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POPSRevenge of the Nerd: What Media Won’t Tell You About The Pittsburgh Aerobics Class Rampage
Americans are dealing with a lot of hate. Sodini’s diary hits on some reasons. After reading this clip, supported by diary entries, I see a lonely life and the futility of continuing that lonely life. While reading it I can almost feel for the guy but then it hits me, the reason he is not living the life he wants is because he gave up too easily. People find their own reason for living. If you aren’t happy with your life is it really anyone else’s fault? This guy places blame on every woman because he failed to have one in his life. I’m not talking about short term relationships he admits he had, if this guy had had his head on straight then there would have been a woman who would commit to a life with him. He is the reason for his failure. He points out his hopelessness and some valid problems that are brought on by the callousness of others, but to take lives because you don’t like the way you are treated is grounds for therapy not a deadly weapon.
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POPSThe destruction of the black middle class More: Yet in the depths of this African American depression, some commentators, black as well as white, are still obsessing about the supposed cultural deficiencies of the black community. In a December op-ed in the Washington Post, Kay Hymowitz blamed black economic woes on the fact that 70 percent of black children are born to single mothers, not noticing that the white two-parent family has actually declined at a faster rate than the black two-parent family. The share of black children living in a single parent home increased by 155 percent between 1960 to 2006, while the share of white children living in single parent homes increased by a staggering 229 percent. Just last month on NPR, commentator Juan Williams dismissed the NAACP…The fact that there is an ongoing recession disproportionately affecting the African American middle class – and brought on by Wall Street greed rather than "ghetto" values – seems to have eluded him.
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POPSDark Ages 2.0 Scary scenario. It sure seems that things are going this way and can see how the author can get himself worked up about it. The rich get richer, widening the gap between the haves and the have-nots. The government keeps printing money to bail out corporations, that money does not go back into the economy to keep it running, the economy collapses and we may all depend on the rich to bail us out. I really do want to hang onto some amount of faith that this scenario is not going to come true. I could be wrong in doing so, but the alternative is too scary to contemplate.
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POPSWar On You: Breaking Alternative News I agree with Ms Martens assessment. The middle class is the engine of our economy and the rich supplies the ‘fuel’ to keep it going. What we need in addition to Ms Martens suggestions is an incentive for companies to hire more people and pay a higher wage instead of allowing them to stash their earnings in foreign banks to avoid taxes. Likewise, if the rich had an incentive to work with the government to help the poor and disadvantaged there would not be such a overwhelming burden on the government to do it by itself. The benefit of living in a capitalist economy is that people can become rich. I would not disparage anyone from using this system to better themselves and their families unless they do it illegally or unethically. Ethics unfortunately is the one aspect of this system that is the most perplexing. Which is why we need regulation.
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POPSchina's labor unrest worse than expected this went on to say that this legal advocates office was broken into on Jan. 9th and that 600 legal case files. 160 law books his computer-photocopier-t.v. and 100,000 yuan in cash were stolen.............he was also ambushed that night by 5 men- and has since then been evicted from his home- he feels this is due to his defying bribery and threats - by speaking to foreign media in an effort to get the word out of these deplorable conditions
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POPSBush cheers “free enterprise” as US capitalism goes bust "Bush's message to those assembling in Washington was clear: Nothing will be accepted that interferes with the unfettered accumulation of wealth by America's financial elite and the defense of their interests, regardless the cost to the world's population."
