OWS represents anger Barack Hussein Obama has caused
Comments
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usamamasan1 wrote:The Walmart family gets goods for cheaper to hundreds of millions of people.
Good for them. Keeps more money in working class families pockets. Sure, the mom and pop shops are gone but, you vote with your dollar everyday right?
Tax/ steal from the winners/doers/creators?
War
Except the 1% are not creators of wealth. They are destroyers of wealth. But you choose to ignore this inconvenient fact.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... destroyers
The 1% are the very best destroyers of wealth the world has ever seen
Our common treasury in the last 30 years has been captured by industrial psychopaths. That's why we're nearly bankrupt
George Monbiot
guardian.co.uk, Monday 7 November 2011
If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire. The claims that the ultra-rich 1% make for themselves – that they are possessed of unique intelligence or creativity or drive – are examples of the self-attribution fallacy. This means crediting yourself with outcomes for which you weren't responsible. Many of those who are rich today got there because they were able to capture certain jobs. This capture owes less to talent and intelligence than to a combination of the ruthless exploitation of others and accidents of birth, as such jobs are taken disproportionately by people born in certain places and into certain classes.
The findings of the psychologist Daniel Kahneman, winner of a Nobel economics prize, are devastating to the beliefs that financial high-fliers entertain about themselves. He discovered that their apparent success is a cognitive illusion. For example, he studied the results achieved by 25 wealth advisers across eight years. He found that the consistency of their performance was zero. "The results resembled what you would expect from a dice-rolling contest, not a game of skill." Those who received the biggest bonuses had simply got lucky.
Such results have been widely replicated. They show that traders and fund managers throughout Wall Street receive their massive remuneration for doing no better than would a chimpanzee flipping a coin. When Kahneman tried to point this out, they blanked him. "The illusion of skill … is deeply ingrained in their culture."
So much for the financial sector and its super-educated analysts. As for other kinds of business, you tell me. Is your boss possessed of judgment, vision and management skills superior to those of anyone else in the firm, or did he or she get there through bluff, bullshit and bullying?
In a study published by the journal Psychology, Crime and Law, Belinda Board and Katarina Fritzon tested 39 senior managers and chief executives from leading British businesses. They compared the results to the same tests on patients at Broadmoor special hospital, where people who have been convicted of serious crimes are incarcerated. On certain indicators of psychopathy, the bosses's scores either matched or exceeded those of the patients. In fact, on these criteria, they beat even the subset of patients who had been diagnosed with psychopathic personality disorders.
The psychopathic traits on which the bosses scored so highly, Board and Fritzon point out, closely resemble the characteristics that companies look for. Those who have these traits often possess great skill in flattering and manipulating powerful people. Egocentricity, a strong sense of entitlement, a readiness to exploit others and a lack of empathy and conscience are also unlikely to damage their prospects in many corporations.
In their book Snakes in Suits, Paul Babiak and Robert Hare point out that as the old corporate bureaucracies have been replaced by flexible, ever-changing structures, and as team players are deemed less valuable than competitive risk-takers, psychopathic traits are more likely to be selected and rewarded. Reading their work, it seems to me that if you have psychopathic tendencies and are born to a poor family, you're likely to go to prison. If you have psychopathic tendencies and are born to a rich family, you're likely to go to business school.
This is not to suggest that all executives are psychopaths. It is to suggest that the economy has been rewarding the wrong skills. As the bosses have shaken off the trade unions and captured both regulators and tax authorities, the distinction between the productive and rentier upper classes has broken down. Chief executives now behave like dukes, extracting from their financial estates sums out of all proportion to the work they do or the value they generate, sums that sometimes exhaust the businesses they parasitise. They are no more deserving of the share of wealth they've captured than oil sheikhs.
The rest of us are invited, by governments and by fawning interviews in the press, to subscribe to their myth of election: the belief that they are possessed of superhuman talents. The very rich are often described as wealth creators. But they have preyed on the earth's natural wealth and their workers' labour and creativity, impoverishing both people and planet. Now they have almost bankrupted us. The wealth creators of neoliberal mythology are some of the most effective wealth destroyers the world has ever seen.
What has happened over the past 30 years is the capture of the world's common treasury by a handful of people, assisted by neoliberal policies which were first imposed on rich nations by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. I am now going to bombard you with figures. I'm sorry about that, but these numbers need to be tattooed on our minds. Between 1947 and 1979, productivity in the US rose by 119%, while the income of the bottom fifth of the population rose by 122%. But from 1979 to 2009, productivity rose by 80%, while the income of the bottom fifth fell by 4%. In roughly the same period, the income of the top 1% rose by 270%.
In the UK, the money earned by the poorest tenth fell by 12% between 1999 and 2009, while the money made by the richest 10th rose by 37%. The Gini coefficient, which measures income inequality, climbed in this country from 26 in 1979 to 40 in 2009.
In his book The Haves and the Have Nots, Branko Milanovic tries to discover who was the richest person who has ever lived. Beginning with the loaded Roman triumvir Marcus Crassus, he measures wealth according to the quantity of his compatriots' labour a rich man could buy. It appears that the richest man to have lived in the past 2,000 years is alive today. Carlos Slim could buy the labour of 440,000 average Mexicans. This makes him 14 times as rich as Crassus, nine times as rich as Carnegie and four times as rich as Rockefeller.
