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Hedge Fund Billionaire Video Paul Tudor Jones Disparaging Women

Today a video became widely distributed from a University of Virginia symposium held in late April where hedge fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones was asked why the panel only featured “rich, white, middle-aged men”. The panel featured U-Va. professor David Mick, Paul Tudor Jones of Tudor Investment Corporation, Julian Robertson of Tiger Management, John Griffin of Blue Ridge Capital and moderator Jeff Walker, chairman of the U-Va. Council of Foundations

One could not help but to be flabbergasted by Mr. Jones’ response. Mr. Jones made several ‘troglodyte’ type statements about women careers. The entire question was, “Please reflect on the makeup of the panel, rich, white, middle-aged men, who were mentored by the same and what it takes for someone different to have a seat at the table and finally share their voices from a powerful place.” Jones said that one would never see many great women investors or traders as men. He said it is not that they are not capable but that they do not because of some of the following realities or similarities.

• Just like when one of his managers is going through a divorce especially if he has children he cannot think straight for sixty seconds he implies womanhood is distracting.
• When he was 21 he had a ‘PhD’ in probabilistic theory because he loved and played monopoly, solitaire, checkers, and other games.
• In his twenties he was exposed to the pits (trading floor)
• When women get married, having children is a career killer because as soon as the baby’s lip touches the woman’s bosom every single investment idea or action will be seen through the eyes of the baby.

After Jones was done being oblivious that he had put his foot in his mouth by articulating his inner prejudice, the moderator stated that it was women in his firm that kept the place together. He said they were less transactional and looked out for the longer term.

Firstly, Jones statement shows that he is completely blind to the realities of why the panel was comprised solely of white middle aged men. The first reason was articulated in his response. The good old boys adopt a stereotype of a group and then make it their reality. Unfortunately for Jones, there are studies out there that dispute his assertion about women. Actually women make better investors and traders.

One should be disturbed that he also was unable to understand the question which was sufficiently “leading” about diversity in his field not only about women, but Asians, Blacks, Latinos, and everyone in between. Did he not understand what was meant by “rich, white, middle-aged men who were mentored by the same”? Non-white men are generally not on these panels either. And guess what, non-white men cannot have children either. Wall Street and the industry is primarily a good old boy network that as the question implies virally breads itself in its own image.

Paul Tudor Jone

Traders, investors, & bankers love to give themselves an aura of superiority. This is completely unwarranted. These guys’ are gamblers and traders of capital, money, & paper. They do not create a product or provide any service of societal value. Their sole intent is to maximize profits at all cost without any regards to consequences. Teachers transfer the knowledge of society to the next generation. Scientists discover the laws that govern nature and materials. Engineers use the discovered laws of nature to create products & services. Doctors heal. Garbage men/women keep our environment clean. Everything in society in the past was accomplished without these guys, the current titans of finance. Every stock market crash, bubble, or financial crisis had its genesis in their ignorance. At some point in history the fraud they have played on the world’s economy will be realized and they will be naked for all to see.

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Student Loans Outstanding

America needs student loan relief

One knows a city, a state, a country’s interests and priorities based on where it puts its money. Unfortunately more and more in America, it isn’t education. During the budget crisis in Texas, education bore the brunt of the cuts even as Texas doles out $19 billion per year in tax breaks and incentives for business.

Student debt is over 1.1 trillion dollars, a number that concerns the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau because it could potentially stunt economic growth. As student loan debtors struggle to payback their debt, they use monies that will be unavailable to purchase goods and services, the drivers of our economy. For private loans, bankers are happy as they profit from high interest payments even as they can borrow at very low interest rates. For the loans given by the federal government, the huge profits make the deficits look better and ostensibly those that should be taxed more to benefit the society that allowed the wherewithal for their success, get a pass. It was reported that Department of Education made a record profit of $51billion this year.

As college gets more expensive because states have cut their investments in higher education to balance their budgets in lieu of raising taxes, the burden falls more and more on the student. With a bad economy, parents incapable of having any disposable income to provide assistance to their children’s college expenses, most students must resort to loans. In a society where a higher education is the most effective way to get ahead (upward mobility), today’s students are a readymade cash cow to be pilfered by private lenders and abused as an easy target to help mitigate the federal deficit.

According to Reuters,

The Republican-dominated U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday voted to switch federal student loan interest rates to a market-based system.

Republicans say their plan is a long-term solution that will take politicians out of the business of setting student loan rates and using them as a bargaining chip.

…

The bill is similar to a plan in President Barack Obama’s budget proposal but includes an 8.5 percent cap on Stafford loan rates.
Under the Republican bill, a borrower’s rates would be recalculated every year, a provision the White House said would create uncertainty for families and put them at risk of eventually paying more when market rates go up.
Under Obama’s plan, the rate on federal student loans would be set each year based on the market rate, but remain fixed for the life of the loan. His plan, however, does not include a cap, and some critics say that also could expose students to the risk of higher rates.
Democrats argue that students would be better off if rates were left to double in July than under the Republican plan. That plan, they said, unfairly targets students and families in the Republican drive to pay down the deficit.

[source]

According to Huffington Post

Members of the House of Representatives including George Miller (D-Calif.), John Tierney (D-Mass.) and John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) cited news reports in The Huffington Post that highlighted the Tuesday estimate by the Congressional Budget Office, which showed that the Education Department was forecast to report higher earnings this year than Exxon Mobil and nearly as high as those of the four biggest U.S. banks by assets combined.

“We don’t see students or their parents as profit centers, and we don’t think it’s an appropriate concept to be acting like a market-driven bank here,” Tierney said.

Miller criticized a policy that is leading to “immense profit being extracted from students and families that are struggling.”

The critical comments have alarmed policymakers in the Obama administration, who along with lawmakers are racing to avert a scheduled doubling of interest rates on some new federal student loans that is set to occur on July 1.

[source]

The reality is that the Obama administration has been good to students in general. Pay as You Earn allows students with at least one federal loan in or after fiscal year 2012 and any other loans before fiscal 2008 to pay just 10% of their income for 20 years with any balance thereafter forgiven. With regards to the loans however, both the Republicans and the President’s proposals fall way short. A country that values education must not look at loans for education as a cost center or a profit center. Unfortunately that is what they are both doing. There should be a nominal interest rate to cover government administration of the program but nothing else. If Americans value education it must do no less.

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While we continue to be distracted by manufactured scandals, Middle Class America, Working America, & Poor America continue to get their clocks cleaned. There is real news out there, good and bad. The deficit has fallen much faster than anticipated. Nobody is talking about this with the interest that it deserves. This decline means that sequester is unnecessary and in fact if some stimulus spending on infrastructure and on needed capital improvements were done now with cheap borrowing, the economic activity would further fill the government coffers with tax dollars. This is standard and verifiable economics.

Europe continues in decline because of the austerity measures they have implemented partly based on a debunked fraudulent ideology by Right Wing economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff. Yet our GOP comrades continue to push this ideology as the medicine to heal what ails the American economy. They believe taxes are too high and America spends too much. Both statements are categorically false. Research on my book “As I See It: Class Warfare The Only Resort To Right Wing Doom” shows the degree to which the statements are mythical.

Most government spending eventually ends up in the hands of the corporatists whether social programs, military programs, or otherwise. The reduction in spending many are clamoring for is simply to have those marginal tax dollars invested in more profitable venues that do nothing to enhance America or the middle class.

The chart above that was posted at Huffington Post is a perfect example of reality not confirming GOP rhetoric about over burdensome corporate taxes. The post was made in ‘honor’ of the testimony given by Apple CEO Tim Cook who was testifying before Congress about its tax avoidance schemes.

Cook was there to techsplain how Apple holding $102 billion of cash offshore isn’t really tax avoidance so much as good old fashioned ingenuity. Also, have you forgotten the shiny objects Apple makes (including the dreamy MacBook Air on which this here story was typed)? By the end of the hearing, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) had demanded that Congress apologize to Apple for the inconvenience, and Sen. John McCain (R-My Lawn) was reduced to gently jibing Cook about how often he has to update his apps.

