David Brooks Arianna Huffington Two Party System Dead, Top 10 Shocking Attacks from the GOP War on Women

Tags: Two Party System or Not Brooks Huffington Top Ten Shocking Attacks by Republicans on Women Rape Consensual Legal to Murder Doctors Starve Pregnant Mothers Children

Elaine and Suzy,

Elaine, Thanks for the 10 Shocking Facts from the GOP War on Women. Corrupt Renaissance Popes gave us celibate Priests to enrich the Church. Emperor Constantine gave us anti-abortion laws and the Christian Cross and helped the Church leaders pick the right Gospels among dozens. Only Matthew does not have the resurrection and books by those who had direct contact with Jesus were excluded.

Today on Bloomberg television Conservative David Brooks and Arianna Huffington, Third World America: How Our Politicians are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream, where on the same side today for a discussion whether the two party system no longer works anymore. They got 50 percent of the audience votes and the Right Wing Conservatives got 40 percent even though Arianna was the only one with a modicum of liberalism. Hardly a balanced panel or audience!

Huffington suggested as a starter we should allow the voter to vote for anyone with a first, second, and perhaps third choice for the election. If there first candidate does not win, their votes will go to their second choice etc. That way we won't get the Ralph Nader or Ross Perot phenomenon. The two-party system is designed to keep the wealthy and influential in power.

Give voters a choice without a drastic penalty. Some states already have this system such as Washington and soon Oregon, but the problem is that money still wins elections because our television news refuses to talk about what the candidates stand for and pluses and minuses of the approaches taken by each candidate. They rather make money by using polls and the horse race and let ads make them a huge amount of money.

When only 40 percent of eligible Americans voted in the last election, there is more than a little discontent. The seniors made up 30 percent of the vote! With the baby boomers retiring now, seniors will bankrupt us by their excessive needs and voting power.

With corporations now able to secretly donate unlimited amounts of money even one day before the election, both parties will move further right. Supreme Court Justice Stevens who just retired was appointed in 1975 by a Republican, Gerald Ford.

Stevens said that every Justice appointed since 1975 were more conservative than he was. He did not change his politics which is considered liberal now! The corporate elite the senatorial Democratic Leadership Council set up by President Clinton was dissolved this week because the rest of the Democrats moved right and became more corporate.

When there is a rule or law that seems to not benefit Americans, but just a select group, it is time for Americans to examine how these things came into being. We are in the Renaissance of correcting the history written by those in charge or beholding to power. Zinn's People's History of the United States is one book well worth reading.

What makes Republicans do what they do? They can't help it. Their authoritarian and large fearful and paranoidal Amygdala brain gives them no choice. They make the best military soldiers and love guns because they are in constant fear of losing control. Yes, this has been well studied at Canadian and other Universities here. A very good book about this was written by Nixon's Lawyer, John W. Dean in Conservatives Without Conscience, a New York Times bestseller based on many studies at universities.

Democrats haven't learned that logic does not work on Republicans or the voters.

Jim Kawakami, Feb 20, 2010, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

Top 10 Shocking Attacks from the GOP War on Women

1) Republicans not only want to reduce women's access to abortion care, they're actually trying to redefine rape. After a major backlash, they promised to stop. But they haven't.

2) A state legislator in Georgia wants to change the legal term for victims of rape, stalking, and domestic violence to "accuser." But victims of other less gendered crimes, like burglary, would remain "victims."

3) In South Dakota, Republicans proposed a bill that could make it legal to murder a doctor who provides abortion care. (Yep, for real.)

4) Republicans want to cut nearly a billion dollars of food and other aid to low-income pregnant women, mothers, babies, and kids.

5) In Congress, Republicans have proposed a bill that would let hospitals allow a woman to die rather than perform an abortion necessary to save her life.

6) Maryland Republicans ended all county money for a low-income kids' preschool program. Why? No need, they said. Women should really be home with the kids, not out working.

7) And at the federal level, Republicans want to cut that same program, Head Start, by $1 billion. That means over 200,000 kids could lose their spots in preschool.

8) Two-thirds of the elderly poor are women, and Republicans are taking aim at them too. A spending bill would cut funding for employment services, meals, and housing for senior citizens.

9) Congress voted yesterday on a Republican amendment to cut all federal funding from Planned Parenthood health centers, one of the most trusted providers of basic health care and family planning in our country.

10) And if that wasn't enough, Republicans are pushing to eliminate all funds for the only federal family planning program. (For humans. But Republican Dan Burton has a bill to provide contraception for wild horses. You can't make this stuff up).

Please share this email today. Just click the links to post on Facebook and Twitter.

Sources:

1. "'Forcible Rape' Language Remains In Bill To Restrict Abortion Funding," The Huffington Post, February 9, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206084&id=26180-17457092-d0zkGjx&t=6

"Extreme Abortion Coverage Ban Introduced," Center for American Progress, January 20, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=205961&id=26180-17457092-d0zkGjx&t=7

2. "Georgia State Lawmaker Seeks To Redefine Rape Victims As 'Accusers,'" The Huffington Post, February 4, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206007&id=26180-17457092-d0zkGjx&t=8

3. "South Dakota bill would legalize killing abortion doctors," Salon, February 15, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206102&id=26180-17457092-d0zkGjx&t=9

4. "House GOP Proposes Cuts to Scores of Sacred Cows," National Journal, February 9, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206103&id=26180-17457092-d0zkGjx&t=10