Until recently, we were mesmerised by the bosses' self-attribution. Their acolytes, in academia, the media, thinktanks and government, created an extensive infrastructure of junk economics and flattery to justify their seizure of other people's wealth. So immersed in this nonsense did we become that we seldom challenged its veracity.
This is now changing. On Sunday evening I witnessed a remarkable thing: a debate on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral between Stuart Fraser, chairman of the Corporation of the City of London, another official from the corporation, the turbulent priest Father William Taylor, John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network and the people of Occupy London. It had something of the flavour of the Putney debates of 1647. For the first time in decades – and all credit to the corporation officials for turning up – financial power was obliged to answer directly to the people.
It felt like history being made. The undeserving rich are now in the frame, and the rest of us want our money back.0 -
There was a small demonstration by Occupy Miami today. Unfortunately, only 20 or so people were there. I dont agree totally with the OWS movement but they do bring out some very good points. How many times do you pick up a paper and Corporation X, made X amount of profit this quarter? Yet there are no jobs with unemployment just over 8%. Then the politicians in Washington play games. The United States use to be government by the people for the people. That has shifted to government by the corporations for the corporations.0
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Winners win. It's a definition of the word.
African women? Come on...
They shell peanuts by hand until some engineer/entrepreneur shows them how to do it more efficiently. That entrepreneur/engineer should get rewarded right? Or should everyone eat beans and rice everyday? You know what happens when there is no incentive to achieve greatness? Or to be "lucky"
Nothing happens. I am not working for you. I am not risking for you.
I do it for myself, my family and my friends.
Then, I will kick down to others as I see fit. Not have the government take my hard earned monies and give them to people hand in hand.
Winners win. It's a definition.0 -
I wish the populace of the United States that agrees/sympathizes/believes the current system as structured is unfair would have the gumption to walk out or off their jobs, en mass, in the millions and not for a day or two but for a week or two or more. Just to show the 1% and the "corporations", em, I mean "people" that they aren't getting rich on their own. And to be honest, if it happened, nationwide, I'd join them. And just like in Alabama, after they ran the immigrants out of town, you'll see "corporations", hmm, I mean "people" begging us to come back to work. I wonder how many registers a manager at Walmart can work at the same time?
Usamaman, you and your viewpoint are in the minority on this issue and not just on this board or in this forum. The facts point this out to you but you choose not to believe the facts. But then again the republicans haven't had much use for facts of late either. So continue to support failed economic policies if you so choose. But don't blame the dems or the liberals or the OWS when the US is at or near the bottom in every ranking amongst industrialized countries except for concentration of wealth amongst the top .01%. A sad vision for our country indeed, winning the race to the bottom. And I support what gimmie said about speaking up. I'm sick of it too. I'm working my ass off and I'm not getting ahead, despite playing by the rules and being responsible.
Byrnzie, nice posts. I intend to read up more with the sources you provided. Thanks! :thumbup:
Peace.09/15/1998 & 09/16/1998, Mansfield, MA; 08/29/00 08/30/00, Mansfield, MA; 07/02/03, 07/03/03, Mansfield, MA; 09/28/04, 09/29/04, Boston, MA; 09/22/05, Halifax, NS; 05/24/06, 05/25/06, Boston, MA; 07/22/06, 07/23/06, Gorge, WA; 06/27/2008, Hartford; 06/28/08, 06/30/08, Mansfield; 08/18/2009, O2, London, UK; 10/30/09, 10/31/09, Philadelphia, PA; 05/15/10, Hartford, CT; 05/17/10, Boston, MA; 05/20/10, 05/21/10, NY, NY; 06/22/10, Dublin, IRE; 06/23/10, Northern Ireland; 09/03/11, 09/04/11, Alpine Valley, WI; 09/11/11, 09/12/11, Toronto, Ont; 09/14/11, Ottawa, Ont; 09/15/11, Hamilton, Ont; 07/02/2012, Prague, Czech Republic; 07/04/2012 & 07/05/2012, Berlin, Germany; 07/07/2012, Stockholm, Sweden; 09/30/2012, Missoula, MT; 07/16/2013, London, Ont; 07/19/2013, Chicago, IL; 10/15/2013 & 10/16/2013, Worcester, MA; 10/21/2013 & 10/22/2013, Philadelphia, PA; 10/25/2013, Hartford, CT; 11/29/2013, Portland, OR; 11/30/2013, Spokane, WA; 12/04/2013, Vancouver, BC; 12/06/2013, Seattle, WA; 10/03/2014, St. Louis. MO; 10/22/2014, Denver, CO; 10/26/2015, New York, NY; 04/23/2016, New Orleans, LA; 04/28/2016 & 04/29/2016, Philadelphia, PA; 05/01/2016 & 05/02/2016, New York, NY; 05/08/2016, Ottawa, Ont.; 05/10/2016 & 05/12/2016, Toronto, Ont.; 08/05/2016 & 08/07/2016, Boston, MA; 08/20/2016 & 08/22/2016, Chicago, IL; 07/01/2018, Prague, Czech Republic; 07/03/2018, Krakow, Poland; 07/05/2018, Berlin, Germany; 09/02/2018 & 09/04/2018, Boston, MA; 09/08/2022, Toronto, Ont; 09/11/2022, New York, NY; 09/14/2022, Camden, NJ; 09/02/2023, St. Paul, MN; 05/04/2024 & 05/06/2024, Vancouver, BC; 05/10/2024, Portland, OR;
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usamamasan1 wrote:
Winners win. It's a definition.
