FLYPAPER OF THE MIND

Express.co.uk - Home of the Daily and Sunday Express | UK News :: Anger as stars call for drugs law reform

2011-06-01T21:21:00.000-07:00

Express.co.uk - Home of the Daily and Sunday Express | UK News :: Anger as stars call for drugs law reform

What to do with all this past.

2011-04-22T05:40:00.000-07:00

History and past. It's scary. Nobody told me growing up to make sure and be sweet all the time. Maybe Mrs.Williams told me to cover my ass after being caught smoking behind the auditorium but that was about it. Nobody said that maybe one day I would be so feed up as an adult that I would consider running for President and then I might come under scrutiny and condemnation for things in my past. Oh well. here we go, so be it. I cant be any worse than the rest of them. At least I'm honest about it. I've been a liar, thief, cheat, adulterous, high, and have a nice little criminal record to back it up. Then again, who doesn't. At least I'm real and made it through those times in my life. Gotta let go and let God.

Life after crack, crack in my life.

2011-02-11T15:28:00.000-08:00

Where are the friends? Ya know, the so called friends I had prior to 10 years of drug abuse? Everybody is gone. I spend weekend after weekend alone and wondering where there might be some folks playing cards and having some beer.Something simple, that's all I'm looking for. But, it is , again, another Friday night and nothing to do. Being clean becomes boring. What to do? Yeah, I got a wife and her friends are supposedly my friends too but in reality they are not. I come home from nearly a year away working and here I sit. I would rather just be high. I can go around the corner and give someone cash and walk away with a companion to spend the evening with. The companion might make me paranoid or whatever but it beats being alone. WTF? It's okay. I'm use to being alone. Meetings? They suck. Been there, done that.Life after drugs sucks, especially when nobody wants to hang out, even the very people that originally turned you on to the crap. Coffee? Really? How much friggin' coffee can one drink? Is it really that entertaining?

So you think you are donating your old car to charity, yeah, right!!!!

2010-04-11T12:55:00.001-07:00

Many years ago when my life was not so pleasant I lived in an apartment with 2 children and 3 other adults. My car was the only running car but one day I lost my vehicle. Getting to and from anywhere was a pain and we lived in East Jahblip nowhere Pennsylvania. It was hard to get to and from work when there was work. Things were bad. So, one day I get on the phone and start calling all these places that help, these charitable organizations and such. I called Untied Way and they told me to call the Catholic Social Services and they told me to call St. Vincents De Paul and then they told me to call Salvation Army and then they told me to call American Red Cross and on and on and on. So, after about 6 hours on the phone going from one recommended charity to another I ended up back on the phone with the first person I called that morning. The lady at United Way. She just couldn't believe that I had been on the phone all day and returned full circle back to her still in need with no assistance from all these charities. No body could help! She couldn't believe it! So I asked her about these automobile donations that they have advertisement for in the newspapers. I told her that maybe if they have a vehicle there i could use , even if it was only temporary that it would really help us out. She told me that the vehicles go to auction to pay the salaries of the people that run the charity. You know, the same charity that couldn't help 4 adults and 2 kids. So, what i am proposing is that if you really want to help someone donate your used vehicle to someone that actually needs a vehicle. That would help the needy far more than you donating it to the salaries of charities that cannot help people. Donate your old vehicle to me! I know at least 10 people right now that could use a working vehicle to get to and from work and medical appointments. It doesn't have to be a pretty and new, just working. Call me up! I'll even come get the car and give it directly to those who need one. You don't have to pay me a dime. I do this shit for free. My payment comes in good karma.

Money for Mr. Brooks

2010-04-11T12:27:00.000-07:00

I have a friend that is in great need. His name is Marshall Brooks. He lives in a prison in Huntingdon Pennsylvania. He lost his father at an early age and ended up raising himself and fell into the hands of a biker gang member that taught him how to rob banks. Brooks is a very nice person contrary to how this story may sound. He has robbed many banks and in the end, coming from an impoverished area he turned around and gave all that money he stole from those banks to poor people. I'm not saying you should rob banks ( then again, they rob us everyday). But this particular type of crime has beauty to it. He steals from the rich and gives to the poor and needy, every last dime minus the occasional new pair of pants and some smokes. Brooks is a great man. He has been serving time for quite a while now. I usually try and hook him up with some financial assistance for clothing, food, toiletries and such. I am extremely low on cash and any donations would be welcomed. My current goal for him is $300. That should by him some underwear, thermals, shoes, toiletries, phone time and cold medicine for the year. Thank you for your donations. God Bless!

Life in a hotel room

2010-03-17T07:40:00.000-07:00

Most people do not choose to live their lives in hotel rooms, it just happens. Tunnel Rd. in Asheville NC is a prime example. I ended up unable to walk and living in a hotel room until I could no longer afford the $65 a day to stay there. I gave the owner my guitar to allow me to sit there for a few hours until a friend of mine found us another location. We moved into a place at $35 a night that was next door. We stayed there for about a month but not having a car and not having proper employment leads you to daily labor where you flag traffic all day or dig ditches and you still don't make that $35 you need. Therefore you end up in a life of crime and doing all nature of things just to keep your shitty little room on Tunnel Rd. at one of the nasty dive hotels. We were not the only people living like this. There were probably 100 people in the same rut. The luckiest of us had a full time job at Waffle House and made sure that the rest of us were able to at least have a bite to eat everyday. She waited tables all day while her boyfriend hustled his ass off all day and both of them cleaned rooms in exchange of partial rent for the hotel room they lived in. This hotel room cost them the same amount of money that one of the nice rooms cost but the owner insisted on placing them in the cruddiest rooms on the back side of the building where all of his housekeepers and homeless folks made homes. Every morning you wake up to the fact that your things will be waiting for you by the dumpster out back when you get off work. Then if you were lucky enough to get that $35-$70 at daily labor then hopefully the hotel owner will give you a room for the night so you can lay your head down and do it all over again the next day. I guess I'll have $5 left after paying my daily rent so let's buy a couple of 40 ouncers and call it a day. Maybe some drug addicts will come visit you and turn you on in exchange for using your hotel room. That was as good as it got. People don't plan on this situation becoming a part of their life but it happens. If you live in Asheville just take note next time you see people walking up and down Tunnel Rd. They are not tourists. They are homeless.

