tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post977075239634134479..comments2024-03-28T16:08:29.578-04:00Comments on Sardonicky: Oh, the HumanityKaren Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612731479365562803noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-21161370171935448752014-03-23T09:15:08.376-04:002014-03-23T09:15:08.376-04:00Yes, 'the nasty little secret', as they sa...Yes, 'the nasty little secret', as they say is that Social Security has been a resounding success and, because of that, scares the living shit out of the Republicans, blue dog Democrats, and others on the right.<br /><br />Along the same vein, it's why the American right hates the Swedes (and now all of Scandinavia). Ditto for the Canadian health system. There's been so much crap spread round about this last it's became funny.<br /><br />A couple of days ago I sat (not as a patient) in an outpatient chemotherapy ward and listened as an obvious tea partier went on as to his absolute surprise when it turned out the Canadian system was not anywhere near what he'd been told.<br /><br />Seems he'd been visiting in Canada when his hosts took him to a hospital when he'd developed some suspicious symptoms (he'd had cardio problems in the past). The medics ruled out the heart and kept him the better part of the day to run a series of tests. It turned out he had cancer. The bill? Five hundred some dollars. He went on and on - you'd think he'd come to Christ. Remarkable. And the funny part of it was the look of disbelief and discomfort on the face of the person to whom he was relating this religious experience.James F Traynornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-64018104503928796722014-03-23T02:21:30.591-04:002014-03-23T02:21:30.591-04:00Oh, and if you're over the age of 50 and have ...<i>Oh, and if you're over the age of 50 and have been out of work for awhile, you might as well forget about ever getting another job for the rest of your life. Not that you really matter in the grand scheme of things, or so coldly proclaim the Three Fashionistas of the New Normal Study.</i><br /><br />Exactly.<br /><br />Thanks, Karen.<br /><br />It's always good to be reminded how little I and people like I matter in the grand scheme of things.<br /><br />I have a technical resume that the younger people who call me for telephone interviews tell me they would kill for, but it's not enough to get a job (any type of job) for someone like I (over 50).<br /><br />And your prose succinctly exposes why I will not be voting for the national Dims again.<br /><br />In NC, however, we haven't stopped our efforts to try to unseat the Pope/Koch-funded Rethugs who now rule the NC General Assembly and have just passed legislation revoking all the progressive changes NC had struggled to make in the last 50 years.<br /><br />I believe that we must focus our attention on rebuilding our local political groups in the face of all the outside money and power being allocated against our interests at the local level.<br /><br />Again, thanks for your outspoken advocacy for true representative democracy and enlightened social safety net policies.<br /><br />Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc., should all be strengthened by small increases in taxes over the next 30 years, which would guarantee the stability of the funds (and our country) for over 100 years. Even without that "horrid" tax on the wealthy taking place, this is a good plan.<br /><br />For solid figures, Dean Baker supplies these:<br /><br /><i>The Trustees Report tells us that if we raise the tax tomorrow by 0.96 percentage points on both the employee and employer (1.92 percent in total),then the program will be fully solvent through its 75 year projection period. If we went this route, then it would mean that the tax increase would take up 5.9 percent of the projected wage growth over the next three decades.<br />But, we may not want to impose a tax increase like this tomorrow. There is a huge amount of uncertainty about these projections, and the program faces no imminent shortfall. Suppose we raised both side of the payroll tax by 0.07 percentage points annually beginning in 2020 and continuing at least to 2040. Then by 2040, the rate would have risen by 1.47 percentage points on both the worker and employer. This would take up 12.0 percent of the projected wage growth over this period, leaving our children on an after-tax basis just 42.8 percent richer than we are. This doesn’t quite sound like the story about our kids living in chicken coops<br /><br />http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/ss-2010-09.pdf</i>Cirzehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07070125217972397204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-76683630310091418832014-03-22T19:17:10.225-04:002014-03-22T19:17:10.225-04:00@Zee
Pardon my French, but who gives a shit who s...@Zee<br /><br />Pardon my French, but who gives a shit who she is? Cary who? <br /><br />I didn't know who you were referring to initially since the spelling of her name looks male and I didn't even read the blurb, just watched the video. But you actually looked up her background? Oh....of course! For her file - because you are The Archivist of Flame Warriors fame. I had totally forgotten. <br /><br />Oh man, Zee, you're officially busted now! Just when we thought you were only keeping files on our old Sardonicky comments so you could quote us at will years later, you come up with this revealing information - revealing more about you than her. But hey, if you get bored in retirement, the NSA could use someone like you. <br /><br />(Sorry, I just couldn't resist teasing)annenigmanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-73823915507282817532014-03-22T18:39:52.827-04:002014-03-22T18:39:52.827-04:00@James and @All--
