Is it safe?

 

I haven't posted in a couple of years but I have been active on Twitter @cakeordemocracy.  

I hope everyone is well.   Looking forward to the shit show ending on Jan 23rd.  

Two Corinthians walk into a bar - Donald Trump - The country's greatest and last stand-up comic

It has been too long but it is time to get back in the wagon - Blog post in progress

Boycott Arizona for its anti-gay legislation - I have a better idea!

Many are calling for the boycott of Arizona in the wake of their proposed anti-gay legislation.

A bill, SB 1062, passed by the Arizona legislature awaits the signature of Republican Gov. Jan Brewer. The law would allow business to reject gay and lesbian customers, employers to skimp on equal wages for its female employee and individuals to break contract obligations – all under the guise of religious freedom.

I say Arizona isn't going far enough.  What about adulators and masturbators?  Both practitioners are admonished in the bible.
What's with the free ride?  Arizona hasn't gone after them like they have after gays and people of brown skin.
Republicans are trying to to turn the Bible into the basis for American law.

Shouldn't adultery which is much more common than homosexuality be on their biblical radar?   Let's check the relative interest by searching the internet for the following combinations.

Google results

Bible and homosexual 4,180,000 results

Bible and adultery - 3,940,000 results

Bible and masturbation - 42,000 results

Wow!  The results indicate a greater interest in homosexual as a topic than adultery.  Masturbation isn't even on the radar.  Of Arizona's population of 6,626,624 people they has to be more than 42,000 teenage boys who have googled masturbation to see if they would go blind.

Even though Adultery is specifically mentioned in the Ten Commandments Arizonians are still more worried about homosexuals.  It appears that people get madder if you sleep with their brothers than their wives. 

Maybe they're afraid if they had a similar ban for adulterers and masturbators that every teenage boy would flee the state as would half of their adult male and female population and not to mention, a few sheep.

We know this is not Arizona’s first dip of their golden tanned toes into the waters of intolerance.  Remember Arizona refusal to support the implementation of a holiday to honor Martin Luther King.

Arizona is also home to Sheriff Joe Arpaio who is scheduled to be deposed by the Justice Department for a litany of civil rights violations against Latinos – the "unlawful and unconstitutional" targeting and detention of people because of their "race, color or national-origin."

Arizona faced further boycotts for its' “The Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act” Arizona Senate Bill 1070.  It is the broadest and strictest anti-illegal immigration measure in recent U.S. history.

And here we are once again discussing boycotting Arizona for another piece of hateful discriminatory legislation.  Boycott, boycott, boycott.......

I say we aren't going far enough.  Boycotts don’t seem to bother them.  Hell, I think they rather like them. Like a feather in their cap.  Time to step in up a notch.
Let's use their own logic; as native son Barry Goldwater once said
" I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!"

I'm in Barry - let's go.  Let's defend gay people's liberty.
How about bombing Arizona?
That'll get their attention!  Hell, another one of their native sons is an advocate for bombing.
Sen. McCain once sang about bombing Iran at a fund raiser to the chorus of the Beach Boys' classic "Barbara Ann" — "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, anyway....”.  That was covered nicely in the most popular version by Vince Vance & The Valiants.

Bombing too much for you?  Okay, how about an embargo like we have against Cuba or Iran.  If Arizona is going to act like a third-world country then let's treat them like one.

Henceforth we will not ship any sun tan lotion or water to Arizona.
Let them get a little thirsty.  Let the sun take them from a nice base of brown to a third degree burn.

I give them a few days and they will come crawling back with arms outstretched to welcome back gays, Latinos and teenage boys.
That oughta do it.

When Pigs Fly (you just won't be able to videotape it)

The food industry has a history of animal abuse.  Here are a few examples from the many cases that have been criminal prosecuted. They were brought to the public and the legal system’s attention by animal right activist who secretly recorded the abuse.  But the videotaping of animal abuse on farms is becoming the crime.

Drop that camera or else.

Dec 2007 - A local prosecutor in North Carolina is investigating allegations of animal cruelty by a pig farm supplying Smithfield Foods, the nation’s largest pork producer. The investigation comes after an animal rights activist secretly videotaped workers beating and dragging swine, gouging out their eyes and cutting out their testicles. (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316624,00.html)

Feb 2008- Prosecutors filed animal abuse charges Friday against two former Chino slaughterhouse workers who were secretly videotaped ramming cattle with forklifts, shocking them with electrical prods and using a water spray torture the district attorney called "water boarding."

