In his weekly address, the president has asked Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and SBA administrator Karen Mills, to convene a conference of regulators, congressional leaders, lenders, and entrepreneurs to come up with additional steps to improve the flow of credit to small businesses looking to expand. Image Credit: cf News13
Obama's Weekly Address: Small Businesses Are Next Money Target Of Attention
That'll work.
These people, these uneducated in economics, Maoist/Marxist true believers ... really do not have a clue how jobs are created and sustained. They honestly think it is about the object, "Money", and not the concept and process of "Needs Satisfaction" that actually causes people to spend the representation of their labors in exchange for something.
We're sunk!
HOPE placards from Barack Obama's presidential inauguration. A scribble on a placard is about all that our nation can "hope" for. Image Credit: TwitPic
This excerpted and edited from Bloomberg -
Obama Says Small Businesses Must Be at Forefront of Recovery By Catherine Dodge and Julianna Goldman - Oct. 24 (Bloomberg)
President Barack Obama called small businesses the “engine” of the U.S. economy and said too many are still struggling to get the credit they need to operate.
In his weekly address on the radio and Internet, Obama said the nation’s banks, supported by taxpayers in the economic crisis, now need “to stand by the creditworthy small businesses.” ---- The president this week announced measures to open up credit for small business, such as capital injections for community banks to spur lending. Obama also asked Congress to raise the limits for Small Business Administration loans from $2 million to $5 million and as much as $5.5 million for manufacturing.
“The goal here is to get credit where it’s needed most -- to businesses that support families, sustain communities, and create the jobs that power our economy,” Obama said. Reference Here>>
Two Words: T-A-X C-U-T
But oh, no ... he went on to say:
“It’s time for those banks to fulfill their responsibility to help ensure a wider recovery,” Obama said. “We’re going to take every appropriate step to encourage them to meet those responsibilities.”
This strategy will only keep these businesses alive. Small businesses need to have a strong purchasing environment to succeed and the current leadership has saddled the economy with way too much debt (Stimulus & Omnibus) and uncertainty (Cap & Trade and Obamacare) for operating cash loans to really keep businesses in business.
We have a socialist, black hole economy, and it will get worse when the Bush tax cuts get repealed by the current Democrat Congress Leadership.
This concept of Obama's (Banks lending operating Capital) is like priming a pump that has no water in the well!
This is a bit like the "Sub-Prime" mortgage mess we are trying to come out of, in that, the Government is doing everything it can by throwing money into a place it will do the least good.
Throwing Loans to people who can not qualify or pay for them (Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Government money) or throwing loans to small businesses to keep them alive (TARP money from the Government and lowered interest rates from the Government to the Banks) even though nobody has a job or the money to purchase the goods and services they produce.
The Government needs to back away and STOP MEDDLING in our free market economy. Everything they do, no matter how well intentioned or evil intentioned, is the exact opposite of what it takes to get a free market economy back on the tracks ... the one they threw off of the tracks in the first place through social engineering programs and regulatory inaction.
Magda Wierzycka, the CEO of Sygnia Asset Management, writes on Moneyweb’s blog about Generation Y and their characteristics. Generation Y are those born between 1982 and 1995 of Generation X and Baby Boomer parents. /// She describes this generation as growing up amidst ‘unprecedented prosperity’ with access to ‘better, more rounded education’. Furthermore they are: ‘extreme[ly] technology savvy’, ‘very family orientated’, ‘demanding and outspoken employees’ with an ‘overdeveloped sense of entitlement’, they ’struggle to deal with failure or criticism’ and ‘flounder if left unmanaged or unsupervised’. Caption & Image Credit: dirkvisser/Brightest Young Minds
Auto-Culture & Decision Making In A Gen Y World
In a study released today by AutoPacific - a future-oriented automotive marketing research and product-consulting firm, some interesting and surprising characteristics and purchasing traits reveal themselves and may be useful to those who desire to appeal to an increasingly important market segment.
Many assumptions like the popular belief that the Gen Y crowd exclusively prefers compact and energy efficient cars are somewhat dispelled through the study. Over half of Gen Y are considering the purchase of a mid-size car or mid-size crossover SUV. They expect that technology will improve fuel economy and environmental friendliness and allow them to purchase a vehicle that is sized to meet their personal needs.
“Don’t be fooled by the growth of certain segments over the years,” said George Peterson, president of AutoPacific, the research firm that conducted the study. “The Compact Car segment shows sales growth, yet a new Toyota Corolla is similar in size to an older Toyota Camry. Vehicles have gotten larger over time but segments have not been redefined. Ultimately, Generation Y consumers are purchasing vehicles that are sized appropriately to their needs and lifestyle.”
The study entitled “The Generation Y Opportunity”, which come from data gathered from AutoPacific’s annual survey of over 32,000 new car and light truck buyers in the United States, looks closely at Gen Y recent buyers of new vehicles and how they compare to older generations. In many ways, Gen Y is following in the footsteps of their Baby Boomer parents, but in more extreme ways. The study details current Gen Y new car buyers and the future market.
$1.5M Russian SUV Features Diamonds, Whale Penis Leather - That's all you really need to know about the $1.5 million Dartz Prombron Monaco Red Diamond Edition. Yes, the diamond-encrusted white gold gauges and gold-plated bulletproof windows are impressive, but seriously, whale penis leather interior. /// The already bulletproof and wildly over-the-top 8.1 liter GM V8-powered Dartz Kombat T98 is getting a name change to Prombron and along with it will come a complete and brain-maimingly bourgeoisie upgrade with the Monaco Red Diamond Edition. The world's most expensive ultra-luxury SUV will debut at the 2010 Top Marques Monaco show with luxe features crazy enough to make a Maybach blush. Caption & Image Credit: Jolopnik
This excerpted and edited from a press release issued by AutoPacific -
GENERATION Y OPEN TO NEW BRANDS, NEW TECHNOLOGY AND HYBRIDS Survey Shows Generation Y Frequently Multitasking While Driving AutoPacific, “The Generation Y Opportunity”, released for publication - October 21, 2009
Willing to embrace new brands, new technology and alternative powertrains, Generation Y will redefine the automotive market. A just released study on Generation Y new vehicle buyers in the United States shows Generation Y consumers are more likely than the generations before them to consider purchasing a Chinese or Indian branded vehicle, more willing to accept hybrid powertrains, and more likely to want the latest entertainment technology in their vehicle.
