Outsourced America

"Oh Big Box Mart..."

2005-10-15T10:34:00.000-07:00

Maybe now that Jib Jab has made a cute little animated movie about it, the whole Outsourcing/Offshoring thing will start to make sense to 'mericans.

But we're not holding our breath.

Good luck out there folks... you're gonna need it.

We've Quit, BUT...

2005-08-11T13:27:00.000-07:00

Received a lot of encouragement and have been asked not to quit this site, but our mind is made up: we're done. We will, however, be blogging for The Hollywood Progressive Insititute from time to time. So please visit.

And, as always, say check out Brandoland

It's Official: We Quit

2005-08-05T08:25:00.000-07:00

Sorry folks... our heart just isn't in it anymore. We're so disturbed by the lack of intellectual honesty and truth in this country that well, you're on your own. Believe in creationism, believe the earth is flat, believe that there's no such thing as a right to privacy, keep believing that if men could get pregnant abortion would still be an issue, keep believing that big business has your best interests at heart, keep believing that the Bush Administration cares about you and your kids, keep believing... well keep believing whatever you want because that's apparently what 'mericans do: they believe what they want no matter what the facts are.

Good luck... you're gonna need it.

Images from Remixed Propaganda

The Republican Culture Gap

2005-07-28T12:38:00.000-07:00

Back from our travels and, while in one of darker moods, re-considering the whole 'blog' thing. Does anyone care about anything anymore? Not sure... suffering from a bit of 'liberal fatigue' after CAFTA and thinking that we just want things to get so bad that folks will have to start to think for themselves...

Like we said: we're in one of our darker moods.

So we leave you with The Republican Culture Gap by Ward Sutton.

Travelling

2005-07-20T07:05:00.000-07:00

Have to hit the road for a few days, so we thought we would go out with some good news:
Kodak Has 2nd-Qtr Net Loss, Boosts Job Cuts to 25,000

Eastman Kodak Co., the world's largest photography company, had a third straight quarterly loss as Chief Executive Antonio Perez accelerated the shift to digital products. It will cut as many as 10,000 more jobs.

Fun.

New HP boss plans 14 500 job cuts

Hewlett-Packard on Tuesday announced plans to cut 14 500 jobs over the next 18 months, representing 10% of the struggling company's worldwide workforce.

Well, maybe those will be worldwide job cuts... 'cuz we kinda doubt it.

Song of the Week: Know Your Rights!

2005-07-14T20:00:00.000-07:00

Busy, working for the man, time is limited... so here is our song of the week: Know Your Rights by the Clash... (inspired by Punk Attitude on IFC)

This is a public service announcement
With guitar
Know your rights all 3 of them
I say
Number 1: You have the right not to be killed
     Murder is a CRIME!
     Unless it was done by a
     Policeman or aristocrat
Number 2: You have the right to food money
     Providing of course you
     Don't mind a little
     Humiliation, investigation
     And if you cross your fingers
     Rehabilitation
Wang! Young offenders! Know your rights
Number 3: You have the right to freeeee
     Speech as long as you're not
     Dumb enough to actually try it.
Know your rights
These are your rights
All 3 of 'em
It has been suggested
In some quarters that this is not enough!
Well...................
Get off the streets
Get off the streets
Run
You don't have a home to go to
Smush
Finally then I will readd you your rights
You have the right to remain silent
You are warned that anything you say
Can and will be taken down
And used as evidence against you
Listen to this
Run

Good luck out there 'cuz we think you're gonna need it.

What, Me Worry?

2005-07-12T05:36:00.000-07:00

'nuff Said.

Hey, if you're gonna rip someone off you might as well rip off the best. No, we're not fans of Hillary's (she votes far too often against what we think is the best interest of the American people) but did she acknowledge the genius of the Nation for making this Joke years ago?

HANK!

2005-07-11T07:58:00.000-07:00

You have to love the machine that is Henry Rollins:

THAT THE FOX NEWS CHANNEL IS A BUNCH OF SISSIES WHO CAN'T TAKE A PUNCH...

Yes, Hank, they are and you are the man!

Fox's John Gibson Doesn't Fact Check

2005-07-08T10:02:00.000-07:00

MyDD pulls the choice quote from Fox dude John Gibson:

The bombings in London: This is why I thought the Brits should let the French have the Olympics -- let somebody else be worried about guys with backpack bombs for a while.

Uh, John? The backpack Olympic bomber type? That was Eric Rudolph: white guy, so-called 'christian', homophobe, super-dick.

Fox "news" one super-sensitive jagoff after another.

Brit Hume

2005-07-08T08:07:00.000-07:00

Not to be out done by his 'colleague' Brian Kilmeade at FOX, Brit Hume proves himself to be at least a practical sicko/ghoul/heartless bastard:

HUME: Well, maybe. The other thing is, of course, people have -- you know, the market was down. It was down yesterday, and you know, you may have had some bargain-hunting going on. I mean, my first thought when I heard -- just on a personal basis, when I heard there had been this attack and I saw the futures this morning, which were really in the tank, I thought, "Hmmm, time to buy." Others may have thought that as well. But you never know about the markets. But obviously, if the markets had behaved badly, that would obviously add to people's sense of alarm about it.

You know what 'Brit'? When this kind of stuff happens we honestly could care less what the bloody 'markets' are doing: we're more interested in the people who were hurt & killed (just call us 'liberal' that way).

So let's hear it for Brit Hume: a complete wanker!

PS. Gotta love Bush talking about bringing folks to justice, I am sure that if Britain had his leadership they would have the bastards behind this doing the perp walk in no time just like when we paraded Osama Bin Laden out of a jail in Manhattan. Damn, that was a proud day for the U.S.

Sickos

2005-07-07T11:41:00.000-07:00

Media Matters via Atrios we find out that Fox News' Brian Kilmeade thinks the London terror attack "works to ... Western world's advantage, for people to experience something like this together"

Read the whole thing for yourself, but we have no doubt that there a lot of Republicans who are thinking that this whole thing plays to their advantage... and they're wrong. And they're sick. It works to obscure the fact that this administration outs undercover operatives for political revenge, they lie to take us to war, they want to control when you're born, who you love and when you die, and they constantly screw the middle class for the sake of the wealthy. Oh, we have no doubt they think this works to their advantage.

By the way, at the opposite we have DAC Brian Paddick who, even in the middle of this tradgedy, pointed out said that anyone who is a terrorist is a Muslim, since attacking innocent people is counter to the very beliefs of Islam. Good for him (thanks AmericaBlog!)... unlike some bastards.

By the by? We're going to London the first chance we get because "If you're tired of London, you're tired of life"

2 Income Family? You're Hurting America!

2005-07-05T11:46:00.000-07:00

That is according to Rick "Frothy" Santorum (R-PA) as we see in excerpts from his new book via CapitolBuzz:

"In far too many families with young children, both parents are working, when, if they really took an honest look at the budget, they might confess that both of them really don't need to, or at least may not need to work as much as they do... And for some parents, the purported need to provide things for their children simply provides a convenient rationalization for pursuing a gratifying career outside the home." (It Takes a Family, 94)

Yes, you're just not looking at your budget honestly enough you greedy, greedy little common folk! There's no reason for you to have a car, a home or send your kids to college if it means mom has a job outside the home. Don't you see how these things hurt America? Now if you were just lucky enough to marry a rich girl, you would be fine and would see how unnecessary it would be for her to work. Or you for that matter. Instead you could just obsess about the sex lives of everyone else.

As they say in Western Pennsylvania: what a jagoff. Look out Ricky, the common folk are coming for you soon...

Must See TV!

2005-06-30T07:48:00.000-07:00

We caught 30 Days, Morgan Spurlock's new show on FX last night - where a Christian from West Virginia went to live as a Muslim in Michigan for, oddly enough, 30 days - and it was GENIUS. Amazing. As good as Super Size Me was, this show may be even better. Highly Recommeded, 5 stars, 2 thumbs up... whatever it takes, but give this show a chance.

Oh yeah, apparently Morgan is blogging with our good friends at indieWIRE.

Hero of the Week: Cory Bray!!!

2005-06-29T07:41:00.000-07:00

From The Nation via the indespensible AmericaBlog

By the time I encountered Cory Bray, a towering senior from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, the beer was flowing freely. "The people opposed to the war aren't putting their asses on the line," Bray boomed from beside the bar. Then why isn't he putting his ass on the line? "I'm not putting my ass on the line because I had the opportunity to go to the number-one business school in the country," he declared, his voice rising in defensive anger, "and I wasn't going to pass that up."

And besides, being a College Republican is so much more fun than counterinsurgency warfare. Bray recounted the pride he and his buddies had felt walking through the center of campus last fall waving a giant American flag, wearing cowboy boots and hats with the letters B-U-S-H painted on their bare chests. "We're the big guys," he said. "We're the ones who stand up for what we believe in. The College Democrats just sit around talking about how much they hate Bush. We actually do shit."

We are speechless.

Give Yourself A Raise!

2005-06-29T07:32:00.000-07:00

You know what America? You've worked hard, really hard, so in these uncertain times just give yourself a raise!

House Defeats Bid to Block $3,100 Pay Raise

The House agreed to a $3,100 pay raise for Congress next year — to $165,200 — after defeating an effort to roll it back.

In a 263-152 vote, the House blocked a bid by Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah) to force an up-or-down vote on the raise. Instead, lawmakers will automatically receive the raise — officially a cost-of-living adjustment.

"Now is not the time for members of Congress to be voting themselves a pay raise. We need to be willing to make sacrifices," Matheson said.

Um, apparently only getting a $3,100 raise as was much of a sacrifice as 263 of them were willing to make.

When was the last time you got a raise?

Bernie Sanders: Genius!

2005-06-25T09:59:00.000-07:00

Think about it:

In my view, the key to putting control back in the hands of the majority is to mobilize at the grassroots -- to show people that politics is meaningful and that the political process can produce positive changes in their own lives. Certainly, the largest corporations understand the value of being politically active.

Oh they do, they most certainly do... do you?

And Liberals Are Considered UnAmerican???

2005-06-25T09:25:00.000-07:00

Young Republicans support Iraq war, but not all are willing to join the fight
We've said it before and we'll keep saying it: virtue never tested is no virtue at all. Karl Rove called all "Liberals" UnAmerican & traitors this week, but these self-described Young Republicans are. We're gonna let them hang themselves here:

Young Republicans gathered here for their party's national convention are united in applauding the war in Iraq, supporting the U.S. troops there and calling the U.S. mission a noble cause.

But there's no such unanimity when they're asked a more personal question: Would you be willing to put on the uniform and go to fight in Iraq?

In more than a dozen interviews, Republicans in their teens and 20s offered a range of answers. Some have friends in the military in Iraq and are considering enlisting; others said they can better support the war by working politically in the United States; and still others said they think the military doesn't need them because the U.S. presence in Iraq is sufficient.

Our Favorite?

"Frankly, I want to be a politician. I'd like to survive to see that," said Vivian Lee, 17, a war supporter visiting the convention from Los Angeles,

Lee said she supports the war but would volunteer only if the United States faced a dire troop shortage or "if there's another Sept. 11."

Gee for many true heroes, like the late Pat Tillman, 1 September 11th was enough. No wonder Ms. Lee is a Republican since her attitude was shared by so many of them during Viet Nam.

Some more of Mommy's Little Monster...

"As long as there's a steady stream of volunteers, I don't see why I necessarily should volunteer," said Lee, who has a cousin deployed in the Middle East.

Hmmm, there aren't. You're needed. Go

"If there was a need presented, I would go," said Chris Cusmano

There is: go.

"I physically probably couldn't do a whole lot" in Iraq, said Tiffanee Hokel, 18, of Webster City, Iowa, who called the war a moral imperative. She knows people posted in Iraq, but she didn't flinch when asked why she wouldn't go.

"I think I could do more here," Hokel said, adding that she's focusing on political action that supports the war and the troops.

"We don't have to be there physically to fight it," she said.

Oh where to start? You support the war? Go fight it. If you don't support the war? You get to stay and fight it here. That's how it works, not the other way around.

Another fav?

Similarly, 20-year-old Jeff Shafer, a University of Pennsylvania student, said vital work needs to be done in the United States. There are Republican policies to maintain and protect and an economy to sustain, Shafer said.

Dude you are in the wrong f@#king party... there is nothing in the current Republican agenda worth fighting for and our economy isn't doing so well regardless of what Mommy & Daddy are telling you.

Thanks to Atrios & Americablog for doing the good Lord's work!

Freedom 1, American Taliban 0

2005-06-24T17:56:00.000-07:00

Ashcroft Gone, Justice Statues Disrobe
Wow. Just like in The Daily Show's America: The Book.

With barely a word about it, workers at the Justice Department Friday removed the blue drapes that have famously covered two scantily clad statues for the past 3 1/2 years.

Oh, not so much like America: The Book.

Spirit of Justice, with her one breast exposed and her arms raised, and the bare-chested male Majesty of Law basked in the late afternoon light of Justice's ceremonial Great Hall.

