Displaying 0 To 0 Of 0 Comments DOJ and Voter Suppression Activities Can you also track challenges both DOJ (districts and Washington) and court challenges? That would be great to have, too. Thanks! Still happy in Benicia??? » Posted By choicelady On October 30, 2011 @ 4:53 pm Hi Murph – I think ALL states are subject to the Voting Rights Act since it was a huge part of the redistricting done here in CA with the new citizens’ commission. The states under federal oversight thanks to their previous abuses of the VRA are STILL under oversight since they keep doing these things – and I bet you’re not surprised they are mostly Southern? But everyone has to comply. That is why the courts are playing a good role – Ohio’s Supreme Court ruled the gerry-rigged redistricting in Ohio could not be implemented for the 2012 election since it could and will go on the 2012 BALLOT for voters to decide whether or not they like having a one party state rigged for the next ten (now eight) years. But the nut is – they can’t use it. I hear tell that’s being considered elsewhere, too – courts refusing to permit implementation. Memo to GOP – sometimes you’re just too “smartypants” for your own good. » Posted By choicelady On October 30, 2011 @ 4:51 pm Wonderful funk! But you forgot the mint… » Posted By choicelady On October 27, 2011 @ 1:30 pm OK – either Cain is the single stupidest candidate EVER or he’s actually a plant for someone else. We know from research that he’s a Dominionist Christian, but how does that translate into weird promotions of smoking, and carb eating, and whatever??? It is just senseless. Yup – either stupid or a diversion. I’m open to either interpretation. » Posted By choicelady On October 27, 2011 @ 1:28 pm So are we. Oh, so are WE. We have done it before. We shall do it again. Don’t get too complacent, Mr. Robber Baron. » Posted By choicelady On October 27, 2011 @ 1:19 pm Clearly this is as close as she gets to….Nirvana? But yes – that is a pretty creepy photo. » Posted By choicelady On October 26, 2011 @ 11:32 am Weekend Music Thread: Better the Second Time Around? Beyond all this great music and interesting “do overs” it occurs to me we’d better get used to this. If Cain’s 9-9-9 should become our tax law, we will HAVE to buy “used music” to avoid the sales tax! » Posted By choicelady On October 23, 2011 @ 1:07 pm A Radical Economic Solution – Stop Paying Banks For Credit Card Debt javaz – the same thing was done30 years later but with lying to generate more money, NOT to be fiscally responsible. You can track a lot of this to the Chrysler bail out and its ilk when good money was dumped into an irresponsible company – and that became the norm. Credit eases when capital wants more people under its thumb and that means loose and easy credit. So in 2000 when I went to buy a car, I had a $20 charge that had been paid but that had not yet cleared. The people at the dealership told me that it meant I had lousy credit and would have to pay $400 per month for the car. I’m no fool – I walked out saying I’d be back when the payment cleared. Well I got a VERY urgent call from the Finance Manager saying there was a ‘misunderstanding’. Yeah – they thought I was a sucker. Boy did they misunderstand! I stood my ground and halved the payment down to what was being paid by others. It was all the lying cheating methodology of the subprime racket – “this is the best deal you’re gonna get. Better take it and run ’cause it won’t come to you again!” Harvard International Review found 55% of those in subprime mortgages actually qualified for conventional, and still others had their standards falsified by mortgage brokers without the borrower’s knowledge. The issue was not repayment but the right to buy and sell the PROMISES rather than the actual mortgage. We tend to blame ourselves, and in fact personal wants and a sense of entitlement contribute to this problem, but the drive for more and more things to buy and sell on the finance market drove a lot of this and was the REASON for the 1999 ending of Glass-Steagall that kept banking and finance capital separate. Greed is NOT good. But greed won the day. So you got hoist on the petard of fiscal accountability and I almost got hoist on the petard of financial greed. That’s how different thirty or so years made things. And that’s what the GOP is fighting to retain – a world of unlimited and unfettered accumulation where everything goes and there is no accountability. » Posted By choicelady On October 21, 2011 @ 2:28 pm BTW – I am unimpressed with the articles about how hard it is, when you do online bill payment, to leave your