high school drug dealers/ and the queens of the crack heads

2010-03-15T13:22:00.000-07:00

I guess I'm going to skip around a bit in the things I share with you regarding street life and drugs. We had a row in Philly and our street was actually one of the nicer one but like in all communities we had a few boys on the block that sold drugs. I had been clean a couple of months and then had the itch one evening after work. I sought out one of these kids. His name was Dupreem. He hooked me real good and we developed quite a relationship. Well, Dupreem ran with a couple other boys ,Coop and Bee. Well, one morning we wanted some crack so we called Coop and he said he was in the middle of class but as soon as lunch break and he'd come bring us our stuff. WHAT????? Class? Lunch break? You are in school? The very young man that sells me crack by the 8-ball every week is a high school student???? Wow. I remember one cold-ass Philadelphia winter night those poor boys came to our house just looking to come in out of the cold. Even though we paid them mega money for the drugs we were addicted to they had no money, all that money went to a man named Man. They might have been out working all day selling dope to addicts but at the end of their day, if it actually ever did have an end, these boys didn't really make any money. They came to our house to shower, wash their clothes, eat, rest. We felt bad for them. I took poor Coop home to his place in West Philly one morning. Now I know why he always smelled bad. There was no electricity, no running water, no heat. His Mom was dead and he lived with a relative that was probably on drugs, I don't remember. What tiny money he made he used to buy his little sister food. I've been clean for about 4 years now and Lisa got murdered. I feel bad for Coop , I wonder whatever happened to him. It doesn't much matter, now does it? Me and my wife owned our own painting business and made mega money. It's a shame we didn't invest that money, instead we smoked every last cent. Of course we had all the finer things and we lived like Queens. The Queens of the crackheads.

Street Life

2010-03-15T13:05:00.001-07:00

I've decided I'm going to write about my life in the street and addiction for awhile. So stay tuned in.

Ending up in the street didn't just happen over night. It was a long , slow and very drawn out process. Started with baby steps to addiction. I have always been a bit of a barfly and where there's bars and clubs there's usually coccaine. Just about everyone I know owns or works in a bar. Needless to say the coke was free flowing. I was a casual social user for a few years. Never paid a dime for it. Then i fell in love with the most beautiful woman in the world. We were so in love, so in love, so in love. Both of us were married though but that ended abruptly and I had no idea what crack was. One day a neighbor came by to visit and my wife asked if I wanted some coke and being use to my social activities at the club I said yes. Well, I obviously did not realize the price of coke, I never spent a dime on it and apparently when you're snorting a pencil sized rail of coke you must have quite the tolerance. My wife and our neighbor could not believe their eyes. I was wondering why they were so shocked as they put down their crack pipes. They seemed to be enjoying what they were doing and I wasn't high at all so this is where my first hit began , I believe it was the winter of 1997/98. I remember my first hit better than just about anything in the world. I remember my wife looked at me as she instructed me how to smoke on this thing called an ash-jammy and she said right before she lit it for me she said 'remember, this is your decision'. I can still see her saying that to me as I took my first drag while staring into her eyes. If only I had known then what would happen to us a few years later.

2 different kinds of women

2010-03-08T20:21:00.000-08:00

There are two different kinds of women in the world. Actually there might be 3 or 4 or 5, I dunno. I do know that according to my Mormonite cousin I am not living up to her lady like expectations. Ya know, I am a construction worker, I dig around on my hands and knees all day fixing things or climbing ladders or digging in ditches. After work I enjoy a few beers, hell, I even have a couple at lunch. It is the nature of my profession. This is not a fashion show. I get paid like a man because I work like a man and if I had a dick she (my cousin) would not have even approached me with the subject of my appearances. So, just for the record what do y'all expect a woman construction worker to look like, dress like, smell like, act like?????

