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Austerity's Spreadsheet Error - Graduate student Thomas Herndon identifies little staggering omissions in a prominent academic paper, "Growth in a Time of Debt." (04:19):
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Background: If Snowden Is A Traitor For Leaking Info To The American People Does That Make Citizens The Enemy? Austerity's Spreadsheet Error - Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff's 2010 debt study inspires austerity around the world, but grad student Thomas Herndon debunks the results. (07:43): The Colbert Report If Snowden Is A Traitor For Leaking Info To The American People Does That Make Citizens The Enemy?9/4/2013 The Colbert Report There's a New Fascism on the Rise, and the NSA Leaks Show Us What It Looks Like The power of truth-tellers like Edward Snowden is that they dispel a whole mythology carefully constructed by the corporate cinema, the corporate academy and the corporate media. ... that provides a way for a person to measure the levels of democracy and despotism in a society. This documentary is made in 1946 in collaboration with Harold D. Lasswell PhD of Yale University a political scientist. Harold D. Laswell PhD begins with the statement, Avoid the comfortable idea that the mere form of government can of itself safeguard a nation against despotism. He then encourages a person to look beyond fine words and noble phrases and to use a couple of scales as yardsticks to measure the levels of democracy or despotism that may exist in a community. Notes: Democracy & Despotism: 1940s Encyclopedia Britannica Films by Maria Popova Vintage lessons in civic harmony, or how small-scale common courtesy paves the way for large-scale peace. In 1945 and 1946, immediately following the end of World War II, Encyclopedia Britannica’s films division produced two educational short films, one on democracy and one on despotism, exploring how societies and nations rank on the spectrum from democracy to despotism by measuring the degree to which power is concentrated and respect for individuals restricted. More than half a century later, these analyses remain a compelling metric of social harmony and discord, in an era when we’re still struggling to understand the psychology of riots in a global political climate where the tension between despotism and democracy is in sharper focus than ever. (read more) Despotism (1946 Encyclopedia Britannica educational film) The essence of freedom is the proper limitation of Government "There is a reason we refer to "the rule of law and not of men" when discussing the American political system. It is because a republican form of government seeks to restrain the unbridled and quixotic passions of pure democracy, rather than yield to them. It also rejects the desire of the majority in favor of individual rights. Democracy seeks to assert the right of the group, but so does a mob with a hangman's noose. There's also a reason why lady justice is blindfolded: She is not to see the individuals, interest groups, race, or any characteristic at all of those that plead before her--her proper concern is not directed towards them; her care is to decide the law. It's also why the question of justice as presented before judges is not one of mercy (that belongs in the will of the people as expressed through their representatives in law), but one of exacting only what the law requires be exacted. The rule of law is all about the removal of arbitrary will from its application. A judge who seeks to apply his own notions of justice and mercy (as opposed to those notions being defined by the people through law) is a judge who seeks to impose arbitrary will in opposition to the rule of law. And it is arbitrary will that is the very definition of tyranny. Notes from the above documentary... You can measure any community on this simple scale; Be careful NOT to assume that the 'mere form of a government can guard you against despotism'. Germany was a Republic and yet a despotic ruler was able to take root (i.e. Hitler). A competent observer looks beyond fine words and noble phrases. [even Hitler used fine words and noble phrases - You look instead at history, actions, behaviour results of policies (and who was the controller behind the scene NOT just the face of an action)... Then follow the dots into the present using a holistic perspective] Two yardsticks have been proven to help any community to discover how close it is to despotism; The Respect Scale As a community moves towards despotism, respect is restricted to fewer people (such as restricting respect to ONLY members of a small group or one political party). A community is becoming despotic is respect is withheld from a large group of people on account of thier political attitudes. (such as persecution because someone is wealthy, of a different race or religion etc.). The ability of every citizen to better themselves (and educate themselves) is another important measurement of determining the level of respect in society. The opportunity to develop useful skills is important but not enough as the opportunity to put such skills to use (make a living) is another important measurement on the respect scale. The Power Scale This scale is useful to determine the citizens share in making decisions for thier community. When decision making is left in a few hands (or compiled into a huge bill so that there is at least one issue you feel so strongly for that you have to vote for it even if other aspects of the bill is bad for the community/country - then you have limited choice {and have been tricked!