Interesting that Cary Wedler cl...@James and @All--<br /><br />Interesting that Cary Wedler claims to have once been an ardent Obama supporter. In <i> this </i> video, Wedler claims to have once been an ardent supporter of Ron Paul and things Libertarian, and, at the time that the video was published, October 2, 2013, claimed to have evolved into, essentially, an <i> anarchist.</i><br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhwufRsPfuw<br /><br />Also mentioned in this earlier video is that Wedler is—or was at the time—the girlfriend of nutcase Adam Kokesh, the looney “libertarian/anarchist/agorist/voluntarist” who recently proposed an armed march from Virginia into Washington, DC to protest the draconian firearms laws of the nation's capital. <br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Kokesh<br /><br />http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/05/29/adam-kokesh-calls-off-armed-march-on-dc-in-favo/194259<br /><br />Kokesh's sociopolitical views are completely and utterly confused, just as Wedler's seem to be when comparing her two videos.<br /><br />So was Wedler ever <i> really </i> a devout Obama groupie? I'm doubtful, even though I think her video is right on. <br /><br />IMHO, what I think we are seeing in Cary Wedler is self-promoting political opportunism and a love for the limelight.Zeenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-72245359000868675122014-03-22T15:25:40.762-04:002014-03-22T15:25:40.762-04:00Old Business:
A few sessions ago some of us discus...Old Business:<br />A few sessions ago some of us discussed the drafting of pledge to be put to candidates and incumbents at rallies and public meetings leading up to the 2014 congressional election. Here’s my offering to (1) educate an audience and (2) introduce the pledge. If you can lay the predicate with fewer words, and phrase the pledge more sharply, be my guest.<br />_______________________<br /><br />Today our spy agencies don’t just focus their surveillance on bad guys and suspects who might harm us; they spy on everybody, because their technology is capable of it.<br /><br />Government agencies and their private subcontractors spy on everybody in this hall. They have already copied down the morning’s emails for everyone in this room, and they’ve recorded all your phone calls. Your license plates have been photographed a number of times to trace you to this place. Analysts sitting before monitors know where you are in real time and where you’ve been. If you’ve purchased a computer lately, it just might be used to spy on you at home, even after you turn it off. <br /><br />That vast store of data about your conversations, your thoughts and your travel is now kept in storage for at least for a month. Our spy agencies are seeking more funding from Congress to store the data for years. There are indications that private interests will be given access to that data, and not always for the most noble ends.<br /><br />The best way to control this spying on everyone here and around the country, to include our Candidate/ Congressman/ Senator and her/his staff, is not to pass more “thou shalt not” legislation. Spy agencies repeatedly ignore the existing laws. Because they think they’re above the law. Then they lie about what they’re doing when questioned by Congress acting in its role in providing oversight. <br /><br />The surest way to control spy agencies gone rogue is not through laws and nice speeches about privacy but through funding cuts. Originally, the budget for spy agencies was for unmasking terrorists period, not for wiping out the privacy of everyone in this hall and around the country.<br /><br />So much depends on you, Senator/ Congressman/ Candidate. Will you go on record here to say that if we vote for you, you will take vigorous, meaningful, and practical steps to protect our privacy, specifically by cutting back sharply on spy agency funding, which funding is now estimated at being from between $______ and $______ billion per year?Jay–Ottawahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10360356126450612113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-15991198522132576242014-03-22T14:46:50.082-04:002014-03-22T14:46:50.082-04:00Yep, Jay, that Young Turk thing was very interesti...Yep, Jay, that Young Turk thing was very interesting. I don't know if Abramovich 'nailed it'as TYT says, but he certainly hit it a good whack.James F Traynornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-62755012044047425212014-03-22T12:45:14.194-04:002014-03-22T12:45:14.194-04:00That was a cute video of a progressive chica break...That was a cute video of a progressive chica breaking up with her unfaithful homeboy.<br /><br />Here’s a video that popped up automatically after I played the T-shirt burning (“they” know my preferences by now). It’s Cenk Uygur summarizing / acting out that recent paper by Yale Prof David Bromwich nailing down BO’s character (or lack of it). <br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRlfyR4v0rEJay–Ottawahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10360356126450612113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-13346460673400153102014-03-22T10:41:26.937-04:002014-03-22T10:41:26.937-04:00@James
Thanks for the link to that video. I loved...@James<br /><br />Thanks for the link to that video. I loved it! And she didn't even sound like she was reading from any kind of teleprompter or script, like you-know-who. <br /><br />Recommend+1annenigmanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-27448364635567987772014-03-22T10:17:48.526-04:002014-03-22T10:17:48.526-04:00Below is a really great video on B.O.. Funny! If o...Below is a really great video on B.O.. Funny! If only it weren't so damn true. <br /><br />http://www.bizpacreview.com/2014/03/17/former-obama-groupie-burns-her-2008-campaign-t-shirt-tells-off-criminal-in-chief-106842James F Trynornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-58127497243284342502014-03-22T09:15:58.993-04:002014-03-22T09:15:58.993-04:00Yeah, if we all get together, sing Kumbaya, Onward...Yeah, if we all get together, sing Kumbaya, Onward Christian Soldiers, listen to a motivational spiel, quote a little Ayn Rand, plug our ears - or whatever soothes you, the screams of the dying will soon still and we'll be left only with the crying of the gulls above the uncaring waves. Life must go on. Yeah, sure.<br /><br />But cheer up, we'll get another little cold war going and things will be back to normal. Duck and cover kiddies, daddy's going to buy you some new shoes! Duck and cover!James F Traynornoreply@blogger.com