Ponzi Scheme will be around when you retire and if you will actually get back what you paid into it. The focus for each and every individual is different, but it all adds up, melding together into a massive cluster-fuck of problems that joins every American together into a common sense of emotional turmoil: Anger at our politicians, disbelief at the state of our once mighty country, cynicism that nothing changes in the face of great disaster. But at the end of the day, we turn on the television, watch some American Idol, and forget about - just for a moment - the problems facing our families and neighbors.
It is then that apathy sets in, the most disgusting emotional state that ever saw the light of day, a disease that infects many Americans without them even knowing it. I can't do anything about the problems of the world, so why worry? I just want a beer and a baseball game, not complain about things that I can't affect.
So that's what happened to me. That anger, walled off for a good while, decided to break through those formidable barriers created by apathy and decided that it was time to be heard again. I attended my first Tea Party on Tax Day and loved it. The turnout was quite poor here in NYC, Apathy Capital of the World, but I felt I made a difference. I waved my Audit the Fed sign, spoke to like-minded individuals in the movement, interviewed with reporters and tried my best to make my voice heard. And I think it worked. Cars and trucks inching down the street were very interested to see the movement making some noise. They added their own support with the toots and honks of their horns which made the Tea Party crowd cheer louder. It was a vicious infectious circle, and it is my hope that the quest for justice, liberty, fiscal responsibility, and just plain old common sense will start to spread outward in gigantic waves. A shot heard around the world!
My hat goes off to those people making their voices heard every day. I applaud you, envy you and aim to emulate you. I also encourage others to do the same. Email and call your politicians with your complaints and requests. Start your own blog to channel your anger and frustrations. Write your local papers. Join a protest or rally. Make your voices heard, people!
We all know that this country is falling down around us. We can all see it in the minutiae of our daily lives. Maybe your family is focused on the fact that schools are closing, state by state. Maybe you are getting increasingly worried about the health of your pension. Maybe you wonder if the Social Security Ponzi Scheme will be around when you retire and if you will actually get back what you paid into it. The focus for each and every individual is different, but it all adds up, melding together into a massive cluster-fuck of problems that joins every American together into a common sense of emotional turmoil: Anger at our politicians, disbelief at the state of our once mighty country, cynicism that nothing changes in the face of great disaster. But at the end of the day, we turn on the television, watch some American Idol, and forget about - just for a moment - the problems facing our families and neighbors.
It is then that apathy sets in, the most disgusting emotional state that ever saw the light of day, a disease that infects many Americans without them even knowing it. I can't do anything about the problems of the world, so why worry? I just want a beer and a baseball game, not complain about things that I can't affect.
So that's what happened to me. That anger, walled off for a good while, decided to break through those formidable barriers created by apathy and decided that it was time to be heard again. I attended my first Tea Party on Tax Day and loved it. The turnout was quite poor here in NYC, Apathy Capital of the World, but I felt I made a difference. I waved my Audit the Fed sign, spoke to like-minded individuals in the movement, interviewed with reporters and tried my best to make my voice heard. And I think it worked. Cars and trucks inching down the street were very interested to see the movement making some noise. They added their own support with the toots and honks of their horns which made the Tea Party crowd cheer louder. It was a vicious infectious circle, and it is my hope that the quest for justice, liberty, fiscal responsibility, and just plain old common sense will start to spread outward in gigantic waves. A shot heard around the world!
My hat goes off to those people making their voices heard every day. I applaud you, envy you and aim to emulate you. I also encourage others to do the same. Email and call your politicians with your complaints and requests. Start your own blog to channel your anger and frustrations. Write your local papers. Join a protest or rally. Make your voices heard, people!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Does Honduras Frighten Obama? You Bet Your Sweet Bippy!
An incident with great ramifications is unsurprisingly getting very little in the way of news coverage, and that is the constitutional crisis that is now occurring in Honduras. And when the media does cover the crisis they disparagingly label it as a military coup, immediately bringing up images of Central America's violent and unstable past. But this incident has very little in common with these past coups. Instead of a military leader usurping the power of the president to accumulate more power for himself, in this case all three branches of government, along with the military, acted to depose a president who was actively looking to rewrite Honduras' constitution. Law was upheld, and a criminal grab for more power was averted.
