Lori #Compas for WI State #Senator (vs #Fitzgerald recall) 2/28/2012

Here’s a video of Lori’s campaign announcement today in Jefferson.  Click above and see the video ... something we will all want to track!

#JS #Politifact #WRS Contortions - #Retirees is #Walker "Open" ? - NOT

3/19/12 - This is one of those issues you need to put in your long term memory ... it will sneak up on you like a stealth bomber or drone ... it is not an issue of ideology it is an issue of greed ... keep it current!!

Untouchable Pensions May Be Tested in California from NYT 3/17/2012

___________________________________
A user's Twitter about the Wisconsin Retirement System by Politifact (JS) recently got my attention. It said ...

#WEAC claim about WI Retirement System is false: http://ow.ly/9jQU4” #Wirecall

I did a "Find" (Ctl-f) on the article looking for "WEAC" ... none found ... so what about this tweet ... Tweet already false unless the author knows something we do not ... highly possible.  I did find a reference to the "state teachers union."  JS is commenting on a "Chain Email" ...
 

Says Gov. Scott Walker is "openly" backing a move to abolish the state retirement system and convert it to a 401(k)-style plan that will reduce pensions "by at least a third" for current and retired public employees  

Subtitled:

Chain email says Gov. Scott Walker supports a move to abolish the state retirement system and reduce pensions.

 So which statement is Politifact checking and more importantly what information/knowledge (if any) are they contributing to the issue.  Having read the article I conclude that Politifact is judging on it's Truth-0-Meter whether Governor Walker is "Openly backing a move to abolish the state retirement system (WRS)" ... they conclude this is FALSE.  I have to agree but it is all about that word OPEN.


All of the officials interviewed were careful to walk the line and not be open or direct.

We asked Mike Huebsch, secretary of the state Department of Administration, if the study would look at putting future hires into a 401(k)-style plan, as Michigan did. We also asked about "hybrid" systems, which combine the traditional guaranteed pension with a 401(k)- type program, such as in Indiana. And we asked if the study included a purely voluntary option where employees could choose to participate in a 401(k)-type program.

Huebsch said all three approaches would be studied but "there is no intent at this point of forcing anybody into a system they wouldn’t want to be part of."...

Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie reiterated that Walker would await the study to determine if any changes needed to be made. No specific options are under active consideration, he said.

Then we see legislation introduced immediately and rushed to the Governor for a signature.  So indeed no one is being open and direct but they do have an agenda ...will it be discovered?

One of the email’s most provocative suggestions is that existing employees -- and even those already retired -- would see major benefit reductions.
 ...

The state Employee Trust Funds department, which administers the pension fund, said in a statement on its website that any changes "could only apply to the accrual of future benefits." That leaves open changing benefits going forward for current employees.

Can you imagine all state retirees (maybe employees) being required to spend all that time trying to decide how to invest their probably meager "accrued earnings".  1) I am sure the "Financial Adviser" lobby and business loves this idea - more fees. 2) Court appointed guardians may love it too since they get to charge you for their time while they ponder your big retirement investment decisions ... and don't forget the financial adviser is still getting a piece! 3) Tax filing will become more complicated as you must now report and conform to annual distribution requirements

Governor Walker and his administration is certainly not "open".  Annuitants in WRS should worry ... a lot!  Glad he is gone!

#Walker hidden  agenda #elites #1% #JS #Politifact #WRS Contortions - #Retirees is #Walker "Open" ? - NOT vs 47% #99% Glad he is gone!

#NYT 2/26 Fine Line Between #SuperPACs and Campaigns - #Romney Illustrated

The NYT article, published on 2/25 and appearing in print 2/26, illustrates just how "money talks". The link to a multi-media graphic is a must see ... click on title ...

When Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign needs advice on direct mail strategies for reaching voters, it looks to TargetPoint Consulting. And when the independent “super PAC” supporting him needs voter research, it, too, goes to TargetPoint.

Here is the link to to the graphic ... don't get dizzy ...