5. "New GOP Bill Would Allow Hospitals To Let Women Die Instead Of Having An Abortion," Talking Points Memo, February 4, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=205974&id=26180-17457092-d0zkGjx&t=11

6. "Republican Officials Cut Head Start Funding, Saying Women Should be Married and Home with Kids," Think Progress, February 16, 2011
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/16/gop-women-kids/

7. "Bye Bye, Big Bird. Hello, E. Coli," The New Republic, February 12, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206104&id=26180-17457092-d0zkGjx&t=12

8. "House GOP spending cuts will devastate women, families and economy," The Hill, February 16, 2011
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-a-budget/144585-house-gop-spending-cuts-will-devastate-women-families-and-economy-

9. "House passes measure stripping Planned Parenthood funding," MSNBC, February 18,2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206122&id=26180-17457092-d0zkGjx&t=13

"GOP Spending Plan: X-ing Out Title X Family Planning Funds," Wall Street Journal, February 9, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206105&id=26180-17457092-d0zkGjx&t=14

10. Ibid.

Birth Control for Horses, Not for Women," Blog for Choice, February 17, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206106&id=26180-17457092-d0zkGjx&t=15

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PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. This email was sent to john flaherty on February 19, 2011. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

USA Supports Repressive Governments with Arms Nonviolent Struggles Required

Tags: Nonviolent Protests Change Governments Middle East Latin America CIA Supreme Court

Many of us have some level of the fear of repression by our governments. It is especially high among the far right wing situated in Arizona, mountain states, and a large part of the South. They buy at least 80 percent of guns in our country.

We have armed governments all over the world to allow them to maintain control of a country or a region. Our natural friend, Israel, is one example where we have done this and may have even been complicit in providing them six tons of enriched uranium from our stores on the east coast. In the 1930s we made a deal with the Saudi Royal Family to protect them for oil.

Many other deals and wars helped us control Latin America which fell apart with the election of a populist to the President of Venezuela. Only Columbia is our client base easily identified by our bases there now. We are trying to gain control such as flooding Venezuela with counterfeit currency if some reports are correct. Our coup there failed by former CIA agents and our Navy. Next time they will quickly kill the leader as we did with our other coups such as Allende in Chile which Kissinger directed.

Panama was invaded to take control of the Panama Canal by ousting a former friend who went his own way. Saddam Hussein is another example by nationalizing their oil.

President Jimmy Carter, who became President with the money from the Trilateral Commission, whose members include the USA, Japan, and European leaders. Similar things happened with the election of President Obama where the powerful gave him both money and advice who had more liberal domestic leanings than desirable. The assumption was that since both were inexperienced with foreign affairs, control over them would be easier.

The second powerful tool is propaganda in advertising and news. Headlines in news reports are designed to shape our thinking as well as the editorial controlled first few paragraphs on the front page especially. Crucial, sometimes contrary information, can be obtained near the end of articles or deleted completely. No matter the political inclinations of the reporters and even senior staff, veering to far will get them fired or demoted. The same situation exists in the best colleges and universities. A liberal education is now a misnomer.

President Obama got the message in the Supreme Court ideological and profitable decision for Mrs. Justice Thomas and Justice Scalia, Justice Roberts, Justice Alito, and Justice Kennedy. They are all extremely conservative including Kennedy and far right religious. Unfortunately corporations have the purse needed to win elections. Catholicism would be greatly improved by eliminating the Vatican and allowing the Priests to truly practice Christianity instead of trying to repress their flock. Ideology trumps thinking for ourselves such as the Christian Right.

Jim Kawakami, Feb 18, 2011, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

*** Subversive Thoughts ***

"It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power." -- David Brin

“Nonviolence is the constant awareness of the dignity and the humanity of oneself and others; it seeks truth and justice; it renounces violence both in method and in attitude; it is a courageous acceptance of active love and goodwill as the instrument with which to overcome evil and transform both oneself and to others. It is the willingness to undergo suffering rather than inflict it. It excludes retaliation and flight.” -- Wally Nelson

*** Gene Sharp: The Most Influential American Thinker on Non-Violent Struggle You’ve Never Heard Of ***

While the rolling revolution in the Middle East continues with Bahrain, Yemen, and Libya, buoyed by the success of Egypt and Tunisia, one unassuming American figure is emerging as providing the inspiration for a range of tactics used by Arab organizers. His name is Gene Sharp, he lives in Boston, and you’ve probably never heard of him. Considered “the godfather of the nonviolent resistance,” Gene Sharp has spent decades studying with the care and methods of a scientist, major and minor revolutions and uprisings the world over.

In his 1973 magnum opus, The Politics of Non-Violent Action, Sharp explored in great detail, the principles that help non-violent resistance work, especially in the overthrowing of dictatorships by organized populations. The 900 page book also lists nearly 200 methods of non-violent action culled from his studies. Since then Sharp has authored a number of books and booklets with titles like “From Dictatorship to Democracy,” and “There are Realistic Alternatives,” which have been translated into dozens of languages and used worldwide.

His latest book is the 600 page work “Waging Non-Violent Struggle.” Gene Sharp spent 30 years as a political scientist at Harvard University’s Center for International Affairs. He remains dedicated to the study of peace and nonviolent struggle through the efforts of The Albert Einstein Institution, a nonprofit group he created in 1983.

However, over the years his work has garnered criticism from various factions, even on the left. A few years ago the Albert Einstein Institution was accused of being a U.S. government sponsored organization to overthrow foreign regimes.

