How much money is enough?

How Dracula Hedge Funds Are Sucking Us Dry
What notion of economics or ethics justifies the fact that it would take the average family more than 35,000 years to earn as much as the top hedge fund managers earn in one year?
July 9, 2011 |

The Highest Income Celebrities, CEO and Hedge Fund Managers (2010)
The Top Ten	Average Yearly Income	Number of years if would take for the average American family to earn as much.
Hedge Fund managers	$1,753,000,000	35,217 years
Movie directors/producers	$126,000,000	2,531
Top celebrities from all fields	$119,800,000	2,407
Pop musicians	$87,200,000	1,752
Non-financial CEOs	$47,100,000	946
Athletes	$44,600,000	896
Movie stars	$42,600,000	856
Authors	$26,900,000	402
Lawyers	$20,000,000	402
Bank/Insurance CEOs	$16,600,000	333
Median Family Income (2009)	$49,777

War on Drugs continues

Federal Government Rules Marijuana Has No Accepted Medical Purpose

Updated: 7/9/11 06:06 PM ET

Deeeeeees-custed here.


The “War On Drugs” Is A $2.5 Trillion Racket: How Big Banks, Private Military Companies And The Prison Industry Cash In
July 9th, 2011

Al Gore: Climate of Denial

Can science and the truth withstand the merchants of poison?
Rolling Stone
JUNE 22, 2011

I hate RepugnantThuglicans

The Tea Party and Goldman Sachs: A Love Story
Robert Scheer
July 6, 2011

"...Congressional Republicans are cutting funding for the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as if those already underfunded agencies are centers of anti-business radicalism. The CFTC is run by former Goldman Sachs partner Gary Gensler, who, back when..."

Republicans:
1. Defund and infiltrate regulatory agencies with corporate tools
2. Complain that big gubmint don't work
3. Rinse and repeat

S&P Raises California Credit Rating To Stable From Negative

California Slashes Services For Poor, Elderly, Disabled

http://www­.huffingto­npost.com/­2011/07/04­/californi­a-budget-p­oor-elderl­y_n_889029­.html
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Tomgram: Chase Madar, A Medal for Bradley Manning?

Bradley Manning, American Hero
Four Reasons Why Pfc. Bradley Manning Deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Not a Prison Cell
Posted by Chase Madar
at 9:50am, July 7, 2011.


"...1: At great personal cost, Bradley Manning has given our foreign policy elite the public supervision it so badly needs.
Bradley Manning is only the latest in a long line of whistleblowers in and out of uniform who have risked everything to put our country back on the right path...

...Take Daniel Ellsberg, leaker of the Pentagon Papers, a Pentagon-commissioned secret history of the Vietnam War and the official lies and distortions that the government used to sell it...

...And Ellsberg is hardly alone. Ask Lt. Colonel (ret.) Darrel Vandeveld. Or Tom Drake, formerly of the National Security Agency....

Tomgram: Andy Kroll, The 60-Year Unemployment Scandal

at 10:17am, July 5, 2011.
"Americans care about them more than any other issue, so every poll tells us. The presidential candidates are already crafting their stump speeches and talking points around them. President Obama has seen the writing on the wall and regularly tailors his message to emphasize how many of them he has created. I'm talking, of course, about jobs."

What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Jobs
How Racism, Global Economics, and the New Jim Crow Fuel Black America's Crippling Jobs Crisis
By Andy Kroll

Exxon spill Yellowstone river

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

Ghulam Nabi Azad, India Health Minister, Calls Homosexuality A 'Disease' From The West

"India health minister calls homosexula­ity a disease"
Hey Azad,

so is the caste system, but that aint stopped its spread
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Happy July 4th 2011

Yeah, I stole the pic. The article on Discovery News is a couple of years old, but interesing:

Eco-Friendly Fireworks Offer Safer Pyrotechnics
Emily Sohn, Discovery News
July 2, 2009
"While particle-filled smoke may be the most obvious concern, it's not the only issue -- or even the worst one...

...Animal studies have linked perchlorates, such as potassium perchlorate and ammonium perchlorate, to thyroid problems. Repeated pyrotechnic displays, especially ones that occur every day at theme parks, can take their toll."

Hmm, reminds me of this. Somebody over at the Huffpo made some crack on a fireworks article that cracked me up, but also caused me to sharply inhale, and then it made me very, very sad. Pretty great comment to make me do all that in one sentence.

