January 12, 2012

The good ol' Pre-Reagan days weren't so great? BULL SHEEEET.

[img][/img]

See more here.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/08/boom-for-whom/?source=patrick.net

January 9, 2012

I'm not sure what the point is of following the Repuglican Presidential debates

One super rich Plutocrat minion is the same as the other, to me. They all want to screw American workers and enable their Plutocrat vampire masters to drain the 99% dry.

What are these debates except a giant fight over who's the best at turning America into a giant corporate town / fiefdom?

January 8, 2012

Jakadrien Turner: from what I've been able to piece together... correct me if I'm wrong

The story of Jakadrien Turner, the teenager who got arrested, deported to Colombia and is now back in the U.S., seems to thinly veil a few really big issues. I'll get into them later but FIRST I need to verify that what I understand of this story, is actually true:

Jakadrien Turner ran away from home. She later got busted committing a crime. While in custody she claimed to be someone of a different name. This, instead of giving her real name. At no time is it shown that she asked for her parents to be involved.

Jakadrien Turner got deported to Colombia. She was welcomed under some kind of new or returning citizen program. She was promptly given a job at a call center.

She was exposed by a Facebook post, and returned to the U.S.

Is this correct?

January 7, 2012

Can it GET any worse than this? "Cheap U.S. Labor Used As Leverage To Lower Canadian Workers' Wages"

Of course it can. And thanks to Capitalism, we're gonna get there in a handbasket.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/06/us-cheap-labor_n_1189428.html

The near-standstill in wage growth for American workers hasn't just been good for their employers. It's turning out to be a potential bargaining chip for Canadian companies, too -- at least the ones looking to leverage their employees into accepting smaller paychecks.

A Caterpillar manufacturing plant in Ontario wants to halve its workers' wages, according to The Wall Street Journal. In its negotiations with the autoworkers' union, management is citing a similar Caterpillar plant in Illinois where employees earn less than half of what the Canadian workers make. It's the latest example of how low-wage workers the world over are being forced into an international race to the bottom.

January 7, 2012

Since Free Traders believe that America should lower its standard of living to help the third world

and they are unwilling to address the consequences of this belief, I am going to start listing the consequences of this belief. Might as well sticky this, since the consequences will just keep on coming.

Free traders can start telling these people that they need to keep being poor to help the poor outside of America. Well, America, it's time to RISE UP. Write to these Free Traders and share with them the sacrifices that you are making to help the poor in other nations rise up the ladder.

Demand from them an answer to the question of why Americans should be forced to suffer through this:

Number Of Americans On Food Stamps Hits Another High Years After Recession's End
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/03/number-of-americans-on-snap_n_1074344.html

Americans enjoy less economic mobility than their peers in Canada and much of Western Europe
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/us/harder-for-americans-to-rise-from-lower-rungs.html?_r=2

Formerly Great Cities All Over America Are Turning Into Open, Festering Sores
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/formerly-great-cities-all-over-america-are-turning-into-open-festering-sores

Nearly half of Americans either live in poverty or are low income, census data says
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/12/nearly_half_americans_either_l.html

^^^ Yes, I know, poor here is better than poor in China. Oh wait a second...

More Americans than Chinese struggling to put food on the table: Gallup Poll
http://blogs.cfed.org/cfed_news_clips/2011/10/more-americans-than-chinese-st.html

"I think I upset my friend by telling her to brace herself for foodstamps... "
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002131625



And if the Free Trade counter response is, once again, that Americans use more resources than the rest of the world, then perhaps they would like to explain how this is happening in foreign countries where American jobs are going?
[img][/img]


http://www.cmu.edu/homepage/collaboration/2007/summer/outsourcing-pollution.shtml
A recent Carnegie Mellon study finds that the United States may be reducing its own carbon emissions by importing goods from countries that are creating even more emissions in the production process than the United States would have originally.

http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-vine/how-big-deal-outsourced-pollution
It's a dicey question, though the first step is to get a handle on how much carbon pollution actually gets outsourced. And the answer seems to be: quite a bit. A new study by Steven Davis and Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution for Science finds that the United States outsources about 11 percent of its emissions abroad, while Japan outsources nearly 18 percent and European nations outsource anywhere from 20 percent to 50 percent of their emissions—most of it to developing countries. On the flip side, nearly one-quarter of China's emissions, for instance, go into making goods for other countries. Here's a map showing annual net flows (in millions of tons of CO2)

How exactly is all this outsourced pollution benefitting the poor of the third world?