[source]

The article accompanying the chart details a painful truth. Payroll taxes are now 35% vs 11% in 1950 of all government tax receipts. Corporate income taxes are now less than 10% vs 26% in 1950 of all government tax receipts. Income taxes are in the 46% vicinity. (The article later had an update to the payroll taxes number since those that are not self-employed have half of their payroll taxes paid for by the company. I am in complete disagreement with the update since payroll taxes are per employee and reflect income otherwise unavailable to said employee. Even with the update the trend is maintained and personal taxes are 63% of federal revenue now as opposed to 45% in 1950).

The chart above should enrage every American of every stripe, every ideology, and every political persuasion. The reduction of the share of taxes by corporations was almost entirely on the backs of the middle class. The payroll tax is a middle class tax as it is capped at around $113,700.

With the wealth and income disparity continuing to explode it is both unconscionable and immoral to ask the middle class for any concessions. The financial imbalances (budget deficits and income & wealth disparity) of this rich country are directly attributable to those that produce the least if anything, bankers, brokers, and other titans of capital and the politicians they have purchased to effect their deeds. In time as Americans are educated to the real facts and not to what the corporate media is distracting them with, they will wake up and really take this country back.

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Kingwood Area Democrat Deborah Mowrey.

Deborah Mowrey writes a must read letter to the editor about the funding of community colleges and voting. Folks, it is necessary that we engage in the voting process. We are getting our clocks cleaned by those who flourish in ignorance.

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The post Deborah Mowrey Kingwood Observer LTE ‘Failing Our Community. Failing Our Kids’ (2013-05-22) appeared first on EgbertoWillies.com.

Thursday 7:00 PM Central

Call and listen at 646-652-2345

Listen Live & Podcast Here.

Move to Amend Reports

Hosted by National Leadership Team members Laura Bonham and Egberto Willies, will air every Thursday at 8:00 PM ET, 5:00 PM PT.

The show will feature guests who specialize in movement building, amending the Constitution, grassroots organizing, and issues relating to corporate rule and participatory democracy.

Each show provides opportunity for call-in questions and comments from the listening audience by dialing 646-652-2345 (long distance charges may apply).

Today’s Show:
★May 23rd:

Corinne Rosen has been organizing and managing campaigns for 9 years.   She is a New York statewide organizer with Food & Water Watch, a non-profit consumer watchdog organization that works to protect food and water and has been heavily involved in the fight to ban fracking in New York.

UPDATE:

Corinne was a no-show. Move To Amend intern Roman Collins who was up on all the issues.

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Sarah Palin

We should have known it would not be long before Sarah Paling entered the fold. She is now fully engaged in the false narrative. She has just posted an essay on Facebook on the IRS ‘Scandal’. One might ask who cares what Sarah Paling thinks. I care and you all should care as well. You see, Sarah Palin still has a large base that follows her with a passion. Three point five million followers on Facebook is nothing to sneeze at.

When I saw the message with the essay in my feed I initially dismissed it. I was writing a rather intense blog post for Addicting Info. As I wrote, it became evident that her posting needed a rebuttal and some context to refute her premise lest the metastasizing of her information like a cancer would grow unabated. Palin and her cohorts successfully damaged the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) by creating enough doubt with verifiable lies (government takeover of healthcare, death panels, grandma off the bus, etc.). It could have been so much better with a single payer system or at least a public option.

The effectiveness of those that lie amplified by a corporate controlled media must be taken seriously. Yesterday I wrote a blog post about the manufactured IRS ‘scandal’ titled “If Liberals Can’t (Wo) man-up On IRS ‘Scandal’ Middle Class Doomed”. Please read it for some context on the IRS scandal. Most of the machinations heard on TV, talk radio, and by all factions are about sloppy process to implement an ill-written 501(c)(4) law. Lawrence O’Donnell tackled that issue here.

Sarah Palin early in her essay equates the IRS ‘scandal’ to Watergate, her biggest hyperbole in the article.

The president would like us to believe that he only learned about the IRS corruption from watching the news. But we recently learned that the White House was actively working with the IRS on how to roll out the story of this scandal. So, Mr. President, how can you have your staff work on the roll out of the biggest controversy since Watergate, and yet claim that you only heard about it by watching the news with the rest of us?

Ideally the credibility of the piece should be suspect from that point on for anyone who has just topical knowledge of Watergate.

Sarah Palin’s essay is all over the place with standard rhetoric like the following.

This IRS scandal is especially terrible because Americans live in fear of the IRS like no other entity because this monstrous bureaucracy has the power to take your hard-earned money. Your wages are the sum of your labors; hence, the IRS has the power to steal the fruits of your labors. Average Americans live in fear of making an error on their tax returns that could cost them massive amounts of money, plus their reputation and good name. If a small business makes a mistake, the IRS can shut them down and send them to jail.

What is interesting is that the ‘scandal’ has nothing to do with the taxation of American citizens. It is simply about whether to give groups that claim they are a social welfare group tax exempt status.

Near the end she tries to leverage the manufactured ‘scandal’ with the average American family values infringed upon by the government in her mind.

Average everyday Americans like my dad and his non-political buddies are outraged by this IRS scandal, perhaps more so than all the other White House fiascos that are making the radical Left’s intentions crystal clear. It’s because this IRS cluster hits close to home for everyone. It’s tangible proof of how a corrupt government can intimidate and target a person’s record, reputation, and life, and make them feel helpless.

Sarah Palin would do well to remember that the IRS is but the enforcer of the tax laws the elected representatives write. That is who should really be on trial here. Politicians, Democrats, and Republicans are using the IRS as their scapegoat and the President, Conservatives, and Liberals alike are too happy to oblige. Again American’s are being had. This is just a distraction to maintain a status quo both sides are willing to live with as nothing is accomplished substantively for the middle class.

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It is known that Spanish golfer Sergio Garcia does not like Tiger Woods and it seems the feelings are mutual. Many blacks and other minorities are usually accused of playing the race card when they attribute certain occurrences on race. The problem is racism unarticulated is mostly invisible. But then, sometimes like a bottle of soda that has built up too much pressure one’s true nature emerges. Did Tiger Woods’ last win against Sergio along with his dislike for Tiger inadvertently put his guard down?

Apparently Sergio Garcia decided to jump on a variation of pro golfer Fuzzy Zoeller’s infamous remark towards Woods in 1997 about fried chicken dinners (video of  Zoeller’s below). The Guardian reports as follows:

Sergio García’s ongoing spat with Tiger Woods took an unwelcome turn on Tuesday night, when the Spaniard made what could be interpreted as a racist remark about his opponent.

The Spaniard was on stage at the European Tour’s gala players’ awards dinner, where he was questioned by the Golf Channel’s Steve Sands. García, who has been embroiled in verbal battles with Woods since the Players Championship at Sawgrass this month, was asked in jest if he would have the American round for dinner one night during the upcoming US Open. "We will have him round every night," García said. "We will serve fried chicken."

[source]

Sergio later apologized.

"I apologise for any offence that may have been caused by my comment on stage during The European Tour Players’ Awards dinner. I answered a question that was clearly made towards me as a joke with a silly remark, but in no way was the comment meant in a racist manner."

[source]

While I am sure the apology is accepted it is unnecessary. Sergio did Tiger Woods a favor. Sergio makes it look like he, Sergio, is the one with issues in their troubled relationship. As such Tiger may just get better media when they play together. Maybe Tiger should send him a thank you note.

Fuzzy Zoeller’s Racist 1997 Statements Against Tiger Woods

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America needs strong leaders. America needs leaders that are willing to stand up for an ideology that shamelessly looks out for the middle class and the poor. America needs strong leaders that do not allow the striving for true moral values to be framed as a weakness . America needs strong leaders that will not allow a hated government agency, the IRS, doing its job to be piled onto by all, Liberals & Conservatives, Democrats & Republicans, alike.