Ralph Nader Is Tired of Running for President
Posted on Jul 4, 2011
By Chris Hedges
The most important moral and intellectual voices within a disintegrating society are slowly discredited when their nonviolent protests and calls for justice cannot alter intransigent and corrupt systems of power. The repeated acts of peaceful civil disobedience, efforts at electoral and political reform and the fight to protect the rule of law are dismissed as useless by an embittered, dispossessed and betrayed public. The demagogues and hatemongers, the purveyors of violence, easily seduce enraged and bewildered masses in the final stages of collapse with false promises of vengeance, new glory and moral renewal. And in the spiral downward the good among us are reviled as naive and ineffectual fools...

Fox News Twitter feed says Obama dead in apparent hack

By Richard Allen Greene, CNN
July 4, 2011 -- Updated 1509 GMT (2309 HKT) | Filed under: Social Media

(CNN) -- Hackers apparently broke into the FoxNews.com's Twitter feed for political news early Monday and used it to announce -- falsely -- that President Barack Obama had been assassinated.
Obama was "shot twice at a Ross' restaurant in Iowa while campaigning. RIP Obama, best regards to the Obama family," read one of several Twitter messages posted on @FoxNewsPolitics early Monday.

Apparently Hacked, a Fox News Twitter Account Sent Out Alarming Posts
By LIZ ROBBINS and BRIAN STELTER
Published: July 4, 2011

“Hackers sent out several malicious and false Tweets claiming that President Obama had been assassinated. Those reports are incorrect, of course, and the president is spending the July 4 holiday with his family. The hacking is being investigated, and FoxNews.com regrets any distress the false tweets may have created.”


I'm watching a BBC and PBS special called Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State (C) 2005. The mind boggles.

HA

What Does it Cost to Change the World? from WikiLeaks on Vimeo.

Donate to wikileaks.

Idaho Lawmaker Who Drunkenly Stole Car Gets Off With Misdemeanor

Aaron Wiener | July 1, 2011, 11:38AM
After he stole a Ford Excursion and drove it with a .15 blood alcohol content -- almost twice the legal limit -...

My husband is funny sometimes

The following is a little exchange that I found humorus.

Me- "Oh my gosh, honey, we can't afford for her to continue going to school, the CA budget was passed and because the tuition is probably going up 23% and that's not chump change, we only have blah blah blah in the savngs account. If Granpa wants her to get her Masters he's going to have to help more than he has been."

Him- "Well, it's a good thing we didn't have three thousand of them, huh?"

Me - "I got my tubes tied for a reason."

Him - "Good job."

2 articles on the healthcare business

Nonprofit Insurers: Reaping Profits at the Expense of the Consumer
Posted: 06/27/11 10:09 AM ET
Wendell Potter
Analyst, Center for Public Integrity; Former insurance company executive; Author

"... Kaiser alone has spent $700,000 so far this year lobbying lawmakers in Sacramento...

...According to public filings, Kaiser has made a whopping $5 billion in profits since 2009..."


A Depressing Story You need to Read.
Robert KuttnerCo-founder and co-editor, The American Prospect
Posted: 06/26/11 09:05 PM ET

"If President Obama's health reform, the Affordable Care Act, backfires politically, one reason will be the staggering political power of the drug industry.."

Better hope you know exactly how your loved one died

Because most places aint like the CSI you see on TV.
Frontline: Post Mortem


I can't beieve this lizard-like creature has been re-elected 10 times and working in Nawlins for 40 years. No, seriously look at this guy, watch him speak on the Frontline show and then pray to God that you don't die in custody in New Orleans.

Or many other places in the US for that matter. And oh, wait, re-elected? I did not know that coroners were elected, and didn't have to have anything other than a high school diploma in some places.
Huh?
RuEffinKidding me?

My country is so sad now

Report: Private Prisons Love Mass Incarceration, And Want Politicians To Love It Too
Ryan J. Reilly | June 24, 2011, 5:45AM
TPMMuckraker

"...The private prison population has grown 353.7 percent in the past 15 years, according to a study by the Justice Policy Institute."

Michelle Bachmann, frightening to me

Michelle Bachmann is a zealot, and she knows how to talk to her possible voters, the Evangelicals.

" Minnesota politician s who have squared off against Bachmann all speak with a kind of horrified reverence for her martial indomitability, her brilliantly fortifying lack of self-doubt , even the fact that she hasn't appeared to physically age at all in 10 years. "She will not stop," says Cecconi... "

"...Bachmann didn't talk a lot about her religion. She didn't have to—she knows how to signal it in ways that go right over secular heads. In criticizing Obama's Libya policy, for example, she said, "We are the head and not the tail." The phrase comes from Deuteronomy 28:13: "The Lord will make you the head and not the tail." As Rachel Tabachnick has reported, it's often used in theocratic circles to explain why Christians have an obligation to rule...