(http://www.pe.com/local-news/reports/beef-recall/beef-recall-headlines/20080216-abuse-charges-filed-in-chino-slaughterhouse-case.ece)

July 2011 - Four former workers at a now closed North Carolina testing lab have been indicted on felony animal cruelty charges. The charges follow Norfolk-based PETA's undercover investigation at Professional Laboratory and Research Services, Inc. in Corapeake that captured video images of animals being hit, kicked and thrown.

(http://www.wvec.com/news/Former-NC-testing-lab-workers-indicted-on-animal-cruelty-charges-125131164.html)

Feb 2012 - Six workers at a Butterball turkey farm in North Carolina face criminal charges after an undercover video revealed alleged animal abuse, and a state employee who tipped off Butterball before a police raid on the farm has pled guilty to obstruction of justice.

(http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/butterball-workers-arrested-animal-cruelty-charges/story?id=15637180#.UXRh7Mo09GM)

 

In each one of the above cases people and companies were successfully prosecuted. But thanks to our old friend the American Legislative Exchange Council (See my blogpost -  http://cakeordemocracy.blogspot.com/2012/04/wednesday-warns-us-about-american.html)
it may become illegal to covertly videotape livestock farms, or apply for a job at one without disclosing ties to animal rights groups.

You may remember the American Legislative Exchange Council also known as ALEC as a “business advocacy group”. They are behind such creative business advocacy efforts as “stand your ground” gun laws and tighter voter identification rules. You know things every business needs to succeed, like continuing to abuse animals without the fear of being caught.

ALEC's logic makes my head hurt

ALEC in a brilliant twist of Orwellian logic generated “The Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act,” which prohibits filming or taking pictures on livestock farms to “defame the facility or its owner.” Violators would be placed on a “terrorist registry.” It only makes sense that Orwell wrote Animal Farm. Remember “Four legs good, two legs bad” unless you happen to be in the food chain.

so help me I will shoot you in the nuts

So the people who document animal abuse are now terrorists.

Given that we were once again reminded in Boston what terror really is, ALEC should be ashamed of itself for the misuse of the word.

How would you like to have a rebellion named after you?

There has been much debate over the 2^nd amendment and the associated issue of gun control.  It is a very complicated subject and both sides have ample supporting evidence for their polar positions.

One of the rationales for those opposed to gun control is the issue of guns and implied right to overthrow a tyrannical government. I am going to focus on that aspect in this blog.

Interestingly a civilian rebellion was a contributing factor to the strengthening of the role of the Federal Government during the formation of our country.

Before Twitter you had to physically attack your opponent

One such attempted overthrow was the Shay’s Rebellion in 1786. It was an armed uprising that took place in central and western Massachusetts.  If the founding fathers were all in favor of encouraging the citizenry to rebel whenever they felt the government was veering towards tyranny they surely would not have squashed the uprising. The rebellion was named after Daniel Shays, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War and one of the rebel leaders.   The rebellion was rooted in financial difficulties brought about by a post-Revolutionary war economic depression, a credit squeeze caused by a lack of hard currency, and fiscally harsh government policies instituted to solve the state's debt problems. Interestingly, a “militia” raised as a private army by the government to defeat the rebels.

The rebellion was seen a sign of weakness of the fledgling federal government which operated under the Articles of Confederation. The Articles established the United States of America as a confederation of sovereign states and served as its first constitution. Using logic commonly used today - it was the constitution before there was a U.S.Constitution.  The Articles framework was considered a weak government by many nationalists (Federalists).  It is believed that the Shay’s rebellion played a role in convincing anti-federalists to support the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.  The Constitution provided for a strong Federal government.

Now we all know what is contained in the Second Amendment.

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.".

A little longer than the modified statement we more often hear.  The truncated version of the slogan is used by the NRA and is carved over the door of their main headquarters.

“The Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms Shall Not Be Infringed.”
  
The NRA modified the original slogan not only be leaving out a key part of the amendment (A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state) but they capitalized letters adding emphasis where there was none. The phrase and intent of the missing section of the 2nd amendment is fodder for another blog. Let's just continue with armed revolutions against the federal government.

For those who believe that the founding fathers wanted to make sure that the populace had the legal footing to overthrow government through violent means might be interested to see how that was generally greeted.

Interestingly most people who led rebellions against the federal government generally ended up in prison or put to death.  If they were really lucky the rebellions were named after them.

