Divernan
Divernan's JournalYour post does not prove what you claim it does.
The final outcome depends upon how the govt. spends the income - as in relocating, educating, providing medical care for impoverished indigenous peoples.
Fabara said the government had decided not to open certain blocks of land to bidding because it lacked support from local communities. "We are entitled by law, if we wanted, to go in by force and do some activities even if they are against them," he said. "But that's not our policy."
Now let us consider how the US Big Oil companies raped Ecuador's environment and the indigenous populations for decades! Texaco was the primary international oil company exporting oil from the coast of Ecuador. This company managed the oil operation from 1971 to 1992, when it was nationalized by Ecuador.
Texaco's contract for oil production in Ecuador expired in 1992. PetroEcuador then took over 100% of the oil production management. 1.5 billion barrels of crude oil was reported to have been extracted while under the management of Texaco. There were also reports of 19 billion gallons of waste that had been dumped into the natural environment with the absence of any monitoring or overseeing to prevent damages to the surrounding areas. In addition there was a report of 16.8 million gallons of crude that was dispersed into the environment in relation to spillage out of the Trans-Ecuadorian pipeline.
In the early 1990s a lawsuit led by Ecuadorian government officials of 1.5 billion dollars was presented against the Texaco company with claims that there was an immense pollution epidemic that led to the demise of many natural environments as well as an increase in human illnesses.
A cancer study was conducted in 1994 by the Centre for Economic and Social Rights which found a rise in health concerns in the Ecuadorian region. In 2002, it was found that there was a notably higher incidence of cancer in women and men in the countries where there was oil production present for over 20 years. Women also reported increased rates in a copious amount of psychical aliments such as skin mycosis, sore throat, headaches and gastritis. The primary argument against these findings were that they were weak and biased. Texaco decided on jurisdiction in Ecuador.
The case put against Texaco remained in the works for some time. In 2001, Texaco was taken over by Chevron, another oil company, which assumed the liabilities left by the previous production. On February, 2011 Chevron was found guilty after inheriting the case left by Texaco and was said to be required to pay 9 billion dollars in damages. This is known to be one the largest environmental lawsuits award recorded
http://www.counterspill.org/article/ecuador-vs-chevron-texaco-brief-history
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples_in_Ecuador
Are they paid by # of posts? per word? overtime for weekend shifts?
Special bonuses for cramming more than 3 of their scripted talking points into a single post? And an extra BIG, try-to-cut-'em-off-at-the-knees bonus for being the first one to respond to any latest breaking news post documenting negative actions, motivations or behaviors by their hero or hero's agents/minions/appointees.
My dog, how the money rolls in! Do they have a Hall of Infamy for those lemmings who post more than a certain number of times per thread? Award the Medal of Dishonor to anyone posting more than 200 times per 24 hour period? Is there a super-secret annual awards dinner? A faux gold sheep? "The 2013 Sheeple Award for the greatest number of anti Snowden/pro NSA posts goes to _ _ _ _ _!
Einstein had it right:"Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth."
Amazing that you presume to grant civil liberties to corporations/banks!
You just love the Citizens United decision, right? Because you conflate prosecuting Big Banking with giving only lip service to civil liberties. Some might find your position amazing - but then they are not familiar with your long-standing, knee-jerk defense of any scintilla of criticism of Obama or his administration. Here's the deal and it's a very big deal, so try to keep up:
THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND LAWS GRANT CIVIL LIBERTIES TO INDIVIDUALS, NOT CORPORATIONS.
Civil liberties are simply defined as individual legal and constitutional protections from entities more powerful than an individual, for example, parts of the government, other individuals, or corporations. The liberties explicitly defined, make up the Bill of Rights, including freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, and the right to privacy. There are also many liberties of people not defined in the Constitution, as stated in the Ninth Amendment: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_liberties_in_the_United_States
And give an example where prosecution by the "U.S. government", i.e, Obama's Justice Department has or has not been a "slam dunk". I can think of problems the Justice Dept. has had with prosecuting medical marijuana growers, distributors and purchasers. Those pesky juries, state legislators and judges just won't get with Holder/Obama's program, will they? But let's talk about "too big to fail" interests - ya know - the ones with the lobbyists regularly bribing politicians with the big fat campaign contributions. What Holder was really thinking when he said "too big to fail" was "too big a contributor to the guy who appointed me to be prosecuted".