Stephen Zunes, a Professor of Politics at the University of San Francisco and frequent Uprising guest wrote a lengthy refutation of these charges in 2008. Most recently Arab American commentator Asad Abu Khalil commented on Gene Sharp’s rising stature by accusing Americans of looking for a “Lawrence of Arabia” figure to take credit away from Egyptian protesters. Still, many reports now suggest that Gene Sharp’s work inspired, not the cause of revolution, but the tactics used by organizers in Egypt and elsewhere. Gene Sharp was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.

GUEST: Gene Sharp, founder of the Albert Einstein Institution, author of many books including The Politics of Non-Violent Action and Waging Non-Violent Struggle.

Find out more at www.aeinstein.org.

Listen to this segment:http://www.archive.org/download/dailydigest_021711/2011_02_17_sharp.mp3

*** How Post-Revolution Tunisia and Egypt Are Unfolding ***

Hosni Mubarak’s unexpected departure after 30 years in power shocked the world and left protesters in Egypt jubilant. As events unfolded right as we went live on air last Friday, we heard the chants of hundreds of thousands of Egyptians in Tahrir Square, “We are Free, Egypt is Free.”

The Supreme Military Council under Field Marshal Mohammed Tantawi took charge of the country and has been busy issuing communiques to the public. Having met two key demands of the protesters: to suspend the constitution and dissolve the Parliament, the Army has the tentative and temporary trust of the people.

Wael Ghonim, the Google Executive and one of the more prominent young Egyptians involved in the protests met yesterday with members of the military council and is satisfied with their announcement that there will be a referendum on a revised constitution in two months and elections in six months.

Meanwhile the army has been busy clearing the central grounds of protest: Tahrir Square in Cairo, sometimes forcing out protesters who want to remain. The labor strikes that began late in the 18-day uprising have continued and are now gaining momentum but the Egyptian military has criticized them.

What unfolds in the next few months is just as important as what has been achieved in the past three weeks. The revolution in Tunisia that resulted in the overthrowing of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali on January 14th may provide some direction. But post-revolution Tunisia has revealed the difficult task of rebuilding a democracy, with its security last week disintegrating into a state of chaos. ...

GUESTS: Nubar Hovsepian, teaches political science at Chapman University, his latest article is called “The Arab Pro-Democracy Movement: Struggles to Redefine Citizenship” published in the new journal Jadaliyya, Radia Daoussi, president of the Vineeta Foundation

Listen to this segment:http://www.archive.org/download/DailyDigest02142011/2011_02_14_egypttunisia.mp3

*** Iranians and Algerians Catch the Revolution Bug ***

Within hours of Mubarak’s resignation on Friday, Medhi Karroubi, one of Iran’s most prominent opposition leaders and clerics, was placed under house-arrest for trying to organize a protest on Monday. The government has not officially banned the demonstration, but Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has threatened to brutally crush any rallies.

Two of Karroubi’s allies, Taghi Rahmani and Mir Hossein Mousavi, have also been arrested in anticipation of today’s protest. President Ahmadinejad’s regime experienced its strongest, Egypt-like popular challenge in 2009 when the country’s largely young population rose up under the banner of the “Green Revolution.” ...

GUESTS: Reese Erlich, author of “The Iran Agenda: The Real Story of U.S. Policy and the Middle East Crisis” and “Conversations with Terrorists: Middle East Leaders on Politics, Violence, and Empire,” David Porter professor emeritus of political science at SUNY/Empire State College, just wrote the piece “The Triumph of Leaderless Revolutions”

Find out more about Reese Erlich at www.reeseerlich.com. Read David Porter’s article here:http://counterpunch.org/porter02112011.html

Listen to this segment: http://www.archive.org/download/DailyDigest02142011/2011_02_14_iranalgeria.mp3

Profits Correlates Low Pay Nuke Unions Campaign Wisconsin Middle East Religion

Tags: Profits Correlates Low Pay Nuke Unions Campaign Role Religion Control Revolt Middle East

FDR: “Nothing Happens in Politics by Accident, Someone Made It Happen”

In Minnesota, the Democratic governor raised taxes on the top 5 percent to reduce the deficit enough that other things can be done without drastically getting rid of vital government workers. In Wisconsin, the Republican governor gave large tax cuts to corporations as soon as he got in which accounts for much of the deficits it has now is do to this. To make it up, he and the Republican legislature without debate tried to pass laws implementing his plan. The Democrats left Wisconsin so a vote could not be taken without a quorum. See The Ed Show at 10 PM ET and 7 PM PT today.

Here are some articles and comments that may help you understand what is happening in America to enrich the wealthy.

Go to www.hbo.com to see the film by on Reagan. It is the best I have seen based on my extensive reading. In the interview below Noam Chomsky describes the real Ronald Reagan. It depresses me that Obama brings up Reagan so often. Talk about the man, not the myth. Americans did not like Reagan according to polls not well publicized! Polls that contradict the mainstream view goes poof!

Jim Kawakami, Feb 17, 2011, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

Noam Chomsky: “There has been a huge attack against private sector unions. Actually, that’s been going on since the Second World War. After the Second World War, business was terrified about the radicalization of the country during the Depression and then the war, and it started right off—Taft-Hartley was 1947—huge propaganda campaigns to demonize unions. It really—and it continued until you get to the Reagan administration. … “Worker’s Low Pay Equals Profits”

Kawakami: Netflix Film: “Constantine’s Sword,” from the book by James Carroll, retired columnist for the Boston Globe. He grew up at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs where his father was a high ranking General in intelligence. He was the one who delivered the photos of the missiles in Cuba to President Kennedy.