It is easy and politically cowardly to criticize and demonize the IRS. After all, most hate paying taxes. The reality is this agency’s job is defined by the people American citizens elect. They wrote the laws that this agency must follow. Because of the laws these politicians have written, the marginal burden of federal income taxes falls on the middle class. To be clear, it is fact that the top 10% of Americans pay about 70% of federal income taxes. However, wealth and income is so skewed to the top that even with that, the marginal effect of taxes on the middle class far exceeds that of the top 10% and exponentially the top 1%. Moreover, when flat state taxes and sales taxes are included, the middle class is even further under attack by a system rigged to transport their hard earned income to the few, the American plutocracy.

It is important for strong leaders to prevent crooked politicians from placing the blame on the IRS’s attempt to implement their laws that are ill written. Case in point is the 501(C)(4) section of the tax code.

Types of Organizations Exempt under Section 501(c)(4)

Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(4) provides for the exemption of two very different types of organizations with their own distinct qualification requirements. They are:

· Social welfare organizations: Civic leagues or organizations not organized for profit but operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare, and

· Local associations of employees, the membership of which is limited to the employees of designated person(s) in a particular municipality, and the net earnings of which are devoted exclusively for the promotion of social welfare.

:

Social Welfare Organizations – Examples

Some nonprofit organi­zations that qualify as social welfare organiza­tions include:

· An organization operating an airport that serves the general public in an area with no other airport and that is on land owned by a local government, which supervises the airport’s operation,

 

· A community association that works to improve public services, housing and resi­dential parking; publishes a free commu­nity newspaper; sponsors a community sports league, holiday programs and meetings; and contracts with a private se­curity service to patrol the community,

· A community association devoted to preserving the community’s traditions, ar­chitecture and appearance by represent­ing it before the local legislature and administrative agencies in zoning, traffic and parking matters,

· An organization that tries to encourage in­dustrial development and relieve unem­ployment in an area by making loans to businesses so they will relocate to the area and

· An organization that holds an annual festi­val of regional customs and traditions.

[source]

These organizations are easily abused. After the Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court case applications for 501(C)(4) groups skyrocketed. Donors could now donate liberally without being exposed. Anyone that did not see it was the preponderance of Tea Party type groups getting coverage, monies, and submitting 501(C)(4) applications had to be blind. Moreover, it is disingenuous to believe that the Tea Party and Patriot groups’ sole purpose was not to influence electoral politics. It absolutely was and still is. Singling out some groups (liberal groups were singled out as well) is the right thing to do. When searching for certain diseases, markers are used to simplify discovery. That is the efficient use of our tax dollars to weed out those that use a poorly written tax code for ill and immoral gain.

This faux scandal is not a loss for the current administration. It is a loss for America. Once again pseudo-liberals and Right Wing Conservatives have joined to admonish an institution whose laws they write sufficiently vague to allow the success of the moneyed interest. To be clear, the Commissioner of the IRS when the ‘misdeeds’ took place was Douglas Shulman, a Republican appointed by George W Bush. So to make this a liberal attack on Conservative groups is an oxymoron.

Liberals need to man up. Liberals need to woman up. Liberals need to swim against the tide of hate for the IRS so that there is someone willing to tell the true story. The true story, the real story is the IRS was just doing its job of attempting to implement the law. Attempting to crack down on Tea Party and Patriot groups that break the law allowing them to promote policies that ultimately destroy our democracy and pilfer the masses is one step needed to save this country.

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Sequester is decimating Indian land schools and Military base schools. We all know that military personnel are transient and as such there are special needs like counselors and programs to reintegrate children that move constantly. Impact Aid which Indian Reservation Schools, Military Schools, and low income area schools depend on are being cut. These cut materially affect middle class and poor human beings. These people need an advocate. While the sequester cuts to air travel was fixed rather rapidly, there seems to be no advocate for the poor and middle class being hurt financially and socially. Very few politicians from either party seem to be present in their defense.

Yet the corporatist media continue to pump the airwaves with manufactured scandals and ignoring the masses they purportedly are there to serve. Is not the media’s job to ensure that our representative government represents us all and serve us all? Sadly it is no longer the case.

Americans however seem to be growing up. The gullibility index may be abating. If the latest poll on President Obama is probative, then Americans are keeping the manufactured scandals into perspective. The President’s poll numbers has remained constant or risen in a statistically insignificant manner. Republicans attacks on the administration appear to be falling flat.

One hopes that as Republicans and Democrats that have failed the creed of the Democratic Platform see that the suffering middle class and the poor that are becoming aware of the games being played on them awaken, cooler heads of compromise will prevail. This will only be the case if middle class and poor America continues to educate themselves not by rhetoric, rant, fear of engagement, or false civility, but with action. Just think if 10 people in each of our 435 districts contacted their representative and tell them, “We are watching you and mobilizing to replace you absent your support for middle class centric policies”. Why doesn’t everyone reading this just call your Congressman and Senator today? Get engaged for your sake, your family’s sake, your state’s sake, and the country’s sake.

Find your representative here.

Find your senator here.

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UPDATE: My post below created a stir on the Coffee Party main Facebook  page. Before I begin, I am one of many voices in Coffee Party. I have never attempted to hide that I am what most consider left in my ideology. I became part of the Coffee Party because I do not believe that ideological difference should stunt dialogue or the attempt to meet somewhere in the political space. I blog from my own blog as just one voice, my voice within Coffee Party and not as an attempt to be the voice of Coffee Party as I believe all  voices should be heard unfettered. Coffee Party must be inclusive without the attempt by ANY ONE to assume they hold the moral position on what is civil discourse. If the Coffee Party had one voice it would be nothing but a page expounding  one point of view. That in itself is uncivil.

After complaints about this post the editorial board including me felt and accepted that I should have written this piece to encourage more dialogue on the subject. The graphic in retrospect I believe is ill chosen. As I write this looking at the graphic I do see that the noose is not only in-artful but distracts from the points I am conveying. I also erred in painting all Republicans with one brush. I should have specified it is “what the representation of the Republican Party has become while leaving moderate Republicans on the sidelines”.

We are humans and sometimes in the heat of a discussion, in my case it was a discussion with moderate Republican friends who want to take their party back and told me that this can only happen with strong opposing voices stating the facts about their own parties intransigence lest these moderates become nothing but a prop to moderation. Fired up from that discussion I did not leave the alley for ALL to join the discussion on the actual 5 issues below that I indicate materially hurt the middle class in our country and with that the viability of  the country.

While many including some of Coffee Party board view the use of the word “treason” as uncivil, I do not as I think, and many Republicans think that what the Republican Party is doing to our country has crossed the line that characterizes that definition better than any word in the English language. That said, as continue to blog about the ills and what I believe are solutions we should all drive not only through dialogue, but through action, I will continue to be factual as I attempt write in a manner that the message is heard by all.

Our board member Jeanene Louden and a voice of reason we should all listen to wrote about our editorial response to this issue on the Coffee Party main blog post here. She is another voice in Coffee Party and described the process we use meticulously.

I want to thank ALL those that diligently read my blog postings. I value your time and commitment and my goal is to research and provide valid and factual information with an honest narrative. I want you to know that I am committed to not just dialogue for the sake of dialogue, but dialogue with factual information to empower our communities to take action in order to take their politics back.

Merriam-Webster defines treason as follows.

1. : the betrayal of a trust : treachery

2. : the offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance or to kill or personally injure the sovereign or the sovereign’s family

[source]

Treason is a powerful word. It carries with it a well-deserved stigma. Within any country there are differences in ideologies. There are differences in how one wants to effect outcomes. There are differences in the vision one has for the country. The one thing everyone within that country has however is love and respect for the essence of the country, love and respect for the institutions that defines the country, and love and respect in the aggregate for all those that comprise the country.

Except for everyone’s inalienable rights that are guaranteed by the constitution (The Bill Of Rights), all differences are settled in a more or less orderly fashion at the ballot box. Americans in general have been doing that. While moneyed interest (the banks, major corporations, etc.) have the disproportional ear of the politicians elected, Democrats and Republicans, Democratic policies have been more in line with the aspirations of the vast majority of Americans.

Even if they do not understand what supply side economics mean, Americans are becoming aware of the wealth and income disparity that it has produced. Even if they are themselves very socially liberal, they believe in allowing others the freedom of their choices. Except for times where they are overcome by apathy and the ills of gerrymandering that distorts the representative outcome of the vote, Americans have decidedly opted for a more liberal path.