How true. But I've also heard it said that winning isn't everything. And helping others and playing fairly is winning too."It's a sad and beautiful world"-Roberto Benigni0 -
MayDay Malone wrote:Newch91 wrote:usamamasan1 wrote:Also, goes to my post above, BO thinks all the ills will be solved by taxing the rich.
No. You said "taxing the rich has worked."
I still want to know where and when.
Does this even have any logic? Just think about it for like 10 minutes. So we reduce taxes on the wealthy because they "took the risk" (even though we found out after the banking crisis that they actually didn't take any risk) and they get more money. Then, through their own benevolence, they will surely share that money with their workers, spend it to keep our economy rolling, and the working and middle classes will prosper. Are you fucking kidding me? No seriously are you fucking kidding me? Are you really that arrogant to suggest that you "worked harder" than everyone else to get where you got? You got NO help whatsoever? What a joke.
Here are the facts: What we have seen under neoliberalism is a stagnation of wages for everyone except the top 1%. The middle and working class have been hidden from this reality because, among other things, the rich are able to sell things for cheaper and cheaper because they are using labor that has been outsourced for pennies on the dollar. So those jobs you so desperately suggest people get (blue collar jobs for those who couldn't afford, shouldn't have attempted, and didn't have the ability to go through college) are largely gone. The jobs that are open and some on this board keep suggesting people should apply for pale in pay for what a student loan costs to pay back - and what if life happens (sickness, child, marriage, etc)? The bankowners who still have homes and children and lives because they got bailed out for their "mistakes" (could also be evil doing but let's just stick with mistakes) while those they (being nice) convinced it was a good idea to purchase a house have nothing. Add to that the fact that New Orleans couldn't afford levies to save thousands, Minnesota has a bridge fall and kill dozens, and we keep building sports stadiums (At this point nearly 100 with taxpayer dollars even Tom fucking Benson got $344 million from FEMA to fix his stadium and kick the poor out of the Superdome) and giving tax abatements and free land to businesses to provide a pretty facade for the crumbling realities that our cities face (think Philly/Baltimore/Detroit/Minnesota/Miami/Pittsburgh). And now the conservatives have the audacity to suggest that wanting a piece of the pie back is class warfare? They are walking right into a nest of some really pissed off snakes, and this isn't gonna be pretty.0 -
I'm ready for the snakes.
Good luck snakes.
Hope the snakes have contingencies.
I do.
I agree with you though, I am in the minority. Especially on this forum.
BUT, this isn't about me. Please stay on topic and don't discuss the person (me)
Thanks.
The snake imagery is picked up in Genesis 3:15 when the snake is told: “he [the woman’s seed] will crush your head and you will strike his heel.” The snake was cursed to crawl on the ground and therefore susceptible to man’s heel crushing its head (this vulnerability is a direct result of Satan’s sin). This is a foreshadowing of what will really happen to Satan someday. The seed (Jesus Christ) of the woman will crush the head of Satan and His heel will be struck (the crucifixion) in the process.
In addition, the curse upon the physical snake was reflective of the actual curse upon Satan himself: crawling low on the belly was a mark of deep degradation (Lev 11:42) and eating dust was also a sign of despair (Micah 7:17). All these factors combine to form very vivid symbolism of what awaits Satan in the end.
Woot!Post edited by usamamasan1 on0 -
I was referencing Mayday asking about how taxing the rich worked. I'm pretty sure I stayed on topic and used logic and reason to respond to the question. I'm also pretty sure I stayed on topic by responding to the idiotic notion that Barack Obama has caused this anger (he's certainly a part of it) when in reality this has been a class warfare that was started by Ronald Reagan and his cronies in the 1980s intermixed with the rise in power of the WTO and IMF.
As an aside (note: this is an aside so not on the topic of this board but I'm admitting this right now). If this is a discussion board that the moderators suggest is based in 'reasoned argument' could you please provide any examples where you offer this? Mostly, it seems, that you throw out sound bite one liners from Fox News and take them as gospel. Then when others on this board, many better than me, offer a different way to look at your argument you tell us to stay on topic. Almost every single time you say this the people on the thread have used your starting point to get somewhere with an argument, but because you don't like it you complain or threaten to warn the moderators. Actually I have a sneaking suspicion that you are deviously playing the part of a far-right wing nut while actually being pretty liberal outside of the board just so other conservatives see how illogical and ridiculous they are. Either way next time you warn us to "stay on topic" please check and ask yourself "what have I actually contributed to the 'reasoned debate' that we are supposed to be having"? As I noted elsewhere there are several conservative/libertarians on this board that actually do this, and while I don't agree with them it's far more productive and less frustrating. What do you hope to accomplish by pissing people off? That's not a train moving forward for sure...whatevs though I just put up a paragraph that will get a one line response and a warning threat so I'm pretty sure I just made your day.0 -
Others in the crowd booed the hecklers while Christie chuckled and egged them on.
“You are so angry, aren’t ya?” Christie badgered. “It’s so terrible... Oh work it out. Work it all out for yourselves. Work it all out for yourselves.”
It took Romney staffers roughly three minutes to remove all the protesters -- who were shouting and howling over Christie -- from the building.