}) THEN the community is moving towards despotism. Today, a community can move towards despotism by allowing power to become concentrated in the hands of a few. The test of despotic power is that it can disregard the Will of The People. Despotism can be official AND unofficial. The spread of respect and power in a community can be measured using the following 2 scales; Economic Distribution If a communities economic distribution becomes slanted then it is moving towards despotism. If middle income groups grow smaller, then despotism has a better chance to gain a foothold. One sign of a move towards a despotic society is the concentration of land in the hands of a few people. When farmers lose thier farms they lose thier independence. In communities that depend on almost on a single industry (such as a factory or mine) will have find that maintaining economic balance is a challenging problem Tax Burden Another sign of a poorly balanced economy is a taxation system that presses heaviest on those least able to pay. Larger amount of a poorer person's income is spent on food, so sales taxes press heaviest on the poor and middle class. The Information Scale A community rests low on the information scale when the press/media is controlled by a few people and when citizens HAVE TO accept what they are told. If students are not taught critical thinking skills (with a well rounded education so they have basic knowledge of history, politics, sophism, economics etc.) THEN despotism has a good chance of establishing itself. By keeping students unable to think critically, you get adults who can't think critically (or have any ability to evaluate facts from lies). These adults will accept whatever thier chosen authority source tells them. "We had an FBI consultant on the picture and he told me that 1 in 5 phone calls that we make are recorded and logged and I laughed at him and then he played back a phone call I had had two years prior to joining the picture." Shia LaBeouf Here is... ABIG BUILDING FILLED WITH ALL OF MY AND YOUR DATA?!? ... The Colbert Report Secret Government - The Constitution In Crisis (FULL) The ability to exercise this power with impunity is facilitated by the National Security Act of 1947. The thrust of the exposé is the Iran-Contra arms and drug-running operations which flooded the streets of our nation with crack cocaine. The significance of the documentary is probably greater today in 2007 than it was when it was made. We now have a situation in which these same forces have committed the most egregious terrorist attack on US soil and have declared a fraudulent so-called "War on Terror". The ruling regime in the US who have conducted the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, are now banging the war drum against Iran. Full Documentary: Video Notes: 1. You start abroad and then you bring this behavior home. 2. "A look at a government in the shadows"... 'and where the government will take us if the people let it!' 3. A policy of lies got accidentally exposed! 4. 'Since our adversaries know about our covert operations the only ones fooled are the America people.' Has this "messing with The Constitution" been brought home?... From PBS = Are we becoming a police state? Five things that have civil liberties advocates nervous - 1. Indefinite military detentions of U.S. citizens, 2. Targeting U.S. citizens for killing, 3. Arresting witnesses for recording police actions, 4. Using GPS to track your every move, 5. Surveillance drones spying on American soil... Notes: 1. There are "900 bases in 150 countries" 2. From The Economist: Indeed, the one lesson that can be drawn from the data is that today's strategic priorities can shape deployments for decades to come, long after the original reason for putting G.I.s in a particular region has gone. 3. "[W]e can now remove almost all of our forces from Saudi Arabia. Their presence there over the last 12 years has been a source of enormous difficulty for a friendly government. It's been a huge recruiting device for al Qaeda. In fact if you look at bin Laden, one of his principle grievances was the presence of so-called crusader forces on the holy land, Mecca and Medina. I think just lifting that burden from the Saudis is itself going to open the door to other positive things." Wolfowitz, 2003. 4. Economics perspective: Manufacturing jobs have become more specialized requiring less labor and more technical expertise - i.e. small companies making big ticket items such as fighter jets; this means less people are employed, smaller number of people make huge profits and these huge profits make the economy look like its growing when actually its just a few companies making huge profits benefiting a small group of people.Senator Bernie Sanders also thinks sending manufacturing jobs abroad is bad economic policy. 