MannyGoldstein
MannyGoldstein's JournalExtended solitary confinement: not torture?
Anyone here think that?
Or that keeping people in prison forever, without evidence of wrongdoing, isn't torture? Or that ramming food down the throats of these people when they protest their situation, isn't torture?
I keep reading that America doesn't torture. I wish it was true.
America's Founders were traitors
Armed rebellion against their country, all for some notion of "Liberty".
Betrayal!
Too bad the King didn't hang 'em high.
Regards,
Snowden-Sux! Manny
Anyone else pre-order Senator Warren's book yet?
(Yes, who's not running and has sworn allegiance to Hillary, yes, we know)
Ordered mine today, am looking forward to reading the thing when it comes out in a week. Also looking forward to the alternative interpretations of her prose, on DU and elsewhere, LOL.
Ukraine: it's the austerity, stupid
Rich people and their politicians love to lend people money that they can't really pay back, and the greatest mischief to be had is in lending money to countries with abjectly-corrupt governments. I call it the austerity con, and here's how it works:
1. Banker-governments lend money to corrupt government
2. Corrupt government puts much of it in their personal bank accounts
3. Borrowing country's debt load eventually builds to risky levels.
4. Because of the increased risk, interest on loans to corrupt government shoots up, so now the country can't pay its debts... Unless...
5. Borrowing country agrees to austerity and all sorts of other awful stuff in exchange for the privilege of paying back all of its loans to the banker-governments at non-usurious interest rates.
6. The corrupt government flees with billions, invests it with bankers.
7. The austeritized nation sells their services and possessions to banker-governments really cheaply because they desperately need the cash.
8. The bankers effectively resell what they've purchased cheaply, at a huge profit.
The bankers and politicians do well. Very well. The 99%? Utterly #%^*ed.
Cool stuff, huh? Very, very clever. Shrewd businessmen.
This is what took place in our own country a few years ago, as in much of the world. Iceland did the right thing when it hit step 5, flipped the bankers off and put their corrupt politicians in jail. And today, Iceland is doing just fine. But most other times this doesn't work because the banker-governments put close confidantes into key positions in the victim-countries, rich people who tell their countrymen "It's painful, but the alternative is worse." So the banker-governments get their way.
Now it's happening in Ukraine. Ukraine, as far as I can tell, is basically a pull toy between two banker-country dogs, the US and Russia. Both banker-countries fought for the honor of delivering the coup de gras of step 5. They're still going at it, the Ukrainian people getting badly stretched and abraded as the dogs go at it. We get to watch the spectacle of all sorts of bad crap happening that may yet turn savage. The US and Russia are both sponsoring bad behavior, the locals are likely fed up with getting screwed and want to blame someone (almost certainly the wrong people), and it may turn quite bad. Hopefully not.
I'm not sure of much can be done at this moment, but here's what I ask: when we read about Ukraine in the papers, it's totally appropriate to hate on Putin and company - they are scoundrels. But remember, too, that our own banker-government - which Jimmy Carter, I, and perhaps you feel is no longer of, by, and for the people - is doing much the same as the Russians.
If we want good things to happen around the globe - and in our own country - it all starts with tearing down our government of, by and for the Bankers, and replacing it with a government of our own. We still have the vote, for the most part - we need to use it well, or we'll surely lose it entirely.
It's time to act.
I wrote a new book
(Crossposted in General Discussion - please post comments in that one.)
A message from my senior senator. She wrote the book, not me.
Ah, hell, she's everyone's senior senator.
Well here's the message:
For years, I have fought in every way I've known how to help us once again be the America that creates opportunities for anyone who works hard and plays by the rules.
An America of accountability and fair play. An America that builds a future for not just some of our children, but for all of our children. An America where everyone gets what I got: a fighting chance.
I've written a new book about some of the fights I've taken on, and it's available on Tuesday, April 22nd. The book is called A Fighting Chance, and you can order a copy or sign up to get a free chapter from Henry Holt and Company.*
Click here to order the book, or sign up to receive a free chapter on April 22nd.
This is a very personal story – the daughter of a maintenance man in Oklahoma, married at 19, a young mom, a special needs teacher, a professor at Harvard, and the Senior Senator from Massachusetts.
But it's also a very public story – the story of each of the big fights in my life. Defending hard-working people who needed a fresh start after a serious illness or job loss. Confronting the government over the Wall Street bailout. Tangling with the big banks over fraudulent mortgages and deceptive credit cards. And running a hard race for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts.
The way I see it, all the battles were about a single, deeper threat: America's middle class is under attack. And it's not under attack by some unstoppable force of nature. It's in trouble because the game is deliberately rigged.
A Fighting Chance isn't meant to be a definitive account of any one historical event – it's just the stories of what I saw and what I lived. It's about how Washington works – and really doesn't. It's about losing, learning, and getting stronger along the way. And it's about what we've fought for together – and what we're going to keep fighting for each and every day.
Visit afightingchancebook.com to learn more about the book, to order your copy, and to sign up to receive a chapter free on April 22nd.
These battles didn't end when we passed Wall Street reform, or when we got the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau up and running, or even when we won the election in Massachusetts.
We're still fighting – because we know if you don't fight, you can't win.
Thank you for being a part of this,
Elizabeth
I wrote a new book
A message from my senior senator. She wrote the book, not me.
Ah, hell, she's everyone's senior senator.
