Zalatix
Zalatix's JournalDear friends of Globalism
Our elections are now being decided by foreign powers. China, the Middle East, and all those great bulwarks of freedom and democracy, are now more powerful than you, the voter. No matter who you vote for, they will be more influenced by this foreign money than your vote. It was bad enough when the American corporations laughed at you at the ballot box. Lately, though, things just got a whole hell of a lot worse.
And you wondered where the electric car went.
That is globalism in action. Enjoy!
Yours truly,
The so-called "xenophobe" 
gang
In Soviet-er, um, America, TVs watch you.
Even without all the usual security holes, this represents a huge privacy breach for private citizens that is wide open for direct and overt exploitation by corporations. (Say, Samsung, or maybe <insert your cable company here>
Then law enforcement will want access to it, too.
Here comes big brother. The tinfoil hatters of the world told ya so.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/new-samsung-tvs-have-built-in-hd-camera-microphones-face-and-speech-recognition.html
New Samsung TVs Have Built-In HD Camera, Microphones, Face and Speech Recognition
Cryptogon.com
March 22, 2012
While Web cameras and Internet connectivity are not new to HDTVs, their complete integration is, and it’s the always connected camera and microphones, combined with the option of third-party apps (not to mention Samsung’s own software) gives us cause for concern regarding the privacy of TV buyers and their friends and families.
Samsung has not released a privacy policy clarifying what data it is collecting and sharing with regard to the new TV sets. And while there is no current evidence of any particular security hole or untoward behavior by Samsung’s app partners, Samsung has only stated that it “assumes no responsibility, and shall not be liable” in the event that a product or service is not “appropriate.”
Samsung demoed these features to the press earlier this month. The camera and microphones are built into the top if the screen bezel in the 2012 8000-series plasmas and are permanently attached to the top of the 7500- and 8000ES-series LED TVs.
Oh, come on. A jury voted to hide this sarcasm thread?
This thread "How Masculine Are You?" got hidden by a jury even though it was a clear and obvious attempt at a satire of "Women: How feminine are you?" She used a couple of gender-specific bad words, so what, it wasn't meant to be serious. Some of the same words were used in the thread she was satirizing.
I'm the first to cry foul when hurtful stuff is said about men, but this wasn't hurtful. I felt absolutely no sting and I'm the most sensitive one to misandry around here. Dammit, I'm agreeing with seabeyond's post on this, wholeheartedly. And I'll add "lighten up on the cuck**d" word, too, if that's what helped trigger this jury decision.
I have to say this is the most outrageous motion-to-hide that I've seen yet.
Ain't a thing wrong with protectionism, folks.
Beneath the bull-er, rhetoric about "but why don't you care about the people of other countries" is one basic fact of life.
Your choice is either to be a protectionist and fight to keep your job, or support free trade and watch your job leave the country.
The first choice keeps you working in your job and a roof over your head. The second puts you out of a job and potentially on the street, digging in trash cans for food while hoping the police don't arrest you for a variety of vagrancy-related crimes.
When your job moves overseas there won't be another job coming that will pay you what you earned before. You will spend months or years without a job, burning through whatever savings you had, and if you find employment again it'll be a worse job with less benefits and less pay. Meanwhile your cost of living will go up. And those same free traders that told you that you owe the people of China a better living, won't be there to help you out. You're on your own.
Humans aren't supposed to just willingly sacrifice their livelihoods or even their very survival like that. They certainly aren't supposed to sacrifice the livelihoods of their families who depend on the income you bring home. Especially not when the bosses who send your job overseas stand to make a royal killing off of doing so - while putting you out on the street to dig in trash cans for food.
At the base of all free trade arguments is the argument that you must go jobless and homeless so others can succeed. The Chinese worker succeeds. The American CEO succeeds. Guess who isn't succeeding. And guess who doesn't give a damn about you? That's right, all of the above. And the free traders, too.
China understands the virtue of protectionism. That is why they built their economic empire on currency devaluations (the Yuan-dollar peg), industrial subsidies, and tariffs to stop the importing of American goods. Argentina understands it, which is why they peg their currency to the US dollar. Germany's import turnover tax is just another word for a tariff; as are its plethora of regulations and bureaucracies, agricultural import barriers and other anti-import measures that they don't TECHNICALLY classify as protectionist.
