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Showing posts with label American Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American Politics. Show all posts
Saturday, October 20, 2018
Friday, April 20, 2012
Investigation: Two Years After the BP Spill, A Hidden Health Crisis Festers | The Nation
On March 3 Nicole Maurer learned of the proposed settlement between BP and hundreds of thousands of Gulf Coast businesses and residents harmed by its 2010 oil spill, the largest in US history.
In her cramped but immaculate trailer on a muddy back road in the small town of Buras, Louisiana, Nicole tells me that the two years since the tragedy began on April 20, 2010, have been “a total nightmare” for her family. Not only has her husband William’s fishing income all but vanished along with the shrimp he used to catch but the entire family is plagued by persistent health problems.
For months following the onset of the disaster, she says, there was an oil smell outside their home and “a constant cloudiness, like a haze, but it wasn’t fog.” Her 6-year-old daughter Brooklyn’s asthma got worse, and she now has constant upper respiratory infections. “Once it goes away, it comes right back,” Nicole explains.
Before the spill, Elizabeth, 9, was her “well kid.” But now Elizabeth constantly suffers from rashes, allergies, inflamed sinuses, sore throat and an upset stomach.
Nicole stares at me and catches her breath; she apologizes for the tears that flow down her face. “It’s a touchy subject,” she says. “They are just tired. Tired of being sick.”
William worked from June to October 2010 as part of the Vessels of Opportunity program that paid the fishermen BP put out of business to use their boats to clean up its oil. William transported giant bags, called bladders, used to collect oil, to the shore. When he came home at night, says Nicole, his clothes “smelled oily.” Not only were his clothes blackened; so was William.
William’s symptoms began with coughing, then headaches and skin rashes, followed by vomiting and diarrhea. About three to six months later, he started bleeding from his ears and nose and suffering from a heavy cough.
“I ain’t got no money for a doctor,” William quietly tells me, staring down at his hands in his lap. Medicaid covers the kids, but Nicole and William do not have health insurance. “We didn’t know we were gonna get sick. Now I get sick, I stay sick. I don’t sleep. I stay stressed out more than anything. I got bags under my eyes I never had before. I just don’t know if I wanna show people who I am.”
Nicole is fairly confident that the settlement is not going to bring justice. So she wants just one thing: enough money to get her entire family out of the Gulf Coast for good.
For the complete article:
Investigation: Two Years After the BP Spill, A Hidden Health Crisis Festers | The Nation
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Comparrison of the debt under different proposals
According to the CBO from 2012 to 2022:
I. Obama's Proposals:
a. Extends Bush Tax Cuts.
b. Repeals Alternative Minimum Tax AMT.
c. No Medicare Reductions.
These add $2.7-trillion to the deficit.
II. Ryan/Romney's Proposals:
a. Extends Bush Tax Cuts.
b. Repeals Alternative Minimum Tax AMT.
c. Tax cut for those making more than $1 million
d. A 20% cut to all tax rates.
e. Increase military spending by 4% GPD.
These add $8.3-trillion to the deficit, THREE TIMES AS MUCH AS OBAMA.
III. Sa.nt.or.um's Proposals:
a. Extends Bush Tax Cuts.
b. Repeals Alternative Minimum Tax AMT.
c. Cuts capital gains to 12%
d. Cuts personal taxes across board
e. Cuts corporate taxes by 1/2
These add $6-trillion to the deficit, or TWICE AS MUCH AS OBAMA
I. Obama's Proposals:
a. Extends Bush Tax Cuts.
b. Repeals Alternative Minimum Tax AMT.
c. No Medicare Reductions.
These add $2.7-trillion to the deficit.
II. Ryan/Romney's Proposals:
a. Extends Bush Tax Cuts.
b. Repeals Alternative Minimum Tax AMT.
c. Tax cut for those making more than $1 million
d. A 20% cut to all tax rates.
e. Increase military spending by 4% GPD.
These add $8.3-trillion to the deficit, THREE TIMES AS MUCH AS OBAMA.