New Orleans Disaster / Haiti Disaster/ Conspiracy/ H.A.A.R.P

2010-01-18T06:11:00.001-08:00

Most of you that know me know that I am all about some conspiracy theories and you know I've got one for Haiti. I spent some time living in Louisiana after Katrina. After the initial clean up and the boarding up of homes the local authorities started condemning homes which lead to bulldozing them down and then confiscation of land properties. If you were not able to get your home fixed up to par by the time the local government had set forth for you, then you lost your house and the land it sat on. As a contractor I saw the worst cases of abuse in this area. People's homes were originally estimated at having $50,000 worth of damage but then the insurance companies sent out adjusters, not one time but 3 times or more. This only took 2 years for the insurance companies to complete. BUT! The government has laid down a 2 yr. timeline and you need to have your house up to inspection by this time or it will be knocked down, loaded into dump trucks and hauled aff and if you cannot pay the bill for that then the state takes your land. I came home one day and 30 houses in my neighborhood were gone, no trace remaining that there had ever even been a house there. The only clue left was the dogs that lived there were now just sitting on the neighbors porch. Their porch was no more. Well, it's been about 4 years now, I think and Louisiana has been offered federal funds that do not have to be paid back. These funds are given to the cites and towns to develop these bits of land that were stolen from the home owners. So the city can go build a house on what used to be your lot and sell it. The insurance racket was this, 1st they evaluate and say you have $50,000 in damages from Katrina but they are not going to pay out right then, so they wait and you wait and 6 months later the 1st of 3 adjusters comes to say that you do not really have $50,000 in damage but $30,000 then it keeps getting knocked down and reduced and the last adjuster says that the real damage was not from Katrina it was due to your negligence and failure to repair your home in a timely fashion and therefor most of the damage is now your fault. Of course this is a shell game perpetrated by the insurance company so that they can reduce the amount of money they must spend. Tons of people being too poor or under educated fell for this and next thing you know the state owns their property. So, isn't it funny that NOW the government is giving money to these local jurisdictions to build houses and other structures to replace the loss of revenue from property taxes, etc..etc.... Basically everyone had their home stolen. Well, I see the same thing happening with Haiti. Tons of people will be scattered about and homeless, they are poor, some are uneducated and will lose what property they have . The rich will rebuild that part of the island and sell it off to investors and turn it into a tropical resort while the folks that use to live there get nothing. Isn't it funny how the rich come in after a disaster and buy up everything, polish it up and sell it off but you get nothing. You get relocated if you are lucky to a refugee center 500 miles away and expected to just start a new life. See, I'm thinking that with H.A.A.R.P (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Project) (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Asheville-NC/WomenPausing/90717807522#/pages/Asheville-NC/WomenPausing/90717807522?v=wall) technology they produced that earthquake just for the purpose of cleaning the area up. Some super rich person woke up and decided it was going to be his project for the year and let's crank up the HAARP machine and get to work. We will create a devastating natural event and then we will drag our feet on medical supplies and food until the crowd grows violent, after the crowd starts looting and rioting then we can shoot everyone. Who ever is left we send off someplace and then big business comes in and rebuilds the land and turns it into something beautiful. Yaay! Look what I made! Governments of the world will say it was a blessing in disguise but the truth is someone is stealing Haiti. Probably the same old rich fuckers that have been sticking it to Haitians for the last 200 years. We can put a man on the moon and build a space hotel and all sorts of fancy shit but we cannot get food and medical supplies to a place just a few hundred miles off the coast of Florida. The major thorough fares are clear. Their are reporters reporting this and they themselves are asking the same question I am. WHY is there no food or medical supplies being dropped. The food could be helicoptered in and air dropped to the streets. Why has this not happened yet? I think it hasn't happened because they're holding out for the victims to get pissed off and rioting then they can just go in and shoot everyone. Or they are waiting on a disease to take hold and kill them off. This is genocide, population control and land acquisition rolled into one. Plus we get rid of an eye sore that we created. Badda-bing! Almost the same as Katrina. Just sit back and imagine for a minute if you ruled the world. What would you do? If you have all the money in the world and you were born that way and your people before you were also born into that wealth and lived their entire lives just being bored little rich people. You would have no concept of what it means to have the money to buy groceries or clothe your children or fix your teeth. The things you would spend your money on would be as wild and fantastical as rebuilding a nation. For the wealthiest of the worlds elite they renovate islands , nations and major strips of land. The rest of us renovate our homes if we are lucky enough to even own one. Phase 1. demolition Phase 2. clean it out Phase 3. reconstruct to specifications. Haiti and New Orleans are the super elites equivalent to me renovating my bathroom. Y'all need to open your eyes wider. That is a statement I learned in New Orleans and how true it is. It's stranger than fiction. Just chew on that for a while. You'll see it again. Which is why I have written this note today. The conspiracy is not a theory. It's real.

Trickle up economics/ Xmas bonuses

2009-12-14T05:57:00.000-08:00

Well, looks like the U.S. Government has spent the entire year on health care reform. Basically we are now forced to purchase health insurance or be fined. Well, all the insurance coverage in the world is great but I still cannot afford to 1. buy insurance or 2. make the co-pay so why bother? Send me a fine and I'll file it in the trash can next to the $200,000. worth of hospital bills that don't get paid either.

Then we have the 'Bail-out'. It did not bail me or you out but the bankers got paid and quit lending and started raising our rates and fees and lowering our property values and credit lines. YAY!!! This is called progress? The bankers immediately gave out bonuses, don't forget that! It's almost Christmas time again, (not that Jesus was even born in December!) and you know those evil bankers will be getting more bonuses! One bankers bonus is more money than my entire neighborhood makes in one year, not street, but neighborhood.

Why don't we try some trickle up economics? We all really know why, they don't want us to get ahead. But trickle up economics would allow the banks to end up with the money ANYWAY!!!! The banks still get all the money and the people that do REAL work in this world would get bailed out. We could pay off our debts and maybe start up businesses and hire people and create more jobs and become self sufficient and put solar panels on our homes and leave less of a carbon foot print and life be a grand experience in America and living the American Dream.

read the new flim-flam health care bill here

2009-11-09T16:31:00.001-08:00

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/29/history-in-the-making-rea_n_338438.html

Baby Steps to The Grave

2009-11-09T16:17:00.000-08:00

Well, I just finished reading the health care reform bill. Apparently I am going to be fined if I do not buy health insurance. Yippy skippy. I already cannot afford the co-pay on anything so how am I going to afford paying for insurance or paying the fine for not having something I cant afford to use? Even if I had insurance I still cannot afford to go to the doctor. They can pay 80% and I still cant afford it. This whole thing has been a waste of time and tax payer money.

Here's the ginormous waste of time and taxpayer money that our government has come up with after wasting almost a whole year. I think it is great that we are working on health care reform but it seems to really only benefit the back stabbing insurance companies. So now, after years of having them take us for all we have , now, we are forced to purchase their insurance. If not, you will be fined. Public option only works for those who have NOTHING AT ALL. No home, no car, no job, no nothing and then you can have some public option. Public because by the time you receive help you will be dead on a public park bench. The sanitation department will come pick up your remains and take you to the landfill.