President Manuel Zelaya had attempted to set the stage for the writing of a new constitution in order to prepare for his own future reelection, which was not allowed under the current constitution. Zelaya, who models himself after Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, attempted to hold a referendum that would seek to erase this ban on reelection.
Apparently, under Honduras law, a 2/3rds majority is needed in congress in order to amend the constitution, but certain articles are entrenched and unable to be amended. One of those articles that can't under any case be amended is the subject of presidential succession. And it further states that any president who tries to amend the law on term limits must step down from his or her position.
Now this is where the "coup" comes in. President of Congress Roberto Micheletti warned Zelaya that his move to rewrite the constitution was illegal. That's from the legislative branch. Zelaya's own attorney general warned Zelaya that he would face criminal charges if he continued to pursue the referendum. That's from the executive branch. And the Supreme Court put the final nail in the coffin when they declared that the referendum proposed would be unconstitutional. And there you have it from the judicial branch.
If there was any failure of the constitution, it was because it lacked a clear cut way to impeach Zelaya and remove him from power. Impeachment proceedings were started, but lacked any clear direction and went absolutely nowhere.
Here's where the military finally comes in. The armed forces were ordered to storm the presidential mansion, detain President Zelaya, and throw him on a plane to Costa Rica so he could live in exile. Roberto Micheletti became interim president until new elections could be held, at which time he would step down and let democracy resume.
Here's the part that gets me. Just about every nation in the world condemned the "coup" including the United States. The United Nations adopted a resolution calling for Zelaya's reinstatement. Zelaya spent the last few months in Washington trying to get Obama and Hillary Clinton to impose sanctions on Honduras, which they did. What a great thing for Zelaya to do: impose sanctions on his own people. He tried to defy the exile by returning to his country with a few heads of state from foreign nations who support his rule, but was denied access to airspace. And now, finally, after all of that, he has traveled back by land and surprised everybody by showing up in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa.
My question to everybody, is this. Why has basically every nation condemned the exile of Zelaya? In this case, the constitution of Honduras was upheld. All three branches of government acted to protect the constitution from an unlawful rewriting. If anything, the only thing the constitution lacks is a clear cut way to impeach the president, which could easily be amended by a lawful majority. The military acted, in this case, only as an arm of the congress and an extension of the constitution, to defend the law of the people and protect them from an action that would restrain their liberty. So why has everyone from Obama to Putin, from Chavez to Ahmadinejad, moved to try and have Zelaya reinstated?
Quick answer. Because they are all scared of it happening to them. When a leader abuses a country's constitution he has everything to fear, and each of those above leaders knows what it is like to abuse the law set down by the people. (In the case of Ahmadinejad, he's seen plenty of people take to the streets in protest of his reelection.)
If Micheletti is successful in keeping Zelaya from power, then it only proves to the world that a constitution can work and that not one head of state can escape trying to subvert it. I wish all of America can take Honduras' example to heart. Perhaps one day, we will all be lucky, and Obama will wake up in the night, get thrown on a plane and sent back to Kenya, far far away from the America that he abused. And you know what? We should throw in a certain Bush so Obama can at least have a traveling buddy.
Read the rest of the article HERE.
Honduras Curfew As Zelaya Returns
Mr Zelaya has taken refuge in Brazil's embassy in Tegucigalpa. Many of his supporters later gathered outside.
He said he had crossed mountains and rivers to return to the capital, where he said he was seeking dialogue.
In a televised address, interim leader Roberto Micheletti demanded that Brazil hand over Mr Zelaya to stand trial.
Mr Micheletti said Brazil would be held responsible for any violence.
"A call to the government of Brazil: respect the judicial order against Mr Zelaya and turn him into Honduran authorities," he said....
