Ohio McDonald’s gives voting advice in paychecks

msnbc.com

By JULIE CARR SMYTH

AP  Associated Press

10/29/2010

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A handful of McDonald’s employees in northeastern Ohio received handbills in their most recent paychecks suggesting they vote for three Republican candidates.

“If the right people are elected we will be able to continue with raises and benefits at or above our present levels,” the insert said. “If others are elected we will not.”

The fast food chain’s corporate headquarters in Oak Brook, Ill., distanced itself from the action by Canton franchisee Paul Siegfried, saying it was not reflective of the company’s position. Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, the Democratic elections chief, said she was launching an investigation because the action appeared to violate Ohio election laws. …

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39918181/ns/politics/

Creeping fascism may advance to a gallop if the neocons have their way.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

For quite a few Americans fast foods may not only be bad for their physical health – it may have the same impact on their political health.

MORE FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

There are quite a few McDonalds in minority neighborhoods

Growing Up Dumb In America is not As Difficult as it Might Seem

One might surmise, after reading of America’s technical exploits, that America must be the home of highly intelligent individuals.

And America is – except that America is home for 300,000,000 people of varying degrees of intelligence. Prior to 1980, no political party filtered and exposed America’s  intelligence on the basis of stupidity. Prior to 1980 America’s political parties had no need to. The pre-1980 politicians’ performance appealed to a cross-section of Americans.

But after 1980, one would have to look hard and long for political performance that “passed muster”. The neocon politicians went looking for Americans who could express an interest in a civil war. The neocon politicians went looking for Americans who could overlook “stupid acts of negligence by big business” while the neocons focused on wrecking America’s economy. The neocon politicians went surfing for Americans who found nothing wrong with illegally spying on 200,000,000 Americans. The neocons went bottom fishing for American’s who could “applaud” selling cocaine to minority neighborhoods of Los Angeles, California.

The neocons campaigned for Americans who could “look the other way” as the neocons “concocted” a reason to attack Iraq. The neocons, with their NAZI/fascism foundation, tried to pull the “wool over the eyes” of America by accusing those who would likely have been more of a victim of NAZI atrocities of behaving like NAZIs. All in all, the neocons exposed America’s lowest level of intellect to the world. And the world could see that the whole of America is not capable of putting a man on the moon. Only a select few of Americans can do that.

Is it to the neocons advantage to have America dumb? The answer to that question becomes obvious after viewing the job performance of the neocons. Stupidity is being enhanced by the neocons because of the neocons’ exceptionally poor political performance.

A fool and his country are soon parted.

Are the “Black Boxes” Still Monitoring the Consciousness of the World?

The short answer is “yes”. The “Global Consciousness Project(GPC)” is still alive and well, although it is not much in the “current events” news pool as of late.

Two topics that joejolly has not seen much in the current event news lately are the GCP and the Geneva Conventions. Joejolly searched for information on the Global Consciousness Project. And he found some.

From the website of Skeptic News one can see:

… For example, when Princess Diana’s funeral was held, a “significant” deviation was noted. When the 9/11 terrorist attacks occurred, a significant deviation in the pattern of random numbers was detected. When the Indian Ocean tsunami hit following an earthquake on December 26, 2004, a “trend” in the pattern of random numbers was noted….

http://www.skepticnews.com/pseudoscience/

And from the above one might come to a conclusion that “black boxes” detects tsunamis. But this idea is still in the experimental stage.

Indonesia just experienced a tsunami that has killed 408 with 303 missing. Was that detected by the “black boxes”? If so, joejolly was unable to find a “current event” news record of it.

So, what are those “black boxes”?

One place to start looking for answers is MATRIXYYNTH: The GCP EGG Basket. There you will see interesting graphics with supporting text descriptions like the text description below:

“The purpose of the project was and is to create and document a consistent database of parallel streams of random numbers generated by high-quality physical sources. The goal is to determine whether any correlations might be detectable of statistics from these data with independent long-term physical or sociological variables. In the original experimental design we asked the more limited question whether there is a detectable correlation of deviations from …

http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2009/11/gcp-egg-basket-observer-social.html

But if the above level of information is difficult, one can venture back to Skeptic News to read this explanation of the “black box” process:

… To attempt to do so, they have created a “black box” that randomly generates zeros and ones. If there are no outside influences, the random pattern of zeros and ones should be just that—random. However, if the global consciousness of the population of the planet effects the random number generator, then the pattern would no longer be random. There might be a “spike” of an increased number of ones, indicating a change in the global consciousness of the planet, such as a major news event. …

http://www.skepticnews.com/pseudoscience/

The process, mentioned by skeptic news, reminds one of how “voice” rides radio waves in going from one place to another. Something, we know not what, seems to “modulate” the steady stream of random numbers(radio waves?) and indicates a presence or a disturbance in the system. And after Professor Stephen Hawking’s comments on gravity, one might wonder just how much does earth know about itself.