As the largest generation since the Baby Boomers continues to gain spending power and enter the new car market, which automakers will win their confidence? AutoPacific’s study underscores the opportunities for automakers to reach Generation Y consumers as they move through their Teen, Young Adult and Young Family life-stages.
“Growing up with continuously evolving technology and electronics has given Generation Y a unique ability to adapt easily to change, a willingness to accept new brands, and an expectation that their vehicle provide the best of what is available,” said George Peterson, president of AutoPacific.
Though many Generation Y consumers would choose a trip around the world over a luxury vehicle, Generation Y does expect that the vehicle they buy will be more than just basic transportation. “Generation Y is more likely than older generations to own portable electronics, more likely to research their vehicle options on the Internet, and an astonishing 29% of those surveyed are more likely to frequently multi-task while driving," continues Peterson. "They know what’s out there, they know the economical and environmental problems we face, and their vehicle expectations reflect that knowledge.” ---- The AutoPacific Generation Y Opportunity is conducted annually to determine who Generation Y buyers are and what they want from their future cars, including size, engine, transmission and attributes like entertainment features, luxury features, in-vehicle communications, comfort, and convenience features. Reference Here>>
Maybe the Russian-made Dartz Prombron isn't exactly the chief target in the luxury car segment for Gen Y'ers, but, we at MAXINE believe ... at this price ( $1.5 million) it had better have bluetooth iPOD compatibility, integrated hands-free cellphone technology, and a mount to hold the Apple MAC that is accessing the internet via a MiFi internet hotspot so that they can be plugged into Twitter while cruising down to Glamis for a week-end of radical Dune-ing!
Anti-ACORN Guerrilla Art goes viral in Los Angeles. Here is an example, stencil spray painted on the side of a signal control box on a typical LA street corner. Image Credit: Publius
Unearthed! Barack Obama's Twisted ACORN Roots
Many of the citizens here in the lower 48 (otherwise known in Canada as Americans), have been treated to a fair amount of change in the political landscape over the last week or so.
It really all started with the fact that a whole lot of people showed up at, and filled the mall park that runs between the Capitol Dome building and the Washington Monument (about one mile long and 1/4 mile wide).
ABC News posted a story dated September 12, 2009 quoting a DC fire department official as estimating the crowd at 70,000 people but upon further investigation, the very first comment was logged at 1:59AM (the actual times have since been scrubbed from the log of comments), the very early morning before the gathering even got started. Maybe ABC News got confused in that the estimate of the crowd may have been for people sleeping in the mall area waiting for the gathering to begin some six hours later!
Then, at the beginning of the week, investigative tapes began to be broadcast by FOX News and Andrew Brietbat's new website "BigGovernment.Com" catching the largest names in media flat-footed. The first tape showed ACORN advisers instructing two young people, one posing as a pimp, and the other, a hooker, on how to fill out the paperwork so that the house they wanted to use as a brothel would qualify for Government/Taxpayer money. This tape, combined with the successful prosecutions of ACORN on the charges of voter fraud, caused the Census Bureau to drop the organization from the list of agencies they planned to use to collect information for them from citizens.
Four more tapes were shown throughout the week and it has become apparent the ACORN suffers from a "culture of corruption", so much so that both houses of Congress decided to vote to de-fund the organization from any Federal monies it may receive and to be placed on a list to never do business with them ever again.
For The Record: The “De-fund ACORN Act” passed the House Thursday, September 17th, 2009 by an overwhelming margin of 345-75. The House vote comes just days after the Senate voted 83-7 to block ACORN from receiving federal housing grants. With these votes, 80% of the members of Congress have weighed in to block ACORN from receiving any more taxpayer dollars.
The President of the United States, Barack Obama, insists that his ties to the organization, ACORN, were minimal but here is some information that might be useful to those who would like to have a complete understanding of the ties that bind this President to an organization that has grown and thrived by building itself on a "culture of corruption".
Anti-ACORN Guerrilla Art goes viral in Los Angeles where Obama “Hope” poster artist, Shepard Fairey, studio wall was targeted with the stencil spray painted image. Image Credit: Publius
This excerpted and edited from WorldNetDaily -
While ACORN remains riddled in scandal, lawmakers have voted to cut off federal funding to the group, the U.S. Census Bureau has severed ties to the organization – and the White House has blasted its behavior as "unacceptable."
But just how extensive are President Obama's personal ties to ACORN?
The following is a timeline outlining some of the purported connections between the president and ACORN through the years:
1990s: Obama meets ACORN
ACORN, or the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, first noticed Obama when he was organizing on the far south side of the city with the Developing Communities Project. A March 2, 2008, Los Angeles Times article by Letta Tayler and Keith Herbert, titled "Obama Forged Path As Chicago Community Organizer," explored Obama's pre-law school days as a community organizer in Chicago and his efforts to build a partnership with Chicago's "Friends of the Parks."
"Obama's task was to help far South Side residents press for improvement," the Times article explained.
National Review Online noted, "Part of Obama's work, it would appear, was to organize demonstrations, much in the mold of radical groups like ACORN."
The Times article reveals that Madeleine Talbot, who at the time was a leader at Chicago ACORN, was thoroughly impressed with Obama because "he got people to vote with their feet."
"At the time, Talbot worked at the social action group ACORN and initially considered Obama a competitor," the article stated. "But she became so impressed with his work that she invited him to help train her staff."
Talbott personally led Chicago ACORN's campaign to intimidate banks into making high-risk loans to low-credit customers, Stanley Kurtz reported.
"Long the director of Chicago ACORN, Talbott is a specialist in 'direct action' – organizers' term for their militant tactics of intimidation and disruption," Kurtz writes. "Perhaps her most famous stunt was leading a group of ACORN protesters breaking into a meeting of the Chicago City Council to push for a 'living wage' law, shouting in defiance as she was arrested for mob action and disorderly conduct. But her real legacy may be her drive to push banks into making risky mortgageloans."
