Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing

I guess it has come down to throwing the elderly out of malls so that we don't have to deal with the reality of King George's War

An 80-year-old church deacon was removed from the Smith Haven Mall yesterday in a wheelchair and arrested by police for refusing to remove a T-shirt protesting the Iraq War.Police said that Don Zirkel, of Bethpage, was disturbing shoppers at the Lake Grove mall with his T-shirt, which had what they described as "graphic anti-war images." Zirkel, a deacon at Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Wyandanch, said his shirt had the death tolls of American military personnel and Iraqis - 4,000 and 1 million - and the words "Dead" and "Enough." The shirt also has three blotches resembling blood splatters.

Our Fascist State - Business Reaps Reward- Taxpayers Bear the Cost

Wal-Mart Prevails in Case to Recover Health Costs

The family of Deborah Shank has lost its last chance to stop Wal-Mart Stores from recouping hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical expenses from an accident settlement the Shanks hoped to use for her future care in a nursing home.

Last November, the WSJ reported in a front-page story how the retail giant had sued Deborah Shank—a 52-year-old former Wal-Mart employee left permanently brain damaged from a car accident nearly eight years ago—for the money and won. Like most employee health plans, Wal-Mart’s gives it the right to recover medical expenses for accident-related care if a worker also collects damages in an injury suit.

After losing in federal court and again on appeal, the Shanks’ last legal hope was a bid to the U.S. Supreme Court. Yesterday, though, the court announced it wouldn’t take up the case, bringing the matter to a close.

More companies see such recoveries as a way to make a dent in soaring health care costs. Daphne Moore, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said, “It’s a very sad case, and we understand that people have a very emotional and sympathetic reaction.” But the plan, she said, is obligated to act in the interest of the health benefits of its employees as a whole. The benefits are designed so that when an employee does have an accident, “the plan steps in and covers those medical expenses so our associates don’t have to worry about them being covered,” and then later to reimburse the plan if and when they receive funds for the accident from a third party, she said.

Wal-Mart originally sued for nearly $470,000 in medical expenses after the May 2000 accident, charging that the Shanks had violated the terms of the health plan by not reimbursing it. But after legal fees and some medical expenses, only $417,000 of the $700,000 that Mrs. Shank was awarded remained in a special trust set up specifically for her care.

Though the case was long shot, some health plan law specialists hoped the U.S. Supreme Court would tackle it to resolve a still murky question in the courts over the extent to which company health plans can recover from employees’ accident settlements. Many plans use language like Wal-Mart’s, which dictates that it is to be paid first out of any settlement, regardless of what remains for the injured person. Moreover, the victim is responsible for all legal costs in pursuing the suit.

As for Deborah Shank, her husband (pictured with her at right) says the family still has some of the roughly $10,000 in donations it received last fall after a flurry of media attention to supplement her care in a Jackson, Mo., nursing home. When it runs out, she may have to be moved from a private to a semi-private room. “I was ready for the worse, but I’m still disappointed,” he says. “Now the government will be all that’s left to take care of her.”

So now that the fascist control the SCOTUS, the tax payers are on the hook. This money was in a trust fund for her future care, now it goes to Wal-Mart and the tax payer will have to cover the cost of her care for the next 30 years.

St John - Straight Shootin' Again - NOT

Every now again it is necessary to post another blogs post here in full…this is one of those cases. This is important stuff!  From Firedoglake

Holding McCain Accountable For Campaign Finance Violations

Yesterday, on behalf of a large number of progressive bloggers and activists, Jane went to the FEC and filed an official complaint against John McCain's alleged campaign finance violations. We've been asking a lot of questions about this, and the answers have been less than forthcoming.   So, instead of just sitting here and stewing about yet another GOP ethical problem, we decided to put our action where our concerns were.   

As you'll see from the video, with some help from the great folks at PoliticsTV, Jane handed over the official complaint to the FEC yesterday to get the process going:

“John McCain is a campaign finance criminal who is flouting the very regulations he championed,” Jane Hamsher commented while delivering the complaint. “He believes the law is for someone else, not him. It's the height of hypocrisy.”

As Markos of DailyKos pointed out in joining the complaint, “John McCain has officially blown past campaign spending limits mandated by his original acceptance of public campaign funding. While he has signaled his intent to withdraw from such financing, that has been hindered by the fact that he used the promise of public funding to secure a campaign loan.”  Guess the campaign finance laws only apply when they aren't inconvenient for McCain's ambitions.