So in my eyes, not much has changed. They want to fine everybody for not buying insurance that none of us can afford to use. The insurance companies win again. The government officials are doing the same thing they have been doing for years, being corrupt and paid off by big business. Everybody needs to open their eyes wider. If you didn't just see us getting screwed then there's something wrong with ya!! Nothing "changed"! Well, as usual we got short changed. There's just a different cover on the book. Same old story.

Dead Peasants Insurance

2009-10-30T11:04:00.000-07:00

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Insurance/P64954.asp

The Basics

Does your boss want you dead?

'Dead peasants' insurance pays your employer a secret, tax-free windfall when you die. Insurers have sold millions of policies to companies such as Dow Chemical.

By Liz Pulliam Weston

Right now, your company could have a life insurance policy on you that you know nothing about. When you die -- perhaps years after you leave your employer -- the tax-free proceeds from this policy wouldnt go to your family. The money would go to the company.

Whats more, the company might use this policy to pay for retirement benefits and other perks not for you or your fellow workers, but for your companys top executives.

Sound outrageous? Such corporate-owned life insurance is also big business:

Companies pay a whopping $8 billion in premiums each year for such coverage, according to the American Council of Life Insurers, a trade group.
The policies make up more than 20% of the all the life insurance sold each year.
Companies expect to reap more than $9 billion in tax breaks from these policies over the next five years. The policies are treated as whole life policies. So, companies can borrow against the policies (though the IRS won't let them write off the interest). And the death benefits are tax-free.

Hundreds of companies -- including Dow Chemical, Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart, Walt Disney and Winn-Dixie -- have purchased this insurance on more than 6 million rank-and-file workers.

$100? $200?
$300?
You can't save
if you don't shop around.

• Auto • Health
• Home • Life

MSN Money Insurance

These policies, nicknamed dead janitors or dead peasants insurance, soared in popularity after many states cleared the way for them in the 1980s. Congress recently tried to crack down on the practice, to the howls of the insurance industry -- which earlier this year managed to derail reforms.

The policies have generated lawsuits by survivors who got little or nothing when insured workers died. A couple of examples:

Jane St. John

Mike Rice

In a lot of circumstances, the families dont get anything, said attorney Mike Myers of Houstons McClanahan & Clearman, which represents survivors suing companies over corporate-owned policies. The company tries its hardest to keep the policy a secret.

Labor leaders and some lawmakers have denounced the policies as unjust and repulsive. The companies say profits from the policies can help offset the increased cost of employee benefits and enhance the businesses bottom lines.

Corporate-owned life insurance actually comes in two flavors:

Executive or key person policies

Broad-based or janitors policies

No one knows how many corporate-owned policies are issued on executives versus rank-and-file workers. Wal-Mart alone had taken out about 350,000 such policies between 1993 and 1996. Nestle USA had policies on 18,000 workers in 2002, The Wall Street Journal reported. Enron had $500 million in policies on workers.

Sales of the policies came to a virtual standstill in September 2003, according to the insurer trade group ACLI, when the Senate Finance Committee approved legislation that would have taxed payouts made to companies if the employee had left more than a year earlier. That indicates that most policies arent being sold to protect companies financially against the loss of key current employees.

Strong insurance industry protests led the powerful committee to reconsider its action. Further work on the issue has been postponed until 2004, and indications are that the senators are softening on the idea of greatly restricting the policies, said Jack Dolan, ACLI spokesman.

Companies insist that janitors policies have a legitimate business function, but the IRS has been cracking down, arguing that many of the arrangements are nothing more than tax shelters. The agency has been particularly harsh on once-popular leveraged policies, in which policy loans were used to pay premiums. In the mid-1990s, the tax agency began disallowing billions of dollars in interest payment deductions the companies had been taking on such loans. Companies efforts to defend their programs have been largely unsuccessful; a U.S. Tax Court judge called Winn-Dixies program a sham, saying it lacked economic substance and business purpose.

The controversy helped convince Walt Disney and Wal-Mart, among others, to drop the policies. Winn-Dixie battled the IRS in court, but the supermarket chain recently lost its final round when the Supreme Court refused to review a lower court decision that backed the IRS.

So far, one company has prevailed against the IRS -- Dow Chemical, which took out the policies on more than 21,000 workers. A U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Michigan ordered the IRS to return $22.2 million plus interest to the company. The IRS has appealed the ruling.

Survivors lawsuits, meanwhile, typically focus on two issues:

Whether the companies had an insurable interest in their employees lives.
Whether the companies were required to get the employees permission for the policies.

Insurable interest is usually a big deal for insurers. They want to make sure whoever is buying life insurance doesnt have an incentive for bumping off the insured. Insurers usually require purchasers have a strong familial or emotional connection to the people being insured, or that they would suffer significant financial losses if the insured people died.

(Its that latter standard that was loosened in the 1980s, making it easier for companies to buy policies for all their employees, not just key executives.)

Most states also have advise and consent laws that technically require companies to get workers permission before buying life insurance on them. But attorney Myers said many businesses circumvent these laws by purchasing the insurance in one of the states that doesnt require notice or consent, including Delaware, Georgia, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Vermont.

"Executives fly to Atlanta to meet with the insurance company and its brokers, sign some papers, get on their respective corporate jets and fly home, Myers said.

Other companies offered their workers small policies -- typically $5,000 to $10,000 -- as an incentive to allow larger corporate-owned policies to be issued on the workers lives. The small policies can later be canceled, even if the company keeps up the premiums on the other insurance.

Anger about these practices likely will keep the heat on Congress to make some reforms. Its possible that lawmakers will restrict severely companies ability to write the policies on rank-and-file workers. At the very least, companies probably will have to get workers consent before buying any new policies and clearly disclose that the coverage may extend past the time they leave the company, the ACLIs Dolan said.

But he rejected the idea that corporate-owned life insurance was immoral or a company bet against its workers.

