  PhilRojo SolPremium
join:2001-06-11
Camarillo, CA
kudos:2
1 edit | Have a great weekend folks! | |
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 N3OGHCertified GLG-20Premium
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs
kudos:1
 ·Verizon FiOS
2 edits | Look at my burning religious text! OK, really. Now every 2 bit "holy man" from Topeka to Tombstone is threatening to burn a Koran.
Can we just stop gawking at these idiots all ready any move on?
I propose we gawk at the Ikea cats. Pretty cool, if you like cats. Besides, these cats are probably smarter than the religious freak in Florida with a handlebar moustache.
Well, off to watch the Phillies, eat some wings and drink some beers!
Both edits to fix dopey typos
»www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7vXP3tHzhA
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Petty people are disproportionally corrupted by petty power | |
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 |  rcdaileyDragoonflyPremium
join:2005-03-29
Rialto, CA | Re: Look at my burning religious text! IKEA left out the custom upholstery work that a cat can do with just his/her claws. That would have been too scary, I guess.
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Human nature abhors an empty closet. | |
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| | N3OGHCertified GLG-20Premium
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs
kudos:1 | Re: My Son Burned a Qu'ran Today. LOL! | |
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|  richdelbGo Hawks GoPremium
join:2003-01-22
Algonquin, IL | Re: Look at my burning religious text! That IKEA spot is really cool. Thanks for posting that. I enjoyed it. | |
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|  tapeloopNot bad at all, really.Premium
join:2004-06-27
Airstrip One
kudos:1 | No wonder I start sneezing whenever I sit in my new Poang chair... | |
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 ThrowDemsOutIf you can't convince 'em, confuse 'emPremium
join:2002-03-03
Mullica Hill, NJ
kudos:4 |  Fed judge OKs subpoenas of Internet users IDs
»news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100910/ap_···ubpoenas | |
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|  Noah VailSon made my AvatarPremium
join:2004-12-10
Lorton, VA
kudos:1
 ·Bright House
 ·Sprint Mobile Br..
| Re: Fed judge OKs subpoenas of Internet users IDs said by ThrowDemsOut:A federal judge has allowed a copyright owner to garner Internet user names from an ISP even though the users fought the subpoena. A couple decisions like this and ISPs won't bother refusing to turn over user names when a copyright owner demands them. I'm saddened
that the long slow path
to citizens becoming government property
continues to bring you such pleasure.
I've no objection to your happiness. But I wish it wasn't bound to the relentless process of destroying certain rights endowed by our Creator.
NV
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Any Goal that is Driven by Animosity, is Empowered through Deceit. | |
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| | | | Re: Fed judge OKs subpoenas of Internet users IDs Citizens have always been property. People fought for rights, but now the pendulum is swinging back the other way. It is most noticeable in the work place where workers rights have been replaced by "you're lucky to have a job", even though corporations are sitting on more money then ever before. The middle class is being wiped out by "free-marketeers". However, nothing in his response said he was happy about this.
So those rights you believe were bestowed upon you by the Almighty will have to be fought for again!
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BF69~~~Please stop suffocating gerbils! | |
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 ·magicjack.com
3 edits | Re: Fed judge OKs subpoenas of Internet users IDs said by S_engineer:The middle class is being wiped out by "free-marketeers". Last night I found a study from UC Santa Cruz which may interest you. It contains some remarkable information concerning the growing disparity of wealth and income in the US. And, how this relates to real, individual power.
Particularly interesting is a preliminary finding that after the recent financial meltdown
quote:
there has been an "astounding" 36.1% drop in the wealth (marketable assets) of the median household since the peak of the housing bubble in 2007. By contrast, the wealth of the top 1% of households dropped by far less: just 11.1%. So as of April 2010, it looks like the wealth distribution is even more unequal than it was in 2007.
-- http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html
I guess that's not surprising when you consider how Goldman Sachs was in a position to give record bonuses just months after being rescued with taxpayer money.
I believe that gets to your point: 30-40 years ago, Americans would have rioted in the street over such shameless "free market" behavior. Today, we just accept it like we know our "place" in society.
The UCSC article linked above touches on the same phenomenon, showing the growth in disparity between CEO and worker pay over 45 years. CEO pay rose from 43 times the average worker in 1960 to 411 times in 2005. (Other studies show 33:1 in 1977 growing to 300:1 in the year 2000.).