The Republican Party, inasmuch as the will of the people are not with them, have resorted to obstructionist tactics that corrupts the real intent of the constitution and Senate rules that attempt to give the minority a voice. After-all, an absolute winner take all approach is never conducive to harmony. A losing side that gets respect and concessions from the winning side establishes trust and respect, thus allowing for continual debates, potential convincing, and changes in the future.

The GOP however has not seen it fit for civil and positive behavior. Their obstructionist actions have been called out to no avail.  These obstructionist policies are tantamount to treason.

1. Eric Cantor tells a foreign leader that the GOP would be the check on President Obama’s Administration to protect a foreign country’s interest.
2. Republicans holding the entire country hostage during the debt ceiling debate had the potential to put both the country and the world’s economy though financial Armageddon.
3. Republicans continue to block appointment of judges that allows the effective functioning of the democracy. The delay in cases effectively allows corporate interest to supersede national interest.
4. Republican obsession with repealing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) continues to put citizens’ health and financial well-being at risk. This is no different than what war does to many, just without the guns and bombs.
5. Refusing to negotiate in good faith to remove sequester while millions of Americans suffer creates a potentially destabilizing effect in the country that will be seen for years to come as the poor and affected middle class start becoming more reactionary. If you put a population in a desperate position, they do desperate things.

Any single one of the above issues taken to the extreme would make the GOP guilty of treason. They have taken it to the extreme. The obstruction has inhibited the functioning of the country and in the long term would affect the viability of the country. Bill Maher in his monologue gets it. Rarely do I hear the contempt that I personally feel for what Republicans are doing to this country expressed on our airwaves. For this, thank you Bill Maher and Michael Moore.

Bill Maher And Michael Moore On GOP Treason

BILL MAHER, HOST: What about trying to repeal it (Obamacare) for the 37th time? Is that a wise use of our resources and time? I mean, at some point obstruction becomes, I don’t know, treason? I mean they’ve also blocked Obama’s head of the EPA. There’s no head of the Circuit Court in DC. At some point, it just becomes more about hating him than loving your country.

MICHAEL MOORE: No, they hate America. That’s really what it is. Yeah, I think these conservatives and right-wingers really for as much as they say they love this country, they hate it. They hate the government. They hate people.

MAHER: Well those are two different things, aren’t they?

MOORE: Well it shouldn’t be. The government is supposed to be of, by and for the people, right? So, why is the government the big, evil bastard here?

MAHER: ‘Cause, Mike, it got taken over by a Kenyan socialist, that’s why. That’s why we need our guns. We might have to take over the government.

MOORE: Here’s the good news — I’m not as depressed about this as you are because as all the polls show the next generation coming up, they don’t agree with any of this nonsense. They don’t want to own guns — they’re not selling any guns to young people — they’re not bigots, they’re not haters. 81% of young adults support gay marriage, they support legalization [of marijuana].

MAHER: They support less religion.

MOORE: Bill, it’s going to get better.

MAHER: It’s going to get better, you’re right. We’ll be dead, but it will be better.

MOORE: No, we won’t be dead! What you hear is the sound of a squealing dinosaur coming from the Republicans. (HBO’s Real Time, May 17, 2013)

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I stated from the beginning that all of the current scandals (Benghazi, IRS, AP) afflicting the President at this time have been manufactured, manufactured through lies, deception, and misinformation by the GOP. Most importantly, the President and many Liberals have found it expedient to accept more responsibility that is not necessary in the attempt to “stop the bleeding”. This is no different than an innocent person pleading guilty in order to get a deterministic sentence instead of an unknown sentence that could be more or less than warranted.

To be sure, there are problems with this administration in many areas. Sadly, those areas like “support” for the Keystone pipeline, support for some sort of austerity however minimal, and policies in general that are not progressive enough have not been the cause of GOP ire as those are the things they actually support.

I have been waiting for a real assessment on the scandals most of last week. Lo and behold, Lawrence O’Donnell did it. The IRS scandal occurred not in this President’s administration. It occurred in 1959. As explained by O’Donnell,

The law defines such groups as “civic leagues or organizations not organized for profit but operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare.” Since 1959, the IRS has been reading “exclusively” as “primarily.”

[source]

Ezra Klein did one better. In his piece “The Scandals Are Falling Apart” he goes through the autopsy of each scandal. His basic conclusion is as follows.

On Tuesday, it looked like we had three possible political scandals brewing. Two days later, with much more evidence available, it doesn’t look like any of them will pan out. There’ll be more hearings, and more bad press for the Obama administration, and more demands for documents. But — and this is a key qualification — absent more revelations, the scandals that could reach high don’t seem to include any real wrongdoing, whereas the ones that include real wrongdoing don’t reach high enough.

[source]

America’s corporate controlled mainstream media continues to allow the GOP and the Right Wing to distract Americans. They continue to run stories that are pushed by this faction in order to have Americans dissuaded from looking at real issues that materially affect their lives. They are then able to effect their will, policies that further pilfer the middle class without any political cost.

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Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. The mainstream media should be tired of being shamed. Democrats should be tired of being shamed. But most of all, every American citizen should be tired of being shamed.

Shortly after the Benghazi terrorist attack where Ambassador Christopher Stevens was murdered, Fox News and the Republican Party have been hyping and politicizing the event. Early on, author of “The Generals”, Thomas Rick said that much in a Fox News Interview where he called out the network. Fox News simply cut the interview short and continued with the uncorroborated hyping of the Benghazi massacre.

Most networks put the Benghazi story in perspective for some time. Fox News’ persistence seemed to have paid off recently when ABC’s Jonathan Karl claimed to have an exclusive that made it seem the State Department was more instrumental than it was in altering the Benghazi talking points.

The Whitehouse released 100 pages of Benghazi emails this week. CBS News reported on Thursday that the actual emails differ from what the Republicans released. In other words Republicans doctored the emails they released to the mainstream media and used the mainstream media to create a false scandal.

Huffington Post reports the following.

CBS News reported Thursday that leaked versions sent out by the GOP last Friday had visible differences than Wednesday’s official batch. Two correspondences that were singled out in the report came from National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes and State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

The GOP version of Rhodes’ comment, according to CBS News: "We must make sure that the talking points reflect all agency equities, including those of the State Department, and we don’t want to undermine the FBI investigation."

The White House email: "We need to resolve this in a way that respects all of the relevant equities, particularly the investigation."

The GOP version of Nuland’s comment, according to CBS News: The penultimate point is a paragraph talking about all the previous warnings provided by the Agency (CIA) about al-Qaeda’s presence and activities of al-Qaeda."

The White House email: "The penultimate point could be abused by members to beat the State Department for not paying attention to Agency warnings."

[source]

No one should be surprised by these tactics by the current crop of Tea Party Republicans. They lied to the American people about the benefits of healthcare reform with outrageous claims like death panels and government control of healthcare that the mainstream corporate media was happy to promote. They lied about a carbon tax they once proposed that would have started the mitigation of our climate problems.

There are real scandals out there. It is a scandal that sequester is harming many poor and middle class Americans while provisions are made for the affluent. It is a scandal that Republicans are spending all their legislative time on symbolic items (repealing Obamacare, manufactured scandals) while ignoring policies that can get Americans back to work. It is a scandal that neither party will modify the American tax code that removes the bias for wealth growth of mostly the top 1% (taxing capital gains at a lower rate than the working people’s income).

Republicans doctored Benghazi emails and used the mainstream media to create a false scandal. It allowed for the deflection of awareness from real problems to issues of little consequence to the middle class and poor. What good is a media interested in entertainment and not news.

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The mainstream media, “the Liberal Media”, Fox News, and every news outlet is wasting time on three manufactured scandals; the “IRS Targeting Tea Party Non-Profit Applicants” scandal, the “DOJ Probing AP” scandal, and the “Benghazi” scandal. Chris Hayes did a prescient piece today that pretty much detailed the anatomy of scandals. He noted that scandals generally occur in the second term of a presidential administration, during slow news cycles, and when the president is very unpopular with the opposition. Seems like a checkmate for a scandal.

