"That's where you'll find me"
Monday, May 28, 2007
Bach Guitars (& a blog slow-down)
Hey Folks,
I'll be tied up somewhat for a while. I'll try to do a bit on the blog whenever I get the chance.
In the meantime, get a load of this guitar player doing Bach on two guitars:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UsPaiGUCss
Then check out his website for more: www.zackkim.com
- Uke Man
I'll be tied up somewhat for a while. I'll try to do a bit on the blog whenever I get the chance.
In the meantime, get a load of this guitar player doing Bach on two guitars:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UsPaiGUCss
Then check out his website for more: www.zackkim.com
- Uke Man
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Let them eat $500 meals !!
Hey Folks -
It's worse than you probably thought. While the rich get ever richer (see Herbert, 2nd posting below), one is moved to ask - paraphrasing the school kid in the article - how much money can they spend? How much do they need?
Apparently they need it all and have no trouble spending it (or at least hoarding it).
How do the Rich sleep at night?
Denial.
Bob Herbert reports one person's observation, "I’ve become acutely aware that the lives of those who are well off are not touched at all by contact with the poor. It’s not that people don’t care or don’t want to help. It’s that they have very little awareness of poverty.”
Well, golly. Isn't that convenient. These good souls "have very little awareness of poverty.” Right!!! How can that be?
Denial.
Well, this calming "ignorance" is only going to get worse unless someone shakes things up. And more is at stake in this than just regular folks' standard of living. In an upcoming post I'll share a story from Sao Paulo, Brazil that takes this trend out a little farther than it's reached here.
It will stand your hair on end.
- Uke Man
May 22, 2007
American Cities and the Great Divide
By BOB HERBERT
(a ukethanks to Phyll)
A public high school teacher in Brooklyn told me recently about a student who didn’t believe that a restaurant tab for four people could come to more than $500. The student shook his head, as if resisting the very idea. He just couldn’t fathom it.
“How much can you eat?” the student asked.
When I asked a teacher in a second school to mention the same issue, one of the responses was, “Is this a true story?”
A lot of New Yorkers are doing awfully well. There are 8 million residents of New York City, and roughly 700,000 are worth a million dollars or more. The average price of a Manhattan apartment is $1.3 million. The annual earnings of the average hedge fund manager is $363 million.
The estimated worth of the mayor, Michael Bloomberg, ranges from $5.5 billion to upwards of $20 billion.
You want a gilded age? This is it. The elite of the Roaring Twenties would be stunned by the wealth of the current era.
Now the flip side, which is the side those public school students are on. One of the city’s five counties, the Bronx, is the poorest urban county in the nation. The number of families in the city’s homeless shelters is the highest it has been in a quarter of a century. Twenty-five percent of all families with children in New York City — that’s 1.5 million New Yorkers — are trying to make it on incomes that are below the poverty threshold established by the federal government.
The streets that are paved with gold for some are covered with ash for many others. There are few better illustrations of the increasingly disturbing divide between rich and poor than New York City.
“I get to walk in both worlds,” said Larry Mandell, the president of the United Way of New York City. “In a given day I might be in a soup kitchen and also in the halls of Fortune 500 companies dealing with the senior executives. I’ve become acutely aware that the lives of those who are well off are not touched at all by contact with the poor. It’s not that people don’t care or don’t want to help. It’s that they have very little awareness of poverty.”
I’d always thought of the United Way as a charitable outfit. But Mr. Mandell has committed his organization to the important task of raising the awareness of Americans and their political leaders to the pressing needs of America’s cities, and especially the long-neglected, poverty-stricken neighborhoods of the inner cities.
It’s a measure of how low the bar has been set for success in America’s cities that New York is thought to be doing well, even though 185,000 of its children ages 5 or younger are poor, and 18,000 are consigned to homeless shelters each night. More than a million New Yorkers get food stamps, and another 700,000 are eligible but not receiving them. That’s a long, long way from a $500 restaurant tab.
Only 50 percent of the city’s high school students graduate in four years. And if you talk to the kids in the poorer neighborhoods, they will tell you that they don’t feel safe. They are worried about violence and gang activity, which in their view is getting worse, not better.
This is what’s going on in the nation’s most successful big city.
Mr. Mandell is upset that urban issues, which in so many cases are related to poverty, have played such a minuscule role in the presidential campaign so far. “People need to become more aware of the issue of poverty,” he said. “It’s discouraging, frankly, to have it barely mentioned at all in the debates.
“It’s true that John Edwards is the one candidate who seems concerned about it, but to actually have the issue come up just briefly in the debates, and not at all in the Republican debate — well, my view is that we have to change that.”
The United Way of New York has issued a white paper on “America’s Urban Agenda” that says, “The greatest single challenge most American cities face lies in the increasing divide between the haves and have-nots.”
There was a time, some decades ago, when urban issues and poverty were important components of presidential campaigns. Now the poor are kept out of sight, which makes it easier to leave them farther and farther behind. We’ve apparently reached a point in our politics when they aren’t even worth mentioning.
It's worse than you probably thought. While the rich get ever richer (see Herbert, 2nd posting below), one is moved to ask - paraphrasing the school kid in the article - how much money can they spend? How much do they need?
Apparently they need it all and have no trouble spending it (or at least hoarding it).
How do the Rich sleep at night?
Denial.
Bob Herbert reports one person's observation, "I’ve become acutely aware that the lives of those who are well off are not touched at all by contact with the poor. It’s not that people don’t care or don’t want to help. It’s that they have very little awareness of poverty.”
Well, golly. Isn't that convenient. These good souls "have very little awareness of poverty.” Right!!! How can that be?
Denial.
Well, this calming "ignorance" is only going to get worse unless someone shakes things up. And more is at stake in this than just regular folks' standard of living. In an upcoming post I'll share a story from Sao Paulo, Brazil that takes this trend out a little farther than it's reached here.
It will stand your hair on end.
- Uke Man
May 22, 2007
American Cities and the Great Divide
By BOB HERBERT
(a ukethanks to Phyll)
A public high school teacher in Brooklyn told me recently about a student who didn’t believe that a restaurant tab for four people could come to more than $500. The student shook his head, as if resisting the very idea. He just couldn’t fathom it.
“How much can you eat?” the student asked.
When I asked a teacher in a second school to mention the same issue, one of the responses was, “Is this a true story?”
A lot of New Yorkers are doing awfully well. There are 8 million residents of New York City, and roughly 700,000 are worth a million dollars or more. The average price of a Manhattan apartment is $1.3 million. The annual earnings of the average hedge fund manager is $363 million.
The estimated worth of the mayor, Michael Bloomberg, ranges from $5.5 billion to upwards of $20 billion.
You want a gilded age? This is it. The elite of the Roaring Twenties would be stunned by the wealth of the current era.
Now the flip side, which is the side those public school students are on. One of the city’s five counties, the Bronx, is the poorest urban county in the nation. The number of families in the city’s homeless shelters is the highest it has been in a quarter of a century. Twenty-five percent of all families with children in New York City — that’s 1.5 million New Yorkers — are trying to make it on incomes that are below the poverty threshold established by the federal government.
The streets that are paved with gold for some are covered with ash for many others. There are few better illustrations of the increasingly disturbing divide between rich and poor than New York City.
“I get to walk in both worlds,” said Larry Mandell, the president of the United Way of New York City. “In a given day I might be in a soup kitchen and also in the halls of Fortune 500 companies dealing with the senior executives. I’ve become acutely aware that the lives of those who are well off are not touched at all by contact with the poor. It’s not that people don’t care or don’t want to help. It’s that they have very little awareness of poverty.”
I’d always thought of the United Way as a charitable outfit. But Mr. Mandell has committed his organization to the important task of raising the awareness of Americans and their political leaders to the pressing needs of America’s cities, and especially the long-neglected, poverty-stricken neighborhoods of the inner cities.