I recovered the copy of the comment that was made by the original ABC News article (referenced at the top) on the attendance to the 9/12 Tea Party Rally on the Washington DC mall:
"The time stamp of the very first comment says it all - it was stamped in advance of the rally, way in advance - comment and stamp here:
obama gave his speech to congress on wednesday, not tuesday as the article states twice. Posted by: ericgwitte 1:59 AM" Link>>
9/12 "Million MOB March" - Image Credit: Mary Kathrine Ham
9/12 "Million MOB March" A Success Without MSM Help
Here, in the beginning stages of the 44th Presidency, many thought that life would carry on in a business as usual, politics as usual kind of approach.
Sure, Barack Obama made history by becoming the first man with African DNA in his blood to be elected as President of the United States, and sure, he ran and campaigned on being the one man who could reach across the divides in this country by being the first "post-racial" and "post-partisan" chief executive to hold the office ... but that was not meant to be.
Under his leadership (and the leadership of the Democrat-Party controlled Congress), the debt has quadrupled with the passage of two large spending bills (Stimulus and Omnibus), a further executive spending initiative known by TARP, started by the previous Administration (Bush) but expanded and used as a tool to take-over two of the three domestic automobile manufacturers in the United States and change the ownership matrix away from investors and place labor unions in the majority ownership position, along with the Federal Government. A serious attempt to take-over about one-sixth of our economy and bring into a single-payer Government program of CONTROL making all decisions about ones health the power of government boards (death panels) while driving out free enterprise. And lastly, an energy policy that would make some forms of common energy (coal and petroleum) virtually unavailable if not very expensive and scarce.
9/12 "Million MOB March" - View of Capitol Dome from adjacent grounds packed with small government, lower taxes activists - Image Credit: Twitpiv via Prisminc
Enter the Tea Party movement.
Named after the uprising and revolt that eventually led to the formation of this country after, as a colony of England, the territory occupied by people who, for the most part left England to start a life free from excessive Monarchical control over their lives from the King of England, had large taxes places on many goods and services produced or imported in the country. A revolt in Boston led to the dumping of bales of tea being imported into the country but this tea had new taxes placed on its sale and so, in a show of defiance, the tea was dumped into the harbor and the Boston Tea Party was born into the lore of the United States.
9/12 "Million MOB March" - View of Tea Party Movement protest rally from the Capitol Building Dome down the mall to the Washington Monument tower ... one mile away - Image Credit: Hutch123
Today, people (53% and rising) are not happy that their elected representatives are not listening to them. The representatives are voting on, and passing legislation into law without reading the bills that they are voting on. The government is not even allowing any time or the ability for the people to see and read proposed legislation so that they understand what the representatives are committing WE THE PEOPLE to pay for and to do!
September 10, 2001, our country was safe and life was good. September 11, 2001, our country was viciously attacked by a group of 19 islamo-fascist terrorist that wanted to take away the freedoms we enjoy in this country. The day, September, 12 of any year has stood as a response that our freedoms will never die and we will all stand up as Americans to proclaim this to be true.
September 12, 2009, a perfect storm of grass-roots protest came together in Washington DC and it did not have the sponsorship of any political party, no support from special interest groups and/or unions, and absolutely no help from the established "Fourth Estate" known in this country as the Main Stream Media (MSM).
This excerpted and edited from Michelle Malkin -
Celebrating the 9/12 rallies; Turnout estimated at 2 million By Michelle Malkin • September 12, 2009 10:06 AM
It’s been an unprecedented year for limited government activism. It would never have been possible without the early initiative of grass-roots leaders in the #tcot community on Twitter, Smart Girl Politics #DontGo — and concerned women like Keli Carender and Amanda Grosserode who stood up in their communities against reckless spending in Washington before anyone was listening. Before the cable news was paying attention. Before it became fashionable for politicians to latch on.
Activists were derided as amateurs who couldn’t turn out a crowd. Then they were smeared as corporate shills. They were criticized for not having a coherent message. Then they were mocked for ideological single-mindedness. They are resented by professional strategists who accuse them of organizing empty protests that won’t translate into electoral gains. But the movement has given birth to a new generation of movers and shakers who have rejected establishment partisan politics for nimble, Internet-facilitated, issues-based advocacy. ---- The Tea Party Express blog is here.
12:34pm Eastern: Police estimate 1.2 million in attendance. ABC News reporting crowd at 2 million — tweets Tabitha Hale from D.C.
So, how many were there? Allah looks at the numbers reports here. Reference Here>>
9/12 "Million MOB March" - Taking it to the streets in Washington DC - Image Credit: Twitpiv via Brooks Bayne
COMMENT (on attendance article made at a social media portal): ABC News, citing the DC fire department, reported that between 60,000 and 70,000 people had attended the tea party rally at the Capitol. By the time this figure reached Michelle Malkin, however, it had been blown up to 2,000,000. There is a big difference, obviously, between 70,000 and 2,000,000. That's not a twofold or threefold exaggeration -- it's roughly a thirtyfold exaggeration.
The way this false estimate came into being is relatively simple: Matt Kibbe, the president of FreedomWorks, lied, claiming that ABC News had reported numbers of between 1.0 and 1.5 million when they never did anything of the sort. A few tweets later, the numbers had been exaggerated still further to 2 million. Kibbe wasn't "in error", as Malkin gently puts it. He lied. He did the equivalent of telling people that his penis is 53 inches long.
Malkin, who to her credit later corrected the error, frets that it might be used to by liberals to "discredit the undeniably massive turnout". She's right to be worried -- it absolutely will be used that way. If you don't want to be discredited, then don't, as Kibbe did, tell a ridiculous (and easily disprovable) lie.
RESPONSE (to comment by blog author on attendance article made at a social media portal): The photos do not lie but maybe the MSM did a little pumping up so that people who still support this style of leadership could make the counter-argument that you are making.
The truth is that the New York Times, the Washington Post and many other MSM print outlets are embargoing (not mentioning) the fact that a march ever took place. The photos confirm that one of the largest gatherings EVER in the mall at the nation's capitol took place.
Just because official estimates have been done away with through policy after the much hyped "Million Man March" (remember that socialist and race-focused fiasco? ... 200,000 at best) was such a bust, let us just half the estimate of a few broadcast MSM outlets and call it a solid million people ... and report it as a very successful protest against the policies of a One-Party rule government.
