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Thu, 12 Jul 2012 21:28:00 -0400

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Fri, 06 Jul 2012 16:20:01 -0400

Well That’s Unfortunate: Woman dies after meeting Obama. A...

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 16:05:52 -0400

Well That’s Unfortunate: Woman dies after meeting Obama.

A woman died this morning from a heart attack hours after meeting the president. Ann Harris, owner of a small restaurant, served president Obama this morning on his bus stop tour across Ohio.

I can see the Fox News headlines already.

There’s An App For That: ACLU helps you easily record...

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 16:01:23 -0400

There’s An App For That: ACLU helps you easily record police brutality. (Android Only)

The ACLU: New Jersey chapter just released an application that allows you to record video and audio and upload it to on off-sit location immediately for safe keeping.

Occupy protesters rejoice!

Currently for Androids only.

Knock, knock. Whose there? Freedom.

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 02:20:32 -0400

Knock, knock.

Whose there?

Freedom.

Whoops! Well this is awkward: Former Arizona Governor...

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 01:20:48 -0400

Whoops! Well this is awkward: Former Arizona Governor get’s stopped by Border Patrol, assumed to be an illegal immigrant?

Former Arizona Governor, Raul Castro, was held up by border patrol when he accidentally set off a radiation sensor while driving to his 96th birthday. The border patrol agents proceeded to interrogate him despite his explanations that he had gone through a medical procedure which was likely the reason the sensor went off. Honest mistake…

Except that the former governor has been withheld by border patrol on more than one occasion:

Nearly half century ago, working on the front fence of his Tucson horse farm in his work clothes, Castro was stopped by a passing Border Patrol car. The agents asked if he had his work card. Castro said no. When they asked whom he worked for, Castro referred to “the señorita inside.” The agents nearly arrested Castro until he showed them the sign by his farm entrance: “Judge Castro.” A former Pima County prosecutor, Castro had become the first Latino Superior Court justice in the state in the 1960s.

And then there was this time:

“I once had a home in San Diego,” Castro said. “One day my daughter and I returned and were stopped by Border Patrol. ‘Hey, where were you born? I wasn’t about to lie. I was born in Mexico, I said. The guard starts questioning me. ‘What about that young lady?’ She was born in Japan, I said, during the Korean War. He thought we were being smart. He didn’t want to let us go. In the meantime, someone came by and recognized me. Governor, how are you?”

I’m not a huge supporter of the “show your papers” law that Arizona passed for personal and, what I see as, obvious reasons. Laws that are based around racial stereotypes are faulty by design. They are based around societal perceptions and untrue stereotypes. A person, simply because he looks like this-and-this, must be this-and-that. A person is reduced from an individual to another statistic.

So, to some extent, I’m glad the governor’s awkward questionings are coming to light. They show the ridiculousness of such “show me your paper” laws. Now, believe me, I’m well aware of the problems that immigration has on the state of Arizona but turning your back on a fellow individual simply because of the way they look is wrong.

Hiatus over!

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 00:58:00 -0400

Well, I started this blog a few months ago and promptly forgot about that (sorry!) but I’m back and I’m making it my goal to post and queue a few posts so you have something to validate why you followed this blog in the first place!

Thanks guys and look forward to a few ramblings and rants now that the race for the White House really started! Remember, if you’re at least 18 years old you should register to vote before November! Exercise your right to say something about this system that is so blatantly broken.

Anyways, see you guys around and look forward to hearing a lot from me because, trust me, I’ve got a lot to say!

Hey, A Billionaire Speaks: Bill Gates supports higher taxes on...

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:21:56 -0500

Hey, A Billionaire Speaks: Bill Gates supports higher taxes on the top percentile; doesn’t buy argument that taxes hinder jobs.

Everyone remember that guy that founded Microsoft? You know, the guy who is the second richest man on the planet? Well, he spoke last Thursday and came out in support of higher taxes on the rich:

“Even as the economy improves and you end the wars, you’re going to have to raise taxes and certainly, whatever form it takes, and I’m not an expert on this — the rich should bear a larger increase than the rest,” the billionaire founder of Microsoft told Fox News Thursday in Switzerland, where he is attending the World Economic Forum.