It’s a measure of how low the bar has been set for success in America’s cities that New York is thought to be doing well, even though 185,000 of its children ages 5 or younger are poor, and 18,000 are consigned to homeless shelters each night. More than a million New Yorkers get food stamps, and another 700,000 are eligible but not receiving them. That’s a long, long way from a $500 restaurant tab.
Only 50 percent of the city’s high school students graduate in four years. And if you talk to the kids in the poorer neighborhoods, they will tell you that they don’t feel safe. They are worried about violence and gang activity, which in their view is getting worse, not better.
This is what’s going on in the nation’s most successful big city.
Mr. Mandell is upset that urban issues, which in so many cases are related to poverty, have played such a minuscule role in the presidential campaign so far. “People need to become more aware of the issue of poverty,” he said. “It’s discouraging, frankly, to have it barely mentioned at all in the debates.
“It’s true that John Edwards is the one candidate who seems concerned about it, but to actually have the issue come up just briefly in the debates, and not at all in the Republican debate — well, my view is that we have to change that.”
The United Way of New York has issued a white paper on “America’s Urban Agenda” that says, “The greatest single challenge most American cities face lies in the increasing divide between the haves and have-nots.”
There was a time, some decades ago, when urban issues and poverty were important components of presidential campaigns. Now the poor are kept out of sight, which makes it easier to leave them farther and farther behind. We’ve apparently reached a point in our politics when they aren’t even worth mentioning.
Friday, May 25, 2007
This Just In
Hey Folks,
For what it's worth, here is some scary stuff. As B.F. Skinner said, "It's an experimental question." That is, we will see over time whether there is any truth in this. Still, if we don't hear the predictive evidence, we'll be caught flat-footed if it should come to pass. So, here it is.
- Uke Man
Excerpted from: http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/002145.php
Multiple sources have reported that a senior aide on Vice President Cheney's national security team has been meeting with policy hands of the American Enterprise Institute, one other think tank, and more than one national security consulting house and explicitly stating that Vice President Cheney does not support President Bush's tack towards Condoleezza Rice's diplomatic efforts and fears that the Presidentis taking diplomacy with Iran too seriously.
This White House official has stated to several Washington insiders that Cheney is planning to deploy an "end run strategy" around the President if he and his team lose the policy argument.
The thinking on Cheney's team is to collude with Israel, nudging Israel at some key moment in the ongoing standoff between Iran's nuclear activities and international frustration over this to mount a small-scale conventional strike against Natanz using cruise missiles (i.e., not ballistic missiles).
This strategy would sidestep controversies over bomber aircraft and overflight rights over other Middle Eastnations and could be expected to trigger a sufficient Iranian counter-strike against US forces in the Gulf-- which just became significantly larger -- as to compel Bush to forgo the diplomatic track that the administration realists are advocating and engage in another war.
There are many other components of the complex gameplan that this Cheney official has been kicking around Washington. The official has offered this commentary to senior staff at AEI and in lunch and dinner gatherings which were to be considered strictly off-the-record, but there can be little doubt that the official actually hopes that hawkish conservatives and neoconservatives share this information and then rally to this point of view. This official is beating the brush and doing what Joshua Muravchik has previously suggested -- which is to help establish the policy and political pathway to bombing Iran.
The zinger of this information is the admission by this Cheney aide that Cheney himself is frustrated with President Bush and believes, much like Richard Perle, that Bush is making a disastrous mistake by aligning himself with the policy course that Condoleezza Rice, Bob Gates, Michael Hayden and McConnell have sculpted.
According to this official, Cheney believes that Bush can not be counted on to make the "right decision"when it comes to dealing with Iran and thus Cheney believes that he must tie the President's hands.
For what it's worth, here is some scary stuff. As B.F. Skinner said, "It's an experimental question." That is, we will see over time whether there is any truth in this. Still, if we don't hear the predictive evidence, we'll be caught flat-footed if it should come to pass. So, here it is.
- Uke Man
Excerpted from: http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/002145.php
Multiple sources have reported that a senior aide on Vice President Cheney's national security team has been meeting with policy hands of the American Enterprise Institute, one other think tank, and more than one national security consulting house and explicitly stating that Vice President Cheney does not support President Bush's tack towards Condoleezza Rice's diplomatic efforts and fears that the Presidentis taking diplomacy with Iran too seriously.
This White House official has stated to several Washington insiders that Cheney is planning to deploy an "end run strategy" around the President if he and his team lose the policy argument.
The thinking on Cheney's team is to collude with Israel, nudging Israel at some key moment in the ongoing standoff between Iran's nuclear activities and international frustration over this to mount a small-scale conventional strike against Natanz using cruise missiles (i.e., not ballistic missiles).
This strategy would sidestep controversies over bomber aircraft and overflight rights over other Middle Eastnations and could be expected to trigger a sufficient Iranian counter-strike against US forces in the Gulf-- which just became significantly larger -- as to compel Bush to forgo the diplomatic track that the administration realists are advocating and engage in another war.
There are many other components of the complex gameplan that this Cheney official has been kicking around Washington. The official has offered this commentary to senior staff at AEI and in lunch and dinner gatherings which were to be considered strictly off-the-record, but there can be little doubt that the official actually hopes that hawkish conservatives and neoconservatives share this information and then rally to this point of view. This official is beating the brush and doing what Joshua Muravchik has previously suggested -- which is to help establish the policy and political pathway to bombing Iran.
The zinger of this information is the admission by this Cheney aide that Cheney himself is frustrated with President Bush and believes, much like Richard Perle, that Bush is making a disastrous mistake by aligning himself with the policy course that Condoleezza Rice, Bob Gates, Michael Hayden and McConnell have sculpted.
According to this official, Cheney believes that Bush can not be counted on to make the "right decision"when it comes to dealing with Iran and thus Cheney believes that he must tie the President's hands.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
The Rich get richer, and the Poor get more plentiful
Hey Folks -
"The Rich get richer and the Poor get poorer," but have you ever considered the notion that "The Rich get richer BECAUSE the Poor get poorer"? It makes sense to me.
Every time a profitable capitalistic venture such as a manufacturer, publisher, agribusiness, or professional service provider cuts benefits, makes layoffs, ships jobs over seas, or encourages easily-exploited "illegal" immigration, the capitalist - who is already making money - makes MORE money. The workers, obviously, suffer a reduction in their standard of living and are told (those who weren't laid off) that they should be happy to have a job at all - "quit complaining!!"
Workers who can barely keep body and soul together are supposed to be grateful for their increased difficulties and, perhaps, even proud that their sacrifice has helped increase the prosperity of the already prosperous.
Yep - sure makes sense. Uh huh!! Yeah. Right. Mmmmm . . .
- Uke Man
May 12, 2007
The Millions Left Out
By BOB HERBERT
(a ukethanks to Phyll)
The United States may be the richest country in the world, but
there are many millions — tens of millions — who are not sharing
in that prosperity.
According to the most recent government figures, 37 million
Americans are living below the official poverty threshold, which is
$19,971 a year for a family of four. That’s one out of every eight
Americans, and many of them are children.
More than 90 million Americans, close to a third of the entire
population, are struggling to make ends meet on incomes that
are less than twice the official poverty line. In my book, they’re poor.
We don’t see poor people on television or in the advertising that
surrounds us like a second atmosphere. We don’t pay much attention
to the millions of men and women who are changing bedpans, or
flipping burgers for the minimum wage, or vacuuming the halls of office
buildings at all hours of the night. But they’re there, working hard and
getting very little in return.
The number of poor people in America has increased by five million over
the past six years, and the gap between rich and poor has grown to
historic proportions. The richest one percent of Americans got nearly 20
percent of the nation’s income in 2005, while the poorest 20 percent could
collectively garner only a measly 3.4 percent.
A new report from a highly respected task force on poverty put together by
the Center for American Progress tells us, “It does not have to be this
way.” The task force has made several policy recommendations, and said
that if all were adopted poverty in the U.S. could be cut in half over the
next decade.