III. Sa.nt.or.um's Proposals:
a. Extends Bush Tax Cuts.
b. Repeals Alternative Minimum Tax AMT.
c. Cuts capital gains to 12%
d. Cuts personal taxes across board
e. Cuts corporate taxes by 1/2
These add $6-trillion to the deficit, or TWICE AS MUCH AS OBAMA
Tuesday, April 03, 2012
Six ways to get the Rich Richer under Romney
1. Housing bargains – but only for the wealthy and uber-wealthy. The largest transfer of wealth from the public to private sector. The federal government will be bulk-selling the massive portfolio of foreclosed homes now owned by HUD, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to private investors — vulture Read More... funds. “You and I will not be allowed to participate” is that these properties will only be sold to those that can bring “a billion dollars or more to each transaction”
2. Tax breaks are good – especially if you’re rich - RYAN PLAN - $MANY TRILLIONS - PLUS CAYMAN and SWISS ACCOUNTS. PAY FOR THIS CUTTING PROGRAMS FOR THE 99%.
3. Hedge funds: A typical minimum investment is $2.5 million, but many have much higher admission prices. PLANNED SCAMS FOR THE RICH!
4. Borrowing is easy – if you don’t need the money
Mark Twain said, “A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain.”
5. Buy low and sell high – easier if you’re rich - capitalize on bad times as prices plummet and demand drops and supply increases.
6. Good credit is money in the bank - More income and money you have, the easier it get credit at ZERO%
related articles:
recalculating romneys four percent gimmick
2. Tax breaks are good – especially if you’re rich - RYAN PLAN - $MANY TRILLIONS - PLUS CAYMAN and SWISS ACCOUNTS. PAY FOR THIS CUTTING PROGRAMS FOR THE 99%.
3. Hedge funds: A typical minimum investment is $2.5 million, but many have much higher admission prices. PLANNED SCAMS FOR THE RICH!
4. Borrowing is easy – if you don’t need the money
Mark Twain said, “A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain.”
5. Buy low and sell high – easier if you’re rich - capitalize on bad times as prices plummet and demand drops and supply increases.
6. Good credit is money in the bank - More income and money you have, the easier it get credit at ZERO%
related articles:
recalculating romneys four percent gimmick
Monday, April 02, 2012
Recalculating Romneys Four Percent Gimmick
2 April 2012 (Think before you vote...really) This is one of the most important elections in our history, our future is at stake and this is not a time for playing around...(side note: Susan Brannon)
I have a new piece up at ForeignPolicy.com on Ron Paul and the Republican Party, focused in particular on the strong support that Paul draws from young people, with some additional speculation about where those young people will end up, if and when Paul steps back from his very public role. My instincts are that these young people are motivated at least as much by the ideas that Paul espouses as by Ron Paul, the person. If I am correct, many of them are likely to remain active in politics. I close with a warning to GOP leaders that they would be making a grave error if they ignored this libertarian-leaning voting bloc. Unfortunately, that is what the GOP’s leading candidate, Mitt Romney, seems to be doing by pushing a short-sighted plan for boosting military spending at a time when the country is awash in debt.
I have always been puzzled by the fact that conservatives who rail against welfare dependency here at home miss the pernicious effects of security dependency among our allies. Tim Pawlenty didn’t get it. Neither does Mitt Romney. Rather than questioning the mantras that have guided U.S. foreign policy for over a generation, Romney simply assumes that the United States will remain the world’s policeman, other countries will continue to free-ride on our security guarantees, and U.S. taxpayers will happily foot the bill. He proposes spending at least four percent of GDP on the military’s base budget, plus whatever additional money might be needed to fight the wars that he wants to fight (for example, this one).
I commented on the Four Percent Gimmick a few months ago, and now I have a bit more detail about Romney’s plan relative to the Obama administration’s latest 10-year projections. I alluded to these numbers in the ForeignPolicy.com piece, and below provide some more detail. (I am grateful, as always, for the help of my colleague Charles Zakaib in sorting through these, and in preparing the charts).
The chart above shows spending in nominal, current-year dollars, over the next ten years. The Obama administration plans to spend $5.7 trillion between 2013 and 2022 (the blue bars). If Romney keeps his promise of four percent for defense, he will spend at least $8.3 trillion (using OMB’s GDP projections) over that same period, an additional $2.58 trillion (the yellow bars). His budget in 2022 would top $1 trillion, and would be at least 61 percent higher than Barack Obama’s. He hasn’t said what other spending he will cut, or what taxes he would increase, to cover that difference. Until he does, it is logical to conclude that he plans to pile on more debt.