Several days ago I noticed a small news report that some Air Force cadets are suing to stop the evangelical prayer meetings and strong pressures to go to Evangelical churches run by Haggard who resigned after he was found vacationing with a male prostitute. Mikey Weinstein who was at the Air Force Academy who talked about his book on www.booktv.org about forcing Jews to become Evangelical a few years ago was also in the film. The scene of 10,000 people in a frenzy when Haggard talked to them was very frightening. Colorado has become the largest growing Evangelical movement.

Carroll was the oldest in a very large family that when the family visited the Pope John XXIII, the Pope said it was great they had a large family. Pope John looked almost at his death bed was only chosen because they knew he would soon die. But he double-crossed the Cardinals and made marvelous reforms which went through even though he died before it was passed. One of the most important is the church agreed to drop the false made-up story that Jesus was killed by the Jews in the Gospels. Historians have proof that with Judas, the Romans killed Jesus.

Most Jewish scholars consider the Old Testament as made up stories. Christians never had a cross until the Roman Emperor Constantine invented the cross to get Christians in his smaller army to win the war against the Romans ruling the empire. Before that no cross appeared in the Christian history. He also invented the no abortions policy to increase his empire's army which the Christian Church leaders loved too for the same reason.

Carroll also wanted to find the truth about whether Pope Paul IV made a deal with Hitler. He did.German Edith Stein, a Saint, was a Jew converted to Catholicism, wrote that the Nazi Party will kill many Jews if they gain power because they supported this throughout the 1930s. Carroll went to the Vatican to find the letter. The Pope released the letter one year previously so Carroll was the first person to read it. It confirmed what she said. She was murdered at in Auschwitz in 1942. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp

Carroll became a Priest but quit after six years because he noted the many contradictions in the teachings of the Church. He got married and had two children.

His father never spoke to him again after he compared the Vietnam War indiscriminate use of Napalm against civilians similar to the execution of the Jews in the Holocaust. Carroll was often arrested protesting the war in Vietnam.

“Selling Free Enterprise: The Business Assault on Labor and liberalism---- 1945-1960 --------” by Elizabeth A. Fones-Wolf, University of Illinois, 1994

Selling free enterprise: the business assault on labor and ...

Elizabeth A. Fones-Wolf - 1994 - 307 pages - Preview As Gary Gerstle has observed, much of this struggle turned on the meaning of Americanism. During this period, business sought to construct a vision of Americanism that emphasized social harmony, free enterprise, individual rights, ... books.google.com - More editions - Add to My Library▼

Kawakami: From the success of the propaganda by the government and press to get Americans to supporting going to war against Germany, the corporations decided to use it instead of ruffians to control American workers. This is documented in detail in the book by Elizabeth A. Fones-Wolf in a marvelous book Selling Free Enterprise.

A friend Allan uses Google Books and highly recommends it to get a good idea about books you intend to purchase so you can decide for yourself by reading some of the text. I buy most books of non-fiction based on talks by the authors on www.booktv.org every weekend. C-Span 2: Three days for Washington’s Birthday this weekend on www.C-Span.org www.booktv.org

Very few know much about the labor movement because it is not in the interest of corporations and the super rich to know how inequality in income occurred because of a huge effort by corporations to get Americans to dislike unions with distorted and false stories about them with frequent classes at work and even propaganda at elementary schools!

As we have seen in the Middle-East, it takes people a long time to get over their fear of the corporate and dictatorial state to revolt to concede anything to the people. America has been complicit and a recent poll not widely distributed shows that Obama is not very popular in the Middle East. Even less popular than Saddam Hussein! Similar polls show that the Arab States are not afraid of Iran, but very afraid of Israel and the USA who they know are their real enemies, not Iran.

Note that some of the other revolts are majority of Shiite Arabs against the Sunni rulers in Yemen next to the oil fields in Saudi Arabian where the workers are Shiite workers drill for oil too! Ditto Bahrain.

Due to the incompetence of the Bush boys in every way, the Shiites are now in charge of Iraq and the bombings in Iraq are by the Sunnis, not Al Qaeda. Don’t they read history? Even the Nazis

Profits Correlates Low Pay Nuke Unions Campaign Wisconsin Middle East Religion

AMY GOODMAN: This month is the 15th anniversary of Democracy Now! on the air, (800 radio and TV stations now!) and it’s a real privilege to have MIT professor, analyst, world-renowned political dissident, linguist, Noam Chomsky with us. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan Gonzalez, and we’ve been together for this whole 15 years, Juan. It’s really been quite an amazing journey.

As we talk about this revolution that’s rolling across the Middle East, we put out to our listeners and viewers on Facebook last night that, Noam, you were going to be in. And so, people were sending in their comments and questions. We asked, on Facebook and Twitter, to send us questions. Here is one of the questions.

