Conservative Writer Upset "12 Years A Slave" Did Not Show Any Happy Slaves!

If you have any doubts about conservative America, you should read the piece below. I have posted a piece from  via Repost.US. The pieces links to an article on a conservative website that seems to validate what might be an undercurrent of callousness and ignorance among people who attempt to rationalize slavery. People who actually attempt to rationalize ownership of a human being with all associated horrors.

Since, my one gift in life is an ability to manage my emotions (most of the time). I am not going to explore or comment from my perspective. You really should follow the suggested link to comments associated with the racist writer’s article. I was actually proud of the majority of responses to the racist writer.

On a daily basis, I find reason for and validation of my extreme hatred of conservative America. 

FreakOutNation

Conservative writer upset ’12 Years A Slave’ doesn’t show happy slaves (via FreakOutNation)

A Conservative writer is upset that the Oscar-winning movie 12 Years a Slave displays a negative light on slavery, instead of the happy times. Apparently the author of the article believes that being enslaved is a happy time for those who are taken…

NPR And The Daily Kos: Russian Economic Influences On Putin

If there is a serious check on Vladimir Putin, it is the Russian economy. The young “alleged” democracy (non-communist state) has uber wealthy plutocrats much like in the United States and money fissures that spread far tot eh west into many corners of Europe. 

I heard a recent broadcast on NPR’s about Russian oligarchs who have money stashed around globe much like US corporatist with maintain offshore accounts across the globe.

NPR’s Robin Young, Then & Now, and guest political analyst and author Ben Judah explore why Russia is not worried about Sanctions. The radio segment also gave me insight into the extensive financial web that has to influence Putin and his obvious longing by-gone era.

NPR
Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Why Russia’s Not Worried About Western Sanctions

Excerpt

YOUNG: Well, and you write about why Putin is emboldened to do it. You say once upon a time, Russians might have feared Cold War sanctions, being cut off of access to Western banking, for instance, but no more, because what matters to the West is money. Explain your theory about how money is playing a role here. What money?  JUDAH: Let me explain to you how Russian corruption works. Out of every dollar stolen in Russia, the majority of that dollar will end up in Western Europe. It will end up in French chateaus. It will end up in German oil and gas companies. It will end up, above all, in British tax havens and in London property and the London stock exchange and in the London hedge funds.  Who are the people taking corrupt, stolen money out of Russia and bringing it to the West? These people are British bankers. They’re French bankers. They are German lawyers. They’re accountants. These people are the Western elite. Putin knows this. He sees that in the 21st-century Western Europe, there are no sources of growth in London and Paris, apart from living off oligarch rents.  You know, Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron likes to say that Britain is open for business. Well, that sounds very charming. But what in actual fact that means is that Britain is open for the money of dictators to come and be placed and laundered in the capital, London.  YOUNG: Elaborate on that. You actually point to three former European leaders who you say are part of this.  JUDAH: Putin, when he came to power, Putin assumed the control of a Russia that, in many ways, had been ruined and driven into ruin by Western economic sanctions. And there was fear that Western elites were MI6, that Western elites were CIA, that they were cunning, determined, and they not only had economic power, but they were willing to use it.What Putin, who has been in power, dare I say it, for quite a long time, Putin has seen how the previous generation of European leaders turned out. Let’s take the moralizing Tony Blair, invader and democracy promoter in Iraq. This gentleman now works as a PR advisor for the dictatorship of Kazakhstan. Let’s have a look at Gerhard Schroeder, former chancellor of Germany. This gentleman was, of course, a very stern defender of human rights in Eastern Europe.

AUDIO Segment

Ian Reifowitz’s piece for the Daily Kos provided another perspective on the power of economic influences on a relic of the Cold War.

Re-Blog from The Daily Kos

Ian Reifowitz

Daily Kos member

MON MAR 03, 2014 AT 06:41 AM PST

Forbes: ‘The Invasion Of Crimea Is Crushing Russia’s Stock And Currency Markets’

byIan ReifowitzFollow

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The ruble dropped my how much?

Here come some of the “costs” to Russia for violating the sovereignty of Ukraine, as of Monday morning:

1) The Russian benchmark stock index, the MICES, is down 10% or more (it has been down as much as 11.2% earlier today), the biggest drop in at least five years (depending on the close).