Paterson To Run For Governor Despite Obama's Protests
Just who does Obama think he is that he can dictate to a governor whether or not he can run for reelection? That is clear violation of his powers as president. A hundred years ago, any governor that was dictated to by a president would have told that president to shove it where the sun doesn't shine and to mind his own business. Despite his failings, I am glad that Paterson refused to give in to White House pressure. Let the voters decide whether he is due another term, not the White House.
Read the article HERE.
New York Governor Paterson Says He's Still Running
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Embattled New York Governor David Paterson said on Sunday he was still running for office, in the face of reports that President Barack Obama had asked him to withdraw from the 2010 race for fear that he cannot regroup from a series of political setbacks....
Read the article HERE.
New York Governor Paterson Says He's Still Running
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Embattled New York Governor David Paterson said on Sunday he was still running for office, in the face of reports that President Barack Obama had asked him to withdraw from the 2010 race for fear that he cannot regroup from a series of political setbacks....
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Debtor's Revolt
This is an interesting video of a really pissed off woman who has legitimate gripes against the credit card industry, in this case focused on Bank of America. Ann is not alone in this. People with good credit have watched their interest rates skyrocket. I was told that 25% is now the new norm for people around this country who are in the same position as Ann. And it has nothing to do with riskier debtors accruing higher interest rates. The banks are trying to make up money that they lost already from increasing default rates, and to do that they are jacking up everyone else's rates to try and compensate for the lost revenue. But the only thing that they are accomplishing here is to push more and more people into the risk of default, thereby causing this whole thing to snowball. I applaud Ann in this video. All the major corporations have received taxpayer bailouts. In the environment that this government wants to operate - a Bailout Nation - let Ann and others default. It will only put the banks into that much more trouble. But at least they don't have to worry. Obama, Geithner and Bernanke will come riding in on their white horses with bags of taxpayer money and money created out of thin air to make sure that these banks retain some semblance of solvency. And in this environment, it is the only way that Ann and others like her are going to get the government to bail them out.
I had a battle with Citibank the other day. I had ordered something through Paypal, and accidentally had them debit my bank account rather than charge it on my credit card the way I wanted to. My bank account was low on funds. In the past this hasn't been a problem since Citibank would just dip into my $2000 line of credit that I had with them, their Checking Plus account. I would just pay the interest for using their money, and that was that. But when it happened this time, I was charged an overdraft fee of $10 alongside the interest rate for the credit. This was wholly new, so I decided to investigate, and since I was a customer for a long time and this infraction rarely occurred in the past, I thought that they might reverse the charge. Little did I know that I was going into a heated battle. I told them that I was never notified of the change in their terms, and they told me I was. I told them that little tiny words typed on a tiny slip of paper attached to my statement isn't really notifying me of change. They told me it was. I demanded to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor said the same thing. I demanded to speak to CEO Vikram Pandit. He told me that Mr. Pandit was unavailable. I instructed the man that Citigroup was now a ward of the U.S. government, that their speculation in Mortgage-Backed Securities hadn't paid off and that he and others like him deserved to burn in oblivion along with the rest of Citigroup for ineffectively managing their money. Instead it was my money going to bail them out and now they were getting my money again for a new overdraft fee that they never warned me about. I cursed and railed and wouldn't let the man hang up with me. This went on for a half hour. Finally he hung up with me. So I called and did it all again. Well, I didn't get my measly $10 back. But I got a lot of aggression out and felt better. In the end maybe those people I spoke with went home with a nasty twitch in their left eye from the added stress that I gave them. If so, it was a victory for me! Well, I closed my account with Citigroup and vowed not to ever let any of the bailed out banks get one more dime from me again. Instead I opened up an account with my local branch, Northfield Bank. And in the mean time I am in the process of paying off my Chase credit card and when that is done, I wont ever use it again.
Ann by herself can never hurt such international banks. But the result is ultimately satisfying. To draw a line in the sand and vow never to give one more dime to such a crooked institution, nay, a whole sector of finance, is in itself a worth while reward after being dicked around. And hey, maybe in the end Ann and others like her will have the last laugh.