The drapes, installed in 2002 at a cost of $8,000, allowed then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to speak in the Great Hall without fear of a breast showing up behind him in television or newspaper pictures. They also provoked jokes about and criticism of the deeply religious Ashcroft.

The 12-foot, 6-inch aluminum statues were installed shortly after the building opened in the 1930s.

With a change in leadership at Justice, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales faced the question: Would they stay or would they go?

He regularly deflected the question, saying he had weightier issues before him.

Yes, weightier issues like how best to torture folks and look at what books folks are reading at their local libraries.

Hey, at least a naked breast doesn't freak him out. Anyone else think Ashcroft protested just a bit too much...

(Thanks to AmericaBlog for the heads up!)

Ralph Reed: Super Hypocrite

2005-06-23T08:14:00.000-07:00

Thank the Sweet Baby Jesus for the folks at Think Progress who can connect all the dots...
Which should we believe: Ralph in 2005?

Friday I spoke to Boys State, the American Legion leadership development program for young men... I urged them to get involved in the civic process [and] serve the public rather than special interests.

Or Ralph in 1998?

Hey, now that I'm done with the electoral politics, I need to start humping in corporate accounts! I'm counting on you to help me with some contacts.

What a dick.

Your 'Property' Means Nothing

2005-06-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

Supreme Court Rules Cities May Seize Homes
See you may be standing in the if you actually think that "owning" a a home or property actually means anything if Big Business & Big Government think they can make a buck:

A divided Supreme Court ruled that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses against their will for private development in a decision anxiously awaited in communities where economic growth conflicts with individual property rights.

Thursday's 5-4 ruling represented a defeat for some Connecticut residents whose homes are slated for destruction to make room for an office complex. They argued that cities have no right to take their land except for projects with a clear public use, such as roads or schools, or to revitalize blighted areas.

Yes, we always equate "private development" with "public use" if by 'public use' you mean "we're gonna turn it into upscale condos, shopping and other business where even the parking isn't free"...

Local officials, not federal judges, know best in deciding whether a development project will benefit the community, justices said.

"The city has carefully formulated an economic development that it believes will provide appreciable benefits to the community, including — but by no means limited to — new jobs and increased tax revenue," Justice
John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority.

In other words: "if there is a buck to be made then you must fuck off 'cuz you're holding everyone back!"

The really really sad thing? Scalia, Thomas & Rehnquist were the "resonable" folks, along by O'Connor (who dated Rehnquist in law school if memory serves) here. Amazing. We guess that 'Constitution in Exile' thing doesn't want it's home taken either:

"Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random," O'Connor wrote. "The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms."

You got that right boyo, you got that right...

Say What You Will Clarence...

2005-06-22T16:46:00.000-07:00

Karl Mueller, 1963-2005.

Rest in peace Karl.

Voice of America... Not So American Anymore?

2005-06-21T07:24:00.000-07:00

Nothing is safe

Labor leaders and activists have denounced the business community for years for "outsourcing" work to other countries. Now the federal government is planning to shift a handful of highly symbolic jobs overseas, and labor unions and lawmakers are protesting angrily.

The Voice of America recently decided to move part of its late night news operation to Hong Kong, possibly hiring foreign workers. That has caught the attention of the Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who are joining labor groups in urging the news service to keep the positions inside U.S. borders.

[snip]

VOA has a budget of almost $160 million and employs more than 1,400 workers. Some of them work overseas, but they are either U.S. citizens or freelance workers hired by regional VOA bureaus. The service has never before moved an entire news shift overseas, and critics are afraid it won't be the last.

Some, including the senators who signed the letter, hold that VOA's function as a mouthpiece for American values precludes it from contracting out writing work to non-citizens.

"We find it difficult to believe VOA will be able to satisfy its mission of projecting 'significant American thought' through non-American citizens," the letter said.

It's the little things isn't it? Whatever this is... it isn't a good sign.

Joining the GOP!

2005-06-14T09:51:00.000-07:00

Sad to say but we've been thinking about this sort of thing for a while now...

After a lifetime voting for and working for Democratic candidates and independents, I'm finally going to make the switch and become a Republican.

The reasons are many, not the least of which is age. I turned 55 recently and, having lived more than half my life, I can't afford to worry anymore about the other guy. It's time for me.

As a Republican, I can now proudly -- indeed, defiantly -- pledge to never again vote for anyone who raises taxes for any reason. To hell with roads, bridges, schools, police and fire protection, Medicare, Social Security and regulation of the airwaves.

Genius. We bow to your superior analytic insights sir

As a Republican, I can favor exploiting the environment for everything she's got. No need to worry about quaint notions like posterity and natural legacy. There are plenty of resources left for everyone, and if we don't use them, someone else will.

I want a party that doesn't worry about things before we have to. Republicans refuse to get hog-tied by theories such as global warming, ozone depletion, fished-out oceans and disappearing wetlands. The real problems -- if there are any -- aren't forecast to take hold for at least 50 years. So what do I care? I'll be dead.

As a Republican, I can swagger and clamor for war -- in Iraq, Afghanistan, Colombia, wherever -- even though I've never fought in one or even been in the military. I can claim that we're fighting for Democracy, ignoring reports of torture at Abu Ghraib, Bagram Air Base and Guantanamo Bay, and a spreading gulag of secret detention centers around the world.

Freedom, as every American should know after spending $300 billion for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, isn't free.

Yes, yes: freedom... our eyes are glazing over... someone else's problem, ohhhh that sounds good.

I will be pro-death penalty and anti-abortion, pro-child but anti-child care, for education but against funding of public schools. As a Republican, I'll have a better chance of getting to spout my opinions in the media, which for some reason seems convinced that since Bush was re-elected with the smallest electoral margin of any sitting president in history, liberals are passe.

[snip]

My decision to become a Republican didn't come easily. For years I clung to the idea that the foundation of a democratic society was our implied social contract, each of us committing some level of personal sacrifice to the common good of all.

I regarded taxes as dues we pay for better roads and schools, safe inspection of meat and dairy products, maintenance of parks and protection of wilderness areas. I see now that looking out for the common good resulted in shortchanging the most important element in this formula -- me.

Let Democrats continue promising the "greatest good for the greatest number." Republicans clearly have my number -- No. 1.

I'm sure a lot of my friends reading this will ask me, "How can you sleep?" My answer will be, "Who's got time? I'm busy earning money." While they're bellyaching about rising deficits, the outsourcing of jobs and casualties in Iraq, I'll be marveling at the march of freedom in the Middle East, upticks in the GDP and the president's plan to link Social Security to the magic of the marketplace.

As a Republican, I simply won't listen to bad news anymore. Bad news doesn't get me or my family anywhere. If you don't have anything good to say about somebody, don't say anything at all -- unless it happens to be about a Democrat, of course.

The Force is strong with this one and mighty is he comedy! Fear him unfunny mortals!

Genius. We salute you sir.

Read the whole thing for yourselves.

Song of the Week: The The!

2005-06-09T16:47:00.000-07:00

It's back! The Song of the Week! Armageddon Days Are Here by the The! Enjoy!

They're 5 miles high as the crow flies
Leavin' vapour trails against a blood red sky
Movin' in from the east toward the west
With balaclava helmets over their heads, yes!

But if you think that jesus christ is coming
Honey you've got another thing coming
If he ever finds out who's hi-jacked his name
He'll cut out his heart and turn in his grave

Islam is rising
The christians mobilising
The world is on it's elbows and knees
It's forgotten the message and worships the creeds

It's war, she cried, it's war, she cried, this is war
Drop your possessions, all you simple folk
You will fight them on the beaches in your underclothes
You will thank the good lord for raising the union jack
You'll watch the ships out of harbour
And the bodies come floating back

If the real jesus christ were to stand up today
He'd be gunned down by the c.i.a.
Oh, the lights that now burn brightest behind stained glass
Will cast the darkest shadows upon the human heart
But God didn't build himself that throne
God doesn't live in israel or rome
God belong to the yankee dollar
God doesn't plant the bombs for hezbollah
God doesn't even go to church
And God won't send us down to allah to burn
No, God will remind us what we already know
That the human race is about to reap what it's sown

The world is on it's elbows and knees
It's forgotten the message and worships the creeds
Armageddon days are here again

Busy busy here at OA... want to blog, but busy busy... as always check out our fav, Brandoland!

GM Clearly Really Hates America

2005-06-07T08:06:00.000-07:00

GM to close more plants, cut 25,000 jobs... uh, that aint good:

General Motors Corp. expects to close more assembly and component plants over the next few years, slashing about 25,000 manufacturing jobs, as it battles high costs and shrinking market share, the company's chief executive said on Tuesday.

Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner also told the annual meeting that GM, which lost $1.1 billion in the first quarter, expects to save $2.5 billion a year from the cost-cutting measures.

And what is one of those leading 'high costs'? Hmmmm, let us think here... oh yeah: HEALTHCARE (as noted on NPR).

Here's to the folks losing their jobs... do you think top executives are giving anything up? Taking a pay in cut? In bonuses? Cutting back on their healthcare plans? Nah, we didn't think so either...

Nick Hornby Asks the Right Question

2005-06-06T07:33:00.000-07:00

This morning on MorningSedition author Nick Hornby (a fav) asked the following (and we're paraphrasing):

"How many times have you ever come close to accidentially urinating on any 'sacred' text?"

Hmmm, gee we don't even have to think about that: NEVER.

Think about it (please?).

Mind The Gap

2005-06-06T07:24:00.000-07:00

The folks at DailyKos take a good long look at the NY Times report on the death of the middle class and the rise of the Hyper-Rich... and the conclusion? That the gap between 'rich' and 'poor' isn't just growing but has become punitive on the middle class & poor.

The people at the top of America's money pyramid have so prospered in recent years that they have pulled far ahead of the rest of the population, an analysis of tax records and other government data by The New York Times shows. They have even left behind people making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

Call them the hyper-rich.

They are not just a few Croesus-like rarities. Draw a line under the top 0.1 percent of income earners - the top one-thousandth. Above that line are about 145,000 taxpayers, each with at least $1.6 million in income and often much more.

The average income for the top 0.1 percent was $3 million in 2002, the latest year for which averages are available. That number is two and a half times the $1.2 million, adjusted for inflation, that group reported in 1980. No other income group rose nearly as fast.

[snip]

The Bush administration tax cuts stand to widen the gap between the hyper-rich and the rest of America. The merely rich, making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, will shoulder a disproportionate share of the tax burden.

President Bush said during the third election debate last October that most of the tax cuts went to low- and middle-income Americans. In fact, most - 53 percent - will go to people with incomes in the top 10 percent over the first 15 years of the cuts, which began in 2001 and would have to be reauthorized in 2010. And more than 15 percent will go just to the top 0.1 percent, those 145,000 taxpayers.

The Times set out to create a financial portrait of the very richest Americans, how their incomes have changed over the decades and how the tax cuts will affect them. It is no secret that the gap between the rich and the poor has grown, but the extent to which the richest are leaving everyone else behind is not widely known.

Lots of stuff there... take a look and, as always, decide for yourselves.

Why Does Business Hate America?

2005-06-03T08:50:00.000-07:00

Oops: Payrolls Grow by Just 78,000 in May

The generally lackluster performance surprised economists. Before the report was released, they were predicting jobs to grow by around 175,000 and the jobless rate to hold steady at 5.2 percent.

"Clearly there's some disappointment here," said Anthony Chan, senior economist at JP Morgan Asset Management. "But this may be a gift to financial markets and Main Street because the Federal Reserve might not have to be so aggressive in raising rates. In that regard, it is almost a good report."

Yes, clearly "disappointing" if you're looking for a job... but hey, work of America, at least this will be good for the Financial/Investment class! And isn't that what really matters?

But on Wall Street, the report disheartened investors. The Dow Jones industrials were off 26 points and the Nasdaq was down 7 points in morning trading

Oh dear worker, it appears the Financial folks don't appreaciate your sacrifice..

But wait! There is good news for you American worker!

Workers' average hourly earnings rose to $16.03 in May, up from $16 in April.

Whoo Hoo! Hourly earnings are up 3 cents! So save those pennies dear worker... you're gonna need them.

C-SPAN

2005-06-03T08:39:00.000-07:00

Just some thoughts... caught George Lakoff on C-Span this morning. We loves the C-Span and regularly watch BookTV. It is hypnotizing.

But it also scares us. Some of the folks who call in just sound... well, 'unhinged' for lack of a better word. Some of these calls scare us so much that it's hard to put into words.

Oh, and to the amatuer OB-GYNs that called Lakoff? Getting 'pregnant' is NOT the same as 'giving birth.' This seemed a point of great confusion (and we blame folks like George W. Bush who makes the same equation).

Please, seriously ask yourself this: If men could get pregnant, would abortion still be an issue?

Friday Wal-Mart Fun!

2005-06-03T08:33:00.000-07:00

Some interesting info on Wal-Mart's Annual Report over at The DailyKOS and a link to a rad site: Wal-Mart Watch lots of goodies there why Wal-Mart is bad for America.

