democratizing the workplace, how bout that. Look up leaderless organizations. speaking of vague assertions...tell me why getting rid of overpaid figure heads is so troubling to you? As to why a market economy? Have you read Marx? Or at least bought anything, ever? I'm sure you have. Markets are just places of exchange. The rules are human made. There is no God governing them. The word "Law" in relationship to the economy is just a carry over word from an era where natural philosophers couldn'...

the oligarchical collectivists. That's what you Randroids don't get. Your naive assumptions about the economy and your ridiculous misreadings of philosophy make you an easy target for manipulation. They used your position and your jargon-laden pronouncements as a cover to loot and plunder. Great work Alan. Great work. Mission accomplished." Turns out when you base all of your decisions on computer generated models that are grounded in factually erroneous assumptions, no matter how impressive so...

This message is concerning the Supreme Court ruling about Corporate and Union "free speech". I am highly dubious of such a ruling. The Orwellian logic that it takes to claim that artificial entities (any human made bureaucratic organization) has natural given rights under our constitution, is astounding. Placing bureaucracies on the same civic plane as an individual citizen, subordinates the liberty of the citizen and makes us all subject to their will (as their employees, customers, and now p...

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Why does the public health insurance option make sense for your business? Simply, it is now off your books. What’s next? Well that will free you up to provide a % of those benefits to your employees as an added wage. But wait, get this. It also provides you with the benefit of being able to pocket the rest. Think about it. Insurance = off the books. Wages = higher. Labor costs = lower. If this isn’t dreamy enough for ya, let’s imagine where else this simple math takes us. When wages are stagna...

must of while laying down this vocal track. I woke up on Wednesday and let out a big "Ahhhhh, Yeaaaaaahaaaa!!!" Even kicked my legs a few times and jumped off an imaginary guitar amp. There is no amount of bullshit that will take that feeling away. (Link) On edit: I posted this elsewhere, just thought I'd share. Oh and I wasn't wearing assless spandex pants. Sorry.

I see the local news is picking up on this supposed controversy over the War Room video. I admit to being sucked in by it. I was on my way home and heard Ed Schultz discussing this. As a native Hoosier I got myself worked up before I even heard the tapes. It took me nearly 30 listens and multiple readings of other posters with different opinions for me to flip the perceptual switch and overcome my native instincts of self-preservation. You see, like Kirk Vonnegut once pointed out so eloquently, ...

They have been waiting a long time to give you a piece of their mind. You will do yourself well by listening AND responding. Mr. and Mrs. National Politician, as an initial introduction I can't find a better representation of the history of my mother's family in that state than this video below. I no longer live there. But she still stands there asking you to listen. Her daddy lost their families farm in the 70s. He was a gentle soul, but he harbored a certain bitterness and carried with him ...

I love you. You are my hero. I'd make you the first woman president of this god damn country if I could. You deserve it. But tonight you continue working to strengthen the political values you helped instill in me. It is an honor to be your son.

I have used this forum as a source of amusement and I intermittently attempt to post serious threads. This is one of those serious threads. In it I want to explain my reasoning for choosing my favored candidate and justify why I am entitled to this reasoning. This board has devolved into a hilarious simulacrum. That is, there is no civic discussion about our mutual interests. Instead, we have false attacks on the electability of either candidate; mostly parroting what some blowhard said on th...

(Image) Come January 2009 He and the people like him get no more of our money. Can we agree on that?

He also told me to keep an eye on the one black woman in the church, as the collection plate was passed. I never went back, neither did she. Nor did my mother, who had invited her that day. As a young white boy I only knew that what I was asked to do was wrong. I've had the privilege of not experiencing such bigotry. So I did not, could not see its magnitude or place it in context. That woman was an English professor at the local college. She was one of my mother's best friends. If the pastor ...

whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, "may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!" To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world. My ...

If you don't like to read, I made the same argument via a Limerick here: (Link) Why am I happy about the Democratic primary? The easy answer is that the democrats are dominating the air waves right now. But that is just simulacrum for professional blabber mouths to entertain themselves (and pad paychecks) with. Nope, rather there is one other simple reason: It scares the shit out of the republicans who realize they were free riding the political system of the so-called red states. They always ...