“You know what, we’re used to dealing with jokers like this in New Jersey all the time,” Christie said, as the protesters filed out. “So you guys go all out and chant and do what it is that you want to do.”
Once the room quieted and the protesters were locked outside, Christie resumed speaking and offered his thoughts on the Occupy Wall Street movement.
“Here’s the way I feel about it: They represent an anger in our country that Barack Obama has caused,” he said, drawing cheers from the crowd. “He’s a typical cynical Chicago... politician who runs for office and promises everything and then comes to office and disappoints, and so their anger is rooted not in me or Mitt Romney, their anger is rooted in the fact that they believed in this hope and change garbage.”
Christie called them disillusioned and said he “feels bad” for them.
“Now they are angry but they’re not mature enough to know they should be angry with themselves,” he said.
Calling that an "idiotic notion" is funny.
From my earlier post.....
As Dr. Kenneth McFarland said, “There is no arrogance more vicious than the arrogance of ignorance.” Some observers say that it appears that all that happened in professor Mankiw’s class was a temper tantrum by intemperate, ignorant, and immature young people who have been educated beyond their intellect.
You bring up Scandanvia again? :roll:
One more thing, REAGAN was the fucking man! Best President in my lifetime for sure. Maybe ever!
Woot!0 -
RW81233 wrote:Actually I have a sneaking suspicion that you are deviously playing the part of a far-right wing nut while actually being pretty liberal outside of the board just so other conservatives see how illogical and ridiculous they are.
My response here is also obviously off topic is also off topic so maybe I'll see you in the forum jail ( :( ) but your point is a good one. I made a similar postulation a while back but it was pretty much avoided. My theory about posters pretending to be far-right to make a point was the same not just regarding posts here on AMT but elsewhere on other forums. If true, it's an interesting tactic but I'm not sure how effective it is. It would make a good subject for a Sociology masters thesis. It bears considering in any case, although if it's true I doubt any of the far-right imposters would come forward.
So on topic- no offense intended to the author of this post but I just don't get the idea that OWS represents anger toward Obama at least not alone. He may or may not be continuing the stranglehold that the 1% have on everyone else but he certainly didn't create it. Only May Day has responded to me on this point (thank you, May Day.)"It's a sad and beautiful world"-Roberto Benigni0 -
RW81233 wrote:Actually I have a sneaking suspicion that you are deviously playing the part of a far-right wing nut while actually being pretty liberal outside of the board just so other conservatives see how illogical and ridiculous they are. What do you hope to accomplish by pissing people off?
Name calling is not ok. I am not a nut nor am an imposter of a nut. If I piss you off that is probably because you can't see through anyone elses lense but your own. That is a personal problem and this is not the place to address it so I won't.
"see how illogical and ridiculous other conservatives are". Did you really say that in the same paragraph as where you were questioning my ability to add to a topic and debate reasonably?
In related news, I read something about occupy wall street types doing a hunger strike. Now that is a GREAT idea that I can support!0 -
usamamasan1 wrote:RW81233 wrote:Actually I have a sneaking suspicion that you are deviously playing the part of a far-right wing nut while actually being pretty liberal outside of the board just so other conservatives see how illogical and ridiculous they are. What do you hope to accomplish by pissing people off?
Name calling is not ok. I am not a nut nor am an imposter of a nut. If I piss you off that is probably because you can't see through anyone elses lense but your own. That is a personal problem and this is not the place to address it so I won't.
"see how illogical and ridiculous other conservatives are". Did you really say that in the same paragraph as where you were questioning my ability to add to a topic and debate reasonably?
In related news, I read something about occupy wall street types doing a hunger strike. Now that is a GREAT idea that I can support!
So lets deal in facts. Okay? Can you address the facts? Just the facts, m'aam, just the facts (in my best Dragnet voice over ever).
Reasoned debate is what democracy is all about and I don't fathom for a moment that"ll I'll change your mind. But hey, let me ask you a question, do you know what Reagan had that Obama doesn't, if he is your "fucking man!?" Let me know when you want to debate "facts."