Its an important business planning tool, Dolan said. Companies are using it for extremely valid reasons.

Liz Pulliam Weston's column appears every Monday and Thursday, exclusively on MSN Money. She also answers reader questions in the Your Money message board.

30 GOP Senators Vote to Defend Gang Rape

2009-10-12T07:35:00.000-07:00

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/healthwellness/143164/30_gop_senators_vote_to_defend_gang_rape/

It is stunning that 30 Republican members of the United States Senate would vote to protect a corporation, in this case Halliburton/KBR, over a woman who was gang raped. The details from Think Progress:

In 2005, Jamie Leigh Jones was gang-raped by her co-workers while she was working for Halliburton/KBR in Baghdad. She was detained in a shipping container for at least 24 hours without food, water, or a bed, and "warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she'd be out of a job." (Jones was not an isolated case.) Jones was prevented from bringing charges in court against KBR because her employment contract stipulated that sexual assault allegations would only be heard in private arbitration.

Offering Ms. Jones legal relief was Senator Al Franken of Minnesota who offered an amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill that would withhold defense contracts from companies like KBR "if they restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court."

Seems simple enough. And yet, to GOP Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions of Alabama allowing victims of sexual assault a day in court is tantamount to a "political attack" at Halliburton. That 29 others, all men, chose to join him in opposing the Franken amendment is simply mind-boggling.

Here are those who vote to protect a corporation over a victim of rape:

Alexander (R-TN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Gregg (R-NH)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Kyl (R-AZ)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Wicker (R-MS)

In the debate, Senator Sessions maintained that Franken's amendment overreached into the private sector and suggested that it violated the due process clause of the Constitution.

To which, Senator Franken fired back quoting the Constitution. "Article 1 Section 8 of our Constitution gives Congress the right to spend money for the welfare of our citizens. Because of this, Chief Justice Rehnquist wrote, 'Congress may attach conditions on the receipt of federal funds and has repeatedly employed that power to further broad policy objectives,'" Franken said. "That is why Congress could pass laws cutting off highway funds to states that didn't raise their drinking age to 21. That's why this whole bill [the Defense Appropriations bill] is full of limitations on contractors -- what bonuses they can give and what kind of health care they can offer. The spending power is a broad power and my amendment is well within it."

God I love it when Senator Franken quotes the Constitution. Not every Republican was so clueless. Ten voted for the Franken amendment including the GOP's female contingent of Senators (Snowe, Collins, Hutchinson and Murkowski).

"We need to put assurances into the law that those kind of instances [the Jamie Leigh Jones case] are not capable of being repeated," said Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who voted in favor of Franken's amendment. "I want to make sure that a woman, any individual who is a victim of a terrible act, knows that they have got protections."

Murkowski said that she considered the arguments that Sessions made about the amendment being too expansive before she decided to vote for the legislation.

"I looked at it," said Murkowski. "And, I tell you, you look at some of the things we do and you have to say, 'OK, you have a specific instance we're trying to address and does this go above and beyond?' But when you have to err on the side of protecting an individual, I erred on the side of greater generosity, I guess."

Republican Sen. George LeMieux of Florida echoed some of Murkowski's sentiments.

"I can't see in any circumstance that a woman who was a victim of sexual assault shouldn't have her right to go to court," LeMieux said. "So, that is why I voted for it."

Although Franken chatted up LeMieux on the Senate floor before the vote, LeMieux said that he had already made his decision. But, LeMieux added, Franken's talk didn't hurt.

"I had decided to vote for it before I came here, but I was happy to hear his argument for it," LeMieux said. "He did what a senator should do, which was he was working it. He was working for his amendment." I'll add, Al Franken is everything a United States Senator should be.

As for Jamie Leigh Jones, she was nothing but elated and thankful. "It means the world to me," Jones said of the amendment's passage. "It means that every tear shed to go public and repeat my story over and over again to make a difference for other women was worth it."

And for the GOP, it is a new low.

More from the Minn Post.

North American Union to Replace USA? by Jerome R. Corsi 05/19/2006

2009-09-21T08:48:00.000-07:00

North American Union to Replace USA?

by Jerome R. Corsi

05/19/2006

President Bush is pursuing a globalist agenda to create a North American Union, effectively erasing our borders with both Mexico and Canada. This was the hidden agenda behind the Bush administration's true open borders policy.

Secretly, the Bush administration is pursuing a policy to expand NAFTA politically, setting the stage for a North American Union designed to encompass the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. What the Bush administration truly wants is the free, unimpeded movement of people across open borders with Mexico and Canada.

President Bush intends to abrogate U.S. sovereignty to the North American Union, a new economic and political entity which the President is quietly forming, much as the European Union has formed.

The blueprint President Bush is following was laid out in a 2005 report entitled "Building a North American Community" published by the left-of-center Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). The CFR report connects the dots between the Bush administration's actual policy on illegal immigration and the drive to create the North American Union:

At their meeting in Waco, Texas, at the end of March 2005, U.S. President George W. Bush, Mexican President Vicente Fox, and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin committed their governments to a path of cooperation and joint action. We welcome this important development and offer this report to add urgency and specific recommendations to strengthen their efforts.

What is the plan? Simple, erase the borders. The plan is contained in a "Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America" little noticed when President Bush and President Fox created it in March 2005:

In March 2005, the leaders of Canada, Mexico, and the United States adopted a Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP), establishing ministerial-level working groups to address key security and economic issues facing North America and setting a short deadline for reporting progress back to their governments. President Bush described the significance of the SPP as putting forward a common commitment "to markets and democracy, freedom and trade, and mutual prosperity and security." The policy framework articulated by the three leaders is a significant commitment that will benefit from broad discussion and advice. The Task Force is pleased to provide specific advice on how the partnership can be pursued and realized.

