Palimpsest by Slaman

Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Murdoch and Fox News

2022-09-01T18:18:00.000-04:00

From an NPR interview with Ari Shapiro

A year and a half after rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Americans are still sorting through what drove the attack. A small Australian news outlet called Crikey argued recently that the Murdoch family bears some responsibility. Fox Corp CEO Lachlan Murdoch is now suing Crikey for defamation. But the political news site is not alone in its criticism. Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull recently said that Rupert Murdoch, Lachlan's father, has done more to undermine American democracy than any other individual alive today.

TURNBULL: Well, he's responsible for Fox News. Fox News has played, by far, the largest single part in the polarization of American politics, in the amplification of political hatred. I would challenge anyone, any of your listeners, to nominate which individual alive today has done more to undermine American democracy than Rupert Murdoch.

Over fifty years ago

2014-04-04T09:03:00.001-04:00

I welcome their hatred

FDR's Economic Bill of Rights 1944

2014-03-18T14:53:00.002-04:00

Excerpt from President Roosevelt's January 11, 1944 message to the Congress of the United States on the State of the Union:[2]

“ It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever before known. We cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people—whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth—is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure.
This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights—among them the right of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty.
As our nation has grown in size and stature, however—as our industrial economy expanded—these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.
We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. “Necessitous men are not free men.”[3] People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.
In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.
Among these are:
The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;
The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;
The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;
The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;
The right of every family to a decent home;
The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;
The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
The right to a good education.
All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.
America's own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for all our citizens.
For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.

Space Oddity

2013-12-26T23:10:00.001-05:00

Unbelievable!

Beach Sand and Sawdust

2013-07-21T11:23:00.001-04:00

Thats what kills five cheap flip phones a year

First Day of Summer

2013-06-26T08:52:00.001-04:00

Green Fade

These Winter days

2013-03-10T20:46:00.002-04:00


The end of an era


Calm Light

Eugene Atget

2013-03-10T16:03:00.002-04:00

Always loved his photographs, going back to photo school....

YOU WANT IT!

2013-03-10T15:59:00.002-04:00

The Reality of Wealth Distribution in the USA

2013-03-07T10:59:00.002-05:00

Blankfein Say Americans Should Work Longer

2012-11-25T13:23:00.000-05:00

Goldman Sachs CEO Blankfein Says Americans Should Work Longer and Receive Fewer Benefits

I watched an excerpt from an interview (can't embed) with Scott Pelli on CBS last week and I've got to tell you:

The absolute cheek, the disconnection from reality, the smarmy, lispy, olefin laden speech pattern, he must have one excellent skill set, because it surely isn't a convincing delivery....Until we raise the tax rate on these blood-sucking squid, we will continue to bleed the common wealth and lard these amoral, treasonous pockets. Unregulated, untaxed capitalism is a pox on the common good. And the corporate controlled MSM as their handmaiden should be held accountable for letting him get away with this drivel without even challenging his assertions. We gave those licenses to the PUBLIC airwaves in trade for ONE HOUR a day of news that would promote the understanding of issues that affect the REPUBLIC!”

According to Blankfein Solving the long-term solvency problem of Social Security will mean Americans retiring later in life and receiving fewer benefits, according to one Wall Street tycoon who received $16 million in compensation in 2011.

Lloyd Blankfein, the enormously wealthy CEO of Goldman Sachs, recently told CBS News that “the retirement age has to be changed.” He also remarked that “maybe some of the benefits have to be affected; maybe some of the inflation adjustments have to be revised. But in general, entitlements have to be slowed down and contained.”

Blankfein, who owns $210 million worth of Goldman Sachs stock, defended his suggestions by claiming that “Social Security wasn’t devised to be a system that supported you for a 30-year retirement after a 25-year career.”

Google Street View #3

2012-11-15T18:02:00.002-05:00

Here's the Google Cam "Vehicle"

Interior Cloud Basel Switzerland

2012-10-22T11:07:00.003-04:00

Atrium Cloud- Basel

Amazing Beech Tree Trunk at Highfield Hall Falmouth

2012-10-10T19:43:00.001-04:00

Sixty-six foot Beech Tree Trunk

"I made a mistake, but there are people who behave even worse."

2012-10-05T21:31:00.000-04:00

Antonio Piazza captured on CCTV taking revenge after being fined for repeatedly leaving his car in a disabled parking spot

Local politician Anonio Piazza had been parking in the disabled spot for three years before finally being fined €80 and forced to move. Photograph: Sean Dempsey/PA

A local government official near Milan has become the latest hate figure for Italians fed up with arrogant, corrupt politicians after he slashed the tyres of a disabled driver who dared to report him for parking his Jaguar in a disabled spot.

Antonio Piazza, a member of Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom party, parked his car in the spot outside his office in Lecco for three years and was incensed when police officers finally fined him €80 (£64) and made him move his car to make space for disabled driver Giuseppe Scuderi to park his Renault.
Half an hour later, after the police had left, Piazza returned with a knife and slashed Scuderi's two front tyres, forgetting he was being filmed by CCTV, before later repenting and offering to fix them.

