Compassionate Socialism

Income-Inequality Not This Bad Since 1920s

2007-10-12T22:27:00.000-04:00

Income-Inequality Gap Widens
By Greg Ip
The Wall Street Journal

Friday 12 October 2007

Read it here.

Bush's veto

2007-10-04T01:45:00.000-04:00

American Political Evolution

2007-09-23T19:21:00.001-04:00

"I Killed the Pig"

2007-09-23T19:19:00.000-04:00

Rush Limbaugh and his chauffeur were out driving in the country and
accidentally hit and killed a pig that had wandered out on a country road.

Limbaugh told the chauffeur to drive up to the farm and apologize to
the farmer.

They drove up to the farm, the chauffeur got out and knocked on the
front door and was let in. He was in there for what seemed hours. When
he came out, Limbaugh was confused about why his employee had been
there so long.

"Well, first the farmer shook my hand, then he offered me a beer, then
his wife brought me some cookies, and his daughter showered me with
kisses," explained the driver.

"What did you tell the farmer?" Limbaugh asked.

The chauffeur replied, "I told him that I was Rush Limbaugh's driver
and I'd just killed the pig."

The Police State Cometh

2007-09-23T18:57:00.000-04:00

Free Speech Takes A Capitol Beating

(Posted on Sat, 22 Sep 2007 20:29:31 -0400)

By Mike Ferner

Washington - Free speech took a beating with another round of arrests September 18 in the nation's capital. It was administered by the police at a rally sponsored by the most unlikely-sounding group to be involved in such a thing: Veterans for Freedom.

U.S. Senators Joe Lieberman, John McCain and Lindsey Graham were among the featured speakers at the rally held in Upper Senate Park on Capitol Hill. About 150 people attended the rally to support the group's pro- war position, as did about 30 people who were not in support. Before the rally concluded, Leah Bolger, David Barrows, Christine Rainwater, Anne Kitridge, and Anne Katz were arrested by Capitol Police.

Barrows said he had gone to the park because he heard Lieberman was going to speak. When the Senator was talking, Barrows spoke out, "I don't want your 'bomb and run genocide' in Iran."

As soon as I did, a plainclothes policeman came up to me and said, "You're under arrest," the 60 year-old D.C. resident continued. But, Barrows said, instead of going with the officer immediately he moved another six feet closer to the stage, whereupon he was placed under arrest.

It wasn't until he was taken to the Capitol Police station that Barrows discovered one of the charges against him was assault. "They told me I was being charged with assaulting a Gold Star mother at the rally. When I looked at their report, the accuser's name and address had been blacked out but I recognized the photo of a well-groomed Asian-American woman I'd seen around Capitol Hill several times. Why in the world would I assault a Gold Star Mother? It makes no sense."

Barrows was given a "stay away" order (not allowed to step foot on and Capitol property which includes the Capitol Building, the five House and Senate office buildings, and assorted bits of property adjoining them) and has a trial date pending.

Bolger, a retired Navy Commander and member of Veterans For Peace, said she went to the park for the same reason Barrows did, "to hear Lieberman, McCain and Lindsey Graham. She was arrested and charged with unlawful assembly. After a night in the D.C. Metro Police lockup she pled not guilty at her arraignment. Trial is set for October 23 in D.C. Superior Court.

"It's just bizzare," the Corvallis, Oregon resident said. How can I be charged with 'unlawful assembly' when I was at an outdoor rally in a public park sponsored by someone else? I was in the Hart Senate Office Building when I heard Lieberman was supposed to speak, and I went to hear him."

She said she was sympathetically talking with a member of a group called "Families United" about the pain of losing a loved one, when a Capitol Hill police officer told her and Adam Kokesh, co-chair of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) to move to the other side of a sidewalk serving as a rough demarcation line between the Veterans for Freedom members and others, generally defined.

Bolger continued that, "At one point in his remarks, Senator Graham gestured to those of us separated from the main group and said, 'These people just don't get it. The reason your loved ones fought and died was for them to have the right to do what they're doing right now.' Bolger responded out loud to Lieberman that "You can't win when you're killing innocent people."

"Then the cop told me, 'this is your second warning,'" Bolger added. "And then when I said to Lieberman, 'This war is wrong. America is wrong.' I was arrested. Somehow I doubt the same thing would have happened had I said 'God Bless America' really loudly."

Another person arrested, Annie Katz, from Kingston, New York, said reading the Constitution aloud in Upper Senate Park that day was enough to get her arrested.

Attorney Jack Berringer, who represented Barrows and Bolger, complained of what he called the court's "preventive" use of stay away orders to limit the movements of protesters and potential protesters, but as aggravating as those are, he said, "they're not the real story here. The real story is how these people (Bolger, Barrows, and others arrested in peace protests) are fighting to keep free speech alive."