NYT ... Fine Line Graphic ... SuperPacs and Campaigns Co-Habit

3P: The Oil and Gas Industry’s Take on “Dealing with NGOs” -WI- Gogebic

Wait - I have sand in my eyes -... People, Planet, Profit  ... probably will surprise you ... !

When it comes to influencing public opinion, it’s framing that counts. We do it at TriplePundit when we talk about the need for sustainable business solutions, the President does it when he lays the case for his political agenda and NGOs do it when they ask for donations. It’s no surprise that the Oil and Gas Industry does it when they consider public support (or lack thereof) for natural gas development.

It’s not often that one gets to take an inside peek at another organization’s framing, but when you do, it’s enlightening.

This PowerPoint from the recent “Media and Stakeholder Relations: Hydraulic Fracturing Initiative 2011” meeting in Houston is worth a view. The presentation, by oil industry front Energy in Depth is entitled “Understanding, Responding to and Working with Environmental NGOs.”

That’s kind of nice isn’t it? To think that this group is interested in understanding the position of Environmental NGOs. The more optimistic among you might even be thinking that the group is looking for areas of mutual understanding.

So what does this have to do with Wisconsin!  Well I am not sure but from my limited understanding WI has a lot of special sand that is used in "fracking".   There has been a lot of pressure/news about relaxing zoning/regulation rules in WI, even preventing local communities from regulating their backyard.  The same group of special interests that serves the Gogebic Mining game!

WI 1848 Forward: 3P: The #Oil and #Gas Industry’s Take on “Dealing with #NGO s” -WI- #Gogebic : #Walker #DNR vs #47%

Gogebic Mining - an environment problem we don't need!

UPD: 20140905


Huge mine may shrink away from Ashland County, Gogebic Taconite says

UPD: 20131223

Gogebic Mine reeling from sucker punch

UPD: 7/9/2013 'Bulletproof' Arizona security team raises hackles at Gogebic mine site

Read more: http://host.madison.com/tncms/asset/editorial/24cb77d0-9444-5ba8-948c-acad96f5e315/#ixzz2YZnwazwn_________
UPD: 1/2/2013 ... Is Walker going to try and sell the environment again?
______
16 million tons of material a year (WPR 2/2712)... aquifer draw down ... surface water quality ... impact on Lake Superior!

When special interests are able to create "narratives" about jobs the rest of us all lose ... especially our future and the environment! The "jobs" have probably been exaggerated and are of little consequence. The "Mining" interests not only need to use best practices to avoid unanticipated consequences they need to "bond" to pay for the possibilities of things going bad long after they are gone!

If those costs are incorporated into the project and not allowed to be ignored the "mining" might not happen. When oversight gets lessened and regulation diluted it affects many other "projects" and our lives, our environment and those that come after us!

I have included a video that tells a positive story about "wetland recovery".  My real point is that it should never have been necessary ... but we seem to always repeat ourselves ...

The return of wetlands results in the natural return of wapato (potato), which was absent from the Yakama National reservation for 70 years. Video by Emily Washines.

WI 1848 Forward:  #Gogebic #Mining - an #environment problem we don't need! - #Walker #GOP #DEMS #47% #99% #WiVote 

#Gogebic #Mining #Foxconn WI 1848 Forward: #environment problem we don't need! - #Walker #GOP #Trump #WiVote

WSJ: FBI Turns Off Thousands of GPS Devices After Supreme Court Ruling

Wonder who they "are" tracking?

The Supreme Court’s recent ruling overturning the warrantless use of GPS tracking devices has caused a “sea change” inside the U.S. Justice Department, according to FBI General Counsel Andrew Weissmann.

Mr. Weissmann, speaking at a University of San Francisco conference called “Big Brother in the 21st Century” on Friday, said that the court ruling prompted the FBI to turn off about 3,000 GPS tracking devices that were in use.

These devices were often stuck underneath cars to track the movements of the car owners. In U.S. v. Jones, the Supreme Court ruled that using a device to track a car owner without a search warrant violated the law.