Old time political cartoons rock!

The Dorr Rebellion was a brief armed insurrection in Rhode Island.  Surprisingly it was led by a man named Thomas Wilson Dorr.  Thomas was agitating for changes to the state's electoral system.  Dorr was found guilty of treason against the state, and was sentenced in 1844 to solitary confinement and hard labor for life.

John Brown was an American abolitionist who wanted to overthrow slavery. During 1856 in Kansas, Brown commanded forces at the Battle of Black Jack and the Battle of Osawatomie. Brown's followers also killed five pro-slavery supporters at Pottawatomie. In 1859, Brown led an unsuccessful raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry that ended with his capture. Brown's trial resulted in his conviction and a sentence of death by hanging.  John got a song named after him.

Bacon's Rebellion was an armed rebellion in 1676 by Virginia settlers led by Nathaniel Bacon. The colony's lightly organized frontier political culture combined with accumulating grievances, especially regarding Indian attacks. The rebellion was suppressed by government troops. Ever since men have been in love with Bacon.
  

Now there is a good combination

The Whiskey Rebellion was a tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791. In Western Pennsylvania, protesters used violence and intimidation to prevent federal officials from collecting the tax. President George Washington responded with 13,000 militia provided by the governors of Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Washington rode at the head of an army to suppress the insurgency. The rebels all went home before the arrival of the army, and there was no confrontation. I am pretty sure there was alot of drinking involved so I am surprised no one got killed.

The Whiskey Rebellion demonstrated that the new national government had the willingness and ability to suppress violent resistance to its laws.
I am not seeing the founding father's wishes for chaos of revolution against a democratic society.

There have been other rebellions that ended up with pretty much the same outcomes; Nat Turner's Rebellion, the Wounded Knee incident, the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783 and The Anti-Rent War to name a few.

There was even a was a rebellion against the selective service draft during WWI - the Green Corn Rebellion.  They were so cool they even had a manifesto.

"Now is the time to rebel against this war with Germany, boys. Boys, get together and don't go. Rich man's war. Poor man's fight. The war is over with Germany if you don't go and J.P. Morgan & Co. is lost. Their great speculation is the only cause of the war."

So we have had a couple of rebellions and pretty much people just got hung for their part it in.  Now there was one more rebellion but for the moment the details escape me. Something about the war of Northern Aggression or some silly name like that.....

Yea, I am pretty sure the U.S. Government supports  ballot boxes and not bullets as  the  mechanism of change

It seems that it can not be truly known what the founding fathers intended.  Much has been written on both sides of the debate. The early government had a fear of standing armies.  They considered armies like the British had to be oppressors. Some believe that the 2nd amendment is for the right and establishment of militias (i.e State Police) to be the protective force for the country.

Even f the founding fathers believed in the individual’s rights to bear arms.  Certainly they could not have imagined a world with 30 bullet clips and automated weapons that can make one person a deadly killing machine.  That schools, malls and theaters would become slaughterhouses. Even
Perhaps with a tip of the hat to the founding fathers the resolution can be is that you can have all the muskets you want.

It doesn't seem likely that we will ever find common ground. Personally I believe in citizen’s right to own guns (at least some guns). They should be registered (just like we do for cars) and have to undergo background checks (like we do for certain occupations who have access to potentially dangerous materials). Maybe just to keep it simple you can have all the muskets you want.

It's time for us to speak up. It's time to take action

Sandy Hook – we are all horrified by the terrible events that occurred that day.  A parent’s greatest fear is to have to bury their child.  It goes against nature.

The details are painful to hear.  The children were struck with as many as 11 bullets. All were shot multiple times.  The type of bullet used was optimized to cause the most damage.  The rifle used to kill the defenseless victims is capable of firing up to six bullets per second.

Under the 1994 federal ban on such weapons, buying some variants of new AR-15s was against the law. The ban expired in 2004.

credit Don Wasserman Boston Globe

I have written about many subjects during the short existence of this blog, none harder than this.  Other people have stated our collective revulsion and gut wrenching response so much better than I could ever hope to.  It took awhile for me to realize that it is the time for all of us, individually and collectively to raise our voices. Here are some organizations that have been in the forefront. We can support them, we can participate

The Children’s Defense League has been a leading advocate for our children.  They are a non-profit child advocacy organization that has worked for nearly 40 years to ensure a level playing field for all children.  They recently released a report gun violence against children.