[One can see the overall summary of results of the Global Consciousness Project” from August 1998 to October 2010 here.

[And, perhaps, one should also keep in mind that getting random numbers from computer programs is not easy. The black box program is driven by real random numbers. Computer programs are, straight from the factory, more likely to generate pseudo-random numbers – meaning those “random numbers” will, in time repeat.]

[ And, of course, Skeptic News site is skeptical of black box assertions.]

EU leaders frame eurozone crisis rules

Tough rules for the eurozone, aimed at averting another financial crisis, have been agreed at an EU leaders’ summit

BBC NEWS

29 October 2010

The leaders agreed to a permanent fund to help the euro in times of crisis, and to laws giving the EU the power to check national budgets.

EU officials said the eurozone had almost collapsed earlier this year because it lacked such a mechanism.

Germany wants limited changes to the EU treaty to reinforce the changes, but is facing resistance from other countries.

Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister David Cameron won backing for his battle against a 5.9% rise in the EU budget.

Germany and France were among 10 nations supporting Mr Cameron’s attempt to limit the budget increase to 2.9% – a rise that would still cost UK taxpayers roughly £435m (500m euros).

The meeting will conclude later on Friday….

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11649448

While a blogger over at Bloomberg.com tells the world that Ohio seems satisfied with Wall Street, Europe is still “recoiling”.

Europe intends to fix the problems that were revealed by America’s latter-day neocons. And that makes sense. One man’s limitations should not rule the world of Western economics – even if that man were ruled a GENIUS. A genius can have “off-days”.

In spite of the West’s neocon administered financial misery – Ohio may not be the only entity satisfied with Reaganomics. If Reaganomics can produce million dollar bonuses, it is possible that bonus recipients, along with Ohio, may be quite satisfied with the output of VOODOO ECONOMICS. Niccolo Machiavelli, long ago, noticed how some viewed the status quo:

“It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institution and merely lukewarm defenders in those who gain by the new ones. “
— Niccolò Machiavelli

http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/16201.Niccol_Machiavelli

And so it appears that Europe is now saying to the world, it is going to take more of its financial destiny into its own hands. After hundreds of years of American financial leadership, America finally exposed the financial talents of America’s neocons to the world. And the world is disconnecting. And a blogger over at Bloomberg.com said it’s Obama’s fault.

Firms Knew of Cement Flaws Before Spill, Panel Says

The New York Times

By JOHN M. BRODER

October 28, 2910

WASHINGTON — Halliburton knew weeks before the fatal explosion of the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico that the cement mixture they planned to use to seal the bottom of the well was unstable but still went ahead with the job, the presidential commission investigating the accident said on Thursday. …

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/us/29spill.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Early on – before anybody knew anything much about the oil spill, Mr. Rand Paul revealed what he knew.  Huffingtonpost.com had this to report about the Tea Party favorite :

The Tea Party favorite, in an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Friday morning, accused the Obama administration of being too tough on BP — the oil company directly responsible for the massive spill in the Gulf.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/21/rand-paul-obama-sounds-un_n_584661.html

For twenty-some-odd years, under the conditions of peace and war, the neocons have made public – information from their personal knowledge base.  And the information sinks(those listening) should feel embarrassed for the information source(the speaker). However, now, America’s expectations seems to have been lowered to the level of neocon performance.

A fool and his country are soon parted.

MI6 chief Sir John Sawers says torture illegal

The head of MI6, Sir John Sawers, has described torture as “illegal and abhorrent” and defended the service’s need for secrecy.

He said his organisation faced “real, constant operational dilemmas” to avoid using intelligence which had been gathered by torture.

He also said secrecy was “not a dirty word” and played “a crucial part in keeping Britain safe and secure”.

He is the first serving MI6 chief to make a public speech in its 100 years.

Known in Whitehall as C, the 55-year-old was speaking at a meeting of the Society of Editors in London. …

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11642568

Britain’s security leadership, unlike America’s neocon CIA leadership, does seem to have a conceptual sense of humanity. And that is certainly a respectable start.

It is difficult to believe that Britain, at high management levels, would Redefine torture as “enhanced interrogation” in order to get a suspect to convict himself. Torture, as an investigatory process, is needed where the competence of those seeking information is suspect. If a human being is guilty of something, there ought to be external evidence of that something. Slicing a suspect’s penis, in order to get that suspect to convict himself ought not be a practice of civilized countries. And – on second thought – maybe slicing penises of human beings is not a practice of civilized countries.

If a country outputs torture, it must have experienced the inputs necessary to generate that torture. An effect ought to have a cause.

So, there could still be a question of what conditions set up a torture output and at what level were the conditions defined or recognized? A system whose output is at variance with its rules is likely a system that is/was broken.