RYAN ADSERIAS: Hello, Professor Chomsky. My name is Ryan Adserias, and I’m a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and also the child of a long line of working-class union folks. I don’t know if you’ve been noticing, but we’ve been holding a lot of protests and rallies here in our capital to protest Governor Scott Walker’s attempt to break collective bargaining rights that Wisconsin workers worked hard for over 50 years ago and have enjoyed ever since. We closed all the schools around here for tomorrow—today and tomorrow, actually. The teaching assistants here at the university are staging teach-outs. The undergraduates are walking out of class to show solidarity. And all of this is because our governor and governors all around the country are proposing legislation that’s going to end collective bargaining and really break the unions. I’ve also been noticing that there’s not a whole lot of national representation of our struggle and our movement, and it’s really been troubling me. So my question to you is, how exactly is it that we can get the attention of our national Democratic and progressive leaders to speak out against these measures and to help end union busting here in the United States?

AMY GOODMAN: That was a question from Ryan Adserias in Madison, Wisconsin, where more than 10,000—some say tens of thousands of people, teachers, students, are protesting in the Capitol building, schools closed, as Ryan said. So, from Manama to Madison, from Manama, Bahrain, to Madison, Wisconsin, Noam Chomsky?

NOAM CHOMSKY: It’s very interesting. The reason why you can’t get Democratic leaders to join is because they agree. They are also trying to destroy the unions. In fact, if you take a look at—take, say, the lame-duck session. The great achievement in the lame-duck session for which Obama is greatly praised by Democratic Party leaders is that they achieved bipartisan agreement on several measures. The most important one was the tax cut. And the issue in the tax cut—there was only one issue—should there be a tax cut for the very rich?

The population was overwhelmingly against it, I think about two to one. There wasn’t even a discussion of it, they just gave it away. And the very same time, the less noticed was that Obama declared a tax increase for federal workers. Now, it wasn’t called a "tax increase"; it’s called a "freeze." But if you think for 30 seconds, a freeze on pay for a federal workers is fiscally identical to a tax increase for federal workers. And when you extend it for five years, as he said later, that means a decrease, because of population growth, inflation and so on. So he basically declared an increase in taxes for federal workers at the same time that there’s a tax decrease for the very rich.

And there’s been a wave of propaganda over the last couple of months, which is pretty impressive to watch, trying to deflect attention away from those who actually created the economic crisis, like Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, their associates in the government who—Federal Reserve and others—let all this go on and helped it.

There’s a—to switch attention away from them to the people really responsible for the crisis—teachers, police, firefighters, sanitation workers, their huge pensions, their incredible healthcare benefits, Cadillac healthcare benefits, and their unions, who are the real villains, the ones who are robbing the taxpayer by making sure that policemen may not starve when they retire. And this is pretty amazing, like right in the middle of the Madison affair, which is critical.

The CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, got a $12.5 million bonus, and his base pay was more than tripled. Well, that means he—the rules of corporate governments have been modified in the last 30 years by the U.S. government to allow the chief executive officer to pretty much set their own salaries.

There’s various ways in which this has been done, but it’s government policy. And one of the effects of it is—people talk about inequality, but what’s a little less recognized is that although there is extreme inequality, it’s mostly because of the top tiny fraction of the population, so like a fraction of one percent of the population, their wealth has just shot through the stratosphere. You go down to the—you know, the next 10 percent are doing pretty well, but it’s not off the spectrum. And this is by design. … (Well worth watching this video and more on the internet. http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/17/democracy_uprising_in_the_usa_noam

Google Search Manipulations How J.C. Penney Became First on List Holiday Sales

Tags: Google Search Manipulations J.C. Penny Holiday Coup Online HBO Reagan Film Great

I recently did a search for skin creams which make many claims about making youthful skin. As far as I know and I know very little except what I see in ads, Olay’s Regernerist face cream is the best. Consumer’s Report also liked it.

Only on page ten did I find what I was looking for. Apparently Google misinterpreted my search terms and gave me much junk. The same happened when I tried to find a link how affluent communities fell for the vaccines scares much more frequently than the average American. Thank you Google!

Berman a clever PR guy tries to turn valid information about the dangers of certain food products such as salty and fatty potato chips and High Fructose Corn Syrup placed in all prepared foods and drinks in abundant amounts because it is extremely cheap due to Reagan’s subsidies. Yes, he lies by citing a source just like FOX News.

Ads High Fructose Corn Syrup Get Sweet Smart About Sugar, Honey, And High Fructose Corn Syrup Here. www.sweetsurprise.com/

I finally watched the two hour film on Reagan. The first hour is more about his life and the second about how he developed his political philosophy which he decided to sell to workers at General Electric facilities, a method used since 1945 to get workers to dislike Unions which increases cost to employers. It is a great documentary which is both fair and revealing on HBO which is repeating the show now. Well Done!

So when the great communicator started selling the corporate line, there were receptive ears to a superb communicator. Reagan had no friends and even Nancy thought he was remote, but she loved him dearly and took care of protected him as he started lose his memory either in the first or second term. This is a mystery.

Reagan failed to test to join the Army because he could recognize friend or foe from further than 12 feet! I am not sure he used contacts. Reagan was really never a liberal but ran for the film actors guild president to get a job when after World War II his type of B movies were not longer popular. He called himself the Errol Flynn of "B" movies. Good looking and not much else. He got most of his views from top highly skilled labor negotiator for General Electric. Reagan had narrow interests, but when he developed an interest, he did quite well. He kept practicing until he became a superb speaker aiding his good looks.

His major accomplishment during his GE time of 6 years after which he was fired by GE for not selling their products but giving political speeches when Kennedy became President. On his third try, he became President. Even though Reagan won many states, the total vote count was fairly close against Carter. When the Volker FED raised interest rates, inflation went up to 20 percent under Carter and unemployment went up to 10 percent under Reagan, but inflation went down to 4 percent. Conclusion: Using ideology to run the fed or congress is a very dangerous for our economic well being.