Peace.09/15/1998 & 09/16/1998, Mansfield, MA; 08/29/00 08/30/00, Mansfield, MA; 07/02/03, 07/03/03, Mansfield, MA; 09/28/04, 09/29/04, Boston, MA; 09/22/05, Halifax, NS; 05/24/06, 05/25/06, Boston, MA; 07/22/06, 07/23/06, Gorge, WA; 06/27/2008, Hartford; 06/28/08, 06/30/08, Mansfield; 08/18/2009, O2, London, UK; 10/30/09, 10/31/09, Philadelphia, PA; 05/15/10, Hartford, CT; 05/17/10, Boston, MA; 05/20/10, 05/21/10, NY, NY; 06/22/10, Dublin, IRE; 06/23/10, Northern Ireland; 09/03/11, 09/04/11, Alpine Valley, WI; 09/11/11, 09/12/11, Toronto, Ont; 09/14/11, Ottawa, Ont; 09/15/11, Hamilton, Ont; 07/02/2012, Prague, Czech Republic; 07/04/2012 & 07/05/2012, Berlin, Germany; 07/07/2012, Stockholm, Sweden; 09/30/2012, Missoula, MT; 07/16/2013, London, Ont; 07/19/2013, Chicago, IL; 10/15/2013 & 10/16/2013, Worcester, MA; 10/21/2013 & 10/22/2013, Philadelphia, PA; 10/25/2013, Hartford, CT; 11/29/2013, Portland, OR; 11/30/2013, Spokane, WA; 12/04/2013, Vancouver, BC; 12/06/2013, Seattle, WA; 10/03/2014, St. Louis. MO; 10/22/2014, Denver, CO; 10/26/2015, New York, NY; 04/23/2016, New Orleans, LA; 04/28/2016 & 04/29/2016, Philadelphia, PA; 05/01/2016 & 05/02/2016, New York, NY; 05/08/2016, Ottawa, Ont.; 05/10/2016 & 05/12/2016, Toronto, Ont.; 08/05/2016 & 08/07/2016, Boston, MA; 08/20/2016 & 08/22/2016, Chicago, IL; 07/01/2018, Prague, Czech Republic; 07/03/2018, Krakow, Poland; 07/05/2018, Berlin, Germany; 09/02/2018 & 09/04/2018, Boston, MA; 09/08/2022, Toronto, Ont; 09/11/2022, New York, NY; 09/14/2022, Camden, NJ; 09/02/2023, St. Paul, MN; 05/04/2024 & 05/06/2024, Vancouver, BC; 05/10/2024, Portland, OR;
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usamamasan1 wrote:Others in the crowd booed the hecklers while Christie chuckled and egged them on.
“You are so angry, aren’t ya?” Christie badgered. “It’s so terrible... Oh work it out. Work it all out for yourselves. Work it all out for yourselves.”
It took Romney staffers roughly three minutes to remove all the protesters -- who were shouting and howling over Christie -- from the building.
“You know what, we’re used to dealing with jokers like this in New Jersey all the time,” Christie said, as the protesters filed out. “So you guys go all out and chant and do what it is that you want to do.”
Once the room quieted and the protesters were locked outside, Christie resumed speaking and offered his thoughts on the Occupy Wall Street movement.
“Here’s the way I feel about it: They represent an anger in our country that Barack Obama has caused,” he said, drawing cheers from the crowd. “He’s a typical cynical Chicago... politician who runs for office and promises everything and then comes to office and disappoints, and so their anger is rooted not in me or Mitt Romney, their anger is rooted in the fact that they believed in this hope and change garbage.”
Christie called them disillusioned and said he “feels bad” for them.
“Now they are angry but they’re not mature enough to know they should be angry with themselves,” he said.
Calling that an "idiotic notion" is funny.
From my earlier post.....
As Dr. Kenneth McFarland said, “There is no arrogance more vicious than the arrogance of ignorance.” Some observers say that it appears that all that happened in professor Mankiw’s class was a temper tantrum by intemperate, ignorant, and immature young people who have been educated beyond their intellect.
You bring up Scandanvia again? :roll:
Woot!
What a dick.
He gets his heavies to lock the protestors outside and then tells the crowd what he thinks these protestors are angry about.usamamasan1 wrote:One more thing, REAGAN was the fucking man! Best President in my lifetime for sure. Maybe ever!
Reagan was a criminal with the blood of hundreds of thousands on his hands. He should have been sent to the Hague and charged with crimes against humanity.
Still, when have you ever let the facts get in the way of your gibberish?
http://www.highstrangeness.tv/articles/reagan.php
Ronald Reagan Guilty of Treason & War Crimes
As the mass media engaged in an orgy of adulation for Ronald Reagan in June of 2004, many thinking persons were remembering and mourning the deaths of the hundreds of thousands of victims of Ronald Reagan's policies and pondering the lasting damage that the man did not only to the United States but to the world.
During Reagan's reign the United States experienced the beginning of the end of what could have been a great nation. Under Reagan, elements within the government engaged in massive criminal activity that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and the entrenchment of a vicious and evil criminal organization that is now firmly in power of not only the United States but much of the world.
Reagan's crimes are many and started well before he was President when he and Bush committed treason and paid the Iranian's to not release the hostages in order to prevent the re-election of Jimmy Carter in 1980, not mention his reign of stupidity as Governor of California. The hostages were released as promised as Reagan was sworn into office. Reagan then secretly sold chemical & biological weapons to Iraq and told CIA buddy Saddam Hussein to step up bombing of Iran while still selling weapons to Iran in a war that claimed an estimated one million victims. The criminal activities in the Mid East stretched around the world to Central America in the spectacle that came to be known as Iran-Contra.
In Afghanistan, Reagan was busy funding Ossama bin Laden and a terrorist army to displace the Russians. Once the mighty 'Muhjadeen' had completed their task they were partially abandoned and became the Taliban and Al Queda. With no real replacement intended for the Russian backed government, the radical muslims quickly took power. Only later did the army without a war become the enemy so desperately needed by the US defense industry.
In Central America, Reagan-Bush ran a massive criminal operation that imported hundreds of tons of cocaine into the US and shipped arms illegally to the terrorist Contras that Reagan affectionately called "Freedom Fighters". Coca paste was brought in from South America by plane to an airstrip near Puntarenas, Costa Rica owned by Reagan/Bush supporter Julio Calleja and processed on the ranch of CIA operative John Hull. From there the high-grade coke was shipped by plane to the Mina, Arkansas Airport under the protection of Bill Clinton and to various Air Force bases..
