Day: January 15, 2014

Poverty and Inequality, in Charts – NYTimes.com

A growing problem in the US is the growing numbers of people living in poverty and income inequality…..I know not many care as long as they are personally secure…..and to me that is the biggest problem….apathy!

You want an example?  Too bad gonna get one anyway.

Take JP Morgan and their latest ‘fine’…..in the neighborhood of $100 million……and the story is that they are taking away from the shareholders….not that they are forced to pay a penitence for stealing billions from retirees…..that my friends is called….APATHY!

Poverty and Inequality, in Charts – NYTimes.com.

The Day Net Neutrality Died

Remember This Day!

In the past year or so there has been much to do about the net…..and one of the biggest contentions is the neutrality of the net and its users….the argument has raged on and on and it finally went before the Supreme Court……and if you bet that they would do all in their power to kill net neutrality, I mean they are the ones that think companies are people, you would be correct………. so what do you think their ruling would be?

Yesterday was the day net neutrality died, with a court ruling that Internet service providers aren’t bound by FCC non-discrimination rules—so they can prioritize some traffic over others. The decision may mean major changes for the everyday user, and today, media sites are offering the details. Among their warnings:

  • The Wall Street Journal reports that the decision could have a huge impact on sites like Netflix and YouTube, whose video services hog a lot of bandwidth (they account for 32% and 19% of peak web traffic, respectively). If ISPs start making Netflix, for instance, pay a usage fee to maintain speedy content delivery, that cost could make a serious dent in its profits—or trickle down to consumers.
  • ISPs could charge sites big fees in exchange for faster content delivery, potentially giving giants who can pay, like Amazon, a big leg up over independent retailers—not to mention other small businesses, the Huffington Post notes. Providers might even go so far as to prioritize traffic to partner sites—Time Warner might push CNN, for example.
  • Another anti-competitive fear, via BuzzFeed: Big companies might start paying your data fees for the use of their sites. That might sound good—free data?—but it would mean that companies with the ability to pay would have a major advantage over start-ups in winning users. As BuzzFeed points out, “If, in this future, you’re choosing between two streaming music services, and one of them pays for your data, there’s a very good chance you’re going to pick that one.”
  • Beyond concerns over fees, there are worries that providers could block certain websites completely: Comcast users could theoretically end up with no access to, say, Netflix or Vonage, writes Troy Wolverton in the San Jose Mercury News.
  • But net neutrality, in some form, may live to see another day, the Journal notes, reporting that the ruling “left open the door for the FCC to craft rules in a different form that might accomplish its earlier intentions.”

So while you were jerking off over the endlessly Christie stories….SCOTUS strikes again.

Dictator In Waiting

Have you had enough of Christie doing what he does best….covering his ass?  Then if you have I will give you a little info that may not have made it through the grapevine to your pc……

We all know, well most of us know, that the new head of the Fed is a woman named Yellin…..but did you know that there will also be a couple new vice chairs of the Fed (another name for dictator in waiting)?

Thanx to ABC News for the update…….

President Barack Obama intends to nominate Stanley Fischer, a former head of the Bank of Israel, to be vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, replacing Janet Yellen, who is ascending to the central bank’s chairmanship.

Fischer, a dual citizen of the United States and Israel, is considered a leading expert on monetary policy. He was a long-time professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Departing Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke was one of his students.

Not a big deal. right?  WRONG!

I do not think this person should be allowed to hold the position….why?  Simple…he holds dual citizenship and was the head of the Bank of Israel…..dual citizenship?  Pick one!  This should not be allowed.  Will he oversee policies that will effect Israel?  If so, will he be biased in their favor?

If you cannot have dual citizenship to be prez then it should be unacceptable to have it if you lead one of the most powerful entities in the world……personally, I think we ought to flush the Fed down the toilet but as long as we must have it then the people running it should be above reproach…….this guy cannot say that as long as he retains citizenship in another country…..

Thoughts?

Iraq: Obama Is To Blame

Today will be my hodge podge day…..posts on various happenings that I found needed to be written about before they disappear from the media’s radar……

We pulled out of Iraq awhile back……and of course there are those ‘people’ (I use the term loosely) that did not like it….US leaving a chuck of land that we had conquered……people like McCain and Graham just mention a few, the most vocal few……

Fast forward to last week…….AQ in Iraq is kicking the Iraqi’s army ass and with some assistence the government may lose hold of the north of Iraq……enter McCain and Graham……

From CNN Political Ticker

As the Iraqi army and al Qaeda-linked militants battle for control of the city of Falluja, Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham are slamming the Obama administration for its Iraq policy.More than two years after the administration failed to reach a status of forces agreement with Iraq and withdrew all American combat troops from the country, the two senior Republican senators are blaming President Barack Obama for the violence erupting there this week.

“While many Iraqis are responsible for this strategic disaster, the administration cannot escape its share of the blame. When President Obama withdrew all U.S. forces from Iraq in 2011, over the objections of our military leaders and commanders on the ground, many of us predicted that the vacuum would be filled by America’s enemies and would emerge as a threat to U.S. national security interests. Sadly, that reality is now clearer than ever,” said McCain, of Arizona, and Graham, of South Carolina, in a statement.

Typical bullshit from two of the biggest hypocrites on the Hill……I know they think that we Americans are a stupid lot and they can go around blew their BS and not be called on it……I hate these two mental midgets cannot grasp reality beyond their narrow little brains can conceive…..

Yes we Americans pulled out of Iraq……but Maliki is as much to blame as anyone…..ever hear of the Status of Forces agreement?

Don’t hurt yourself…I will help…..

The proposed agreement, which took nearly a year to negotiate with the United States, not only sets a date for American troop withdrawal, but puts new restrictions on American combat operations in Iraq starting Jan. 1 and requires an American military pullback from urban areas by June 30. Those hard dates reflect a significant concession by the departing Bush administration, which had been publicly averse to timetables.

Iraq also obtained a significant degree of jurisdiction in some cases over serious crimes committed by Americans who are off duty and not on bases.

this from 2011………..”last 43,000 U.S. troops will leave Iraq by the end of the year was designed to mask an unpleasant truth: The troops aren’t being withdrawn because the U.S. wants them out. They’re leaving because the Iraqi government refused to let them stay.”

That is correct….Iraq did not want us to stay!  Could someone please let the ‘hero’ McCain know that it was Iraq’s decision that the US leave…….and please stop treating the American people as morons……that honor remains for those serving in the Congress.