Jim Kawakami, Feb 13, 2011, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

Dirty Little Secret About Search Manipulation, David Segal, NY Times, Feb 12, 2011, … The company bested millions of sites — and not just in searches for dresses, bedding and area rugs. For months, it was consistently at or near the top in searches for “skinny jeans,” “home decor,” “comforter sets,” “furniture” and dozens of other words and phrases, from the blandly generic (“tablecloths”) to the strangely specific (“grommet top curtains”).

This striking performance lasted for months, most crucially through the holiday season, when there is a huge spike in online shopping. J. C. Penney even beat out the sites of manufacturers in searches for the products of those manufacturers. Type in “Samsonite carry on luggage,” for instance, and Penney for months was first on the list, ahead of Samsonite.com. ... http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/business/13search.html?src=me&ref=general

Federal Reserve Volker and Meltzer Discuss the Fed History During High Inflation Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All

Tags: Federal Reserve Volker Meltzer Discuss How to Control Inflation CDC Antivaccine Movement Dangerous

The discussion by Volker and Meltzer and answering questions from a very knowledgeable audience in this 90 minutes video convinced me that how the Fed is run depends a lot on their Ideology rather than truly knowing what their decisions has on the economy. Bernanke, Yellen, and Krugman seem to come closest to understanding how actions affect the economy. Greenspan was nearly clueless because of his Ayn Rand Ideology. Ditto Rand Paul!

Paul Offit said that the anti-vaccine movement in the United States is not followed by the masses, but by the highly educated elite who unfortunately do not understand how science works. Any scientific theory is made credible by being able to falsify it by observations and experiments and relies on facts and not speculation or faith as in religions. As I said before, the Gold Standard for verification is to being able to repeat the experiments. That is why I never believed that vaccines gave Autism to children. No one could repeat the experiments. Last year we found that the top Professor and his coworkers committed fraud.

Just because something is in print does not mean it is right or true. The way that Google works is that the most radical beliefs are reinforced by constant repetition making it page one in a search. Recently epidemics of serious diseases such as chicken pox, mumps, and various other serious diseases causing some deaths took place in affluent neighborhoods and cities such as Ashland, Oregon and near San Francisco just north of the Golden Gate bridge.

Most Americans have common sense that they got the vaccinations because the doctors told them it works. Just because they may be wrong one time in a hundred does not mean we cannot trust them. Go to the Center for Disease Control or www.CDC.gov and get the facts and not speculation based on fear.

Jim Kawakami, Feb 12, 2011, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All

Paul Offit

About the Program

Paul Offit takes a broad look at the anti-vaccine movement in the United States and its consequences for children and adults. Mr. Offit spoke at the Harvard Club in New York City at an event hosted by the Manhattan Institute.

About the Authors

Paul Offit

http://www.booktv.org/Program/12209/Deadly+Choices+How+the+AntiVaccine+Movement+Threatens+Us+All.aspx Dr. Paul Offit is Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Offit is also a founding advisory board member of the Autism Science Foundation. His books include "Autism's False Prophets" and "Vaccinated." For more, visit: paul-offit.com.

Buy the author's book from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound

http://www.booktv.org/Program/12212/The+MilitaryIndustrial+Complex+50+Years+Later+with+William+Hartung+and+David+Eisenhower.aspx

A History of the Federal Reserve, 1913-1986

Alan Meltzer

About the Program

http://www.booktv.org/Program/12177/A+History+of+the+Federal+Reserve+19131986.aspx Allan Meltzer, political economy professor at Carnegie Mellon University presents a history of the Federal Reserve from 1913 to 1986. The author discusses his multi-volume history with Paul Volker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve during the Carter and Reagan administrations. Allan Meltzer and Paul Volker talk about the Federal Reserve and the American economy at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC.

About the Authors

Alan Meltzer

Alan Meltzer is a political economy professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He is the author of several books on the economy, including Keynes's Monetary Theory: A Different Interpretation.

Buy the author's book from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound

Meltzer and former Fed Chairman Paul Volker’s tenure at the Fed discussion.

Health Grades Rankings of 50 Top Hospitals Based on Mortality, Doctors, Nursing Homes Improving Schools Remarkable Success Need to Know

Tags: Ranking Hospitals Medicare Patients Pulmonary Pneumonia Kills Less Real Food Improved Schools Brain

The U.S. News Report rankings are known to most of you. I have not analyzed the report below for accuracy and methods used. Make sure you do not look at apples and oranges when deciding which hospital to go to. Some hospitals take the worst patients because they are the best so mortality data alone is not sufficient, but an important criteria. I do not know if the survey looked into the type of patients treated or not.

Be careful whom you ask about who is the best doctor. Most people unfortunately pick best doctors based on their personalities. If you can ask nurses at the hospital where specialties are involved. Best hospital should also include what they are best at doing. Infection rates are very important to determine. Practice makes perfect so the more operations the surgeon does each year, the more likely he is highly skilled.

Get second and third opinions because too many surgeons operate when unnecessary. That is the purpose of having a Board Certified family doctor or Internist. Do all this before you get sick. Being a great doctor takes practice and continued learning. If it takes half of the doctors 17 years to implement best practices such as done at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, where physicians work as a team so requires doctors who are team players. Hard to find this among surgeons as many have experienced.