Well here's the message:
For years, I have fought in every way I've known how to help us once again be the America that creates opportunities for anyone who works hard and plays by the rules.
An America of accountability and fair play. An America that builds a future for not just some of our children, but for all of our children. An America where everyone gets what I got: a fighting chance.
I've written a new book about some of the fights I've taken on, and it's available on Tuesday, April 22nd. The book is called A Fighting Chance, and you can order a copy or sign up to get a free chapter from Henry Holt and Company.*
Click here to order the book, or sign up to receive a free chapter on April 22nd.
This is a very personal story – the daughter of a maintenance man in Oklahoma, married at 19, a young mom, a special needs teacher, a professor at Harvard, and the Senior Senator from Massachusetts.
But it's also a very public story – the story of each of the big fights in my life. Defending hard-working people who needed a fresh start after a serious illness or job loss. Confronting the government over the Wall Street bailout. Tangling with the big banks over fraudulent mortgages and deceptive credit cards. And running a hard race for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts.
The way I see it, all the battles were about a single, deeper threat: America's middle class is under attack. And it's not under attack by some unstoppable force of nature. It's in trouble because the game is deliberately rigged.
A Fighting Chance isn't meant to be a definitive account of any one historical event – it's just the stories of what I saw and what I lived. It's about how Washington works – and really doesn't. It's about losing, learning, and getting stronger along the way. And it's about what we've fought for together – and what we're going to keep fighting for each and every day.
Visit afightingchancebook.com to learn more about the book, to order your copy, and to sign up to receive a chapter free on April 22nd.
These battles didn't end when we passed Wall Street reform, or when we got the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau up and running, or even when we won the election in Massachusetts.
We're still fighting – because we know if you don't fight, you can't win.
Thank you for being a part of this,
Elizabeth
Look, I suck. I get that.
But, dammit, I can't recall ever seeing a spectacle quite as bizarre as the bankers über alles insanity in Washington.
It's a sickness. The virtual end of criminal prosecutions for financial crimes against the 99%, and Holder brazenly saying "Yeah, sorry, they're a protected class of people, not prosecutable". The fake fines imposed on banks that are so fake that Jamie got a 75% raise for his. And the full terms of these "settlements" are kept secret from the public - Elizabeth Warren's fighting to get them disclosed.
Now that SEC prosecutor telling us what we all suspected - that SEC jobs are really just an entrance exam for huge-bucks jobs on Wall Street. Hillary's "don't worry, I'm still on your side" $200k-per-appearance victory lap of that same street.
Remember when banker bonuses were in trouble, and Team Obama swooped in like a SEAL team on meth to save every last bonus dollar? In days, Wall Street's bonuses were safe again. Can you imagine if that kind of effort had been exerted on behalf of us little people? How come Jamie gets Presidential cufflinks, and I don't?
It's not as bad as phony wars, I guess, but people die from awful fiscal policies, too. Even with ObamaCare, a higher percentage of Americans are uninsured today then when Obama was elected. The 99% is in tough shape and the vultures are drooling.
I'm sick of this, sick of being peed on by everyone with power. And I'm sure that you're sick of me, so I'll STFU now, sorry.
I think the following post should be #1 on DU's front page
Do you?
SEC Prosecutor Says SEC Top Brass Are Corrupt
(No, I don't mean my post - I mean the one at the link above.)
American ‘Patriots’ Protect Crimea, Louisiana From Invasion
A band of self-described American patriots has taken over the community of Crimea, Louisiana, in order to defend it from Russian invasion.
The eight heavily-armed Americans drove into the community on motorcycles and in trucks around 10:45 a.m. today and declared it occupied by the United States at around 10:52 a.m., according to witnesses.
The group then replaced the American flag flying over the local community center with a new American flag.
...
“When I heard the Russians were taking over Crimea and these other cities, I thought it’s only a matter of time before the Russians decide to come for us,” he said. “Obama is just sitting on his hands and not defending these people, so it’s time for us real Americans to act. Now we’re here, ready to fight when the Russians show up.”
Clearly, these people are qualified to be members of the Florida House of Representatives.
Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate
"They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me--and I welcome their hatred.
I should like to have it said of my first Administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match. I should like to have it said of my second Administration that in it these forces met their master.
The American people know from a four-year record that today there is only one entrance to the White House--by the front door. Since March 4, 1933, there has been only one pass-key to the White House. I have carried that key in my pocket. It is there tonight. So long as I am President, it will remain in my pocket.
Those who used to have pass-keys are not happy. Some of them are desperate. Only desperate men with their backs to the wall would descend so far below the level of decent citizenship as to foster the current pay-envelope campaign against America's working people. Only reckless men, heedless of consequences, would risk the disruption of the hope for a new peace between worker and employer by returning to the tactics of the labor spy.
Here is an amazing paradox! The very employers and politicians and publishers who talk most loudly of class antagonism and the destruction of the American system now undermine that system by this attempt to coerce the votes of the wage earners of this country. It is the 1936 version of the old threat to close down the factory or the office if a particular candidate does not win. It is an old strategy of tyrants to delude their victims into fighting their battles for them."
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Profile Information
Name: Manny GoldsteinGender: Male
Hometown: Greater Boston
Home country: USA
Current location: Remulak, as far as I can tell
Member since: Tue Aug 30, 2005, 09:44 AM
Number of posts: 34,589