What pains most now is that real stories that should be covered are ignored because of these false scandals. Hayes’ noted below that the conviction of a certain dictator that was loved by a beloved American president went uncovered. He wondered out loud….  Just listen to it.

Chris Hayes: Now that we are dealing with an empty news cycle we are also getting stories about emails about talking points, when there is actual scandalous news out there. You know what in fact, you want scandalous? How about this? This is my nominee, Efrain Rios Montt, the ruler of Guatemala in the early 1980s. On Friday he was found guilty of genocide. He oversaw the slaughter of nearly two thousand indigenous people; men, women, and children. A Guatemalan court yesterday ordered the government to apologize for these atrocities; horrific, terrible story. Of course no one pays attention to the story of a murderous dictator named Rios Montt in a place like Guatemala. Unless, oh, I don’t know.

President Reagan: I know that President Rios Montt is a man of great personal integrity and commitment. … I know he wants to improve the quality of life for all Guatemalans and to promote social justice. My administration will do all it can to support his progressive efforts.

Chris Hayes: He’s talking about a guy that tried to extinguish an indigenous people. SO FOX, YOU WANT TO TAKE IT FROM HERE?

One should not diminish the need to stay on top of the three “scandals” mentioned above. They should however be placed in the proper context. There is much happening around the world. The middle class in America is still in distress. There are jobs programs that must be passed since our plutocracy is now anathema to substantial job creation in their zeal for hoarding wealth.

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The IRS is being accused of selectively targeting Tea Party and Conservative groups that were applying for 501(c) tax exempt status. These tax exempt organizations cannot engage in political campaigns. Technically speaking their purpose is educational and for the social welfare.

It is a fact that Tea Party and Conservative groups have been blowing through the limits of what 501(c) nonprofits are allowed to do. As I stated in the article “Liberals Outrage On IRS Tea Party Scrutiny Unjustified & Foolish”, the IRS was justified and doing their jobs in researching these groups that have been actively corrupting the body politic by going beyond what the 501(c) code allows. Unfortunately many Liberals and the President in public articulate otherwise because of a misplaced political correctness.

The Treasury Inspector General Report For Tax Administration is out. This is the report that President Obama and Whitehouse Chief Spokesman Jay Carney have been alluding to in their respective press conferences. The highlights of the report follow:

IMPACT ON TAXPAYERS

Early in Calendar Year 2010, the IRS began using inappropriate criteria to identify
organizations applying for tax-exempt status to review for indications of significant political campaign intervention.  Although the IRS has taken some action, it will need to do more so that the public has reasonable assurance that applications are processed without unreasonable delay in a fair and impartial manner in the future.

WHY TIGTA DID THE AUDIT

TIGTA initiated this audit based on concerns expressed by members of Congress.  The
overall objective of this audit was to determine whether allegations were founded that the IRS:  1) targeted specific groups applying for tax-exempt status, 2) delayed processing of targeted groups’ applications, and 3) requested unnecessary information from targeted groups.

WHAT TIGTA FOUND

TIGTA initiated this audit based on concerns expressed by members of Congress.  The overall objective of this audit was to determine whether allegations were founded that the IRS:  1) targeted specific groups applying for tax-exempt status, 2) delayed processing of targeted groups’ applications, and 3) requested unnecessary information from targeted groups.

Although the processing of some applications with potential significant political campaign intervention was started soon after receipt, no work was completed on the majority of these applications for 13 months.  This was due to delays in receiving assistance from the Exempt Organizations function Headquarters office.  For the 296 total political campaign intervention applications TIGTA reviewed as of December 17, 2012, 108 had been approved, 28 were withdrawn by the applicant, none had been denied, and 160 were open from 206 to 1,138 calendar days (some for more than three years and crossing two election cycles).

More than 20 months after the initial case was identified, processing the cases began in earnest.  Many organizations received requests for additional information from the IRS that included unnecessary, burdensome questions (e.g., lists of past and future donors).  The IRS later informed some organizations that they did not need to provide previously requested information.  IRS officials stated that any donor information received in response to a request from its Determinations Unit was later destroyed.

WHAT TIGTA RECOMMENDED

TIGTA recommended that the IRS finalize the interim actions taken, better document the reasons why applications potentially involving political campaign intervention are chosen for review, develop a process to track requests for assistance, finalize and publish guidance, develop and provide training to employees before each election cycle, expeditiously resolve remaining political campaign intervention cases (some of which have been in process for three years), and request that social welfare activity guidance be developed by the Department of the Treasury.

In their response to the report, IRS officials agreed with seven of our nine recommendations and proposed alternative corrective actions for two of our recommendations.  TIGTA does not agree that the alternative corrective actions will accomplish the intent of the recommendations and continues to believe that the IRS should better document the reasons why applications potentially involving political campaign intervention are chosen for review and finalize and publish guidance.

Unfortunately it is evident this report was written with a conclusion already predetermined for political reasons. The evidence is that the report’s conclusion matches the narrative by most pre-report.

For those that make the argument that this IRS must not be allowed to scrutinize the Tea Party base lest the Liberal base be scrutinized when no longer having the Whitehouse, it is important to note that that argument is invalid. When the GOP was in the Whitehouse they acted with impunity. They were unconcerned about political correctness. This is not said from a partisan perspective but from a factual one. They actually used the IRS to audit the NAACP and churches. They acted. And their Conservative base was OK with it.

The Liberal base’s false sense of purity as opposed to political reality hurts their ability to push their moral agenda which allows the immorality within the other base’s platform to dominate our body politic. Liberals must grow up to the reality of now.

That the ill intended groups were justifiably targeted is considered politically incorrect. Once again, the Right Wing has been successful in changing the parameters of the narrative and Liberals simply self-emaciate, lick their wounds, and then try to regroup as opposed to confront unjustified objections directly, forcefully, and with moral resolve.

IRS IG Report

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Republicans, Conservatives, the Tea Party, and Right Wingers play to win. They never allow truth or scruples to intervene. When I first heard the story about the IRS “going after Conservative groups” it seemed to be a rather logical decision.  After-all, who have not seen how close to the line the advertising and other actions from these groups purporting to be 501.c4 came.

Democrats and Liberals are tripping over themselves to castigate the IRS for doing their jobs. And of course the IRS is apologizing for doing right. As an activist not just sitting behind a computer screen but one that has had interactions with various Tea Party and Patriot groups, I can tell you objectively that most of these organization should not have qualified for tax exempt status under the code. These groups are militias that are intent on disrupting. This is what they did. Many continue to do it. They are not about political education they are about ideological enforcement.

If a barrage of applications came from liberal groups with similar names that had similar actions of the Tea Party groups, one would expect that scrutiny as well. Scrutiny must be applied where there is a problem. Therapy is not provided for all but to where there is a need.

It isn’t like this has not occurred to the left side of the spectrum. The New York Times published the article “Citing July Speech, I.R.S. Decides to Review N.A.A.C.P.” by Michael Janofsky detailing a more aggressive incident by the IRS on the NAACP, a Liberal organization in 2004 during the height of the Bush/Kerry election. According to the article, the IRS claimed it received information that then NAACP Chairman Julian Bond had made a speech in which he condemned the Bush administration’s policies on education, the economy, and the war in Iraq.

I am starting to love Joy Reid more and more  for standing up for real morality when other Liberals cower with their silence or cower by acquiescing to the Rights selective talking points. Ms. Reid forced Chris Matthews through his hyperventilating unnecessary sense of righteous indignation, to let her get a word in about the NAACP incident.

Joy Reid: The idea that the Tea Patriots and these other groups are non-partisan, that they are social welfare organizations is my other point; that the 501.c4 process has attracted every low level political consultant in the country to create a C4 when they saw the Tea Party coming. They weren’t creating these groups to be non-partisan and do policy, everybody who’s observed the Tea Party know they are a political. That’s number one. And number two, I wonder if the same level of outrage existed back in 2004 when the IRS not went after and looked at applications but audited the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people, audited the NAACP and launched a two year investigation into them simply because the President of the NAACP, because one person made comments that they thought were negative towards George W Bush. I think it is great that we are going to look at the IRS process; of course it should be looked at. If people did wrong doing and it was clearly stupid to target groups in this way, they did not understand the law; then yea, people should be disciplined. But let’s try to make sure that we are just as outraged when the IRS goes after the NAACP. And I don’t remember this level of outrage in 2004.