The tremendous number of people in poverty is an enormous drag on the U.S.
economy. And one of the biggest problems is the simple fact that so many
jobs pay so little that even fulltime, year-round employment is not enough
to raise a family out of poverty. One-fifth of the working men in America
and 29 percent of working women are in such jobs.
Peter Edelman, a Georgetown law professor who was a co-chairman of the
task force, said, “An astonishing number of people are working as hard as
they possibly can but are still in poverty or have incomes that are not much
above the poverty line.”
So the starting point for lifting people out of poverty should be to see
that men and women who are working are adequately compensated for their
labor. The task force recommended that the federal minimum wage, now $5.15
an hour, be raised to half the average hourly wage in the U.S., which would bring it to $8.40.
The earned-income tax credit, which has proved very successful in
supplementing the earnings of low-wage working families, should be
expanded to cover more workers, the task force said. It also recommended
expanded coverage of the federal child care tax credit, which is currently
$1,000 per child for up to three children.
A crucial component to raising workers out of poverty would be an all-out
effort to ensure that workers are allowed to form unions and bargain
collectively. As the task force noted, “Among workers in similar jobs,
unionized workers have higher pay, higher rates of health coverage, and
better benefits than do nonunionized workers.”
In a recent interview about poverty, former Senator John Edwards told me: “Organizing is so important. We have 50 million service economy jobs and we’ll probably have 10 or 15 million more over the next decade. If those jobs are union jobs, they’ll be middle-class families. If not, they’re more likely to live in poverty. It’s that strong.”
The task force made several other recommendations, including proposals
to ease access to higher education for poor youngsters, to help former prisoners
find employment, to develop a more equitable unemployment compensation
system, and to establish housing policies that would make it easier for poor
people to move from neighborhoods of concentrated poverty to areas
with better employment opportunities and higher-quality public services.
Mr. Edelman, an adviser on social policy in the Clinton administration,
stressed that there is no one answer to the problem of poverty, and
that in addition to public policy initiatives, it’s important to address the
“things people have to do within their own communities to take responsibility
for themselves and for each other.”
But he added, “It is unacceptable for this country, which is so wealthy, to have this many people who are left out.”
"The Rich get richer and the Poor get poorer," but have you ever considered the notion that "The Rich get richer BECAUSE the Poor get poorer"? It makes sense to me.
Every time a profitable capitalistic venture such as a manufacturer, publisher, agribusiness, or professional service provider cuts benefits, makes layoffs, ships jobs over seas, or encourages easily-exploited "illegal" immigration, the capitalist - who is already making money - makes MORE money. The workers, obviously, suffer a reduction in their standard of living and are told (those who weren't laid off) that they should be happy to have a job at all - "quit complaining!!"
Workers who can barely keep body and soul together are supposed to be grateful for their increased difficulties and, perhaps, even proud that their sacrifice has helped increase the prosperity of the already prosperous.
Yep - sure makes sense. Uh huh!! Yeah. Right. Mmmmm . . .
- Uke Man
May 12, 2007
The Millions Left Out
By BOB HERBERT
(a ukethanks to Phyll)
The United States may be the richest country in the world, but
there are many millions — tens of millions — who are not sharing
in that prosperity.
According to the most recent government figures, 37 million
Americans are living below the official poverty threshold, which is
$19,971 a year for a family of four. That’s one out of every eight
Americans, and many of them are children.
More than 90 million Americans, close to a third of the entire
population, are struggling to make ends meet on incomes that
are less than twice the official poverty line. In my book, they’re poor.
We don’t see poor people on television or in the advertising that
surrounds us like a second atmosphere. We don’t pay much attention
to the millions of men and women who are changing bedpans, or
flipping burgers for the minimum wage, or vacuuming the halls of office
buildings at all hours of the night. But they’re there, working hard and
getting very little in return.
The number of poor people in America has increased by five million over
the past six years, and the gap between rich and poor has grown to
historic proportions. The richest one percent of Americans got nearly 20
percent of the nation’s income in 2005, while the poorest 20 percent could
collectively garner only a measly 3.4 percent.
A new report from a highly respected task force on poverty put together by
the Center for American Progress tells us, “It does not have to be this
way.” The task force has made several policy recommendations, and said
that if all were adopted poverty in the U.S. could be cut in half over the
next decade.
The tremendous number of people in poverty is an enormous drag on the U.S.
economy. And one of the biggest problems is the simple fact that so many
jobs pay so little that even fulltime, year-round employment is not enough
to raise a family out of poverty. One-fifth of the working men in America
and 29 percent of working women are in such jobs.
Peter Edelman, a Georgetown law professor who was a co-chairman of the
task force, said, “An astonishing number of people are working as hard as
they possibly can but are still in poverty or have incomes that are not much
above the poverty line.”
So the starting point for lifting people out of poverty should be to see
that men and women who are working are adequately compensated for their
labor. The task force recommended that the federal minimum wage, now $5.15
an hour, be raised to half the average hourly wage in the U.S., which would bring it to $8.40.
The earned-income tax credit, which has proved very successful in
supplementing the earnings of low-wage working families, should be
expanded to cover more workers, the task force said. It also recommended
expanded coverage of the federal child care tax credit, which is currently
$1,000 per child for up to three children.
A crucial component to raising workers out of poverty would be an all-out
effort to ensure that workers are allowed to form unions and bargain
collectively. As the task force noted, “Among workers in similar jobs,
unionized workers have higher pay, higher rates of health coverage, and
better benefits than do nonunionized workers.”
In a recent interview about poverty, former Senator John Edwards told me: “Organizing is so important. We have 50 million service economy jobs and we’ll probably have 10 or 15 million more over the next decade. If those jobs are union jobs, they’ll be middle-class families. If not, they’re more likely to live in poverty. It’s that strong.”
The task force made several other recommendations, including proposals
to ease access to higher education for poor youngsters, to help former prisoners
find employment, to develop a more equitable unemployment compensation
system, and to establish housing policies that would make it easier for poor
people to move from neighborhoods of concentrated poverty to areas
with better employment opportunities and higher-quality public services.
Mr. Edelman, an adviser on social policy in the Clinton administration,
stressed that there is no one answer to the problem of poverty, and
that in addition to public policy initiatives, it’s important to address the
“things people have to do within their own communities to take responsibility
for themselves and for each other.”
But he added, “It is unacceptable for this country, which is so wealthy, to have this many people who are left out.”
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Fuck the Dispatch Editorial Board
Hey Folks,
Here we have the same old shit. Think about it!!
"Anytime a law or government regulation puts additional burdens on business, the very people who are supposed to benefit from it are hurt."
Ok, then I guess if government tries to hurt people by giving business a freer hand it helps the very people who are supposed to be hurt. Sending jobs over seas, eliminating pensions, reducing or eliminating health benefits, busting unions, shredding the safety net, etc. really helps the very people who are supposed to be hurt.
What bullshit!!!
"Businesses saddled with extra costs because of government mandates look elsewhere for savings, cutting other benefits and reducing the work force."
No shit!! The owners and stockholders come first!! Do you see anything in this comment about cutting profits? Fuck no. That's taboo /can't do/ unthinkable / illegal / immoral / and fattening.
And very often it has nothing to do with competing, in the sense of the cost of a product or service. Businesses "look elsewhere for savings, cutting other benefits and reducing the work force" even when they are doing quite well in relation to their product/service competitors. They often screw the workers NOT to sell their product, and not even to make a profit, but simply to make MORE profit. Everything gives way to the accumulation of ever more personal wealth.
Look carefully at their arguments and it's inescapable that they are focused solely on themselves with no regard for their fellow man, their community, nation, or world. Essentially, their position is that government (even one of, by, and for the people) helps the people best by helping them least, leaving it all up to business to "take care" of the workers "based on marketplace competition."