President Obama, the First Lady and White House staff observe a moment of silence. Image Credit: White House Photo, Chuck Kennedy, 9/11/09
Obama's Socialist Re-Branding Of 9/11 Remembrance
On the morning of September 11, 2001, four passenger jets were hijacked by islamo-fascist terrorists in a plot devised by al Qaeda to disrupt the economic security of our country and to bring our society down.
Today, eight years later, Barack Obama and his executive Administration are attempting to dilute and hijack the importance of this day that, at best, was an act of war and recast the remembrance of "9/11" into something completely different ... something unrecognizable from its original intent.
This excerpted and edited from Thaindian News-
Obama proclaims 9/11 as “Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance” September 11th, 2009 - 2:29 am ICT by BNO News
I call upon all Americans to join in service and honor the lives we lost, the heroes who responded in our hour of need, and the brave men and women in uniform who continue to protect our country at home and abroad. In April, I was proud to sign the bipartisan Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which recognizes September 11 as a National Day of Service and Remembrance. Originated by the family members of those who lost loved ones on 9/11, the National Day of Service and Remembrance is an opportunity to salute the heroes of 9/11, recapture the spirit of unity and compassion that inspired our Nation following the attacks, and rededicate ourselves to sustained service to our communities. ---- Working together, we can usher in a new era in which volunteering and service is a way of life for all Americans. Deriving strength from tragedy, we can write the next great chapter in our Nation’s history and ensure that future generations continue to enjoy the promise of America.
By a joint resolution approved December 18, 2001 (Public Law 107-89), the Congress has designated September 11 of each year as Patriot Day, and by Public Law 111-13, approved April 21, 2009, has requested the observance of September 11 as an annually recognized National Day of Service and Remembrance.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim September 11, 2009, as Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance. ---- I invite the Governors of the United States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and interested organizations and individuals to join in this observance. I call upon the people of the United States to participate in community service in honor of those our Nation lost, to observe this day with other ceremonies and activities, including remembrance services, and to observe a moment of silence beginning at 8:46 a.m. eastern daylight time to honor the innocent victims who perished as a result of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Reference Here>>
What this recast ... re-branding of the original proclamation for a Patriot Day really means can be found in this following description of an activity that happened only one month ago.
This excerpted and edited from The American Spectator-
Obama's Plan to Desecrate 9/11 By Matthew Vadum on 8.24.09 @ 6:08AM
This effort to reshape the American psyche has nothing to do with healing the nation and everything to do with easing the nation along in the ongoing radical transformation of America that President Obama promised during last year's election campaign. The president signed into law a measure in April that designated Sept. 11 as a National Day of Service, but it's not likely many lawmakers thought this meant that day was going to be turned into a celebration of ethanol, carbon emission controls, and radical community organizing. ---- The administration's plans were outlined in an Aug. 11 White House-sponsored teleconference call run by Obama ally Lennox Yearwood, president of the Hip Hop Caucus, and Liv Havstad, the group's senior vice president of strategic partnerships and programs. ---- The plan is to turn a "day of fear" that helps Republicans into a day of activism called the National Day of Service that helps the left. In other words, nihilistic liberals are planning to drain 9/11 of all meaning.
"They think it needs to be taken back from the right," said the source. "They're taking that day and they're breaking it because it gives Republicans an advantage. To them, that day is a fearful day."
A coalition including the unsavory left-wing pressure group Color of Change and about 60 far-left, environmentalist, labor, and corporate shakedown groups participated in the call. Groups on the call included: ACORN, AFL-CIO, Apollo Alliance, Community Action Partnership, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, 80 Million Strong for Young American Jobs, Friends of the Earth, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Mobilize.org, National Black Police Association, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, National Council of Negro Women, National Wildlife Federation, RainbowPUSH Coalition, Urban League, and Young Democrats of America. Reference Here>>
Basically, the new "brown shirt" leagues of the Obama Administration will do anything to hijack any vestige of what would pass for an American culture and patriotism and co-opt the effort to capture private efforts and turn them into service to, and for, the state envisioned by Barack Obama.
The largest insult from all of this activity, is that it assumes that Americans are not giving ... especially not giving to their communities and their neighbors. This assumption shows the depravity of understanding of self-reliant human beings and the cynical political philosophy of the person we have elected to become the 44th President of these United States.
However subtle, this re-branding proclamation of April 21, 2009 and series of conference calls by organizations aligned with the politically radical (communist) left in this country poses a far greater threat to freedom-loving life in this country than anything al Qaeda could muster up at this time. Barack Obama wants to consume and end this Constitutional country from within.
Please, REMEMBER 9/11 for what it really was, an act of war ... and REMEMBER the culture that made this country great.
'CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY' - In Wide Release October 2nd /// "It's a crime story. But it's also a war story about class warfare. And a vampire movie, with the upper 1 percent feeding off the rest of us. And, of course, it's also a love story. Only it's about an abusive relationship. /// "It's not about an individual, like Roger Smith, or a corporation, or even an issue, like health care. This is the big enchilada. This is about the thing that dominates all our lives — the economy. I made this movie as if it was going to be the last movie I was allowed to make. /// "It's a comedy." — Michael Moore [ctrl-click to launch movie trailer]. Caption & Image Credit: mmflint
Moore Gaining More Through "Capitalism"
As much as Michael Moore hates capitalism (you know - Product, Price, Place, and Promotion), he sure keeps going back to the well to churn out more product which he can sell to his loyal, fearful, and hateful hoards.
In his latest project titled "Capitalism: A Love Story", Michael leaves no doubt how much he loves the money he makes by never straying from his basic formula. A Documentary style, smattered with dubious "FACTS" and a confrontation from Michael Moore, himself, the true love story of this latest (or any, for that matter) effort.
With Michael Moore, he is not happy unless he has a villain(s) upon which to heap disgust and insult as he sets himself up as the showman arbiter of a proper social justice. Politically, socialism is always the answer for Moore as he drags in the capitalist cash from his little, yet very profitable film enterprise!