After the ruling, the FBI had a problem collecting the devices that it had turned off, Mr. Weissmann said. In some cases, he said, the FBI sought court orders to obtain permission to turn the devices on briefly – only in order to locate and retrieve them.

WI 1848 Forward: #WSJ : #FBI Turns Off Thousands of #GPS Devices After #SupremeCourt Ruling : #ACLU #Spying #BigBro

#Walker Foreclosed on #WI, now he's #foreclosing our Federal #Mortgage Settlement Money

Given the sponsors ... how about more "Open Government" publicity ... so watch for the hearing ????? 

Introduced by Senators Hansen, King, Holperin, Taylor, Lassa, S. Coggs, T. Cullen and Miller;
Cosponsored by Representatives Mason, Grigsby, Pasch, Milroy, Richards, Jorgensen, Roys, Pocan, Steinbrink, Berceau, E. Coggs, Molepske Jr, Toles, Sinicki, Bewley, C. Taylor, Fields, Hulsey, Bernard Schaber, Pope-Roberts, Turner, Young, Vruwink and Kessler

You requested to be notified of the following legislative activities:
 Committee: Joint Committee on Finance
  SB-511 was referred to joint committee on Finance in the Senate on February 23, 2012
      Bill History: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/2011/data/SB511hst.html
      Relating to: allocation of national mortgage foreclosure settlement proceeds and making appropriatio...

Every time we turn around it seems Walker has another $100 million+ deficit ... what kind of "Open For Business" policy is that?  Will SB511 save us?

2/25 Upd #NPR T. #Gross :How Companies Are 'Defining Your Worth' Online #privacy

In Firefox you are being tracked (approximately unless you opt-out) ... from there FAQ ...

Location-Aware Browsing is always opt-in in Firefox. No location information is ever sent without your permission. If you wish to disable the feature completely, please follow this set of steps:

• In the URL bar, type about:config
• Type geo.enabled
• Double click on the geo.enabled preference
• Location-Aware Browsing is now disabled

In Google Search you are being tracked ... you can supposedly generalize it ... but given what they use to approximately locate you ... I really do not believe them?!

To provide you with the most relevant results, Google attempts to automatically detect your location and customize results based on that detected location. A location that's labeled "Auto-detected" is chosen based on the following factors:

• Your IP address .
• Google Toolbar's My Location feature. If you have Google Toolbar installed and have the My Location feature enabled, your approximate location (if detected) will be used to customize your search results. If you don't want Toolbar to attempt to determine your approximate location, you can turn off My Location

IS THIS THE WAY YOU WANT IT?  Fess up ... this all about competing for advertising and marketing $$$$$$$.

From the interview (NPR) ... how else can this information be used ... we need wwwBillOfRights ...

On Wednesday's Fresh Air, Turow — the author of the book The Daily You: How the New Advertising Industry is Defining Your Identity and Your Worth — details how companies are tracking people through their computers and cellphones in order to personalize the ads they see. ...

But advertisers are not just limited to tracking your Internet browsing, says Turow. They're also trying to connect what you do on phones and other mobile devices, which are typically tied to an individual user and account.

#voterID #wivote WI #Redistricting in Court #WisPolitics.com

From WisPolitics.com (click title)

Thursday, February 23, 2012

 1:07 PM 

Plaintiff witness says Assembly districts radically changed, hurting Latino voting power

Kenneth Mayer, a UW-Madison political science professor and expert witness on redistricting called by plaintiffs, testified that the 8th and 9th Assembly districts were "radically reconfigured" under the new plan in a way that "severely diminished" the Latino community's opportunity to elect a candidate of its choice.

The following direct twitter message was sent to me 9/28/2017 ... I'm not sure which of my posts it related to because I have quite a few where the phrase "voter suppression" is used.  There may be a more appropriate place to include this information.  If you disagree with me or this individual do not harass us but do present your facts.

Well we don't have 100% turnout.