Sir John Sawers said,”MI6 staff would have “nothing whatsoever” to do with torture”. Must the evaluation of that statement be literal?

A country’s security operations do need and have traditionally had secrecy. But a secrecy that hides acts like murder and torture should be questioned and possibly those responsible held liable. And if those acts had been going on all the time – perhaps incompetent operators brought that behavior to the world’s conscience.

Looking at the neocons’ management of Guantanamo with its 400 POW/DETAINEES and way less than “400 boxes of evidence” – torture must have been seen as a way to circumvent the evidence requirement.

Britain’s MI6 and America’s neocon CIA leadership appear to be quite different in moral and ethical values. Moral values and POLITICAL OPPORTUNITIES can be quite different driving forces.

But This Time, “Honest to God”, We(neocons) Are Going To Cut the Budget!

The neocons had twenty-some-odd years to cut the  budget – what happened?

Over at Bloomberg.com Patrick O’ Connor is reporting that:

Republicans Plan Budget Cuts as Early Act If They Take Power

And once again here is a history of the neocons mis-management of America’s economy:

http://zfacts.com/p/318.html

And the article went on to say:

U.S. House Republicans plan to try to slash $100 billion from the federal budget as early as January if they wrest power from Democrats in this year’s midterm elections, setting up possible early showdowns with President Barack Obama on taxes and spending.

Looking at the last line of the above excerpt, you see that TAXES and spending are  within the neocon’s “sights”. And it is likely that the Bush-era tax cuts, expiring Dec. 31 provide the motivation for the neocons huge concern.

A previous Bloomberg.com article spoke of a tax increase but that article likely meant the EXPIRING TAX CUTS due on Dec. 31.

The Tea Party folks have spoken of a Civil War for America. Perhaps that is a shocker that could push reality back into the minds of some Americans.

Americans are getting close to the point where the idea of shooting each other might be more “exciting” than venturing into a foreign country to shoot foreigners. An American civil war might introduce Americans to the same conditions that the Iraqis faced in April of 2003.

Nature abhors rampant stupidity.

It is possible to fool too many folks some of the time. But maybe they are not fooled. Maybe they want to pick it up where the original Civil War left off.  In that case the Tea Party folks are the ones. And don’t rule out the appearance of tactical nuclear weapons in a “stateside” war in 2010. A new Civil War in 2010 won’t be as crude as the 1863 war. That idea follows from history.

It must be that practically every despot who started a war thought he would win. But more often than not – he lost.  Nature abhors rampant stupidity but it exists.

[ Is tough love required here? Love of country - I mean. The neocons and those who fell for their propaganda are self-centered.  They have already "butchered" America's economy while some still expected huge million dollar bonuses for presiding over a wounded financial industry.

Should the Bush tax cuts be allowed to die? YES! Why? America is up to its neck in debt. That is why.

America's neocons and Tea Party folks will say anything to keep America's resources coming to them. If America's treasury and credit card no longer works, some of the wealthy, with dual citizenship can still "go home" while America dies.

Republicans have, twice, nearly killed America. Attempts to kill America has almost become a habit. And the small brained folks talk of saving America via the neocons(the far right wing of  the Republican party) seems just that - small brained.

If a democracy becomes hell-bent on self-destruction, it is likely that democracy will die.

If the Democrats do the right thing by letting the Bush era tax-cuts die, then they will not have America's blood on their hands if the neocons do get control of America again. If America decides to re-instate the neocons then America is the writer of its own obituary. As sad as that may seem, you cannot save a democracy from itself. ]

Today, Political Topics = Threats of an American Civil War + Religion + Lipstick on a Pig + My POW Adventures

America! My how you have changed!

Political topics have degraded considerably since 1980. 1980 was the year America introduced a neocon President to itself and the world.

The “unique” talents of the neocons, unseen in the annals of American history, took its toll on America’s ethics, political and economic systems.

America’s ombudsmen(voters) tried to end the neocon political influence on their government in 2006. They sent many neocon Congressman packing. but the Congressmen who replaced the departing neocon Congressmen failed to complete the job that America’s ombudsmen(voters) started. America’s Congress failed to impeach President George W. Bush.

It was not because Congressman Dennis Kucinich did not try – for he did. He was in the right place – America’s House of Representatives. America’s House of Representatives is the only place to start impeachment proceedings against an American President. But there are 435 members of the House and apparently they had trouble with the idea of impeaching President George W. Bush.

But, the neocon Congressmen who were “kicked out” earlier had no trouble at all impeaching President Bill Clinton. You see, President Bill Clinton was a Democrat and the neocons were not. It was easy for the neocons to impeach a non-neocon President for “failing to tell the truth about improper touching” even though that activity caused not a single American soldier to loose his or her life. Linda Milazzo, at THE HUFFINGTON POST had this to say, “Nobody Marched To Impeach Bill Clinton!”

