Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Zalatix

Zalatix's Journal
Zalatix's Journal
August 29, 2012

Is there an effort to make "Corporate Wife" a trending topic on Twitter?

Just to spit in the faces of the GOPers? I get a feeling that Juan Williams quote is going to really enrage them if the Dems take it and run.

August 29, 2012

Mine workers forced into Robbedme astroturfing event

Need I say more?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/28/century-mine-romney-ohio-mandatory_n_1836674.html

Earlier this month, Mitt Romney was welcomed for a campaign event at the Century Mine in Beallsville, Ohio, by hundreds of coal workers and their families. Now many of the mine's workers are saying they were forced to give up a day-worth of pay to attend the event, and they feared they might be fired if they didn’t, according to local news radio WWVA.

The claims have been mostly denied by Rob Moore, Chief Financial Officer of Murray Energy Company, which owns the mine. He acknowledges that workers weren’t paid that day but says no one was made to attend the event. Well, kind of.

"Our managers communicated to our workforce that the attendance at the Romney event was mandatory, but no one was forced to attend," he told local news radio WWVA, which has received several emails from workers claiming that the company records names of workers that don't attend those types of events.

The company's interest in having its employees show support for Romney may be a result of its CEO's close ties with the presumptive Republican nominee. In May, Romney teamed up with Murray's CEO Bob Murray for a fundraising event in West Virginia. And Murray's made no secret of his support for the Republican party, previously backing Rick Perry.

August 25, 2012

Where are the big protests?

I live near a fairly big city full of women and their husbands, fathers, sisters and sons, who ostensibly care about the women in their lives.

I know the media has a total blackout on Occupy, but if people REALLY understood what Paul Ryan, Todd Akin and their ilk have in store for women - and at this point there's no reason not to know quite clearly what their agenda is - they should be out in the streets in every major city.


Why is that not happening? I've talked to plenty of people in grocery store lines and Todd Akin is NOT an obscure subject. Everyone, from my perspective, knows what this guy is up to. A surprisingly high number of people know he's tied to Paul Ryan. But none of them are fired up to seriously dislike this bunch, much less driven to protest.

What does it take to get women and the men who care about them, to go on strike, get out and protest, and jam the streets so the media has NOTHING ELSE TO TALK ABOUT?

Is it that we're utterly domesticated?

August 25, 2012

Slouching Toward Gilead

Historians will describe this phase of American politics using those 3 words. It will be someone's fiction or nonfiction book or essay title.

Considering that it is the victors who write history, I sincerely hope the historians and authors who write this are the ones in academia or who can put it before booksellers, and not people writing it in hiding under fear of prosecution.

How America votes in 2012 will decide which side of the law those authors will be on. And what will become of the women of America.

Please pass this on.

August 23, 2012

Man leaves gun, ammo, knife in unlocked car, and a thief comes along...

If this gun owner had been black, the cops would have arrested him for leaving the gun in the car. They'd have held him in suspicion for planning a robbery.

But this idiot wasn't black, soooooooo...

http://www.wpbf.com/news/south-florida/treasure-coast/Burglar-leaves-message-for-Port-St-Lucie-gun-owner/-/8882916/16224502/-/tj8wbnz/-/index.html

Burglar leaves message for Port St. Lucie gun owner
Police say man found gun, knife in bag with message: 'LOADED GUN Unlocked car = STUPID!!'

A burglar left a stern warning to a man who had his gun stolen from his car in Port St. Lucie.

Police said Michael Maisonneuve reported the burglary of his car Tuesday. He told officers he left his car unlocked and parked in his driveway overnight. When he returned to his car in the morning, Maisonneuve noticed someone had stolen his handgun and bullets that were left in the center console, as well as a knife that was sheathed in the driver's side-door pocket.

But whoever took the weapons seemed to be sending a message to Maisonneuve.

Police said that when Maisonneuve went back into the house, he found a plastic bag with his gun and knife inside. The bag had writing on it in black ink that said, "LOADED GUN Unlocked car = STUPID!!" On the reverse side, the message said, "LOTS OF Children in area."