#voterID #wivote WI #Redistricting in Court #WisPolitics.com now #Trump ..not his ego ... it is #voterSuppression

Personal View: #wiRecall #Walker : #Video #Map 2011 - 2012

-->

Click Title for Large View ... Click the camera icon(s) ... map can be dragged and zoomed ... and display changed!  The icon is a smaller version of image that shows up when mouseover the title (popup)!

View 2011 - 2012 Recall Walker in a larger map

Just a few of the events I witnessed and recorded:

2011.04.16  Farmer's Market, Sarah Palin, Palm Trees, Recall Walker Numbers Larger
2011.04.30  Thunda Around the Rotunda
2011.05.03  Roys Speaks Out in Committee Against GOP Voter Suppression
2011.05.09  Solidarity Sing Along - Everyday 12Noon
2011.05.11 Reverse Robinhood

2011.06.06 Walkerville on the Capitol Square
2011.06.07  Walkerville Fire Engines - Banks Sold Us Out
2011.10.09  OccupyMadison in Capitol - Peacefully
2011.10.15  Walker's Train Wreck & Veteran's War Protest Rally 
2011.11.05  Move Your Money

2012.01.26  WI Assembly Sells Environment to Mining Interests

WI 1848 Forward: Personal View: #Walker : #Video #Map 2011 - 2012 : WiUnion #WiVote #47% vs #1% #elites #Koch

#Walker #elites #Koch #1% WI 1848 Forward: Personal View : #Video #Map 2011 - 2012 : #WiUnion #WiVote #47% #99%

MSNBC, CSPAN, TED, PBS - Moyers -How do Liberals & Conservatives View World - Haidt

Update 8/9/2015 - The John Haidt videos/comments are a must for reflection as the "Presidential Debates Primaries" go on and on.  His TED Talk ends on the"righteous mind" being "blind to the truth" - if we are aware can we overcome????

and also consider ... 

UW dean: Fetal tissue bill would cause 'abrupt stop' to research > Republicans push fetal tissue ban amid medical opposition Published On: Aug 11 2015 08:58:22 AM CDT Updated On: Aug 11 2015 08:16:10 PM CDT

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

The Surprising Brain Differences Between Democrats and Republicans : MotherJones

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NPR: Again NPR story ... "all things considered"? - check this

MSNBC: Up With Chris 5/5/12: Again a topic plus the author, and "The Republican Mind"

 Cspan - 4/14/2012

Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion

Sat. 3 pm; Sun. 10 pm ET

2012.02.21  ...I have been reflecting on these programs and especially a couple of charts depicting social traits of liberals vs conservatives.  Liberals were ranked very high on NOT liking to see harm done to others, animals, etc.  Conservative's traits were pretty much at the same level across the board (Fair and Balanced?).  Haidt makes the general point that we (whichever we are) need to understand these differences or we may slip into demonizing the other people/tribe and thus develop an "ends justify the means" treatment.

I think the real concern for all is to reflect on which tribe is more likely to see the "ends justify the means" first?  The tribe that does NOT like to see harm done or the other one?  WWJD?

_____________________________
Consensual Hallucination  .... Moral Matrix ... Confirmation Bias

Moyers & Company :

"February 3, 2012
Bill talks with social psychologist Jonathan Haidt about the moral underpinnings of our contentious culture."

Jonathan Haidt Explains Our Contentious Culture from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo.

TED:

Diane Benscoter on how cults rewire the brain

October 27th, 2017

Trump Is Radicalizing the Democratic Party - PEW via TheAtlantic

... That’s not an oversimplification of the stance. In 2012, for example, my colleague Norm Ornstein and Tom Mann wrote a Washington Post column titled, “Let’s just say it: The Republicans are the problem.” The critique hinged on what they call asymmetric polarization—yes, politics is more polarized than any time in recent memory, but that is not (the argument goes) because both parties have become more extreme. Nor is it a factor of partisan sorting, the idea that while both parties used to have liberal and conservative wings, the Democrats are now a uniformly liberal party and the Republicans a uniformly conservative one. Rather, the Democratic Party moved slightly left, but the Republican Party has moved far right. 