The neocons apparently saw a POLITICAL OPPORTUNITY in impeaching a Democratic President. It is “hard as hell” to see anything but the POLITICAL OPPORTUNITY motive driving the “ethics” of the neocons.

There was no POLITICAL OPPORTUNITY in the neocons impeaching one of their own – no matter the circumstances. Starting a war, which looked like AGGRESSION was not enough. Starting a war that killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians and some 6,000 American soldiers was not enough. Uprooting 4,000,000 Iraqis from their homes as they welcomed the arrival of “DEMOCRACY” was not enough.

During the Iraq war, America’s top two leaders in the Bush administration were oil men. The oil company that gained entry into Iraq’s huge oil reserves was in Iraq prior to Saddam Hussein’s nationalizing of Iraq’s oil fields. That oil company likely knew, or perhaps should have known how valuable Iraq’s oil reserves were. And BIG OIL appears to be the only recipient of note to the “spoils” of the Iraqi war.

The neocons don’t talk about their past performances. They can’t.

Perhaps, in their own way they have thoughts of the “fifth Amendment” in mind. Perhaps the World Court could regain some lost credibility by listening to the neocons talk about why they started the Iraq war. It might relieve Africa’s mind  to see the World Court, which seems to be focused on Africa,  display an interest in the behavior/mis-behavior  of the West.

It’s not public knowledge – 7 years after the fact – why America went to war with Iraq. The neocons have replaced talking about why they started the Iraq war with their own set of political topics:

Political Topics =  Threats of an American Civil War + Religion + Lipstick on a Pig + My POW Adventures

AMERICA – MY HOW YOU HAVE CHANGED!

Are Big Banks Trying to Hide Financial Transactions of 2008?

Just recently a Bloomberg article revealed that Ohio felt just fine about Wall Street. One might think that a “thumbs up” by Ohio meant there was nothing for Wall Street to hide.

But now Bloomberg is reporting that, “Fed Won’t Join Bank Supreme Court Appeal on Loan Disclosures”.

The article says:

… The Federal Reserve won’t join a group of the largest commercial banks in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to let the government withhold details of emergency loans made to financial firms in 2008. …

Are big banks, in spite of a thumbs up given by Ohio still in need of hiding transactions? Perhaps the Bloomberg bloggers who discovered that Ohio felt OK about Wall Street could shed some light on why big banks want to hide details of emergency loans made in 2008 while President Bush was in still in office and still denying an American Great Recession.

Smart people solve problems so that they don’t repeat the mistakes that caused the problems. Toward that end, Franklin D. Roosevelt protected America’s bank funds so the next time there was a troubled economy, Americans would not make a run on their banks – thus causing banks to close their doors because of impromptu bank holidays.

And in 2007 and 2008 and 2009 and 2010 Americans did not make a run on their banks which would likely have caused banks to close their doors with a “BANK CLOSED” sign on the door.

“Accountable Responsibility” Ought to be a Trade Mark of Responsible Political Parties

Yet that expression seems to have eluded the “core values” of the neocons.

Sir Jeremy Greenstock, while in Iraq on day 1 of the Allies march into Iraq, used that expression, accountable responsibility, in his search for the general or someone who was accountable for protecting Iraq’s civilian population.

“Accountable Responsibility” ought to be bedrock “core value” for responsible political parties. And it becomes much more important when a political party starts a war based upon dubious claims.

Was Sir Jeremy’s search destined to fail? The Iraq war was an activity of America’s neocons. How accountable for that activity have  the neocons been? On what neocon desk would one place President Truman’s “THE BUCK STOPS HERE” sign?

After twenty-some-odd years of observation, one has the data that suggests that the neocons frequently(whenever they tackle a major task) “screw up”. And they always seem to blame someone else.

The neocons blamed Saddam Hussein for their Iraq war. The neocons spoke of Saddam Hussein’s gassing the Kurds. The neocons waited twenty years before acting on that. Gassing of the Kurds happened some twenty years ago.

The neocons spoke of Hussein’s violation of United Nations’ resolutions but why that would not be a United Nations’ problem is a mystery.

And, of course, the neocons claim of “document evidence” of an Iraq-Niger uranium connection revealed more about the neocons than it did about a uranium connection between Iraq and Niger.

And today, 7 years later, Sir Jeremy Greenstock would still have a problem trying to find out who the neocons appointed to ensure the safety – as much as possible – of the Iraqi non-combatants.

Perhaps the Iraqis can find some comfort in knowing that the quality of the special treatment they received from America’s neocons wasn’t just reserved for them. The same neocons train-wreck-performance processed America’s economy – doing financial damage to economies of America and the Western world. And, as is their trademark, they blamed someone else. America’s minorities were blamed for the meltdown of the Western world’s economy.

Accountable responsibility just does not seem to be a part of the character of America’s neocons.