U.S. director Michael Moore (L) and his wife Kathleen Glynn pose for photographers on the red carpet at the 66th Venice Film Festival September 6, 2009 [ctrl-click to launch movie trailer]. Image Credit: Tony Gentile
This excerpted and edited from Reuters -
Michael Moore's "Capitalism" economical with facts By Deborah Young - Mon Sep 7, 2009 8:22pm EDT
Simplifications are Moore's stock-in-trade, and his documentaries are not known for their impeccable research and objectivity. But here his talent is evident in creating two hours of engrossing cinema by contrasting a fast-moving montage of 50s archive images extolling free enterprise with the economic disaster of the present. Given the desperate state of the world economy, this provocative film should find attentive audiences along with many angry detractors who will give it free publicity.
As in his previous films, Moore is himself the chief character, offscreen narrator and investigator. Wearing his inseparable baseball cap and T-shirt, he pretends wide-eyed surprise as his interview subjects recount personal dramas related to America's economic meltdown. These are genuinely moving stories: a couple whose farm is in foreclosure, a family that discovers the father's company has taken out a lucrative insurance policy and earned $5 million on his premature death, tearful workers whose factory is suddenly shut down, commercial airline pilots so underpaid they live on food stamps.
Moore has assembled a collection of nearly unbelievable horror stories to illustrate why capitalism and democracy do not go hand in hand. ---- The second half of the film is even more chilling in suggesting, through interviews with a number of worried members of Congress, that the country's $700 billion bailout was legalized bank robbery, a "financial coup d'etat" run through Congress just before elections and engineered principally by Goldman Sachs and Henry Paulson.Though it blames all political parties, including the Democrats, for caving in with the bailout, the film is careful to spare President Barack Obama, who remains a symbol of hope for justice. His support for the workers who stage a sit-in at their factory is paralleled to Franklin D. Roosevelt's call for a new bill of rights -- never implemented -- guaranteeing universal health care. Reference Here>>
Over the next few weeks to months, we will see how much stomach our movie-going society has for Socialism as we discuss the Public Option and Triggers when the Obama Administration and our Democrat Party led Congress tries to shove socialized universal health care down our collective tax-payer throats with impossible promises and 51 Senator "Yes" vote reconciliations.
As far as Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story" ... the Paramount Vantage/Overture project opens in limited release on September 23 in New York and Los Angeles. With any luck, due to political overload caused by health care and other Obama Administration and Democrat Party leadership agendas, the movie will go straight to DVD/Blu-ray after the first week due to lack of interest!
Retrospective on Michael Moore by Cox & Forkum: "Blowing Smoke"
GSTV's installation is completely painless and all-inclusive. We take care of the management, the equipment, the network, and content, including creating your product promotions. So you and your customers can sit back and enjoy the show (it is a little like how the Obama Administration would like the American people to feel as he implements his radical political agenda). Partical Caption & Image Credit: GSTV
State Run "Obama TV" Strikes Deal to Broadcast At Gas Stations!
Gas Station TV chosen to provide NBC content to 30 million on-the-go viewers.
That's right, it is not bad enough that Chris Matthews talks about a strange feeling running up his leg on his seldom viewed show on the equally unattended cable outlet MSNBC ... now we all may be treated to the same type of incisive reflections at the gas pump as we have to stand there and fill our tanks with the politically "hated" elixir.
This excerpted and edited from NACS Online -
NBC Universal and Gas Station TV Form Partnership NACS Online (National Association of Convenience Stores) - Posted: Sep 1, 2009
NBC Everywhere and Gas Station TV announced earlier this week that they have formed an exclusive advertising and content partnership to bring NBCU content to gas stations across the country. As of yesterday, NBCU content is available to more than 30 million viewers each month during visits to gas station pumps. --- Gas Station TV is available in more than 100 U.S. DMAs (and more than 800 US cities), including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia.
“Gas Station TV continues to be sought out by the top advertisers due to our reach and ability to conduct both national and local campaigns,” said Gas Station TV CEO David Leider. “We chose NBC as our partner as they are the only major network truly committed to giving their loyal viewers the quality programming they enjoy — and now expect — when they are away from the home.”
Each GSTV screen features a four-and-a-half minute combination of local and national NBCU content, as well as content from ESPN and AccuWeather. Gas Station TV’s technology allows geo-targeting down to the station and daypart, appealing capabilities for advertisers. Reference Here>>
Our Administration does not have an energy policy other than the recent appointment of a Politically-Radical Green Jobs Czar, Van Jones ... and there lies the rub. General Electric, as a company, views the green initiates put forward by the Obama Administration as THE way to save a dying company from itself.
Jeffrey R. Immelt, chairman and chief executive of General Electric leads a discussion with business leaders at an Ecomagination news conference at Universal Studios in Los Angeles, California May 24, 2007. Image Credit: Fred Prouser
Of course, this new deal now indemnifies Gas Station TV from scrutiny by the newly appointed Radically-Political FCC Diversity Czar, Mark Lloyd (officially - diversity officer of the Federal Communications Commission) ... we are sensing a theme here. Yes, this is the same Mark Lloyd who was very fond of Hugo Chaves and his political take-over and control of Venezuela. Mark Lloyd stated while participating in a 2008 conference on "media reform," what a wonderful leader Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, was, and wincing at an unpleasantness the dictator had to deal with, the uppity owners of media, people who had some objections to the outright take-over of their property in mind.
He spoke of Chavez's "incredible revolution, a democratic revolution," and of the "property owners and the folks who then controlled the media in Venezuela" who "rebelled" and who "worked to oust him." Still, said Lloyd, Chavez "came back with another revolution, and then ... began to take very seriously the media in his country."
NBC Universal media properties list in alphabetical order [ctrl-click photo to enlarge]. Image Credit: NBCU
We, at MAXINE, know Quid Pro Quo is the order of the day, and Gas Station TV just became another cog in the wheel of the state run outfit headed by the very compliant NBC Universal aka "Obama TV"!
Dan Rather - The "Poster Boy" for the cover of the scheduled release of "Media Bias For Dummies"! ... it's not happening, just kidding. Image Credit: liberalities.com
Pssst, Bush Volunteered For Viet Nam Theater Duty, Really!