bank. Two months and you’re out. Pay, cancel the automatic sends and payments, have bills sent to you for the next month via snail mail. and pay one month by check, simultaneously then move to a credit union or community bank leaving ONLY enough to cover the checks then close that account. Resume auto pay. Ridiculous laziness not to do that. » Posted By choicelady On October 20, 2011 @ 1:13 pm Excellent article with a lot of great information. Given that we were all deprived of our rights under the reworked personal bankruptcy laws, strategic alternatives are essential. Banks are Animal Farm “persons” where some (banks) are “more equal than others” (human beings.) MANY of my friends have filed, but it is not going well enough for them since they are honorable people and want to keep their homes. The revised law demands a huge payment even though less than the individual burdens, but no longer enough to really make things better. So let me posit this would have to be a HUGE number of filings all at once. A different strategy that works well if you are under water but NOT so far over your head – yet – that it equals your income is to refinance via a credit union. You can pay down the high interest credit card debt all in one fell swoop exchanging it for a very low interest loan. That shift in mortgage will also save a bundle. By depriving your original bank of interest rates (upwards of 20%) and huge fees for late payments you are KILLING them. That is their life blood. If everyone switched this week to credit union financing and paid off their entire debt to a major bank, the banks WOULD suffer enormous loss of projected earnings – and could not touch you. And yes – pull all accounts out and lodge them in that credit union and shift your mortgage there. They will close out, give you a lower rate, and help you make payments that are livable. One point about colonial debt – yes, you would be judged at fault but there was no “debtor’s prison”per se (Dickens was the 19th not 17th and 19th centuries). You could be jailed – but you went only at NIGHT so you could continue to work, take care of your family, and contribute to the town. Debtor’s prison came with the intro of capitalism after the Revolution, not during colonial times. Also pre-Revolution, nothing could be appropriated for the settlement of a debt that took away your ability to make a living – your tools and even your livestock and some of your land had to be preserved to your use. Nothing of your wife’s (or husband’s) could be taken nor property of your children or others not incurring the debt. (Women had equal property rights before the Revolution.) That protection – and the threatened loss of it – was the basis for Shay’s Rebellion in 1780 – those laws were changed and put finance capital ahead of human,moral capital. REAL suffering would result from new demands that you pay all debt in cash, not barter, and that your means of making a living could be seized if you did not. When no one HAD cash, this was despicable. This legal transformation began the legal inequality between those in a new market economy and those working within the traditional moral economy. No need to guess who won. Today one of the reasons you hear so much anger about “imposing Sharia law” is that there are several financial institutions, Bank of Whittier, LARIBA, and others that provide financial help to Muslims and others without charging interest – riba – which is forbidden under Sharia law. And – these investment firms, banks, and credit operations all survived the crash and aftermath better than any other institutions in the US save credit unions. Bankers fear them – they make a stable amount of money while helping people buy homes, cars, and make investments with strategies different from US practice. Of course they fear Sharia law! It works! However, while on a national phone call about financial alternatives, I mentioned these as real help for ordinary people, you’d have thought I dropped the A Bomb. The fear outweighed the resource. Oh, well – but I recommend them. They are online. Along with huge screeds about how these banks fund jihad which they do not. They lend to anyone, and they are very stable. Good – very good – alternative to B of A. So for those for whom bankruptcy might be scary, these are alternatives, but if we could get a national bankruptcy for freedom movement going – AdLib has shown the way!!! » Posted By choicelady On October 20, 2011 @ 1:10 pm Hi Cher- Thank you for all the great reads again as usual! Always eye opening things. The one that caused my jaw to drop was Cain’s “joke” about electrified fences