But what if the asymmetric trend is no longer so asymmetric? Recent polling from Pew finds, as one might expect, that not only are parties becoming ideologically homogeneous, but so are people. ...

#TED #Haidt #Moyers #47% WI 1848 Forward: #MSNBC #CSPAN #PBS -How #Liberals & #Conservatives World View  #Tribes change association to #Country ? #Russian #Genocide 

WI 1848 Forward #MSNBC #CSPAN #TED #PBS - #Moyers -How #Liberals & #Conservatives World View - #Haidt #Insurrection Justifiable? #GOP  What does 'G' stand for? 

#Trump WI 1848 Forward #MSNBC #CSPAN #TED #PBS - #Moyers -How #Liberals & #Conservatives World View - #Haidt  #Obama  

#TED #Haidt #Obama #Moyers #47% WI 1848 Forward: #MSNBC #CSPAN #PBS -How #Liberals & #Conservatives World View  

WI 1848 Forward Prediction #Walker (8/14/15) will- #Conservatives (fear change #Insurrection) vs #Liberals #Haidt  

Upd - flackcheck.org ... truth in political advertising

Some samples of content ...

Ohio TV stations can and should refuse misleading super PAC ads

On Bill Moyers & Company


Decoding the Campaigns from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo.

#Gingrich - #flackcheck.org ... truth in political advertising #moyers

Testing - Casa de Piedra, Costa Rica - video and map display

View PacificJourneysInt.com - Casa de Piedra Tour, Costa Rica in a larger map

The map below is redundant - the above map has the video associated with ICON.  View types can be selected, plus zoomed and dragged. The ICON is just a placeholder.

View Dominical - Las Tumbas - San Isidro in a larger map

2/23 Upd - Better get that #www #BillofRights - what has #Google become - #WSJ

See Whitehouse story BBC at bottom

 

Google Accused of Bypassing Safari's Privacy Controls

 

from Slashdot ...

DJRumpy points out an article (based on a possibly paywalled WSJ report) describing how Google and other ad networks wrote code that would bypass the privacy settings of Apple's Safari web browser. 'The default settings of Safari block cookies "from third parties and advertisers," a setting that is supposed to only allow sites that the user is directly interacting with to save a cookie (client side data that remote web servers can later access in subsequent visits). ...

and check out the WSJ

In Firefox you are being tracked (approximately unless you opt-out) ... from there FAQ ...

Location-Aware Browsing is always opt-in in Firefox. No location information is ever sent without your permission. If you wish to disable the feature completely, please follow this set of steps:

• In the URL bar, type about:config
• Type geo.enabled
• Double click on the geo.enabled preference
• Location-Aware Browsing is now disabled

In Google Search you are being tracked ... you can supposedly generalize it ... but given what they use to approximately locate you ... I really do not believe them?!

To provide you with the most relevant results, Google attempts to automatically detect your location and customize results based on that detected location. A location that's labeled "Auto-detected" is chosen based on the following factors:

• Your IP address .
• Google Toolbar's My Location feature. If you have Google Toolbar installed and have the My Location feature enabled, your approximate location (if detected) will be used to customize your search results. If you don't want Toolbar to attempt to determine your approximate location, you can turn off My Location

IS THIS THE WAY YOU WANT IT?  Fess up ... this all about competing for advertising and marketing $$$$$$$.
_________________________________________________________

Google and Facebook in White House web privacy sights

The move comes amid worries that browsing information is being tracked and given to advertisers.
State attorneys in 36 states recently sent a letter of concern over Google's plan to share personal information across its products.
As part of the announcement, the firms' ad networks said they would support a "Do Not Track" browser option.
The US has advocated since 2010 for "Do Not Track", a one-click option to prevent information gathered while web browsing being shared with third parties.
'Bill of rights' In a statement, President Barack Obama outlined a "consumer privacy bill of rights".