Tea Party Guest: Did the IRS in 2004 say we are going after them because of comments they made towards the President?

Joy Reid: They audited yes.

Tea Party Guest: Then it’s just as wrong then.

Joy Reid: The letter that was sent to the NAACP, it said that Julian Bond’s statement, that Julian Bond’s statement about George W Bush and his opposition to the war that was in the IRS letter that went to the NAACP. They disclosed that they were going after them because of his statement.

Chris Matthews: OK I think one thing, thank you Joy and I think everyone understands what you said and Jenny as well, I think people all at home are going to make a judgment about this.

To be sure, the IRS must be a neutral organization. Every taxpayer in America is given the benefit of the doubt. When one files a tax return it is assumed to be correct absent certain flags. In the case of the Tea Party and many Conservative groups, it is clear from the ads that they make that they are overtly partisan. That is a generic flag that should be a justification for extra scrutiny lest they continue to corrupt the body politic as they already have.

The supposedly Liberal Media from MSNBC to ABC are all displaying a sense of righteous indignation by condemning the IRS before many facts are in. ABC’s World News Diane Sawyer introduced Jonathan Carl’s piece as he “goes in search of the facts” where he interviews a sweet housewife with a baby who just wanted to start a Tea Party group but was so damaged by the IRS process that she quit altogether. He then showed footage of President Obama where four years ago he made a joke about sic’ing the IRS on people for not giving him an honorary degree at a commencement speech he gave at Arizona State University. This is nothing but the “Liberal Media” fanning the flames.

Liberals continue to play politics like a game while the Right Wing plays it as a sport. Liberals continue to apologize for the semblance of wrongdoing while the Right revels in getting away with wrong doing. It will do Liberals well to not be so quick at being self-judgmental. Many times people follow those they perceive to be strong irrespective of liking them or what they stand for. Liberals better spine up lest they lose the benevolence of their cause.

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Yesterday I posted this blog piece “See Bill Maher’s Guests Spar–Do Only White Men Matter or Feel? (VIDEO)” about Charles Cooke’s comment on Bill Maher’s Real Time on Friday evening. Granted, I was rather pissed and the dismissive nature that Cooke dealt with slavery after the revolution.

I just found this gem in my twitter feed from Charles Cooke.

@egbertowillies You’re being extremely, likely willfully, silly. Consider this admonition to apply to you, too: ccwc.me/12lV5dr

— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) May 12, 2013

After reading his response to the dust up from his comments at his blog post “What’s the Matter with Joan Walsh?” it is evident that Mr. Cooke is either choosing to be willfully ignorant or simply does not understand that context is everything and his context was all wrong.

Mr. Cooke said: “I think Americans have a problem thinking about this sometimes because — and I include myself, with British people — because the revolution that happened here was great, and very rarely is that the case in the world. You have this revolution in America in which the British fight the British, and then they codify classical liberal values into a constitution — and it’s great. But that’s not how it goes down normally. Normally, there is bloodshed and its horrible. And especially in the Middle East what they want to replace their dictatorships with — if you look at the polling — is Sharia law.”

Ms. Reid came back with: “But the revolution in the US was great unless you were a slave and then there was a war where 600,000 Americans had to die to make it better. Revolution isn’t always great. In the French Revolution there were beheadings. Revolutions are messy. You want people to have democracy it can be messy.”

Mr. Cooke believes that Ms. Reid interjecting slavery was a cheap shot because the subject at hand according to Cooke was “what people in the Arabic world tend do when they are given a chance to overthrow the existing order” and that because slavery existed pre and post revolution it was not germane to the discussion.

Mr. Cooke is comparing America’s revolution in a positive light relative to those in the “Arabic world’ by referring to ours as great and theirs as failed because they would adopt what he (and me) see as bad, Sharia law. An outsider looking in could just as well call the American Revolution a failed revolution for most, as in said revolution the outcome was codified slavery, the vote for white male land owners, and everyone else be damn. It created a patriarchal society where white rich men ruled. Most Americans cowardly accepted this as doves. For the vast majority of Americans there was very little difference pre and post revolution.

Mr. Cooke wants to selectively use what he considers to be of the right context. For too long Liberals have allowed the Right Wing to get by with false equivalences and manufactured context. I am happy that many Liberals and Progressives are getting the spinal fortitude to hit back and correct the record at every turn.

Mr. Cooke, while your point may stand in your mind, those of us that understand how the manufactured misinterpretation of history is used to sell bankrupt ideologies will continue to stand guard. It is willfully ignorant of you to not see the American Revolution in the proper context.

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Conservative Republican New York Times Columnist David Brooks has been getting a lot of analysis on issues correct (here, here) with a few missteps. Following is the exchange he had with David Gregory on Meet The Press Today.

David Gregory: David Brooks as we, talk again about Benghazi, here this morning, what’s new this morning, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee is falling short of saying this was Hillary Clinton and President Obama’s fault. But he does say the administration essentially directed the intelligence community to back off what they wanted to say.

David Brooks: There is an underlying narrative here which I actually think is wrong. The underlying narrative is it says this bunch of technically pure nonpolitical and then they produce a product which is then doctored by a bunch of political people either at State or at the Whitehouse; my reading of the evidence is that a very terrible event happened at a CIA, basically a CIA facility, they went into intense blame shifting mode, trying to shift responsibility onto the State Department, onto anywhere else, and the State Department pushed back. They said no, it is not our fault. It’s you facility. And so they push back and they say why we are suddenly releasing information that we haven’t been releasing so far. So the CIA was super aggressive, there was some pushback, out of that bureaucratic struggle all the talking points were reduced to mush and then politics was inserted into it. So I don’t think we should necessarily say this is politics intruding on a CIA pure operation.

His assessment is the most sensible one I have heard to date from either Republicans or Democrats. It was a very matter of fact statement that is not only plausible but likely. Earlier in the show Chairman of the Oversight And Government Reform Committee Rep Darrell Issa (R-CA) tried to give the impression that this was a real story in which the administration was not answering questions because it was hiding something. Ultimately he had nothing substantive that indicated either the President or Secretary of State Clinton did anything wrong. When David Gregory showed with graphic that there was nothing astonishing about the event compared to the number of Americans and diplomats that have sadly lost their lives on missions overseas through Republican and Democratic presidencies alike, Issa tried to change the subject.

Issa even lied about Ambassador Pickering who was sitting next to him. Issa said Ambassador Pickering refused to come before his committee. Pickering jumped in before his time to speak and said it was not true. Pickering said he told them the day before the hearing he was willing to appear and Issa’s committee said he was not welcomed at that hearing and that he could come at another time.

This entire Benghazi issue will blow up in the Republicans face as their propaganda outlet Fox News will lose face again as they did with the 2012 elections. This is a political hunt not to find wrong doing but to leave open ended questions to undermine a President.

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I am not always in agreement with Glenn Greenwald simply because sometimes he takes the Liberal or Progressive viewpoint to the level of silliness like some on the Right. His analysis in general however is usually spot on.

The exchange he had with Bill Maher was a classic in that he used what he knew was going to be a short window to get several points across to counter act Maher’s rather ignorant perception of religion. Maher has lately been attacking the outward violence of the few Muslims that get inordinate coverage in our corporate controlled media, yet ignores all the violence that to this date is perpetrated in America and around the world in the name of Christianity. It is all in the slant given to the dissemination of news.

Glenn Greenwald: We were supporting and propping up Mubarak for thirty years even as we were cheering for the Tahrir Square demonstrators as if we were on their side. It was our government that kept Mubarak in power; just like we have done across the entire Muslim world. It’s amazing for you to say that look at all these Muslims, the minute you give them a little bit of freedom they go wild and start being all violent. How can you be a citizen of the United States, the country that has generated more violence and militarism in the world over the last five or six decades and say look at those people over there, they are incredibly violent. We play a significant role in what has been happening in the Middle East because we have been interfering and dominating that region in order to have access to their oil.