5. Comedic perspective: Colbert Report: Solutions to America's Financial Worries - World War III 6. Millions of jobs vs hundreds, possibly thousands of jobs, created by small companies with big ticket items. 7. Article: 11 Ways That Amerika Is Becoming More Like North Korea . 8. Interview: Ben Lowy describes his photographic work in Iraq and Afghanistan. Arresting people just because someone says so with any due process of law. 9. "The Pentagon needs to conduct a "serious inquiry" into the Air Force for letting a retired general turned Boeing executive participate in a war game for a $51 billion aerial tanker contract Boeing was competing to win, Sen. John McCain said Thursday in a letter to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta." 10. Remains of 274 Soldiers Dumped in Virginia Landfill - Fox News Video [Original article here.] 11. "They've taken all the heat they want to," Barr said. "They paid a lot of money for an aircraft that doesn't work." 12. "How do you break an internet? Easy. SOPA." Judge Andrew Napolitano 13. Comedic perspective: At last, the U.S. government brings swift justice to hardened criminals on YouTube. 14. Interview: Colbert Report: Stop Online Piracy Act - Danny Goldberg & Jonathan Zittrain. Background: Breaking News: Conservatives ARE The Zombie Apocalypse ! 4 Rand Paul Fooled By The Media To Use The Southern Strategy? Southern Strategy Explained IN Detail (Yes, I will keep providing yall with examples of it!) What Is The Southern Strategy & What Is The History Of The Southern Strategy? GOP-Republican's Southern Strategy Exposed 1 GOP-Republican's Southern Strategy Exposed 2 Notice how Ron Paul said the Republicans freed the slaves and led the civil rights movement... which is true... but the Republicans now are the Democrats who opposed freeing the slaves and the opposed the civil rights movement. What happened? The political strategy of the Republicans changed and the Democrats and Republicans switched their bases. So strangely enough, modern Republicans who are actually descendants of the Southern Democrats are claiming to have supported blacks when they historically did the opposite. It's hilarious! The media at it again. Rand Paul's is appealing to the Southern Democrats who became Republicans after Nixon changed the party strategy to be mean to black people ("Negros") in 1976. (see proof in links below) I.E. THE REPUBLICANS OF TODAY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH FREEING SLAVES OR THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT. THEY ARE THE DEMOCRATS WHO LOST AND THEN BECAME REPUBLICANS WHILE THE REPUBLICANS WHO HELPED THE BLACKS ARE NOW DEMOCRATS. PROOFS From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Democrats When Richard Nixon courted voters with his Southern Strategy, many Democrats became Republicans and the South became fertile ground for the GOP, which conversely was becoming more conservative as the Democrats were becoming more liberal. However, Democratic incumbents still held sway over voters in many states, especially those of the Deep South. Although Republicans won most presidential elections in Southern states starting in 1964, Democrats controlled nearly every Southern state legislature until the mid-1990s and had a moderate(although not huge) amount of members in state legislatures until 2010. In fact, until 2002, Democrats still had much control over Southern politics. It wasn't until the 1990s that Democratic control gradually collapsed, starting with the elections of 1994, in which Republicans gained control of both houses of Congress, through the rest of the decade. Republicans first dominated presidential elections in the South, then controlled Southern gubernatorial and U.S. Congress elections, then took control of elections to state legislatures and lastly came to control local offices in the South. Southern Democrats of today who vote for the Democratic ticket are mostly urban liberals. Rural residents tend to vote for the Republican ticket, although there are a sizable number of Conservative Democrats. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/When_did_republicans_become_democrats_and_democrats_become_republicans "Republicans were always mostly in the Northern states ever since the Civil war. Also republicans favored a strong central government, hence Abraham Lincoln using the most federal power in history. The democratic party was always mostly in the southern states ever since the civil war because many Democrats supported slavery which was mostly in the South. Up unitl 1976 did democrats start to be mostly in the northern states and republicans in the southern states like it is today. They basically flip flopped demographics and ideas over 150 years." Background: Mitt Romney Takes One Of Obama's Comments Out Of Context & Makes It His Campaign Strategy Breaking News: Conservatives ARE The Zombie Apocalypse! 1 Breaking News: Conservatives ARE The Zombie Apocalypse! 