August 21, 2012

When seconds count, the cops are minutes away

or longer, if there are too many brown people or Occupyers that need to be beaten to entertain the 1%.

The woman in this story died because the cops took TWO DAYS to respond to her 911 call. TWO DAMNED DAYS. Supposedly these fucking cops have the ability to track cell phones when they want to go after people they don't like - why didn't they avail themselves of this ability now?

What a fucking tragedy. You betcha if someone threatened a Plutocrat they'd have that cell phone's location, lickety split.

Please tell me again how useful the police are?

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/woman-murder-911-dallas-police-two-days-151010771.html

Police in Dallas are conducting an internal investigation after discovering that a 32-year-old woman who was found murdered on Sunday had called 911 two days before.

The woman, Deanna (Cook) Patrick, was "found deceased in the bathtub of her residence," police said. Delvecchio Patrick, her 35-year-old ex-husband, was arrested and charged with murder.

The department "is currently conducting a comprehensive review of an August 17, 2012 911 call from the victim," the Dallas Police Department wrote on its Facebook page on Monday:

August 21, 2012

"A fire in Colorado, HAR HAR, THAT'LL teach those Libertarians!"

How was that comment, which was highly lambasted on the DU, different than jokes about hurricanes hitting Florida while the Republicans are in town?

(Do I need to cite the threads joking about the possibility of hurricanes ruining the GOP convention?)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021173503
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021170257

This ain't funny. When a hurricane hits, people get killed. And not all of them are Republicans. Just like when the fires hit Colorado - it wasn't just John Galt's fans who suffered losses.

August 21, 2012

China declares US energy projects violate free trade

And I declare that China can, well, that comment might get hidden by a jury...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/china-declares-us-energy-projects-violate-free-trade-stepping-up-trade-spat/2012/08/20/dac33d9a-eb2e-11e1-866f-60a00f604425_story.html

BEIJING — China’s government has ruled that U.S. government support to six American solar and wind power projects violates free trade rules, adding to strains between Beijing and its trading partners over renewable energy.

The United States and China are the two biggest markets for renewable energy and have pledged to cooperate in developing technology. They accuse each other of improperly supporting their own producers and obstructing foreign competitors.

The Commerce Ministry announcement Monday made no mention of possible penalties but called on Washington to stop the support that it said violates World Trade Organization rules.

Beijing is in the midst of a series of trade disputes with the United States and Europe over market access and government subsidies for solar, wind and other renewable energy industries.

August 21, 2012

The biggest cult of gun nuts in America is not the militias.

They're dangerous enough, but they're not the biggest or worst of them. The military and the police are by far the largest gun cult in the nation, or even the world.

What are the odds that an innocent person (here or abroad) is likely to be killed by a cop or soldier, versus some crazy militia?

This ain't a defense of the militia... it's a call for moral consistency. More innocent people lose their lives to crazy cops and rabid military leaders, than to militias. We treat the cops and the military like they're gods. Our citizens, and worse than that, people overseas, are paying the price for our refusal to reign in the world's largest and most aggressive gun nut culture in human history.

BTW - some of these folks leave their realm of service and join militias... See: Timothy McVeigh.

August 20, 2012

Hypothetical. Suppose you put up a thread to support Medicare-For-All

This is about the recent 3-3 "Leave it" jury decision on a post by a (now banned) troll who said Medicare for All was a pipe dream. But instead let us say you simply posted "We need Medicare-For-All. NOW" and it gets alerted, and it gets hidden 4-2.

What do we do about that? Do the admins step in? Do we let this madness sit on someone's transparency page? Or do we write it off as "hey, we're a big tent party, we can't enforce conformity" and let it stand?

Profile Information

Member since: Fri Dec 16, 2011, 10:30 PM
Number of posts: 8,994

About Zalatix

I'm a liberal looking to make a difference in politics.
Latest Discussions»Zalatix's Journal