February 6, 2012

Proposed: adding racism and sexism to the definition of TV obscenity?

Ads that clearly single out members of racial groups, genders, religions, nationalities, or sexual orientations, and depict them in negative ways that reflect known stereotypes, should be assessed a huge fine. One big enough to mess up a company's stock value. Or they may be barred for X amount of time from advertising anywhere.

Yes, I know this is arbitrary. But I'd like to see huge fines assessed for this:

and this:
#!

and this:


and this:

February 5, 2012

This is the real Ann Romney, folks. Wake up!

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February 3, 2012

Go, Greece!!! Greek unions and employers reject austerity wage cuts!

http://yhoo.it/wZvgal

Greek unions, employers reject wage cuts
By DEREK GATOPOULOS | Associated Press – 5 hrs ago

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Unions and employers' associations in Greece have rejected demands for private-sector wage cuts, despite pressure for the country to introduce strict austerity measures if it is to receive a crucial bailout package.
In a letter to the government Friday, unions and employers said they rejected proposals for the minimum wage to be slashed and annual salaries to be paid to Greek workers in 14 installments.

Wage costs have emerged as a major sticking point in negotiations between the government and rescue creditors from Greece's partners in the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund for a new bailout worth at least euro130 billion ($170 billion).

Without that deal, and a related bond swap that seeks to cut the country's privately held debt, Greece would go bankrupt in late March, when it faces a euro14.5 billion bond redemption it cannot afford.

Government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis said the bond swap deal, known as the Private Sector Involvement, or PSI, and the parallel negotiations with the eurozone, European Central Bank and IMF debt inspectors for the second bailout were almost complete.

February 3, 2012

Prison labor workers f%^k up police car decals.

That's what you get for making prisoners do work for blow market wages.

This is worse than a strike.

http://news.yahoo.com/vermont-inmates-hide-pig-official-police-car-decal-004403610.html

By Zach Howard | Reuters – 15 hrs ago

(Reuters) - Inmates working at a Vermont correctional unit's print shop managed to sneak a prank image of a pig into a state police crest that is emblazoned on police cars, and 30 cruisers sported the design for the last year, officials said on Thursday.

The official crest depicts a spotted cow against a background of snowy mountains, but the inmates' version featured one of the cow's spots shaped like a pig in an apparent reference to the pejorative word for police, state police spokeswoman Stephanie Dasaro said.

"It dishonors the memory of those past and present members, especially for those who have lost their lives in the line of duty," Dasaro said.

Vermont contracts with correctional facilities employing prisoners to make some print products, including the cruiser decals. Police said someone who works at the print shop changed the emblem from the officially sanctioned design.
A police employee noticed the prank on Wednesday and reported it. Police said the 60 16-inch door decals would be removed as soon as it was practical.

The "source and timing" of the change to the design is under investigation, Dasaro said.

"While some may find humor in the decal modifications, the joke unfortunately comes at the expense of the taxpayers," Police Major Bill Sheets said in a statement.

(Editing By Ellen Wulfhorst and Cynthia Johnston)

February 3, 2012

Manna, by Marshall Brain - please read if you're concerned about the future of the working class

I just got this sent to me in email. It's speculative fiction but you'll see very quickly that this is extremely likely to happen, and its implications for the working class is unbelievably ugly.

I've even programmed a few cash registers in the past that tell you to count change and tell the customer "thank you"... this thing that is being talked about in the article is only a larger-scale version of this and I would not doubt that it is already being tested somewhere.

http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm

February 2, 2012

The top 10 nations that are most in debt are Western nations. Guess who's not on that list.

All the countries that Western jobs are going to: the BRICs. (Brazil, Russia, India, China.)

Anyone smell a coincidence? Anyone have an idea what will happen to the BRICs prosperity when our growing debt finally explodes in our faces?

http://www.cnbc.com/id/30308959?slide=11

The world's about to learn that you can't base your prosperity by sucking other nations' blood... eventually the vein runs dry.