Under direct US control, Reagan's 'Freedom Fighters' raped, tortured and murdered tens of thousands of innocent civilians in Nicaragua in an effort to bring down Nicaragua's first democratically elected government. The US had previously ruled Nicaragua through the brutal Somoza family dicatorship, once the dictatorship was overthrown by a popular revolution the US was quick to start an criminal campaign of terror against the government and civilians. The campaign of terror claimed 50,000 lives and crippled the entire nation.
Nicaragua took its case to the World Court. The court found that the U.S. actions constituted "an unlawful use of force .... [that] cannot be justified either by collective self-defence ... nor by any right of the United States to take counter-measures involving the use of force." The court ordered the United States to pay reparations, estimated at between $12 billion and $17 billion, to Nicaragua. Two weeks after the verdict was issued, the U.S. Congress voted to give the Contras $100 million to continue their war of terror against the people of Nicaragua. The US has never recognized the World Court's ruling nor paid any of the compensation owed to Nicaragua.
"The ripple effects of that criminal murderous intervention in my country will go on for 50 years or more." Fr. D'Escoto, Priest and former Nicaraguan Foreign Minister
Reagan's blood-fest wasn't limited to Nicaragua, his puppet military dictators abducted, tortured, murdered and mutilated over 200,000 civilians in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras in the name of 'democracy' and fighting communism. Nor was the slaughter done only through the US controlled dictators. In operations that are still highly classified, US AC-130 gunships, crewed by US personnel, flew at night over mountainous areas with potential rebels and killed anything that gave off body-heat. The AC-130 is a highly sophisticated computerized killing machine that "incorporate side-firing weapons integrated with sophisticated sensor, navigation and fire control systems to provide surgical firepower or area saturation during extended loiter periods, at night and in adverse weather. The sensor suite consists of a television sensor, infrared sensor and radar." - US Air Force
In 1999 the United Nations determined that the wholesale slaughter of Guatemalans, constituted "genocide." It was a genocide ordered and managed by the White House under Reagan.
For their part in Iran-Contra fourteen high level government officials were charged, yet few of them were convicted and received any real penalty. Bush pardoned six of the criminal conspirators. Some of those involved in the Iran-Contra crimes are now back in power under the current Bush administration.
Despite some environmental concessions to voters while Governor of California, Reagan's real views on the environment became clear during his Presidential campaign when he claimed that trees caused more air pollution than cars. During his criminal reign of terror he systematically dismantled environmental protection laws and rolled back decades of hard-won progress to protect the Earth and the health of its inhabitants.
To help ensure the rape of the land he appointed lunatic James Watt as Secretary of the Interior who claimed "We don’t have to protect the environment, the Second Coming [of Christ] is at hand." It wasn't until Watt was trying to defend his decision to give away more than 1 billion tons of coal from federal lands in Wyoming that he was finally acknowledged for what he was. His defense for the coal giveway was that he was immune to criticism because members of his coal-advisory panel included "a black ... a woman, two Jews, and a cripple." This comment got finally him fired in 1983.
His appointee for the EPA was the environment molester Anne Gorsuch who tried her best to gut the hard-won Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. Gorsuch's Superfund Director, Rita Lavelle, was jailed for lying to Congress under oath about the corruption in her division. Gorsuch was fired in 1983 when documents exposed by Congress revealed the corruption and crimes committed by the EPA under her direction.
...America's worst financial disaster since the Great Depression occured under Reagan with the collapse of the Savings & Loan system. Nearly $500 billion was looted from thousands of Savings & Loans by a criminal ring that included the Mafia, CIA and the Bush family. Neil Bush was involved in the collapse of Silverado Savings & Loan but never served any jail time. By the time the Federal government and elite is done milking the scam further, US taxpayers will have paid well over a trillion dollars.
The full extent of Reagan's crimes may never be known because George W. Bush issued an executive order which countermands the 1978 Presidential Records Act and prevents the release of 68,000 pages of Reagan era documents. Given that Reagan lacked the intelligence to carry out most of the more elaborate crimes, the records are likely to shed light on the true role of the Bush crime family.
Let us remember Reagan as he really was...
o Liar
o Thief
o Mass murderer
o War criminal
o Traitor
o Destroyer of freedom
o Destroyer of the environment
While Reagan may have not been entirely aware of what he was doing and how his decisions would impact the world, he was also much more sinister than the media has portrayed him. We can only hope that he gets to meet some of his many victims after joining the other thugs in hell.0 -
Everybody has a right to their opinion. At least, in a free country.
That is why I support the GOP. Beacons of light and freedom across the globe. Freedom in Iraq! Freedom for all! Freedom to fail, to win.
Freedom to be lazy and starve.
Back on topic, occupy wall street is mad at the wrong people. They should probably not be throwing blame at successful people. Maybe many of them need anti depression meds? What do you think about that? I bet anti depressant meds might help many of them...
Does Obamacare give people free meds (because I bet many of them have no health insurance right?). If so, why would the evil pharma companies invest in R&D without profit motive?
Hmmm
No investment, no breakthroughs. No new meds. People die. That would suck huh?0 -
How about a general care for others...I suppose that's too much to ask.0
-
Who's gonna pay for that "general care"? Who is going to work for the money to pay for that?
