In what has become a recurrent theme the big banking industry is setting it's site on fleecing yet another group of Americans. As if crashing our economy and being bailed out by the taxpayers for their own greed were not bad enough, banking institutions have set their sites on the fleecing of American students, and are attempting to keep them in recurrent debt for the rest of their natural lives, much less their careers. Well, now it is time to fight back against these crooks who care little for their country and the people within as long as the bottom line is preserved.
When Jesus heard that, he said to them, "Healthy people don't need a doctor; those who are sick do. I've come to call sinners, not people who think they have God's approval."
(emphasis added)
GOP Health Care Obstructionists, are you Listening???
The Pharisees, thought they were doing God's work too.
Imagine their surprise when this upstart Carpenter, from the old neighborhood, dared to stand up to their blatant self-righteousness ... and dish back to them some cold, hard truth ...
Man, sometimes you really have to wonder just what planet Mitch McConnell and his ilk in the Republican Party are from. It seems to be some wild fusion of Alice's "wonderland" and Hitler's Germany. Mitch McConnell as a "leader" in his party has shown time and time again that he simply does not care about the fate of his country. His only obligation is to make himself and his handlers who have propped him up and made him rich more and more money, and to hell with everyone else. The man simply cannot be as stupid as he sounds, so one must that he really does not care about anything but protecting powerful interests.
In last year's elections Progressives everywhere gave their time, money and passion to do several things to change this country for the better. One of them was to take over the White House with a historical new and inspirational candidate. Another was to hold our newly won majorities in the House of Representatives. Lastly, we fought to give our leaders in the Senate a fillibuster-proof majority and end their slide towards becoming an American version of the "House of Lords".
As one of the almost 50 million Americans that does not have health insurance I have been following the fight for healthcare very closely. Lately, with even a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress seeming to take single-payer off the table, I have watched with much more disgust than hope. Now, it seems as if even a public option is at risk.
Everyone's heard the expression "whitewashing" -- it's defined as "a coordinated attempt to hide unpleasant facts, especially in a political context."
"Greenwashing" is the same premise, but in an environmental context.
It's greenwashing when a company or organization spends more time and money claiming to be "green" through advertising and marketing than actually implementing business practices that minimize environmental impact. It's whitewashing, but with a green brush.
A classic example might be an energy company that runs an advertising campaign touting a "green" technology they're working on -- but that "green" technology represents only a sliver of the company's otherwise not-so-green business, or may be marketed on the heels of an oil spill or plant explosion.
Throughout its history, but especially during its ascendency in the 19th century, capitalism has had certain key characteristics. First, basic production facilities-land and capital-are privately owned.
[...]
Consumers are free to spend their incomes in ways that they believe will yield the greatest satisfaction. This principle, called consumer sovereignty, reflects the idea that under capitalism producers will be forced by competition to use their resources in ways that will best satisfy the wants of consumers. Self-interest and the pursuit of gain lead them to do this. [...]
if competition is present, economic activity will be self-regulating.
Capitalism assumes Self-interest will lead to Self-regulation. But what do Current Events really tell us, about this basic assumption that in Capitalist systems, consumer-driven "course corrections" will naturally lead to "the well-being of society" as a whole?
(aka. The theory of the Invisible Hand, promoted by Adam Smith, and others)
(yep - the new idea - more of those failed policies... - promoted by poligirl)
You know, they say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Under that same criteria, it seems that the Republicans in the House of Representitives should all be lining up for their weekly shock treatments. Despite being the party of no, they have now become the party of absolutely no new ideas to move our country foward.
Ah, those wonderful Kentucky Republican Christian Values!! We all know that the Kentucky Republican Party represents the most greedy and least patriotic among us, but this story takes the cake. Not being merely content during Christmastime to try and cost millions of middle-class jobs American workers have fought for, it seems that former pitcher, and slightly deranged Senator Jim Bunning has set up a Non-Profit charity to avoid taxes that profits, well Jim Bunning!! You gotta love the Republican spirit of giving!!
We have wandered in darkness too long,
Following idolators of the Golden Calf,
Rushing headlong into the chasm,
Washing our hearts away in the forgetful waters of Styx,
Seeking to possess the rest of the world in our watery clutches,
Where being dragged down,
We all would drown.
Too long have we hurled everything of value into the depths.
Stealing the offering from others,
Long before throwing away our own.
And the greedy mouths of the damned have devoured it all,
Ever hungry for more.
(a great look at greed... now get your paws outta my candy bag! - promoted by poligirl)
The mantra of the 80's and 90's was "Greed is Good!" The mantra of the 00's seems to be "The World runs on Greed and Fear -- Get used to it!"
Well, here's some "Fun Facts" (about this never-ending Pursuit of "Wealth for Wealth's sake")
1. Of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51 are corporations; only 49 are countries.
2. The Top 200 corporations' sales are growing at a faster rate than overall global economic activity.
3. The Top 200 corporations' combined sales are bigger than the combined economies of all countries minus the biggest 10 [countries].
[ and those Fun Facts are from 2000! Just image where we are now after 8 years of the Bush Giveaways ...]