Bill Maher: I wasn’t talking about violence. I was taking about theocracy.

Glenn Greenwald: OK that doesn’t happen here but at the same time Iran isn’t invading lots of other countries and occupying them for a decade.

Bill Maher: That religion goes back a thousand years before our revolution so I don’t think we can take all the blame.

Glenn Greenwald: I don’t think we should. I think we should take a lot of it. And there are lots of bodies and corpses that have been piled up in the name of Christianity and Judaism as well.

Bill Maher: Not recently.

Glenn Greenwald: Have you heard about the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza for the last fifty years motivated by extremist views of Judaism? Or the wars in Europe? Or the fact that there were generals in the United States saying we have to invade and destroy Iraq, a country of twenty six million people because our god is bigger? Lots of religions, not just Islam produce violence.

Bill Maher: Silly Liberal view that all religions are alike because it makes you feel good.

Glenn Greenwald: You get to ignore the responsibility that your own government has for the violence and instability in the world by saying look it’s that primitive religion over there that is to blame.

President Bush use of the word Crusade was no accident after 9/11. How different is our attempted Bush crusade to remake the Middle East different than those who want to remake us? The difference is we have the ultimate weapons of death, a coopted media, and a misinformed populace. Terrorism is absolutely wrong against the innocent. The phrase “your terrorist is my freedom fighter” does however have real meaning. Our founding fathers know that well. The founding fathers of Israel know that well. The founding fathers of many countries know that well.  It is perspective and there is no purity no matter how we may try to articulate the purity of one side. That truth seems to be severely misunderstood by Bill Maher and most.

Also check out Joy Reid schooling Charles Cooke here on the same show.

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I am sometimes amazed at coincidences. Bill Maher’s Real Time showing today actually provided several learning experiences for those who are willing to think; not only outside the box, but with moral clarity. But I first digress.

I am a member of Move To Amend (MTA) and serve on the Executive Committee. I just got back from our bi-yearly executive committee meeting in Portland Oregon where we discussed where we are taking our democracy movement.

MTA’s mission is multifaceted. It has the specific aim to effect the passing of a constitutional amendment that codifies that money is not speech and corporations should not have the inalienable rights as do human beings. Our broader goal is a transformational democracy movement that will ensure that ALL Americans are privy to making the aspirational American dream their own reality.

From its inception MTA understood that one can only create transformational change if a movement is all inclusive. A movement can only be all inclusive if that which maintains the divisions is mitigated; if those that are oppressed are liberated. Why are toxic dumps and dirty factories built almost exclusively in minority neighborhoods or low income neighborhoods? Why as a black man irrespective of those that deny it I am followed in stores more so than my white counterpart? Why is an assertive woman a bitch while Dan Rather is just assertive? Why are Bryant Gumbel’s actions arrogant while Ted Koppel‘s display professionalism?

Anyone going through our anti-oppression and the ills of white privilege training would understand the causal dynamics of the above mentioned dichotomies. However, today’s exchange between Bill Maher’s guest Joy Reid and Charles Cooke was a classic. It displayed how the same reality can be viewed very differently from the oppressed or the one who can empathize with the oppressed as opposed to the view from the oppressor or the one that empathizes with the oppressor.

Prior to the dialogue Bill Maher seemed to be taking a Right Wing position relative to the Muslim countries, by implying their revolution being Islamic has a component that makes them inherently our enemies or less valid than other revolutions. That narrative led to the following dialog between Charles Cooke and Joy Reid.

Charles Cooke: So I think Americans have a problem thinking about this sometimes because — and I include myself with British people because the revolution that happened here was great and very rarely is that the case in the word. You have this revolution in America in which the British fight the British and then they codify classical liberal values into a constitution and it’s great. But that’s not how it goes down normally. Normally there is bloodshed and its horrible and especially in the Middle East what they want to replace their dictatorships with if you look at the polling it’s Sharia law.

Joy Reid: But the revolution in the US was great unless you were a slave and then there was a war where 600,000 Americans had to die to make it better. Revolution isn’t always great. In the French Revolution there were beheadings. Revolutions are messy. You want people to have democracy it can be messy.

Charles Cooke: The slavery point I think is cheap.

Joy Reid: You mean the revolution in the United States that produced a government that included slaves that included enslaved Africans; it’s a cheap shot to include that in the narrative? I mean, that is part of the narrative.

Charles Cooke: The point is if you are looking for perfection in the18th century you are not going to find it. What the Americans did was a massive step forward. It wasn’t perfect. It was resolved in a Civil War that was bloody and awful. But if we are going to write off the greatest revolution, the greatest constitution in the world because it was imperfect and it was flawed then we should all go home.

Joy Reid: In the Middle East we are also saying these are imperfect revolutions. Whenever the US goes in and try to impose our vision of democracy in that region we fail.

I generally take all in a stride. I must admit that listening to that British prick (Charles Cooke) pissed me off. If one is sitting on the side of the revolution that concludes with one having rights or the semblance of rights, one can be dismissive. If even after the civil war by having white skin one had the semblance of freedom one could be dismissive. If you were Black, Native, Chinese, to some extent a woman of any race, or other, irrespective of this constitution Cooke believes is so great, generations after generations of these people lived without experiencing said greatness.

Cooke should revisit his history and understand who that constitution was originally written for. He can start here. Even after the Civil War, most Americans could not vote. Most Americans were afforded few rights. The one genius within the constitution is its elastic clause, the built in mechanism to amend it or change it with a Constitutional Convention potentially avoiding bloody conflicts in order to effect its change.

I am sure Joy Reid could have been much sharper in hitting back at this prick. It is evident that she tempered her response. After-all, she wants to be invited on this show and others again and again.

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Politics Done Right with Egberto Willies Saturday 12:00 Noon Central/1:00 PM Eastern Call In, talk and/or Listen: (646) 929-2495 Listen On Computer/Smartphone Live/Podcast: HERE This week’s show This has been a long tiring week. As you know, I am a member of the Leadership Team of Move To Amend. I represent Coffee Party on that Executive Committee. This week Move To Amend had its retreat in Portland Oregon where we discussed the path that must be followed to amend the constitution through a complete multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, and multi-racial democracy movement that supersedes age, gender, or socio-economic hurdles. It was grueling but the initial path was laid out with options for continued improvements and tweaks. This week I am honored to host someone I consider a friend given that we can maintain civil discourse even as we are at diametrically opposing ends of the political spectrum. Today will be Liberal Egberto vs Conservative Bob and you. I am a far left Liberal that believes only through a peaceful  revolution by the middle class, poor, and moral wealthy will  this country morph into a country that lives up to its ideals. Bob is a staunch Conservative that for all practical purposes believes in the status quo and in some cases the regression of Liberal induced gains that women, disabled, and minorities have made since the inception of a an original constitution that gave full rights to just 10% of the population. Bob Price is a political analyst and commentator for TexasGOPVote.com. He is an expert on border security and illegal immigration and also covers stories of local, state and national interest from a Conservative Texas Perspective.  He also volunteers with US Border Watch, a civilian volunteer border security organization, as Communications Director.  He has been with USBW for over four years. Price is also a regular political commentator on Houston’s Fox 26 and KHOU, Houston Channel 11 where he regularly debates on a wide variety of political issues. He is frequently asked to speak to organizations on the topic of border security, immigration reform and 2nd Amendment issues. He is a US Air Force veteran, having served overseas during the Cold War and is a retired Lt. Col. from the US Air Force Auxiliary, Civil Air Patrol where he served in command, public relations, emergency services and youth education capacities. Please call in and add to the discourse civilly. My Blog Posts Of The Week You Will Not Believe How Students & Parents Are Screwed Twice By Universities & Colleges Jon Stewart Blows Up Fox News Theories Hyping Benghazi Tragedy Fear Them – The Prison Industrial Complex – Unelected, Untouchable, Uncontested Chris Christie Running For President? This Move Almost Guarantees It Nationalize Banking Sector To Save Our Economy & Free Enterprise System Kingwood Area Democrats Protesting NRA Convention In Houston, TX (2013-05-04) Lawrence O’Donnell Schooled GOP Strategists on Bill Maher On Republican Big Lie (VIDEO) My Other Posts At AddictingInfo.org Coffee Party Radio Shows Mondays 10:00 PM ET – Press “1″ For Democracy w/ Dan Aronson (Subscribe via iTunes) Tuesdays 8:00 PM ET – The Middle Ground w/Michael Charney&Eric Byler (Subscribe via iTunes) Thursdays 3:00 PM ET – Lunch w/ Louden (Subscribe via iTunes) Saturdays 1:00 PM ET – Politics Done Right w/ Egberto Willies (Subscribe via iTunes) Coffee Party USA is supported solely by memberships and donations.  Please consider joining or making an additional donation.  Thank you! LIKE My Facebook Page – Visit My Blog: EgbertoWillies.com Follow @EgbertoWillies

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America was once a place where college was the conduit to success. The cost of college was affordable. Moreover, if a loan was necessary for college, it used to be affordable and could be paid off without interfering with any budding professional’s financial dream or financial prospects. College provided every student upward mobility. Every parent assisting a kid or co-signing a loan for the kid had the notion that they prepared their kid for success.

