How corporations have screwed the American Worker

A great expanation of the wealth disparity in America that started with Reagan/Carter era.

Screw the American Worker

Matthew Hoh Resigns: State Department Official Quits Over Afghan War

Read the article on resignation at HuffingtonPost

Some 22 Americans died in Afghanistan in the past 48 hours. An old post Jan. 3, 2002, Corpwatch:

"President Bush has appointed a former aide to the American oil company Unocal, Afghan-born Zalmay Khalilzad, as special envoy to Afghanistan. The nomination was announced December 31, nine days after the US-backed interim government of Hamid Karzai took office in Kabul.

"The nomination underscores the real economic and financial interests at stake in the US military intervention in Central Asia. Khalilzad is intimately involved in the long-running US efforts to obtain direct access to the oil and gas resources of the region, largely unexploited but believed to be the second largest in the world after the Persian Gulf.

"As an advisor for Unocal, Khalilzad drew up a risk analysis of a proposed gas pipeline from the former Soviet republic of Turkmenistan across Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Indian Ocean. He participated in talks between the oil company and Taliban officials in 1997, which were aimed at implementing a 1995 agreement to build the pipeline across western Afghanistan."

Media baloney about swine flu; where's the pork?

Obama has declared an epidemic of swine flu.

Meanwhile, there is another case of poor reporting today as the media talked about 1,000 deaths from Swine Flu. The "more than 1,000 deaths" is actually about 3,000 deaths. The CDC site says:

"To allow jurisdictions to implement the new case definition, counts were reset to zero on August 30, 2009. From August 30 – October 17, 2009, 8,204 laboratory­-confirmed influenza associated hospitalizations, 411 laboratory­-confirmed influenza associated deaths, 21,823 pneumonia and influenza syndrome-based hospitalizations, and 2,416 pneumonia and influenza syndrome-based deaths, were reported to CDC. CDC will continue to use its traditional surveillance systems to track the progress of the 2009-10 influenza season."

First, CDC reported swine flu deaths daily. Then, they changed to weekly. Then they only reported cases that involved hospitalization. Then they reset all the totals to August 30.

I know that a swine flu epidemic would be bad for business if the public had the real details, but this sneaky reporting by CDC is a disgrace, but it goes up the ladder to people making the real decision to keep the public in the dark about this and many other situations, including the combined total of 400,000 troops AND contractors currently in Iraq and Afghanistan - with more requested.

See article at HuffingtonPost

Our Afghan buddies are stockpiling opium until price increases

As the President (Obama, this time, not Bush) ponders spending $120 billion a year in the colony of Afghanistan, while tens of millions of Americans are going broke without jobs, McClatchy newspapers have nailed the warmongers on the horror allowed in this tribal, backward, drug-addicted slime pit adjacent Pakistan. The report says:

Afghan opium kills more people every year than any other drug on the planet, claiming up to 100,000 lives annually, according to a United Nations report released Wednesday.

Although U.S. officials have pointed to the last two years of lower production in Afghanistan , the country still produces 90 percent of the world's opium, which the report says now threatens to sow havoc in much of Central Asia. "The catalog of casualties caused by Afghan narcotics is gruesome," Antonio Maria Costa , the executive director of the U.N. office on drugs and crime, says in a note in the report's summary. "We need to go back to the dramatic opium addiction in China a century ago to find comparable statistics."

In addition to drug-related deaths, Afghan opium and heroin pay for weapons that anti-U.S. insurgents use to kill American troops. From 2005 to 2008, Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan earned an average annual income of some $125 million from the opium trade, not including money gained from drug-processing facilities or other related business in neighboring Pakistan , according to the report. The Afghan opium crop, used to produce heroin, dropped from 7,700 metric tons in 2008 to 6,900 this year, but because of massive overproduction there are now more than 12,000 metric tons of opium in stockpiles, enough to meet world demand for more than two years. Criminal and insurgent groups probably are holding most of those reserves, the U.N. said.

Meanwhile, there is no effort by the 168,000 U. S. troops and contractors in Afghanistan to burn the opium fields, because our government geniuses say this would hurt their economy. Don't restrain the farmers, no matter what they grow.

Opium growers are just victims, according to this stupid argument. I guess we should have kept the Nazi death camps open, because they were good for the economy - not just the gold teeth, but those good-paying jobs at the crematoriums.

Key Dems May Rebuff Obama On Health Care

The opposition to healthcare reform by some folks is misunderstood by media.

