First of all, there are still people on this blog who believe Bush won both elections.  The truth is that the people did not vote for Bush either time.  The elections were stolen (the evidence is overwhelming).  I was living in Florida during the 2000 election. I saw Secretary of State Katherine Harris, who also happened to be in charge of George Bush’s Florida campaign (anyone smell a conflict of interest here) disenfranchise black voters and steal absentee votes.  I saw some Republican bullies come down from DC to the Miami election precinct, pounding on the doors, scaring the hell out of the precinct demanding them NOT to recount the votes.  Guess what, they didn’t recount the votes.  Ergo, the Supremes stepped in.  I was shocked; this was not the America I knew.  Regarding the 2004 election, read Rolling Stones article by Robert Kennedy.  Republican Secretary of State Blackwell prevented more than 350,000 voters in Ohio from casting ballots or having their votes counted—enough to have put John Kerry in the White House.  Remember the exit polls had Kerry winning by a wide margin.  So what we have here are criminals, crooks and lunatics in the White House who are there illegally and who are looting the treasury and threatening the world with the most powerful military ever devised.  And they are doing it in our name with our money!!!  And who are THEY??  They are the elite of this country, the corporate powers, the congressional powers (both parties), the mainstream media who support their corporate owners (or lose their job). They’ve taken our Constitution and stomped on it, ridding us of the Bill of Rights so that anyone complaining can be called a terrorist and can disappear into one of their secret prisons; they’re making it harder and harder for us to feed our families; they’re getting rid of all the safety nets that use to be there to protect poor people; they want to wipe out any remnant of the New Deal; want to privatize Social Security which they’ve been stealing from us for years.  They want to keep us busy working two jobs so we don’t have the energy to fight them and they want to scare the hell out of us so that we will not have the courage to stand up to them.  They’re dumbing down America, (only their children will go to college), the dumber we are, the more they can take from us and with our blessings, from other third world countries. They won’t pay us decent wages when they are making more money from OUR productivity than ever before.  Our lawmakers give themselves raises (six to date) while we grovel for crumbs from the table. Now that is GREED!! And if we get wise to what they ‘re doing, they have detention camps built by Halliburton ready to herd us into.  On the bright side, if there is one. . . the Republican Party is self-destructing at this moment in time.  The Foley scandal has shredded their family values campaign and the evangelists are waking up to the fact that they have been conned big time into voting against their own interests.  If they don’t vote in the upcoming elections, the Republicans should lose, unless of course. . .there’s always those Diebold machines.  If that happens, then it’s time to hit the streets with our pitchforks.  If the democrats win the election and they continue on much of the same course but a little less greedy, then it’s time to hit the streets with our pitchforks.  I know. . .  what do we know about a revolution.  There was Viet Nam.  If we changed that, we can change this too.  Also remember, the Pentagon is divided.  They might support the revolution if it is clearly thought out.

I like my politicians like I like my men: Honest, loyal, bold and brave.

Anyone catch the NYT’s July 31, Men Not Working, and Not Wanting Just Any Job?

An effective economy would utilize its practiced workers, especially approaching eight million of them. That’s the size of the city of New York! If this were a disease, it would be headlined an epidemic and we would be a nation in panic. Of course, if this “unmoored” group needs mooring, they could dock on Das Kapital’s pier and help end The People’s costliest entitlement program of all… Corporate Government.

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Corporatism and Churchism should stay 500 yards from Government at all times.

this country is no longer functions well under capitalism. not as its practiced today. in fact, we really shouldn’t even refer to it capitalism - its crapitalism.

the current crop of politicians and corporatists who are calling all the shots these days are our enemy. its time we fight them with all our might - or all will be lost.

power to the people.

It’s not about lower-middle-upper income groups or minimum wages, it’s about wealth. You just print money; wealth is what backs it up.

Once we backed our money with coal and oil and copper and iron and steel and chemicals and pharms and cars and planes and farm equipment and appliances and grain and textiles and plastics. Now we buy nearly a trillion dollars more from foreign sources than we sell, so our outgo is far more than our income, and so we do what is necessary in that case to put food on our families.......we steal.

We steal. We steal from Haiti, from Mexico, from Taiwan, from satrapies all over the world, but it’s not enough; we needed a big score, a bank job of a score among liquor stores, and we settled on Iraq as the first of many such bank jobs.

Nothing backs our currency any longer; oil from the mideast might put off the denouement, but the day is coming when it goes fubar. Call it Enronization or Argentinization, but we are headed for bankruptcy, and no amount of stolen oil will stop it, though some will keep us afloat for a while longer.

Oh, we might be able to solve the problem, but not if we ignore it and refuse to discuss its existence.

This administration can not exist if normal rationality is allowed to rule.  The policies they push, if they were fully and truthfully described, would be supported by less than 10% of the population (and 90% of them would still be voting against their own best interests).  The only way they can stay in power is through deceit and intimidation (Oh, and election fraud).

It is long past time for the American people to rise up and turn on these criminals.  And its beginning to happen.  The entire administration must be impeached for treason based on the crimes of 9/11.