Even more 'Booming'

2005-06-02T07:36:00.000-07:00

This is really a companion piece to the previous post...

American and European companies plan to increase the amount of goods and services they source from low cost countries (LCC), including India and China, by 85 per cent within the two to three years, resulting in an average savings of 22 per cent to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

According to a study by global management consulting and technology services firm Accenture, India, however, stands second to China among the LCCs but ahead of Mexico, Argentina, Thailand and certain Asia-Pacific nations,.

The study, based on a survey of 238 companies in the US and Europe, also found that 50 per cent of companies that do not currently source goods and services from LCCs - including China, Latin America and Eastern Europe - would begin sourcing in the next two to three years, the study said.

Hmmmm, I hear Wal-Mart is hiring...

44%... and Climbing

2005-06-02T07:31:00.000-07:00

Hey, looks like the economy is booming again...

India controls 44 percent of the global offshore outsourcing market for software and back-office services, with revenues of US$17.2 billion (euro14.07 billion) in the year ended March 2005, the main infotech trade body said Thursday.

As many as 400 of the Fortune 500 companies now either have their own centers in India or outsource to Indian technology firms, S. Ramadorai, chairman of National Association of Software and Services Companies, or Nasscom, told reporters in southern Bangalore city.

"While our traditional services are growing, multinational companies are also working out ways to outsource newer processes that were not outsourced before," Ramadorai said.

Oh, wait... that's in India. D'oh! Well it's not like folks here in the U.S. could have done that work anyways.

What Chance Does Global Warming Have?

2005-06-02T07:17:00.000-07:00

Mark Felt says he's Deep Throat... Woodward, Bernstein, and the Washington Post say he's Deep Throat but many partisan Republicans don't believe it. Weird.

G. Gordon Liddy, Pat Buchanan, etc., they just don't believe it. Hell, one woman on NPR yesterday was having none of it because she couldn't connect the dots.

So the point is... it doesn't matter what the truth is, these folks just won't have any of it if conflicts with what they think.

Again: weird.

Big 'Saving'... but at a Big Cost

2005-05-26T07:33:00.000-07:00

Big companies fill BadgerCare roll: More than 40% who get aid are employed by Wal-Mart
Wheeeee!!! Life sure is great at Wal-Mart isn't it? Look at the opportunities they provide:

Wisconsin's tax-supported health care program for the working poor spends millions of dollars each year covering the health costs of employees of some of the state's largest companies, such as Wal-Mart and Aurora Health Care.

Well why shouldn't great companies like Wal-Mart encourage its employees to use the state supported health care program? Otherwise the state and its BIG Government fatcats would give your money to its Welfare Queen allies... Don't you know this by now?

According to new figures from the state Department of Health and Family Services, the 10 employers with the most participants in BadgerCare cost the state about $6.4 million a year.

In April, about 2,919 employees and their dependents were enrolled in the state program from those 10 companies, with more than 40% of the employees working for discount retailer Wal-Mart.

The cost shifting comes at a time when Wisconsin's Medicaid program is in crisis, facing a $650 million budget gap over the next two years.

Damn you Wisconsin! Wal-Mart provides you with all the cheap plastic crap & unhealthy food you could possibly want and this is how you repay them? You ungrateful sons of bitches!

Problem is that this isn't happening just in Wisconsin but all over... this is what our great country is being reduced to: crappy, low wage retail jobs while we destroy those industries and disciplines (like all of that pesky SCIENCE that used to make this country great) and let other countries pass us by. If you think it isn't all related, you should take another look.

Bush Doesn't Like It When Mommy & Daddy Fight

2005-05-24T11:08:00.000-07:00

Business Groups Tire of GOP Focus On Social Issues
HAHAHAHA! What is that They Might Be Giants said? "You can't shake the Devil's hand and say you're only kidding"?

John M. Engler, the former Republican governor of Michigan who now heads the National Association of Manufacturers, vowed before the November elections to use his trade association's might to back President Bush's judicial nominees. But as the Senate showdown approaches, the business group is delivering a different message: Judges are not its fight.

NAM's decision to sit out the brawl may be indicative of a broader trend. From Wall Street to Main Street, the small-government, pro-business mainstay of the Republican Party appears to be growing disaffected with a party it sees as focused on social issues at its expense.

"I'm inclined to support the Republican Party, but the question becomes, how much other stuff do I have to put up with to maintain that identification?" asked Andrew A. Samwick, a Dartmouth College economics professor who until recently was chief economist of Bush's Council of Economic Advisers.

"I don't know a single business group involved in the judicial nominees," said R. Bruce Josten, an executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "Nada, none, zip."

Well except for the massive protections folks like Owens have granted business to pollute and not be held accountable. And those class action suits. If you don't count stuff like that, then no, no they don't have a dog in that fight.

Here's the really fun stuff...

Mark A. Bloomfield, whose business-backed American Council for Capital Formation pushes for lower taxes on savings, investment and inheritances, said the business community is no longer the GOP's base.

"American Council for Capital Formation"?? Sounds like a Grover Norquist wanna-be... bet he runs it out of his basement in some old house over by Whitlow's in Arlington? (We love Whitlow's!)

And what do the so-called "christians" say?

For social conservatives, the turnabout is fair play. Evangelical Christians had grown leery of a Republican Party that courted their interests in election years, then turned its legislative attention to business and economic concerns as soon as the polls closed, said Gary L. Bauer, a former presidential candidate and president of American Values, a conservative religious advocacy group.

[snip]

"Social conservatives expect their agenda to win out," Bauer said.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA... they can expect that all they want, but once they start threatening The Man's plans? They're f@#king right out on their asses. The Man doesn't do Theocracy.

Makes you wonder who the Devil here is.

(Thanks to the Sirotablog!)

Taking Back Jesus

2005-05-23T17:48:00.000-07:00

Good stuff over at This Modern World.

Why Do Kids Hate America?

2005-05-23T07:54:00.000-07:00

From America's favorite Coloring Book...

The number of undergraduates signing up for computer degrees is falling fast, making IBM and other tech companies worry that there soon won't be enough skilled U.S. workers to meet demand.

New enrollment in North American computer science and engineering programs has dropped four years straight, falling 10% during the 2003-04 school year from the year before, says the Computing Research Association, a trade group for computer professors.

That's because good tech jobs have been hard to find, professors say. "Students are responding to the alarming rate that the job market changed (during the dot-com bust)," says Ohio State University computer professor Stuart Zweben. "They're also concerned about offshoring of jobs."

Ironically, that could lead to more offshoring. Many low-level programming jobs have already been sent to such countries as India and China. But high-level jobs combining technical and business skills are still in the USA. That could change if there's not enough workers to fill them.

Yes, yes that is ironic... but we're Americans, we don't do irony. You're thinking of the British.

Here's the cycle: good jobs were to be had, kids started studying for them... good jobs started disappearing, kids stopped studying for them... kids stop studying, even more good jobs go away. Got that?

The Hitchhikers Guide To The End of The American Century

2005-05-18T22:26:00.000-07:00

Good lord, a comprehensive guide to the US Government's efforts Encouraging Job Flight & Benefit Reductions... this info is so depressing we can barely read it... are you up to it???

Their Master's Voice

2005-05-18T22:11:00.000-07:00

From Daniel Gross via Sirotablog on how the Real Masters of the Republican Party (ie., 'Big Business' aka 'The Man') are stepping up the pressure on News organizations to tow the party line (the GOP line that is). Scary stuff as Morgan Stanley threatens:

"In the event that objectionable editorial coverage is planned, agency must be notified as a last-minute change may be necessary. If an issue arises after-hours or a call cannot be made, immediately cancel all Morgan Stanley ads for a minimum of 48 hours"

Does anyone else feel the chill in the air? Well we'll always have the '90s and most of the 20th century as the GOP now takes us back to the 18th century as coporations have more protections than citizens and judges (like Priscilla Owens & and Janice Rogers Brown who take money from businesses and then side with them in court and believe the New Deal - and your Social Security - are 'socialist'). It's all related folks and it promises to get really bad out there.

Repost: Why Do Creationists Hate America?

2005-05-18T13:35:00.000-07:00

Hate to do it folks, but we here at Outsourced America are under the gun and working like fiends for "The Man"... in the meantime please enjoy one of our all-time favorite posts & visit Brandoland for some genius commentary today...

Oh Tom The Dancing Bug, truly you are a great American (don't even get us started on the 'Lucky Ducky' series that makes us cry so). This is taken from today's comic about Creationists challenging the theory that water freezes at 32 degrees. Don't laugh, because that's pretty much what they're doing. Why do they want to destroy this great country?

Does Mickey Mouse Hate America?

2005-05-16T15:51:00.000-07:00

Disney outsourcing 1,000 info-tech jobs
Hmmm, the article doesn't say where these jobs are going...

About 1,000 information technology workers throughout The Walt Disney Co. will have their jobs outsourced, but few layoffs are expected.

Most workers would be moved into new jobs with two vendors, International Business Machines Corp. and Affiliated Computer Services Inc., after negotiations are completed this month, the company told employees Thursday. The outsourcing is planned to occur in mid-July.

That promises to be a not-so-happy 4th of July in the apparently not-so-happiest-place on earth.

Song of The Week: Jesusland!

2005-05-16T15:43:00.000-07:00

We ♥ the Ben Folds, so he gets our Song of the Week that compliments our very visual our post below. Check it out because these folks are helping end "the American Century" a little too soon for our Patriotic tastes...

Take a walk
out the gate you go and never stop
past all the stores and wig shops
quarter in a cup for every block
and watch the buildings grow
smaller as you go

Down the tracks
beautiful McMansions on a hill
that overlook a highway
with riverboat casinos and you still
have yet to see a soul

Jesusland
Jesusland

Town to town
broadcast to each house, they drop your name
but no one knows your face
Billboards quoting things you'd never say
you hang your head and pray

for Jesusland
Jesusland

Miles and miles
and the sun goin' down
Pulses glow
from their homes
You're not alone
Lights come on
as you lay your weary head on their lawn

Parking lots
cracked and growing grass you see it all
from offices to farms
crosses flying high above the malls
A longer walk

through Jesusland
Jesusland

Genius!

You Are Holding Your Glorious Company Back

2005-05-13T07:45:00.000-07:00

Attaturk @ Eschaton on the 'merican worker:

...in the media, hour upon hour, column inch after inch, is devoted to stock performance and corporate profits. Workers are now described as an impediment to corporations and a burden to their own government.

Sad, but true. By the by, they're commenting the Krug's latest & greatest must read.

Why Does Maytag Hate American Workers?

2005-05-13T07:28:00.000-07:00

Hey, look we understand the need to make a profit: nobody is in business to lose money. And we're not asking anyone to, but what we are saying is that moving jobs overseas doesn't help: you can't expect to keep a healthy market here in the States if you keep putting folks out of work...

Maytag Corp. Chief Executive Ralph Hake took harsh criticism from shareholders at the company's annual meeting in Newton, Iowa, but reaffirmed a plan that may include closing the company's flagship factory in the central Iowa town and moving the 1,200 jobs overseas.

Shareholders complained that exporting jobs is bad for Maytag's corporate image. Hake responded that moving jobs to Mexico and outsourcing agreements with Asian companies are part of the company's strategy to compete with low-cost imported appliances. "We must do more to meet fierce offshore competition," he said.

We sympathize with Maytag, but laying off folks here out of work may a short-term solution to Maytag's problems but it creates long-term problems for the rest of us and this country. Think about it.

Why Do Creationists Hate America?

2005-05-12T12:11:00.000-07:00

Good Times at the Gas Pump

2005-05-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

Nice. Real nice... love it: gas is $2:40+ here in La La Land and we get this sort of stuff:

OIL INDUSTRY COFFERS SWELLING WITH CASH: According to the Wall Street Journal, "Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch/Shell Group both reported huge increases in first-quarter income, benefiting from the industrywide bonanza also swelling the coffers of their peers: high prices for the oil they pump and high margins for refining it." [Wall Street Journal, 4/29/05]

Time to face facts folks: this is a scam and nobody is remotely doing anything about it.

They Outsourced the Reception Desk???

2005-05-10T12:32:00.000-07:00

Please, please, please someone tell us that this is a joke: The Virtual Secretary

In a chic downtown lobby across the street from the Old Executive Office Building, Saadia Musa answers phones, orders sandwiches and lets in the FedEx guy.

And she does it all from Karachi, Pakistan.

As receptionist for the Resource Group, Musa greets employees and visitors via a flat screen hanging on the lobby's wall. Although they are nine hours behind and nearly 7,500 miles away, her U.S.-based bosses rely on her to keep order during the traffic of calls and meetings.

The Resource Group, a call-center company, represents a model that might sound familiar: U.S. companies save money by offshoring certain tasks to developing countries with cheaper workers who can telemarket, integrate data and program computer code. These "back-office" functions have created a booming, multibillion-dollar industry in countries such as India, Ireland and the Philippines.

You have to see the picture that accompanies this article.