2) The Russian ruble reached all time lows against the euro and the dollar. To prop it up the Russian central bank—on a “temporary” basis—raised interest rates 1.5%, from 5.5 to 7.0%, and spent $10 billion toward the same end. This will significantly hamper growth in Russia unless they lower those rates fast.

3) Shares of the corporation Gazprom, the Russian Federation’s gas monopoly, are also down 10%.

4) The yield the Russian government has to pay on its state bonds is near a record high.

5) Foreign capital reserves for Russia are at a multi-year low.

The Ukrainian currency and its markets, along with stocks in its neighbors Poland and Hungary, are down sharply as well, but of course the West can help out at a relatively small cost, given the size of their economies. No one is coming to the financial rescue of Russia here. For what it’s worth, global financial experts (it is hard to write those words with a straight face) are confident that they do not see the “contagion” spreading to worldwide financial markets, which are down 1-2 percent so far today.

Please read below the fold for more on this story.

The Forbes contributor makes one other excellent point. Whereas the Soviet Union was essentially economically self-sufficient when it invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968, or Hungary in 1956, Putin’s Russia is decidedly not, as the data above make clear. It is fully integrated into world trade markets as well, something that offers the West real leverage. Peter Weber has neatly laid out the steps the West can take, and why they can cripple the Russian economy.

Vladimir Putin may be “out of touch with reality,” and “in another world,” as German Chancellor Angela Merkel noted after speaking with him. In this world, however, money talks, and money may well prove to be what reins in the man who would recreate the Russian Empire.

PS-I just found this photo on Facebook:

Translation: “Supporters of Putin—with him you will not be speaking in Russian, but will be silent in Russian.”

ORIGINALLY POSTED TO IAN REIFOWITZ ON MON MAR 03, 2014

Issa Goes Fascist; Cummings Lost It!

On a day when the US House of Representatives enacted the 50th vote to repeal Obama Care, another GOP strategy did not come to full blossom. A day when the Darrell Issa, Oversight Committee Chairman shows us, “I am taking my marbles and going home.” 

Congressional House votes are estimated to cost approximately $1.6 million per vote. The math leads us to a tea party expenditure of $80 million dollars on a vote that is nothing more than show boating for uber wealthy money-backers. May I suggest…. “big government?”

Darrell ISSA, (R) CA., Oversight Committee Chair, continues to fulfill his 2010 promise of with yet another hearing on the fizzling IRS “Scandal.”  Within days of the tea party wins in 2010, Issa opened-up on his intent.

Issa told POLITICO in an interview that he wants each of his seven subcommittees to hold “one or two hearings each week.” 

“I want seven hearings a week, times 40 weeks,” Issa said.

The Oversight Chair has held numerous meetings on the IRS 501 (C) (3) application process (AKA As the IRS Scandal), numerous Benghazi Hearings, and has been accused by the Ranking Committee Member of conducting partisan “off-line” discussions with an employee of the IRS Office responsible for tax-free application review and approval. In other words, Issa is fulfilling his mission in support of GOP obstruction at a level of taxpayer funding waste and political silliness. 

A brilliant man once said.

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Albert Einstein

Issa’s frustration with difficulty in satisfying his party boiled over and he gathered his marbles and his cap to head home. As a observer of US governance, I cannot recall a more publicly authoritarian example of anger and disrespect some would call fascism.   

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Luke Russet of NBC News joined an MSNBC news data and spoke about what took place int he Committee hearing. Russert summed-up the angst filled interaction with (paraphrased) “It appear Issa was frustrated with the witnesses’s declaration of her Fifth Amendment Rights.” Russert was yet again way-off in his reporting. There was certainly a degree of angst after the witness ‘took the fifth,” but Issa ordered the mic cut and commenced his child-like physical tirade after allowing the Ranking Member, Rep. Elijah Cummings, to speak and Cummings mentioned the word “Republican.” Cummings also enacted a tirade, out of frustration, and what appeared to me as total disrespect for the process, the Committee, the hearing process and the US Government.

http://youtu.be/zsv6fmXu4gQ

I have posted a transcript of the “event.” 

Issa, Cummings clash at hearing after ex-IRS official Lerner takes 5th 

Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., got into a heated argument with Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., after Issa tried to adjourn the hearing. 