That's worked so well in the past.
Fuck the Dispatch Editorial Board !!
- Uke Man
p.s. Since the first editorial (below) was published April 22, another appeared on May 21 (also below - my comments in green). Nothing new - just re-fried shit !!!
Ill-chosen plan
Sick-day mandate would further hurt Ohio's ailing economy
Sunday, April 22, 2007 3:55 AM
Requiring Ohio employers to give their workers at least seven paid sick days a year sounds good to many people. Ohioans who might favor this idea if it comes up for a vote would be wise to take a serious look at the negative consequences of such a move.
Some businesses can afford to provide seven sick days, but others cannot.
Anytime a law or government regulation puts additional burdens on business, the very people who are supposed to benefit from it are hurt. Businesses saddled with extra costs because of government mandates look elsewhere for savings, cutting other benefits and reducing the work force. If they can't find other savings, their competitiveness is harmed.
Gov. Ted Strickland has made revival of Ohio's slumping economy one of his signature issues. He should oppose the proposal by the Service Employees International Union District 1199 as a jobs-killer.
The plan would require employers with 25 workers or more to give full-time staffers at least seven sick days, while part-timers would have their paid sick days prorated.
The plan is generous about what constitutes a sick day. Employees could use the days for themselves, a child, spouse or parent. Physical and mental illnesses would be covered, as would injuries, other medical conditions and preventive care. Given such broad parameters, many workers would use all of the days each year.
The union filed 1,800 petition signatures with Attorney General Marc Dann earlier this month. If 1,000 of the signatures are valid and the issue's language is approved by Dann and the Ohio Ballot Board, the union then needs 120,683 valid signatures to submit its proposal to the legislature, probably next year.
If the Republican-controlled General Assembly rejects the proposal [does anyone think they WON'T? - Uke Man], backers can submit another 120,683 valid signatures to put the issue to a statewide vote.
Fringe benefits, such as paid vacations, group insurance and sick leave, improve workplaces. But the employers, not government, should be the ones to decide how generous those benefits should be, based on marketplace competition [i.e. as little as possible and less than that - hence outsourcing to India and encouraging illegal immigration - Uke Man].
Ty Pine, legislative director for the National Federation of Independent Business/Ohio, had it right when he called the proposal a "one-size-fits-all, mindless" plan.
The market rules
Sick-day policies shouldn't be imposed on Ohio's businesses
Monday, May 21, 2007 3:21 AM
In the competitive world of business, imposing costly mandates on companies to provide benefits is a bad idea. If these pricks had their way, there would be NO benefits !! THAT's why they go to sweatshops over seas !!!! It has nothing to do with competition and everything to do with establishing virtual slavery!
Employers base sick leave and other benefits on what the market can bear. Fuck the "Market" !! It's designed and maintained for the purpose of exploiting workers, and THEN used as the reason workers MUST be exploited!! It is an arbitrary construct designed to benefit a few at the expense of many. Some businesses can afford to provide seven or more sick days; others cannot. What's important for Ohio's business climate is that sick-leave policies not be forced on employers by government fiat or by a vote of the people. Right!! This is a DEMOCRACY, for god's sake!! We can't have elected officials or the voters determining what's good for America - that's the Market's job - or maybe the Dispatch editorial board's job.
The Service Employees International Union District 1199 has begun a petition drive to gather signatures to put the Ohio Healthy Families Act on the statewide ballot, perhaps in time for the November 2008 presidential election. If passed, the initiative would require employers with 25 or more staff members to provide seven days off with pay for full-time workers who are ill. Part-timers' sick leave would be prorated.
The union is trying to obtain through a statewide plebiscite what it has been unable to gain via collective bargaining.
Perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise that 66 percent of 939 Ohioans responding to a phone survey by Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn., endorsed the seven-sick-days requirement. The poll question did not lay out the potential consequences of such a law.
Interestingly, respondents agreed, by 48 percent to 43 percent with 9 percent not answering, with the statement that wage and benefit mandates "lead businesses to close or move out of Ohio." So while the respondents like the sick-leave requirement, many of them understand it could have negative results.
Business groups aren't trying to scare Ohioans when they say that putting extra benefit mandates on the backs of employers could cost jobs. This is the reality of an economy where marketplace conditions are fluid and companies move to other states or countries to reduce costs. So, there it is. Business to the citizens: "You fucks who have jobs better put up with the shit we shovel and be prepared to take more, or we'll take even that away."
Ohioans should understand that this proposal would do workers more harm than good. Yep, the sacred Market has decreed: the only way Ohio can rise above its present problems is to screw workers even more; the only way to make life for Ohio's people better is to make it worse.
George Orwell is spinning in his grave.
- Uke Man
Here we have the same old shit. Think about it!!
"Anytime a law or government regulation puts additional burdens on business, the very people who are supposed to benefit from it are hurt."
Ok, then I guess if government tries to hurt people by giving business a freer hand it helps the very people who are supposed to be hurt. Sending jobs over seas, eliminating pensions, reducing or eliminating health benefits, busting unions, shredding the safety net, etc. really helps the very people who are supposed to be hurt.
What bullshit!!!
"Businesses saddled with extra costs because of government mandates look elsewhere for savings, cutting other benefits and reducing the work force."
No shit!! The owners and stockholders come first!! Do you see anything in this comment about cutting profits? Fuck no. That's taboo /can't do/ unthinkable / illegal / immoral / and fattening.
And very often it has nothing to do with competing, in the sense of the cost of a product or service. Businesses "look elsewhere for savings, cutting other benefits and reducing the work force" even when they are doing quite well in relation to their product/service competitors. They often screw the workers NOT to sell their product, and not even to make a profit, but simply to make MORE profit. Everything gives way to the accumulation of ever more personal wealth.
Look carefully at their arguments and it's inescapable that they are focused solely on themselves with no regard for their fellow man, their community, nation, or world. Essentially, their position is that government (even one of, by, and for the people) helps the people best by helping them least, leaving it all up to business to "take care" of the workers "based on marketplace competition."
That's worked so well in the past.
Fuck the Dispatch Editorial Board !!
- Uke Man
p.s. Since the first editorial (below) was published April 22, another appeared on May 21 (also below - my comments in green). Nothing new - just re-fried shit !!!
Ill-chosen plan
Sick-day mandate would further hurt Ohio's ailing economy
Sunday, April 22, 2007 3:55 AM
Requiring Ohio employers to give their workers at least seven paid sick days a year sounds good to many people. Ohioans who might favor this idea if it comes up for a vote would be wise to take a serious look at the negative consequences of such a move.
Some businesses can afford to provide seven sick days, but others cannot.
Anytime a law or government regulation puts additional burdens on business, the very people who are supposed to benefit from it are hurt. Businesses saddled with extra costs because of government mandates look elsewhere for savings, cutting other benefits and reducing the work force. If they can't find other savings, their competitiveness is harmed.
Gov. Ted Strickland has made revival of Ohio's slumping economy one of his signature issues. He should oppose the proposal by the Service Employees International Union District 1199 as a jobs-killer.
The plan would require employers with 25 workers or more to give full-time staffers at least seven sick days, while part-timers would have their paid sick days prorated.
The plan is generous about what constitutes a sick day. Employees could use the days for themselves, a child, spouse or parent. Physical and mental illnesses would be covered, as would injuries, other medical conditions and preventive care. Given such broad parameters, many workers would use all of the days each year.
The union filed 1,800 petition signatures with Attorney General Marc Dann earlier this month. If 1,000 of the signatures are valid and the issue's language is approved by Dann and the Ohio Ballot Board, the union then needs 120,683 valid signatures to submit its proposal to the legislature, probably next year.
If the Republican-controlled General Assembly rejects the proposal [does anyone think they WON'T? - Uke Man], backers can submit another 120,683 valid signatures to put the issue to a statewide vote.
