I Suppose It's Just Optics….

edited or otherwise. 

We all know by now some version or other of the killing of a black Ferguson teenager by a white Ferguson policeman. We have all heard at least three versions of the police chief's explanation of the chain of events. We have all seen the military-type response to both the outpouring of grief, turned to rage, leading to looting that had nothing to do with the original shooting.

I am pretty sure that somewhere in the midst of all this racism, hatred, and feeling of frustration lies the truth. You can be sure of one thing: if a black policeman had shot and killed a white teenager (whether he was aware of an alleged crime or not) in a white neighborhood (middle-class or poorer…) the aftermath would have been different. And a LOT different if it had been an upperclass area……

Two of the autopsy reports are out: the first really saying nothing. The second one can be somewhat inconclusive except to discredit partially the witnesses belief Brown was shot in the back, but NOT disproving he had his hands up in surrender. Then there are the live tweets about the shooting hat the msm has not touched on. Hmmmmm.

The police department very co-incidently released a surveilance video along with the name (finally) of the shooter who has long since scooted out of town. They were asked not to, since tensions were already high…... I guess the cops were bent out of shape at being replaced by the Highway Patrol folks with a black leader. (My take on things, only)

They released only a portion of the video…..but not this part: 

2:00 PM - 17 Aug 2014

YouTube @YouTube

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/43740_Ferguson-_Down_the_Rabbit_Hole

Then add to the story that the police and others in charge are still attempting to thwart the media from doing their job…informing the public what is really happening…instead of hoping they will rely on sanitized press releases being put out by those "in charge."

http://tinyurl.com/mjcvspy     (Thanks, EZKOOL)

And the officials, and our government (local or otherwise) wonder why we have no faith or trust in them???

Behind The Big Show

UPDATE
Of course the shutdown was no accident either.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/10/07/house-gop-plot-obamacare-shutdown/


In case there was any doubt left in your mind as to where and why this government shutdown....or "slim down" if you happened to catch FOX's coverage...came into being:

" Shortly after President Obama started his second term, a loose-knit coalition of conservative activists led by former Attorney General Edwin Meese III gathered in the capital to plot strategy. Their push to repeal Mr. Obama’s health care law was going nowhere, and they desperately needed a new plan."

"To many Americans, the shutdown came out of nowhere. But interviews with a wide array of conservatives show that the confrontation that precipitated the crisis was the outgrowth of a long-running effort to undo the law, the Affordable Care Act, since its passage in 2010 — waged by a galaxy of conservative groups with more money, organized tactics and interconnections than is commonly known."

"Last week, with the health care exchanges open for business and a number of prominent Republicans complaining that the “Defund Obamacare” strategy was politically damaging and pointless, Mr. Needham of Heritage Action said he felt good about what the groups had accomplished."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/us/a-federal-budget-crisis-months-in-the-planning.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

But in the mainstream media, it is presented like this:

In shutdown blame game, Democrats and Republicans united: It’s the other side’s fault

  Both Sides To Blame For Shutdown

It's easier (and more profitable apparently) to take the loudest talking points that you hear and run with them...instead of delving into them and finding out that it's just the money doing the talking.

Like this: http://democurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2013/10/tea-party-republican-congress-denies.html

Going For The Win One More Time

from the WEB

If at first you don't succeed, try again. The last time at Nascar didn't have quite the effect Mitt was hoping for: In February, while attending the Daytona 500, an AP reporter asked whether he follows the sport. Romney's responded, "Not as closely as some of the most ardent fans. But I have some great friends that are NASCAR team owners." Just.....wow!

So once again, campaigning at the Nascar Technical Institute introducing his new running mate Paul Ryan, Romney attempted the "down-home, regular guy" approach. He mentioned that Ryan's ambition was not to go to Washington, but he wanted to serve his country. He would put his career plans on hold, Mitt said, work for smaller government of course, and "get America back on track."

Just ONE problem:

"As a college student at Miami University in Ohio, he began serving as a staffer for Republican Sen. Bob Kasten. After graduating, he was hired as a speechwriter for Jack Kemp, then a congressman from New York. Ryan, who cited Kemp as a mentor at an event in Manassas, Va., on Saturday, would also work for Kemp's think tank, Empower America, and as a speechwriter on his vice presidential campaign in 1996. He also was a legislative director for then-Sen. Sam Brownback, now governor of Kansas.

Aside from a brief stint working in the marketing department his family's construction company in Janesville, Ryan's life has been almost entirely in government service. 

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57491670-503544/romney-downplays-the-beltway-in-ryans-biography/?tag=stack

And you know what, those people at that event will probably believe it. A white Repub would NEVER lie to his constituents, right? Especially after just meeting with former Nascar Cup Winner Darrell Waltrip........

