Friday, July 9, 2010

Keith Olbermann - Beck University (ha, ha, ha, ha!)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy



In this segment, Keith and his guest demolish Beck's pretensions and polish the sheen of his ignorance.

Ed Schultz and how Fox (FAUX) News lies

Keith Olbermann - Beck Worst Person in the World



From Crooks and Liars:

Keith Olbermann shoots down Glenn Beck's hackery for claiming that there's a conspiracy theory because he can't seem to find any footage of the late Sen. Robert Byrd filibustering the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in his Worst Persons segment.

Olbermann: Live television coverage of the Senate floor didn’t begin until June 2, 1986. T.V. cameras were not permitted onto the Senate floor until Dec. 1974 and were then used only to broadcast the swearing in of Vice President Rockefeller. Prior to that T.V. or film cameras were never permitted on the Senate floor, only occasionally in committee hearing rooms. No cameras as the Civil Rights Act debate of 1964.

And maybe it’s not necessary for Glenn Beck to know this obvious fact of the history of his own profession, nor for Tiffany to and it’s nice she got work after the singing career fizzled out by the way. But the answer to his fulmination is available on Google by typing in “Senate televised” and waiting, you know, two seconds!

Founding a university… this guy is not qualified to found a Magic 8-Ball. Lonesome Rhodes “Where’s the film of Congressman Brooks caning Senator Sumner in 1857? Huh? Huh? The communists stole it” Beck, todays Worst Person in the World!

Runners up were Sen. Jim DeMint for embarrassing the state of South Carolina again and Mel Gibson for making more idiotic bigoted comments.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

How the American people are conned, used and abused

This is a guest post by Bob Poris.

The New York Times has a very important article on how the oil companies are reaping billions of dollars in subsidies. Talk about corporate welfare! Read it here.

In addition to this article you may wish to read the current Time magazine story on the cost of lobbying; how it works to change legislation before it is voted on in ways that are not read before being voted upon! The lobbying industry saves many industries and companies BILLIONS in taxes each year, forever.

The starting date of the new laws are often delayed a year or two, before becoming effective, which saves BILLIONS TOO. The turnover of young people working for a few years as bureaucrats and then being hired as lobbyists at very high salaries is usually only a few years! We now have thousands of registered lobbyists, where we used to have a few hundred.

Lobbyists also dole out campaign funds to both sides of the aisle which essentially allows them to write the laws; guarantees they will be voted into law and and further gives them the inside track on avoiding or redefining laws they dislike once said laws have been enacted.

Lobbyists for big business number in the thousands; lobbyists for consumers number about three people!

No wonder we have such inequities and the consumer or average tax payer is picking up the bill! We pay whatever the tax code demands while corporations pay from zero to a fraction of actual profits!!!!!

The Tea Party folks and anti tax public is being taken to the cleaners every day. Our large industries paid billions to prevent health care reform and banking reform. We the people end up subsidizing the entire oil industry, the transportation industry, the clean air industry; anti
pollution efforts, even car dealers among others. It is mind boggling and it works!!!

We, the tax payers have very few resources or people with which to even try to compete with the special interests that use the media, campaign financing, corruption, and huge law
firms, etc., to perpetuate their goals. We are manipulated by them in many ways and they are skilled at appealing to our ignorance and our emotions. They form organizations with great sounding names, set up rallies with preprinted placards, organize the transportation, write the scripts that people shout out at public meetings, etc., all designed to whip up anger and hatred of just about everything.

Most people could care less about inheritance taxes on estates of over a million dollars. But when the discussion was changed by the words, "death tax," a lot of folks became terribly agitated. The same kind of thing happened when it was suggested we increase taxes for those earning over $250,000 a year. The great majority in this country earn less than $100,000.

These corporate funders of anti-government sentiment use wonderful bumper stickers that
have little to do with the average person. And the latest attack is now focused on Medicare and Social Security in another attempt to privatize, which means we may well lose everything if the stock market tanks again! Bush tried the privatization route and it almost worked. Think where most of us would be if he had been successful!

Tel Aviv mall - with the Israel Philharmonic

A great show. Beautiful people!