America runs a trade deficit with every major nation. That, right there, is protectionism in action - these countries are blocking American imports as a way of protecting their jobs.
Yet, for some reason, it's only wrong when Americans do it.
We're slitting our own throats. And the free trade crowd isn't lifting a finger to help those American workers who lose out. And ONLY American workers are losing out. Funny how that is, eh?
[/img]An undemocratic dictatorship rife with gendercide is now the world's top economic power.
Congratulations, American workers, your sacrifice of your jobs and your prosperity made this possible!* 
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/study-shows-obama-slipping-global-esteem-china-now-171232998.html
Study shows Obama slipping in global esteem, China now seen as top economic power
It's not just how it's playing in Peoria: President Barack Obama's standing overseas has eroded sharply since he took office three and a half years ago, even as many of America's closest friends increasingly say that China is now the world's dominant economic power, according to a report out Wednesday.
* (Actually, the blame lies with the madness of free trade and the GOP)
This is why free trade is so popular with the US Chamber of Commerce
If we had stronger tariffs American workers wouldn't be competing against crap like this, nor would American consumers be contributing to these conditions.
http://news.yahoo.com/factory-raids-reveal-child-labor-persists-india-111743155.html
Factory raids reveal child labor persists in India
By KATY DAIGLE | Associated Press – 4 hrs ago
NEW DELHI (AP) — Police raids on factories in the Indian capital revealed dozens of migrant kids hard at work Tuesday despite laws against child labor.
Police rounded up 26 children from three textiles factories and a metal processing plant, but dozens more are believed to have escaped. Those captured had all come to New Delhi from the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
"Some of them were working in acid and metal," with the task of breaking down metals and mixing alloys, said Kailash Satyarthi of India's charity Save the Child.
Some were embroidering women's clothing including saris and had been coached to deflect questions from authorities about their work.
Free trade defenders say that free trade helps other nations.
So which one of those 'other' nations runs the kind of monstrous trade deficit that the United States runs?
If Europe or China ran these deficits for as long as we have - $250 billion a year in non-oil goods and services - they would be in ruins by now, because massive trade deficits both add to a nation's foreign-held debt and it devalues their currency.
So.. which nations run the kind of deficits that we do?
Global Reality: Surplus Of Labor, Scarcity Of Paid Work
http://www.businessinsider.com/global-reality-surplus-of-labor-scarcity-of-paid-work-2012-5The industries that are increasing productivity do so by eliminating entire industries and entire job categories.
The global economy is facing a structural surplus of labor and a scarcity of paid work. Here is the critical backdrop for the global recession that is unfolding and the stated desire of central banks and states everywhere for "economic growth": most of the so-called "growth" since the 2008 global financial meltdown was funded by sovereign debt and "free money" spun by central banks, not organic growth based on rising earned incomes.
Take away the speculation dependent on "free money" and the global stimulus dependent on massive quantities of fresh debt, and how much "growth" would be left?
What policy makers and pundits dare not admit is that the global economy is entering the "end of paid work" foreseen by Jeremy Rifkin. I have covered this topic in depth many times, starting with End of Work, End of Affluence (December 5, 2008).
The industries that are rapidly increasing productivity and profits are doing so by eliminating jobs and the need for labor. The Web is chewing up industry after industry, wiping out entire sectors that once supported hundreds of thousands of jobs while creating a few thousand new jobs that require high-level skills and mobility.
Robotics are replacing factory labor throughout the world--yes, even in "low-wage" China. When I first toured a variety of factories in China in 2000, many were little more than simple warehouses filled with long tables where workers assembled and packaged cheap light fixtures, etc. by hand. Others had robotic machines stamping out circuit boards that were then hand-assembled into monitors, etc.
.......
I say we fight for the unions to the very last Democrat. Until the GOP kicks us out of the country.
I never started grieving over Wisconsin. I don't feel any need to. I feel we should be stubborn about this to the very end. And the Party should show more of a spine about it, too.
Democrats should push harder. Even if it destroys our party. If we abandon unions what the hell is the point of there being a Democratic Party? Organized labor is the only backbone the working class will ever have. Look what's happened to jobs and wages in their increasing absence.
Without any unions left, we will quickly become like China.
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Member since: Fri Dec 16, 2011, 10:30 PMNumber of posts: 8,994