He also talked about the argument that higher taxes lead to less jobs:

“There is no strong correlation between job creation and what the tax environment has been at any point in time,” Gates said. “If something’s a profitable activity, you’re going to engage in it. Yes, there are tax rates that are so high that people may work less. But that’s — you have to get up in the 50, 60 percent range before that’s the case.”

Interesting. The world’s second richest guy talking about the effects of taxes on job creation. The guy that helped create an entire industry. Hm, you’d think people would listen.

This Week in Politics: Obama doing what he does best, gives...

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:53:10 -0500

This Week in Politics: Obama doing what he does best, gives powerful State of the Union Speech.

Boy, Obama knows how to speak, doesn’t he?

Every year, around January, the President speaks to Congress and to the people of America about the current state of the country. In the speech, he gave some facts about the current state of the country in terms of job creation and about his future plans for this country.

It’s important to note though, the President has no real power to pass laws in the United States. That job goes to the Legislative Branch. Usually, a certain party will control both the Presidency and the Congress which makes passing laws a lot easier (getting the amount of votes, etc). However, this isn’t the current case and if you’ve kept up with the history of Obama-approved bills and laws that have passed the Congress since the Republicans took power… Well, you’ll see they haven’t passed that many.

So, it’s kind of a tough position for the President to be in. People will tune into the speech, listen to the President’s suggestions and wonder why nothing has really changed. Well, now you know. He can suggest and lay out a plan but unless Congress actually takes an initiative or serious look at his plan we won’t see any of the President’s changes at all.

Regardless, this State of the Union was a great speech as always and the President talked about a lot of things. He talked about the banking industry and starting a new group to investigate the practices that the banks did that led us to the housing market crashing. He talked about taxes on company’s that send jobs overseas. He talked about the 3.2 million jobs that were created in America.

It was overall a great speech and if you have the time click the link and watch the enhanced version of the speech that shows you facts alongside the President’s speech.

Obama’s back and he’s not holding back at all.

Hey guys.

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:34:00 -0500

Sorry, still alive.

I’ve been busy with school and work and have kind of neglected this blog but I’m back. :)

A lot of things have happened in the past few weeks and I guess I’ll start with the State of the Union speech that President Obama gave a few days ago.

Any direct questions are always welcomed!

The winner of tonight’s South Carolina primary.

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 21:31:41 -0500

The winner of tonight’s South Carolina primary.

Romney 'Collapsing'

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:52:53 -0500

liberalsarecool:

So much for inevitable.

Mitt Romney’s once 24 point lead in the Gallup daily tracking poll is now down to just 10 points. Gallup editor Frank Newport told MSNBC that Romney’s support was “clearly collapsing.”

The poll is a five day rolling average so it doesn’t even fully reflect the last few days which, of course, haven’t been Romney’s best.

The old Republican standard: the more you get to know the GOP candidate, the less you like them.

motherjones: newsweek: Behold! What the Stop SOPA blackout...

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:16:20 -0500

motherjones:

newsweek:

Behold! What the Stop SOPA blackout managed to accomplish in 24 hours.

See our story behind the SOPA blackout.

If only we had this much of a change when the NDAA was being voted on.

GOP Candidates' Tax Cuts for the Rich are 270 Times Higher Than Tax Cuts for the Middle Class

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:56:29 -0500

GOP Candidates' Tax Cuts for the Rich are 270 Times Higher Than Tax Cuts for the Middle Class:

thepoliticalfreakshow:

You might as well call the GOP the “Party of the Rich”. Each and every candidate is catering to the millionaire and billionaires who pimp out their pockets. It’s basically like a prostitution of government money, in which the GOP is doing everything the rich tells them to. They still want to get paid.

Except the middle class is the one getting screwed.