The episode caps a series of scandals at local government level in Italy, stretching from Piedmont to Sicily, which have caused public faith in municipal and regional politicians to plummet – notably in the Lazio region, where the governor has resigned and a senior official in Berlusconi's party has been arrested over embezzlement allegations.
Piazza at first tried to appeal against his parking fine, claiming he had given a lift to a disabled person, but has now grudgingly resigned from his job running a regional housing agency under pressure from his party, claiming: "I made a mistake, but there are people who behave even worse."
I don't know what it is about this that really sticks in my craw, the arrogance, the cheek, the ethos. He's like one of those damn Mussolini black shirts from the thirties.

Google Street View 2

2012-09-29T19:41:00.002-04:00

Mara Vista at Mara Vista Extension, Falmouth, MA

Google Cam

2012-09-21T19:16:00.001-04:00

"Google Street View"

Google Street View displays panoramas of stitched images taken from a fleet of specially adapted cars. Areas not accessible by car, like pedestrian areas, narrow streets, alleys and ski resorts, are sometimes covered by Google Trikes (tricycles)[3] or snowmobiles.[4][5] On each of these vehicles there are nine directional cameras for 360° views at a height of about 8.2 feet, or 2.5 meters, GPS units for positioning and three laser range scanners from Sick AG for the measuring of up to 50 meters 180° in the front of the vehicle.[6] These are used for recording a rough 3D model of the surroundings, enabling faux-3D transitions between distinct panoramas where the environment images are momentarily mapped onto this 3D model while being crossfaded to create an animated perspective change as the user travels from one panorama to another. There are also 3G/GSM/Wi-Fi antennas for scanning 3G/GSM and Wi-Fi hotspots.[7] More recently, high quality images have been based on open source hardware cameras from Elphel.

The Last TV Repair Shop

2012-09-14T05:41:00.000-04:00

Ed Nemec's TV

iphone 5 Will Be Perfect For Food

2012-08-23T18:28:00.001-04:00

OWS

2012-08-23T06:30:00.000-04:00

"Why this Fat Cat Likes Obama's Tax Plan" NORMAN LIZT

2012-08-20T13:55:00.002-04:00

Full Page ad in the NYT newspaper August 20, 2012 Full text

I certainly don't qualify for the Forbes 400 Richest Americans list, but it surely feels that way. With my income averaging close to eight figures annually for the past seven years and with personal expenditures comprising about 2% of such income(thereby qualifying me for a potential Forbes list of America's wealthiest tightwads), I have built a net worth far above anything to witch I ever aspired. I simply don't know how to spend money(nor do I enjoy doing so), having purchased only one residence (a condo) in the past 40 years, one used car in 25 years, and detest wasting my time shopping. My one passion, travel, accounts for about half my expenditures.

I find my work as a sole, private equity investor challenging and intellectually stimulating and especially enjoy mentoring and interacting with my small staff of trusted employees. My father long ago taught me that individuals are nothing more than custodians of their funds, ultimately to passed down to future generations, especially the less fortunate. I have taken this to heart and have aspired to a legacy goal of ultimately leaving $50 million to various charities. And with continued good fortune, perhaps higher.

My one significant regret (profoundly shared by my fiancee, Rachel Martin) is that my diligent and compulsive pursuit of my goals does not leave enough time to smell the rose. She wishes to travel more and she may very well achieve her wish! Assuming Barack Obama wins reelection and successfully achieves his redistributionist tax agenda ( with 39%+ marginal rates plus a 3.8% tax on investment income plus substantially high dividend and capital gains rates), I will find myself, when my high California taxes are added in, at a marginal rate of taxation well over 50%. This represents the crossing of an inviolate threshold to me and is entirely unacceptable. I realize paying taxes is a form of charitable giving in a sense, but if I'm the one that's doing the work and tendering the money, then I want to be the one who chooses the charity.

Consequently, should these tax laws go into effect, I probably will simply shutter my business and say my sweet farewells to half a dozen great employees (who are unlikely to equal their current remuneration elsewhere... if they are fortunate enough to get new jobs in this economy). I will then take my money and instead of productively employing it in venture capital, will stick it in short-term U>S. Treasuries, providing me with a moderately safe, extremely low-yielding investment on which the high tax rates are moot since there's virtually no income to tax.

And Rachel will get her dream come true, since I will finally be free of my compulsive financial pursuits, and health permitting we will live the luxurious lifestyle we both feel we deserve.

To the many charities which ultimately will have to settle for about half of what they could have received... my profound and deepest apologies. For the medical innovations which may be years delayed, the music which may never be performed, the shelter that might not be offered, I grieve. To Barack Obama, I say thank you... for freeing me form the yoke and bondage of my current endeavors and providing a new found freedom. I just hope, however, that there are not thousands and thousands of others in the same position as I am in... the multiplier effect on jobs, the economy and charitable giving could be devastating!

Norman Lizt
La Jolla, CA
PO Box 1423

The United States is screwed........wahh, wah wah, don let the door hit your fat cat ass on the way out.

2012-07-22T23:24:00.002-04:00

Inestimable Bill Moyers with Chris Hedges

Selling off Public Assets to Privateers

2012-06-17T21:29:00.000-04:00

CATASTROIKA - ENGLISH SUBTITLES by infowar

Humor Photos

2012-06-15T14:05:00.000-04:00

John Baldessari

2012-06-06T08:13:00.001-04:00