(Oh, and for those of you that don't know: the Old Executive Building is the much larger grey building next to the White House that houses stuff like the Vice President)

Quick Thought

2005-05-10T11:20:00.000-07:00

We've said it before, and we'll say it again: this Evolution 'debate'? Only hurts our country. In the previous post we mention the broadcast of 'Is It China's Century?' and when we talk about the challenge from China & India, education comes up all the time and we'll lose this fight, in no small part, if people keep underming education like this. If you don't teach Evolution then you the sciences don't make sense (any of them: it's all related and they all support evolution) and you only institutionalize ignorance.

(Best line lately? You can teach kids that the South won the Civil War but that doesn't make it so... hilarious!)

We ♥ iPodder

2005-05-10T11:08:00.000-07:00

Folks, digital media has changed everything... even the way we listen to the radio. Now, we love XM Satellite Radio (Fred & Air America alone make it worth it), but we still plug into terrestrial radio in the car... and on our computer. See, everyone talks about 'Podcasting' but we're really just talking about MP3 files you can play on your computer sans iPod (but we own several of those anyways).

Here then are a few Podcasts we think are worth your time (the links? copy them and paste them into iPodder):

Le Show: http://kcrw.com/podcast/show/ls
Left, Right & Center: http://kcrw.com/podcast/show/lr
To The Point: http://kcrw.com/podcast/show/tp (go and listen to 'Is It China's Century')
Which Way LA?: http://kcrw.com/podcast/show/ww
(lots of Podcasts at KCRW)

and not to be forgotten...
Morning Sedition from AirAmerica! Must listening!

Sacrifice? What 'Sacrifice'?

2005-05-09T10:20:00.000-07:00

Amazing. These people are just amazing... from the LA Times...

A Wall Street tycoon accused in the 1980s of cheating thousands of investors out of their savings in one of the biggest financial scandals in history now says the state of California cheated him.

So he has launched a campaign to change the state tax code — retroactive to 1992 — in hopes of getting $5 million back.

Peter Ackerman, who worked for "junk bond king" Michael Milken, walked away from the Drexel Burnham Lambert scandal with what financial experts say was hundreds of millions of dollars. Now a lobbyist for Ackerman has crafted a bill in the Legislature that would permit the refund — one of several measures apparently written with a single taxpayer in mind.

Another is a push by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, one of the world's richest people, to restore a tax break that would benefit his company. And a Central Valley container maker is making a bid for millions more in state subsidies for its manufacturing equipment.

Large-scale across-the-board tax breaks may be out of the question as long as California has multibillion-dollar budget shortfalls. But some businesses and wealthy individuals hope that a few million in specific breaks here and there — amounting to "budget dust" in a state that spends more than $100 billion a year — will sneak through.

It better bloody not now that the LA Times has printed a story about it... though we're positive you'll never hear a word of it on your local evening info-tainment here in LA LA Land

(Really, UPN come on: we love breasts as much as anyone but making them the selling point of your "newscast" is just not right... where is your sense of 'civic responsibility'?_

Clawback

2005-05-09T08:12:00.000-07:00

If you haven't heard the term "clawback" in terms of Social Security, well you problably need to read the following:

"Clawback" Would Eat Into Any Gains In Accounts. Upon retirement, workers would be subject to a "clawback" and would have to repay the money diverted into private accounts, plus interest, plus inflation, through automatic reductions of their guaranteed benefits. The total interest rate would be 3 percent above inflation annually. Unless the amount in their accounts grew by more than 3 percent plus inflation, the "clawback" would take away all (or more than all) of the value of the account.

What does this mean exactly? Well according to the Washington Post...

If a worker sets aside $1,000 a year for 40 years, and earns 4 percent annually on investments, the account would grow to $99,800 in today's dollars, but the government would keep $78,700 -- or about 80 percent of the account. The remainder, $21,100, would be the worker's.

Aww man, these people are ballsy... unbelievable. This isn't a 'clawback' as much as it is a Knife In the Back...

HuffingtonPost.com

2005-05-09T07:57:00.000-07:00

Stop reading that Drudge crap (you're only making him $$$) and check out Arianna Huffington's new group blog: the HuffingtonPost.com

Rock & Roll: we love Arianna.

More to come...

Steven Grant Tells It Like It is...

2005-05-04T20:17:00.000-07:00

... and ties it all together. Really worth your time and effort:

Thirty years ago, the push was on for: developing alternative energy sources; switching from monster gas guzzlers to small, fuel efficient cars; energy conservation; and various other practices. The overall term was appropriate technology, which somehow got confused with the Luddite notion of abandoning technology and going back to dirt farming. It was known then that known oil supplies would likely last no more than 100 years; today they're saying 50, and that's without factoring in the industrial designs of the two most populous countries in the world, China and India, which recently entered an alliance to challenge the West's technological dominance. (Specifically, China intends to dominate computer hardware and India software.) If two billion people - and, admittedly, that's assuming every one of those countries' citizens, so that's likely to be a little high but even if a quarter that many - suddenly consume energy at the same level that the US population consumes energy, that drastically cuts the time frame. One of the arguments against appropriate technology was that new oil fields would be found and opened, but in the last 30 years that hasn't been the case. None have been found, no significant fields have been opened. All that's happened is improvements in getting the stuff out of the ground from existing fields, which won't significantly extend the life of the fields.

Since we knew all this was going to happen, what did we do? Come the Reagan era, when the first surge of the radical religious right spread the concept that since the Second Coming was imminent it was wasteful to not use up the resources God gave us before that event (and I'm not being facetious: Reagan Secretary of the Interior James Watt said exactly that on at least one occasion), all that "austerity" stuff became a thing of the past. Republican science declared there was no energy crisis. Oil conservation was declared no longer an issue; auto manufacturers decided small was bad and (not coincidentally more expensive) big cars were where America wanted to do. (Because, hey, it's the public that drives the market, and they want to feel positive about America again!)

Next stop, lots of SUVs.

Lots and lots of SUVs.

And 2 Billion folks to compete with. So what are we doing? Arguing about Evolution, 'gay marriage' and abortion (answers: fact; as we told the nice lesbians, as long as we don't have to marry another dude it's cool with us; and if men could get pregnant this would not be an issue).

It's all connected folks... so start connecting the dots.

We're #1!

2005-05-04T18:17:00.000-07:00

We're #1! Google 'outsourced' and we're the first hit you get.

Just saying is all...

All That Talk About Class Warfare?

2005-05-04T08:07:00.000-07:00

Well the Rich & Big Business declared it on the poor & middle class a long time ago and this is just the latest battlefront. The sad thing? Most folks either don't understand it (because they're so busy) or they think they're just a bazillionaire-in-training and not one of the masses.

Good old E.J., coming out swinging on the Bush's latest Social Security "solution" puts it all in perspective:

Bush has refused to put his own tax cuts on the table as part of a Social Security fix. Repealing Bush's tax cuts for those earning over $350,000 a year could cover all or most of the 75-year Social Security shortfall. Keeping part of the estate tax in place could cover a quarter to half of the shortfall. Some of the hole could be filled in by a modest surtax on dividends or capital gains.

But Bush is resolute about protecting the interests of the truly rich by making sure that any taxes on wealth are ruled out of the game from the beginning. The Social Security cuts he is proposing for the wealthy are a pittance compared with the benefits they get from his tax cuts. The president is keeping his eye on what really matters to him.

The real costs of progressive indexing as currently conceived would be paid by middle-income earners -- those with incomes in the range of $35,000 to $60,000 a year. Eventually, such earners would face benefit cuts of 20 percent to 30 percent from what they are promised under the current program. And it gets worse: Rising Medicare premiums are eating up an increasing share of middle-class Social Security checks. Even without the cuts, Social Security payments will, over time, barely cover an individual's Medicare costs.

Last, there are the trillions of dollars that Bush would have us borrow to cover the transition to the private accounts he wants to set up. It's far from clear that cutting future Social Security benefits for younger members of the middle class and saddling them with mounds of new indebtedness will make either them or the country better off. Anyone who is truly conservative might have a question or two about whether this "solution" is worse than the problem it is purportedly addressing.

Hey, most of us get antsy when someone wants to borrow $10 or $20 bucks, so remember: WE'RE gonna be the ones borrowing thos TRILLIONS...

"India Needs to Churn Out More Skilled Workers"

2005-05-04T07:57:00.000-07:00

Hmm, that's weird: India is feeling the offshoring pinch too...

India might have achieved global IT leader status in software services despite having one of the lowest IT investment levels compared to other economies. However, it is the impending shortage of skilled IT professionals in the country which is causing deep concern to Microsoft India chairman Ravi Venkatesan. “Nasscom has estimated that there will be a deficit of 250,000 IT professionals in the country by 2008. This will result in a significant portion of offshoring work being transferred from India to countries like Philippines, China and Vietnam.” His message: There is an urgent need to create IT manpower, both in terms of quality as well as quantity.

Wow. Inida needs to invest more in education? What does that say about the U.S. where we're busy moving backwards as fast as we can?

Look folks, with regards to Evolution, the whole thing is pretty simple: Evolution is both a Fact & Theory. There is no question that Evolution happens, the questions are about how fast, what the mechanisms are and other nuances (too bad America doesn't seem to do nuance).

By "debating" this (read: undermine) opponents of Evolution are just hurting this country: if it is true that 48% of Americans believe that the judeo-christian God created this planet less than 10,000 years ago then we will no longer be able to lead the world in technological innovation in any field. You can't undermine education in one area and not expect it to harm others.

It is all connected.

Predatory?

2005-05-03T08:22:00.000-07:00

You know, we've been seeing more and more ads for companies that advance $$$ to folks who have received "structured settlements" from law suits... and they make our spider-sense tingle. Something to keep your eye on because no one rides for free (except, oddly enough, the uber-wealthy).

Goodbye Hamster

2005-05-02T10:35:00.000-07:00

Seems the Hamster has gone and gotten himself a job with Al Franken and we wish him good luck (please tell Al about our blog!)

Oh, and KTLK in LA? Thanks for taking Morning Sedition off... now we we can listen to the Mighty Morning Show with Dickie Barrett again. At least until we get XM in our car. Thanks... jag-offs.

Sirotablog: When Companies Leave Communities for Dead

2005-05-02T08:15:00.000-07:00

Poor Butte

The Los Angeles Times today has a fascinating piece on Butte, Montana – better-known to locals as "Butte, America." If you haven't been there, you really should go. It is a case study in contrasts. Its citizens are a tribute to the wonderful, hard-scrabble spirit of Americans. But its history is a reminder of the tragic consequences of corporate greed and negligence. As the Times details, mining companies now owned by British Petroleum have essentially left a giant hole in the earth called the Berkeley Pit, where highly-toxic water is filling up at an alarming rate. As the piece notes, "the wine-dark water is as acidic as Pepsi, filled with heavy metals." The water is so toxic that when birds migrating from Canada to California set down on the lake, they never took flight again. Autopsies "showed burns and sores in their esophaguses and stomachs from drinking and feeding in the water." And the water is rising to a level where it "could begin seeping into a nearby aquifer," contaminating the town's drinking water.

But Big Business always looks after Heartland America... doesn't it?

Yes, but only on the Bizzaro World.

By the way: the "Runaway Bride"? NOT F@#KING NEWS. Just another distraction to keep you from really paying attention.

American Politicians Are Cowards

2005-05-01T19:31:00.000-07:00

Question Time: Brilliant! If you aren't famailiar with this little program it is amazing: basically the leaders of their parties have to face a crowd of voters... and they won't take spin for an answer.

You would never catch an American politician, especially George W. Bush, even remotely near an event like this and that is a sad commentary on our democracy. Watch and tell me I'm wrong.

C-Span
BBC

Grim

2005-04-30T15:32:00.000-07:00

A little tough love for you doubting Thomases out there: some job loss numbers compliments of the Daily Kos...

From 2001-2002, the US economy lost a large number of jobs that either make things or require technical knowledge. Notice, how new jobs do not involve new products or technologies. This information is from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Manufacturing - 1.1 million jobs
The information industry - 225,000 jobs,
Professional, scientific, and technical services - 225,000 jobs,
Computer systems and design - 140,000 jobs
Wholesale Trade - 120,000

And what areas of the economy increased their number of employees from 2002-2003?

Finance and insurance + 22,000
Health Care and Social Assistance + 442,000
Food Service and drinking + 153,000
Education + 93,000
Government + 373,000

Let's move forward 1 year, from 2002-2003, the last full year of information in the BEA's database. The following industries lost jobs.

Manufacturing - 740,000
Information - 185,000
Computer and Electronic Products - 145,000
Professional, scientific and technical -15,000

And the following industries added jobs

Food Service and Drinking Places 151,000
Government + 85,000
Education + 64,000
Health Care and Social Assistance + 345,000

Good luck out there folks 'cuz it looks like you really, really need it...