Of course, neither Holder nor Obama nor you can quote any section of any state or federal l law which excludes perpetrators on the grounds that they are "too big to fail" or recognizes a defense of "too big to fail".
Given the evidence detailed in the OP, and speaking as a retired government attorney and law professor, I say yes, prosecuting the Bank of America is a slam dunk.
GLOBAL PARITIY!?! With slave labor wages in China/3rd world countries?!?!
How appalling and disgusting to see Bill Clinton devote his considerable mental abilities & political skills to glorify and exploit the demise of the US working class. He sounds like goddamn Romney speaking at a fundraiser to his one percent donors. "Hey, fellas! This is great! We've ripped off the US working class/middle class down to the point they're at a third world level! Or as I, Bill Clinton, like to describe it: America's wages are now on parity globally!" No wonder Clinton, Obama & the 2 Bushes distanced themselves physically from Jimmy Carter in that Oval Office photo of the 5 presidents. Carter is to that bunch of uber capitalists as garlic is to vampires or holy water sprinkled on evil spirits.
China's per capita income is three and a half times less than that of the U.S., and even less than Brazil. http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2013/03/23/within-three-years-u-s-no-longer-no-1/
For god's sake, all you Clinton supporters. Look at the numbers he gleefully relies upon to claim the US has global parity re wages. The US race to the bottom re the difference in income distribution between the 1 percent and the rest of us, the huge increase in payoffs to corporate board members, the obscenely high ratio of CEO pay to worker bee pay as compared to other civilized countries like Germany, etc., - of course America's wages have dropped to the point of being on parity with third world countries.
http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/on-numbers/scott-thomas/2011/07/china-india-and-us-are-top-3-population.html
Rounding out the top five are Indonesia (245.6 million) and Brazil (203.4 million)
https://www.google.com/search?q=ratio+of+CEO+pay+to+worker+pay+by+country&client=firefox-a&hs=Qup&rls=org.mozilla:en-US
fficial&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=lUy8Ubq7Hejx0wG0-YEw&ved=0CDIQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=615
RATIO OF PAY - CEO: Average worker
JAPAN 11:1
GERMANY 12:1
FRANCE 15:1
ITALY 20:1
CANADA 20:1
SO. AFRICA 21:1
BRITAIN 22:1
MEXICO 47:1
VENEZUELA 50:1
UNITED STATES 475:1
Americans are falling out of the middle class at an alarming rate. It has been observed that the only way kids of middle class families will be able to remain in the middle class is if they each inherit considerable funds.
Ellsberg: Snowden’s NSA leak more important than my Pentagon Papers
Source: Yahoo linking to op-ed published today in Guardian
Daniel Ellsberg, whose leak of the so-called Pentagon Papers to The New York Times in 1971 exposed the secret history of the war in Vietnam, thinks Edward Snowden's leak of the National Security Agency's surveillance programs was more important than his.
"In my estimation, there has not been in American history a more important leak than Edward Snowden's release of NSA material, and that definitely includes the Pentagon Papers 40 years ago," Ellsberg wrote in an op-ed published by the Guardian on Monday. "Snowden's whistleblowing gives us the possibility to roll back a key part of what has amounted to an 'executive coup' against the U.S. constitution."
Ellsberg added on CNN Sunday night that “it can’t be overestimated to this democracy. It gives us a chance, I think, from drawing back from the total surveillance state that we could say we’re in process of becoming, I’m afraid we have become. That’s what he’s revealed.
In 2011, Ellsberg was among a group of noted whistle-blowers that penned an open letter asking that a "transparency award" given to Obama earlier that year be rescinded. They called the Obama administration's record on secrecy and surveillance "a disgrace."
Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/ellsberg-snowden-nsa-leak-pentagon-papers-142811185.html
In the Guardian, Ellsberg scoffed at Obama's response, and effectively schooled the Obama administration and all the loyalists trying to spin this matter on DU:
For the president then to say that there is judicial oversight is nonsense—as is the alleged oversight function of the intelligence committees in Congress. Not for the first time—as with issues of torture, kidnapping, detention, assassination by drones and death squads—they have shown themselves to be thoroughly co-opted by the agencies they supposedly monitor. They are also black holes for information that the public needs to know.