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POPSObama To Combat “Joe The Plumber” With Average Americans Of His Own ... and Joe Biden starts to knock him around, carping that no real plumber makes $250K. Biden calls Joe the Plumber "the 250 guy," with the plumber now mum on his income. He just says he would like to make that much. The plumber was quoted in the hometown Toledo Blade thusly about Obama's "spread the wealth" cutoff of $250K: "That's a pretty socialist comment. Two-fifty ($250,000) is his number now. When is it going to be one fifty ($150,000), when it's going to be one hundred ($100,000) ?" He's far from the first one to apply the term, of course. Google "socialist" and Obama. You'll be awash in hits. Recently actor Jon Voight wrote this: If, God forbid, we live to see Mr. Obama president, we will live through a socialist era that America has not seen before, and our country will be weakened in every way. http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/10/joe-the-plumber-2.html
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POPSSpreading the wealth? US already does it the gap between rich and poor Americans has grown markedly in recent years as middle-class wages remained largely stagnant while corporate profits and high-earners' salaries soared. McCain, like President Bush, wants to "give more and more to those with the most, and hope prosperity trickles down to everyone else." The RNC is counting on us being ignorant enough to vote against our own interests, and why shouldn't they? It's been working for a long time.
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POPS"Class Warfare!" Luke 1:52-53 - “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.” Luke 6:20-21 - “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.” Luke 9:10-17 - Jesus takes food from someone who has more than he needs and gives it to those who have none. Luke 12:13-21 - A parable where Jesus denounces a man who builds bigger barns and storehouses instead of sharing his wealth with those in need. Luke 18:18-30 - A story where a rich ruler asks Jesus what he must do the be righteous, and Jesus tells him to give away all of his money and possessions to the poor.
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POPS"Worldshift" http://www.realitysandwich.com/worldshift_our_unsustainable_world_will_change
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POPSMore on Obamanomics Obama's economic plan also calls for mandating a "living wage." He plans to saddle retailers with a $10 minimum wage indexed to inflation, along with a mandate to provide seven days of paid sick leave to workers. Obama assumes business owners will just eat the added costs.
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POPS Free Lunch, and how Bush made his money
"What happened is, an oil man named Eddie Chiles wanted to sell his money-losing Texas Rangers baseball team. They played in a little stadium, smaller than the one we have here in Rochester, New York, and of course couldn’t make any money. So George Bush put together a group of very wealthy investors to buy the team. He put up himself $600,000 of borrowed money. The partners then gave him a 10 percent stake as the managing partner. That’s a very common arrangement in business. Then they held a special election in January of the year in question to increase the sales tax in the town of Arlington, Texas, by one half-cent. That money was used to build a new baseball stadium. It’s an incredibly nice baseball stadium. Then the power of government to seize land by eminent domain—and I go back to what was talked about in Kenya, the leader there can give you land, he can presumably therefore also take it away—the government used its power of eminent domain to seize land from people, not for
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POPS Deals With Iraq Are Set To Bring Oil Giants Back For an industry being frozen out of new ventures in the world's dominant oil-producing countries, from Russia to Venezuela, Iraq offers a rare and prized opportunity. The Iraqi Oil Ministry, through a spokesman, said the no-bid contracts were a stop-gap measure to bring modern skills into the fields while the oil law was pending in Parliament. It said the companies had been chosen because they had been advising the ministry without charge for two years before being awarded the contracts, and because these companies had the needed technology. A Shell spokeswoman hinted at the kind of work the companies might be engaged in. "We can confirm that we have submitted a conceptual proposal to the Iraqi authorities to minimize current and future gas flaring in the south through gas gathering and utilization." "The contents of the proposal are confidential," said the spokeswoman.
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POPSUnemployment and xenophobia A clear and concise account of the root causes of the recent outbreaks of xenophobic violence in many parts of the country. Hat-tip to Dion Forster.
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POPSTrue Political Waffling: Belgian Civil War Averted! Thank goodness Belgium has been rescued from political obscurity and irrelevance! Is anyone impressed by the fact that Belgium just didn't need it's government for 6 months? Imagine if that had happened in America? We'd be looting Wallmart on day 3. (Although I, personally, would be looting Wallmart on day 0, because that's what I do on my spare time.) At any rate, waffle lovers (and I suppose swift boat veterans for truth) can now rest easy. The feud between Flanders and Wallonia, ostensibly over why Dr. Seuss was allowed to name their territories, can finally be laid to rest! Except for that they hate each other, and there's a ridiculous wealth gap, and they are both presumably frustrated by their own irrelevance.
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