Fringe benefits, such as paid vacations, group insurance and sick leave, improve workplaces. But the employers, not government, should be the ones to decide how generous those benefits should be, based on marketplace competition [i.e. as little as possible and less than that - hence outsourcing to India and encouraging illegal immigration - Uke Man].
Ty Pine, legislative director for the National Federation of Independent Business/Ohio, had it right when he called the proposal a "one-size-fits-all, mindless" plan.
The market rules
Sick-day policies shouldn't be imposed on Ohio's businesses
Monday, May 21, 2007 3:21 AM
In the competitive world of business, imposing costly mandates on companies to provide benefits is a bad idea. If these pricks had their way, there would be NO benefits !! THAT's why they go to sweatshops over seas !!!! It has nothing to do with competition and everything to do with establishing virtual slavery!
Employers base sick leave and other benefits on what the market can bear. Fuck the "Market" !! It's designed and maintained for the purpose of exploiting workers, and THEN used as the reason workers MUST be exploited!! It is an arbitrary construct designed to benefit a few at the expense of many. Some businesses can afford to provide seven or more sick days; others cannot. What's important for Ohio's business climate is that sick-leave policies not be forced on employers by government fiat or by a vote of the people. Right!! This is a DEMOCRACY, for god's sake!! We can't have elected officials or the voters determining what's good for America - that's the Market's job - or maybe the Dispatch editorial board's job.
The Service Employees International Union District 1199 has begun a petition drive to gather signatures to put the Ohio Healthy Families Act on the statewide ballot, perhaps in time for the November 2008 presidential election. If passed, the initiative would require employers with 25 or more staff members to provide seven days off with pay for full-time workers who are ill. Part-timers' sick leave would be prorated.
The union is trying to obtain through a statewide plebiscite what it has been unable to gain via collective bargaining.
Perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise that 66 percent of 939 Ohioans responding to a phone survey by Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn., endorsed the seven-sick-days requirement. The poll question did not lay out the potential consequences of such a law.
Interestingly, respondents agreed, by 48 percent to 43 percent with 9 percent not answering, with the statement that wage and benefit mandates "lead businesses to close or move out of Ohio." So while the respondents like the sick-leave requirement, many of them understand it could have negative results.
Business groups aren't trying to scare Ohioans when they say that putting extra benefit mandates on the backs of employers could cost jobs. This is the reality of an economy where marketplace conditions are fluid and companies move to other states or countries to reduce costs. So, there it is. Business to the citizens: "You fucks who have jobs better put up with the shit we shovel and be prepared to take more, or we'll take even that away."
Ohioans should understand that this proposal would do workers more harm than good. Yep, the sacred Market has decreed: the only way Ohio can rise above its present problems is to screw workers even more; the only way to make life for Ohio's people better is to make it worse.
George Orwell is spinning in his grave.
- Uke Man
Monday, May 21, 2007
Bees Be Gone Soon?????
Hey Folks,
I used to keep bees, back before the mites started killing them. Professionals fought off the mites with drugs (too much for me to mess with). Now, for whatever reason it turns out to be, we are losing colonies like crazy.
It might or might not be cell phones, but whatever it is, it's scary as hell.
- Uke Man
"The implications of the spread are alarming. Mostof the world's crops depend on pollination by bees.Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, 'man would have only four years of life left'."
Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
Scientists claim radiation from handsets are to blame for mysterious 'colony collapse' of bees
By Geoffrey Lean and Harriet Shawcross
The Independent
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2449968.ece
Published: 15 April 2007
It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail.
They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon - which started in the US, then spread to continental Europe - was beginning to hit Britain as well.
The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up.
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) occurs when a hive's inhabitants suddenly disappear, leaving only queens, eggs and a few immature workers, like so many apian Mary Celestes. The vanished bees are never found, but thought to die singly far from home. The parasites, wildlife and other bees that normally raid the honey and pollen left behind when a colony dies, refuse to go anywhere near the abandoned hives.
The alarm was first sounded last autumn, but has now hit half of all American states. The West Coast is thought to have lost 60 per cent of its commercial bee population, with 70 per cent missing on the East Coast.
CCD has since spread to Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece. And last week John Chapple, one of London's biggest bee-keepers, announced that 23 of his 40 hives have been abruptly abandoned.
Other apiarists have recorded losses in Scotland, Wales and north-west England, but the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs insisted: "There is absolutely no evidence of CCD in the UK."
The implications of the spread are alarming. Most of the world's crops depend on pollination by bees. Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would have only four years of life left".
No one knows why it is happening. Theories involving mites, pesticides, global warming and GM crops have been proposed, but all have drawbacks.
German research has long shown that bees' behaviour changes near power lines.
Now a limited study at Landau University has found that bees refuse to return to their hives when mobile phones are placed nearby. Dr Jochen Kuhn, who carried it out, said this could provide a "hint" to a possible cause.
Dr George Carlo, who headed a massive study by the US government and mobile phone industry of hazards from mobiles in the Nineties, said: "I am convinced the possibility is real."
The case against handsets
Evidence of dangers to people from mobile phones is increasing. But proof is still lacking, largely because many of the biggest perils, such as cancer, take decades to show up.
Most research on cancer has so far proved inconclusive. But an official Finnish study found that people who used the phones for more than 10 years were 40 per cent more likely to get a brain tumour on the same side as they held the handset.
Equally alarming, blue-chip Swedish research revealed that radiation from mobile phones killed off brain cells, suggesting that today's teenagers could go senile in the prime of their lives.
Studies in India and the US have raised the possibility that men who use mobile phones heavily have reduced sperm counts. And, more prosaically, doctors have identified the condition of "text thumb", a form of RSI from constant texting.
Professor Sir William Stewart, who has headed two official inquiries, warned that children under eight should not use mobiles and made a series of safety recommendations, largely ignored by ministers.
I used to keep bees, back before the mites started killing them. Professionals fought off the mites with drugs (too much for me to mess with). Now, for whatever reason it turns out to be, we are losing colonies like crazy.
It might or might not be cell phones, but whatever it is, it's scary as hell.
- Uke Man
"The implications of the spread are alarming. Mostof the world's crops depend on pollination by bees.Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, 'man would have only four years of life left'."
Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
Scientists claim radiation from handsets are to blame for mysterious 'colony collapse' of bees
By Geoffrey Lean and Harriet Shawcross
The Independent
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2449968.ece
Published: 15 April 2007
It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail.
They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon - which started in the US, then spread to continental Europe - was beginning to hit Britain as well.
The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up.
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) occurs when a hive's inhabitants suddenly disappear, leaving only queens, eggs and a few immature workers, like so many apian Mary Celestes. The vanished bees are never found, but thought to die singly far from home. The parasites, wildlife and other bees that normally raid the honey and pollen left behind when a colony dies, refuse to go anywhere near the abandoned hives.
The alarm was first sounded last autumn, but has now hit half of all American states. The West Coast is thought to have lost 60 per cent of its commercial bee population, with 70 per cent missing on the East Coast.
CCD has since spread to Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece. And last week John Chapple, one of London's biggest bee-keepers, announced that 23 of his 40 hives have been abruptly abandoned.
Other apiarists have recorded losses in Scotland, Wales and north-west England, but the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs insisted: "There is absolutely no evidence of CCD in the UK."
The implications of the spread are alarming. Most of the world's crops depend on pollination by bees. Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would have only four years of life left".
No one knows why it is happening. Theories involving mites, pesticides, global warming and GM crops have been proposed, but all have drawbacks.
German research has long shown that bees' behaviour changes near power lines.
Now a limited study at Landau University has found that bees refuse to return to their hives when mobile phones are placed nearby. Dr Jochen Kuhn, who carried it out, said this could provide a "hint" to a possible cause.
Dr George Carlo, who headed a massive study by the US government and mobile phone industry of hazards from mobiles in the Nineties, said: "I am convinced the possibility is real."
