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JaneyVee

JaneyVee's Journal
JaneyVee's Journal
November 30, 2013

"KEEP CHRIST IN CHRISTMAS!!!"

"Now excuse me while I empty my bank account to buy useless items at a multinational corporation that pays their workers slave wages to sell items made by people who make even less wages working in horrific conditions in a country renown for its human rights abuses!"-Christian conservatives.

November 26, 2013

Obama Administration Proposes New Curbs on Campaigning by Tax-Exempt Groups

WASHINGTON—The Obama administration Tuesday proposed a crackdown on the widespread use of tax-exempt organizations for political campaigning, seeking to reduce the influential role that the secretive groups have played in recent elections.

The new "guidance" issued Tuesday by the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service would curtail a broad array of these tax-exempt entities' activities, including campaign...


The rest is behind a pay wall: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304465604579222110598111076?mod=U.S._newsreel_1

November 26, 2013

Holy Cow! WHATS UP WITH THIS POPE?!

52. In our time humanity is experiencing a turning-point in its history, as we can see from the advances being made in so many fields. We can only praise the steps being taken to improve people’s welfare in areas such as health care, education and communications. At the same time we have to remember that the majority of our contemporaries are barely living from day to day, with dire consequences. A number of diseases are spreading. The hearts of many people are gripped by fear and desperation, even in the so-called rich countries. The joy of living frequently fades, lack of respect for others and violence are on the rise, and inequality is increasingly evident. It is a struggle to live and, often, to live with precious little dignity. This epochal change has been set in motion by the enormous qualitative, quantitative, rapid and cumulative advances occuring in the sciences and in technology, and by their instant application in different areas of nature and of life. We are in an age of knowledge and information, which has led to new and often anonymous kinds of power.

No to an economy of exclusion

53. Just as the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say “thou shalt not” to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills. How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This is a case of exclusion. Can we continue to stand by when food is thrown away while people are starving? This is a case of inequality. Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape.

Human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded. We have created a “disposable” culture which is now spreading. It is no longer simply about exploitation and oppression, but something new. Exclusion ultimately has to do with what it means to be a part of the society in which we live; those excluded are no longer society’s underside or its fringes or its disenfranchised – they are no longer even a part of it. The excluded are not the “exploited” but the outcast, the “leftovers”.

54. In this context, some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting. To sustain a lifestyle which excludes others, or to sustain enthusiasm for that selfish ideal, a globalization of indifference has developed. Almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people’s pain, and feeling a need to help them, as though all this were someone else’s responsibility and not our own. The culture of prosperity deadens us; we are thrilled if the market offers us something new to purchase; and in the meantime all those lives stunted for lack of opportunity seem a mere spectacle; they fail to move us.

The rest: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium_en.html#SOME_CHALLENGES_OF_TODAY%92S_WORLD

Rejoice! Pope Francis, the anti-rightwing nut job.

November 26, 2013

25 Revelations From The Final Report On Sandy Hook

-snip-

6. There were disturbing items found in the shooter’s room, including three photographs of a dead human covered in blood, and photocopied newspaper articles from 1891 about a school shooting involving children.

10. Before the shooter left for Sandy Hook, he significantly damaged his hard drive. Forensic experts still cannot recover any information from it. Should information be obtained from the hard drive, the case will be reopened.

11. Some digital evidence was seized, however, including images of Lanza holding a gun to his head, videos of him playing Dance Dance Revolution, and video dramatizations of children being shot.

17. He liked building computers, playing video games and the saxophone, writing poetry, and hiking, according to the report. Shooting was considered a family pastime, and Nancy and Adam Lanza both took NRA safety courses.

The rest:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/final-investigative-report-on-newtown-shooting-finds-no-conc

November 24, 2013

Remember that Obamacare supporter "success story" that wasn't?

That horror story of the Obamacare fail for the Federal Way mom isn’t the horror it was made out to be. They usually aren't.

-snip-

“Obamacare Under Fire: EXCLUSIVE,” blared CNN last Monday morning. A reporter did a live stand-up in front of the White House.

“Single Mom Touted by President Loses Insurance,” read the crawl.

-snip-

Except there’s a key detail none of these media outlets mentioned.