Oh, wait...the evil 1% should right? That will be Barack Hussein Obamas platform for everything in his reelection bid since he can't run on accomplishments. Just try to convince the have nots to vote for him again thinking that he will be robin hood or something. This is why OWS is here (soon to be a memory when it gets to cold outside). They believed his jive turkey. Now they are left holding the bag and he vacations in Hawaii.0 -
usamamasan1 wrote:Who's gonna pay for that "general care"?
I give 10% of my income to social and environmental issues- that may not be very much in the big picture but if you join me in that, we'll change the world.
p.s That's on top of taxes and I my wife and I are self employed so we pay more than most in our income bracket. Yes, the 1% should pay more because I guarantee they don't work harder than we do. Guarantee it.
And look, I'm not trying to make points for myself here. Really, if you and I pitch in, help others maybe the 1% will begin to envy how good we feel and they'll want to top that. That would be one-upping us, that would be winning. Good!- let them win that one!"It's a sad and beautiful world"-Roberto Benigni0 -
usamamasan1 wrote:Who's gonna pay for that "general care"? Who is going to work for the money to pay for that?
The government can pay for it with your tax dollars. The same tax dollars that they currently feed into two wars of occupation and into Israel's coffers every year.0 -
usamamasan1 wrote:Everybody has a right to their opinion. At least, in a free country.
That is why I support the GOP. Beacons of light and freedom across the globe. Freedom in Iraq! Freedom for all! Freedom to fail, to win.
Freedom to be lazy and starve.
Back on topic, occupy wall street is mad at the wrong people. They should probably not be throwing blame at successful people. Maybe many of them need anti depression meds? What do you think about that? I bet anti depressant meds might help many of them...
Does Obamacare give people free meds (because I bet many of them have no health insurance right?). If so, why would the evil pharma companies invest in R&D without profit motive?
Hmmm
No investment, no breakthroughs. No new meds. People die. That would suck huh?
Why is OWS mad at the wrong people? Why? What facts do you have to support your argument? Why? What? Pain meds? Throwing blame at "successful" people? Excuse me. Please explain as I don't understand your rationale. Please. Facts. Interesting how you insist that whatever Obama does, formulates, espouses, articulates, advocates for is somehow suspect for lack of a profit motive. No profit motive, no worth? Big pharma? Well, geeze finding cures for common illnesses used to be, used to be, for the common good. Polio anyone? Bubonic plague? How about CANCER? But now, they're all a PROFIT center. So, how's that hard on doing for you? VIAGRA anyone? So, when do you except to cure the bird flu? Or maybe lead poisoning? Maybe you'll survive the fracking but I doubt it. Good luck to you and the little angle you comfort. But, a little advice, light a match before you turn the tap to fill the bottle for your own sweet baby Jesus.
PS: Little surprised you haven't posted the pic of Perry with the Tommy. Given up so soon?
Still waiting for "facts" from the "corporations" or ha, hem, "people."
Peace.09/15/1998 & 09/16/1998, Mansfield, MA; 08/29/00 08/30/00, Mansfield, MA; 07/02/03, 07/03/03, Mansfield, MA; 09/28/04, 09/29/04, Boston, MA; 09/22/05, Halifax, NS; 05/24/06, 05/25/06, Boston, MA; 07/22/06, 07/23/06, Gorge, WA; 06/27/2008, Hartford; 06/28/08, 06/30/08, Mansfield; 08/18/2009, O2, London, UK; 10/30/09, 10/31/09, Philadelphia, PA; 05/15/10, Hartford, CT; 05/17/10, Boston, MA; 05/20/10, 05/21/10, NY, NY; 06/22/10, Dublin, IRE; 06/23/10, Northern Ireland; 09/03/11, 09/04/11, Alpine Valley, WI; 09/11/11, 09/12/11, Toronto, Ont; 09/14/11, Ottawa, Ont; 09/15/11, Hamilton, Ont; 07/02/2012, Prague, Czech Republic; 07/04/2012 & 07/05/2012, Berlin, Germany; 07/07/2012, Stockholm, Sweden; 09/30/2012, Missoula, MT; 07/16/2013, London, Ont; 07/19/2013, Chicago, IL; 10/15/2013 & 10/16/2013, Worcester, MA; 10/21/2013 & 10/22/2013, Philadelphia, PA; 10/25/2013, Hartford, CT; 11/29/2013, Portland, OR; 11/30/2013, Spokane, WA; 12/04/2013, Vancouver, BC; 12/06/2013, Seattle, WA; 10/03/2014, St. Louis. MO; 10/22/2014, Denver, CO; 10/26/2015, New York, NY; 04/23/2016, New Orleans, LA; 04/28/2016 & 04/29/2016, Philadelphia, PA; 05/01/2016 & 05/02/2016, New York, NY; 05/08/2016, Ottawa, Ont.; 05/10/2016 & 05/12/2016, Toronto, Ont.; 08/05/2016 & 08/07/2016, Boston, MA; 08/20/2016 & 08/22/2016, Chicago, IL; 07/01/2018, Prague, Czech Republic; 07/03/2018, Krakow, Poland; 07/05/2018, Berlin, Germany; 09/02/2018 & 09/04/2018, Boston, MA; 09/08/2022, Toronto, Ont; 09/11/2022, New York, NY; 09/14/2022, Camden, NJ; 09/02/2023, St. Paul, MN; 05/04/2024 & 05/06/2024, Vancouver, BC; 05/10/2024, Portland, OR;
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©0 -
usamamasan1 wrote:Who's gonna pay for that "general care"? Who is going to work for the money to pay for that?
