MACHINE POLITICS

Long time coming, is the tipping point with Wall Street here?

2011-11-26T14:46:00.000-08:00

Jack facing the Giants of Wall Street by WorldWide Archive

Your tax dollars at work... 54% goes to.....

2011-11-19T09:54:00.000-08:00

Summary of the real costs of our military industrial complex, excluding the congressional component. Well done piece - check it out!

What are we going to do about this mess?

2011-03-15T20:14:00.000-07:00

http://www.xtranormal.comDraft cut #1.0 - our first test "shoot" with xtraNormal - good fun here. This is only a test - warts and all for your consideration. All comments are welcome on the concept - I will clean up the animation as time allows...

Enjoy

Set at the Abraham Lincoln Memorial, President Obama is coached by George W. Bush about what THEY need him to do, and tells Barack how things REALLY work. Barack learns about the Facebook, the Change and the HOPE, and how the HOPE is used to get the money to Make the Billionaires.

Banks are dangerous; must read "sedition" from a founding Father

2011-02-08T19:06:00.000-08:00

'I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.'

Thomas Jefferson 1802

Bailing Out the Banks - the "Change We Got"

2011-02-02T12:22:00.000-08:00

Explaining the "Change we can believe in", actually, the "Change we got", we have another winning piece of satire from our favorite cartoon rabbits. Watch twice.

Is the Fed Laundering Money"?

2010-11-21T18:55:00.000-08:00

Xtranormal poses the question no one wants to ask about the Fed and the money supply in their campy animated office cooler style. The Machine likes these guys.

Quantitative Easing Explained

2010-11-16T00:17:00.000-08:00

Bravo Xtranormal - these guys are brilliant!

Let's not get our hair mussed, Dr. Stragelove

2010-11-07T11:43:00.000-08:00

nothing short of brilliant - I often think how this movie changed the world.

The Definition of Insanity
Truthouts piece is perfect reading for this clip, on the use of Orwellian speak in the current campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Pakistan and Yemen.

US Government medical experiments of the past

2010-10-02T17:06:00.000-07:00

The apology for this incident may be half a century late, but it was delivered - this pales in comparison to what the Japanese did during WWII, and I still find it trouble how we accepted the ethics of integrating those responsible for the Japanese and German atrocities into our Country in the name of Freedom.

US government deliberately infected Guatemalans with STDs in medical experiment

Links to interesting articles

2010-07-06T13:18:00.001-07:00

Analysis of Capitalism

17 Questions about the BP Oil Spill

Delegate with Fireworks, July 1976

2010-07-04T14:08:00.000-07:00

Historical use of Atomic bombs to cap Oil and Gas Leaks

2010-05-31T12:41:00.000-07:00

Perhaps we should throw in the towel and let BP use a nuke to seal the leak.

This amazing archival footage shows Russia's triumphant use of a Nuke to seal up a hopeless leak 'back in the day' complete with happy music. Plan N?

Now that BP is apparently allowed to ruin the Gulf of Mexico, and thus far, with consequences seem similar to the fines levied in our Banks for money laundering drug profits, maybe it is time to start selling nukes to corporations.

However, the Machine calls upon the CEO of BP to rise up and declare the entire shareholder equity of BP to be voluntarily handed over to a governing board of stakeholders, made up of those affected by their reckless error. It is high time for BP to do the right thing before Hell Freezes over or Obama gives them the Bomb.

Citi Bank, a leading Talibank of America, Chases you after you die

2010-05-16T10:33:00.000-07:00

...real dialog with Citibank with customer trying to "hit the easy button" and clear the account of the departed.

Cancel your credit card before you die..........(hilarious!)

Now some people are really stupid!!!!
Be sure and cancel your credit cards before you die.
This is so priceless, and so, so easy to see happening, customer service being what it is today.
A lady died this past January, and Citibank billed her for February and March for their annual service charges on her credit card, and added late fees and interest on the monthly charge. The balance had been $0.00 when she died, but now somewhere around $60.00. A family member placed a call to Citibank.

Here is the exchange:
Family Member:'I am calling to tell you she died back in January.'
Citibank: 'The account was never closed and the late fees and charges still apply.'
Family Member: 'Maybe, you should turn it over to collections.'
Citibank : 'Since it is two months past due, it already has been'
Family Member: So, what will they do when they find out she is dead?'
Citibank : 'Either report her account to frauds division or report her to the credit bureau, maybe both!'
Family Member: 'Do you think God will be mad at her?'
Citibank: 'Excuse me?'
Family Member: 'Did you just get what I was telling you - the part about her being dead?'
Citibank : 'Sir, you'll have to speak to my supervisor.'

Supervisor gets on the phone:
Family Member: 'I'm calling to tell you, she died back in January with a $0 balance.'
Citibank : 'The account was never closed and late fees and charges still apply.'
Family Member: 'You mean you want to collect from her estate?'
Citibank : (Stammer) 'Are you her lawyer?'
Family Member: 'No, I'm her great nephew.' (Lawyer info was given)
Citibank: 'Could you fax us a certificate of death?'
Family Member: 'Sure.' (Fax number was given )

After they get the fax:
Citibank : 'Our system just isn't setup for death. I don't know what more I can do to help.'
Family Member: 'Well, if you figure it out, great! If not, you could just keep billing her. She won't care.'
Citibank: 'Well, the late fees and charges will still apply.'
(What is wrong with these people?!?)
Family Member: 'Would you like her new billing address?'
Citibank : 'That might help..'
Family Member: ' Odessa Memorial Cemetery , Highway 129, Plot Number 69.'
Citibank : 'Sir, that's a cemetery!'
Family Member: 'And what do you do with dead people on your planet???'