The 2012 Republican candidates are largely in lockstep when it comes to economic policy, wanting to give huge tax cuts to the rich and corporations while doing next to nothing to boost consumer demand or help the middle class and the unemployed who have been battered by the Great Recession. In fact, according to an analysis by Citizens for Tax Justice, the average tax cuts received by the richest 1 percent of Americans under the Republican plans would be 270 times as large as the cut received by the middle class:

The share of tax cuts going to the richest one percent of Americans under these plans would range from over a third to almost half. The average tax cuts received by the richest one percent would be up to 270 times as large as the average tax cut received by middle-income Americans.

Perry wins the award with a tax cut for the richest 1 percent that is 270 times larger than his middle class tax cut, while Gingrich’s is 190 times larger. Santorum and Romney pull up the rear with tax cuts for the rich that are 100 times larger than the cuts for the middle class, while CTJ did not analyze Jon Huntsman or Ron Paul’s plans. (CTJ uses a current law baseline, rather than a current policy baseline, to calculate its cuts. Using a current policy baseline, millions of middle class families would see a tax increase under Romney’s plan.)

CTJ also noted that “the cost of the tax plans proposed by Republican presidential candidates would range from $6.6 trillion to $18 trillion over a decade.” Therefore, “even the meager tax cuts that would go to low-income and middle-income taxpayers under these plans would almost surely be offset by the huge cuts in public services that would become necessary as a result.”

Look at the graph. It’s insane. This, my friends, is the party that would much rather help out billion dollar corporations and give them a break rather than help out the folks, like our parents, in the middle class who could actually use a thousand dollar tax break.

Ridiculous.

truth-has-a-liberal-bias: newshour: Breaking: Mitt Romney wins...

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:30:07 -0500

truth-has-a-liberal-bias:

newshour:

Breaking: Mitt Romney wins New Hampshire, according to the The Associated Press.

Note: “Other” is doing better than Rick Perry!

Yeah, it’s official. Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee if you somehow didn’t think it would happen.

Sorry Republicans.

Heh, time to see the Republican field implode on itself.

The U.S. schools with their own police.

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:33:33 -0500

The U.S. schools with their own police.:

The charge on the police docket was “disrupting class”. But that’s not how 12-year-old Sarah Bustamantes saw her arrest for spraying two bursts of perfume on her neck in class because other children were bullying her with taunts of “you smell”.

“I’m weird. Other kids don’t like me,” said Sarah, who has been diagnosed with attention-deficit and bipolar disorders and who is conscious of being overweight. “They were saying a lot of rude things to me. Just picking on me. So I sprayed myself with perfume. Then they said: ‘Put that away, that’s the most terrible smell I’ve ever smelled.’ Then the teacher called the police.”

The policeman didn’t have far to come. He patrols the corridors of Sarah’s school, Fulmore Middle in Austin, Texas. Like hundreds of schools in the state, and across large parts of the rest of the US, Fulmore Middle has its own police force with officers in uniform who carry guns to keep order in the canteens, playgrounds and lessons. Sarah was taken from class, charged with a criminal misdemeanour and ordered to appear in court.

Republicans Demand More Corporate Donations, Hand Democrats a Populist Issue

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:17:20 -0500

liberalsarecool:

The Republican National Committee argued in federal court today to allow corporate campaign donations to candidates for federal offices.

Rick Hasen: “Especially if Romney is the nominee, expect this to be rolled into Romney’s ‘corporations are people, my friend’ line, the Bain Capital stuff, and the recent ‘I like to fire people gaffe,’ with Occupy undertones, for Democrats (or their super PAC surrogates) to make an anti-corporate, Populist message for Obama’s reelection.”

The RNC will argue next in favor of candidates for federal office being employees of the same corporations….even after being elected and assuming office.

Isn’t any different from President Obama being in bed with J.P. Morgan and now Citigroup.

Regardless, we need the Populist, anti-Corporate message in the mainstream. Campaign influence on both sides is the real current threat to Democracy.

That and stuff like the NDAA but, hey, who cares about that meaningless stuff.

"Crybaby" Gingrich Attacks On Romney Takes GOP Down With Him

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:58:44 -0500

liberalsarecool:

Bring out the big-boy diapers. Newt Gingrich is throwing another tantrum, but instead of trashing the federal government, he’s trashing Mitt Romney — and damaging the GOP’s hopes of taking back the White House.