And we should remember that current laws call for even less spending than President Obama has proposed, but he has chosen to ignore the sequestration provisions of the Budget Control Act. GOP leaders in Congress seem equally disinterested in following through on their promise to kick the spending habit, and several have put forward plans to undo sequestration for the Department of Defense. Either way, the bottom line is more debt. As I speculate at ForeignPolicy.com, no wonder young people seem to like Ron Paul so much (and Mitt Romney so little).
Another way to demonstrate the absurdity of Romney’s plan is to control for inflation and compare it to future and past trends. Looking ahead, in constant, 2012 dollars, annual Pentagon spending will average $744.8 billion over the next ten years—again assuming the same GDP projections as Obama’s plan. That is 44 percent higher than Obama’s average budget (the bright pink line) over that same period, and nearly 59 percent higher than sequestration (the dark red line).
Now consider how this compares with the recent past. As you can see, Romney’s Four Percent Gimmick would result in taxpayers spending more than twice as much on the Pentagon as in 2000 (111 percent higher, to be precise), and 45 percent more than in 1985, the height of the Reagan buildup. Over the next ten years, Romney’s annual spending (in constant dollars) for the Pentagon would average 64 percent higher than annual post-Cold War budgets (1990-2012), and 42 percent more than the average during the Reagan era (1981-1989).
Mitt Romney may genuinely believe that today’s enemies are 42 percent more frightening than the big bad Soviets. He might believe that spending an average of $450 billion (in constant dollars) every year since 1990 has left the country dangerously vulnerable. If that is true, he should say so. More importantly, however, he should be compelled to answer the question on everyone’s mind: Where is he going to get the money to fund his Pentagon spending binge?
Cross-posted from Cato @ Liberty
Related Information:
(Mar 01, 2012) - T12-0040 - Romney Tax Plan Without Unspecified Base Broadeners; Baseline: Current Policy; Distribution of Federal Tax Change by Cash Income Level, 2015
I have a new piece up at ForeignPolicy.com on Ron Paul and the Republican Party, focused in particular on the strong support that Paul draws from young people, with some additional speculation about where those young people will end up, if and when Paul steps back from his very public role. My instincts are that these young people are motivated at least as much by the ideas that Paul espouses as by Ron Paul, the person. If I am correct, many of them are likely to remain active in politics. I close with a warning to GOP leaders that they would be making a grave error if they ignored this libertarian-leaning voting bloc. Unfortunately, that is what the GOP’s leading candidate, Mitt Romney, seems to be doing by pushing a short-sighted plan for boosting military spending at a time when the country is awash in debt.
I have always been puzzled by the fact that conservatives who rail against welfare dependency here at home miss the pernicious effects of security dependency among our allies. Tim Pawlenty didn’t get it. Neither does Mitt Romney. Rather than questioning the mantras that have guided U.S. foreign policy for over a generation, Romney simply assumes that the United States will remain the world’s policeman, other countries will continue to free-ride on our security guarantees, and U.S. taxpayers will happily foot the bill. He proposes spending at least four percent of GDP on the military’s base budget, plus whatever additional money might be needed to fight the wars that he wants to fight (for example, this one).
I commented on the Four Percent Gimmick a few months ago, and now I have a bit more detail about Romney’s plan relative to the Obama administration’s latest 10-year projections. I alluded to these numbers in the ForeignPolicy.com piece, and below provide some more detail. (I am grateful, as always, for the help of my colleague Charles Zakaib in sorting through these, and in preparing the charts).
The chart above shows spending in nominal, current-year dollars, over the next ten years. The Obama administration plans to spend $5.7 trillion between 2013 and 2022 (the blue bars). If Romney keeps his promise of four percent for defense, he will spend at least $8.3 trillion (using OMB’s GDP projections) over that same period, an additional $2.58 trillion (the yellow bars). His budget in 2022 would top $1 trillion, and would be at least 61 percent higher than Barack Obama’s. He hasn’t said what other spending he will cut, or what taxes he would increase, to cover that difference. Until he does, it is logical to conclude that he plans to pile on more debt.
And we should remember that current laws call for even less spending than President Obama has proposed, but he has chosen to ignore the sequestration provisions of the Budget Control Act. GOP leaders in Congress seem equally disinterested in following through on their promise to kick the spending habit, and several have put forward plans to undo sequestration for the Department of Defense. Either way, the bottom line is more debt. As I speculate at ForeignPolicy.com, no wonder young people seem to like Ron Paul so much (and Mitt Romney so little).