Issa at first stood up and prepared to leave as Cummings said he wanted to ask a “procedural question.” In seconds, tensions flared. 

“Mr. Chairman, you cannot run a committee like this,” Cummings appealed. 

Cummings’ microphone was then turned off, and then flipped back on again. Issa sat down momentarily, but then abruptly told Lerner she was “released” and said: “We’re adjourned, close it down.” 

Cummings, his microphone again turned off, continued to shout, complaining about the Republicans’ “one-sided investigation.” 

“I am a member of the Congress of the United States. I am tired of this,” he shouted. 

Darrell has a shaky past to put it simply. A past that includes total disregard for the law, society, and an absence of judgment common to people who avoid felony convictions (for the entirety of their lives). It is a GOP and tea party shame he has such power to provided weekly obstruction on issues when there seems to be very little to no substance.

Think of the temperament and Machiavellianism inherent in Issa’s act of shutting off Representative Cummings.

How about a couple of segments from MSNBC?One segment with Al Sharpton, Politics Nation, the other with Chris Matthews, Hardball. Or, choose the segment you prefer. I will advise the Al Sharpton segment offers some congressional insight into Issa’s crass act and dogma.

Each segment is the minutes plus, but as good as it gets.

Sharpton

Matthews

Paul Ryan Goes Cheapshot While Accusing Obama Of Proposing A Campaign Budget

 Image via Raw Story 

We are seeing, reading and hearing more and more pushes for approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline. 

I read the Democratic Governor of Missouri has commented (this week) he supports approval and for the following reasons.

Energy independence for the future and to help the US economy!

Huffington Post

Excerpt

The Democratic governor endorsed the Keystone XL pipeline in a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday. 

“The approval and construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline will strengthen our economy, create jobs and promote North American energy independence,” Nixon wrote.

Excerpt

Nixon previously hadn’t directly weighed in on the Keystone project, but did previously support the expansion of another oil pipeline in Missouri. Last year, He praised a Canadian company’s announcement to build a new 600-mile pipeline from Illinois to Oklahoma along an existing pipeline route running diagonally from northeast to west-central Missouri. 

Missouri’s two U.S. senators — Democrat Claire McCaskill and Republican Roy Blunt — have also endorsed construction of the Keystone pipeline.

The Missouri Governor astounds! &nbsp

We realize the Koch brothers stand to gain billions for completion of the XL Pipeline. The potential is staggering. Since the potential gain is contested and disputed to date, we will only refer you to Google, if you are curious. In any case the Libertarian industrialist (who wish to head a US oligarchy) stand to gain billions.

Therefore, when we hear comment from pundits and politicians regarding approval of the XL Pipeline Northern Leg, we question their reasoning and motive. The Pipeline is reported to provide only 35 full-time jobs once it is completed and it will not provide additional energy independence beyond independence already accomplished during Obama’s terms in office.

Punditry and political support for the Project are no surprise. Yet, conservative politicians never cease to amaze. In fact, what you are about to see, read and hear exceeds the nuttiness of the Missouri Democratic governor’ s belated support for the project. We suggest Ryan pulled a shameful cheap shot entry of the Keystone XL Pipeline into a CNN segment earlier today. It should be noted, these people will spare no opportunity to place subliminal messages into the minds of Americans. Americans in aggregate will not gain from construction of the Northern Leg as we seriously suspect these on-camera (elected officials) spokespeople will gain.

There are times when, it seems they are paid, by the utterance. Paul Ryan’s insertion this morning was without question ridiculous. Actually, his insertion of  the the pipeline speaks to Ryan’s credibility and veracity as an elected official. He spoke about the Obama 2015 Budget as a campaign budget, and what does he do with minutes of starting his question induced diatribe.

Paul Ryan is as phony and disingenuous as a tamed Scorpion.  Ever heard of the “Scorpion and the Frog.”  It is his nature!

The Raw Story

Paul Ryan stuns CNN host: Keystone pipeline will solve Russia’s Ukraine invasion (via Raw Story )

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) shocked CNN host Kate Bolduan on Wednesday when he asserted that Congress and President Barack Obama could solve the crisis in Ukraine by approving the Keystone XL pipeline. The Wisconsin Republican began his interview saying that…