2 Breaking News: Conservatives ARE The Zombie Apocalypse! 3 A small collection of Mitt Romney Lies... Mitt’s master gaffe list Post-RNC, we update the massive (and growing) list of Mitt's epic flubs, goofs and falsehoods UPDATED:We’ve added to our comprehensive list of Mitt Romney’s dubious statements — and will keep updating until Election Day. Check back soon! 49. “That very optimism is uniquely American.” Truth: Actually, according to Gallup polls several years running, Nigerians are the most optimistic people in the world. Greeks are the most pessimistic. Americans are somewhere in the middle. (Aug. 30, 2012) 48. “But today, four years from the excitement of the last election, for the first time, the majority of Americans now doubt that our children will have a better future.” Truth: Setting aside the fact that it contradicts his earlier claim about Americans’ optimism, he’s right that Americans are not very optimistic about their kids’ future. But it’s hardly “the first time.” (Aug. 30, 2012) 47. “When I was 37, I helped start a small company.” Truth: Bain Capital was not and never has been a “small company.” (Aug. 30, 2012) 46. “And let me make this very clear — unlike President Obama, I will not raise taxes on the middle class.” Truth: Obama did not raise taxes on the middle class by any stretch of the imagination. The stimulus actually gave a tax cut to 95 percent of working families via a cut in payroll taxes. Republicansfought the extension of that cut when it expired. Meanwhile, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, Romney’s budget plan would raise taxes on the middle class, while cutting taxes on the wealthy. (Aug. 30, 2012) 45. “I have a plan to create 12 million new jobs. It has five steps.” Truth: History shows this is likely an unrealistic pipe dream. (Aug. 30, 2012) 44. “His $716 billion cut to Medicare to finance Obamacare will both hurt today’s seniors, and depress innovation — and jobs — in medicine.” Truth: One of the most persistent lies of the campaigns — Obama did not cut Medicare. (Aug. 30, 2012) 43. “President Obama began with an apology tour.” Truth: Politifact gave this one a “Pants on Fire,” calling it a “ridiculous charge.” (Aug. 30, 2012) 42. “His trillion dollar cuts to our military will eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs, and also put our security at greater risk.” Truth: Romney blames Obama for cuts that will kick in in January, but they actually are the result of a 2011 bipartisan budget to raise the government’s debt ceiling that Republicans agreed to. (Aug. 30, 2012) Read More: Mitt’s master gaffe list The 8 dumbest things Republicans said — in the past week alone A look at right wing politicians' & pundits' potpourri of offensive, racist and wildly inaccurate statements 1. Penn. Gov. Corbett: Gays are like children. Neither should be able to marry. When he isn’t busy defunding public schools, Pennsylvania’s oh-so-enlightened Republican governor Tom Corbett is fighting hard to keep same-sex couples from marrying in his state. To that end, he’s going after a low-level county clerk who had the audacity to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples, because he believes it is the right thing to do. In the lawsuit against the idealistic clerk, the state’s lawyers made the following ridiculously off-base and offensive argument: Gays can’t marry in Pennsylvania any more than children can. Exact wording: “Had the clerk issued marriage licenses to 12-year-olds in violation of state law, would anyone seriously contend that each 12-year-old … is entitled to a hearing on the validity of his `license’?” the state wrote in its brief. By the end of the week, Corbett seemed to recognize that comparing consenting adults to children was offensive and probably the wrong analogy to use. He courageously backed away from the statement, blamed his attorneys for the wording, and shirked all responsibility for it. But he’ll be damned if gay Pennsylvanians marry under his watch. 2. Joe Walsh gives absurdly racist “I have a dream” speech. There was so much shame frothing around Republican and right-wing circles for their despicable behavior this week during the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and the historic March on Washington, it is difficult to know where to start. While not one Republican representative participated in the festivities, having more important things to attend to like meetings with lobbyists and continuing their pointless efforts to defund Obamacare, former Rep. Joe Walsh, mercifully a one-termer from Illinois, let his racism flag fly full mast with his idiotic rewrite of MLK’s great speech. In Walsh’s view, African Americans suffer from “dependency on the government plantation.” In Walsh’s dreams, African Americans are to blame for all of their own problems, and the extreme right-wing agenda is the only solution. Apparently, Walsh missed the part about people being judged on the content of their character rather than the color of their skin, and his rewrite comprised a list of vile racial stereotypes lacking all nuance. Read More Here. |
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