As you likely know, the FEC is stymied at the moment due to the Bush Administration trying to shove Hans Von Spakovsky and all of his "caging" and other alleged nefarious campaign activities onto the election commission as a GOP dirty tricks ringer.  Because the Democratic-led Congress said "no way" to Hans being voted through in a bloc vote, the Administration and their pal, Mitch McConnell, have  balked at any FEC commissioner vote in the Senate.  Which means that in this very important 2008 election cycle, the FEC is unable to act promptly to enforce the campaign finance laws.

Even so, FEC Chairman David Mason sent McCain's campaign a strongly worded letter (PDF), letting them know that even though McCain didn't consider his word on accepting public financing binding, that the FEC was not about to let him off the legal hook.  What did McCain do?  He ignored the letter, secured a loan based on representations of obtaining public financing and then blew past the public financing law spending limits...and he's still raising campaign cash, too. 

We decided that McCain shouldn't be allowed to get away with this without questions -- lots and lots of questions -- being asked.  The hypocrisy of the so-called "maverick" violating a law which he championed because it suits his purposes this time around is horrifying.  Even worse is the relative silence of the press on this, given the rank hypocrisy of violations of McCain's "signature" issue and all.  Does it get to be your signature issue if you are blatantly violating it in an in-your-face maneuver after being warned not to by the head of the FEC?  I think not. 

If the press isn't going to ask the necessary questions, then we have to do it ourselves.  You can join in, too --  sign your name to the complaint here.  At that link, you'll find a copy of the FEC filing and a list of signatories thus far.  And help us get the word out on the need for McCain to be held accountable for any violations of the law that has his own name on it....and any other laws of which he may be in violation.

For shame... 

 

U.S. death toll in Iraq reaches 4,000

Grim milestone reached when IED kills 4 U.S. soldiers in Baghdad

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb killed four U.S. soldiers in Baghdad on Sunday, the military said, pushing the overall American death toll in the five-year war to at least 4,000.

The grim milestone came on the same day that rockets and mortars pounded the U.S.-protected Green Zone, underscoring the fragile security situation and the resilience of both Sunni and Shiite extremist groups despite an overall lull in violence.

A Multi-National Division — Baghdad soldier also was wounded in the roadside bombing, which struck the soldiers' patrol vehicle about 10 p.m. in southern Baghdad, according to a statement.

Identities of those killed were withheld pending notification of relatives.

The 4,000 figure includes eight civilians who worked for the Department of Defense.

Last year, the U.S. military deaths spiked along with the Pentagon's "surge" — the arrival of more than 30,000 extra troops trying to regain control of Baghdad and surrounding areas. The mission was generally considered a success, but the cost was evident as soldiers pushed into Sunni insurgent strongholds and challenged Shiite militias.

Military deaths rose above 100 for three consecutive months for the first time during the war: April 2007, 104; May, 126 and June at 101.

The death toll has seesawed since, with 2007 ending as the deadliest year for American troops at 901 deaths. That was 51 more deaths than 2004, the second deadliest year for U.S. soldiers.

More soldiers surviving wounds
The milestones for each 1,000 deaths — while an arbitrary marker — serve to rivet attention on the war and have come during a range of pivotal moments.

When the 1,000th American died in September 2004, the insurgency was gaining steam. The 2,000-death mark came in October 2005 as Iraq voted on a new constitution. The Pentagon announced its 3,000th loss on the last day of 2006 — a day after Saddam Hussein was hanged and closing a year marked by rampant sectarian violence.

The deaths taken by U.S. soldiers in Iraq, however, are far less than in other modern American wars. In Vietnam, the U.S. lost on average about 4,850 soldiers a year from 1963-75. In the Korean war, from 1950-53, the U.S. lost about 12,300 soldiers a year.

But a hallmark of the Iraq war is the high wounded-to-killed ratio, partly because of advances in battlefield medicine, enhanced protective gear worn by soldiers and reinforced armored vehicles.

There have been about 15 soldiers wounded for every fatality in Iraq, compared with 2.6 per death in Vietnam and 2.8 in Korea.

 

4000 needless deaths, all based on lies from Bush and company. Over 60,000 wounded!

Have you felt the Trickle yet?

Thank you to David Sirota for simply stating how only the wealthy have a voice anymore.