“The most recent analysis of data from 23 high-income countries reported that 87 percent of children under age 15 killed by guns in these nations lived in the United States. And the U.S. gun homicide rate for teens and young adults 15 to 24 was 42.7 times higher than the combined gun homicide rate for that same age group in the other countries.”  (From the Children’s Defense League report “Protect Children Not Guns 2012” http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/data/protect-children-not-guns-2012.pdf)

The Children's Defense League are great advocates for our kids.  You can send a donation online http://www.childrensdefense.org/

Another organization Mayors Against Illegal Guns partnered with survivors of recent mass shootings -- including Aurora, Tuscon and Virginia Tech -- and the families of the victims to launch www.DemandAPlan.org.  

According to the website “Demand a Plan is a campaign of Mayors Against Illegal Guns -- a national, bipartisan coalition of mayors working to make America’s communities safer by keeping illegal guns out of dangerous hands. Co-founded in 2006 by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, the coalition has grown from a committed group of 15 members to more than 800 mayors, including Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, from major cities and small towns around the country. We have more than half a million grassroots supporters, making us the largest gun violence prevention advocacy organization in the country.”  Online you can sign a petition, share it on social media, tweet the President, support the campaign and stay connected.

Here are some other organizations you can support.
Woman against Gun Violence - www.wagv.org/
The Brady Center -  www.bradycenter.org
Coalition to Stop Gun Violence - www.csgv.org/

One year to the day before he would be killed by a gun, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation. We must move past indecision to action .  If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark, and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.”

Let’s remember all the victims from the Tucson shootings, the Aurora Movie Theater, the Oregon Mall.  There are many other murders that don't get the same media coverage.  Remember that 260 school children were killed in Chicago in the last 3 years.  

The NRA has 4.3 million members. The U.S. population is 315 million of which 74 million are children.  The NRA represents less than 2% of us.  Clearly the very small vocal minority has been driving this issue.  
It's time for us to speak up and take action.

Lloyd Blankfein channels Leona Helmsley

here's to the little people

WE don't pay Taxes

As the late hotel-chain-owning billionaire Leona Helmsley famously said in 1983, "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes..."   Of course she was later jailed for tax evasion.

Helmsley isn’t the only rich person who was consumed with little people.  We now have Lloyd Blankfein CEO of Goldman Sachs.  Look, I‘m a reasonable guy.  I don’t expect CEOs of companies to publicly campaign to have their taxes raised or to campaign to repeal special interest legislation that favors them.  I expect companies to work in their best interest. 

I am not surprised when companies engage in criminal activities in the pursuit of profit and even less so when they get away with it.  Take Lloyd for example.  Last I saw Lloyd he was testifying in front of Congress in the wake of the 2008 Financial Crises.  

Anyone have a seat cushion?

As a result of that two-year bipartisan investigation Senator Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Senator Tom Coburn M.D., R-Okla. issued a 635-page final report on their inquiry into key causes of the financial crisis.  The report catalogs conflicts of interest, heedless risk-taking and failures of federal oversight that helped push the country into the deepest recession since the Great Depression.

WALL STREET  AND

THE FINANCIAL  CRISIS: Anatomy of a Financial Collapse

I read it (with a healthy portion of skimming) – it is fascinating.

Would look so much better in stripes

Following the release of the report Senator Carl Levin recommended that Goldman executives who testified before his panel, including chairman and chief executive Lloyd Blankfein, be referred to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution.

Unfortunately, and for a lot of reasons other than possible guilt, the Justice Department decided not to pursue the case. 

To which Senator Levin said

 “Whether the decision by the Department of Justice is the product of weak laws or weak enforcement, Goldman Sachs” actions were deceptive and immoral,”  

Report TOC - Goldman Sachs references

Keep in mind that Goldman Sachs had already paid $550 million to settle a related civil matter brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.  When your company comprises half of a 635 page report you are doing something seriously wrong.

So you may be wondering why I am rehashing the past.  Why after all certainly Mr. Blankfein was punished for his actions right?  Wasn’t he?  Well actually, Goldman Sachs paid him a lot of money for getting away with it.

That's right - half of the report was about Goldman Sachs

So in our time of greatest need, Lloyd and a bunch of his fellow CEOs have banded together to save us from Social Security and the rest of the so-called "safety net."

During the past few days, CEOs belonging to what the campaign calls its CEO Fiscal Leadership Council -- most visibly, Goldman Sachs' Lloyd Blankfein and Honeywell's David Cote -- have barnstormed the media, making the case that the only way to cut the deficit is to severely scale back social safety-net programs -- Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security -- which would disproportionately impact the poor and the elderly.