Republicans do not have the power to block an Elizabeth Warren recess appointment

Here's the rule

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

That’s Article I, section 5, clause 4 of the U.S. Constitution. You have to hand it to the House Republicans. They read the Constitution.

But they may not have read the whole thing. A little bit later—in the very same Constitution—is this passage on presidential powers:

[The President] shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.

That’s Article II, section 3, clause 3 (the emphasis is mine, not the founders’). Yes, you read it correctly. If the Senate wants to adjourn and the House won’t permit it, the President can adjourn both houses of Congress. That would be a fitting end to the House meddling in nominations—a power the Constitution expressly assigns to the President and the Senate, not the House.

Read the whole post here.

SDG&E and solar = epic fail

Me visiting a photovoltaic array ↑ many years ago. Granted, photovoltaic collectors as a source of electricity were notoriously inefficient at that time, but hot water systems were efficient, and that was my training. And that didn't turn out so well:
People ask me why I'm so angry all the time?

"...I trained 23 28 years ago to install solar powered domestic hot water systems. I never worked in the field because the bottom fell out of the market when Reagan yanked the tax breaks on solar powered systems. I live in a country run by fucking idiots, anybody who's paying attention is pissed, I don't know why people ask me why I'm pissed...."

I knew the Sunrise Powerlink was not the pretty picture that SDG&E painted because of my very limited experience with photovolatics and my suspicion of SDG&E's PR campaign. I tried to ask the guy manning the Del Mar Fair booth in 2005 if he knew specifics about the green energy PR that was splashed about the booth and dude didn't have a fucking clue. I knew more from the trip to the photovoltaic array in 1983.

SDG&E's Big Solar Failure

And believe me, SDG&E wants nothing to do with the efficiency of the new cells because they can't make money on them. You could save money investing in them now, and tell the Kochs to fuck off and die, even though they don't have anything to do with my local power company, they still have to fuck around in my state's politics, and probably yours too.

JUNE 20, 2011 6:58 AM PDT
Alta Devices lifts curtain on high-efficiency solar cell
by Martin LaMonica

Semantics

Us killing each other; 4 is a "massacre" in a robbery gone haywire.

New York Shooting: Four Dead In Pharmacy Massacre
By FRANK ELTMAN 06/19/11 11:30 PM ET


Us killing them in a drone attack; 19 not a massacre, just "dead."

19 dead in US drone strikes
Published: June 16, 2011New

Tomgram: Karen Greenberg, How to End the War on Terror

Posted by Karen J. Greenberg at 5:21pm, June 19, 2011.

Every time we get a peek inside Washington’s war on terror, it just couldn’t be uglier. Last week, three little home-grown nightmares from that “war” caught my attention. One you could hardly miss. On the front page of the New York Times, Glenn Carle, a former CIA official, claimed that the Bush administration had wanted “to get” Juan Cole, whose Informed Comment blog devastatingly critiqued the invasion and occupation of Iraq (and who writes regularly for TomDispatch). Not only that, administration officials called on the CIA to dig up the dirt on him.

*sigh*

Quinceañera

Quinceañera (2006)

90 min - Drama - 5 July 2006 (France)

IMDB

I loved this little indie flick. I was raised in southern California and I raised my daughter here so I know what a Quinceañera is and in fact my daughter attended one, altlhough she was not part of the ceremony. Her friend was half Indian, so my kid was in heaven, Oh my gosh, Indian AND Mexican food?

The movie was filmed in 3 weeks on a low budget and the writers explain what an LA Quinceañera is from an outsiders view because they are from England. I thought they did a great job and so did Sundance . It's in Spanglish, which I am used to hearing, but there are subtitle options.

Shutting down cell phone taping of live events

Report: Apple Patents Technology That Will Stop Users From Taping Live Events With Their iPhones
by Jon Bershad | 12:56 pm, June 16th, 2011

Hmmm. My first thought after reading this article? So how long before law enforcement organizations claim exclusive rights to this technology and abuses do NOT get taped by bystanders?

Anthony Weiner

I'm seeing lots of information that say he will resign, because he committed twittercide .

I love his fiery rants . The way I feel towards the hypocritical GOP is so strong. It goes back and forth between a flash of hot anger and that absolutely determined, cold as ice, calm feeling that I get right before I give someone a good tongue lashing that does damage. The GOP are loyal like dogs, kind of stupid, but loyal. Trying to get the Democrats together to get shit done, or close ranks around one of their own is like herding cats.

2:33 p.m. ET

Well, that's it, he resigned.

Shit.

‘Anonymous’ targets Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke

By Business Insider
Monday, June 13th, 2011 -- 8:49 am

Anonymous has set its sights on Ben Bernanke.