We Likey David Corn

2005-04-29T10:24:00.000-07:00

This is what we've been trying to say: you're being distracted with stuff that doesn't matter and missing the big picture. (scroll to the middle of the entry where he starts talking about sprawl in Pheonix)

Ebay: Selling Us All Out

2005-04-29T08:57:00.000-07:00

EBay considers outsourcing US work to Indian subsidiary...

Online auction portal eBay Inc. is considering outsourcing key business functions to its Indian subsidiary in Mumbai, according to an executive of the company. EBay already outsources some work to third party service providers in India.

"Some of the functions we are considering moving to India such as customer relationship management, product development, trust and safety, and network management operations are critical to our business, and we are evaluating whether we should do it in house in India," Avnish Bajaj, country manager of eBay India said Wednesday in Bangalore.

U.S. Losing Innovation Race

2005-04-29T08:25:00.000-07:00

Really interesting interview with Bill Gates this morning on Morning Edition. Really worth your time and effort to listen to it.

And here's why: see China & India are churning out computer programers and scientists and we're teaching our children mythology in the form of creationism (and it's latetest incarnation "intelligent design"); because we're we no longer value education (look at the rhetoric of conservatives if you don't believe me); and because we're a passive culture more consumed with consuming than we are with changes in our world. These are just a few of the many reasons that our sitution is so perilous: we're the ones everyone is gunning for and they're playing to win while we're squabbling amongst ourselves.

Education should be a National Security issue. The debt (held primarily by China & Japan) should be a National Security issue. These are things that should command our attention, not 'Gay Marriage' and knocking evolution.

There's no rule that says we must be the greatest country on earth... it's just a title and it can be taken away.

Pozen Scheme

2005-04-29T08:16:00.000-07:00

Nathan lays it out:

The other idea that White House is promoting is cutting benefits more for middle income retirees than for low-income workers, turning social security more into a welfare system for the elderly than a broad-based retirement program

[snip]

Once social security is significant only for low-income workers, it will be a lot easier propose cutting it even more. Look at Medicaid spending this year. Bush proposed signficiant cuts in Medicaid, since it is perceived as "welfare" for the poor, but didn't propose any signficant reductions in Medicare because it has broad-based support.

This is the holy grail of conservatives. Change social security from a universal system into one where only the very poor depend on it for their retirement. Then kill it.

It's sad we have been brought to a point where we think so little of our "leaders" but they haven't done 1 single thing to convince us we're wrong. Not one.

Guess What Else We're Competing For?

2005-04-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

Exxon Mobil, Shell Profits Soar as Demand Gains Boost Prices
Well bully for them... why are we spending $2.55+ here in LA LA Land?

Exxon Mobil Corp. reported the fifth- largest quarterly net income in U.S. history and Royal Dutch/Shell Group's first-quarter profit jumped 28 percent as unprecedented demand lifted energy and chemicals prices.

Profit at Exxon Mobil jumped 44 percent to $7.86 billion, or $1.22 a share, from $5.44 billion, or 83 cents, a year earlier, the Irving, Texas-based company said today in a statement. Shell said its earnings excluding gains in the value of oil in storage rose to $5.55 billion from $4.33 billion.

[snip]

"There's been a huge increase in demand, especially if you look at China and India, where the economies are expanding so rapidly," said John Leiviska, who helps oversee $17 billion, including Exxon Mobil debt, at Advantus Capital Management Inc. in St. Paul, Minnesota. "Demand is rising in places where they're trying to enjoy a lifestyle like we have in the West."

[snip]

"These guys are making so much money, it's making my eyes water," said Joseph Ancona, an analyst at Burns Gustus & Co. in St. Louis. Ancona, who spoke in an interview yesterday, has a buy rating on Exxon Mobil shares and doesn't own any.

Can you say "Price Gouging" boys & girls? Yes, we knew you could...

Note the coming competition for resources with China & India... that's the long game and we're losing. Willingly. See, here in the U.S of A, we don't value education and would rather teach our children dopey mythology rather than science -the science & the skills they're going to need in the future- and we coddle multi-nationals with tax breaks when we should be encouraging breakthroughs in other sustainable energy sources. Mark our words: no good can come of any of this.

More soon.

No Love for Best Western Hotels

2005-04-27T08:03:00.000-07:00

Best Western's offshoring of reservations jobs decried

Best Western hotels have lost customers and money since January, when the Phoenix company began routing reservation calls through the Philippines, some hotel owners say.

They want the company to stop the practice before the transition is completed in September. They fear customers are being driven away because agents stumble over U.S. terminology, colloquialisms, geography and unusual questions.

"The outsourcing is absolutely the worst thing that has ever happened to us," said a longtime Best Western owner in the Midwest who asked not to be identified.

Will Best Western get your business so they can continue to put hard working Americans out of work?

1 More Reason To Buy A Mac

2005-04-26T07:47:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has Ralph "Dorian Grey" Reed on retainer for $20,000 A MONTH(!?!) for Microsoft?

As with all things Microsoft these days, AMERICAblog is on the case:

AMERICAblog.com has learned that Microsoft is currently paying a $20,000 a month retainer to former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed's consulting firm Century Strategies. Which now begs the question of whether Reed was in any way involved with Microsoft's recent decision to abandon its decades long support for gay civil rights in order to curry favor with anti-gay bigots of the radical right.

Now for the really interesting part...

Now, just think a minute. Microsoft finds itself under criticism from the local evangelical leader, religious right shareholders, bigoted employees and who knows who else. They don't know what to do. Who do they turn to? Well, if I'm in a religious right pickle, I'd turn to my $20,000 a month retainered religious right consultant, the former leader of the religious right, Ralph Reed.

Which sounds suspiciously like the scam Reed was running with newly-minted pariah Jack Abramoff: see they play both sides against the middle and collect big $$$.

Wankers.

By the way, if we were pitching an Armageddon TV show/movie (or even casting those dopey 'Left Behind' books) Ralph "Dorian Grey" Reed would be our 1^st choice to play the Anti-Christ. No, we're serious: we remember reed more than 10 years ago and he really hasn't aged (though we have) and he has that bright shiny way-too-wholesome vibe that just makes our spider-sense go off. He's creepy and we have to wonder what he has in his attic.

Learning to ♥ Harry Reid?

2005-04-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

Oh be still our beating heart... Harry Reid says the sweetest things according to Kos

...Democrats have introduced bills that address America's real challenges.

1. Women's Health Care (S. 844). "The Prevention First Act of 2005" will reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions by increasing funding for family planning and ending health insurance discrimination against women.

2. Veterans' Benefits (S. 845). "The Retired Pay Restoration Act of 2005" will assist disabled veterans who, under current law, must choose to either receive their retirement pay or disability compensation.

3. Fiscal Responsibility (S. 851). Democrats will move to restore fiscal discipline to government spending and extend the pay-as-you-go requirement.

4. Relief at the Pump (S. 847). Democrats plan to halt the diversion of oil from the markets to the strategic petroleum reserve. By releasing oil from the reserve through a swap program, the plan will bring down prices at the pump.

5. Education (S. 848). Democrats have a bill that will: strengthen head start and child care programs, improve elementary and secondary education, provide a roadmap for first generation and low-income college students, provide college tuition relief for students and their families, address the need for math, science and special education teachers, and make college affordable for all students.

6. Jobs (S. 846). Democrats will work in support of legislation that guarantees overtime pay for workers and sets a fair minimum wage.

7. Energy Markets (S. 870). Democrats work to prevent Enron-style market manipulation of electricity.

8. Corporate Taxation (S. 872). Democrats make sure companies pay their fair share of taxes to the U.S. government instead of keeping profits overseas.

9. Standing with our troops (S. 11). Democrats believe that putting America's security first means standing up for our troops and their families

Stop... STOP: you had us at "Democrats have introduced"!

Back to Outsourcing...

2005-04-25T07:55:00.000-07:00

Not the end of it, but companies may be cooling on it...

Outsourcing no more on US' hot list
NEW DELHI: You could find some clues to domestic tech firms posting only moderate growth. Outsourcing seems be losing lustre in the US as the majority of industry seems to have had a bad experience with outsourcing, and is taking a cautious approach now.

One in four companies has brought outsourced functions back in-house and nearly half have failed to see the cost savings they anticipated from outsourcing, according to a study by Deloitte Consulting.

Around 70% of the companies have had a negative experience with outsourcing projects and are now taking a more cautious approach, according to a survey of 25 large organisations, with a combined $50 billion in outsourcing contracts.

Do we think this is going to stop? No, but every little bit of $$$ that stays here helps our economy and thus our national security.

Sticking It To The Middle Class Once Again...

2005-04-25T07:44:00.000-07:00

Could the good old American-throw-the-family-in-the-car-and-drive-vacation going the way of the Dodo? Well check this one out:

The idea is simple but technologically daunting -- base gas taxes on miles driven instead of on gallons of fuel bought. And advocates say the reason for such a change is also simple -- although such fuel-efficient vehicles as hot-selling hybrids pay less in gas taxes, they're still out on the nation's roads contributing to congestion and wear and tear on an aging infrastructure.

Hmmm, that's a long way from giving tax breaks for being environmentally responsible isn't it? Wait, it gets better...

A switch in the way the 18.4-cent-a-gallon federal gas tax is levied could be in the offing, making it more of a user fee than a tax. By unanimous voice vote, the Senate Finance Committee approved legislation Tuesday to establish a 15-member commission to report back within two years on ways to ensure enough tax revenue to pay for the nation's highway, bridge and public transit programs.

High on the list the panel will consider is the per-mile fee that is already the subject of a $1.25 million pilot project in Oregon that will use a special "smart'' odometer coupled with a global positioning system in every vehicle, a system invented at Oregon State University.

When the project begins later this year or early next year, every time a volunteer motorist fills up, the odometer's information will be electronically downloaded and the fee automatically added to the gas purchase price at the pump, just like today's per-gallon gas taxes. The GPS equipment tells the state when a vehicle has left Oregon, so motorists won't be charged for those miles. Oregon figures it will charge the volunteers 1.25 cents per mile in taxes.

$1.25 per mile you drive in Oregon. Hilarious (and we're not going into the Big Brother aspect of it)

Who thinks old Jeb is gonna go for this one while he's Governor of The Vacation State? (No, we can't imagine Disney will go for it)

The Reverse Revolution

2005-04-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

We ♥ Mark Fiore and just don't say it enough. Check out his latest. Genius.

A New Caste?

2005-04-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

Oh could we love the Onion more?

New Tech-Support Caste Arises In India
NEW DELHI—Thanks to widespread outsourcing of telephone-service jobs, a sixth caste has blossomed in India: the Khidakayas, a mid-level jati made up of technical-support workers. "I am happy to be a Khidakaya," said technical-support agent Ranji Prasat, who speaks English with a flawless American accent and goes by the name "Ron" at work. "While we rank below members of the reigning order, those of us responsible for helping Americans track their online purchases and change their account PINs share many privileges not enjoyed by the merchant class below us." Prasat said he expects to marry another tech-support worker.

Hilarious.

(We shouldn't have to say this, but the Onion is fake news)

Catching Up

2005-04-22T07:35:00.000-07:00

Folks, we here at Outsourced America all to often these days face a problem: do we just give you the bullet a la Buzzflash & the Hamster? Do we pick one story a day and go to town like Brandoland? Or do a bunch of little ones everyday like Atrios? Lately it just seems like there's too much out there to really help put it all together... so here's a collection of things we think might have been missed + plus our song of the week at the end (a special dedication this week!)

Wal-Mart: the $288 billion welfare queen

Wal-Mart is the sort of company for which superlatives were invented. Just named the number-one corporation on the Fortune 500 list for the fourth year in a row, the country's largest private employer pulled down roughly $288 billion in revenue last year - and over $10 billion in pure profit.

[snip]

As states across the country struggle to balance budgets and keep their Medicaid programs in check, data from Florida and 12 other states show Wal-Mart to be a top corporate beneficiary of state-run, taxpayer-funded programs like Medicaid.

That is, the retail behemoth deliberately cuts corners on employee health care, forcing a disproportionate number of its employees into state programs in order to receive health care for themselves and their families.

No kidding? Wonder how they give such "great" deals... they do it by screwing their employees.

Kos puts some more pieces of the Wal-Mart picture together & how it effects us all: GM loss, Wal-Mart, and universal health care and makes the brilliant observation we've been telling folks for months:

GM and Wal-Mart can be potent allies in a new (and this time successful) push for universal health care. It would be the ultimate corporate welfare, instantly adding billions to the bottom line of American businesses, yet at the same time helping insure the entire nation.

See, you'll get universal health-care when Big Business tell the Insurance companies & for-profit health-care providers to shove it.

And that may come sooner rather than later in An economy going nowhere!

Economic fundamentals haven't changed much in the past few months. The dollar has been weak for more than a year, the worsening trade imbalance is an old story, and oil prices have been high for months. So why the big dip last week?

[snip]

The economy has been vulnerable for some time. The recovery has been built on government borrowing at a rate that can't continue. More troublesome, a rising share of this borrowing comes from overseas. That puts pressure on the Fed to keep interest rates higher than it otherwise might to keep the foreign lenders on board and keep the dollar from sinking even lower.