There once was a National Party. Who always ignored the late state Primary. now they build local coalitions not ignoring Red State progressive Volition, The result, a Democratic President next January. If you prefer this in essay form see here:(Link)

Mission: To Seek and Destroy (anything really) Education: 1975 Ph.D. of War Captain America College of War and Athletic Training 1970 M.A. Poodle Body Piercing Mask-U-Line Pet Grooming and Battle Tactics University of the Ozarks 1967 B.A. Pre-God's Laws Liberty University Experience: 1999-Present Jeff Gannon and Associates, Unlimited-Government Relations Field Supervisor ...

People can try to kill people without guns, but those people can defend themselves. People with guns can defend themselves against others with guns, but refer back to equation Yguns + Xpeople = greater likelihood of death. No study of any merit has found otherwise. It's sad that it takes millions of dollars of grant money and millions more to cut through the NRA propaganda to confirm what common sense should allow. Instead, common sense is fucked on this issue. Yippeee!!! Guns!!!! Meanwhile peo...

Do not essentialize "it", recognize it as a social category with a history. Let's talk history...we all share that history from different sides of the looking glass.

some people need an omniscent parent to guide their behavior, others prefer to put their faith and trust in humans. Either way it came from the humans that crafted them. We are those humans and so are our children.

My salary is 80% of one of my students tuition costs, taken together all students I teach in a given year generate about $600,000 dollars of revenue for the school. I came in with a promise that I'd a) get a substantial raise after one year of high performance b) be given an opportunity to become tenure track and c) be provided institutional support towards the completion of my dissertation. I fully understand the administrative costs associated with education. On all performance indicators t...

Fear. Death. Taxes. by Izzybeans

IMO, it seems far too early to be engaged in pitched battles over favorite primary candidates when most of these candidates have yet to officially decide. This early in the game I for one have no preference, though I've voiced concerns and support for a variety of people (sometimes both concern and support for the same person). Some folks are really passionate about their candidates, some so much in fact I wonder what their plans are if their candidate loses. Some folks seem so narrowly focused ...

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimab...

and it is the essence of the legal tricks played by rightwing authoritarians. snip from the link It is not a criminal trial and is not intended to determine guilt or innocence," Gordon said. "Rather, it is an administrative process ... to confirm the status of enemy combatants detained at Guantanamo as part of the Global War on Terrorism."

We are all Democrats today and tomorrow. We can talk of DINOS and PINKOS and point and snicker at each other all we want, but what we need to speak about in order to stay in the majority is wtf we are going to do together, DINOS and PINKOS alike. This will entail a coalition of the willing; willing to compromise (hardline moderates and leftwing radicals alike). I may not get every reform I want, but I'll be damned if I see another moderate kissy facing with a rightwinger. That makes this PINKO j...

This post was inspired by WarrenStupidity who described an example of this strategy quite well in this thread re: Fox vs. Limbaugh. (Link) My response to his thread is below and linked here: (Link) If you read the original OP referenced above and my below message I'd like to use them both as an example of how the rightwing attempts to level objective differences between various types of political and social action. The Michael J. Fox and Rush Limbaugh episode is just one example in a long line...

I'll get perhaps the most controversial subject matter out of the way. Section 501 of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act (Patriot Act II), known as the "Expatriation of Terrorists" expands the conditions of expatriation to include supporting groups hostile to the United State, alongside an intent to rescind one's U.S. citizenship.(Link) Intent need not be expressed, but can be inferred from conduct. However, this act was not passed and despite elements of this proposed act being tacked on to ...

On edit: added link-see page 40-see my sig. line as well (Link) This is the strong version of strict constructionism. The Constitution is a Progressive document. Don't let them steal it ever again.

I don't remember Presidents passed spending so much time making pointless endorsement stops as this President. After all the comments he has made about "My job is _____________" Or I am the decider, or whatever...It's time to accurately characterize his position. In honor of all the State Fairs that are now on going and all the leisure and advertising spots he has undergone in the past nearly 6 years I propose we characterize him as a Fair Queen. Not because he lacks the certain false hetero ...

my flight. I wrapped it around myself. Had my wife tape it up real tight. And then twenty minutes later I passed out on the tarmac before boarding. I may have spent the night in the psych. ward at the local hospital but I'll tell you what; I'd do it all over again. No bombs will be entering the skin of Izzybeans. Not as long as I've got my tuct tape. Well not duct tape really. I could only afford the blue painters masking tape because of price inflation. Oh well, maybe if I get that Christmas ...