Another way to demonstrate the absurdity of Romney’s plan is to control for inflation and compare it to future and past trends. Looking ahead, in constant, 2012 dollars, annual Pentagon spending will average $744.8 billion over the next ten years—again assuming the same GDP projections as Obama’s plan. That is 44 percent higher than Obama’s average budget (the bright pink line) over that same period, and nearly 59 percent higher than sequestration (the dark red line).
Now consider how this compares with the recent past. As you can see, Romney’s Four Percent Gimmick would result in taxpayers spending more than twice as much on the Pentagon as in 2000 (111 percent higher, to be precise), and 45 percent more than in 1985, the height of the Reagan buildup. Over the next ten years, Romney’s annual spending (in constant dollars) for the Pentagon would average 64 percent higher than annual post-Cold War budgets (1990-2012), and 42 percent more than the average during the Reagan era (1981-1989).
Mitt Romney may genuinely believe that today’s enemies are 42 percent more frightening than the big bad Soviets. He might believe that spending an average of $450 billion (in constant dollars) every year since 1990 has left the country dangerously vulnerable. If that is true, he should say so. More importantly, however, he should be compelled to answer the question on everyone’s mind: Where is he going to get the money to fund his Pentagon spending binge?
Cross-posted from Cato @ Liberty
Related Information:
(Mar 01, 2012) - T12-0040 - Romney Tax Plan Without Unspecified Base Broadeners; Baseline: Current Policy; Distribution of Federal Tax Change by Cash Income Level, 2015
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Tuesday, March 06, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
True America; Where Lies become the Truth
Susan Brannon
25 February 2012
The brief history of America video is to remember who we really are in relation to the Syrian revolution. I do not think that we know how to go and help a country, then leave. We must be able to print money that we don't have and is not backed up to help? Help for what and for who? We all know that Saddam did not have weapons of mass destruction, yet we stayed for years. Our president and his two side kicks smiled and made up more stories to tell us. They never went to jail or before court for their manipulation of the American public. I can say the same about CNN, Fox News, CBS, BBC and others for blasting the same propaganda day in and day out without actual research on the facts that they were told by the pentagon. They just told the stories as though they were facts. Why? Because they bowed down to the social cultural and expected norms mandated by patriot lies and wanted to keep their jobs and continue to be invited to the pentagon press briefings.
These well planned and prepared lies from our top leaders lead to the complete destruction of two other countries and now they are trying the same thing for Iran. It lead to thousands of people killed, men women, children of all ages from all walks of life, and all languages.
Our men went out to fight and be killed based on propaganda. Their mothers, fathers, wives, children and family members will forever have a pain in their hearts for their death. If I as a journalist, provided false information, knowingly, I would loose my career, my face, money, and all. I would not have been able to get away with it. I know photojournalists who altered images and are black listed from the field forever.
Nixons wiretapping was nothing in comparison to what has been going on in our country. This is when the lies become the truth and the truth become lies. I remember coming back for a visit from Iraq and saw the changes in America. I was talking to a friend on public transportation and a women came up to me and said, "You can't be talking like that here. You may get arrested. My advice is to stay quiet" I was saddened.
I noticed that my country has been developing on fear. Fear the enemies strongest ally. If you get people to live in fear, then you will have total control. Everyone has been saying that Saddam was horrible, and yes he was. What did he do? He used fear to control his people. Plain fear and became a very wealthy man. But what was that fear compared to the fear that we have created in Iraq? Citizens are scared to walk down the streets anymore. They did not have to fear that in the past. They just knew that they could not walk across the bridge, so they did not. That fear was much less than the fear of random bombings, shootings and kidnappings.
I ask, Why do we need planes, solders and guns to help a country? I never had to carry a gun in a war zone, I just had to look up. (for snipers) I did not have to point my gun at anyone to defend myself, gather information or to help those that needed help. Words and images are a powerful tool to educate and inform others about a situation. Look at what happened after the killing of Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik. The news spread like a virus, the reports from the inside started receiving front page news. Assad had to respond and let the medical professionals inside of Homs Amr to assist and evacuate the wounded women and children. There was too much visibility for him to ignore the effects of his assaults on the civilians.