Don't believe that these Demonpublicans are reacting to election considerations. They are mostly members of the New Democrat Coalition and subscribe to the Third Way movement, which is pro business, anti union, and gets tons of money from corporations. These are the same politicians who favored the colonization of Irag, the bungling in Afghan, the rape of the credit card reform bill, and the watering down of financial regulation.

These same demon stooges today voted to cut Medicare payments to doctors by 21% in January, which means millions of seniors will have no doctor, unless they can come up with thousands of additional dollars to make up for this.

Included in this death panel club vote today were democrats: Bayh, Byrd, Conrad, Dorgan, Feingold, Kohl, Lieberman, McCaskill, Nelson, Tester, Warner, Webb and Wyden, plus every single Republican (you know, the GOP liars who are defending Medicare in public, usually trying to kill it in secret).

See Article at HuffingtonPost

Bankers, Drug Firms, corporations subsize New Democrat Coalition

This is a list of contributions more than $2,500 to the New Democrat Coalition PAC for the 2008 cycle, courtesy of Open Secrets.org. That's the Max Baucus, Kent Conrad, Melissa Bean, Rahm Emanuel and friends club. There is a legal $10,000 limit or I'm sure some groups would give far more. Additional money can go to candidates, or from individuals to the PAC or candidates. Briefcases full of money are not usually reported.