Oh, wait...the evil 1% should right? That will be Barack Hussein Obamas platform for everything in his reelection bid since he can't run on accomplishments. Just try to convince the have nots to vote for him again thinking that he will be robin hood or something. This is why OWS is here (soon to be a memory when it gets to cold outside). They believed his jive turkey. Now they are left holding the bag and he vacations in Hawaii.
Can't run on accomplishments? Excuse me? And I'm not a "have not" nor did I drink the "Cool Aide"1. Saved the auto industry but didn't have to stop campaigning to do it. 2. Eliminated don't ask, don't tell. 3. Passed health care reform (warts and all). 4. Withdrawing from Iraq (despite the naysayers, hell democracy is ugly, right? We have other things to do). 5. Looking out for the middle class, yea, you know who they are, you're not stupid, by advocating a tax break just for them. 6. Being squeeky clean, and I mean squeeky clean, like hey, he's still married, he's still Christian, and he's still with his daughters and wife raising a cohesive, functional, "normal", you know, typical American family who was born in the USA (ask Bruce). 7. Hasn't entered into any "dumb" wars, hello Libya, 8. is staying on track with Afghanistan as far as being honest to what we all know is a fucking suck pit of resources and truly, if you have an argument, lets hear it, but it's time to go, 9. Oh MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, OSAMA BIN LADIN IS DEAD, Oh so VERY DEAD, and 23 of 30 known terrorists are also dead, not that I'm proud of that but Obama did it in 3 years and did it as opposed to 8 years of talking about it (be afraid, very afraid) and convincing you of just going shopping. 10. Would have closed GITMO but for the republicans who are afraid of our Constitution by transferring defendants to an Idaho prison and trying them in court, similar to what Clinton did with great success and relying on our greatest process but also realizing that the previous Admin, was too DUMB struck to do things "under the law" and listened to "I have a pulse but no heart Cheney but I'll shoot you anyway." So yea, I'll vote for Obama and not that he's perfect but he's clearly more in my corner. 11. Advocating for a Palestinian homeland, despite the Israeli lobby and the Rupert Murdock swing fest, "I like the way they swing" (thats a Digital Underground reference yo), and the republifucks, I'm sorry I couldn't help myself but this issue really blasts me, because its right (remember South Africa and aphartied? Didn't think so, but I don't hold it against you) and the candidates for the republican nomination, of which, having read your posts, I assume you support, at least one if not more, have all come out further right in their positions than the populace of Israel (Sarah Palin and her Star of David anyone?, anyone?).
So, you got facts? Or ignorance?
Peace.
PS: Did I spell "squeeky wrong? From just wondering.09/15/1998 & 09/16/1998, Mansfield, MA; 08/29/00 08/30/00, Mansfield, MA; 07/02/03, 07/03/03, Mansfield, MA; 09/28/04, 09/29/04, Boston, MA; 09/22/05, Halifax, NS; 05/24/06, 05/25/06, Boston, MA; 07/22/06, 07/23/06, Gorge, WA; 06/27/2008, Hartford; 06/28/08, 06/30/08, Mansfield; 08/18/2009, O2, London, UK; 10/30/09, 10/31/09, Philadelphia, PA; 05/15/10, Hartford, CT; 05/17/10, Boston, MA; 05/20/10, 05/21/10, NY, NY; 06/22/10, Dublin, IRE; 06/23/10, Northern Ireland; 09/03/11, 09/04/11, Alpine Valley, WI; 09/11/11, 09/12/11, Toronto, Ont; 09/14/11, Ottawa, Ont; 09/15/11, Hamilton, Ont; 07/02/2012, Prague, Czech Republic; 07/04/2012 & 07/05/2012, Berlin, Germany; 07/07/2012, Stockholm, Sweden; 09/30/2012, Missoula, MT; 07/16/2013, London, Ont; 07/19/2013, Chicago, IL; 10/15/2013 & 10/16/2013, Worcester, MA; 10/21/2013 & 10/22/2013, Philadelphia, PA; 10/25/2013, Hartford, CT; 11/29/2013, Portland, OR; 11/30/2013, Spokane, WA; 12/04/2013, Vancouver, BC; 12/06/2013, Seattle, WA; 10/03/2014, St. Louis. MO; 10/22/2014, Denver, CO; 10/26/2015, New York, NY; 04/23/2016, New Orleans, LA; 04/28/2016 & 04/29/2016, Philadelphia, PA; 05/01/2016 & 05/02/2016, New York, NY; 05/08/2016, Ottawa, Ont.; 05/10/2016 & 05/12/2016, Toronto, Ont.; 08/05/2016 & 08/07/2016, Boston, MA; 08/20/2016 & 08/22/2016, Chicago, IL; 07/01/2018, Prague, Czech Republic; 07/03/2018, Krakow, Poland; 07/05/2018, Berlin, Germany; 09/02/2018 & 09/04/2018, Boston, MA; 09/08/2022, Toronto, Ont; 09/11/2022, New York, NY; 09/14/2022, Camden, NJ; 09/02/2023, St. Paul, MN; 05/04/2024 & 05/06/2024, Vancouver, BC; 05/10/2024, Portland, OR;
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