Job creation and job quality have also been weakening. Although the measured unemployment is officially a decent 5.2 percent, the fraction of workers who have given up looking for jobs keeps rising, as does the percentage of long-term unemployed. And worker pay is sagging.

[snip]

We last went through a serious bout of ''stagflation" in the late 1970s. That is a condition that isn't supposed to exist in economic theory -- rising prices and rising unemployment at the same time. That inflation was triggered by high oil prices. For several years, the Federal Reserve's cure of very high interest rates worsened the disease, since the high interest rates added to consumer financing costs and also pummeled business. Inflation was eventually wrung out of the economy, and the long boom of the 1990s and that era's high-flying stock market were both built on steadily declining interest rates and well-behaved oil prices.

No longer. And now there's a new factor: the arrival of China and India as major players. On the one hand, consumers benefit from inexpensive imported products. On the other hand, American workers have trouble competing at the going wage, and earnings are battered down.

The latest wrinkle is that China and India are adding to worldwide demand for raw materials -- oil, but also steel, timber, and all the other ingredients of an advanced economy. The result is that oil prices and other commodity prices are likely to stay high and even rising for the foreseeable future. That adds to consumer costs, shows up in inflation statistics, and prompts the Fed to hike interest rates.

So thanks Big Business for helping our competitors out! See, you might enjoy short-term profits but long term? You're hurting our economy and with folks like the "Christian" right trying to dumb down our kids by attacking the fundamentals of science... well, let's just say we aren't too hopeful that your kids will be able to compete in the global economy.

See this competition with India & China? Not going away. Only going to intensify. And what are "we" doing? Cutting taxes for the wealthy and thus under-funding for schools and programs to help our kids and workers compete. We fear the American Century may have ended...

And just one question: How Rich is Too Rich For Democracy?

Since the so-called "Reagan revolution" more than cut in half the income taxes the multimillionaires and billionaires among us pay, wealth has concentrated in America in ways not seen since the era of the Robber Barons, or, before that, pre-revolutionary colonial times. At the same time, poverty has exploded and the middle class is under economic siege.

And now come the oligarchs - the most wealthy and powerful families of America - lobbying Congress that they should retain their stupefying levels of wealth and the power it brings, generation after generation. They say that democracy doesn't require a strong middle class, and that Jefferson was wrong when he said that "overgrown wealth" could be "dangerous to the State." They say that a permanent, hereditary, aristocratically rich ruling class is actually a good thing for the stability of society.

More there about how the Founding Fathers really were looking out for us... give it a read.

More soon on new plans to tax us by the mile soon & to screw hybrid owners that don't consume tons of gas and therefore "don't pay their fair share of the gas tax"(???), but for now our song of the week... a dedication to Tom Delay: I Think I Smell A Rat by The White Stripes

Oh I think I smell a rat
I think I smell a rat
all you little kids
seem to think you know
just where it's at
I think I smell a rat
walking down the street
carrying a baseball bat
I think I smell a rat

Oh I think I smell a rat
I think I smell a rat
all you little kids
seem to think you know
just where is at
I think I smell a rat
treating your mother and father
like a welcome mat
I think I smell a rat

Rock & Roll!!

Good Luck Folks...

2005-04-20T08:04:00.000-07:00

Well the Bankruptcy bill went through and is now on it's way to Bush to sign so it's official: Corporations now have more rights and protections than you do!

Americans weighed down by credit card bills and other financial obligations will have a harder time wiping out their debt under a bankruptcy bill President Bush is poised to sign.

Lovely: the article starts with the canard that folks go into bankruptcy because of credit card debt. >sigh< Most are apparently due to medical bills & divorce.

Many debtors will have to work out repayment plans instead of having their obligations erased in bankruptcy court under the law, which will go into effect six months after Bush signs it Wednesday. The legislation is the biggest rewrite of the bankruptcy code in a quarter-century and was pushed for eight years by banks and credit card companies.

Gee, wonder why? And we wonder why every other ad on talk radio, during the morning news or on SPIKE TV is for credit debt consolidations?

The bill got final congressional approval last Thursday, and Bush said he was eager to sign it. "These commonsense reforms will make the system stronger and better so that more Americans — especially lower-income Americans — have greater access to credit," he said.

Yes, that's our president: always eager to stick it to the American people who just aren't paying attention.

Something else to note: the 10 States with the highest rates of folks declaring bankruptcy? Solidly 'red' ones.

Good luck out there folks because it is increasingly obvious that no one is looking out for you.

Help Save the Energy Companies of America

2005-04-19T10:53:00.000-07:00

Please sir, can't you spare some change help our Poor American Energy Companies?

The House this week will consider $8 billion in tax breaks targeted to the energy industry at a time when some of those companies are enjoying soaring profits from high consumer prices.

The vast majority of the tax breaks would benefit companies that produce and supply traditional forms of energy, with a large portion going to the oil and natural gas sector.

Oh... apparently you can. Lovely.

This paragraph, however, has us really confused:

Dana M. Perino, a White House spokeswoman, would not comment on the House measure but referred to comments made by President Bush last week. "I will tell you with $55 oil we don't need incentives to oil and gas companies to explore," Bush said in a speech to newspaper editors in Washington. "There are plenty of incentives. What we need is to put a strategy in place that will help this country over time become less dependent."

Wha-huh? Clearly this is the Bizarro-Bush White House so... we're still so confused.

We also recommend using iPodder to download Monday's (4/18) To The Point about "Neo-cons, Environmentalists and Plug-in Hybrids"... fascinating.

Thomas Jefferson On Religion

2005-04-17T12:33:00.000-07:00

Why did Thomas Jefferson hate America so?

I may grow rich by an art I am compelled to follow; I may recover health by medicines I am compelled to take against my own judgment; but I cannot be saved by a worship I disbelieve and abhor. (Thomas Jefferson, notes for a speech, c. 1776. From Gorton Carruth and Eugene Ehrlich, eds., The Harper Book of American Quotations, New York: Harper & Row, 1988, p. 498.)

Subject opinion to coercion: whom will you make your inquisitors? Fallible men; men governed by bad passions, by private as well as public reasons. And why subject it to coercion? To produce uniformity. But is uniformity of opinion desirable? No more than of face and stature. (Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782; from George Seldes, ed., The Great Quotations, Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press, 1983, p. 363)

Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth. (Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782; from George Seldes, ed., The Great Quotations, Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press, 1983, p. 363.)

No man complains of his neighbor for ill management of his affairs, for an error in sowing his land, or marrying his daughter, for consuming his substance in taverns ... in all these he has liberty; but if he does not frequent the church, or then conform in ceremonies, there is an immediate uproar. (Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782; from George Seldes, ed., The Great Quotations, Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press, 1983, p. 364.)

"The legitimate powers of government, extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." (Edwin S. Gaustad, Faith of Our Fathers: Religion and the New Nation, San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987, pp. 42-43. )

I am for freedom of religion and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another. (Thomas Jefferson, letter to Elbridge Gerry, January 26, 1799. From Gorton Carruth and Eugene Ehrlich, eds., The Harper Book of American Quotations, New York: Harper & Row, 1988, p. 499.)

I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibit the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state. (Thomas Jefferson, as President, in a letter to the Baptists of Danbury, Connecticut, 1802; from George Seldes, ed., The Great Quotations, Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press, 1983, p. 369)

I will never, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance, or admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others. (Thomas Jefferson, letter to Edward Dowse, April 19, 1803. From Gorton Carruth and Eugene Ehrlich, eds., The Harper Book of American Quotations, New York: Harper & Row, 1988, p. 499.)

And here's one we wish the so-called "conservatives" in Congress would remember:

All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate which would be oppression. (Thomas Jefferson, "First Inaugural Address," March 4, 1801; from George Seldes, ed., The Great Quotations, Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press, 1983, p. 364.)

Commie. More here.

Theocracy Rising

2005-04-17T12:22:00.000-07:00

Good editorial in the Washington Post today:Beyond the Pale

SENATE MAJORITY Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) plans to participate next weekend in a telecast sponsored by a conservative interest group that seeks to end the use of filibusters for judicial nominations. The Family Research Council bills what it terms "Justice Sunday" as "a live simulcast to engage values voters in the all-important issue of reining in our out-of-control courts." The group claims that President Bush's judicial nominees "are being blocked because they are people of faith and moral conviction" and says, "We must stop this unprecedented filibuster of people of faith."

Mr. Frist is not responsible for the rhetoric of others. But it will be a distressing new low in the debased debate over judges if the Senate leader appears at an event predicated on slander, unless he makes clear that he does not condone such slander. Whatever one says about the aggressive Democratic use of the filibuster -- which we do not support -- it simply is not motivated by anti-religious sentiment. There are people of faith and goodwill on both sides of the issue. If he attends, Mr. Frist should make clear that he knows as much.

Good times, good times.

Some interesting thought in this post over at AmericaBlog.

We 2nd Brando's prayer: We wish "the rapture" would just get here so we can all get on with our lives.

Max Speak, You Listen!

2005-04-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

Knocking down the Myths of the 'Death Tax' (what we call the Paris Hilton Tax), Max makes many, many good points including:

1. The event that triggers the tax is NOT death. "Death tax" is a politically-interested misnomer. Most who die (98%) pay no such tax. The occasion for the tax is the transfer of a large amount of wealth. That's why it is called "The Estate and Gift Tax."

...

3. Estate taxation IS NOT double-taxation. Much of the income accumulated in estates has NEVER been taxed. This includes appreciation in the value of financial assets, unincorporated businesses, and farms held until death. Even so, double taxation is not exactly unknown. If they don't like double-taxation, why don't the wingnuts campaign for the abolition of the sales tax? It taxes the use of income that has already been taxed. I think I know why.

Hmmm, why do the Rich hate America so?

Delay Says YOU Don't Have A Right to Privacy

2005-04-15T11:51:00.000-07:00

Lots of folks pointing this out... we just want to make sure it spreads even further.

In his interveiw with the Washington Times (yes, the one owned by the 'Rev.' Moon), Delay says that the Courts (whom he hates) just made up the right to privacy we all seem to cherish so much.

Mr. Dinan: You've been talking about going after activist judges since at least 1997. The [Terri] Schiavo case gives you a chance to do that, but you've recently said you blame Congress for not being zealous in oversight.
Mr. DeLay: Not zealous. I blame Congress over the last 50 to 100 years for not standing up and taking its responsibility given to it by the Constitution. The reason the judiciary has been able to impose a separation of church and state that's nowhere in the Constitution is that Congress didn't stop them. The reason we had judicial review is because Congress didn't stop them. The reason we had a right to privacy is because Congress didn't stop them.

(emphasis is ours)

How is that for weird? No, we don't think he mis-spoke: we think this is how he actually feels. Tom "I am the Federal Government" Delay sees 2 kinds of folk: those in control and the rabble... and the American people are just rabble to him.

Congress... Still Sticking It To Working Americans

2005-04-14T14:30:00.000-07:00

Wow. Even the AP can't hide the pro-business-ness of the "bankruptcy bill" (more like the 'keep folks bankrupt bill')

Tens of thousands of people who want to wipe out their debts in bankruptcy court would have to work out repayment plans instead under legislation Congress approved Thursday.

A 302-126 vote by the House sent the legislation to President Bush, who is eager to sign it, the biggest rewrite of the bankruptcy code in a quarter-century. It marks the second major change in law to benefit business since Republicans increased their House and Senate majorities in last fall's elections.

That's it America: keep voting against your own self-interest and enabling these folks to doing the bidding of business and the uber-wealthy. Congress' contempt (and I don't single out Republicans since a number of Democrats have joined in) for the working class that made this country great apparently knows no bounds.

"Well at least the homos can't marry."

...

1 More Reason to Keep the Estate Tax

2005-04-14T11:33:00.000-07:00

Frank Luntz wants you to call it the 'death tax' and so many Americans do even when it won't ever be applied to them or their families, but here's one more good reason to get rid of it: the Wal-Mart folks hate it. Yes, that's right: if being sick of Paris Hilton wasn't enough, look how the Wal(-Mart)tons have been pushing for it...

Now, in a little-noticed move, the company's founding family has plunged into a fight to pass income tax changes and other legislation that could preserve its grip on the USA's biggest business and the family's $84 billion fortune.

Led by Sam Walton's only daughter, Alice, the family spent $3.2 million on lobbying, conservative causes and candidates for last year's federal elections. That's more than double what it spent in the previous two elections combined, public documents show.

The Waltons have joined a coterie of wealthy families trying to save fortunes through permanent repeal of the estate tax, government watchdogs say. The election of President Bush and more conservatives to Congress gave momentum to the long-fought effort. The Waltons add more.

"To see the wealthiest family in America weighing in is scary," says Chuck Collins, co-founder of Responsible Wealth, a non-profit group that tracks the super-rich.

[snip]

The Walton support for Bush and other fiscal conservatives assumed new urgency last month when Wal-Mart sweetened its dividend — boosting Walton dividend income above $1 billion a year. Bush's dividend tax cut, enacted two years ago and set to expire in 2009, will save the family as much as $51 million this year.