Testing - GoogleEarth - Youtube - Panoramio slide interface ... "pics from PacificJouneysInt - Rio Diamante Hike and Dominical, Costa Rica"

The neat thing about Panoramio is that the images are geo-located assuming the photographer has a good sense of place ... GPS cameras can help a lot ... but there are camera glitches at times (an earlier place LatLon is used)! Click on a picture and you go to the image (another page) and can examine the location via Google Earth, Maps. I use the "title-click" to find the site of the organization that setup the hike! There are number of alternative interfaces, even directly via a javascript library.  Tags can be used to restrict topics.  I am using just "User ID" to select images.



http://www.panoramio.com/api/widget/api.html

As further testing of interfaces ... Google Sites ...

https://sites.google.com/site/lastumbascostarica/

Below is a geo-located map of the "Las Tumbas" area in Costa Rica related to the images being shown above! You can do a lot of clicking and moving things around ... so try it out if you have not used Google Earth or accessed Panoramio before or even if you have!  You drag the map to another location and zoom the map but sometimes all the images obscure what you want to see.  If you click an image in the map a balloon pops up or click on the image and you open a Panoramio page about the image.

If you find the Panoramio instructions for doing what I have done be aware they do not work ... HTML may have evolved ... but the syntax seems wrong in the first place ... so you may want to examine source code or contact me ...here is what I used ...

<div>
<iframe src="http://www.panoramio.com/plugin/?lt=9.2691&amp;ln=-83.768933&amp;z=-1&amp;k=1" width=480 height=500>
</iframe></div>

 ________Now for Youtube Video ___________

On a hike to Casa Piedra, Rio Diamante near Las Tumbas, Costa Rica (Hwy 243 between Dominical and San Isidro). The initial view includes the Pacific Ocean to the left and Las Tumbas below. The hike includes a beautiful garden, about halfway, with more great vistas and an interesting open two story building suitable for stretching out. The second part of the hike ends generally with lunch at the waterfall cave, Casa Piedra. Options include rappelling the waterfall and overnight camping in the cave.

A second video

The accompaniment vocal and guitar is by Lindsey Chapman, sometimes tour guide and songstress. The lyrics are La Llorona, a folk song.


Interested? Lookup PacificJourneysInt.com

#CSPAN John #Nichols Uprising: How #Wisconsin 2/18-19 Book TV

Cspan ...

John Nichols, Uprising: How Wisconsin Renewed the Politics of Protest, from Madison to Wall Street

Sat. 8:45 pm; Sun. 10:45 am ET 

John Nichols, Washington correspondent for The Nation, reports on the public protests that took place in Madison, Wisconsin, in February 2011 in reaction to Gov. Scott Walker's decision to remove collective bargaining rights from teachers and public employees. Mr. Nichols examines the development of the demonstrations and the shared concerns between the Wisconsin protestors and the Occupy Wall Street movement. John Nichols speaks at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

inequality.org perceptions

If you care click the title ...

WI 1848 Forward: inequality.org perceptions #inequality #ows #99% #47% #Wilkinson vs #1% #elites #alec 

WI 1848 Forward: #inequality.org perceptions #inequality #47% #99% #jobs vs #elites #1% 

Something Warmer when not blogging - Costa Rica

Diversions are a necessary excursion in order to renew one's energy ... this was that ... especially when you can also say you learned something!

"This is a video experiment using Picasa editing/movie tools and a few stills from a recent trip to Costa Rica just to see how the video would look.  The story is quite limited and just from early on the trail looking back toward Las Tumbas and Pacific Ocean (far distant - toward Dominical - pan left).  The accompaniment vocal and guitar is by Lindsey Chapman, sometimes tour guide and songstress.  The lyrics are a clip of La Llorona, a folk song. The sound was added later on a pass thru/export from FCP.

The larger context was an all day (optional overnight) hike/lunch to a waterfall and cave on Rio Diamante - Casa de Piedra.

The Panoramio link can be used to more specifically geo-locate ~ 9° 16'  N  83° 46'  W 

 http://www.panoramio.com/photo/66082107  

... from there you can go directly to Google Earth and see many peoples pictures of the area!

A more complete video is planned to include garden, camp, waterfall, cave, rappelling and more of the trail.  YouTube tags provide clues to finding more if you are interested."

