Last week, New Jersey charged eight businesses with gouging customers with exorbitant prices after Hurricane Sandy — seven gas stations and a hotel. What struck me as curious was the relatively low increases that were the basis for the change, including an eleven percent increase.
Continue reading “New Jersey Charges Seven Gas Stations and a Hotel With Gouging”
A Denver family has a notable complaint about their mail service. The Porch family alleges that a carrier delivered mail to their house and walked by the body of Dale Porch, 46, who collapsed on his porch after working “the graveyard shift” at his job. The carrier reportedly said and did nothing.
Continue reading “Postal Worker Accused Of Stepping Around Dying Man In Denver In Delivering Mail”
By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Still reeling from the unprecedented hits of last week’s national election, Tea Partiers have become particularly irrational. In Lebanon Ohio, local tea party officials called for a “counter-revolution” even as they mourned the death of America. Texas Republican official, Peter Morrison, has publicly asked for an “amicable divorce” of godfearin’ GOP’ers from the “maggots” (his words) who voted for Obama. Morrison, who also has a job screening textbooks for the great state of Texas, is particularly incensed at Asian-Americans and Hispanics who voted for Obama, accusing them of voting on an “ethnic basis.” Perhaps the greatest case of kettle blacking in recent memory.
by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger
“If any man is able to convince me and show me that I do not think or act right, I will gladly change; for I seek the truth by which no man was ever injured. But he is injured who abides in his error and ignorance.” – Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, VI, 21.
Anyone who has read my work here or known me for any length of time has heard me use this quote before. It is more than just a pithy quote from one of the great Stoic minds of antiquity, it is a summation of one of my personal ethics. Earlier this week, Professor Turley posted an item about former President Bill Clinton entitled “Clinton: We Don’t Need A President Who Will Not Tell You The Truth“. The gist of the article was that a President who lied under oath as Clinton did most certainly didn’t need to be critical of other politicians lying as it was simple hypocrisy even if the point former President Clinton made was valid. This brings us to a prime and necessary component of the propaganda scenario, the liar. Lying is a commonality in our species. Everyone lies about something some time. “No, that dress doesn’t make you look fat, honey.” “I was ambushed by baboons on the way to work this morning.” “I can’t go out tonight because I have to stay home and wax my dog.” Or the classic . . .
These are not the lies that are of primary importance in propaganda. White lies, while not necessarily ethically the best thing in the world, are a social lubricant that helps keep society cohesive. If everyone told the truth about everything all the time, the homicide and suicide rates would probably sky-rocket. We are going to focus on the truly bad actors. The liars in propaganda who are looking to get you to do something they want that is usually not in your best interests and/or harmful to others. Since many dangerous liars are sociopaths or psychopaths, the question becomes how do you spot a liar, a sociopath or a psychopath? First we start with how to spot a generic liar before considering how to spot socio- and psychopaths at a later date.
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)- Guest Blogger
I was struck by a news story earlier this week, not only because of its importance, but because of how little air time it received in the mass media. Earlier this week, the victims of the 2011 mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona had a chance to speak to the man responsible for those hideous acts. One statement was especially powerful and it was from the husband of Gabby Giffords, now a former Congresswoman from Arizona. I apologize for the length of the following quotations, but I think it is important to read most of what Gabby’s husband said to Mr. Jared Loughner, who perpetrated the crime. Continue reading “Guns and the Collateral Damage That They Do”
Submitted by: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger
Normally, when I work on a guest blog it takes me some hours of research and writing since I type slowly and try to be as accurate as I can be. This one will be a little different because it is written mainly to refer you to the transcript and/or podcast of a fantastic interview with the investigative journalists Donald L.Bartlett and James B. Steele. The interview was conducted by Rob Kall, whose OpEdNews website http://www.opednews.com/ is one that I look to for interesting insight into the political issues of the day. The interview deals with these authors’s current book which is called: The Betrayal of the American Dream”.
Rob Kall’s interview with the author’s is lengthy and so rather than my usual effort to provide a synopsis and relevant quotes of a position that I endorse, I’m going to give you a hint of what this interview contains and the provide you the links so that you can make your decision on the author’s thesis and hopefully be informed on some very important issues for all of us. Readers here know I supported President Obama for re-election, but have been critical of many of his policies. This interview and the book that it is about, demonstrate that the forces at play in the rapid decline of the American Middle Class seem beyond the power of our government to control, simply because they are backed by an elite that not only finances election campaigns, but that has also dominated the discussion with so much false propaganda, that today’s politicians who were born later than 1960 are not even familiar with the reality of how much our economic landscape has changed. Because of this unfamiliarity many don’t even have the conceptualization that things used to be different and why they’ve changed so drastically. In that sense this is less about conspiracy and more about the effect poor education, corporate media and propaganda can accomplish. When I say that the problem is beyond government’s power to fix, it is with the caveat that if the issues presented here were first understood, then maybe we could combat them. In some sense we are all blind men, hypothesizing the nature of an elephant by touching different parts. This interview and the book it is about can miraculously cure the blindness and start the discussion on how we can deal with this 3,000 pound elephant in the room we call America.