An outside panel CBS brought into to get to the bottom of the so-called “Rathergate” mess says on Page #130 on an online report resource that George W. Bush had volunteered for fighter pilot service in the Viet Nam theater.
This little known information discovery was first brought forward on "The O'Reilly Factor" Tuesday night in an interview between Bill O'Reilly and Bernie Goldberg. What is interesting about this uncovered piece of information is that it shows to what lengths the producers and tellers of this story, that aired just 55 days before an election, went to hide an important fact about George W. Bush and his military service (beyond the phony documents).
This edited and excerpted from Bernie Goldberg's Between Manhattan and Malibu - A "Lost" Fact in the "Rathergate" Mess By Bernard Goldberg - Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
What seems like a long, long time ago Dan Rather was a very powerful force in American journalism. He not only was the anchorman of the CBS Evening News, he was also the face of the network’s renowned news division — the “Tiffany” network of bigger-than-life legends like Ed Murrow, Walter Cronkite, Eric Sevareid, Mike Wallace and many, many others.
That was then.
Now Dan Rather is suing the network that employed him for 44 years, asking for $70 million dollars in damages. Technically, the lawsuit is about a dry legal issue — breach of contract. But it is also about something much more personal to Rather: his legacy. It is a lawsuit, fundamentally, about saving Dan Rather’s reputation.
That reputation took a turn for the worse back in 2004. As has been widely reported, just 55 days before a very close presidential election, Dan Rather and his producer Mary Mapes put a story on the weekday edition of 60 Minutes that brought on the media equivalent of World War III. There were accusations that Rather, Mapes, and maybe the entire CBS News Division had set out to deliberately destroy George W. Bush and get John Kerry elected President of the United States – a charge everyone at CBS vehemently denies.
The story was about how the young George Bush got preferential treatment during the Vietnam War; how he wangled his way into the Texas Air National Guard back in the 1960s to avoid service in Vietnam; and how he was able to do it because his father was a big-shot, a United States Congressman from Houston. The story portrayed the Bush as a slacker. Others have said it portrayed him as a “cowardly draft dodger.”
And to bolster their story, Rather and Mapes got their hands on “never-before-seen” documents (as Rather put it in his story) that supposedly backed up their months (and in Mapes’ case, years) of reporting. But in no time flat the documents came under attack, mainly by conservatives on the web who examined the typeface of the memos and concluded they were fakes. ---- In 2007, Rather filed his $70 million lawsuit against his old company saying he wasn’t allowed to defend his story because the top management of CBS’ parent company, Viacom, wanted to appease the Bush Administration and protect its business interests.
Until now, the controversy over the Rather/Mapes story has centered almost entirely on one issue: the legitimacy of the documents – a very important issue, indeed. But it turns out that there was another very important issue, one that goes to the very heart of what the story was about – and one that has gone virtually unnoticed. This is it: Mary Mapes knew before she put the story on the air that George W. Bush, the alleged slacker, had in fact volunteered to go to Vietnam.
Who says? The outside panel CBS brought into to get to the bottom of the so-called “Rathergate” mess says. I recently re-examined the panel’s report after a source, Deep Throat style, told me to “Go to page 130.” When I did, here’s the startling piece of information I found:
Mapes had information prior to the airing of the September 8 [2004] Segment that President Bush, while in the TexANG [Texas Air National Guard] did volunteer for service in Vietnam but was turned down in favor of more experienced pilots. For example, a flight instructor who served in the TexANG with Lieutenant Bush advised Mapes in 1999 that Lieutenant Bush “did want to go to Vietnam but others went first.” Similarly, several others advised Mapes in 1999, and again in 2004 before September 8, that Lieutenant Bush had volunteered to go to Vietnam but did not have enough flight hours to qualify.
This information, despite the fact that it has been available since the CBS report came out four years ago, has remained a secret to almost everybody both in and out of the media — one lonely fact in a 234- page report loaded with thousands of facts, and overshadowed by the controversy surrounding the documents.
I made an online check and discovered that while a few websites noted the CBS finding, the story got no ink (that I could find) on the news pages of any big mainstream paper. I did manage to find two opinion pieces about the CBS mess – one in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the other in the Miami Herald — that briefly, and only in passing, mentioned the “Bush volunteered” angle. But that was it! A check of network newscasts turned up nothing. And when I questioned two journalists with intimate knowledge of the story, both said Mapes never shared her information with them.
For the record: George W. Bush has always maintained that he joined the National Guard not to avoid service in Vietnam but because he wanted to be a fighter pilot. Reference Here>>
Right there on Page #130 on an online resource it clearly states that George W. Bush had volunteered for fighter pilot service in the Viet Nam theater.
We, at MAXINE felt, the 43rd President of the United States may have been one of the most confounding Presidents this nation has ever seen given border security and Government spending ... at least until the current Administration took over, but George W. Bush did not join the Air National Guard to escape having to be put in harm's way in Viet Nam ... he actually volunteered for combat duty and this information was purposely suppressed because it just did not fit the direction of the intent of the 60 minutes piece!
Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) - As Rep. Fleming says, “If it’s so great for the rest of America, why can’t congress be a part of it as well?” Image Credit: House of Representatives
HR615: Congress Should Live Under Health Care Plan They Create
Has anyone noticed how the one-party leadership running the American government enjoys forcing their ideas on everyone else while not having to personally live with the consequences of those ideas themselves?
The socialized health care plan being debated in congress right now is no exception. They want to force Americans into their inefficient, costly, freedom-robbing plan while they continue living high on the taxpayer-funded hog of a different, privately managed plan.
This excerpted and edited from dakotavoice.com -
"Rep. John Flemming (R-LA) proposes to make all the animals on the “Animal Farm” truly equal. He has proposed HR 615 which says
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Members who vote in favor of the establishment of a public, federal government run health insurance option are urged to forgo their right to participate in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) and agree to enroll under that public option.
As Rep. Fleming says, “If it’s so great for the rest of America, why can’t congress be a part of it as well?”
He has 43 Republican co-sponsors,yet despite reaching out to Democrats to sign on, not a single Democrat has joined as a sponsor. What’s good for the goose is apparently not at all acceptable to the gander.