To me, that's a sign of how our collective expectations of the American Dream has changed. Like we "worship" wealth in the same way superstars and ballplayers are idolized.
Adam Smith, darling of "free marketeers," denounced such conditions by observing: "the disposition to admire, and to almost worship, the rich and powerful," is "the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments."[1]
That corrupt idolization of the wealthy leads directly to our money-driven political system.
Going back to the UCSC study linked above: Table 5a shows concentration of stock ownership in the US. The wealthiest 20% of the population control over 81% of all shares of stock. The remaining 80% of the population controls just 9%.[2]
With that information in mind, consider how corporations are created by society. They are legal, yet fictional "persons" created by legislative fiat to stand as the fall guy -- shielding officers and investors from their personal liability for poor business choices. A "socialization" of what would otherwise be private businesses operating in a "free market."
For the past 100 years, those "fiat persons" have been increasingly treated as possessing the same rights as natural, living persons.
The "circle of life" is thus completed. Consider the following:
1. We use society to create fictional "fiat persons," to primarily benefit the wealthy.
2. Those socially-created "persons" are "animated" (a legal term) by actors holding corporate offices (i.e., officers of the corporation).
3. Those who control the corporation (1% of the population controlling 38% of shares) are said to "capitalize" the corporation. Which is to say, they give it "life."
4. It is through that "life blood" of capital that officers "animate" the corporation with a legal, fiduciary interest to shareholder. Lobbying Congress for the interests of the shareholder.
Ergo: the socially-created "fiat person" is "animated" by and for the benefit of shareholders -- shareholders who are the top 1% of the population having a 38% interest (and the top 20% of the population having 81% interest). The "rights" of that "fiat person" to influence public-policy decisions will be used to represent that small segment of society. It's a legal requirement.
In other words: A backdoor way to give a small segment of society two political voices. Their own, and the "fiat person" created by all society for the benefit of a small segment to operate against the interests of all.
This same point is seen in the concentration of capital income (income from stock, dividends, interest, rent). "In 2003, the top one percent of the population received 57.5 percent of all capital income."[3]
That leads back to the "cycle of life." Corporations represent a tiny fraction of society, and have political rights (and a legal, fiduciary duty to represent the interests of that tiny fraction). That fraction receives the majority of income from corporations. And, that fraction lobbies for reduced taxation of that form of income on the basis that "we'll all benefit" ("trickle down") by encouraging capital investment.[4]
The perplexing thing is how Americans have accepted these conditions. When we question how "we all benefit" when income and wealth disparity increases (while the average American's income remained flat for 30 years), we're told we're engaging in "class warfare."
We're told it's the ugly sin of "envy." Even though, to lower taxes on a tiny segment of Americans, our greed was appealed to.
We just roll over and don't expect better. That's what's amazing.
[1] Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments pt i, sec. i, ch iii, para 28 (1759).
[2] One final point of interest: The 9% of corporate stock owned by 80% of Americans is held primarily in mutual funds which do not give the investor any voting rights over the corporation.
[3] »www.cbpp.org/files/1-29-06tax2.pdf
[4] »www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=1008
Note: The 9% of stock owned by the bottom 80% of the population is held mostly in 401k plans, which are not the beneficiary of reduced capital-gains taxation. | |
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| | | | tapeloopNot bad at all, really.Premium
join:2004-06-27
Airstrip One
kudos:1 | Re: Fed judge OKs subpoenas of Internet users IDs ...not to mention the lifting of the restrictions on corporate political donations.
»www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/us/po···tus.html
Just keep getting better, don't it? 
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"I love mankind. It's people I can't stand."
--L. van Pelt | |
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·magicjack.com
1 edit | Re: Fed judge OKs subpoenas of Internet users IDs That's my point. When you realize who owns corporate stock[1] and the direction and velocity of that trend[2], it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who benefits when socially created "fiat people" (corporations) are recognized to have the same political rights as you, a natural person.
Then, consider how average Americans who own stock actually own mutual funds (in 401k plans). Those are non-voting shares. So, when considering how 80% of the population owns only 9% of corporate stock, that's compounded by a very weak ownership. It has no real control over the corporation. It's the mutual-fund manager who votes. Your "keeper," so to speak.