Which is: Sanford’s son was discovered to qualify for Medicaid coverage at a cost of just $30 a month. He has ADHD and, according to Sanford, it costs them $250 a month for prescription drugs alone. Which will now all be covered.

It’s true the rest of her insurance won’t get a big discount, as she had first thought.

“That mistake is totally on us,” said Bethany Frey of the Washington state health exchange.

But a bronze-level policy for a 48-year-old woman making $49,000 can be had on the state exchange for $237 a month, and a silver-level policy for $313.

So here’s a family that was totally uninsured for 15 years because it had always cost at least $500 to $600 a month for skimpy policies to cover them both. And what they can get now is full coverage for $30 a month for the son and scantier coverage in the $250 to $300 a month range for the mom.

How is that a horror story? Yet it prompted a live scandalcast in front of the White House by a national news network — which didn’t know, or maybe didn’t want to say, that due to the state health exchange the son now is getting essentially free health care.

Sanford says it’s still too steep for her to pay, so she’s upset, and that’s her call. But I just filled out my annual enrollment here at work, and my insurance, for a family of four, is $1,377 a month (of which the Times thankfully pays 70 percent). Health insurance is grotesquely expensive, and has been for years. The point is: If you can get it for $300 or so a month for two people — especially with a pre-existing condition — that’s no debacle, folks. It’s a deal.

The rest: http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2022321213_westneat24xml.html


November 24, 2013

"I Believe I'm Going To Be A Democrat"

"I believe I'm going to be a Democrat"

That's the report from Kentucky as detailed in the Washington Post about what's happening at the clinics that were set up first.

Soon, Ronald Hudson walked in.

“Okay,” Lively began. “What Hudsons are you kin to?”

“R.T., Uncle Lenny . . .” said Hudson, a skinny 35-year-old who worked as an assistant director at the senior center and had just been released from the hospital after a blood-sugar spike.

He’d never had insurance before and said his hospital bills were up to $23,000 at this point.

“Good night,” Lively said, tapping in his information.

Kids: five. Salary: about $14,000 before taxes.

“You’re going to qualify for a medical card,” she told Hudson.

“Well, thank God,” Hudson said, laughing. “I believe I’m going to be a Democrat.”


The rest: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/24/1258008/--I-believe-I-m-going-to-be-a-Democrat#
November 19, 2013

Photos: Kennedy Hatred in 1960s Dallas Looks A Lot Like Obama Hatred Today

From the right-wing fever swamps the day before JFKs assassination:









The rest: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115636/photos-anti-jfk-protesters

November 18, 2013

Imagine, for a moment, if you will, a NATION-WIDE STRIKE on Black Friday

Suppose a nation wide strike occurred on Black Friday involving all minimum wage workers employed at multinational corporations I.e. Walmart, Target, McDonalds, etc. all striking for immediate higher wages. Workers cross country meeting outside 20 minutes before their shifts and picketing, refusing to step foot inside until their demands are immediately met. This would deal a gigantic blow to these corporations instantly and leave them with no employees for at least most likely 72-96 hours, the time it would take to rehire and train new employees, which would devastate these multinational corporations during the biggest shopping days of the year. Not wanting to destroy 4 or more days of sales across numerous locations, they may rather immediately give in to demands to the current employees who already know the stores top to bottom and how to operate them with no need to find and retrain new employees. Now of course they could slowly fire and rehire new employees that get paid less again, but the sheer disruption to the mainstream capitalist system would not only create a huge media story, but would bring the entire issue of corporate welfare to the forefront as well. Imagine, thousands upon thousands, possibly millions of consumers not being able to consume on those days because there are no workers inside these stores. We could then push this issue on tv, blogs, and social media until even the non-political or aware are asking "yeah, why do billion dollar corporations pay employees so little that I have to subsidize them?"

How do you believe these corporations would react to such a strike? What do you think their gameplan to deal with such a situation would be?

I think sometimes we forget that labor is the superior of capital. The real makers are the workers, the real takers are the CEOs.

Profile Information

Member since: Tue Jul 31, 2012, 06:04 PM
Number of posts: 19,877

About JaneyVee

Work in tv/film production - Unionista UPM for the DGA - Mother - Music Lover - Graduate of The New School economics/film - Born & raised in Williamsburg Brooklyn 1981 - living in Manhattan.
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