To that end, the Task Force proposes the creation by 2010 of a North American community to enhance security, prosperity, and opportunity. We propose a community based on the principle affirmed in the March 2005 Joint Statement of the three leaders that "our security and prosperity are mutually dependent and complementary." Its boundaries will be defined by a common external tariff and an outer security perimeter within which the movement of people, products, and capital will be legal, orderly and safe. Its goal will be to guarantee a free, secure, just, and prosperous North America.

The perspective of the CFR report allows us to see President Bush's speech to the nation as nothing more than public relations posturing and window dressing. No wonder President Vincente Fox called President Bush in a panic after the speech. How could the President go back on his word to Mexico by actually securing our border? Not to worry, President Bush reassured President Fox. The National Guard on the border were only temporary, meant to last only as long until the public forgets about the issue, as has always been the case in the past.

The North American Union plan, which Vincente Fox has every reason to presume President Bush is still following, calls for the only border to be around the North American Union -- not between any of these countries. Or, as the CFR report stated:

The three governments should commit themselves to the long-term goal of dramatically diminishing the need for the current intensity of the governments’ physical control of cross-border traffic, travel, and trade within North America. A long-term goal for a North American border action plan should be joint screening of travelers from third countries at their first point of entry into North America and the elimination of most controls over the temporary movement of these travelers within North America.

Discovering connections like this between the CFR recommendations and Bush administration policy gives credence to the argument that President Bush favors amnesty and open borders, as he originally said. Moreover, President Bush most likely continues to consider groups such as the Minuteman Project to be "vigilantes," as he has also said in response to a reporter's question during the March 2005 meeting with President Fox.

Why doesn’t President Bush just tell the truth? His secret agenda is to dissolve the United States of America into the North American Union. The administration has no intent to secure the border, or to enforce rigorously existing immigration laws. Securing our border with Mexico is evidently one of the jobs President Bush just won't do. If a fence is going to be built on our border with Mexico, evidently the Minuteman Project is going to have to build the fence themselves. Will President Bush protect America's sovereignty, or is this too a job the Minuteman Project will have to do for him?

Oxysilver dislclaimer, I love this! I need to buy some right away!

2009-09-17T19:27:00.000-07:00

WARNING: DO NOT BUY OXYSILVER if you give credence to the Food and Drug Administration that objects to us informing you about the potentially miraculous benefits that may result from taking OXYSILVER™ as recommended. This notice and disclaimer regards recently passed FDA regulations, section 201(g)(1)(B) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and the dangerous deceptive Act itself [21 U.S.C. § 321(g)(1)(B) defining a “drug” as ANYTHING said, written, or claimed to “cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent” any disease, ailment, or illness. Sunlight is a “drug” under these laws for curing infantile jaundice as per claims written in medical textbooks. BE FULLY INFORMED AND WARNED: OXYSILVER™ is not a drug, regardless of what the FDA and these laws say; as clearly the word “DRUG,” like the word “immunization,” has been redefined in an organized criminal conspiracy to enable the pharmaceutical industry to control natural healing methods, materials, their manufacturers, distributors, and consumers; “DRUG” is hereby responsibly decreed to mean, “Degenerative Regulators Undermining Go(o)d” as evidenced by the FDA’s violation of Federal RICO laws section 901(a) of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 (Pub.L. 91-452, 84 Stat. 922, enacted 1970-10-15), and Chapter 96 of Title 18 of the United States Code, 18 U.S.C. § 1961–1968, as well as the documented despicable effect of FDA-approved drugs—the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States according to published medical statistics. Notice is hereby given: Any reference to OXYSILVER™, or any other newly developed UPCOSH product, curing, mitigating, treating, or preventing any disease shall be construed as legal and lawful notice of claims made properly substantiated by solid scientific evidence.

What happended to the leash law?

2009-09-16T10:30:00.000-07:00

I thought that in the city of Asheville there was a leash law. If so, apparently some people ignore this. My friend took her dog out to the nearby park the other day and next thing you know here comes a very aggressive pit bull like dog to attack. The owner is on the other side of the park hollering to "just kick him!" Well, that's helpful. This dog attacks her 15 year old , blind and deaf , friendly dog that is on a leash. My friend being somewhat a smaller person has to now fight this ferocious animal off of her dog that is being eaten alive. On top of it he was confused by my friends anger and behaviour towards him and his big beasty unleashed animal. The end result is a $200 vet visit. This stupid young man did not have a leash for his pitbull looking thang.What is the point of a leash law when it cannot be inforced? I have actually called the animal control people numerous times regarding dogs on the loose in our neighborhood.It does no good.All I have to say is if you own dogs and walk them in parks and like my friend you are responsible and keep your dog leashed, then you may want to bring a gun with you to shoot vicous attacking dogs.

Tough Love or Enabling , Damned If You Do, damned If You Don't

2009-09-04T11:27:00.001-07:00

In my life there are several people with some really dire issues. It could be drugs, alcohol, depression any sort of addictive or obsessive thing. The common thread is in the end there are friends and family left behind. All of these people regardless of what role they played in the trauma-drama , all of them are sad. The enablers are sad for being a part of it or contributing to it and the tough love folks are sad for being so tough all the time. It's one big pileof guilt for both groups to live with. This note is for the people with the problem. You need to fix your fucking problem and act right and quit dragging all of us through your crap all the time. My ex wife is dead and gone but all that's left is sadness and guilt. Everyone that loved her feels like they could've done something more. The truth is that she was the one that needed to give herself a hand up and out of the chaos. I couldn't fix it all of my 'being there' couldn't fix it and all of my 'washing my hands of her' couldn't fix it. The only person that can fix you is you. It's selfish for you to behave this way and it hurts the people that care about you. Then one day you just end up dead and all that is left is guilt and sadness. Not for you, because you are gone. Guilt and sadness for all the people that tried so hard to help. Help yourself.