The case against handsets
Evidence of dangers to people from mobile phones is increasing. But proof is still lacking, largely because many of the biggest perils, such as cancer, take decades to show up.
Most research on cancer has so far proved inconclusive. But an official Finnish study found that people who used the phones for more than 10 years were 40 per cent more likely to get a brain tumour on the same side as they held the handset.
Equally alarming, blue-chip Swedish research revealed that radiation from mobile phones killed off brain cells, suggesting that today's teenagers could go senile in the prime of their lives.
Studies in India and the US have raised the possibility that men who use mobile phones heavily have reduced sperm counts. And, more prosaically, doctors have identified the condition of "text thumb", a form of RSI from constant texting.
Professor Sir William Stewart, who has headed two official inquiries, warned that children under eight should not use mobiles and made a series of safety recommendations, largely ignored by ministers.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Little Brother's Celebration
Hey Folks,
It was a great night at Little Brother's Friday !!! A wonderful time - sad, but warm. Those of us who love the place and ol' Danny Dougan had our hearts seriously tugged on.
Bless you, Danny !! And bless Little Brother's !!
- Uke Man
It was a great night at Little Brother's Friday !!! A wonderful time - sad, but warm. Those of us who love the place and ol' Danny Dougan had our hearts seriously tugged on.
Bless you, Danny !! And bless Little Brother's !!
- Uke Man
Friday, May 18, 2007
Fun video - Live or Memorex ??
Hey Folks,
This is fun and worth checking out:
'Mythbusters' Have Fun in the Name of Science
Breaking Glass Episode
Can a singer really break glass with just his or her voice? Rock singer and voice coach Jaime Vendera and Mythbusters co-host Adam Savage try their luck.
Go to: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10255528 and click on "Watch the Video" under "Breaking Glass Episode"
- Uke Man
This is fun and worth checking out:
'Mythbusters' Have Fun in the Name of Science
Breaking Glass Episode
Can a singer really break glass with just his or her voice? Rock singer and voice coach Jaime Vendera and Mythbusters co-host Adam Savage try their luck.
Go to: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10255528 and click on "Watch the Video" under "Breaking Glass Episode"
- Uke Man
Ukulele Man & his Prodigal Sons - @ Little Brother's Friday, May 18
Little Brother's Celebration & Wake - Friday, May 18
Hey Folks,
You may have heard the terrible news that Little Brother’s, after ten years of magical existence will be closing this summer.
Today, Friday, May 18, what started out as a celebration of the club's decade will do double duty: not only celebrating the beauty and humanity of Little Brother’s, but also mourning its imminent loss.The Lily Bandits and the Sovines have come out of retirement for the bash. The Wahoos, Whoa Nellie, Megan Palmer & the Hopefuls, and Ray Fuller will perform – as well as Ukulele Man & his Prodigal Sons.
It all gets going at 9:00 and goes to closing. I’ll be there all night, and we perform second. Hope to see you there, 1100 N. High Street – in another month the music will have died.
- Uke Man
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Who would Jesus hate, denigrate, or kill?
Hey Folks,
Jerry Falwell is dead. Good riddance. Supposedly a "Christian" man, he was filled with hatred, and it started with racism (see http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070528/blumenthal ). From "The Nation":
But for Falwell, the "questions of the day" did not always relate to abortion and homosexuality--nor did they begin there. Decades before the forces that now make up the Christian right declared their culture war, Falwell was a rabid segregationist who railed against the civil rights movement from the pulpit of the abandoned backwater bottling plant he converted into Thomas Road Baptist Church. This opening episode of Falwell's life, studiously overlooked by his friends, naïvely unacknowledged by many of his chroniclers, and puzzlingly and glaringly omitted in the obituaries of the Washington Post and New York Times, is essential to understanding his historical significance in galvanizing the Christian right. Indeed, it was race--not abortion or the attendant suite of so-called "values" issues--that propelled Falwell and his evangelical allies into political activism.
As with his positions on abortion and homosexuality, the basso profondo preacher's own words on race stand as vivid documents of his legacy. Falwell launched on the warpath against civil rights four years after the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision to desegregate public schools with a sermon titled "Segregation or Integration: Which?"
"If Chief Justice Warren and his associates had known God's word and had desired to do the Lord's will, I am quite confident that the 1954 decision would never have been made," Falwell boomed from above his congregation in Lynchburg. "The facilities should be separate. When God has drawn a line of distinction, we should not attempt to cross that line."
Falwell's jeremiad continued: "The true Negro does not want integration.... He realizes his potential is far better among his own race." Falwell went on to announce that integration "will destroy our race eventually. In one northern city," he warned, "a pastor friend of mine tells me that a couple of opposite race live next door to his church as man and wife."
As pressure from the civil rights movement built during the early 1960s, and President Lyndon Johnson introduced sweeping civil rights legislation, Falwell grew increasingly conspiratorial. He enlisted with J. Edgar Hoover to distribute FBI manufactured propaganda against the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and publicly denounced the 1964 Civil Rights Act as "civil wrongs."
In a 1964 sermon, "Ministers and Marchers," Falwell attacked King as a Communist subversive. After questioning "the sincerity and intentions of some civil rights leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mr. James Farmer, and others, who are known to have left-wing associations,"
Falwell declared, "It is very obvious that the Communists, as they do in all parts of the world, are taking advantage of a tense situation in our land, and are exploiting every incident to bring about violence and bloodshed."
Below, you'll find more familiar, hateful comments he's made in other areas. What testimony to the deapths a human being can go and still be held up as a great man by those who have fallen to similar depths. Check out the comments made upon his death by the Republican Presidential candidates
Again, from "The Nation":
On the day of Falwell's death, Republican presidential frontrunners fell over one another to memorialize him. Arizona Senator John McCain, who in the 2000 presidential campaign had called Falwell an "agent of intolerance," then spoke at the 2006 graduation ceremony at Liberty University, praising Falwell as "a man of distinguished accomplishment who devoted his life to serving his faith and country."
Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor whose Mormon faith is listed as a cult by Falwell's Southern Baptist Convention, hailed him as "an American who built and led a movement based on strong principles and strong faith.... The legacy of his important work will continue through his many ministries where he put his faith into action."
Rudy Giuliani, the thrice-married prochoice former New York City mayor, gay rights advocate and erstwhile cross-dresser, was also profuse in his praise of Falwell. "He was a man who set a direction," Giuliani said. "He was someone who was not afraid to speak his mind. We all have great respect for him."
Rev Jerry Falwell
Founder of The Moral Majority, a precursor to the Christian Coalition said:
If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being.
I had a student ask me, "Could the savior you believe in save Osama bin Laden?" Of course, we know the blood of Jesus Christ can save him, and then he must be executed.
"We visit prisoners on death row, and some of them are saved, but we believe their sentences should be carried out because they have a debt to society."
God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve.-- [blaming civil libertarians, feminists, homosexuals, and abortion rights supporters for the terrorist attacks of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, to which Rev Pat Robertson agreed],
"God Gave US 'What We Deserve,' Falwell Says," The Washington Post (September 14, 2001)
The ACLU's got to take a lot of blame for this.-- Rev Jerry Falwell, blaming civil libertarians for the terrorist attacks of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, to which Rev Pat Robertson again agreed.
And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say, "You helped this happen."-- [Rev Jerry Falwell, blaming civil libertarians, feminists, homosexuals, and abortion rights supporters for the terrorist attacks of Tuesday, September 11, 2001]
I put all the blame legally and morally on the actions of the terrorist, [but America's] secular and anti-Christian environment left us open to our Lord's [decision] not to protect. When a nation deserts God and expels God from the culture ... the result is not good.-- [Rev Jerry Falwell, backpedaling amidst criticism of his statement blaming civil libertarians, feminists, homosexuals, and abortion rights supporters for the terrorist attacks of Tuesday, September 11, 2001]
Pat, did you notice yesterday the ACLU, and all the Christ-haters, People For the American Way, NOW, etc. were totally disregarded by the Democrats and the Republicans in both houses of Congress as they went out on the steps and called out on to God in prayer and sang "God Bless America" and said "let the ACLU be hanged"? In other words, when the nation is on its knees, the only normal and natural and spiritual thing to do is what we ought to be doing all the time -- calling upon God.-- [justifying the breech of Constitutional Separation of Religion from Government while blaming civil libertarians for the terrorist attacks of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, to which Rev Pat Robertson again agreed]
I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!
AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.
The idea that religion and politics don't mix was invented by the Devil to keep Christians from running their own country.
If we are going to save America and evangelize the world, we cannot accommodate secular philosophies that are diametrically opposed to Christian truth ... We need to pull out all the stops to recruit and train 25 million Americans to become informed pro-moral activists whose voices can be heard in the halls of Congress. I am convinced that America can be turned around if we will all get serious about the Master's business. It may be late, but it is never too late to do what is right. We need an old-fashioned, God-honoring, Christ-exalting revival to turn American back to God. America can be saved!
It appears that America's anti-Biblical feminist movement is at last dying, thank God, and is possibly being replaced by a Christ-centered men's movement which may become the foundation for a desperately needed national spiritual awakening.
There is no separation of church and state. Modern US Supreme Courts have raped the Constitution and raped the Christian faith and raped the churches by misinterpreting what the Founders had in mind in the First Amendment to the Constitution.
The Bible is the inerrant ... word of the living God. It is absolutely infallible,without error in all matters pertaining to faith and practice, as well as in areas such as geography, science, history, etc.
But these things speak evil of those things, verse 10 [reading from Jude] which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. Look at the Metropolitan Community Church today, the gay church, almost accepted into the World Council of Churches. Almost, the vote was against them. But they will try again and again until they get in, and the tragedy is that they would get one vote. Because they are spoken of here in Jude as being brute beasts, that is going to the baser lust of the flesh to live immorally, and so Jude describes this as apostasy. But thank God this vile and satanic system will one day be utterly annihilated and there'll be a celebration in heaven.
The Jews are returning to their land of unbelief. They are spiritually blind and desperately in need of their Messiah and Savior.
Grown men should not be having sex with prostitutes unless they are married to them.
I do not believe the homosexual community deserves minority status. One's misbehavior does not qualify him or her for minority status. Blacks, Hispanics, women, etc., are God-ordained minorities who do indeed deserve minority status.
We're fighting against humanism, we're fighting against liberalism ... we are fighting against all the systems of Satan that are destroying our nation today ... our battle is with Satan himself.
Billy Graham is the chief servant of Satan.
The ACLU is to Christians what the American Nazi party is to Jews.
AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals. To oppose it would be like an Israelite jumping in the Red Sea to save one of Pharoah's chariotters.
You'll be riding along in an automobile. You'll be the driver perhaps. You're a Christian. There'll be several people in the automobile with you, maybe someone who is not a Christian. When the trumpet sounds you and the other born-again believers in that automobile will be instantly caught away -- you will disappear, leaving behind only your clothes and physical things that cannot inherit eternal life. That unsaved person or persons in the automobile will suddenly be startled to find the car suddenly somewhere crashes.... Other cars on the highway driven by believers will suddenly be out of control and stark pandemonium will occur on ... every highway in the world where Christians are caught away from the drivers wheel.
Jerry Falwell is dead. Good riddance. Supposedly a "Christian" man, he was filled with hatred, and it started with racism (see http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070528/blumenthal ). From "The Nation":
But for Falwell, the "questions of the day" did not always relate to abortion and homosexuality--nor did they begin there. Decades before the forces that now make up the Christian right declared their culture war, Falwell was a rabid segregationist who railed against the civil rights movement from the pulpit of the abandoned backwater bottling plant he converted into Thomas Road Baptist Church. This opening episode of Falwell's life, studiously overlooked by his friends, naïvely unacknowledged by many of his chroniclers, and puzzlingly and glaringly omitted in the obituaries of the Washington Post and New York Times, is essential to understanding his historical significance in galvanizing the Christian right. Indeed, it was race--not abortion or the attendant suite of so-called "values" issues--that propelled Falwell and his evangelical allies into political activism.
As with his positions on abortion and homosexuality, the basso profondo preacher's own words on race stand as vivid documents of his legacy. Falwell launched on the warpath against civil rights four years after the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision to desegregate public schools with a sermon titled "Segregation or Integration: Which?"
"If Chief Justice Warren and his associates had known God's word and had desired to do the Lord's will, I am quite confident that the 1954 decision would never have been made," Falwell boomed from above his congregation in Lynchburg. "The facilities should be separate. When God has drawn a line of distinction, we should not attempt to cross that line."
Falwell's jeremiad continued: "The true Negro does not want integration.... He realizes his potential is far better among his own race." Falwell went on to announce that integration "will destroy our race eventually. In one northern city," he warned, "a pastor friend of mine tells me that a couple of opposite race live next door to his church as man and wife."
As pressure from the civil rights movement built during the early 1960s, and President Lyndon Johnson introduced sweeping civil rights legislation, Falwell grew increasingly conspiratorial. He enlisted with J. Edgar Hoover to distribute FBI manufactured propaganda against the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and publicly denounced the 1964 Civil Rights Act as "civil wrongs."
In a 1964 sermon, "Ministers and Marchers," Falwell attacked King as a Communist subversive. After questioning "the sincerity and intentions of some civil rights leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mr. James Farmer, and others, who are known to have left-wing associations,"
Falwell declared, "It is very obvious that the Communists, as they do in all parts of the world, are taking advantage of a tense situation in our land, and are exploiting every incident to bring about violence and bloodshed."
Below, you'll find more familiar, hateful comments he's made in other areas. What testimony to the deapths a human being can go and still be held up as a great man by those who have fallen to similar depths. Check out the comments made upon his death by the Republican Presidential candidates
Again, from "The Nation":
On the day of Falwell's death, Republican presidential frontrunners fell over one another to memorialize him. Arizona Senator John McCain, who in the 2000 presidential campaign had called Falwell an "agent of intolerance," then spoke at the 2006 graduation ceremony at Liberty University, praising Falwell as "a man of distinguished accomplishment who devoted his life to serving his faith and country."
Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor whose Mormon faith is listed as a cult by Falwell's Southern Baptist Convention, hailed him as "an American who built and led a movement based on strong principles and strong faith.... The legacy of his important work will continue through his many ministries where he put his faith into action."
Rudy Giuliani, the thrice-married prochoice former New York City mayor, gay rights advocate and erstwhile cross-dresser, was also profuse in his praise of Falwell. "He was a man who set a direction," Giuliani said. "He was someone who was not afraid to speak his mind. We all have great respect for him."
- Uke Man
Rev Jerry Falwell
Founder of The Moral Majority, a precursor to the Christian Coalition said:
If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being.
I had a student ask me, "Could the savior you believe in save Osama bin Laden?" Of course, we know the blood of Jesus Christ can save him, and then he must be executed.
"We visit prisoners on death row, and some of them are saved, but we believe their sentences should be carried out because they have a debt to society."
God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve.-- [blaming civil libertarians, feminists, homosexuals, and abortion rights supporters for the terrorist attacks of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, to which Rev Pat Robertson agreed],
"God Gave US 'What We Deserve,' Falwell Says," The Washington Post (September 14, 2001)
The ACLU's got to take a lot of blame for this.-- Rev Jerry Falwell, blaming civil libertarians for the terrorist attacks of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, to which Rev Pat Robertson again agreed.