We are here to save you

The companies represented by executives working with the Campaign to Fix the Debt have received trillions in federal war contracts, subsidies and bailouts, as well as specialized tax breaks and loopholes that virtually eliminate the companies' tax bills.

The CEOs are part of a campaign run by the Peter Peterson-backed Center for a Responsible Federal Budget, which plans to spend at least $30 million pushing for a deficit reduction deal in the lame-duck session and beyond.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/25/deficit-reduction-council-fiscal-cliff_n_2185585.html

Blankfein appearing on CBS News showed his in depth understanding of social security when he said

65 - 18 = 25

“You can look at history of these things, and Social Security wasn't devised to be a system that supported you for a 30-year retirement after a 25-year career. ... So there will be things that, you know, the retirement age has to be changed, maybe some of the benefits have to be affected, maybe some of the inflation adjustments have to be revised. But in general, entitlements have to be slowed down and contained.”

Here’s a guy who is supposed to be good with numbers.  He is responsible for billions of dollars which are a form of numbers.  He can’t figure out that most people work from 18 to 65 which is 47 years not 25.  A lot of people start at 16 and have to now work past 65.  No wonder Goldman Sachs sucks with people’s money.

The people who most need social security the most are people with less means.  And with less means comes along shorter life expectancies.  Life expectancy for poorer US citizens is five years less than that for affluent citizens, say researchers from Rice University and the University of Colorado at Boulder. 

Source - http://news.rice.edu/2012/06/21/poorer-us-citizens-live-five-years-less-than-affluent-countrymen-2/

The 30 year retirement Blankfein is rallying about is really 12 years when you only live to the age of 77.1.

Let me try that again 65-33 = 7

Blankfein instead of being in jail where he belonged is now worried about the great evil social security.  Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase would be out of business if it were not for government bailouts.  Other companies involved in Fix the Debt rely heavily on federal contracts.  Talk about mouth to the teat.  

All the while companies lobby Congress to maintain a bloated defense budget.  Last year we spent 711 billion dollars on our defense.  More than the next 9 highest nations combined. 

What about the abuse of carried interest?  The New York State Attorney General is investigating whether some of the nation’s biggest private equity firms have converted certain management fees (taxed at 35%) collected from their investors into fund investments, which are taxed at a far lower rate (15%) than ordinary income.

Carried Interest - not only is it profitable - it's fun!

Between 2007 and 2011, Apollo Global Management converted more than $131 million in fees into investments in its funds.  KKR & Co. L.P. (formerly known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.) converted more than $180 million in fees between 2007 and 2009.  Between those two companies 331 million dollars was taxed at 15% instead of the rightful 35%.  

 

Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman compared Obama’s push for the tax change to Hitler’s invasion of Poland. 

I get the analogy

There needs to be a rational discussion on social security.  Given the “expertise” of these CEOs I would to see them get their hand out of my pocket before worrying about my retirement.

Have they suggested cutting defense spending?  Rolling back legislation that allows them to avoid their tax liabilities?  Advocating for laws that protect the consumer?  No, but then to my earlier point.  I didn’t expect them to.

It is also interesting  to note that on the “Who we are” page of “Fix the Debt” website that neither co-chair retired Senator Judd Gregg (now working for Goldman Sachs) or former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell (now working for investment bank Greenhill & Co.) have any mention of their ties to these giant financial institutions.  Apparently they are just devout public servants trying to do their best for the country.  Spare me.  http://www.fixthedebt.org/who-we-are

According to S&P Capital IQ based on as reported total executive compensation:

• JPMorgan Chase CEO James Dimon: $23.1 million

• Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf: $19.8 million

• Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein: $16.2 million

• Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit: $14.9 million

• Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan: $8.1 million

 Source:  http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnist/krantz/story/2012-05-29/highly-paid-bank-ceos/55266562/1

So Lloyd has demonstrated that he loves the little people and is very concerned about us.  So much so that he is taking time out of busy schedule to count the number of years I work and to ensure that I don't expect too much.  

If you have anymore interest in what Lloyd has been up to here are some links to stories written by Matt Tabbi.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-people-vs-goldman-sachs-20110511?print=true 

 and

 http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/pictures/how-goldman-execs-screwed-their-clients-and-lied-to-congress-20110511/david-viniar-0798198