Federation of American Hospitals $10,000
National Education Assn $10,000
Mortgage Bankers Assn $10,000
American Health Care Assn $10,000
Credit Union National Assn $10,000
Citigroup Inc $10,000
National Assn of Home Builders $10,000
National Cable & Telecommunications Assn $10,000
Indep Insurance Agents & Brokers/America $10,000
UBS Americas $10,000
Pfizer Inc $10,000
National Assn of Realtors $10,000
AFLAC Inc $10,000
HSBC North America $10,000
Novartis Corp $10,000
Metlife Inc $10,000
Constellation Energy $10,000
Bank of America $10,000
Salt River Valley Water User's Assn $10,000
BP $10,000
United Parcel Service $10,000
Property Casualty Insurers Assn/America $10,000
Abbott Laboratories $10,000
Occidental Petroleum $10,000
Edison Electric Institute $10,000
Honeywell International $10,000
Merck & Co $10,000
Wal-Mart Stores $10,000
American Insurance Assn $10,000
PricewaterhouseCoopers $10,000
AT&T Inc $10,000
Credit Suisse Securities $10,000
Investment Co Institute $10,000
American Hospital Assn $10,000
Wyeth $10,000
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance $10,000
Prudential Financial $10,000
International Dairy Foods Assn $10,000
JPMorgan Chase & Co $10,000
Principal Life Insurance $10,000
National Multi Housing Council $10,000
Exelon Corp $10,000
Boeing Co $10,000
American Council of Life Insurers $10,000
New York Life Insurance $10,000
PG&E Corp $10,000
Aetna Inc $10,000
Assurant Inc $10,000
Safeway Inc $10,000
Hewlett-Packard $10,000
Wellpoint Inc $10,000
International Council of Shopping Cntrs $10,000
Microsoft Corp $10,000
Ernst & Young $10,000
Zurich Insurance $10,000
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp $10,000
Koch Industries $10,000
Comcast Corp $10,000
Invacare Corp $10,000
Amgen Inc $10,000
American Chemistry Council $10,000
AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals $10,000
KPMG LLP $10,000
Home Depot $10,000
Fidelity Investments $10,000
Sanofi-Pasteur Inc $10,000
Natl Assn Real Estate Investment Trusts $10,000
Medtronic Inc $10,000
Trans Union Corp $10,000
Oracle Corp $10,000
American Assn of Orthopaedic Surgeons $10,000
Travelers Companies $10,000
Experian Information Solutions $10,000
Charles Schwab & Co $10,000
Medco Health Solutions $10,000
CVS/Caremark Corp $10,000
AmerisourceBergen Corp $10,000
Freddie Mac $10,000
Grant Thornton LLP $10,000
Embarq Corp $10,000
Boehringer Ingelheim Corp $10,000
Securities Industry & Financial Mkt Assn $10,000
GlaxoSmithKline $8,000
American Assn of Nurse Anesthetists $7,500
Eli Lilly & Co $7,500
Genworth Financial $7,500
Cisco Systems $7,500
Allstate Insurance $7,000
NASDAQ OMX Group $5,500
SAP America $5,000
Dell Inc $5,000
DaVita Inc $5,000
T-Mobile USA $5,000
Verizon Wireless $5,000
Entergy Corp $5,000
Physicians for Women's Health $5,000
Reed Elsevier Inc $5,000
Premier Inc $5,000
Goldman Sachs $5,000
American Resort Development Assn $5,000
American Academy of Dermatology Assn $5,000
Fannie Mae $5,000
AREVA Group $5,000
American Society/Therapeutic Radiology $5,000
BearingPoint Inc $5,000
American Psychiatric Assn $5,000
Yahoo! Inc $5,000
Badger PAC $5,000
American College of Surgeons Prof Assn $5,000
Mastercard Inc $5,000
American Academy of Family Physicians $5,000
National Assn/Prof Surplus Lines Offices $5,000
Universal American Corp $5,000
Tyco Electronics $5,000
Micron Technology $5,000
Babcock & Wilcox $5,000
American Dental Assn $5,000
Florida Power & Light $5,000
International Paper $5,000
Diageo North America $5,000
Independent Community Bankers of America $5,000
General Electric $5,000
Sunoco Inc $5,000
Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers $5,000
Union Pacific Corp $5,000
Johnson & Johnson $5,000
Sempra Energy $5,000
Norfolk Southern $5,000
American Gas Assn $5,000
US Chamber of Commerce $5,000
3M Co $5,000
Federal Express Corp $5,000
Hoffmann-La Roche $5,000
Nationwide $5,000
Chicago Mercantile Exchange $5,000
American Institute of CPAs $5,000
General Dynamics $5,000
America's Health Insurance Plans $5,000
Progress Energy $5,000
American Osteopathic Assn $5,000
Mutual of Omaha $5,000
URS Corp/Washington $5,000
American International Group $5,000
Target Corp $5,000
American Beverage Assn $5,000
American Academy of Ophthalmology $5,000
Northwestern Mutual Life $5,000
Fleishman-Hillard Inc $5,000
Deloitte & Touche $5,000
Genentech Inc $5,000
Blue Cross & Blue Shield Assn $5,000
National Venture Capital Assn $5,000
Verizon Communications $5,000
Financial Services Roundtable $5,000
CSX Corp $5,000
American College of Emergency Physicians $5,000
Baxter Healthcare $5,000
American Seniors Housing Assn $5,000
Society of Thoracic Surgeons $5,000
Sallie Mae $5,000
Bryan Cave LLP $5,000
Crowley for Congress $5,000
Managed Funds Assn $5,000
Ellen Tauscher for Congress $5,000
Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal $5,000
Eastman Kodak $5,000
Humana Inc $5,000
AmeriPAC: The Fund for a Greater America $5,000
UnitedHealth Group $5,000
Qwest Communications $5,000
Nuclear Energy Institute $5,000
MWH Americas $5,000
New York Mercantile Exchange $5,000
Sun Microsystems $4,000
Universal Music Group $3,000
Holland & Knight $3,000
Nortel Networks $2,717
Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America $2,500
Orbital Sciences Corp $2,500
Advanced Medical Technology Assn $2,500
International Mass Retail Assn $2,500
DTE Energy $2,500
Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan $2,500
US Telecom Assn $2,500
Pharmaceutical Rsrch & Mfrs of America $2,500
Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers $2,500
Fluor Corp $2,500
Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg $2,500
American College of Radiology $2,500
Biotechnology Industry Organization $2,500
Boston Scientific Corp $2,500
Visa USA $2,500
Hospira Inc $2,500
Democracy Data $2,500
Cardiology Advocacy Alliance $2,500

New Democrat Coalition fights for Wall Street, battles any real regulation of derivatives

Americans should watch their backs. It's not just Wall Street trying to rape the country. They have generous and loving friends - the New Democrat Coalition (NDC).

We have seen this group virtually destroy healthcare reform because of the diabolical antics of Kent "Co-Op" Conrad and Max "The Tax" Baucus, but the players on the financial side may be even more dangerous to the country.

Take Mike McMahon, a freshman congressman from NY, who appears to be the new buddy of Barney Frank. Barney is responsible for producing a bill to regulate the $592 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market.

Financial experts have criticized Frank for watering down control of the derivatives market, but not everyone is unhappy. Despite the explanation that airlines, farmers and other end users need easy ways to buy derivatives, the loopholes Frank put in the bill have far-reaching consequences.

Not only did end-users win concessions from McMahon and Frank. JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse lobbied McMahon and fellow New Democrat Coalition member Rep. Melissa Bean of Illinois, among others, to expand how legislation allows dealers and major investors to trade the contracts, according to reports.