Confronting an energy and climate emergency, Republicans' answer was not massive alternative energy investments, but a 2005 energy bill giving tax breaks to the carbon-belching fossil fuel companies that finance the GOP. In the face of a health care catastrophe, the Bush administration's 2003 Medicare bill didn't crack down on pharmaceutical industry profiteering, but instead created a system that effectively subsidizes drug industry campaign donors. The list of examples goes on, and now includes the housing crisis.
The Fed's action says the solution to the credit crunch is not to re-regulate the banking industry or force it to clean house, but to loan Wall Street your hard-earned taxpayer money, allowing the same destructive system to remain and permitting the same vultures to stay in their jobs — and, of course, to keep writing big campaign checks.
But worst of all is the Trickle Down-ism. For three decades, our government has said economic challenges can be solved with tax cuts for the wealthy — the same people who, not coincidentally, underwrite political campaigns. Trickle Down-ism claims that the wealthy will spend the tax cuts and the benefits will "trickle down" to us commoners.
It's the same nonsense with housing today. The root of the financial crisis is mortgage defaults — brought on, in part, by Trickle Down-ism's original failure to raise wages. Yet, rather than help borrowers pay or restructure their mortgages, the government is covering the banks' losses, claiming that aid will eventually "trickle down" and benefit the rest of us.

Just Like Here At Home - In The Good Ol' USofA

Headed for Olympics? Beware of Big Brother

Olympic Attendees Will Be Bugged and Searched, U.S. State Department Says

If you're planning on attending this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing, expect your hotel room to be bugged and searched while you're not there.

That's one of the warnings in a new fact sheet on the 2008 Olympics issued today by the U.S. State Department to Americans who intend to go to the games that are being hosted by the Chinese government.

"All visitors should be aware that they have no reasonable expectation of privacy in public or private locations," the fact sheet says. "All hotel rooms and offices are considered to be subject to on-site or remote technical monitoring at all times. Hotel rooms, residences and offices may be accessed at any time without the occupant's consent or knowledge."

This is similar to advice that U.S. officials visiting China follow. The U.S. military has been increasingly worried about Chinese electronic surveillance capabilities.

 

It’s awful nice of the Chinese Government to go to so much effort to make American tourists feel at home during the Olympics.

Moral Turpitude - Not Since Porky's Have I Even Heard The Phrase

Moral failure bars dandy from US

Life probably holds few surprises for a man who has worked as a prostitute and been nailed to a cross in the Philippines. Even so, the British writer, artist and dandy Sebastian Horsley was miffed to find himself refused entry to the US this week on the grounds of "moral turpitude".

Horsley, 45, had travelled to New York on Tuesday to promote his gleefully seedy memoir, Dandy in the Underworld. But things started to go wrong at immigration at the city's Newark airport.

"I'd been planning the go the US for six months," he told the Guardian yesterday. "I had got to the airport in full dandy regalia - top hat, long velvet coat, velvet scarf. One concession to their Ivy League sensibilities was that I had taken off my nail polish. When I put my finger in the scanner, they took me aside and interrogated me for eight hours."

Horsley said he had a previous conviction in the US for possession of amphetamine sulphate but assumed it had expired. However, his book did not do him any favours with the immigration officers.

"They said ... they knew I had been a crack addict, a heroin addict and a prostitute," he said.

"The good news was that they'd read the book - but the bad news was they'd read the book, and I was deported for my notoriety and for being an alien convicted of a crime involving 'moral turpitude'."

Come on, Moral –Friggin’- Turpitude I literally have only ever heard the term used as a joke, I knew this clause used to exist in old school contracts , but holy cow don’t we have some terrorists to catch or something a bit more important to worry about then moral turpitude.

“Do I mind what?”
“It's disgusting. The two of you, squirming about like a pair of eels in heat. ”

“You're a disgrace”.

“Yeah? Well, it beats waddlin' aroundlike a frigid hippopotamus, Beulah. ”

“What did you call me? ”

“Beulah... Beulah Ballbreaker ”

“Who do you think you're talking to? ”
“Well, if l heard a hurdy-gurdy playin', I'd think I was talkin' to the fat lady in the circus.. But I guess I’m talkin' to a ton of bad news named Beulah, Beulah, Beulah. ”

“Look, ladies, I don't think this... ”
“You butt out. ”

“Moral turpitude. ”

“What? ”
“Moral turpitude. Read your contract, Miss Honeywell. l'll have you fired for moral turpitude. ”

“ You can take your moral turpitude and you can stick it up the old gazoo, Beulah. ”

“Gee, Lynn, I don't know. "Moral turpitude".”
“Oh, come on. ”

“All right, Brian- I'll talk to Coach Goodenough. ”
 “I appreciate that But don't expect too much. ”
“Now, come on, we're late for practice. ”

“Smell that air.  ”

“Oh, boy. Oh, boy. ”

“The boys' locker room always turned me on. ”

“Really? ”

“Yeah. ”

“Yeah? ”
“Yeah. ”

“Yeah. ”

 

 

Our Government At Work

Here's a triple dipper

By LUCY MORGAN
Times Senior Correspondent

TALLAHASSEE — At a time when Florida’s universities are facing millions of dollars in budget cuts, Florida State University has hired a prominent state senator to coordinate a new reading program in her home county.

Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, is being paid $120,000 a year to work on a program she helped create and fund.

Lynn also happens to be chairwoman of the Senate’s Higher Education Appropriations Committee, with great influence over university budgets.

“It’s just a coincidence,’’ said FSU President T.K. Wetherell, a former House speaker and appropriations chair who is widely known for his wily political dealings with the Legislature.

“I see no conflict considering we have no money this year,’’ Lynn said when asked if the new job is appropriate for a lawmaker with so much influence over university budgets.

The job makes Lynn a “triple dipper.’’ She draws a $3,100 a month retirement check that she earned as a career educator in Volusia County, her $31,000 a year legislative salary, and $120,000 a year from FSU.

Lynn, 78, has a doctorate in education from the University of Florida and was a teacher, reading and language arts supervisor and assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction in Volusia County before retiring in 1989.

Lynn is the second senator hired by one of the state’s major universities this year, the latest example of part-time jobs given to lawmakers by public institutions with budgets that depend on the Legislature.

The University of Florida hired Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Melbourne, chairman of the Senate Finance and Tax Committee. He is paid $75,000 a year as a lecturer, a salary more in line with those paid to tenured professors.

Apparently the Florida Senate needs to provide some remedial ethics training to the majority caucus. All together now. Can you say “conflict of interest”……………

 

Conflict of interest can be defined as any situation in which an individual or corporation (either private or governmental) is in a position to exploit a professional or official capacity in some way for their personal or corporate benefit.

Depending upon the law or rules related to a particular organization, the existence of a conflict of interest may not, in and of itself, be evidence of wrongdoing. In fact, for many professionals, it is virtually impossible to avoid having conflicts of interest from time to time. A conflict of interest can, however, become a legal matter for example when an individual tries (and/or succeeds in) influencing the outcome of a decision, for personal benefit. A director or executive of a corporation will be subject to legal liability if a conflict of interest breaches their Duty of Loyalty.

There often is confusion over these two situations. Someone accused of a conflict of interest may deny that a conflict exists because he/she did not act improperly. In fact, a conflict of interest does exist even if there are no improper acts as a result of it. (One way to understand this is to use the term "conflict of roles". A person with two roles - an individual who owns stock and is also a government official, for example - may experience situations where those two roles conflict. The conflict can be mitigated - see below - but it still exists. In and of itself, having two roles is not illegal, but the differing roles will certainly provide an incentive for improper acts in some circumstances.)

 

Big Brother Is Watching - Clueless But Watching

A Good Name Dragged Down

Consumers Get Tangled In Terrorist Watchlist

One man went into a Glen Burnie, Md., Toyota dealership to buy a car, only to be told that a name check revealed he was on a U.S. Treasury Department watchlist of suspected terrorists and drug dealers. He had to be "checked for tattoos," he said, to make sure he wasn't the suspect.

An 18-year-old found he could not open an account to accept credit card payments for his fledgling technology consulting business because his name was similar to that of a Libyan official on the watchlist.

A former U.S. Navy officer who served in the Persian Gulf and whose father was killed in the Korean War when he was a child, found himself locked out of his PayPal account because his name was similar to one on the watchlist.

"What do I need to do to remove my name from this list?" the officer wrote to Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which compiles the list. He signed off, "An EXTREMELY insulted veteran of the U.S. Navy."

More American consumers have gotten caught up in a special brand of watchlist purgatory because their names are similar to ones on OFAC's list of "specially designated nationals," according to e-mai?s and other documents released under court order yesterday. By law, businesses are barred from conducting transactions with anyone on the list. Yesterday's court-ordered release of documents to the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, offers a window into the kinds of disruptions suffered by those ensnared in the process, as well as the difficulty of clearing their names.

What’s next? body cavity searches for seating at Chili’s

The Law of Unintended Consequences

The Law of Unintended Consequences

The Law of Unintended Consequences states that the unintended consequences of an action will overwhelm the intended ones. The classic example is the bypass, built to relieve traffic congestion on the main road, that attracts new development and with it more traffic, resulting in two congested streets instead of one.

So could there be a little unexpected impact on the home foreclosures do to the dramatic changes in bankruptcy laws passed by the fascist Bush regime

            Houses are left behind to pay car, credit bills

 

Cash-strapped consumers with costly loans are changing priorities as home values fall.