This survey looks quite good. I was especially impressed with a common cause of death of patients in hospitals being treated for other maladies are chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (41.08%) and pneumonia (40.17%), especially among the aged.

If you can afford it, sometimes it is worthwhile traveling to the best hospital within your travel perimeter. Primarily due to obesity, diabetes and/or possibly medications, those under 50 make up 51 percent of stroke victims now. Just recently a study indicates that about half of new drugs that are now being considered can block the electrical signals to the heart causing Atrial Fibrillation and death.

As I often recommend, eat real food, not processed foods with additives galore , and exercise. Professor Michael Pollan, UC Berkeley, describes in his book Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, that humans ate considerably different diets and were able to survive long enough to have descendants from 150,000 years ago to modern times. Humans ate what was available, and not the stupid 6 fruits and vegetables daily often recommended by the experts now. From 1960 to 2010, obesity of Americans has tripled.

Since 1985, when Reagan made subsidized corn so cheap, obesity doubled in the 1990s, because corn derived High Fructose Corn Syrup could be used in any amount to make the processed foods palatable including soft drinks. Regular cane sugar crystallizes out when too much is used or food is frozen. Biochemically altered Genetically Modified Beet sugar was banned until recently our dear corporate Supreme Court declared it safe without testing.

Now about 5 percent of weeds are resistant to Round Up, something predicted long ago.

Not many realize that when the research was done to “determine” that saturated fats caused an increase in cholesterol, the study ignored the High Fructose Corn Syrup in the foods as a possible cause of heart disease and weight gain. Unfortunately the research did not leave any records of what he did. Yes, fructose metabolizes in our liver to eventually make very low density lipoproteins cholesterol which is likely responsible for heart disease and Alzheimer’s according to one recent study.

I will soon write about how the microbes in our intestinal track protect or cause illness and weight gain. I have mentioned this in the past, but I can now give you more definitive research.

Last night on Need to Know with Meacham on PBS, Friday 10 PM, Feb 11, 2011, on improving schools, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/ I was shocked to learn that the worst High School in Brockton, Massachusetts, with the poorest 4,000 students did poorly on tests because they did not know how to read and write well so they now require teaching literacy in every class including math and science classes. The teachers would work hard in teams to keep improving on what they are doing. Now 95% are going to college for the first time in their family!

Yes, they are teaching to the Test! All this was done by only firing only two teachers for ineffectiveness and one for insubordination. Yes, they had a Teacher’s Union. Massachusetts introduced an MCAT test for math and English to graduate from high school! About 95% of Brockton seniors would have failed. Now almost all pass this test and many more take Advanced Placement Courses.

Too bad Facebook, Twitter, cells phones and video games are still with us. Some spend 13 hours a day texting!

The decision was made to emphasize learning instead of trying to make the students better persons. Success breeds success as Chua, Tiger Mom, said.

An upscale school in Naperville, Illinois had enough extra funds from the families to build extensive exercise facilities so they exercise until their heart rate goes up to 145, then they go immediately to class. They are more alert and don’t fall asleep in the class. A Harvard researcher said that he has found the our neurons and synapses grow faster after exercises and increases alertness. Apparently it is improving the already top-ranked school.

Contrary to what was believed until fairly recently, using our brain increases our neurons and synaptic connections. This is especially important for babies from birth to 3 years of age. Since almost all mothers work, this means we have to develop trained professionals for child care when the mothers are at work and heavily subsidized with our tax dollars.

Jim Kawakami, Feb 12, 2011, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

From Medscape Medical News

Top Hospitals Across United States Ranked Based on Patient Mortality

Emma Hitt, PhD

Authors and Disclosures

INFORMATION FROM INDUSTRY

Optimal protection from hemolytic disease of the newborn (HDN)

Build immune protection before delivery. Find out more about antenatal prophylaxis.

Important Safety Information Prescribing Information

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/736335?src=top10 January 26, 2011 — http://www.healthgrades.com/ (Website for Hospital Rankings Based on Patient Mortality.)

Welcome to HealthGrades

The leading independent healthcare ratings organization.

Reports and ratings to guide you to better care providers.

• 750,000 physicians
• 5,000 hospitals
• 16,000 nursing homes

A first-ever ranking of the nation's top 50 hospitals based on a comprehensive study of patient death and complication rates at nearly 5000 hospitals has been released this week.

The study was conducted by HealthGrades as part of the ninth annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality and Clinical Excellence study. The analysis was based on approximately 40 million Medicare patient discharges for the years 2007, 2008, and 2009.

The study, led by Kristin Reed, MPH, Carol Nicholas, MSTC, and Rick May, MD, with the healthcare assessment organization HealthGrades, found that West Palm Beach, Florida, ranked first in the nation, with 9 of 12 hospitals in the region designated top performers. Others in the top 5 markets for hospital care quality were Brownsville, Texas; Dayton, Ohio; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota; and Tucson, Arizona.

Of 4873 short-term, nonfederal, nonchildren's, acute care hospitals included in the analysis, 268 hospitals performing in the top 5% nationwide were identified. A total of 26 different medical procedures and diagnoses were included. "These hospitals as a group have the lowest risk-adjusted mortality and fewest in-hospital complications out of the approximately 5,000 hospitals studied," the authors note in the report.

Hospitals deemed to be in the "distinguished" category had a 29.82% lower risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality rate and a 1.91% lower risk-adjusted in-hospital complication rate among Medicare beneficiaries compared with all other hospitals. The diseases for which the reduction in mortality was greatest at the distinguished hospitals were chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (41.08%) and pneumonia (40.17%).