and killing undocumented people. Cain is one of the most fundamentally evil people I think I’ve ever seen. Masking his horrific policies under a genial and mildly buffoon=like exterior, this man believes everything Perry and Bachmann do about being The Elect, but he believes he has the power of life and death. His “Blame Yourself” mantra coupled with his willingness to fry desperate people reveals a man so cold, so devoid of feeling for other people that he makes Cheney look warm and fuzzy. So I appreciate that while this is fairly minor compared to everything else here – it was certainly a jolt to my morning! Have a great day. Thanks for all the news! » Posted By choicelady On October 17, 2011 @ 9:21 am I studied social movements and social change in grad school. So with my years of expert study behind me, I approach your question: how and why do they happen? Scholarly answer: who the hell knows? Why did this catch on when US Uncut did not quite make it? Or did it – was that the impetus? Was it Wisconsin, Ohio – what? At any rate ALL that has come together. And that is very fine. » Posted By choicelady On October 16, 2011 @ 11:26 pm Sacramento has a Chinabuilding. I’m not kidding. One building. Chinese settlement was entirely TOWNS out the delta and up into the Gold Country. But Sacramento? Nothing but one – modern – building. Now Asian communities – Hmong, Vietnamese, etc. – are being created, but Sacramento proper? One building. » Posted By choicelady On October 16, 2011 @ 11:21 pm Occupy Los Angeles on The International Day of Action That is absolutely the truth. Even if Woody said it. It does matter, and I’m glad everyone did whatever everyone could. And for those who could not – cheering everyone else on! And sending giant raspberries to GOP whiners. Always good, too. » Posted By choicelady On October 16, 2011 @ 11:15 pm Thank you, dear Cher. No – not Catholic nor Jewish but raised to believe I’m entirely responsible for the well being of the world. I am very strong – sling 35-pound boxes of kitty litter regularly – and very flexible (do Pilates) but the older I get the more I discover I CANNOT stand in one place without consequence. Walking? No problem. I think this is one more bit of evidence that there is no intelligent design. Who’d build a system that frail? But when I look at the photos of the WW II vet and the 90-year-old woman (also a WW II vet given her age) it does make me feel silly. The hip is better – mindless novels, warmth, and Aspercream have made a huge difference. Very much appreciate the uplift and support! That helps too! But three cheers to you and the AdLib family for getting all these AMAZING photos! It looks like it was just great fun – and yes, the beginning, not the end. » Posted By choicelady On October 16, 2011 @ 11:14 pm I am a woman of some substance intellectually. I am polite to those around me. I respect elected officials as part of our democracy. I hold a position of responsibility. I believe in seeing all people as worthwhile and equal. But seeing Boehner and Cantor backpeddle? NEENER, NEENER TOLD YA SO!!! BTHLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPP! You may resume your regular activities. » Posted By choicelady On October 16, 2011 @ 11:07 pm Oh wow – AdLib and Cher – I’m so sorry I could not be there! It looked wonderful, energetic, funny, powerful! Thank you for pix of all the great signs and all the great people. I ADORE the woman who is 90! She says it all! Now I feel like a total wimp – stood for about 2 1/2 hours at the Unite Here! picket and threw my hip out. If the 90-year-old can do it, who am I to wuss? On the whole I vastly prefer marching to standing. I hope she survived without any aches and pains, but bless her heart for DOING that! Good energies just come through all your photos, and your descriptions are superb. The Occupy Sacramento was pretty much a dud, but there were people, were signs, and my fave scene – a policewoman laughing with some of the people with signs. THAT is a sign in itself. I do love the “be the change you want – yes YOU” sign. This is going to need momentum to keep things moving along. We do need to focus on elections (November in Ohio is critical) and new ideas, and legislation and ballot measures. We need good judges and judicial rulings. Someone noted about all this that we can’t forget it took decades for the Civil Rights movement to become embedded in laws that affirmed and then guaranteed rights. Those things have to happen. They will take time. We cannot lose hope. So thank you for showing the face of Occupy LA. Thank you MORE for being part of it! Yours are