The fact that congressional leaders were "briefed" on this and went along with it, without any open debate, hearings, staff analysis, or any real chance for effective dissent, only shows how broken the system of checks and balances is in this country.
There are legitimate reasons for secrecy, and specifically for secrecy about communications intelligence. That's why Bradley Mannning and I – both of whom had access to such intelligence with clearances higher than top-secret – chose not to disclose any information with that classification. And it is why Edward Snowden has committed himself to withhold publication of most of what he might have revealed.
But what is not legitimate is to use a secrecy system to hide programs that are blatantly unconstitutional in their breadth and potential abuse. Neither the president nor Congress as a whole may by themselves revoke the fourth amendment – and that's why what Snowden has revealed so far was secret from the American people.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/10/edward-snowden-united-stasi-america
You dare say we DUers are easily manipulated !?!?!
Really? Here's an example of being easily manipulated. That would be a guy who believes prostitutes when they tell him they're prostitutes because they like sex and the money is just a side benefit. Get real, fella! What good businesswoman is going to tell her clients: you're homely, you've got bad breath, your huge pot belly repulses me, when was the last time you bathed, or, no wonder your wife doesn't want you to touch her? Sex Ed 101: A prostitute will say the things that will (1) help the client to "finish" ASAP and (2) come back for return visits. And amazingly each and every one of the 4 prostitutes of your acquaintance all felt compelled to tell you they do it because they like sex. Were they all marketing the Brooklyn Bridge as well? Talk about pathetically gullible and manipulated!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022950178
"I know prostitutes"
One I met at a strip club and we're good friends. A couple of others I met through her, another I met the old fashioned way.
All of them are in it because they like sex. The money is a side benefit.
Hitler hated Berlin - and the feeling was mutual.
I thought anyone who claimed interest in a topic such as Kristallnacht would have a broader knowledge of Hitler's well-known hatred of Berlin.
http://counterlightsrantsandblather1.blogspot.com/2009/01/monster-dome.html
Hitler hated Berlin. He hated its cosmopolitanism, its freewheeling bohemianism, its messy vitality, its insolence. It was the only major city that the Nazis failed to win in the 1932 elections. It was long a center of left-wing support. That's why all the big party rallies were in Nuremberg, and not in Berlin.
Hitler planned his revenge on Berlin as obsessively as he plotted his revenge on everything else in his long list of hatreds.
Hitler wanted to effectively destroy Berlin, or at least a very large part of it, and rebuild it as "Germania," the capital of his global empire after his war of conquest was complete.
"Munich was the birthplace of the Nazis. Hitler was popular there, while Berlin had always been a leftist city. In fact, Hitler hated Berlin - it was Goebbels’ idea that the new government should set up in Berlin. As a result, the city was damaged by air raids, and especially by the Battle of Berlin. After the war, Berlin suffered once again when she was split among the allies and consequently the divided by The Wall. While Berlin paid for Munich’s mistakes over decades, Munich prospered – and still prospers now, while Berlin, the great building site, is in ruins. (posted in 2010)
http://englishmaninberlin.wordpress.com/2010/02/07/berlin-vs-munich/
As to Kristallnacht, if you would visit Hitler's first concentration camp, Sachsenhausen, located near Oranienburg, just north of Berlin, you would learn that for the first two years after it was opened in 1936 (prior to Kristallnacht, in November of 1938), there were no Jews there, but rather Berliners who were journalists, priests and ministers, academics, artists, homosexuals, trade unionists and communists - the cream of the city's intellectuals and political activists.
So I make no apologies for Berlin.
Governor's son-in-law said to be investigated by FBI
Source: Pittsburgh Post Gazette
The son-in-law of Gov. Tom Corbett, a narcotics officer with the Philadelphia Police Department, is under investigation by the FBI and was removed from the street today, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
The Philadelphia Police department confirmed that a narcotics officer was taken off the street and placed on administrative leave Thursday, following the results of an FBI and Internal Affairs investigation. The department said it would not identify the officer because he had not been arrested or formally charged.
The Philadelphia Inquirer, citing anonymous sources, identified the officer as Gerold Gibson, Mr. Corbett's son-in-law. Mr. Corbett, attending a Chamber of Commerce event in Philadelphia late Thursday, left without speaking to the media.