The update as promised - this was further produced from still images using "Final Cut Pro (FCP)" ... it was quite an exercise to constrain it to the song length and still tell the story.

Some related links ... and experiments

http://wi1848forward.blogspot.com/2012/01/costa-rica-near-las-tumbas-and-rio.html

http://wi1848forward.blogspot.com/2012/02/testing-jotpixcom-video-and-map-display.html

Near Las Tumbas, Costa Rica - Video, Images, Map ... so far

#NYT : Even Critics of #SafetyNet Increasingly Depend on It

Isn't it ironic? From the New York Times ... 2/11/2012

Ki Gulbranson owns a logo apparel shop, deals in jewelry on the side and referees youth soccer games. He makes about $39,000 a year and wants you to know that he does not need any help from the federal government.....

Yet this year, as in each of the past three years, Mr. Gulbranson, 57, is counting on a payment of several thousand dollars from the federal government, a subsidy for working families called the earned-income tax credit. He has signed up his three school-age children to eat free breakfast and lunch at federal expense. And Medicare paid for his mother, 88, to have hip surgery twice....

And as more middle-class families like the Gulbransons land in the safety net in Chisago and similar communities, anger at the government has increased alongside. Many people say they are angry because the government is wasting money and giving money to people who do not deserve it. 

WI 1848 Forward: #NYT : Even Critics of #SafetyNet Increasingly Depend on It : #Medicare #Medicaid #47% vs #1% #elites

#Google & Politics - Larger Perspective - $

The marketplace of ideas or the marketplace of money == influence !

#TYT Network : #Google Sponsors #CPAC 2012

At 3:11 Google sponsors CPAC

Thoughts - #Google vs #NPR

Privacy ... what privacy ? I think Google is messing with NPR links. I followed the instructions and clicked the link ... up pops ...

"

Cookies are disabled

Your browser's cookies seem to be disabled. Ads Preferences will not work until you enable cookies in your browser. How do I enable cookies?"

Which I know is not true unless they just turned it off!


This all got me thinking about Isacc Azimov.  Although the original "Three Laws of Robotics" are not considered adequate or complete, more minimally necessary rather than sufficient they are a starting point for thinking about Corporations as "humans" or "robots".  It might be a better world if Corporations subscribed to the "Three Laws" ... but alas they are run by humans who want their corporate entity to be unaccountable and able to change the rules to their benefit w/o much regard for external impact or effects.

Three Laws of Robotics

Click: Corporate Power & Money in Politics

#TYT Network : #Google Sponsors #CPAC 2012

At 3:11 Google sponsors CPAC

In Firefox you are being tracked (approximately unless you opt-out) ... from there FAQ ...

Location-Aware Browsing is always opt-in in Firefox. No location information is ever sent without your permission. If you wish to disable the feature completely, please follow this set of steps:

• In the URL bar, type about:config
• Type geo.enabled
• Double click on the geo.enabled preference
• Location-Aware Browsing is now disabled

In Google Search you are being tracked ... you can supposedly generalize it ... but given what they use to approximately locate you ... I really do not believe them?!

To provide you with the most relevant results, Google attempts to automatically detect your location and customize results based on that detected location. A location that's labeled "Auto-detected" is chosen based on the following factors:

• Your IP address .
• Google Toolbar's My Location feature. If you have Google Toolbar installed and have the My Location feature enabled, your approximate location (if detected) will be used to customize your search results. If you don't want Toolbar to attempt to determine your approximate location, you can turn off My Location

IS THIS THE WAY YOU WANT IT?  Fess up ... this all about competing for advertising and marketing $$$$$$$.

#CSPAN - Gov. #Walker @ #CPAC msg on Collective Bargaining #wiunion

Collective bargaining is not a right ... in the public sector it is an expensive entitlement ... you agree?

What would have happened if he said that when he was running to be elected Governor?

Trading the soul of a nation - Full time detective and SWAT cop #99%

Badger Blue, Times Two blog hits a home run again !  Last paragraphs ...