Watch C-SPAN Tuesday Aug 1, at 6:10 pm eastern, for a panel discussion of what really happened on 9/11.  Wake up and throw off your chains.

Our society has perhaps gone past the point of no return regarding rationality and decency, and Ronal6 Wilso6 Reaga6 is primarily responsible for it. Reagan very likely corrupted America beyond redemption. There isn’t just one anti-christ, there are millions of them and you have to deal with them everyday. Reagan was the most influential American anti-christ in our history and paved the way for our current leading anti-christ-----George W. Bush.

Any society that values money and profits above people is anti-christian. Capitalism is anti-christian, Corporatism is anti-christian, Intolerance is anti-christian, the American Plutocracy is anti-christian. Americans have been brainwashed to worship Mammon, not God. Selfishness and greed are universal human traits, and we don’t need leaders to preach it as gospel. Whenever you hear someone advocate intolerance, selfishness and greed, no matter how cleverly disguised, know that you are listening to an anti-christ.

A thriving middle class has power- power to influence legislation and power to effect change. Bush and Cheney’s brand of thugism can only survive through fear and repression of the middle class by stagnating wages and accelerating inflation. There is no gold in Fort Knox. The dollar is backed by debt only. The poor are unmentioned. When Washington’s elite have their soirees, D.C. police round up the homeless and either jail them or relocate them to another part of the District. Core inflation excludes food and energy- two of the biggest bites out of low-income families. Things are much worse than we’re told.

>>>>america has no hope because it seems that american voters despise entrepreneurs—all that entrepreneurs want to do is to give consumers what they want, but republicans want to stand in their way & democrats want to pick their pockets <<<

I am not certain that you fully understand the concept of entrepreneurship as it relates to economic systems.  Please think about economic systems rather then ideology.

An entrepreneur is an “undertaker”, someone or group that starts a new project. It is usually associated with the concept, innovation. In a corporate capitalist system such as ours most of the successful entrepreneurs are parts of large corporations.  An individual or a R&D;(research and development) group come up with a new idea (or usually) a new marketing idea. (Most/many new ideas were/are funded and started by government agencies like NASA).  They then organize to get a product to market so they can make money on it.  Associated with this is some very large private research labs such as Bell Labs funded by the phone companies.  In the former Soviet Union the entrepreneur was mostly the state.  No economy can exist without entrepreneurs.

You also probably know that thousands of new businesses start-up each week in the USA.  This is what most people think of when they think of ENTREPRENEURS.  Each year most of those new business’s go out of business.  This is what “small business Republicans” lament when they complain about government interference and unfair business practices from the already established big businesses. It is very tough to start a new business and have it succeed.  However, I would argue that it is easier to do so in this country than just about any other capitalist country.  We in this country have all sorts of benefits and help to small business including government agencies.  Politically Democrats and Republicans fall over each other to help start small business.  Try to get government help to start a cooperative in this country, it doesn’t happen very often.

However, our protagonist complains that ‘ “it seems that american voters despise entrepreneurs” This is a typical whine of Republicans. Is there any truth to it? Do they even know what they are talking about?  I am afraid Republicans don’t know what they are talking about but unfortunately many so called liberals have also been brainwashed by right wing ideology.  They somehow think that without a lot of small businesses going in and out of business there is no basis for economic dynamism.  That is not true.  A well planned economy can also be dynamic. It can even be planned with room for a small business dynamic. Unfortunately in this country there is little imagination and innovative thinking devoted to economic thinking.  We are so far to the “right” that the middle ages is modern times.

It is really sad the American people have re-elected this idiot.  With the gas prices steadily going up, by the end of the year, people will not be able to even get to work.  If you do go to work, half of your paycheck will be for gas, the other half for health care.  Rising interest rates are rising quicker than ever.  Yes, many americans have been abale to purchase homes, but what Bush left out, is that how will they be able to keep them?  More than half of Americans who purchased homes in the last two to three years will probably be in foreclosure by the end of 2007.  Now the middle east mess.....Bush has created....we are doomed......

We should never forget the role of the church who produced great corporate leaders like the Henron gurus of free enterprise.
I can see clearly beyond the landscape
Of fortunes day
To the dark green mountains of gold
I defy anyone to block my way
To the profits to the lure to riches untold
I am an nron man

I can fly to the mountains and seize the sun
I can make the earth turn and the congress spin
I can answer questions but the results are none
I speak for the good of the nation and kin
I am an Nron man

I can fly a kite from the tallest tree
In the wildest thunderstorm
And the fiercest winds
And never be touched by bolts of the gods
So Don’t Mess with me
I am an Nron man

I am grounded in ethics of the corporate goal
I defy the elements of truth and soul
I am impervious to that which makes men fall
I have energy to outlast this economic ball
I value the good of the larger whole
I am just an NRON man …
The Ultimate man.

If we all took a day off and went to church and prayed like Billy Graham did when he was with his close friend Nixon, our society would be different and our minimum wage would be higher, and unemployed middle class professionals would have more to look forward to.