He says that if Members of Congress believe so strongly that government-run health care is the best solution for hard working American families,it’s only fitting that Americans see them lead the way. Public servants should always be accountable and responsible for what they advocate and pass for the public, so they should have to live with the consequences, too."
Barack Obama - President Obama asks supporters to declare their support for his three core principles for health care reform, and to share their personal stories to help build support for the reforms that are so desperately needed. [ctrl-click to launch video] Learn more at http://my.barackobama.com/healthcare
"Madoffing America" - The Marketing Of ObamaCare
The atmosphere here in America is laden heavy with the feel of Caveat Emptor ... let the buyer beware.
We are being told almost daily, that the Government needs to get what the Obama Administration wants to get done in terms of (name program here) legislation immediately, otherwise (name imperative here) will befall all of us and people are suffering.
Further, the Obama Administration is responding to the information that is leaking out about some programs they are fighting for with plastered over non-truths in order to be able to give the patina of cover for the Congress as they go back to their districts during the summer recess.
Linda Douglass - In this video, Linda Douglass, the communications director for the White Houses Health Reform Office, addresses a story that makes it look like the President intends to eliminate private coverage, when the reality couldn't be further from the truth. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0XCl6OHgiM
The Obama healthcare agenda, ObamaCare, is rife with misrepresentations and lies that are designed to have people believe that what this Administration is proposing is not a single payer, a one-size fits all healhcare system, that will push out and eliminate free market solutions that exist today.
Just like Bernie Madoff, who induced investors to give his company money with promises of unbelievable returns, the Obama Administration, with the help of the Democrat Political Party leadership in Congress, are promising something they can not, and do not intend to deliver.
The principles, as outlined on the wbsite - http://my.barackobama.com/healthcare - claims the following so that we citizens can feel comfortable about the proposed Government take-over of one-sixth of our economy - the healthcare system.
Example:
The Principles
President Obama has announced three bedrock requirements for real health insurance reform:
* Reduce Costs — Rising health care costs are crushing the budgets of governments, businesses, individuals and families and they must be brought under control
* Guarantee Choice — Every American must have the freedom to choose their plan and doctor – including the choice of a public insurance option
* Ensure Quality Care for All — All Americans must have quality and affordable health care
All of the above principles are not only untrue ... they are impossible promises to deliver given the text of H.R 3200, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 (currently 1,018 pages) passed through the House Energy and Commerce Committee on a 31-28 vote last Friday.
Obama to Jane Sturm: Hey, take a pill - Jane asks the President if her 100 year old mother (now 105) would have gotten a pacemaker under his plan. Well now that's a tough one ... that costs a lot and maybe we will have to say, just take a pill. Priceless. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-dQfb8WQvo
This excerpted and edited from the Charlotte Conservative Examiner and About.com -
Obamacare: death and taxes Hailey Wilson - Charlotte Conservative Examiner - August 4, 12:13 AM
House Democrats have narrowly pushed Obama’s Healthcare bill - H.R 3200, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 - through a key congressional committee this past Friday. ---- The official vote [by all of Congress] should be sometime in September, leaving little time for representatives and Americans to learn what the bill is really about.
Here is a start:
This new healthcare plan will take the independence you have in deciding where and how you get your healthcare and put those decisions into bureaucratic hands.
Think about it this way: going to your doctor will be like going to your DMV—long waiting lines, substandard service and inefficient care.
There is one very important difference, however: you or your loved one will be sick, hurt or dying. The inevitable delays in government-funded healthcare mean death, pain or a worsened condition. And what is worse, the government will decide what quality of healthcare is acceptable.
Here are some of the provisions in Obama’s Healthcare bill:
Page 29: Health care will be rationed.
Page 30: A government committee will decide what treatments and benefits you get (and, unlike an insurer, there will be no appeals process)
Page 42: The "Health Choices Commissioner" will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice. None.
Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free healthcare services. ---- About.com: Page 57, under section 163, there is something that would give the government power to reach into benefits recipients' bank accounts. It is called "Administrative Simplification," and Subsection 1173A of this measure, "Standardize Electronic Transactions" has a provision (a)(2)(B) that ensures that this new governmental power:
"be authoritative, permitting no additions or constraints for electronic transactions ..." (C) "be comprehensive, efficient and robust, requiring minimal augmentation by paper transactions or clarification by further communications;" and, finally, (D) enable the real-time (or near real-time) determination of an individual’s financial responsibility at the point of service and, to the extent possible, prior to service, including whether the individual is eligible for a specific service with a specific physician at a specific facility, which may include utilization of a machine-readable health plan beneficiary identification card;" ... (E) "enable, where feasible, near real-time adjudication of claims ..." (Emphasis added) ---- Page 58: Every person will be issued a National ID Healthcard.
Page 72: All private healthcare plans must conform to government rules to participate in a Healthcare Exchange.
Page 84: All private healthcare plans must participate in the Healthcare Exchange (i.e., total government control of private plans)
Page 95: The Government will pay ACORN and Americorps to sign up individuals for Government-run Health Care plan.
Page 102: Those eligible for Medicaid will be automatically enrolled: you have no choice in the matter.
Page 124: No company can sue the government for price-fixing. No "judicial review" is permitted against the government monopoly. Put simply, private insurers will be crushed.
Page 127: The AMA sold doctors out: the government will set wages.
Page 145: An employer MUST auto-enroll employees into the government-run public plan. No alternatives.
Page 126: Employers MUST pay healthcare bills for part-time employees AND their families.
Page 167: Any individual who doesn’t have acceptable healthcare (according to the government) will be taxed 2.5% of income.
Page 170: Any NON-RESIDENT alien is exempt from individual taxes (Americans will pay for them).
Page 195: Officers and employees of Government Healthcare Bureaucracy will have access to ALL American financial and personal records.
Page 239: Bill will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors and the poor most affected."
Page 241: Doctors: no matter what speciality you have, you'll all be paid the same (thanks, AMA!)
Page 253: Government sets value of doctors' time, their professional judgment, etc.
Page 265: Government mandates and controls productivity for private healthcare industries.
Page 272: Cancer patients: welcome to the wonderful world of rationing!
Page 280: Hospitals will be penalized for what the government deems preventable re-admissions.
Page 298: Doctors: if you treat a patient during an initial admission that results in a readmission, you will be penalized by the government.