It really is a "circle of life." We create these things through public law. Through the state legislatures that exist through the vote of all of us. And these things (fiat people) become political voices for 10% of the population. A second voice. An amplifier. Working against the wishes of the 90% who created them. Having a legal *duty* to work against the wishes of the 90%. (I.e., a legal duty to operate in the interest of the 10% of the population who have a majority financial investment.).
[1] See Table 5b here.
[2] See Table 5a and Figure 5 at the same link, showing the change in ownership of stocks and share of capital income (income from investments) over time. | |
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·magicjack.com
| BTW: This short story from 1955 (The Tunnel Under the World) has some thought-provoking parallels to socially-created "synthetic people" (corporations), and perhaps the way corporations (and the 10% of the population who own them) control our perspectives (and our place in society).
It's about 25 pages. 30 minutes to read. You won't regret it. | |
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| | | | | | tapeloopNot bad at all, really.Premium
join:2004-06-27
Airstrip One
kudos:1 | Re: Fed judge OKs subpoenas of Internet users IDs said by amigo_boy:BTW: This short story from 1955 ( The Tunnel Under the World) has some thought-provoking parallels to socially-created "synthetic people" (corporations), and perhaps the way corporations (and the 10% of the population who own them) control our perspectives (and our place in society). It's about 25 pages. 30 minutes to read. You won't regret it. That novella was a great read. Thanks for the recommendation.
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"I love mankind. It's people I can't stand."
--L. van Pelt | |
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|  raz58NSFWPremium
join:1999-08-15
Tucson, AZ
·Comcast
| Re: State Farm Insurance Co. using Google to raise rates. said by Mr Matt:Who would have thought that Google would be aiding and abetting Government and Big Business to snoop on American Citizens. Google is Big Business.
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Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by
killing all those who opposed them. | |
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| N3OGHCertified GLG-20Premium
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs
kudos:1 Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
| One could say companies and government are using Google maps to catch cheats and scofflaws.
If you're not entitled to the discount, then you shouldn't get it. If you were claiming a discount for a hip roof you no longer had, then technically you were commiting insurance fraud.
Same thing for folks that build without permits. Whenever I build, I get a permit. When I buy insurance, I'm honest about it. If my property changes, I'm honest with the insurance company.
Your dishonesty is probably raising someone else's rates and taxes. Nothing but back end shoplifting, if you ask me.....
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Petty people are disproportionally corrupted by petty power | |
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| | | | Re: State Farm Insurance Co. using Google to raise rates. could not agree more. be honest and you won't have anything to worry about.
you can't hide from the truth. it will catch you. | |
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2 edits | It's not even remotely Google's fault this is happening. Technology isn't intrinsically good or evil. It's how it's used or misused.
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TKJunkMail aliases - MIllIlITER, MMH, Golf N Sun | |
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| ThrowDemsOutIf you can't convince 'em, confuse 'emPremium
join:2002-03-03
Mullica Hill, NJ
kudos:4 | said by Mr Matt:  I just received notice that the discount that State Farm gave me for a hip roof for the past five years was being discontinued. It doesn't matter how they caught you. If you didn't deserve the discount, you shouldn't have it. | |
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·Comcast
·T-Mobile US
·AT&T U-Verse
·Vonage
| Re: State Farm Insurance Co. using Google to raise rates. said by Mr Matt: State Farm issued the policy that included the hip roof discount. and you accepted it.
I had no control of what discounts that were applied to my policy. I did not apply for or receive an explanation of the criteria for all of the discounts that I received. Those that that inferred that I lied to the insurance company have feces for brains.
Ignorance is not a defense I'm afraid to say.
The fact that the insured was given a discount and then it was rescinded does not mean the insured was cheating or not telling the truth. On the other hand it does look like the insurance company was mining Google Maps to find ways to remove discounts from their policyholders policies.
assuming that is all true, the insurance company is under no obligation to keep offering a discount of any sort. just like you are not required to stay with them. welcome to the free market. | |
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| | | doesnt surprise me, quite smart if you ask me. If you ran a business would you not do the same to enforce rules and regulations. Most of the Sat pictures are over a year old. --depending on the area. | |
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See 17 replies to this post |
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 MattAll noise, no signal.Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12 |  Chrome 6 is out.
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ThrowDemsOutIf you can't convince 'em, confuse 'emPremium
join:2002-03-03
Mullica Hill, NJ
kudos:4
1 edit | Unintended effects of new credit card law - watch out
The new credit card laws passed after the financial meltdown leading to the recent recession were SUPPOSED to reduce fees and prevent banks from sticking it to their customers.