The growing Walton political prowess is a departure from patriarch "Mr. Sam," who disliked politics. Moreover, their largesse isn't limited to the national stage. In 2002-2004, the family gave $879,000 to state campaigns from California to Florida, says the Institute on Money in State Politics. The biggest gift, $250,000, went to the Republican Party of Florida, whose titular head is Bush's brother, Gov. Jeb Bush.

Remember folks: you should never, EVER, shop at Wal-Mart because they almost single-handedly keep American wages down.

Lots more online from the Philly Daily News (we used to live in Philly! YAY Cheesesteaks!) about Rick Santorum and his unusually close relationship with Wal-mart and his disintegrating one with Pennsylvania... Read & think for yourselves.

Why the Bush Admin Loves the Weak Dollar

2005-04-14T08:45:00.000-07:00

NPR is doing a 3 day series on the weak dollar... We liked the description of the Bush Administrations attitude toward the dollar as one of benign neglect. Remember they just announced that the U.S. trade deficit is getting bigger and bigger all the time and setting records.

But at least it looks like poor heiress/porn star Paris Hilton is gonna get her ENORMOUS tax cut! Remember: don't call it the 'death tax'... it's the 'Paris Hilton Tax Break'!

the Paris Hilton Tax Cut

2005-04-13T10:22:00.000-07:00

MyDD does the work, we just link to it... looks like the Paris Hilton Tax Cut is about to go through in the House. Yay for Paris!! we've been really worried about poor Paris. Really, she just doesn't have a fabulous enough life jet-setting around the world, going to parties, and not having to do anything... except inadvertantly end up in porn. This way we know that she'll be ok for like forever!

We just wish we had health-care and and didn't worry about losing our jobs.

The End of the American Century?

2005-04-13T08:06:00.000-07:00

India, China Hoping to 'Reshape the World Order' Together
Look, we're not slagging India & China. We're not claiming that the US should always be dominant... but why are the American Government & American Businesses helping?

India and China announced a new "strategic partnership" Monday, pledging to resolve long-standing border disputes and boost trade and economic cooperation between two rising powers that together account for more than a third of the world's population.

[snip]

The prospect of a more cooperative relationship has significant global implications, given the vast economic potential of India and China and their voracious appetites for energy and other natural resources.

[snip]

In geopolitical terms, the consequences of a rapprochement between the world's two most populous countries could be profound. "In the same way that commentators refer to the 1900s as the American Century, the early 21st century may be seen as the time when some in the developing world, led by India and China, come into their own," said a December 2004 study by the U.S. National Intelligence Council.

Such "arriviste" powers, the study noted, "could usher in a new set of international alignments, potentially marking a definitive break with some of the post-World War II institutions and practices." The report also said that India "could emerge as the world's fastest-growing economy" by 2020, overtaking China.

In pursuing closer ties, each country is clearly eager to capitalize on the other's economic strengths -- manufacturing and computer hardware in China, services and software in India -- while boosting trade that by all accounts has remained far below its potential. Last year, trade between the two countries came to $13.6 billion, compared with about $20 billion between India and the United States. India and China pledged Monday to boost their trade to $20 billion by 2008.

"If India and China cooperate in the IT industry, we will be able to lead the world," Wen said in Bangalore on Sunday. "It will signify the coming of the Asian century in the IT industry."

Remember: we're running deficits - HUGE ones fueled by the Bush 'tax cuts' and the wars - and China is assuming more and more of our debt. Is this a good thing? That the next viable Economic Super-Power is holding the keys to our kingdom?

Help Save the Bazillionaires of America

2005-04-13T08:02:00.000-07:00

The Right-Wing Way: Making Life Easier for Millionaires
More about the difference between you and the wealthy... and it is pretty UNAmerican:

With projected deficits of $2 trillion over the next ten years, health care costs soaring and tens of thousands of U.S. troops fighting abroad without adequate equipment, what is on the agenda of the House of Representatives today? Permanent repeal of the estate tax for the 30,627 wealthiest Americans who actually paid the tax last year.

Wait, wait: what's on Bush's iPod? Did Michael Jackson really touch those little boys? What about Britney Spears being pregnant? And who will be eliminated from American Idol tonight? Aren't these things more important than silly old deficits or how much the wealthy pay in taxes?

They don't want you paying attention folks: they don't want you paying attention.

Help Save the Millionaires of America

2005-04-12T08:53:00.000-07:00

Tax time for most of us doesn't mean the same thing for the wealthy. Lots of stuff here about how the middle class is getting screwed.

First up, the The Paris Hilton Tax Cut...

The same people who insist that critics of Social Security privatization should offer reform proposals of their own are working feverishly to eliminate alternatives that might reduce the need for benefit cuts or payroll tax increases.

I refer to the fact that House Republican leaders have scheduled a vote this week to abolish the estate tax permanently. Under a wacky provision of the 2001 tax cut designed to disguise the law's full cost, Congress voted to make the estate tax go away in 2010, but come back in full force in 2011.

With so many other taxes around, it's hard to understand why this is the one Congress would repeal. It falls, in effect, on the heirs to the wealthiest Americans. Fewer than 1 percent of the people who died in 2004 paid an estate tax, and half the revenue from the tax came from estates valued at $10 million or more.

Yet, because the wealthy have gotten wealthier over the past three decades or so, the estate tax produces a lot of money. Counting both revenue losses and added interest costs, complete repeal of the estate tax would cost the government close to $1 trillion between 2012 and 2021, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

[snip]

The Friends of Paris Hilton realize that as federal deficits mount and rising Medicare costs loom, the case for the total repeal of the estate tax grows steadily weaker. That's why they're hoping they can sucker defenders of estate taxes into a so-called compromise that gives away the store -- the store, in this case, going to Neiman-Marcus shoppers, not to those who rely on Target.

This is an instructive moment. What we are having is not a real debate on the future of Social Security but a sham discussion in which the one issue that matters to the governing majority is how to keep cutting taxes on the wealthiest people in our country.

Those who vote to repeal the estate tax this week will be sending a clear message: They see the "crisis" in Social Security as serious enough to justify benefit cuts and private accounts. But it's not serious enough to warrant a minor inconvenience to those who plan to live on their parents' wealth.

Oh E.J., if Terry Neal weren't our man at the Post right now you might be getting more of our attention... thanks for these thoughts (and more).

But where does this NEED to save our bazillionaires more and more $$$???

Well it turns out that Jonathan Weisman at the post has a few answers:

In 1992, when heirs to the Mars Inc. fortune joined a few other wealthy families to hire the law firm Patton Boggs LLP to lobby for estate tax repeal, the joke on K Street was that few Washington sightseers had paid so much for a fruitless tour of the Capitol.

Today, the House is expected to vote to permanently repeal the estate tax, moving the Mars candy, Gallo wine and Campbell soup fortunes one step closer to a goal that once seemed quixotic at best: ending all taxation on inheritances.

[snip]

Last month, Graetz and Yale political scientist Ian Shapiro published "Death By A Thousand Cuts," chronicling the estate tax repeal movement as "a mystery about politics and persuasion."

"For almost a century, the estate tax affected only the richest 1 or 2 percent of citizens, encouraged charity, and placed no burden on the vast majority of Americans," they wrote. "A law that constituted the blandest kind of common sense for most of the twentieth century was transformed, in the space of little more than a decade, into the supposed enemy of hardworking citizens all over this country."

The secret of the repeal movement's success has been its appeal to principle over economics. While repeal opponents bellowed that only the richest of the rich would ever pay the estate tax, proponents appealed to Americans' sense of fairness, that individuals have the natural right to pass on their wealth to their children.

In other words the children & grandchildren of the wealthy are selfish and are taking you, and your representatives, for suckers.

And it's working! Yes, they got you with that bastard Frank Luntz came up with the whole "death-tax" bit. Well you folks thought that you were saving small business, but you weren't: you were just helping Paris Hilton. HAHA Hilarious! Don't believe us?

The most recent Internal Revenue Service data back opponents' claims. In 2001, out of 2,363,100 total adult deaths, only 49,911 -- 2.1 percent -- had estates large enough to be hit by the estate tax. That was down from 2.3 percent in 1999. The value of the taxed estates in 2001 averaged nearly $2.7 million.

Congressional action since 2001 will likely bring down the number of taxable estates still further. President Bush's 10-year, $1.35 trillion tax cut in 2001 began a decade-long phase-out of the estate tax. The portion of an estate exempted from taxation was raised from $675,000 in 2001 to $1.5 million in 2004. Next year, the exemption will rise to $2 million for individuals and $4 million for couples.

HAHAHAHAHA! Paris Hilton laughs at you rabble for being silly enough to not pay attention and to help her save money while you lose your jobs, healthcare and legal protections! WHEEEEE! Welcome to Bizzaro world - please watch your step.

Oh but it gets better: How rich get richer: all the rest pay more IRS scrutinizes wage earners but takes investors at their word under separate, unequal system

Get a raise last year, or a bigger job, or make some extra money working overtime? You'll pay the tax man.

Too bad you did not get a job as a hedge fund manager. If you had, you would not owe any taxes come April 15 on your share of the hedge fund's profits.

Hedge funds are unregulated investment pools open only to rich individuals and big institutions. They operate offshore. And for their managers, some of whom earned a half-billion dollars last year, taxes are deferred as long as they keep the hedge fund open and the profits offshore, while you get taxes deducted from your paycheck. And, thanks to our government, their tax avoidance is perfectly legal.

What few of us realize is that the United States has two income tax systems, separate and unequal.

Oh we realize, we realize... do you?

One system is for wage earners. Congress requires that your employer report your pay so Internal Revenue Service computers can check up on your tax return. Banks report interest. Brokerages report dividends. You must provide a Social Security number for each child you claim as a dependent. Congress does not trust you.

The other system is for business owners, landlords and investors. Congress does not require such independent reporting, saying that would be a burden.

Sounds like we're back to the 19th century! Hmmm, child labor is probably just around the corner (just like good old Grover Norquist wants!)

Studies by the government show that investors understate their capital gains by close to $200 billion each year. The IRS has no mechanism -- none - - to check up on capital gains, according to two professors, Jay Soled, who teaches business at Rutgers in New Jersey, and Joseph Dodge, who teaches tax law at Florida State University. They estimate that capital gains tax cheating alone costs the government $29 billion annually.

But IRS auditors will catch people who cheat, right? Not really.

For more than a decade, Congress has steadily eroded the capacity of the IRS to enforce the tax laws, with one exception. Since 1997, Congress has approved more than $1 billion in extra funds to audit the working poor. In recent years, parents who work full time at the minimum wage have been as much as eight times more likely to be audited than millionaire investors in partnerships.

The wealthy who mine the tax system face little risk of getting caught. Only 1 partnership in 400 gets audited, and agents say many audits are superficial and closed quickly to make statistical reports create the appearance of toughening enforcement.

We laugh so that we do not cry... we laugh so that we do not cry...

We F@#king HATE Wal-Mart

2005-04-07T13:25:00.000-07:00

You know the plan was to keep the focus on the ONE project today, but those total bastards at Wal-Mart just won't have it. MaxSpeak points out an article in today's Washington Post:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. yesterday said approval of a bill that would require it to boost health care spending in Maryland could endanger its plans for growth in the state, including a new distribution center that would employ as many as 1,000.

Wal-Mart doesn't want to give it's employees health-care because it hurts their bottom line. Really, how else can you maximize profits if you aren't sticking it to your workers? Hell, Wal-Mart is so bad that most of it's employees are considered to be below the poverty line:

Working for Wal-Mart
Forbes magazine, polling business executives (not employees) has ranked Wal-Mart among the best 100 corporations to work for. Yet the employees on average take home pay of under $250 a week. The salary for full-time employees (called "associates") is $6 to $7.50 an hour for 28-40 hours a week, which is typical in the discount retail industry. This pay scale places employees with families below the poverty line, with the majority of employees' children qualifying for free lunch at school. When closely examined, this amounts to a form of corporate welfare, as the taxpayer subsidizes the low salaries. One-third are part-time employees - limited to less than 28 hours of work per week - and are not eligible for benefits.

Where did we get that? From PBS's STORE WARS

Wal-Mart = Total Bastards

www.one.org

2005-04-07T08:06:00.000-07:00

Because Bono asked us to spread the word and it dove-tails with our need for a Song of the week: U2 "ONE".
Publication (0m.dd)

Is it getting better, or do you feel the same?
Will it make it easier on you, now you got someone to blame?
You say one love, one life, when it's one need in the night.
One love, we get to share it
Leaves you baby if you don't care for it.

Did I disappoint you or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
You act like you never had love and you want me to go without.
Well, it's too late tonight to drag the past out into the light.
We're one, but we're not the same.
We get to carry each other, carry each other... one

Have you come here for forgiveness,
Have you come to raise the dead
Have you come here to play Jesus to the lepers in your head
Did I ask too much, more than a lot
You gave me nothing, now it's all I got.
We're one, but we're not the same.
Well, we hurt each other, then we do it again.