Make no mistake, it has come to the point in our society where most corporations don't have an ounce of patriotism or altruism in their DNA.  The only thing that these companies care about is profit.  That would be  just fine if we had a government that acted as a counterbalance to this mentality, and a provided a framework for a prosperous nation.  Remember, in the earliest days of our nation, our founders recognized that corporations existed by the grace of the government, not the reverse.  Instead, we now have a government that is bought and paid for by these corporations, and as a result has allowed disastrous trade policies.

In fact, I think the evidence supports the conclusion that outsourcing was part of the plan to drive US wages down in order to maximize profit.  Not just a predictable result, but the intended result.  The formula is simple:  Move jobs overseas. Shut American factories.  Utilize cheap labor in China and other countries.  When US workers are just desperate enough, move factories back home. Hire workers at half of their previous rate.  Call it a "globally competitive wage."  Sadly, our politicians are complicit in this plan to give the corporate masters a legion of low-educated, low paid workforce.  In Wisconsin, that complicity is embodied in Gov. Walker's slogan "Open for business."

And who says the American dream is dead?

I would strike the above remark about DNA ... corporations are not people ... we need to remember that!!

The following makes the point very clearly ... NationalIntervention.org

WI 1848 Forward: Trading the soul of a nation - Full time detective and SWAT cop #99% #47% vs #1% #elites #Koch

#ASU #AZ State University #WWW #Censorship & #Media Quandry

Topic: Spreading the news by chance -

From the Slashdot material

Bennett Haselton is back with a thought provoking essay about not just an incident of Internet censorship on an American university campus, but a proposed method of propagating news, so that relevant stories aren't buried as easily by chance or time. Bennett writes: "The real scandal in the story of Arizona State University blocking students' access to the Change.org website, is not just that it happened, but that the block persisted for two months without being mentioned in the media. As a card-carrying member of the 'outrage grapevine,' I surely think we need a way to respond faster." Read on for the rest. 

This is a tale of censorship. From about December 7th until February 3rd, Arizona State University was blocking all users of its network from accessing the Change.org website, where users can create petitions and circulate them for other users to sign. (The lame excuse offered by the university was that a student had created a petition and was using the change.org site to "spam" other ASU accounts; of course, even if that had been the real reason, it would have easily been possible for ASU to block mail from the change.org servers, without blocking all students from accessing the website.) On February 3rd, after a furor of sudden media attention, the block was lifted.

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Similarly relevant : PIPA & SOPA - a bad idea

1% Breaks #Reuters : #Romney ’s gift from Congress By David Cay #Johnston 1/31/2012

David Cay Johnston writes ...

When the Romney campaign disclosed in December that the couple’s five sons had a $100 million trust fund, I suspected that, in setting up the fund, the Romneys used a tax strategy that allows some very rich people to avoid paying gift taxes. But it was impossible to know if this was the case without seeing their tax returns going back years.

 This is a rather factual and educational supposed opinion piece.  Until now, and I'm still pessimistic, I feared the 99% would never catch on having been sold the "anybody can do it narrative."

Under tax rules, wealthy people must pay a gift tax of 35 percent on gifts above a lifetime limit known as the “unified estate tax credit.” That limit was $1.2 million for a married couple in 1995 when the sons’ trust was created and $2 million in 2009, but is now $10 million.

So, if the limit is, at most, $10 million, how did the Romneys create this $100 million fund without paying gift taxes?

WI 1848 Forward: #1% Breaks #Reuters : #Romney ’s gift from Congress By David Cay #Johnston 1/31/2012 vs #47% http://wi1848forward.blogspot.com/2012/02/1-breaks-reuters-romney-s-gift-from.html?spref=tw

#Walker 's Enemies List aka Nixon

If you still have a job you better vote in the recall election, especially if you signed the Walker recall petitions.  Of course most of us have nothing to fear unless someone else signed our name fraudulently ... understand almost all of the signatures are like that.


PolitiScoop:

Convenience Before Safety - Government Accountability Board Bows to Scott Walker