Money paid Congress Members by health insurance industry

2009-08-24T09:38:00.001-07:00

by Featheriver

The following is from TruthDig:

The public option in health care reform has been slain, and the murder weapon may be a truckload of greenbacks. The Obama administration caved in recently amid slipping support for the option in Congress, where some members enjoy a very profitable relationship with big players in the health insurance industry. It appears that once again money talks, loudly

Have any other members of Congress received money tied to the health insurance industry? I’m glad you asked. Here are some illuminating figures from Open Secrets (see the link near the bottom of the Open Secrets page). Below are other members of the present Congress who have figures above $200,000. The champ of the list, by far, is from neither the Senate nor the House, but rather the executive branch—one Barack Obama, at $1,427,180.

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) $767,841
Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) $737,260
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) $697,351
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) $684,787
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) $680,184
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) $655,899
Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.) $611,554
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) $522,546
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) $520,327
Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) $490,098
Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) $477,620
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) $461,850
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) $449,066
Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) $448,938
Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) $425,378
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) $422,149
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) $382,880
Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) $366,828
Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) $361,750
Sen. Jon L. Kyl (R-Ariz.) $350,968
Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) $350,873
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) $339,330
Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) $320,071
Rep. Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) $316,414
Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) $314,823
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) $309,500
Rep. John B. Larson (D-Conn.) $304,900
Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) $285,900
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) $284,830
Rep. John Tanner (D-Tenn.) $250,750
Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) $248,175
Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) $247,686
Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) $247,437
Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) $243,595
Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) $237,750
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) $236,725
Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) $233,950
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) $232,220
Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas) $227,808
Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) $224,050
Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) $222,196
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) $219,854
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) $216,250
Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) $204,200
Rep. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) $203,450
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) $203,050

The total for these 46 members of Congress is more than $17 million. That’s enough to take a few trips to visit the constituents.

This partial list of those who received industry contributions is not presented to suggest that any of the congressional members have been “bought” by the health insurance industry. But what flesh-and-bone human being would not at least be influenced by such largesse?

It is possible that the public option will arise, Lazarus-like, but the United States of 2009 is likely to turn out to be a land of Mammon, not miracles.

Net worth: America now has the largest incarceration rate in the world

2009-08-22T13:40:00.000-07:00

Net worth: America now has the largest incarceration rate in the world

April 12, 2009 · Leave a Comment

By Ronald R. Mellen

04-12-2009

Photo: Dean Rohrer

One in every 31 U.S. citizens is in some part of the criminal justice system: parole, probation, jail or prison. Of those, a recent Pew research study says, 1 in every 45 citizens is on probation or parole and 1 in 100 is in jail or prison.

America now has the largest incarceration rate in the world. The number of imprisoned American citizens is far greater than any of the 36 largest European inmate populations, including Russia.

Many questions arise from this information. Three questions stand out: Why do we imprison so many Americans? Is the person leaving prison a better citizen for the experience? And why are so few individuals incarcerated in Europe?

Thirty to 40 years ago, American criminal-justice policy began shifting away from a progressive approach to the treatment of offenders. This approach included physical and mental health care, rehabilitation (including job preparation) and providing educational opportunities for inmates. The policy focused on zero tolerance and inflicting the maximum, legally allowed violence on offender populations.

As one member of the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington noted, prisons should be a living hell for inmates. The belief was that extreme violence perpetrated against the inmate would result in a better citizen — a solution that was simple to understand and seemed reasonable. However, the origins of criminal behavior are complicated. Simple solutions rarely solve complex problems, and this was true with offender behavior.

What happens to inmates incarcerated under these conditions does not lead to improved citizenship. Quite the contrary occurs, as suggested by research, which showed that without treatment, the longer an individual is incarcerated the more psychopathic he becomes. Compounding the problem is the fact than many of the most violent inmates return to society without supervision. Since they never gain “good time” they end up “going flat” — that is, doing every day of their sentence in prison. In my years working at a SuperMax prison, I saw many exceptionally violent inmates leave prison under these two conditions.

The third question comes from data that shows that Denmark and Italy only incarcerate 67 citizens for every 750 (per 100,000 population) in America. Part of the answer begins well before a person enters into the nation’s criminal justice system. Information from the Luxembourg Income Study can help. It has shown that violence decreases in relationship to a nation’s willingness to share its wealth with citizens who are struggling economically. This is accomplished via social safety networks. These social networks include national health care and unemployment insurance, as well as welfare and family benefits.

Nations with the strongest social safety nets have the least number of citizens engaging in criminal behavior. As an example, the homicide rate in the United States is 6.6 per 100,000 residents, while the average for Europe is 1.5 per 100,000 residents. European countries have much stronger safety nets than America. Benefits are clear, but there also is a price. The downside is that the very wealthy in Europe have significantly less wealth than the richest citizens in America.

These nations also encourage a highly educated citizenry. Sweden, with an incarceration rate one-tenth of America’s, provides an important example. The state pays all tuition and other student fees. It purchases all textbooks. It provides cradle-to-grave health care and provides each student with a $700 stipend for living expenses.

What the country gains from this generosity pays long-term dividends. First, the greater the general educational level, the better the decisions made in the voting booth. Second, increases in educational levels lead to higher wages, which provides a greater tax base for governmental programs.

During this discussion it is important to note recent positive developments in America, which includes progress in a move away from mass incarcerations. The policy of the last few decades was collapsing under economic stressors before our current financial crisis. This has led to more progressive policies. Many Alabama counties such as Calhoun County are developing substance abuse and other treatment programs that divert many offenders from going to prison. One sheriff said, “We did this (created a substance abuse treatment program for jail inmates) because the folks we sent to prison were coming back to the county worse than when we sent them off.”