Page 317: Doctors: you are now prohibited for owning and investing in healthcare companies!
Page 318: Prohibition on hospital expansion. Hospitals cannot expand without government approval.
Page 335: Government mandates establishment of outcome-based measures: i.e., rationing.
Page 341: Government has authority to disqualify Medicare Advantage Plans, HMOs, etc.
Page 354: Government will restrict enrollment of SPECIAL NEEDS individuals.
Page 425: More bureaucracy: Advance Care Planning Consult: Senior Citizens, assisted suicide, euthanasia.
Page 425: Government will instruct and consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney, etc. Mandatory. Appears to lock in estate taxes ahead of time. Reference Here and Here>>
There is more ... a lot more (and will be updated here from time to time) and it is not pretty.
Single Payer as articulated by now President Barack Obama at an AFL-CIO union meeting.
People are up in arms, showing up in record numbers at politician summer recess community meetings and having their voices heard. Last weekend, 10,000 people showed up at one of these gatherings in Ohio and the press reported that only 200 citizens were in attendance.
The Democrat Political Party leadership have drafted up some talking points to confront this display by condemning it as a manufactured response organized by "Big Insurance" companies, yet AARP, one of the biggest insurance marketers, is on record in supporting the Obama Administration's efforts - no matter what.
We, at MAXINE, are reminded of an anthem song produced by Bob Marley and the Wailers - "Get Up, Stand Up ... Stand Up For Your Right! [ctrl-click to launch music video] - don't give up the fight!" The time is now to not be duped by the efforts of our one-party leadership scheme and its efforts to nationalize healthcare, no matter how minimal their intrusion. Medicare and Medicaid are government programs that have failed, and all the Democrat leadership wants to do is give all of us this type of program as our only option.
Be very aware of the efforts of the one-party leadership represented by the Obama Administration and the Democrat Political Party led Congress to convince us to invest in their healthcare (big, bigger, biggest government control) ponzi scheme ... their Madoffing of America.
President Barack Obama (ahead), Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sergeant James Crowley walk from the Oval Office to the Rose Garden of the White House, July 30, 2009 to join in on the President;s invitation to the "Beer Summit". Notice that it is Officer Crowley who is interested in the needs of the hobbled Professor Gates ... and not the friend and President. Image Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza The Killing Of Innovation In Obamaworld
American exceptionalism and what the expression actually means are key to how the United States became the most powerful and successful country in the history of mankind.
Now that six full months of the one-party rule leadership regime of Carter's Second Term are in full effect, Barack Obama decided that the "Spirit of Innovation" is the key to the future and the country's economic prosperity.
To quote President Obama, "Innovation has been essential to our prosperity in the past, and it will be essential to our prosperity in the future."
Little does President Obama and the Democrat Political Party vote-locked led Congress understand that they have already snuffed the spark that ignites the flame of innovation which would be the payoff that risk offers the innovator.
Basically, by increasing the size and scope of Government in everyone's life, the mother's milk of innovation created through investment and the level of return on an investment that is judged by the risk involved ... has been turned upside down.
Increased taxes and fees, Federal takeover of major sectors of a once free enterprise business, laying waste to contract law precedents that helped to structure the confidence of the investor through business uncertainty, and the pursuit of policies that would actually kill off some of the energy producing sectors of our economy have done everything but produce an atmosphere in which innovation could grow yet survive.
Obama said he will discuss the foundation he wants when he makes a second visit to Elkhart, Ind., on Wednesday (8-5-2009). Layoffs in the recreational vehicle industry account for much of the job loss in northern Indiana, which is struggling with an unemployment rate near 17 percent.
If people do not have money to spend or invest in, bright, educated, and talented people to create and innovate, they will not have an environment that fosters creativity and return on the risk for their investment.
President Obama evokes the scepter of innovation after over 3 minutes of excuses and descriptions of how bad the economy is doing ... oh!, and did we mention that we inherited this recession? Video Credit: whitehouse.gov
This excerpted and edited from Yahoo News! -
Obama: 'Spirit of innovation' key to the future By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press Writer - 8-1-2009
President Barack Obama, citing fresh evidence the recession is winding down, says the country's future economic prosperity depends on building a new, stronger foundation and recapturing the "spirit of innovation." ---- The president cited Friday's Commerce Department report showing that in the last few months the economy overall has done "measurably better than expected." He credited his $787 billion economic stimulus program for much of that progress.
"This and the other difficult but important steps that we have taken over the last six months have helped put the brakes on this recession," Obama said. ---- "Even as we rescue this economy, we must work to rebuild it stronger than before," he said. "We've got to build a new foundation strong enough to withstand future economic storms and support lasting prosperity.
That means having the best-educated, highest-skilled workers in the world, a health care system that fosters innovation by holding the line on costs, building a clean energy economy and investing in research and development," Obama said.
"It is only by building a new foundation that we will once again harness that incredible generative capacity of the American people," the president said. "All it takes are the policies to tap that potential — to ignite that spark of creativity and ingenuity — which has always been at the heart of who we are and how we succeed. Reference Here>>
President Obama believes that innovation and growth are fostered through Government programs and directed Government spending. Never, in the history of man has innovation been the product of an over-reaching managed effort put forth by any Government.
This approach will only lead to a killing of innovation in an Obama led world. This was not the approach that made the rise of the United States exceptional in the first place.
We, At MAXINE, believe that this template is the opposite of what it really takes to create an environment of innovation. Personal freedom is the key and smaller Government in all areas of a citizens life is the only way to recapture what made America great and exceptional in the first place.
Restore the growth of personal freedoms through self-reliance and innovation will naturally follow.
Reset America by resetting what made America the land of opportunity in the first place. It is time to re-read and apply the Constitution of the United States and grow to a program of Federal Government minimalism!
In his weekly address, the president has asked Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and SBA administrator Karen Mills, to convene a conference of regulators, congressional leaders, lenders, and entrepreneurs to come up with additional steps to improve the flow of credit to small businesses looking to expand. Image Credit: cf News13
HOPE placards from Barack Obama's presidential inauguration. A scribble on a placard is about all that our nation can "hope" for. Image Credit: TwitPic