Priceless!! Have you wondered why Citi is going broke and need the feds to bail them out!!

Conducting the Apocalypse

2010-05-15T10:56:00.000-07:00

"Conducting the Apocalypse"

Hand-tinted photographic collage

One of my favorite art pieces — somehow this image seems very timely

Originally created to album cover art for Pablo Cruise, Out of our Hands

Creative collaboration with Cory Lerios and Dave Jenkins

Produced the 'old fashion way' - using a scalpel and dyes applied with a brush, eight images

Hand-tinted collage © Bennett Hall 1984/2010

1099's on steroids coming soon - God I love Paperwork!

2010-05-05T13:40:00.000-07:00

yet another example of what appears to be a dedication by our combined Government(s) to wipe out small independent businesses and freelancers.

The "perfect storm' of collapsed sales revenue and prices, over compliance, mixed with the complexity of tax/fine, insurance and regulatory details, sums up to eliminate the incentive to start or even maintain the small business you may have.

Hmmm...[Obama] claimed (SB) was the backbone of new job growth. What's up?

Anyone studying this of course knows that this was merely an array of PR hack-festivals - stuff the sounds good to the employed and to keep us in line.

What distills however is simple:

"Change we can believe in, is a Mirage"

We need Thomas Jefferson to come back.

for more - visit the Machine.
http://machine-politics.blogspot.com/

PS What did Greece agreed to to satisfy the IMF on their bailout? read the details if you have not! Coming to a City, State near you.

CNN Article on the hidden Tax changes

Change We Can Believe in is a Mirage

2010-05-01T16:52:00.001-07:00

Has Apple become the new Big Brother? Stewart ponders the question

2010-04-29T10:56:00.001-07:00

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Appholes

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor

Tea Party

Martin Luther King, I have a Dream, August 28, 1963

2010-04-27T09:15:00.000-07:00

This speech is worth watching from time to time to keep things in perspective. So much has changed since, we are yet to see a leader like King emerge again, though all leaders have their own unique point position in history and point of view. This is change I can believe in.

Here is a graet compilation of 50 speeches from Ghandi to King to check out:
50 Famous Speech

Shocking Headlines of the day

2010-04-22T23:03:00.000-07:00

SEC Staffers watching porn as economy crashed

TruthOut Article

CNN 4-22-2010

Ron Paul vs Bernanke 4/14/2010

2010-04-22T15:39:00.001-07:00

Starting a favorite Quotes list... twitter size only this time

2010-04-22T13:29:00.001-07:00

“It’s called the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.” – George Carlin

"Change we can believe in (Obama), is a mirage" - Bennett Hall

"If you don't like the news go out and make up some of your own" Scoop Nisker/KSAN - c1970

Health Care USA Version 2.0

2010-04-20T20:23:00.000-07:00

With trepidation and grave concerns arisen, I quote the following by Noam Chomsky, 4-08-2010...
His essay is well worth the read, although like nearly all essayists today or pundits, identifying problems is one thing, providing actionable solutions is another. It does not help that we appear to now be a completely controlled population of 'sheep', living in fear of what the corporations are going to do next as Ralph Nadar often points out. - the Machine

"A year ago, the business world recognized that the insurance companies and big Pharma, in sharp defiance of the public will, had succeeded in destroying the possibility of serious health reform - a very serious matter, not only for the people who suffer from the dysfunctional health system, but even on narrow economic grounds. About half of the deficit that we are instructed to deplore is attributable to unprecedented military expenditures, rising under Obama, and most of the rest to the increasing costs of the virtually unregulated privatized health care system, unique in the industrial world, also unique in its gifts to drug companies - opposed by a mere 85 percent of the population. Last August, Business Week had a cover story celebrating the victory of the health insurance industries. Of course, no victory is enough, so they persisted in the struggle, gaining more, also against the will of the large majority of the public, another interesting story I'll have to put aside."

-Noam Chomsky, from Truth Out, essay on Fascism

Noam Chomsky, who has taught linguistics at MIT since 1955, has revolutionized the scientific study of language. A prolific author and activist, Chomsky has weighed in on all major political issues of the last five decades. His most recent book, "Hopes and Prospects", a survey of the dangers and prospects of our early twenty-first century, is available on Amazon.com and elsewhere.

Thoughts from a revolutionary to consider today

2010-04-19T19:00:00.000-07:00

"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions. But laws and constitutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind, as that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances. Institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."

--Thomas Jefferson c1795

What is Hope?

2010-04-19T16:03:00.000-07:00

Has hope we can believe in (Per President Obama), turned out have the same substance as a mirage?

Just wondering...

________________________________________________________________________________
hand-painted image © Bennett Hall 1976

History (* Per Wiki)
Hope was personified in Greek mythology as Elpis. When Pandora opened Pandora's Box, she let out all the evil except one: hope. Evidently, the Greeks considered hope to be as dangerous as all the world's evils.[2] It may be worthy to note that in the story, hope is in effect far more potent than any of the major evils. In some faiths and religions of the world, hope plays a very important role. Hope can be passive in the sense of a wish, or active as a plan or idea, often against popular belief, with persistent, personal action to execute the plan or prove the idea. Consider a prisoner of war who never gives up hope for escape and, against the odds, plans and accomplishes this. By contrast, consider another prisoner who simply wishes or prays for freedom, but without genuine hope, or another who gives up all hope of freedom.

History lesson - who started the fire? 1940-1990

2010-04-18T19:35:00.001-07:00

Great song, concept and compilation