You say love is a temple, love a higher law
Love is a temple, love the higher law.
You ask me to enter, but then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on to what you got, when all you got is hurt.

One love, one blood, one life, you got to do what you should.
One life with each other: sisters, brothers.
One life, but we're not the same.
We get to carry each other, carry each other.
One, one.

Go sign because it's the right thing to do.

(By the by? Last night's U2 show in Los Angeles? Religious experience)

Target: the Middle Class

2005-04-07T07:58:00.000-07:00

Wow. We admit that we'd written this guy off because of his TV show (and we liked Unfiltered) but BOY was Jerry Springer on a tear right out of the gate this morning. He tore into Congress, the Bush Administration and Tom Delay in particular for their work to really hurt the middle class and benefit the uber-wealthy.

It was stunning. AirAmerica folks, Air America Radio.

Tom Friedman: The World Is Flat...

2005-04-05T11:19:00.000-07:00

And we have to agree. Wow. Friedman was on Al Franken today and it was muy scary... so many good things said there it would be tough to sum them all up.

Suffice to say we'll be running out to get The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century asap.

Until then, check out some of his stuff at the NYT.

More soon... the Man calls.

WOW: Hannity Hated the Pope Too!

2005-04-05T11:15:00.000-07:00

Stunning. The Fox folks seemed to have nothing but contempt for the Late John Paul II.

COLMES: …And before you respond, let me just put up what the pope says.

“No to war,” says Pope John Paul II. “during his annual address to scores of diplomatic emissaries to the Vatican… ‘War is not always inevitable,’ he said. ‘It is always a defeat for humanity.’”

Are these a bunch of wild-eyed liberal loonies?

HANNITY: Yes.

First O'Reilly and now Hannity. Again: stunning... well not really, the Pope wasn't kick-ass enough for these folks and that whole 'peace' and 'social justice' was just so much socialism to them...

ThinkProgress is on the case...

The Real 'Culture of Life'

2005-04-04T12:49:00.000-07:00

The death of the Pope has us thinking about what the world would be like if folks actually practiced what they preached. We liked John Paul because even though he could be a bit conservative for our tastes, he knew what 'social justice' was all about.

Alternet breaks it down for us what a The Culture of Life Top Ten would look like...

1. Withdraw the Troops

2. Stop the Death Penalty

3. Pass Effective Gun Control Laws

4. Fund Social Services

5. Create Universal Health Care for Children

6. Research Alternative Energy

7. Investigate Prisoner Abuses

8. Support AIDS Clinics Abroad

9. Implement a Fair Guestworker Program

10. Join the International Criminal Court

Hmmmm, interesting list. The Jesuits taught us a thing or 2 about social justice and the teachings of the Catholic church so we're gonna endorse this list... Remember the Pope was firmly against the Iraq War and the Death Penalty, and after that whole shooting thing we're pretty sure he was for a certain amount of gun control.

Why Did Bill O'Reilly Hate the Pope?

2005-04-04T08:06:00.000-07:00

Whose Catholic Church?
Pretty sure this made the Sweet Baby Jesus cry:

But as I’ve said before, I believe also that John Paul is naive and detached from reality.

Kos has more over at the DailyKos

Good Advice

2005-04-03T20:58:00.000-07:00

ProtectYourCheck.Org
Sounds good to us..

ProtectYourCheck.org is a non-profit advocacy organization established to oppose the White House's effort to dismantle Social Security, the most successful retirement and anti-poverty program in our nation's history. ProtectYourCheck.org will educate Americans on the financial health of Social Security, promote policies to strengthen Social Security and encourage citizens to speak out about this issue to ensure that Congress doesn't pass legislation that weakens the Social Security Trust Fund.

Check em out and their nifty ad that'll start running soon.

Seriously.

Abstinence

2005-04-03T19:57:00.000-07:00

A little comedy to start the week! According to a new study, while you're busy losing your job your kids are turning into sexual super-freaks thanks not to MTV or Movies, but to Abstinence Pledges! HA HA HILARIOUS!!
Abstinence pledges suck – literally
Take it away Bill Maher...

New Rule: Abstinence pledges make you horny. A new eight-year study just released reveals that American teenagers who take "virginity" pledges of the sort so favored by the Bush administration wind up with just as many STDs as the other kids.

But that's not all -- taking the pledges also makes a teenage girl six times more likely to perform oral sex, and a boy four times more likely to get anal. Which leads me to an important question: where were these pledges when I was in high school?

>sigh< We're asking ourselves the same thing... and we went to Catholic school (though let's be honest: the born-agains & evangelicals hate Catholics. They've said so. It's only recently they're using them to bolster their numbers. Seriouslyl look it up. Whore of Rome and all that...)

For a bunch of teens raised on creationism, these red state kids today are pretty evolved -- sexually, anyway, and for that they can thank all who joined forces to try and legislate away human nature, specifically the ineluctable urge of teenagers to hump.

Yes, the "What do we tell the children?" crowd apparently decided not to tell them anything. Because people who talk about pee-pees are potty-mouths. And so armed with limited knowledge, and believing regular, vaginal intercourse to be either immaculate or filthy dirty, these kids did with their pledge what everybody does with contracts: they found loopholes. Two of them to be exact.

Is there any greater irony than the fact that the Christian Right actually got their precious little adolescent daughters to say to their freshly scrubbed boyfriends: "Please, I want to remain pure for my wedding night, so only in the ass. Then I'll blow you." Well, at least these kids are really thinking outside the box.

HAHAHAHA... Oh Bill, we love you so.

It is even funnier that proper Sex Ed and contraception is actually proven to work and delay initial sexual experiences.

It's too bad most Americans don't seem to do irony... "3 a (1) : incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result (2) : an event or result marked by such incongruity b : incongruity between a situation developed in a drama and the accompanying words or actions that is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play -- called also dramatic irony, tragic irony"

Bush Launches Preemptive Attack On Social Security

2005-04-01T08:07:00.000-08:00

Sure it's the Onion, but it still rings true and reminds us strangely of some other war...

At an appearance at the St. Louis Convention Center Sunday evening, President Bush declared the "grave and pressing need" for a preemptive attack on the Social Security program.

"My fellow citizens, at this hour, brave administration and congressional forces are in the early stages of an all-out attack on Social Security, with the ultimate goal of bringing down the oppressive legacy of the New Deal, and big government itself," Bush said. "Through bold and decisive action, we will liberate our grandparents and our grandchildren from the threats of the system established by Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide retirement compensation for America's workers."

According to the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees, if Social Security revenue and payouts remain unchanged, the nation's largest entitlement program will be unable to pay full benefits in 2041.

"The Social Security system is a dangerous, financially unsustainable program," Bush said. "If we allow it to continue unchecked, we will need to resort to benefit cuts, tax increases, or massive borrowing in 36 short years. I call upon the combined forces of my administration and Congress to destroy this program and the threat that it presents to our way of life."

Hilarious!

Our favorite part?

Bush defended his decision to make a preemptive attack.

"September 11 taught us that, in our unstable world, we must take bold, decisive action to protect our citizens from threats both foreign and domestic," Bush said. "We must free citizens everywhere from the threat of financial dependence on the government."

Ha ha ha! Oh, could we love the Onion more? Sad when the best points are made through comedy...

Bush said he was reluctant to detail the specifics of his strategic plan, as he did not wish to jeopardize national security.

U.S. Army War College professor of economics Henry Reed said destroying the program will require a "broad and concerted campaign."

"The Social Security system is complex and resilient, with a network of cooperative agents across the country and an entrenched relationship with many of the nation's most desperate elements," Reed said. "Luckily, a well-funded coalition of pro-business forces has already begun striking selected targets of legislative importance in order to stop the cells that provide assistance to people on the extreme end of the age spectrum."

Reed put the current situation in historical context.

"Bush could ignore this threat, like all the presidents since Truman have done," Reed said. "By confronting this potential future crisis now, Bush will free all Americans from the treacherous safety net that currently entangles their futures."

We couldn't have said it better ourselves.

Wal-Mart: The Best Press $$$ Can Buy

2005-03-31T09:10:00.000-08:00

21 House Democrats angry over ABC news sponsorship deal with Wal-Mart
Hmmm, Wal-Mart is buying good press. There's a shocker.

Four Ohio lawmakers are among 21 Democrats in Congress crying foul over a new sponsorship deal between Wal-Mart and ABC News.

The ABC morning news segment is supposed to highlight hardworking Americans. The Congressional critics say Wal-Mart’s sponsorship is misleading because the company treats workers poorly, hires illegal immigrants and hurts small businesses.

Again, what a shocker. Here in California Wal-Mart's "We're the best business ever 'cuz we hire the poor" make us sick. Did you know that, along with McDonald's, Wal-Mart almost single-handedly surpresses wages in this country? That they're so large the warp markets? That they're like China's 5th (or 8th depending on who you talk to) largest trading partner (ahead of Russia)? Check out this article from Fast Company about how they hurt the products they sell.

Or check out this site about the 'Store Wars' from PBS on their 'Business Practices'... they're not very pretty.

What the 'Ownership Society' Is Really All About...

2005-03-31T08:54:00.000-08:00

And it ain't the hokey-pokey.
Bush's bridge back to 19th century
Oh this is good, very good and if you've been paying attention... well, let's just say that this is does a really good job of connecting the dots...

If you're trying to understand what George W. Bush is proposing, let us put it as clearly as we can: repealing the 20th century.

The 20th century's reforms represented an immense expansion of rights for workers, people of color, women, the elderly, the poor, the disabled, and others barely regarded as human beings at all by those in power. Moreover, the environment became a precious legacy to be protected for all Americans, not just a target for corporate plunder.

Wow. Sums it all up nicely doesn't it... now, what about this bridge the Bush wants to sell us? We'll hit some of the highlights...

Now George W. Bush seems to be launching a breathtaking offensive against the very notion that government exists to promote the common good. While Corporate America would continue to be showered with government goodies, the rest of us would be left out in the rain to fend for ourselves. Social Security: this insurance system has lifted many tens of millions of senior citizens, disabled workers, and children out of poverty since its founding 60 years ago. It is the very cornerstone of economic security for Americans, providing an expansive insurance policy for all of us. But President Bush has been declaring a looming crisis, based on very shaky assumptions, to peddle the privatization and shredding of this immensely important safety net.

More GENIUS analysis! But they forgot one thing: the wealthy. It should read: "While Corporate America & the wealthy..." Do that and the whole thing is pitch perfect.

However, simply subjecting incomes above $90,000 to the Social Security tax would take care most of any potential problem. Repeal of Bush's tax cuts for the richest 5 percent of Americans would also solve the problem. But President Bush's real aim seems to be promoting the risky privatization scheme at any cost, rather than taking small steps to protect Social Security.

BRAVO! GENIUS! YES, yes exactly right! We could "fix" whatever ails Social Security in a second with either of these... but that would hurt the wealthy and be "Class Warfare" wouldn't it? And we can't have the Middle Class fighting back now can we?

Oh so much more, and the authors are spot-on everytime, but here's the money shot:

From Bush's proposals on Social Security, health care, and our Constitutional rights, we are glimpsing what he really means by the "Ownership Society:" big corporations would own the government while hard-working, taxpaying families would be left without a safety-net, without the social-contract/social insurance programs and legal protections that make it possible for ordinary families to survive adversity and have an income at retirement that permits them to escape poverty.

Think about it...

Is Outsourcing Really the Fault of 1 Man?

2005-03-31T08:41:00.000-08:00

Outsourcing: It's The Fault of a Guy from India
Alrighty, so this is one woman's report of an interview on Fox. Sorry, we don't watch Fox because we find it repulsive and we don't want to add to their success (which is the the same reason we don't view the Drudge Report: so we don't add to his hit count). Intereseting. Take a look.

Under a banner reading "Behind the Outsourcing Boom," substitute host Stuart Varney interviewed Sam Pitroda today (March 29, 2005) on Your World w/Neil Cavuto. Pitroda is the former chief technology officer for the nation of India and is now the chairman of a company called Worldtel.

Introducing Pitroda, Varney said: "He's the man many credit, or depending on how you look at it, blame for the outsourcing boom." Varney asked Pitroda to "tell me how that is good news for American workers."

[snip]

Varney smiled but got nastier: You're a "star" in India and in Europe but "this is your first network TV interview in the US even though you've lived here for 30 years." Pitroda corrected Varney, saying he'd lived here for 40 years. Varney continued: "Why do you keep such a low profile here? Do you think perhaps you're unpopular for all this outsourcing?" A flustered Pitroda said no, he travels, he's busy and that's the way its worked out.

Comment: Ah yes. The simple, simple, simple world of Fox News. Outsourcing boils down to one man from India. Don't ever let it be said that the (according to Fox) benevolent, patriotic, job-creating corporations in this country had anything to do with it.

Ha ha! Hilarious. She's right: easier to blame one person, and totally confuse the issue, than to think that business/government is doing something wrong.

Read & think for yourself.