And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say, "You helped this happen."-- [Rev Jerry Falwell, blaming civil libertarians, feminists, homosexuals, and abortion rights supporters for the terrorist attacks of Tuesday, September 11, 2001]
I put all the blame legally and morally on the actions of the terrorist, [but America's] secular and anti-Christian environment left us open to our Lord's [decision] not to protect. When a nation deserts God and expels God from the culture ... the result is not good.-- [Rev Jerry Falwell, backpedaling amidst criticism of his statement blaming civil libertarians, feminists, homosexuals, and abortion rights supporters for the terrorist attacks of Tuesday, September 11, 2001]
Pat, did you notice yesterday the ACLU, and all the Christ-haters, People For the American Way, NOW, etc. were totally disregarded by the Democrats and the Republicans in both houses of Congress as they went out on the steps and called out on to God in prayer and sang "God Bless America" and said "let the ACLU be hanged"? In other words, when the nation is on its knees, the only normal and natural and spiritual thing to do is what we ought to be doing all the time -- calling upon God.-- [justifying the breech of Constitutional Separation of Religion from Government while blaming civil libertarians for the terrorist attacks of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, to which Rev Pat Robertson again agreed]
I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!
AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.
The idea that religion and politics don't mix was invented by the Devil to keep Christians from running their own country.
If we are going to save America and evangelize the world, we cannot accommodate secular philosophies that are diametrically opposed to Christian truth ... We need to pull out all the stops to recruit and train 25 million Americans to become informed pro-moral activists whose voices can be heard in the halls of Congress. I am convinced that America can be turned around if we will all get serious about the Master's business. It may be late, but it is never too late to do what is right. We need an old-fashioned, God-honoring, Christ-exalting revival to turn American back to God. America can be saved!
It appears that America's anti-Biblical feminist movement is at last dying, thank God, and is possibly being replaced by a Christ-centered men's movement which may become the foundation for a desperately needed national spiritual awakening.
There is no separation of church and state. Modern US Supreme Courts have raped the Constitution and raped the Christian faith and raped the churches by misinterpreting what the Founders had in mind in the First Amendment to the Constitution.
The Bible is the inerrant ... word of the living God. It is absolutely infallible,without error in all matters pertaining to faith and practice, as well as in areas such as geography, science, history, etc.
But these things speak evil of those things, verse 10 [reading from Jude] which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. Look at the Metropolitan Community Church today, the gay church, almost accepted into the World Council of Churches. Almost, the vote was against them. But they will try again and again until they get in, and the tragedy is that they would get one vote. Because they are spoken of here in Jude as being brute beasts, that is going to the baser lust of the flesh to live immorally, and so Jude describes this as apostasy. But thank God this vile and satanic system will one day be utterly annihilated and there'll be a celebration in heaven.
The Jews are returning to their land of unbelief. They are spiritually blind and desperately in need of their Messiah and Savior.
Grown men should not be having sex with prostitutes unless they are married to them.
I do not believe the homosexual community deserves minority status. One's misbehavior does not qualify him or her for minority status. Blacks, Hispanics, women, etc., are God-ordained minorities who do indeed deserve minority status.
We're fighting against humanism, we're fighting against liberalism ... we are fighting against all the systems of Satan that are destroying our nation today ... our battle is with Satan himself.
Billy Graham is the chief servant of Satan.
The ACLU is to Christians what the American Nazi party is to Jews.
AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals. To oppose it would be like an Israelite jumping in the Red Sea to save one of Pharoah's chariotters.
You'll be riding along in an automobile. You'll be the driver perhaps. You're a Christian. There'll be several people in the automobile with you, maybe someone who is not a Christian. When the trumpet sounds you and the other born-again believers in that automobile will be instantly caught away -- you will disappear, leaving behind only your clothes and physical things that cannot inherit eternal life. That unsaved person or persons in the automobile will suddenly be startled to find the car suddenly somewhere crashes.... Other cars on the highway driven by believers will suddenly be out of control and stark pandemonium will occur on ... every highway in the world where Christians are caught away from the drivers wheel.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
What group thinks the war is NOT a mistake?
Hey Folks,
A friend tipped me off to this posting on another blog. Check it out.
- Uke Man
Friday, May 11, 2007
Fascinating
No wonder so many of the right-wing war lovers seem to be between 30 and 39 (Malkin, Lowry, Goldberg, Lopez). Look at this Gallup Poll result:
Gallup has asked Americans whether U.S. involvement in Iraq was a "mistake" in seven polls so far this year. Across these more than 7,000 interviews, an average of 57% have said "yes."
AND THEN:
Did the United States make a mistake in sending troops to Iraq?
by age
Age:
18-29 Yes - 56% No - 41%
30-39 Yes - 48% No - 50%
40-49 Yes - 52% No - 47%
50-59 Yes - 61% No - 38%
60-69 Yes - 62% No - 37%
70-79 Yes - 70% No - 28%
80+ Yes - 69% No - 26%
It seems pretty clear to me that the folks who MAY have to fight worry they will. The people who have fought or remember Vietnam oppose.
30 to 39 year olds (and those in their early 40s) have no real recollection of Vietnam, and boy does it show.
posted by Attaturk at http://rising-hegemon.blogspot.com/2007/05/fascinating.html
A friend tipped me off to this posting on another blog. Check it out.
- Uke Man
Friday, May 11, 2007
Fascinating
No wonder so many of the right-wing war lovers seem to be between 30 and 39 (Malkin, Lowry, Goldberg, Lopez). Look at this Gallup Poll result:
Gallup has asked Americans whether U.S. involvement in Iraq was a "mistake" in seven polls so far this year. Across these more than 7,000 interviews, an average of 57% have said "yes."
AND THEN:
Did the United States make a mistake in sending troops to Iraq?
by age
Age:
18-29 Yes - 56% No - 41%
30-39 Yes - 48% No - 50%
40-49 Yes - 52% No - 47%
50-59 Yes - 61% No - 38%
60-69 Yes - 62% No - 37%
70-79 Yes - 70% No - 28%
80+ Yes - 69% No - 26%
It seems pretty clear to me that the folks who MAY have to fight worry they will. The people who have fought or remember Vietnam oppose.
30 to 39 year olds (and those in their early 40s) have no real recollection of Vietnam, and boy does it show.
posted by Attaturk at http://rising-hegemon.blogspot.com/2007/05/fascinating.html
Monday, May 14, 2007
Little Brother's Celebration & Wake - Friday, May 18
Hey Folks,
You may have heard the terrible news that Little Brother’s, the second coming of Stache’s, after ten years of magical existence will be closing this summer. Another example of money-grubbing capitalists in the George Bush “ownership society” killing culture to reap ever-increasing personal wealth. “Tear down paradise; put up a parking lot.”
This Friday, May 18, what started out as a celebration of the decade will do double duty: not only celebrating the beauty and humanity of Little Brother’s, but also mourning its imminent loss.
The Lily Bandits and the Sovines have come out of retirement for the bash. The Wahoos, Whoa Nellie, Megan Palmer & the Hopefuls, and Ray Fuller will perform – as well as Ukulele Man & his Prodigal Sons.
It all gets going at 9:00 and goes to closing. I’ll be there all night, and we perform second. Hope to see you there, 1100 N. High Street – in another month the music will have died.
- Uke Man
You may have heard the terrible news that Little Brother’s, the second coming of Stache’s, after ten years of magical existence will be closing this summer. Another example of money-grubbing capitalists in the George Bush “ownership society” killing culture to reap ever-increasing personal wealth. “Tear down paradise; put up a parking lot.”
This Friday, May 18, what started out as a celebration of the decade will do double duty: not only celebrating the beauty and humanity of Little Brother’s, but also mourning its imminent loss.
The Lily Bandits and the Sovines have come out of retirement for the bash. The Wahoos, Whoa Nellie, Megan Palmer & the Hopefuls, and Ray Fuller will perform – as well as Ukulele Man & his Prodigal Sons.
It all gets going at 9:00 and goes to closing. I’ll be there all night, and we perform second. Hope to see you there, 1100 N. High Street – in another month the music will have died.
- Uke Man