Syria, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia all woke up to the lies that they have been fed from their leaders. They became tired of the inequality, the division of the classes, poverty and walking in that same fear that we do today. America's fear is the "attack from the Terrorists" Really? Who are the real terrorists, I may ask. Who really flew into the towers? We had drones a long time ago, don't fool yourself. There has been too many stories with missing pieces of the puzzle. There has been too many stories that created a false reality based on lies that became the truth and in turn the truth became the wrong way to think.
25 February 2012
The brief history of America video is to remember who we really are in relation to the Syrian revolution. I do not think that we know how to go and help a country, then leave. We must be able to print money that we don't have and is not backed up to help? Help for what and for who? We all know that Saddam did not have weapons of mass destruction, yet we stayed for years. Our president and his two side kicks smiled and made up more stories to tell us. They never went to jail or before court for their manipulation of the American public. I can say the same about CNN, Fox News, CBS, BBC and others for blasting the same propaganda day in and day out without actual research on the facts that they were told by the pentagon. They just told the stories as though they were facts. Why? Because they bowed down to the social cultural and expected norms mandated by patriot lies and wanted to keep their jobs and continue to be invited to the pentagon press briefings.
These well planned and prepared lies from our top leaders lead to the complete destruction of two other countries and now they are trying the same thing for Iran. It lead to thousands of people killed, men women, children of all ages from all walks of life, and all languages.
Our men went out to fight and be killed based on propaganda. Their mothers, fathers, wives, children and family members will forever have a pain in their hearts for their death. If I as a journalist, provided false information, knowingly, I would loose my career, my face, money, and all. I would not have been able to get away with it. I know photojournalists who altered images and are black listed from the field forever.
Nixons wiretapping was nothing in comparison to what has been going on in our country. This is when the lies become the truth and the truth become lies. I remember coming back for a visit from Iraq and saw the changes in America. I was talking to a friend on public transportation and a women came up to me and said, "You can't be talking like that here. You may get arrested. My advice is to stay quiet" I was saddened.
I noticed that my country has been developing on fear. Fear the enemies strongest ally. If you get people to live in fear, then you will have total control. Everyone has been saying that Saddam was horrible, and yes he was. What did he do? He used fear to control his people. Plain fear and became a very wealthy man. But what was that fear compared to the fear that we have created in Iraq? Citizens are scared to walk down the streets anymore. They did not have to fear that in the past. They just knew that they could not walk across the bridge, so they did not. That fear was much less than the fear of random bombings, shootings and kidnappings.
I ask, Why do we need planes, solders and guns to help a country? I never had to carry a gun in a war zone, I just had to look up. (for snipers) I did not have to point my gun at anyone to defend myself, gather information or to help those that needed help. Words and images are a powerful tool to educate and inform others about a situation. Look at what happened after the killing of Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik. The news spread like a virus, the reports from the inside started receiving front page news. Assad had to respond and let the medical professionals inside of Homs Amr to assist and evacuate the wounded women and children. There was too much visibility for him to ignore the effects of his assaults on the civilians.
Syria, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia all woke up to the lies that they have been fed from their leaders. They became tired of the inequality, the division of the classes, poverty and walking in that same fear that we do today. America's fear is the "attack from the Terrorists" Really? Who are the real terrorists, I may ask. Who really flew into the towers? We had drones a long time ago, don't fool yourself. There has been too many stories with missing pieces of the puzzle. There has been too many stories that created a false reality based on lies that became the truth and in turn the truth became the wrong way to think.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
USA in decline while the war machine rages on
I am so sick of our politicians talking about war during the elections. These guys are just ignoring reality, what the American needs are, ignoring our economical frustrations and just talk the same garbble.
The Professor's Compliant Against Age Discrimination
Forced to joke about age...333 years old. McDonald's advertise hiring older people, but ask the age on the application.
He interviewer asked the person to leave or he will call the police, because the man, could not remember his real age.
THE AGED AND AGEISM....PART 1
Aging. Little money, no help, no advocacy. This is in the UK, where they have more involvement with the aging. How is it in the U.S?
Friday, January 20, 2012
Ron Paul on FEMA Extermination Camps in the U.S.
"Yeah, there setting the stage for violence in this country, that's for sure" Ron Paul
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