I had a battle with Citibank the other day. I had ordered something through Paypal, and accidentally had them debit my bank account rather than charge it on my credit card the way I wanted to. My bank account was low on funds. In the past this hasn't been a problem since Citibank would just dip into my $2000 line of credit that I had with them, their Checking Plus account. I would just pay the interest for using their money, and that was that. But when it happened this time, I was charged an overdraft fee of $10 alongside the interest rate for the credit. This was wholly new, so I decided to investigate, and since I was a customer for a long time and this infraction rarely occurred in the past, I thought that they might reverse the charge. Little did I know that I was going into a heated battle. I told them that I was never notified of the change in their terms, and they told me I was. I told them that little tiny words typed on a tiny slip of paper attached to my statement isn't really notifying me of change. They told me it was. I demanded to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor said the same thing. I demanded to speak to CEO Vikram Pandit. He told me that Mr. Pandit was unavailable. I instructed the man that Citigroup was now a ward of the U.S. government, that their speculation in Mortgage-Backed Securities hadn't paid off and that he and others like him deserved to burn in oblivion along with the rest of Citigroup for ineffectively managing their money. Instead it was my money going to bail them out and now they were getting my money again for a new overdraft fee that they never warned me about. I cursed and railed and wouldn't let the man hang up with me. This went on for a half hour. Finally he hung up with me. So I called and did it all again. Well, I didn't get my measly $10 back. But I got a lot of aggression out and felt better. In the end maybe those people I spoke with went home with a nasty twitch in their left eye from the added stress that I gave them. If so, it was a victory for me! Well, I closed my account with Citigroup and vowed not to ever let any of the bailed out banks get one more dime from me again. Instead I opened up an account with my local branch, Northfield Bank. And in the mean time I am in the process of paying off my Chase credit card and when that is done, I wont ever use it again.
Ann by herself can never hurt such international banks. But the result is ultimately satisfying. To draw a line in the sand and vow never to give one more dime to such a crooked institution, nay, a whole sector of finance, is in itself a worth while reward after being dicked around. And hey, maybe in the end Ann and others like her will have the last laugh.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Put Pressure On The Senate: S. 604
HR. 1207, the House move to audit the Federal Reserve is likely to pass with the overwhelming support that exists in the lower halls of Congress. But still providing a roadblock is the elitist upper chamber, where the Senate version S. 604, The Federal Reserve Sunshine Act, is likely to be defeated. As of now there are 25 cosponsors to the bill, along with the author, Bernie Sanders, who puts the total at 26.
If your Senator isn't on this list, it means that he or she doesn't care to find out what the Federal Reserve has done with the trillions of YOUR dollars that it dispersed throughout the banking system and around the world. We just want some transparency. Let the truth be known.
Contact your Senator now!
Sponsor: Sen. Bernard Sanders [I-VT]
Cosponsors:
If your Senator isn't on this list, it means that he or she doesn't care to find out what the Federal Reserve has done with the trillions of YOUR dollars that it dispersed throughout the banking system and around the world. We just want some transparency. Let the truth be known.
Contact your Senator now!
Sponsor: Sen. Bernard Sanders [I-VT]
Cosponsors:
Et tu, Japan?
Looks like Japan is joining the likes of Russia and China in finding ways to exclude the U.S. Dollar from certain transactions. And like China, they are learning the art of speaking out of both sides of their mouth. Which I guess is only a slight different method than our own government where we have evolved to speak out of our ass.
Read the article HERE.
Japan Hatoyama: Asian community wont exclude dollar.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said on Wednesday his vision for an Asian community didn't mean he wanted to diminish the role of the dollar or exclude the influence of the United States from the region.
Read the article HERE.
Japan Hatoyama: Asian community wont exclude dollar.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said on Wednesday his vision for an Asian community didn't mean he wanted to diminish the role of the dollar or exclude the influence of the United States from the region.
Hatoyama's comments may do little to ease market jitters about Japan's new government and its stance on the dollar after remarks from newly appointed Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii caused the yen to jump to a seven-month high against the greenback....
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