Well the 1st part came true - fees are now regulated and many banks have dropped some of them completely. But the 2nd part won't happen. The banks are losing a lot of income based on penalties & fees. So they upped the interest rates on most of their cards(to the highest rates in 9 yrs).
Don't want to be the fool under the new law?
- Pay off your cards each month and don't buy what you can't pay for in 30 days.
- look out for a new banking scam(professional credit cards meant for businesses & professionals). The new law doesn't apply to them and the banks are pushing them on everyone. Isn't it interesting how the pols always leave loopholes in new laws. Be EXTRA careful if applying for a new card or when renewing a card when it expires. The banks may try and slip you in to a BUSINESS card without you noticing. Read ALL the fine print.
In any case read the above link. I mean it. Forewarned is forearmed and pleading ignorance of the new law when you get suckered will only be your own fault. | |
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| Reviews:
·magicjack.com
1 edit | Re: Unintended effects of new credit card law - watch out said by ThrowDemsOut:Well the 1st part came true - fees are now regulated and many banks have dropped some of them completely. But the 2nd part won't happen. The banks are losing a lot of income based on penalties & fees. So they upped the interest rates on most of their cards(to the highest rates in 9 yrs). The whole credit card thing deserves to implode. The card companies jacked up fees to merchants to cover the cost of "rewards." They prohibit merchants from advertising a cash price (and adding a surcharge to credit-card purchases). Essentially causing the cost of "rewards" to be baked into the price everyone pays.
It's an unattractive scheme. It's kind of related to what you're talking about. People who couldn't handle credit subsidized the people who could. Similar to the way non-rewards customers subsidize rewards customers through inflated prices.
said by ThrowDemsOut:look out for a new banking scam(professional credit cards meant for businesses & professionals). Is that a "signature" rewards card?
My bank switched everyone from the standard gold card to a signature card without much explanation. Just that it would have better "rewards."
I haven't used the card since. Mainly because the fee charged to merchants is almost twice as much as the gold card I originally had. I refuse to play that game.
I wonder if it had something to do with the "business" class of card you're talking about.
Side note:
The recent finance reform gives the Federal Reserve authority to set merchant transaction fees for debit card purchases. It's going to be interesting to see if debit cards become the "new normal" for purchases. If so, the next interesting thing will be how consumer protections will be applied to them. (Credit card companies extended credit-like protections to debit card purchases. But, I don't think they'll do that if the fees they can charge are cut.). | |
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|  ameniteThe Soylent - It's PeoplePremium
join:2002-11-21
Ridgewood, NJ
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| Along the lines of banks sticking it to consumers, I had the opportunity to use a Chase Manhattan ATM on Friday. On top of the $3.00 ATM surcharge (which my bank refunds to me anyway) I was presented with an advertisment in order to complete my transaction (the money had been dispensed, but the receipt I had asked for would not print). The screen required my input before completing the transaction.
So now I'm thinking I should send Chase an invoice for around $400 - that's $200/hour with the customary 2 hour minimum, and call it "research subject participation fee" or "advertising hostage charge" or something like that. If it were a splash screen that just went away that would be fine, but the fact that it makes me input to complete that transaction is bogus.
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Time is an abstract concept invented by carbon based life forms to monitor their constant decay.-Thunderclese | |
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 Mactronel Camino RealPremium
join:2001-12-16
CM94sv | Weekend !!! Have a Happy one all !  | |
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 ddg4005Premium
join:2001-08-22
Bronx, NY | Weekend Open Thread I'm vacation for the next two weeks. Time to relax .
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A man must have a code -Bunk | |
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Noah VailSon made my AvatarPremium
join:2004-12-10
Lorton, VA
kudos:1 Reviews:
·Bright House
·Sprint Mobile Br..
| 1963 CIA Apology for Mistaken Overthrow of CostaRica. O-Span From the voluminous O-Span Network archives.
Recalling a nearly forgotten moment in history, the O-Span channel rebroadcasts a rare CIA Public Apology for mistakenly overthrowing the Government of Costa Rica, following a string of successful coups in Latin America during the 1950s and 60s.
»www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANuciiiaY58
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I learn so much from these shows.