A second change in the Southern states’ departments of correction is the process of creating stronger mental health/medical programs, job training and GED opportunities for inmates. Research has show recidivism rates decline when inmates (who need it) earn a GED.

Third, the Biopsychosocial Model for dealing with offenders is gaining in popularity. The model allows the psychologist or counselor to develop more comprehensive diagnoses of inmates. This model includes assessing the offender for issues such as head trauma, genetic predispositions, neurotransmitter dysfunctions and personality traits, as well as family and neighborhood stressors. Assessments such as these lead to treatments designed to address problems specific to the adolescent or adult offender.

These improvements can reduce the size of our offender population and our state’s recidivism rates. That’s encouraging news for voting citizens, elected officials and offenders alike.

Ronald R. Mellen is a correctional psychologist and professor of criminal justice at Jacksonville State University.

who's watching the other hand?

2009-08-14T15:30:00.000-07:00

Has anyone stopped to ponder what is going on while the entire nation is preoccupied with this crap about health care reform? I'll tell ya one thing, lots of stuff is going on while the country is busy arguing and debating. We are doing exactly what 'they' want us to. We are busy, busier than ever for that matter. And while we are all busy bitching and fighting amongst ourselves we are not paying attention to what the other hand is doing. It's just like Drugstore Cowboy. a girl is faking a seizure up front and creating a huge spectacle while Matt Dillon is stealing everything out of the pharmacy. Wake up America! What , are you guys that stupid?

Abandoned cities?

2009-08-03T08:39:00.000-07:00

I just read an article online about abandoned cities and how it's all about foreclosures but it's funny how they failed to mention the reasons behind foreclosures. Just from where i grew up in NC tons of jobs are gone from NAFTA. Good old NAFTA helped out the business man, that closed his NC manufacturers and moved them out of the country. I lost my job 15 years ago when they moved my printing press out of the building and to Hong Kong. The company i worked for then wanted to reduce my wages and give me some shit job just to keep me from bitching. They also moved two more presses out to Hong Kong and laid off 15 more pressman. The company put a note on the time clock informing everyone that if they would like to keep their jobs they could relocate to Hong kong but they would have to do so at their own expense. Long story short i got another job 700 miles away in the printing industry and it only took 3 months for that company to merge and put everyone at our company out of work. So big business is benefiting from all this but the little guy is not. I have watched probably more than 100 companies in NC that were the largest employers close or move away in the last 12-15 years. I don't know how it is that the papers report we have the strongest manufacturing base in America when everyone is out of work and all of our companies have moved overseas. Cites are not abandoned because of foreclosures they are abandoned because there is no work and then people cannot pay their bills THEN there's foreclosure.

Certificate in Terrorism Earn Online Certificate in Terrorism and Institutions: Prevention and Response. Manage terrorist threats and the response to

2009-07-28T21:24:00.000-07:00

Certificate in Terrorism

Earn Online Certificate in Terrorism and Institutions: Prevention and Response. Manage terrorist threats and the response to it.

So, this 'terrorism' is now a course of study in school. What a crock of sh#t! This is one of the definitions of terrorism : Terrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.^[1] At present, there is no internationally agreed definition of terrorism.^[2]^[3] Common definitions of terrorism refer only to those acts which are intended to create fear (terror), are perpetrated for an ideological goal (as opposed to a lone attack), and deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants.

Wake up folks! Stop allowing the powers that be to infiltrate your mind with fear! The real terrorists are the ones waging the so-called war on terrorism. It's a pile of crap designed to keep you down!

Bele Scare WWJD

2009-07-26T13:42:00.000-07:00

I was having a pretty nice time at Bel Chere with my brother untilI I heard this screaming and shouting. I thought that maybe there was a couple drunks fighting and when I made it into view to see where this obnoxious screaming and shouting was coming from, guess who it was? None other than our friendly local Southern Baptists nut bags. You'd think they'd be trying to set an example of good Christian like behavior but noooooo! Why would they do that? Right in the middle of this wonderful festival that happens in our tourist town each July we have arts and craft booths, local musicians, local foods from local restaurants, local breweries and we have local maniacs that belong to a church somewhere and they seem to believe hollering and screaming and shouting impassioned with tears and sweat running down their faces shouting at all the passers by, all the lovely tourists that come to our town to spend money, let's shout and scare the crap out of everyone. The drunks and homeless and drug addicts were better behaved. WTF? So my question is WWJD? What would Jesus do? I seriously doubt you would find Jesus blowing a casket in the streets at the crowds of innocent onlookers.Parents with their children just minding their business and trying to enjoy what Asheville has to offer. If I had children that would be the last thing I would want them to see. I'd rather them see peace loving little lesbian hippies kissing and holding hands and smiling and intereacting with the rest of Bele Chere and having a nice time.Unfortunately part of our local culture are these psychopathic religious fanatics screaming at everyone. Jesus wouldn't do that. You collect more flies with honey than vinegar you crazy freaks! Dont you know that? All you have done is scare people further away from the very thing you are trying to pull us into. You religious nuts bags are frightening. Where are your wives? I didn't see any of them there. Probably too embarrassed to be seen like that in public. If I was ranting and raving like that by myself alone in the street the police would have arrested me. Honestly I think maybe they should arrest you guys and prevent you from being involved in future festivities. There's planty of organizations at Bele Chere but you guys are the only ones out in the street scaring the crap out of folks. Tourists return to their homes far away from here and tell their friends of the crazy backwards ass religious fanatics in Asheville. Parents go home form the festival and have to explain to their children what is wrong with you. Jesus, if he were here he'd have nothing at all to do with you people. You are crazy, you are frightening and it is not what Jesus would do. He would probably protest against you. If you want to do something nice and bring people into your group why don't you open a booth like everyone else, sell something or display something, educate folks but all you are doing is driving people further away from you. You are doing a really poor job of drawing people closer to your God.