Thirty-six states had 1 or more distinguished hospitals, with Delaware having the highest percentage (75%) of eligible hospitals, followed by Minnesota (55.56%), Arizona (51.87%), Maryland (36.67%), and Connecticut (35%).

The analysis also ranked cities by highest percentage of distinguished hospitals. The top 10 cities for hospital quality were located in Florida, Texas, Ohio, Minnesota, Arizona, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia.

The researchers estimate that if all hospitals performed similarly, 158,684 Medicare lives could potentially have been saved and 3511 Medicare in-hospital complications could be avoided.

The report, which also described the findings of an online survey of 15,000 respondents, indicated that nearly 94% of consumers say they would go out of their way to seek care at a highly rated hospital. Nearly two thirds (64.9%) stated that they would be willing to pay more out of pocket to seek care at a top-rated hospital. In addition, 83.4% of consumers said they are very or somewhat concerned about hospital quality in their community.

"No longer is today's health care consumer simply looking for the least expensive option when it comes to medical care," said Rick May, MD, HealthGrades vice president of clinical quality services and study coauthor, in a written release. "They expect high quality and are willing to go out of their way to get it."

The study was supported for by HealthGrades and conducted by its employees.

The survey is available on the HealthGrades Web site.

Media Fox News Former Employee Just a Propaganda Outfit Stuff Just Made Up

Tags: Media Fox News Former Employee Propaganda Outfit Just Makes Stuff Up Supreme Court John Birch

Founded by billionaires, The National Chamber of Commerce, The Heritage Foundation, Manhattan Institute, and Free Enterprise Institute are Think Tanks that put out propaganda which are sent to the corporate media in sound bite form to provide fillers for the 24 hours news stations. Even the New York Times sometimes has the sophisticated computers at the Heritage Foundations to write stories for a fee. Remember History is largely written by those who are beholding to power. Luckily, many good books are not as easily censored due to a number of independent book publishers and self publishing firms.

Fox News makes up much of their own stuff or takes it from the Internet without fact checking as longs as it is ideologically compatible such as Drudge Report and especially the ultra-right websites. The John Birch Society and the Human Events newspaper, once pariahs since the Birch Society called Republican President Eisenhower a Communist. Now Republican members of the House write articles in Human Events!

Radical Republican Party now invite the once discredited John Birch Society to their CPAC conservative convention with almost all potential Presidential candidates giving a talk there except for Sarah Palin who can make more money by not going. Rachel Maddow, http://maddowblog.com , has rightly claimed that running for President makes them money even if they do not run.

Since the Supreme Court five conservative Catholics running our country, I think it is worthwhile to read Justice Stephen Breyer Making Our Democracy Work or watch the video (90 minutes) http://www.booktv.org/Program/11836/Making+Our+Democracy+Work+A+Judges+View.aspx (One question asked was how did the Supreme Decide the Gore/Bush 2,000 election? He explains why the decision was wrong and he talks about original intent espoused by the 5 conservatives on the court. I call 4 or the 5 corporate justices who want to eliminate the Amendments to the Original Constitution. Jim)

Jim Kawakami, Feb 11, 2011, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

Fox News No Fact Check by Hosts of Stuff Just Made Up Eric W. Dolan www.RawStory.com Feb 11, 2011, http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/fox-news-employee-stuff-up/?utm_source=Raw+Story+Daily+Update&utm_campaign=fcfba90f7b-2_11_112_11_2011&utm_medium=email

A former employee of Fox News called the company a "propaganda outfit" that is determined to undermine the Obama administration and Democrats.

"I don't think people would believe it’s as concocted as it is; that stuff is just made up," the employee, whose name was kept anonymous, told the liberal media watchdog group Media Matters.

"They say one thing and do another," the former employee said. "They insist on maintaining this charade, this façade, that they’re balanced or that they’re not right-wing extreme propagandist."

"You have to work there for a while to understand the nods and the winks," the former employee added. "And God help you if you don’t because sooner or later you’re going to get burned."

The former employee's comments did not come as a surprise to many critics of Fox News, who have long suggested the channel is biased in favor of conservatives. The 2004 documentary film "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism" criticized the channel and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, for skewing its reporting of events to promote conservative viewpoints.

"Like any news channel there’s lot of room for non-news content," the former employee continued. "The content that wasn't 'news,' they didn't care what we did with as long as it was amusing or quirky or entertaining; as along as it brought in eyeballs. But anything - anything - that was a news story you had to understand what the spin should be on it."

"If it was a big enough story it was explained to you in the morning [editorial] meeting. If it wasn’t explained, it was up to you to know the conservative take on it. There’s a conservative take on every story no matter what it is. So you either get told what it is or you better intuitively know what it is."

Internal emails obtained by Media Matters www.mediamatters.org www.prwatch.org also showed that a seemingly spontaneous response concerning the Obama campaign canceling an appearance on a local news station to have been scripted by Fox News' producers,

In another e-mail obtained by the media watchdog, Fox News Washington Managing Editor Bill Sammon told his staff to downplay the importance of climate science that showed the globe's average temperature getting warmer.

Additional emails showed that Sammon asked his news department to refer to the public option as the "government run option" because polls showed the phrase "government option" was opposed by the public.

Perhaps not coincidentally, a poll gauging public trust in TV news found that PBS was the most trusted name in news, while trust in Fox News dropped significantly over the last year.