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Zalatix

Zalatix's Journal
Zalatix's Journal
October 17, 2012

So when the enemy sets up an IED on a road to attack the troops on their turf, that's evil.

But when Americans blow up people over there, ON THEIR TURF, who represent no threat to you and I over here ON OUR TURF, that's good?

Let's compare like for like here, why is going out of our way to kill them over there okay, but them killing intruders on their soil NOT okay?

Let me guess, it's that whole jingoism thing again?

October 17, 2012

OBAMA?!!!!???

Sorry, the original title was a little bit long, to express my incredulity at this horrifically stupid nonsense:

http://omg.yahoo.com/news/celebrities-react-presidential-debate-180832881.html

Elisabeth Hasselbeck: Why is Barack Obama eagerly taking responsibility for past 4 years in Iraq and Afghanistan-but NONE for past 4 yrs here!?! #hmm Under Barack Obama -More women out of work. More women in poverty. More women cannot get full time jobs. #waronwomen is led by him


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October 17, 2012

The Rise of the Super-Rich Is a Global Phenomenon - Fueled by Globalism

I know it's tiresome for some folks to hear again that globalism is the cause of exploding income inequality.

However, it is the truth. The working class confronts this truth on a daily basis, so it's time everyone else did, too, until we get the message: globalism is an enemy of the working class, and the primary weapon of the plutocracy.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/rise-super-rich-global-phenomenon-chrystia-freeland-123053176.html

The growing gap between the top 1% and the rest of the U.S. population has emerged as a major issue in this year's presidential campaign, but it's not likely to narrow much no matter who wins, says Chrystia Freeland, author of the new book "Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else."

As the title suggests, "the increase in income inequality" in the U.S. is not just a domestic development but "is happening in all Western industrialized countries," Freeland tells The Daily Ticker in the accompanying interview. "And crucially you're seeing the same phenomenon in the big emerging market economies."
Related: The Betrayal of the American Dream

Freeland says globalization is at the root of income inequality around the world. Both capital and labor are global therefore businesses leaders must maintain a global perspective, says Freeland.

"Inevitably that means the super-elite see themselves as citizens of planet earth" rather than as a citizen of their home country, which means they are less concerned with the health of the middle class in the U.S. or any other country they call home.

In the U.S. the gap between the very rich and everyone else "is wider than at any time since the gilded age," says Freeland.

Between 1979 and 2007, the top 1 percent of earners more than doubled their share of the nation's income over the previous three decades, according to the Congressional Budget Office report last year.
October 17, 2012

Can any Republican beat this flip-flop record?

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October 15, 2012

Biden was wrong when he accused Paul Ryan of making two requests for stimulus funds.

Paul Ryan actually made FOUR requests, not two.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/12/paul-ryan-stimulus-funds_n_1962163.html?ref=topbar

WASHINGTON -- During Thursday night's vice presidential debate, Vice President Joe Biden attacked Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) for criticizing the president's stimulus act despite having sent two separate requests for stimulus funds for his district.

Biden was wrong. Ryan sent at least four requests.

A Freedom of Information Act request for correspondence between Ryan's office and the Environmental Protection Agency, filed by The Huffington Post, unearthed two additional instances in which the Wisconsin Republican petitioned for American Recovery Act funds. In addition, there were many other occasions in which the GOP vice presidential nominee asked the EPA for grant money for projects in Wisconsin's 1st District, which encompasses Ryan's hometown of Janesville and has a slight Democratic lean. Combined, the letters muddy Ryan's claim that the stimulus wasn't helpful and that government spending, more broadly, doesn't assist small businesses.

The letters, Ryan's spokesman Brendan Buck said, were sent as part of the congressman's basic responsibility to advocate on behalf of his district. "Part of being a congressman is vouching for constituents and helping them navigate the federal bureaucracy when asked," he said.

But the letters' language reveals a congressman who was involved in reviewing the applications and determining that taxpayer money could be useful economically. Moreover, the direct petitioning of the EPA could prove awkward for the Republican ticket, owing to the insistence among many in the GOP that the agency is a hindrance and should be eliminated.

October 14, 2012

Globalism cannot survive without the exploitation of third world workers

The only reason globalism exists is to make wages cheaper by finding cheaper wages outside the country. Without the ability to find cheaper wages elsewhere, it's simply less expensive to produce what you need nearby.

Globalism is why the United States Government turned to Haiti and pressured them into keeping their peoples' wage increases low. The Haitian garment workers would be earning a lot more per hour right now if it weren't for American interference.

Our "God given" right to cheap goods comes at the expense of other peoples' livelihoods.

http://www.thenation.com/article/161057/wikileaks-haiti-let-them-live-3-day#

Contractors for Fruit of the Loom, Hanes and Levi’s worked in close concert with the US Embassy when they aggressively moved to block a minimum wage increase for Haitian assembly zone workers, the lowest-paid in the hemisphere, according to secret State Department cables.