The group also provided a Google Map guide to a series of protests, aimed to "* End the campaign finance and lobbying racket* Break up the Fed & Too Big to Fail banks* Enforce RICO laws against organized criminal class* Order Ben Bernanke to step down."

She did it.

Kind of hard to see from the nosebeleed section, but she now has a BS degree.

Dude, I thought she was born with one of those, lol.

I started to cry, but then I yelled instead, you know, kinda the opposite of what actually worked with her, lol. Anyway, since I never graduated from high school, and neither my husband or I graduated from a four year college, this was kind of a big deal.

Her words?

"Sort of anticlimactic Mom, but cool."

Her aunts and I marveled at how well the kids turned out, especially since uh...we didn't have a clue as to how to do this thing called parenting.

E coli vs. terrorism

100% Scared
How the National Security Complex Grows on Terrorism Fears
By Tom Engelhardt

"...In other words, in terms of damage since 9/11, terror attacks have ranked above shark attacks but below just about anything else that could possibly be dangerous to Americans, including car crashes which have racked up between 33,800 and 43,500 deaths a year since 2001...

...The National Security Complex has, in fact, grown fat by relentlessly pursuing the promise of making the country totally secure from terrorism, even as life grows ever less secure for so many Americans when it comes to jobs, homes, finances, and other crucial matters. It is on this pledge of protection that the Complex has managed to extort the tidal flow of funds that have allowed it to bloat to monumental proportions, end up with a yearly national security budget of more than $1.2 trillion, find itself encased in a cocoon of self-protective secrecy, and be 100% assured that its officials will never be brought to justice for any potential crimes they may commit in their “war” on terrorism...."

Asia Times Online :: This crisis has an exit

Asia Times Online :: This crisis has an exit
By Ellen Brown

"...Governments usually get the blame for excessive spending, but governments did not initiate the crisis..."


The Foreign Exchange Market’s Reaction to a Debt Ceiling Increase


As America inches towards a deal raising the debt ceiling, one wonders about the impending reaction of the foreign exchange market. While domestic bond holders would see selling opportunities in the likely event that the Treasury drops its yields, foreign holders of U.S. debt would only see the downside – a weaker dollar.

White House Taking 'Seriously' Al Qaeda's Eying Of America's Gun Show Loophole

“I knew there would be knuckle dragging Obama bashers flapping that one right wing so hard that they (lke their hatred) spin in circles.

Thanks for not disappoint ing y'all!
roflamo”

Favorite (2) Flag as Abusive
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AussieLib
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21 minutes ago (3:59 PM)
How are comments like this even remotely relevant?
I've been watching the thread, I've seen a lot of comments offering personal experience s in regards to gun shows, many stating that purchasing a full auto is not simple, others stating that full auto conversion s are not easy, simple or reliable.
There have been a few that have been ridiculous talking points, a few that have been standard loon comments, but most seem to be calm, rational and significan tly less condescend ingly arrogant than the above.

My response?
It's hard to be calm and reasonable when a country that is less than an hour away from me has lost tens of thousands of people in a ridiculous war on drugs that my country funds both sides of --

"Mexico updates four years of drug war deaths to 34,612"

http://www­.bbc.co.uk­/news/worl­d-latin-am­erica-1217­7875

"U.S. Flailing as American Guns Fuel Mexico’s Drug War"
By Adam Rawnsley November 10, 2010

http://www­.wired.com­/dangerroo­m/2010/11/­u-s-flaili­ng-as-amer­ican-guns-­fuel-mexic­os-drug-wa­r/

"NRA and Some of Its Board Members Have Direct Financial Interests in Stopping Ban on High-Capac­ity Ammunition Magazines" http://www­.commondre­ams.org/ne­wswire/201­1/01/19-3

Is that arrogant enough for you?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Weiner is not the most compelling reason to elect more women

Dan CollinsNew York Editor-At-Large of The Huffington Post
GET UPDATES FROM DAN COLLINS

Anthony Weiner Gives Us Another Reason to Vote for Women
Posted: 06/ 6/11 04:59 PM ET

Just before Anthony Weiner went before the cameras to announce his Twittering problem, he confessed all to Nancy Pelosi.

"She was not happy," he reported.

"....The rest of us might want to confine ourselves to electing women."


This is:

Facts on Women in Congress 2011
Summary
Women hold 89, or 16.5%, of the 535 seats in the 112th US Congress — 17, or 17.0%, of the 100 seats in the Senate and 72, or 16.5%, of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. In addition, three women serve as Delegates to the House from Guam, the Virgin Islands and Washington, DC.

We are over 50% of the population and a measly 17% of Congress.

So, how do we get the fucking banksters out of our way?