That reality is no more. Universities and colleges are gouging students with ever increasing tuition and fees. Lenders inasmuch as they have access to cheap money are lending to students at rates higher than rates pre-financial system collapse. Huffington Post says:

On average, the annual cost of education at public schools has risen 57 percent since 2005 to nearly $18,000, according to College Board figures Sallie Mae cites in its latest quarterly pitch to investors. Students at private schools are paying more than $39,000, or nearly 44 percent more than they did in 2005.

The so-called “cost of attendance gap”, or the difference between what a four-year degree will cost incoming freshmen versus the amount of government loan money available to them, has risen over the past 10 years by 59 percent to nearly $152,000 for the typical student who started at a private school in 2011, Sallie Mae tells investors. For public school students, the gap has increased 90 percent to about $69,000.

Sallie Mae loans, which are relatively more expensive now than they were before the financial crisis, help “bridge the funding gap,” the company says.
[source]

What is unethical is that these same Universities are investors in these lending corporations. Investors in any corporation aim to maximize their incomes at all cost. Universities have an incentive to increase their cost in order for their lenders to make larger loans and increasing profits. The Huffington Post says:

University endowments and teachers’ pension funds are among big investors in Sallie Mae, the private lender that has been generating enormous profits thanks to soaring student debt and the climbing cost of education, a Huffington Post review of financial documents has revealed.
[source]

It is hard to believe that Colleges and Universities would “screw” students and their parents. The reality is that the answer lies in the numbers. Huffington post reports:

“This is a much more subtle and much less mechanistic dysfunction than we have seen in the past,” he added.

In 2006 — the last year Sallie Mae reported at least $1 billion in profit and enjoyed a return on equity above 20 percent — student borrowers who took out private Sallie Mae loans that were then securitized were borrowing at interest rates that were about 4.4 to 5.0 percentage points above a benchmark borrowing rate for financial corporations known as the three-month commercial paper rate, according to a review of the company’s bond documents.

For private loans that were securitized last year, students were paying interest rates about 6.8 to 7.5 percentage points above the benchmark corporate rate.

In all, over the last three years the margin enjoyed by Sallie Mae and its investors on private loans the company securitized on average has been about 2 percentage points higher than it was in 2006 relative to the overall corporate borrowing rate.
[source]

The middle class is always under attack by those who use them as sources of income and as a commodity. When will corporation and government stop taking advantage of the poor and middle class? When will government stop codifying into law policies that allow corporations to destroy the middle class? When will the middle class standup to government and corporations and say NO MORE? The time is now.

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Fox News, the propaganda outlet of the Republican Party, continues to push the story that there was some sort of Benghazi cover up. They continue to a display false sense of indignation over the “Liberal Media’s” interest in covering the story. In the past, Fox News simply hyped a negative story on the administration and it  immediately became news on every network station. It seems that maybe the “Liberal Media” is being a bit more careful taking their lead from Fox News.

It should be said that there is no “Liberal Media’”. There is a spineless mainstream media that concentrates on entertainment as opposed to journalism. And then there is Fox News which is nothing but a Right Wing propaganda engine for the GOP that is used to destroy the opposition mostly with misinformation and lies.

Jon Stewart presents a montage of snippets that gives a picture of what Fox News viewers are bombarded with; conspiracies on Benghazi,  cover ups on Benghazi, and impeachable offenses by the President. Yet, no specific evidence after many months are provided.

Stewart plays a number on Congressman Darrell Issa by stating the fact that he voted against funds to support security for our foreign presence.He then presented a skit blaming Issa for the massacre given his vote.

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John Young’s latest article is a must read.

Unelected, untouchable, uncontested

by John Young

   From reports, the entrance was what one imagines of a drug lord who isn’t used to waiting for a table in Guadalajara. Only this was in Washington.

Stepping out of the elevator, a wedge of body guards shoved people out of the way, one pinning a cameraman against the wall.

“You don’t have jurisdiction here,” the cameraman protested.

But of course, the National Rifle Association sets his own rules. Mr. Big had come to lecture Congress last January. Wherever he — and you — may be, you will get out of Wayne LaPierre’s way.

Doesn’t matter if a vast majority of Americans don’t buy what he shills. He will meet his quota on Capitol Hill.

Of course, what he does is hardly unusual. The NRA is one of any number of entities that comport themselves as their own branches of government, and whose officials govern their own protectorates. It’s all about money.

Speaking of acronyms: More and more Americans are coming to know GEO, as in GEO Group Inc., the Florida company that runs more than 111 for-profit prisons and penal facilities.

Recently a GEO executive, Thomas Wierdsma, was found civilly liable for “outrageous behavior,” including attempts to pressure U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials to deport his immigrant daughter-in-law when her marriage to his son soured.

You know: “Half of our prisoners are federal. I’ll get ICE on the phone.”

Don’t expect these developments to hurt GEO’s business. With $1.48 billion in revenues last year, it has reached Halliburton-esque critical mass, profit- and power-wise.

So much liquidity has the company that it offered to plunk down $6 million for naming rights to Florida Atlantic University’s new football stadium.

That idea was nixed after a public backlash. Rest assured, GEO will find good ways to spend that money, possibly convincing state and federal lawmakers that prison cells are good for the economy.

Nobody elected GEO, but know that it has power beyond the founders’ imagining, even that of Thomas Jefferson, who warned about the “aristocracy of our monied corporations.” Power? GEO has power over thousands of prisoners’ every breath.

Maybe it makes sense to privatize trash hauling, or streetlight repair. It doesn’t make sense to privatize life-or-death matters (See Hurricane Katrina). But when bigness is next to godliness, too many policy-makers simply bow to the GEOs of the world and proclaim, “At your service.”

Big oil, the pharmaceutical industry, big insurance, all have managed to engorge themselves while blunting the public interest when it comes to policy. For one, Americans would be paying less for over-the-counter drugs if pharmaceutical makers hadn’t prevented the government from negotiating prices under Medicare reforms.

Each of these players serves much like Russia or China in the U.N. Security Council. Whatever a body might wish to achieve, they carry a one-vote veto.

Unelected. Unaccountable. Grover Norquist has the pledges of most Republican members of Congress, along with governors and state lawmakers, to do what he says, which is to never raise revenue for any purpose.

How did Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform gain its power? Silly question. As a lobbying arm funded by corporate interests like big tobacco and big oil, it spends millions to elect candidates who kiss Norquist’s ring and to smite anyone who backs away from the no-new-revenue pledge. The group spent $16 million on the last election.

“Conservatism, my foot,” said Bill Moyers about Norquist’s hold on politicians’ souls. “It’s all about the money.”

And so we return to the unelected sheiks of the gun cartel, their flowing gowns, their gusher-style fiscal resources. As in the sand-blown Third World, politically they control whole provinces. They are the law, because they have the guns, and the money. And who will stand in their way?

Longtime Texas newspaperman John Young lives in Colorado. Email: jyoungcolumn@gmail.com.

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