Romney's pick of Ryan also signals something else: "Political analysts told The Huffington Post that in the careful parlance of national politics, the Romney campaign also confirmed that it likely views minority voters as an unwinnable portion of the electorate in 2012."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/12/paul-ryan-latino-voters_n_1770100.html

Sounds like a crash and burn to me. With the Repubs, some things never change.....

This is Getting Really Old..

"Does anybody really think more debt or taxes to pay for more income re-distribution programs is really going to help anything?...

How can a tax system be called "fair" when 47% of households are getting a free ride on the backs of the 53% who are paying income tax and carrying their own weight in society? Do we really want a society where half the people have to be carried by the other half?.. 

All the corporations combined have never received this much of the taxpayer's money....

 I am tired of paying other people's bills while tens of millions have been trained to keep crying "woe is me". And I see their "benefits" just keep growing..

It is going to take individual responsibility and millions of decent paying private sector jobs to get us out of this mess, NOT more government intervention. No, I don't have the answer as to where those jobs will come from. I just know it will not and should not be from the government."

by *****July 20, 2012 / Comments on an article re: George McGovern on CBS

Trying to debate with someone on this fact-twisting tirade is near impossible. Poor lazy people sitting around with their big screen TVs eating steak, instead of vying with college grads and seniors for those jobs at McDonalds, are the cause of ALL the problems in this country........MY REAR END.

"In America today, the biggest recipients of handouts are not poor people. They're corporations."    Townhall March 23, 2011

I'll even steal a quote from (sorry) John Stossel: 

Or to put it another way: the government spent 50% more on corporate welfare than it did on food stamps and housing assistance in 2006. I wouldn't hazard a guess where it stands today.  But oh, those lazy non-tax paying people getting a free ride on the back of taxpayers.....

And by the way: those on the lower end of the totem pole, usually seniors, unemployed, college students, one-parent families or people working a couple of part-time jobs...DON'T MAKE ENOUGH, with available deductions, to pay additional federal taxes. BUT it's OK for those with millions or billions to USE EVERY LOOPHOLE to lower their rate.

Something else think about:

 The US now ranks 73rd in global income equality, just below Turkmenistan and just above Senegal. The per capita annual incomes of those two countries, respectively, are $1,706 and $1,080.
Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/329022#ixzz21CFE3ub

So, all you NON-CORPORATE BEINGS out there, get going. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Ask your parents for money...unless you're a senior whose parents are long gone, or a college student whose folks just got "downsized." Ignore the fact that you've worked 20 years with a Masters degree. Buy enough stuff with your EBT cards (except tattoos, prostitutes, fake fingernails, liquor, cigarettes, potato chips or lottery tickets) so that all these corporations sitting on billions of profits (what's left after CEO bonuses and political donations) will create those jobs. In turn YOU can get those minimum wage openings, and spend those wages at Walmart who in turn will make a profit, and........you get the picture. Or better yet...the author of the post at the beginning of this article will FINALLY come up with something that doesn't involve the big bad government.

UPDATE: from a HuffPo article just this morning explaining how the poverty level today will pass that of the 60's...Robert Rector, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, believes the social safety net has worked and it's now time to cut back. He worries that advocates may use a rising poverty rate to justify additional spending on the poor, when in fact, he says, many live in decent-size homes, drive cars and own wide-screen TVs.

How totally stupidly ignorant can you be?????


UPATE DEUX: [James Henry says] "This offshore economy is large enough to have a major impact on estimates of inequality of wealth and income; on estimates of national income and debt ratios; and – most importantly – to have very significant negative impacts on the domestic tax bases of 'source' countries" [...]

"These estimates reveal a staggering failure," says John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network. "Inequality is much, much worse than official statistics show, but politicians are still relying on trickle-down to transfer wealth to poorer people.

Give Us Lawyers, Guns and Money

NASHVILLE — The National Rifle Association is spending $75,000 to unseat House Republican Caucus Chairwoman Debra Maggart while asking all state legislators whether they will side next year with the organization, even if it means breaking with GOP leadership.

"As a legislator, would you follow the demands of party leadership even if they run contrary to the NRA's legislative agenda?" one survey item asks. ihttp://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/jul/10/nra-spending-75k-to-unseat-house-gop-chair/

I see that Grover Norquist is alive and well as a clone in the NRA. This group is appealing to the basest of Southern instincts: gun control and the right to "pack" at any given time, at given place.

The NRA and the Tennessee Firearms Association have targeted Maggart for defeat because of her role in blocking a vote on a bill that would allow Tennesseans to keep guns in their locked cars in parking lots, even if the lots are owned by a company or government entity that prohibits firearms on its premises.