The top five U.S. commercial banks, including JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Corp., were on track through the second quarter to earn more than $35 billion this year trading unregulated derivative contracts, according to a review of company filings with the Federal Reserve by Bloomberg News.

Frank's watered down bill could protect billions of dollars in profit for the dealers, because when securities or derivatives are traded on exchanges (and investors can see real-time prices, not just indicative prices sent by e-mail in the over-the-counter market) it can shrink the amount that dealers make on each trade, known as the spread.

The derivatives market collapse got us into the depression of 2008, led to hundreds of billions of dollars in tax payouts to these same banks, and all the New Democrats worry about is keeping their banker buddies happy at the expense of everyone else. You wonder who are the morons who have voted for these traitors?

Screw the seniors, "poor" Judd has said

Social Security payments will not increase next year with a cost of living increase, because the government thinks prices are going down for seniors.

This is the first time there was no change since 1975. The average recipient now makes $1,094 a month. Part B Medicare is $96.40 monthly and is deducted from the $1,094. Medicare part D will cost another $30 a month and deductibles will increase.

Some members of Congress have proposed a one time payment of $250 to seniors as a stimulus program to offset the real increase in cost of living.

"I think it would be inappropriate," said Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H. "The reason we set up this process was to have the Social Security reimbursement reflect the cost of living."

Gregg is the son of the former governor of N.H. He was one of those wonderful rich people who attended Phillips Exeter Academy.

"In the Senate Gregg was the leading Republican negotiator and author of the TARP program, which bailed out financial institutions, while he had a multi-million dollar investment in the Bank of America. On the other hand, it was by definition an emergency situation," according to Wikipedia, which adds:

"In February 2009, the Associated Press reported that Gregg and his family profited personally from federal earmarks steered by the senator for the redevelopment of a closed Air Force base. As senator, Gregg directed $66 million in taxpayer money to redevelop the property. Building federal buildings on the land makes it more valuable by boosting development and encouraging employers to buy land there. Multiple companies owned by Gregg's brother, Cyrus Gregg, made real estate deals on the property... Over a period of at least 9 years, Gregg personally gained hundreds of thousands of dollars from his investments in the companies...

"The AP also reported that in November 2008, one of the companies owned by Gregg's family sold a $1 million condominium to his former chief of staff, J. Bonnie ewman... When Gregg approached the White House about serving as Barack Obama's Secretary of Commerce, one of the conditions he sought was to have Newman named to fill Gregg's Senate seat...

As an aside, Gregg's high school alma mater charges $36,500 a year, which means that attending the school for four years is the same price as giving a senior $250 for 584 years. The school has many outstanding graduates and should not be juddged by one arrogant Republicrat born with a silver candlestick up his...

This is a nice picture of the interior of Exeter high school library, which can hold 250,000 items

Help The Steins: Mother Who Went Blind To Save Her Children's Sight Struggles With Medical Debt

Medicaid pays all the bills, but you have to be below state poverty guidelines. There are folks out there who owe more than $100,000, and have no hope of repaying, but they keep trying.

We are using charity here to subsidize rich doctors, greedy insurance companies, and million dollar hospital executives. All this fundraising does is mask the problem with a feel good subsidy by the poor American public.

Consider that someone earning $20,000 a year is contributing to pay these medical bills and a Wall Street leech is giving nothing and sending his money to the Cayman Islands so he doesn't even pay taxes. It will take 50,000 years to save a billion dollars at $20,000 a year, and that assumes you save everything you make and live that long (vampire?).

Stop asking the middle class to pay the bills. It's time for the rich to be taxed, because most are too cheap to give us the billions we need. There are now more than 700 billionaires, according to Forbes.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Does "gay hate speech" apply to serial killers?

The House has passed a hate crime bill to regulate what we say to gays. The argument is that straights bully and are mean to gays, who are always innocent and kind. If you want a different view of gay sensitivity and innocence in a straight world, please check this link:
Serial Killers


Photo from a gay pride parade

Commies buy American Hummer name and may close its Shreveport, Lousiana, factory in 2012

Hummer, the off-road vehicle that once epitomized America's love for hulking trucks, is now in the hands of a Communist Chinese heavy equipment maker.

General Motors Co. and Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Corp. finally signed the much-anticipated deal to sell the brand today.

Tengzhong will get an 80 percent stake in the company, while Hong Kong investor Suolang Duoji, who indirectly owns a large stake in Tengzhong through an investment company called Sichuan Huatong Investment Holding Co., will get 20 percent. The investors will also get Hummer's nationwide dealer network.