two faces that already have changed the world for the better! Say hi to respective families from choicelady – hope to be there next time! » Posted By choicelady On October 16, 2011 @ 7:28 pm Herman Cain’s “999” Attacks the 99% After listening to him yet again, my reaction: 9-9-9? Nein, nein, nein! » Posted By choicelady On October 14, 2011 @ 12:03 pm Remind her that 18% of $40,000 is 7200. That leaves people making that much $32,800 to live on. The same amount – 18% of $400,000 is $72,000, but that leaves the Big Earner 328,000 to live on. That means we at the lower earning end eat up a HUGE portion of ESSENTIAL funding for what we need to exist, while the larger earners – paying less than now – still get what they need plus tons of discretionary money. That’s fair? And Cain never says what will happen to loopholes, credits, etc. for the wealthy. I can’t help but think those will, miraculously, survive. » Posted By choicelady On October 13, 2011 @ 9:09 pm LOL!!! Remember he ALSO thinks NO federal legislative bill should be longer than three pages. NONE. Since they are written with about quadruple spacing for marking up by legislators on committees, that would make his legislation sort of the Dick and Jane version of ideas. Wonder how we’d do budgets and appropriations? Could be amusing. I don’t like to say this, but he gives a REALLY bad name to corporate America – that man is a dumb as a post. I’m surprised Godfather’s and Burker King are still in business. » Posted By choicelady On October 13, 2011 @ 9:04 pm LOL!!! Caru that’s wonderful! Puritans, ironically, were not very uptight. They had very lax attitudes toward premarital sex so long as it produced no offspring demanding and with the RIGHT to the welfare of the town. They were given to fairly boisterous celebrations, fairs, etc. It was the VICTORIANS with their Protestant ethic around proving their Godliness via material goods that were so dour. So with a bit of a change, H.L. Mencken’s observation should have been that Victorians are those who fear that somewhere, somehow, somebody is having a good time. Issues? Oh, boy yes. » Posted By choicelady On October 13, 2011 @ 3:24 pm KT – I will put money (a little) on their being NAR adherents. I think they are less Baggers than Dominionists. Did not mean to imply all poor whites had seen the light! They certainly have NOT. But there is a drift toward sanity as they see every single thing they do right still fail them. But watch closely – I will lay you odds that SE Ohio and Appalachia will see a rise of child deaths through exorcism or beating the devil out of them. Always happens. » Posted By choicelady On October 13, 2011 @ 3:09 pm Actually Catholics (pre Martin Luther) probably never actually said that. This is SO freaking Calvinist! But they might have looked for a witch to burn…Medieval and early Renaissance Europe was not far off the Aztecs in terms of human sacrifice. » Posted By choicelady On October 13, 2011 @ 3:06 pm Oh I can well believe it, but he’s running as a stealth Dominionist. THAT is very scary! His rap is definitely theirs – don’t blame Wall Street, blame yourself. » Posted By choicelady On October 13, 2011 @ 3:05 pm I think maybe not anymore. The ones in support of Baggers are those with pensions, gated communities, and life insurance. That is why you see so many fewer at rallies – those in need have left the “party” in every sense of the word. The disaffection for the GOP is evidence that the message is NOT working. Since the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different outcomes – let’s hope the GOP do not catch on! They are mastering the process and losing support every moment! » Posted By choicelady On October 13, 2011 @ 2:21 pm Yes, bito. They are catching on. You cannot beat yourself and your family into the ground for years on end without either suicidal thoughts or finally figuring out you’ve been lied to. Lest you think this is peculiar to uneducated people, remember that a great many rich Yuppies have joined cults over the years. The quest for fulfillment leads people into some dangerous waters psychologically. Remember the young man in “Wall Street” – people turn over their being to other people’s ideas of “good”. It is SO hard having a sense of what is right for yourself when all around you are telling you something different and the people in agreement with you are sometimes those with whom you do NOT wish to be friends. The force of conformity within community is very powerful – perhaps the MOST powerful of all. Standing up requires a willingness to abandon – and be abandoned by – your family, loved