I don't believe that the colonists were this obsessed with "being armed" at the time the Constitution was being written. Why, if EVERYBODY was allowed to carry some type of gun anywhere, to "protect himself" from criminals, or opposing viewpoints and religions....we would have NO NEED for any type of police force, private or otherwise. Hmmmmm..........Of course, this is PURELY speculation on my part, and a coincidence that certain shadowy elements are involved:

Koch Industries has vigorously defended ALEC, and has assailed reporting that noted that the company, led by billionaire brothers Charles and David, is a long-time funder and leader of ALEC and that ALEC has long advanced the NRA agenda through "model" gun bills, including Florida's controversial SYG law that was ratified by ALEC in 2005.http://articles.cnn.com/2012-04-06/politics/politics_nra-alec_1_nra-officials-alec-gun-rights?_s=PM:POLITICS

Not all of the Koch money is going to large political pushes the country can see (but won't acknowledge)........a good portion is working it's way insidiously into our local legislation and everyday lives.

Back To The Mayflower: 2012?

Observing events and listening to rhetoric of the last four years, it seems to me that we are right back where we started some four hundred years ago. Or conversely: every year that's passed has sent us one hundred in the OPPOSITE direction. So much for progress.......

Ok, it wasn't just overnight, but what happened? Immigrants and settlers came to this country for many reasons: some to escape religious persecution or to more freely expand their beliefs. Fine. But we've gotten WAY off track here: 

"It strikes me as odd that the free exercise of religious faith is sometimes treated as a problem, something America is stuck with instead of blessed with," Romney said. "Perhaps religious conscience upsets the designs of those who feel that the highest wisdom and authority comes from government."
"There is no greater force for good in the nation than Christian conscience in action," Romney continued.     Romney 5/12, Liberty University

versus

  "What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society?  In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; on many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people… A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it, needs them not."  --James Madison, A Memorial and Remonstrance, 1785 
.

Everyone in this country has the freedom to worship in whatever manner they so choose, with NO ONE Christian, Jew, Muslim, atheist or government dictating how they may do so. Conversely, no religion may have ANY undue influence in  government legislation. The extremists seemed to have gotten the message a little muddled.

Nothing seems to be beyond the reach of overly "religious:"

NEW YORK — Long a lightning rod for conservative criticism, the Girl Scouts of the USA are now facing their highest-level challenge yet: An official inquiry by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

At issue are concerns about program materials that some Catholics find offensive, as well as assertions that the Scouts associate with other groups espousing stances that conflict with church teaching. The Scouts, who have numerous parish-sponsored troops, deny many of the claims and defend their alliances.

Since when does a secular, community-based, loose affiliation of young girls...those taking the time and effort to become upstanding young women, citizens, and contributors to society....have to follow approved church-based (in this case Catholic) teachings? 

And then we all know about this: 

It all follows four months of headline-making salvos that, to some women at least, have begun to feel like a bombardment of sorts. Think: Susan G. Komen ending cancer-screening grants to Planned Parenthood (quickly reversed). And disputes over laws designed to protect women against wage discrimination (Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker last month signed a repeal of his state's equal pay law, while a U.S. Senate candidate in Michigan called a federal equal pay law a "nuisance.") 

Each side blames the other for the histrionics, and the end result is that  all women's rights, not just reproductive, are being whittled away. That's all well and good for those that actually believe these tenets. The rest of us SHOULD NOT be forced to bow to these archaic, unfortunate rulings, and politicians who say we do are simply pushing their own religious views.The rights of some should NOT mitigate the rights of ALL.
And don't get me started on the current treatment and denigration of unemployed workers, the poor, nonwhites, children, students, single mothers, seniors, people who don't know where their next meal is coming from, those without decent medical insurance.....

In the latest budget reconciliation package is a proposal to cut $400 million in bonus money used by states to find and enroll children who are likely to qualify for and benefit from CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program)...  “The whole purpose of the funds is to make sure that children who are eligible based on state-determined standards have an easier time — getting enrolled.

And Republicans think we need to nip that in the bud.Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/gop-to-states-stop-looking-for-poor-children-to-insure.html#ixzz1u0EurxdR

People found their way to our shores from England, Spain, Ireland, Africa just to name a few. They came to escape prison, to make money and own land, start a new life, for adventure, as indentured slaves (whites and blacks), as brides for settlers already here....for all sorts of reasons. This was the Land of Opportunity. Now in 2012, life seems as if it going the other way.....are the opportunities going to be elsewhere? Where is our Mayflower?  Do we have to board a ship, take to the sea, and search for a better land, or can we make our voices heard right here?  Or SOS? The choice is ours. Make your voice heard.