Hummer's Shreveport LA plant is set to produce the vehicles through 2011, so the likelihood is closure by the commies in 2012, according to reports. There is no truth to rumors that the brand name will be changed to "Hummel", as that is already trademarked by a figurine outfit.

Now, I know why we went to war in Iraq

There are about 250,000 American soldiers and U.S. paid contractors still in Iraq, all devoted to the latest effort there "Operation Enduring Misery."

Meanwhile, the defense industry wants us to hike the forces in Afghanistan to 200,000 soldiers and contractors.

The two colonies have cost us about a trillion dollars in recent years and about 5,000 dead Americans and tens of thousands maimed.

So, it was a surprise to me when I learned that Iraq couldn't balance its budget this year, and had a shortfall of $7 billion, which is less than one percent of what we have already spent there.

But, instead of raising taxes or asking for a loan from the U.S., the corrupt Maliki stooges have approached the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which said on Saturday (Oct. 3) it was confident about agreeing to issue a budget shortfall loan with Iraq.

"I am confident that we're working well together and we'll be able to identify ways to help them," Masood Ahmed, the IMF's Middle East director, told reporters in Istanbul during annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank.

"Exactly how and when is what we need to know," he added.

The IMF does not loan money without extreme conditions, so look for Iraq to begin to remove nationalization of utilities and resources. I wouldn't be surprised to see everything turned over to private companies, including the end of free public schools, just as the IMF required in Africa. This is the new world order prescription from the Council on Foreign Relations and their political darlings, the New Democrat Coalition.

Of course, the United States would be criticized for such draconian measures against one of the oil-richest countries in the world, but turning over the country to the IMF does the same thing without onus.

Now, I know why we went to war.

That's so gay...

Some gay and lesbian community members are apparently annoyed by the teen phrase "That's so gay!"

And to make the point they have recruited the Ad Council, an ad agency, public and private schools, the Internet, all to remove this phrase from the English language.

Here's a link to the teacher's guide, which tells how to overcome local opposition and gives educators a series of 45 minute programs for pupils from 6th to 12th grades:

http://www.thinkb4youspeak.com/ForEducators/

While many would approve of this use of taxpayer money for a nitpick project, I would suggest replacing it with an overview of American history, as I just learned that 75% of public school students in Oklahoma don't know the name of our first president.

Not knowing your Presidents? That's so gay! Monitoring your speech? That's so stupid!

Letterman ripped by Catholic Church

It is amazing that so many are defending David Letterman for sexing the girls who work for him, despite a 23-year relationship with the the woman he recently married. Here's an accurate evaluation by an organization with traditional values:

Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented today on the reaction to David Letterman’s revelation about having sex with his employees:

David Letterman began the week laughing about the authorities going after child rapist Roman Polanski, and he ended the week laughing about his own sexual exploits. His fans, of course, wouldn’t care if he sodomized the girls. Ali Hamoudeh of New York spoke for many when he said, “We love Letterman no matter what he does. He brings us joy.” And that’s all that counts—he brings joy. Besides, who cares? CBS quotes a Hollywood publicist today who says “the star wouldn’t be hurt by the revelations and might even be helped by them.”

It certainly didn’t hurt Letterman’s career when he laughed at the Catholic Church for what happened in 2002. That summer a man and a woman had sex in St. Patrick’s Cathedral around 4:00 p.m. on a Holy Day of Obligation for Catholics. They did so in plain view of men, women and children and had their performance described on the radio as part of some sick contest. Most people were aghast, the radio hosts who rigged the caper were fired, and apologies were issued by the radio station. Letterman, however, found it so hysterical that he used the story to tell jokes about it for three nights. Wonder how many nights he will use his own sexploits as source material?

There was a time, not long ago, when feminists would demonstrate in the street demanding Letterman be fired for sexual harassment. As defined by feminists, sexual harassment typically kicks in whenever a boss, usually a man, uses his position of power to initiate sex with his subordinates. But Letterman need not worry: feminists have shown so much interest in matching men at the game of sexual promiscuity that the issue of sexual harassment no longer interests them. Here’s the proof. The National Organization for Women lists six issues as “Key Issues” and twenty more as “Other Important Issues.” Sexual harassment is not one of the six hot issues, though “Lesbian Rights” is; sexual harassment is not even one of the twenty “Other” issues, though “Fighting the Right” is. In other words, as long as Letterman doesn’t tell lesbian jokes, he can take advantage of all the girls he wants.
Copyright © 1997-2009 by Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

And on the liberal, famous people are exempt side, we have this snide confession to his giggling, moronic audience:

David Letterman Extortion Details Video Source