Gingrich, despite sinking in the polls, is going nuclear on the former Massachusetts governor on the eve of the New Hampshire primary, and now it looks personal. Gingrich, dubbed “Crybaby” by the media for his ego-driven antics as House speaker in 1995, is now performing in “Crybaby, the Sequel.”

It’s fitting that Gingrich yesterday continued to attack Romney in a Manchester restaurant next door to the Obama campaign headquarters, because right now he’s the president’s best friend. His strategy of taking down Romney is right out of the Ted Kennedy and DNC playbook — casting Romney as a corporate villain who “looted” companies and laid off workers.

“My guess is at some point you all may want him to do a rather in-depth press conference explaining Bain Capital,” Gingrich said.

There is nothing wrong with criticizing your rival, and Romney clearly has major weaknesses to exploit. Rick Santorum nailed it by accusing Romney of a “bail out” on Massachusetts. But at some point, probably soon, the GOP and especially Gingrich have to come to grips with Mitt as the likely nominee. - Joe Battenfeld, Boston Globe

Newt’s ego will destroy all in its way.

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:13:16 -0500

This Week in Church: Pat Robertson knows who the next president...

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 22:09:55 -0500

This Week in Church: Pat Robertson knows who the next president is going to be; doesn’t want to spoil the surprise. (Hint: His name starts with Barack and ends in Obama.)

Let me start out by saying this is an opinion piece. Got it? Ok.

I think I’m going to devout Sundays on this blog to any religion-related story and this week we have the last prophet/messiah, Pat Robertson, telling us about a dream he had where God came down and told him who the next president is going to be. If you’re worried about spoilers, don’t fret. God told him he can’t tell us. Sounds legit!

Look, I have no real problem with religion, believers, or faith. I’m not a militant atheist like Hitchens, Maher, or Dawkins who believe our world can’t progress with religion and our goal should be to demean religion in all regards to get people to wake up. I’m not like that. Sure, I think it’s ludicrous but I’m not going to go out of my way to always belittle and disregard religious people.

Having said that though… This is one of the times where I feel like I need to speak up.

Here’s Pat Robertson, the 100-year old host of the show the 700 Club, who is going on and on about to his senile audience about a dream he had where God spoke to him, and him directly, about who the next president is going to be and about how our current president has a vision for the country that will lead us to economic collapse:

Your country will be torn apart by internal stress. A house divided cannot stand. Your president holds a radical view of the direction of your country which is at odds with the majority. Expect chaos and paralysis. Your president holds a view which is at the odds with the majority — it’s a radical view of the future of this country, and so that’s why we’re having this division. This is a spiritual battle which can only be won by overwhelming prayer. The future of the world is at stake because if America falls, there’s no longer a strong champion of freedom and a champion of the oppressed of the world. There must be an urgent call to prayer.

You know what makes me mad about all this? It’s not the fact that he said it but rather the fact he has an audience of similarly-brain washed evangelicals who will believe it. It’s an irrational and purposeful division of our country based on one man’s beliefs.

It’s the fear mongering, the purposeful addition of fuel to an existing fire, that makes me mad. Beyond mad. It’s the rage and anger I feel when I read about an other idiotic thing a Republican has said during the debates. It’s not the statement itself but the fact that people actually believe them and then react in a negative, regressive way.

What this country needs is the opposite of a senile, old man ranting and raving his schizophrenic thoughts. We need a convergence of both sides.

We need to be able to put aside beliefs and work together towards a unionized America where the discussion revolves around how we can truly balance the power of government where it ensures equality yet promotes business. Where everyone has an equal chance to one day be able to bake his own pie rather than the popular belief that America is filled with nothing more than lazy, good-for-nothing, Socialists who want someone else’s pie.

And yet, no, instead we have this. We have people like Pat Robertson, Bill O’ Riley, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh. We have people that enjoy causing division rather than unity, that enjoy having my side, his side politics.

Imagine if you had a time machine and went into the distant future and saw that America split into two different groups and were engaged in a civil war. Would you be surprised?

I wouldn’t.

Hope you guys have a good week! I’m starting school this week. Hope you guys have a good one. Take care!