I will mention two, among many, of the major factors in the decline of the American Middle Class laid out by the authors. The first is that until the 1970’s our Income Tax was really graduated to the point that government had ample revenue to do its job. The second is that one of the major revenue sources for the Federal Government was tariffs. It was the dismantling of the graduated Income Tax and the proliferation of trade agreements reducing tariffs (and tariff revenue) that have been major pieces in the shipping of jobs overseas, increasing our national debt and destroying what was the greatest industrial economy in the World. For me, a child born to politically aware parents, before the end of World War II, I’ve lived through this history and watched in dismay as these changes took effect. Most Americans though, except for those most prescient, have no idea of what was done, simply because these changes took effect before they were born, or in their early youth. This election past and the polling of attitudes that went with it, show that the majority of Americans perceive that they are being cheated, but often their perception of how, has been skewed by the disinformation that is rampant to the extent that they blame it on the wrong source. If you read either the transcript of this article: “The Selling Out of the Middle Class is No Accident” at this link: http://www.opednews.com/articles/1/The-Selling-Out-of-the-Mid-by-Rob-Kall-121017-79.html or listen to the interview at this podcast: http://www.opednews.com/Podcast/Applying-Investigative-Jou-by-Rob-Kall-120915-680.html
I deeply believe that it will be time well spent.
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
If Indianapolis Colts interim head coach Bruce Arians has his way only “high quality” people will be part of the Colts’ organization. What determines a “high quality” person in Arians’ mind? A person who “cares about faith, family and football.” No atheists are welcome.
Arians’ blatant bigotry against the 15% of Americans who reject faith may pay big dividends on the football field. The correlation between great performance on the field and belief in God is evidenced with Tim Tebow. When Tebow wins, millions of believers attribute the win to Tebow’s faith and their belief in God is reinforced.
By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
In this barely post-recession economy, name a 13 billion dollar industry not courted, cajoled, and coddled by local government. Here’s one: the porn industry. 55.9 percent of the good citizens of Los Angeles County have passed controversial Measure B, requiring porn actors to wear condoms as they ply their trade. It also requires producers of porn to take a health class and obtain a permit complete with a fee used to hire condom inspectors. (Alert for all of you “health advocates”: Lines are now forming at the LA courthouse to apply for the inspector’s job). Violators of the ordinance would be subject to both civil fines and criminal misdemeanor charges.
The Chairman and Chief Executive Office of Murray Energy, Robert E. Murphy became notorious during the presidential campaign by allegedly forcing workers to go to a Romney rally. Now, Murray has responded to President Obama’s re-election with a prayer and dozens of layoffs.
We previously discussed the bizarre case of Cook County Judge Cynthia Brim, a judge in Markham, Illinois who has been barred from entering the courthouse without police escort and has a prior arrest for assault. Well, Cook County voters have now returned her to the bench in the election this week. She was reelected despite the fact that she is currently in court not as a judge but as a criminal defendant asserting an insanity defense. She was reelected the same week as Jesse Jackson Jr. who is currently housed in the Mayo Clinic for mental illness while reportedly negotiating his own plea bargain to criminal charges.
Yesterday, we discussed how voters in Chicago reelected Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. despite his appearance for months without any explanation and criminal investigation into his alleged misuse of campaign funds and alleged effort to buy a Senate seat. While Jackson thanked his voters for keeping him in office and pledged to work for them in Washington, reports now indicate that Jackson has been negotiating a plea bargain on the criminal charges with prosecutors.
Continue reading “Jesse Jackson Jr. Reportedly Engaged In Plea Negotiations With Prosecutors”
In past columns, I have lamented how our government has not only stripped away core civil liberties from citizens, but that citizens have become increasing passive and accepting of the loss of such freedoms. A new poll conducted by Harris Interactive offers a particularly chilling measure of just how passive and accepting citizens have become to the new realities of our internal security system. The poll found almost one third of American adults would accept a “TSA body cavity search” in order to fly. Moreover a majority believes that it is reasonable to criminalize the act of disobeying any TSA agent.
Continue reading “Poll: One-Third of Americans Would Accept Cavity Searches By TSA”
Yesterday, we saw how a Chinese newspaper was irate about the lines faced by U.S. voters — lines entirely avoided in a country that denies its citizens any right to select its leaders. Now, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has objected to the cost of the election — citing the runaway spending on the campaigns as a “battleground for capitalists” at a democracy forum. It is unclear why Ahmadinejad was even speaking at a democracy forum except as the balance against those who like democracy. Nevertheless, Ahmadinejad has certainly been able to suppress both democracy and its costs through the use of thug squads and widespread arrests.
Continue reading “Ahmadinejad Denounces U.S. Elections As Too Expensive”
Brian Banks successfully campaigned on a catchy slogan this election: “You Can Bank On Banks!” That may be true unless you are an actual bank. Banks has been convicted eight times for felonies involving bad checks and credit card fraud. In some states, he would have faced a lengthy or even lifetime in prison as a habitual offender. However, in Detroit, Banks is the newest member of the state House of Representatives. What is interesting is that he was not the most unconventional candidate on the ballot in Michigan.
Continue reading “Banking On Banks: Detroit Elects An Eight-Time Convicted Felon”
There is another study that offers strong support for the dangers of both smoking and second-hand smoke. The study at the University of California – San Francisco found a dramatic decline in hospitalizations in areas with laws banning smoking at work and public areas.