Oh and free traders might also want to consider how much slavery they are promoting with "free trade":
http://slaveryfootprint.org

Oh and some people in these outsourced countries might also differ with the claim that we're helping them. Like the farmers in Mexico:

http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/130,000_farmers_protest_in_Mexico_against_NAFTA

http://www.eurasiareview.com/21102011-nafta-is-starving-mexico-oped/
Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) became the law of the land, millions of Mexicans have joined the ranks of the hungry. Malnutrition is highest among the country’s farm families, who used to produce enough food to feed the nation.


Edited to add, 01/08/2012:
You can also ask these free traders this: What will the poor people of the third world do when America's economy collapses and we can't support them anymore?

January 6, 2012

How do we advance men's liberation without making women feel like their rights are being infringed?

How can men speak about the injustices that they face without alienating women?

Or is this even possible?

January 5, 2012

For those who think Occupy Wall Street is ineffective

Since you feel OWS is doing so poorly out there, please post what you're doing that's better than what they're doing.

Thanks!

January 4, 2012

Whiskey. Tango. FOXTROT. Higher academic test scores in exchange for being slim? Huh?

http://news.yahoo.com/slim-kids-higher-marks-says-french-diet-guru-211557504.html

Give slim kids higher marks, says French diet guru
By Vicky Buffery | Reuters – 21 hrs ago

PARIS (Reuters) - Pierre Dukan, the nutritionist behind the popular but controversial Dukan diet, has suggested that France tackle child obesity by giving extra exam marks for slimness.

Dukan, who has sold eight million copies of his diet book worldwide, made the proposal in a 250-page book called 'An Open Letter to the Future President,' which he sent out on Tuesday to 16 candidates for France's presidential election.

The plan calls for high school students to be allowed to take a so-called "ideal weight" option in their final year exams, the "baccalaureat," under which they would earn extra points if they kept a body mass index (BMI) of between 18 and 25.

Those already overweight at the start of the two-year course would score double points if they managed to slim down over a period of two years.

January 4, 2012

Because everyone KNOWS it's the TEACHERS UNIONS who are ruining our educational system

http://gma.yahoo.com/cyberbaiting-rise-teacher-tantrums-posted-youtube-213036412.html

Cyberbaiting on the Rise as Teacher Tantrums Posted to YouTube
By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES | Good Morning America – 19 hours ago

Do a quick search on YouTube and find dozens of videos of teachers "flipping out" to the jeering laughter of students -- a music teacher smashes a violin, another spits on a student in full classroom meltdown.

In this form of bullying, known as cyberbaiting, students provoke the teacher to the breaking point, then secretly record the tantrum on a cell phone, then post it online. Not only is it humiliating, demolishing a teacher's morale, but it can cost them their job.

In Houston, gym teacher Sherri Davis was fired after kicking her 13-year-old student to the ground and beating him in front of his classmates, who recorded the incident.

Sometimes, it's a perfect storm of psychological vulnerability and provocation. Nashville, Tenn., teacher Donald Woods hurled chairs at goading students, but was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder, according to his family.

Recently the cyber security company Norton reported that 21 percent of teachers worldwide either experienced cyberbaiting themselves or knew a colleague who was cyberbaited. Many lose their jobs after their outbursts, even though students were the provocateurs.

January 4, 2012

Atlas shrugs, Atlas starves. The End. The most fatal flaw in Ayn Rand's book.

When John Galt and his merry band leave their "rapacious socialist kleptocracies" for their secret Colorado enclave of innovative paradise, long before Bioshock happens, they starve to death.

Who's going to sell, much less send them any food? If society is in the horrible shape that Ayn Rand's story leaves them in, the food is going to be consumed locally. No one's going to have the time, resources or inclination to send it to Galt's Gulch. Anyone who does try, will probably be robbed and killed, or beset upon by the MANY enemies Galt will make after issuing his Great Manifesto.

Or the food he gets will be poisoned.

The End.