About this “inflation” number how and who calculates it?  From my own bread basket of goods and services that I consume every month I would estimate a real inflation rate that is about 10%, maybe a bit higher.

both parties are doing everything they can to stifle entrepreneurs—in america it’s harder to start from scratch & do well than it is in any other major economy

republicans cater to the already wealthy & slap the same bureaucratic requirements on small businesses that big businesses can more easily meet

democrats dream up ways to gouge small businesses

every entrepreneur starts out owning a small business

america has no hope because it seems that american voters despise entrepreneurs—all that entrepreneurs want to do is to give consumers what they want, but republicans want to stand in their way & democrats want to pick their pockets

Amorality is certainly the fast track to success and perhaps even an evolutionary leap and advantage. It could be argued that morality is a distinct handicap. Maybe sociopaths are mother nature’s latest and greatest type of killer ape.

If you’re looking for upward mobility, forget moral values, become a sociopath.

Don’t raise your child to be a blind man tossed in the ring with Mike Tyson. Teach them the truth.

It’s the Republican way.

Federal Minimum Wage should be $15 per hour and here’s why:

Home, gasoline and many car prices grew over 6% annually since 1974 suggesting that the federal minimum wage, just to keep up with rising prices, should have grown from $2 per hour then to over $14 per hour today.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, changes in the federal minimum wage from 1938 to 1968 jumped by a factor of 6.4. Meaning the 1976 minimum wage of $2.30 should be $14.72 today.

And during the forty years from 1938 to 1978 the federal minimum wage climbed by a factor of 10.6 from 25-cents to $2.65. Meaning the late 1966 wage of $1.40, later this year should pay $14.84 per hour.

Besides rising prices, productivity, corporate profits and Congress’ salaries have all inflated too so, why not workerbee wages?

The argument that consumer prices would increase proportionally isn’t realistic - labor is a long diminishing element in production cost. Others say that American exports would suffer abysmally due to higher labor costs. That is also likely mute, as many foreigners already enjoy more disposable income than Americans do… where do you think all that cheap capital (money to lend us) comes from? Corporations and government are hell-bent on exporting our jobs more so than our product anyway. So let them run their globalization experiment with investor money and not labor’s paycheck.

Misspent social programs like Medicare and Social Security could again be made secure with the increased tax revenue generated by higher wages. But it seems capitalists (those with money) want the working class (now without money) to borrow and pay interest to them for lifetime-long home, car and credit card loans then give up their paid-for entitlements too.

That is not capitalism; it’s capitalizing. Where has the capital preserving, two-year maximum car loan gone anyway? Anyone else notice that longer loans only equal higher prices?

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Liquid capital serves. Liquidating capitalism devours.

No successful industrial/technological/"modern" society can exist without a large, growing, even powerful middle class. 

This has been shown again and again throughout history.  From Rome, through the powers that rose in Europe in the Rennaissance, to modern China, the middle class has been the driving engine of progress, prosperity, and even power.  How else would little Holland have grown so strong? Or England?  When it caught on in the Colonies in America, it was the powerhouse that was behind the miracle of the Revolution.  Rome’s VAST power was fueled by her middle classes.

Even today, the Chinese explosion into the world economy occurred when the leaders decided to allow a middle class to grow.

Yet under the Mad King George, the MC is being hammered down.  The SOBs he represents don’t believe in merit (or why would MKG have had SO many chance to prove he was the only man who couldn’t find oil in Texas?), they believe in establishing family fortunes to be passed on--this is why in the face of the biggest budget crunch ever, Billy Frist wants to do away with the estate tax.  That will allow Billy, and big brother Tommy Frist, to pass on their family fortunes. 

Meanwhile, more and more is being accumulated into fewer and fewer hands.  I hear people complain that the wealthiest 1% of Americans pay 50% of the taxes--but they never remember that those 1% own 57% of the wealth!

The jobs and raises for the middle class aren’t there, but the cost of living (that means everything you buy and rent) is going up.  Sure, we have “full employement” but the middle class jobs have been replaced with jobs whose only skill requirement is can you say “You want ketchup with your fries?”

So Mad King George is working to create a new feudal society to protect incompetent corrupt bums like himself, and push the rest of us into the gutter.  That’s really all his policy is: Accumulate power for a few so the rest have to shut up if they want to feed their families.

Gee--Isn’t Robert Mugabe using that same policy in Zimbabwe--that’s where we are going under Mad King George.

Dear Marie - Haven’t you noticed? No one in Washington, D.C., cares about much of anything beyond fattening their own coffers. And after all, didn’t the middle-class you claim is melting down happily elect those who just as happily put down any tangible effort to improve the standard of living of those who voted them into office? Given the lack of a serious opposition, those in power will stay in power, and the middle class will continue its move towards serfdom. No one cares. No one.

This is a good start, but I seriously doubt that Hillary can be the messenger.  That is because the problem goes way beyond the shrinking middle class to encompass the growing underclass.  Only Edwards has spoken to the problems these people face, and his voice has not always been consistent.

I like Molly Ivins plan to recruit Bill Moyers for a presidential bid.  While he would not be expected to win, he would certainly raise the moral tone in the coming discourse.  He is not a scold, but a highly articulate voice that is full of passion for the critical issues of our day.