The factory owners told the Haitian Parliament that they were willing to give workers a 9-cents-per-hour pay increase to 31 cents per hour to make T-shirts, bras and underwear for US clothing giants like Dockers and Nautica.

But the factory owners refused to pay 62 cents per hour, or $5 per day, as a measure unanimously passed by the Haitian Parliament in June 2009 would have mandated. And they had the vigorous backing of the US Agency for International Development and the US Embassy when they took that stand.

To resolve the impasse between the factory owners and Parliament, the State Department urged quick intervention by then Haitian President René Préval.

“A more visible and active engagement by Préval may be critical to resolving the issue of the minimum wage and its protest ‘spin-off’—or risk the political environment spiraling out of control,” argued US Ambassador Janet Sanderson in a June 10, 2009, cable back to Washington.

Two months later Préval negotiated a deal with Parliament to create a two-tiered minimum wage increase—one for the textile industry at about $3 per day and one for all other industrial and commercial sectors at about $5 per day.

Still the US Embassy wasn’t pleased. A deputy chief of mission, David E. Lindwall, said the $5 per day minimum “did not take economic reality into account” but was a populist measure aimed at appealing to “the unemployed and underpaid masses.”

Haitian advocates of the minimum wage argued that it was necessary to keep pace with inflation and alleviate the rising cost of living. As it is, Haiti is the poorest country in the hemisphere and the World Food Program estimates that as many as 3.3 million people in Haiti, a third of the population, are food insecure. In April 2008 Haiti was rocked by the so-called Clorox food riots, named after hunger so painful that it felt like bleach in your stomach.

According to a 2008 Worker Rights Consortium study, a family of one working member and two dependents needed at least 550 Haitian gourdes, or $12.50, per day to meet normal living expenses.

October 14, 2012

Myths from around the world

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October 14, 2012

The irony meter explodes: Romney accuses Obama of being soft on China



http://news.yahoo.com/romney-calls-treasury-report-delay-another-missed-opportunity-205119084--abc-news-politics.html

PORTSMOUTH, Ohio - It was all about China for the Romney-Ryan ticket today, the two politicians hammering the Obama administration for delaying the release of a report that could label China a currency manipulator.

"I want to make sure that when people cheat, when they don't follow the rules in trade, we finally hold them accountable," Mitt Romney told a crowd of 3,000 who had gathered on a college quad to hear him speak.

"You know the president, the president has an opportunity, had an opportunity, was required as of last Friday to officially designate whether China is a currency manipulator," Romney said, going on to explain that being a currency manipulator means that a country is "artificially" holding down the value of its currency so the products it sells are less expensive than those made in other countries, and so that American companies making the same products go out of business.

"And yet over the past several years, the President's failed to call China a currency manipulator," Romney said. "He had the occasion on Friday to come out with that official designation. Do you know what they said? We're not going to make any determination until after the election.
October 13, 2012

In Rick Snyderland, no good deed ever goes unpunished

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending-now/paramedic-punished-giving-blanket-cold-elderly-fire-survivor-174434660.html

A number of offenses can get you in trouble at work: slacking off, not being a team player, tardiness, and so on. It's understandable if you're reprimanded for committing one of these. But a Detroit paramedic is in hot water for what seems to have been an act of kindness -- giving a blanket to a man who was cold.

Two weeks ago, a house caught fire, and the elderly man who lived there was brought outside wearing only his underwear. Paramedic Jeff Gaglio gave him a blanket. Then on Tuesday, Gaglio was informed that the department was bringing him up on charges for his action. Jerald James, chief of the Emergency Medical Service (EMS), who is responsible for Gaglio's punishment, said in defense of the charges, "We can't have an employee who feels that they have a right to give away state property without getting prior approval." In fact, his department and the city of Detroit are strapped for cash. However, it has also been revealed that the department did not pay for the blanket. The one that Gaglio gave away had been donated.

Gaglio explained his frustration to his local Fox station. "I'm being punished for giving a man a blanket. Something that would seem like a common everyday courtesy. Something that any man or woman would do in the city of Detroit."

The city's EMS is battling several problems in relation to its lack of cash, including being understaffed and using out-of-date ambulances. According to the Detroit News, the department brings in $8 million less than its operating budget, due to the number of uninsured Detroit residents who are unable to pay for services rendered.

So far, there's no word on what Gaglio's punishment might be, but with increasing media attention, whatever the department decides will be scrutinized. Looks as if the old adage "No good deed goes unpunished" might ring true in this case.
October 12, 2012

For the 500,000,000th time... Obama did not lose that debate.

You don't LOSE a debate when the other side is bum rushing with loads of lies and nonsense while reading from a cheat sheet.

Why do we keep letting this undead meme keep zombie walking its way across the DU? Put it down and double-tap it. Obama didn't lose that debate.

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Member since: Fri Dec 16, 2011, 10:30 PM
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About Zalatix

I'm a liberal looking to make a difference in politics.
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