ones, friends, neighbors. That is very dangerous when you have nowhere else to go. Loneliness is very scary. » Posted By choicelady On October 13, 2011 @ 2:18 pm There is an element of truth in your observation, AdLib. Many poor Southern whites are Pentecostals (allies if not directly Dominionists) who believe when anything goes wrong, it IS your own fault. Calling out anyone else to blame is sinful. If you are poor there is one of two reasons: that’s what God wants of you to test your faith OR you are a lousy Christian and don’t deserve anything better. (I am NOT making this up.) Those who are true believers honestly suppress any idea that banks, or corporations, or even the town bully has any control over their lives. It is all on the individual. If you’re picking rags, it’s because you are not worthy. Those with power in the religion really do pound that into their flocks – it is all on YOU. You better not take food stamps or any other heathen thing – if your abusive husband abandoned you and your kids – you were a bad wife and mother. Period. If you can’t hold a job or get one, you are just not looking hard enough or you do not have enough faith. Period. That is why ultra-right evangelicals and fundamentalists adopted the no-tax-increase/small government mantra as one of their ten essential “family values”. Government aid is from the devil and makes people weak in their faith. You might be interested to know that “walkaways” from fundamentalist religions represent the single biggest religious movement in America. You can see why. I don’t think they can get out of there fast enough though. There are always new souls to harvest. » Posted By choicelady On October 13, 2011 @ 2:11 pm SCOTUS just negatively impacted public finance in both Citizens United and the McComish decisions. We can dream – but first we have to re-elect a president who gets it AND will appoint justices who are not troglodytes. » Posted By choicelady On October 13, 2011 @ 1:58 pm Mr. Cain makes NO issue of his religion which OUGHT to be refreshing – I have no clue what he is – except it also means he could easily be very extremist. It would be in keeping with the secular ideas he has – don’t blame banks, blame yourself – in asserting an embedded inequality where those at the bottom are not only entire at fault for their status but entirely unworthy of help. The 9-9-9 plan (and take note that this is the emergency number in London, UK) punishes people for being middle class and poor. It makes them pay more than the rich because, well, we are burdens to the rich. Burdens must shoulder penalties! Cain’s message to Americans: “Don’t blame the banks for your condition! Blame yourself! Then TAX yourself to the MAX for being a failure! Vote 999 so the rich can pocket what they made off of you – and you can support them which is all you deserve. Losers!” Have you noticed that, around the eyes, he resembles JP Morgan…? » Posted By choicelady On October 13, 2011 @ 1:02 pm Em – there ARE some federal bank prosecutions, some civil, some criminal. These ARE being reported – but generally in the business section of papers. Anyone who wants to keep up might try reading Business Week – for years that was my main source of information when I taught “Corporate Power” back east. They tell the truth – and discuss things you will not read elsewhere. Most of what I learn about prosecutions, etc. comes from the newspaper business sections. Why? That stuff affects investors! The DOJ in Washington will not be the source of the prosecutions – that will occur in districts. And banks will not be the major targets, though all the big players are all under investigation for the civil failure to exercise due diligence in accepting and selling fragile and phony mortgages. The real enemies of the people are the mortgage brokers – they are the ones who falsified documents and lied to people about their credit standings. THEY are being prosecuted to the nth degree. And those prosecutions, civil and criminal, districts and state jurisdictions, have ALL been in the news – just not all in the NY Times. People use the internet – and then forget how to Google. What I have found, what I get from the local US Attorney’s office, adds up to an impressive list of prosecutions. And still the emoprogs won’t be happy until they see someone dragged out of Citibank in chains. That is how much we have replaced good sense and an understanding of our justice system with slavering crowd lust for revenge. Stupid. » Posted By choicelady On October 12, 2011 @ 7:45 pmComments Posted By choicelady
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