Sandra and Thomas Floyd figured they'd live in the north Minneapolis home they've owned for 23 years until the day they died. But now they're joining the ranks of homeowners across the country who are keeping their credit cards and the keys to their car, but letting the house go.

"Who wants to pay the mortgage company and still have nothing to show for it?" said Thomas Floyd, whose loan now far outweighs the value of his house.

Foreclosure used to be considered a last resort. Fearful of the financial and social stain that came with losing a house, homeowners did whatever they could to make payments.

But falling home values combined with costly subprime loans are forcing an increasing number of cash-strapped homeowners to question their priorities. Scrape together monthly payments on a house that's now worth less than the mortgage, or skip that payment but remain current on credit card debt and other bills and try to start anew?

 

A Brief Economics Lessen

I bet Shrub does not have a clue of what to do about the economy

Here is the picture: The U.S. economy, which has been kept alive by enormous debt expansion that has overreached its limit, is falling into recession. The traditional way out by expanding the supply of money and credit is blocked by the impaired banking system, the levels of consumer debt, the collapsing value of the U.S.

dollar and rising inflation.
The Bush regime is attempting to bypass the stalled credit expansion by sending Americans $600 checks, money that will mainly be used to reduce existing credit card debt and not to fund new consumption.
The United States is dependent on foreigners not only for energy but also for manufactured goods and advanced technology products. The United States is dependent on foreigners to finance our consumption of $800 billion annually more than the United States produces. The United States is dependent on foreigners to finance its red ink wars, and the U.S. government's budget deficit is now expanding, as tax revenues decline with the declining economy.
The bottom line: U.S. power is enfeebled. U.S. power depends on the willingness of foreigners to finance our wars and on the willingness of foreigners to continue to accumulate depreciating dollar assets.
The United States cannot close its trade deficit. Oil prices are rising, and offshore production of goods and services for U.S. markets results in a dollar-for-dollar increase in imports, while reducing the supply of domestic goods available for export.
The United States cannot close its budget deficit while it is squandering vast sums on wars that serve no U.S. purpose, handing out $150 billion in red-ink rebates and falling into recession.
U.S. living standards, which have been stagnant for years, will plummet once dollar decline forces China off the dollar peg. So far, prices of the Chinese-made goods on Wal-Mart shelves have not risen, because the Chinese currency, pegged to the dollar, falls in value with the dollar. In a word, tottering U.S. living standards are being supported by China's willingness to subsidize U.S. consumption by keeping its currency grossly undervalued.
The United States is overextended economically and militarily, just as was Great Britain with the fall of France in the opening days of World War II. The British had the Americans to bail them out. After the chewing gum and bailing wire patch-ups are exhausted, who is going to bail us out?

Our Fascist State - The Price of Free Speech - Your Privacy

'Muscle' Silences Credit Card Adversaries

Travel to D.C., but Refuse Demand to Reveal Financial Information in Exchange for Chance to Testify

At the 11th hour, the credit companies found a way to stop those that had traveled to Washington today to tell their story to the Congressional panel on consumer credit.

The banks whose practices were about to be discussed on Capital Hill were demanding that those testifying before Congress about credit card practices sign a waiver that allowed their personal financial information be revealed to the public.

The Republicans on the sub-committee were backing the bank?' requests and a procedural battle would have ensued.

All the panelists declined to sign the waiver.

Autry described the waiver "as broad and vague as their agreement is deceitful. It said basically, anywhere, anytime, any issue involving your credit is fair game in any public forum."

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the Sub-Committee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, announced the surprising change and why the expected panelists would not be appearing as scheduled.

 

Anyone who fails to see that the republic party is just the tool of the corporations that run our fascist state after reading this is beyond hope

GOP - Sleeze Machine

What an Ass

Our Police State - What Have We Become?

Record-high ratio of Americans in prison

 

NEW YORK -- For the first time in U.S. history, more than one of every 100 adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report documenting America's rank as the world's No. 1 incarcerator. It urges states to curtail corrections spending by placing fewer low-risk offenders behind bars.

Using state-by-state data, the report says 2,319,258 Americans were in jail or prison at the start of 2008 - one out of every 99.1 adults. Whether per capita or in raw numbers, it's more than any other nation.

The report, released Thursday by the Pew Center on the States, said the 50 states spent more than $49 billion on corrections last year, up from less than $11 billion 20 years earlier. The rate of increase for prison costs was six times greater than for higher education spending, the report said.

The steadily growing inmate population "is saddling cash-strapped states with soaring costs they can ill afford and failing to have a clear impact either on recidivism or overall crime," the report said.

And this does not factor in those “In The System” just actual incarcerations.