NV
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Any Goal that is Driven by Animosity, is Empowered through Deceit. | |
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| | Apple iPhone 4 antenna problems and Verizon Anyone else feel like this has been cooked up just to sell MILLIONS more iPhones by making AT&T look terrible by adding a flaw to the iPhone 4's antenna so people would be so ready and willing to switch to Verizon. It makes so much sense business on Apples part to do this and cut a deal with Verizon in the back room and say when LTE launches we will make a GSM 700 (750?) version for VZW and sell MILLIONS on the next day increasing not only your profits but ours as well.
I am not one for wild and outlandish things but this just smells so fishy. | |
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| ThrowDemsOutIf you can't convince 'em, confuse 'emPremium
join:2002-03-03
Mullica Hill, NJ
kudos:4 | Re: Apple iPhone 4 antenna problems and Verizon said by shaunzie:Anyone else feel like this has been cooked up just to sell MILLIONS more iPhones by making AT&T look terrible by adding a flaw to the iPhone 4's antenna so people would be so ready and willing to switch to Verizon. I don't think so. Apple's reputation(& especially Jobs) took a big hit over this. So much so that Jobs put himself on display to eat crow to repair the damage. No way Apple did this to themselves on purpose. | |
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| | | I think Jobs would take a huge hit like that to make millions and sell millions of iphones. We all know how money hungry that tight ass is. | |
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ThrowDemsOutIf you can't convince 'em, confuse 'emPremium
join:2002-03-03
Mullica Hill, NJ
kudos:4 | Don't like the way wife fixes your eggs? Show her this
A gunman enraged over how his wife cooked his eggs in rural eastern Kentucky shot five people dead with a shotgun before killing himself, a relative of two of the victims said.
Trooper Jody Sims of the Kentucky State Police said 47-year-old Stanley Neace killed five people in two mobile homes around 11:30 Saturday morning, then went to his home and turned the gun on himself.
Sherri Anne Robinson, a relative of two of the victims, said witnesses to the shootings told her that Neace became enraged when his wife did not cook his breakfast to his liking.
Robinson said that when his wife fled to a neighbor's trailer, Neace followed and shot his wife, his stepdaughter and three witnesses. | |
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| | xda forums down forum.xda-developers.com is not working this moning.. appears to be a dns problem. | |
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 sabersawPremium
join:2001-08-21
Dayton, OH
kudos:1 | Sunday Ticket to Go is crap.... I bet this will be a front page news item at some point this week. All the good games won't connect. I figured dtv wasn't really ready for this. But decided at last minute to try it. I mean with the cost of it, should work to a point right? Now listening to my team on the radio and getting busy signals from DTV customer support line. | |
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Reviews:
·magicjack.com
| Michigan may be 1st to adopt roadside drug testing quote:
Michigan drivers could become the first in the nation subject to roadside drug testing under a bill introduced Wednesday in the Legislature.
The legislation would authorize police to administer a roadside saliva test for illegal drug use, just as they do breath tests for alcohol, when they stop a driver suspected of being intoxicated.
...
Southfield criminal defense attorney Joseph Awad said roadside drug testing opens the door for arbitrary application by police, especially against thousands of drivers on the road every day using doctor-prescribed medications, Awad said.
But Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML, a national group that advocates for the decriminalization of marijuana, said a reliable, roadside test could help. But Armentano is skeptical about the equipment and whether testing would improve public safety.
One benefit, Armentano said, is that the public would be more likely to embrace rational drug laws if a reliable roadside test was available.
The presence of any level of any illegal drug is grounds under Michigan law for a charge of drugged driving.
-- »www.freep.com/article/20100909/N···z3qBY8sq
That seems interesting to me. Like "mr. matt's" topic, of how increased technology can make things better and worse.
I like this idea because I think it could increase support for decriminalizing marijuana use. But, it's going to create a problem for everyone else driving around after taking a sinus tablet (and find themselves guilty of "drugged driving."). They're going to have to work out some level of drugged before being criminally impaired.
It would create a new intrustion into our privacy. But, perhaps reduce other intrusions which have resulted from the "War on Cheech and Chong fans" (raids on purchasers of hydroponic equipment, roadside searches, surveillance of electricity usage and aerial "heat maps"). | |
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State Farm Insurance Co. using Google to raise rates.
Re: State Farm Insurance Co. using Google to raise rates.