Berringer referred to a web site that several people are constructing who have represented themselves "pro se" in similar cases. He and attorney Mark Goldstone are advising the group's work which he hopes will become a legal resource for others.
____

Ferner is an independent journalist from Ohio.

The US dollar continues to suck and everybody knows it

2007-09-23T01:54:00.000-04:00

I just checked. The US dollar = 1.41 euros.
--------
Israel asks U.S. foreign aid be paid in EUROS

Secretary of State Rice has acknowledged a communique from Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Levni which requests that all foreign aid payments and loans from the United States be made in Euros rather than in Dollars. Foreign Minister Levni cited the rapidly declining dollar and it's disfavor as a world currency as reasons for the request.
"In the spirit of Yom Kippur, the United States will not hold Israel to any agreements obligating them to accept Dollars as payment for their foreigh aid. We will translate our obligations into Euros or whatever currency that best fits Israel's needs" Secretary RIce said in the Friday, Sept 21 announcement.

"We need to place our Israeli obligations at the top of our national prioriy list. Israel should not suffer any inconvenience due to currency fluctuations" said Rice before heading off to Camp David.

A similar request from Egypt was declined last week.

The return of the robber barons

2007-09-23T00:54:00.000-04:00

Class inequality in the US is astounding and growing rapidly. But we don't really hear or read about it, because all the news - even on the "liberal" NPR focuses on the "business" report. In other words, the economic health is that of the corporations and their CEOs. If it's good for them, it's good for business and good for the USA. How about what's good for the workers? Why can't we have a "workers' report?" Of course, if that actually happened, eyes might be opened. Or not. Americans tend to have brains rotted from within by Survivor and American Idol, and other "reality" shows.

The very wealthiest make SO MUCH more than their workers, and pay so little in taxes due to all the loopholes placed intentionally in the tax code by sympathetic Congresscritters, we're quickly becoming a nation of haves and have-nots. I was in El Salvador this past summer and saw what that looks like. In other words, we're headed the way of becoming a third-world country.

Our economy is in shambles in the world market - the euro and the British pound are both killing the dollar and the Canadian dollar has achieved parity with the USD. All it would take now is the Chinese calling in their notes on all they're propping up here to cause another Great Depression. What's holding them back? Probably the fact that a depression can't be localized - it would affect them, too.

We need a drastic change in all things US. I hate that folks who favor liberalism and/or socialism are considered no better than pedophiles in our backward nation. Without liberalism (or progressivism), we would have had no changes in our society. Ever. It allows that government - all three branches - are there to help and protect the powerless and the minorities. After all, the powerful and those in the majority hardly require protection.

Socialism has been in place, in vary degrees, throughout most of the Western World. The glaring exception, of course, is the US. Look at health care. It is plainly obvious that a single-payer system is the best AND the most economically-sound system that takes care of ALL the residents of at country. But all the conservatives (Republicans and Democrats alike) need do is say, "Socialized medicine!" and the American sheeple run scared, not caring to notice that it would be better for them and for everyone else.

This is where so many Americans are so lacking: a lack of commitment to a "social contract." Hillary was criticized roundly for her book, It Takes a Village, but she was right. In fact, the idea that the entire community can help shape a person's mental and physical health is a very old one. I particularly enjoy pointing out to fundies that the message of Jesus, as well as the life of the early Christian church, was very socialistic. Everyone helped everyone else. The fundies can't refute it, so they start spewing more bullshit than is normal for them. I live in anticipation of their heads exploding some day from the cognitive dissonance.

But the concept of helping others to make eveyone better is so different, is it not, from the modern-day American mindset of "Screw you. What's in it for me?"

Before I ramble forever, please read the following article. It's a good one:

America in Crisis: The Liberal Challenge and the Prospects for Socialism

Olbermann to Bush: "Your hypocrisy is so vast."

2007-09-23T00:38:00.000-04:00

Keith Olbermann is growing more aggressive in his condemnations of BushCo. Be thankful someone is. The mainstream media in this country no longer tolerates true journalism, except in rare instances - Keith is one of those. Let's all support him.

General Betrayus - described by a former superior as an "ass-kissing little chickenshit" - should be tarred and feathered for agreeing to serve as Bush's cheerleader for this illegal invasion and occupation some call a "war."

Then we have the Senate - including 21 Democrats, damn them! - voting to censure moveon.org, thereby attempting an end run on the Constitution's protection of free speech. You remember the Constitution, don't you? That "goddamn piece of paper," as Dubya referred to it. The Dems were voted into the majority last November because people wanted a change - including ending this "war." But, now that the D's have the majority - they do... nothing. Of course, I'm sure the fact that most are millionaires (at the least) and are heavily invested in corporations that are making a killing (pun intended) with the "defense" industry, is purely coincidental. Hypocritical bastards.

Check out my man Keith:

Olbermann to Bush: "Your Hypocrisy Is So Vast"