Officer Gibson is married to Mr. Corbett's daughter, Katherine, who works as a deputy attorney general in the Philadelphia office making $69,700. She started in March of 2012, and as of late last year she was assigned to the office's Drug Strike Force section.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/state/governors-son-in-law-said-to-be-investigated-by-fbi-672882/#ixzz2JbsZiz4L
Read more: ww.post-gazette.com/stories/local/state/governors-son-in-law-said-to-be-investigated-by-fbi-672882/
"According to law enforcement sources, Gerald Gibson is a narcotics officer with the Philadelphia force. Sources tell us Gibson was caught on hidden camera, taking money out of a car he was told to search. What Gibson didn't know, according to sources, is that that the was money planted in the car by investigators. Gibson has been placed on administrative leave, according to sources. http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Governor-Corbett-Son-in-Law-Investigation-189271061.html.
How ironic, former PA. Attorney General, now GOP Governor Tom Corbett has the woman he appointed as his successor Attorney General, hire Corbett's daughter to work on the Drug Strike Force, but the Phillie police & FBI arrest her police narcotics officer husband in a sting operation. Let's all sing another chorus of Family Values.
PLUS, this throws a monkey wrench into Corbett's ambitions for a second term as Governor, and/or an eventual bid for national office. Sweet!
I have observed more and more white people seething with rage, hatred and racism.
Not just the proverbial old white guys, but men and women, young and old - one common denominator seems to be a low level of education and/or intelligence, often evidenced by atrocious spelling and grammar. Many are Republicans/tea partiers, but some are lifelong Democrats as well. They are swarming out of the woodwork to comment on threads such as the local paper (the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), sans logic, sans common sense, sans any civility whatsoever. I see and hear them "live" as well, in daily interactions at stores, library, filling station, etc.
My explanation: I think they know the sun is setting on the era of white majority/rule in the US and it is causing psychotic breaks.
After the last election, I saw one man - whom the GOP had once run(unsuccessfully, thank god!) for sheriff in Allegheny County(Pittsburgh is part of that county) - put on an incredibly offensive and juvenile display at the polling place. He had been stationed there as an observer by the GOP & I had to repeatedly stop him from violating the rules as to what an observer could do/say throughout the day.
After the polls closed, he went outside to remove the GOP candidates' signs. He also started taking down the Democrats' signs, but when he got to Obama's, he jerked his hands back as if he'd burned them, said "Ewwww. This is dirty!", while mincing around on his tip toes, and holding his little pinkie fingers out like he was delicately drinking tea. Then he shouted that Obama was a thug. Keep in mind that this guy is built like a sumo wrestler - minimally 300 lbs. It was not a pretty picture! I've known this man and his wife for years - they live in my neighborhood. I've been a guest in their home. I knew he was very conservative - but he'd always been pleasant in political disagreements. It's like when neighbors of serial killers are interviewed: "But he was always such a nice guy!"
That's all you got? "most vulnerable" is entirely too vague, subjective and arbitrary.
But Obama's comfortable throwing out exact income amounts when it comes to placating the Republicans. $250,000 to start, and that gets raised to $400,000. So why can't Obama spell it out for seniors?
ANYONE concerned with protecting the most vulnerable would not only stay away from the chained cola, but improve the current formula which does not take into account the different proportions of expenses carried by ALL seniors. We're talking percentage of income spent on fuel, utilities, food, medicine and medical care. Social Security recipients are getting a 1.7% COLA for 2013. However, the formula used to calculate COLAs for Pennsylvania's House & Senate members is more generously calculated:
HARRISBURG, PA- The base salary for state lawmakers will automatically increase 2.2 percent to $83,802 effective Dec. 1, 2012.
Isn't that special? And don't forget, what meager savings we've managed to hang on to earn no effective interest from all those banks Obama bailed out. They were too big to fail; we seniors are too insignificant to survive.
Vulnerable? I'll give you vulnerable - there are precious few Americans who are not one medical catastrophe away from bankruptcy, even with basic health insurance - co-pays/deductibles take a huge bite out of one's budget . The stocks I owned dropped 60% in value and stopped paying dividends in 2008 and have never regained value nor resumed dividends. My $6,000 hearing aids are now 12 years old - should have been replaced/upgraded 8 years ago. My roof is past due for replacement. I buy my reading glasses off a drugstore rack. However since my income is not at poverty level, guess I'm not "vulnerable".
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