Since early June I've probably received a dozen inquiries from polling organizations. One cold-caller actually informed me that her survey could be completed in just under half-an-hour. Really! How considerate of her to inform me. I refused to participate -- told her that I "wasn't going to play this game", my exact words. Then I hung up the telephone.
I wasn't about to provide politicians with information that they could use to mislead the electorate then and I'm not about to do it now. I've deflected perhaps another half-dozen phone calls over the past ten days from spot polling organizations with "just one quick question". Can you guess what it was.
"Let the candidates be themselves, their true selves", I say; my rationale for being so anti-social, remembering hapless Mitt and how he fecklessly sabotaged his own campaign. Absurdly fake Hapless Mitt, our "severe conservative", so adept at twisting himself into a pretzel as his campaign went on to follow his pollsters' winding path.
I detest the abomination politics has become. And don't get me started about the hundreds of e-mails soliciting donations from maybe ten organizations (or the same one with ten fronts) received over the last few weeks. How obscene.
It is high time for a Presidential Commission to investigate and make recommendations to Congress on acceptable uses of lethal force by police.
It concerns me that this was decided by a 5-4 vote. Indeed, the Obama administration has conceded that the question of contraception implicates sincerely held religious beliefs. So why draw a distinction between religious organizations and closely-held corporations? Religious organizations exist to generate revenue just like corporations. Why would the federal government recognize a right to religious freedom in one context but not the other? Do we forfeit our rights the moment we exit the church door? Do social goals trump constitutional rights? Four justices seem to believe that they do.
A confused nation....
Less than 1% own 50% of wealth
Less than 5% own 80%
In the last 30 years...
1% income & wealth grew 250% to 400%
For the rest income & wealth declined 5% to 30%
Minimum wage $7.25 remains static at 1960 rates
And, the wealthy lobby, deny, refuse even a 10¢ increase
And, recall the opposition of some corporates even to provide healthcare for their employees, even while spending millions on freebies for customers.
A $1 trillion taxpayer-funded bailout was voted instantly & generously for the criminal acts of large financial organizations. The same organizations after several years have been charged for criminal acts, and the organizations have settled, willingly, for few $billions in fines, at a fraction of the profits they looted. And, the most ironic fact is that, not a single individual has been charged or jailed.
Millions who lost homes & home values never got a bailout. The few who took home billions from those crime-ridden profits, never lost anything.... And, may never lose.
Law-abiding citizens and those legal-residents are squeezed and denied a living-chance, while those who don't follow the laws continue to get the attention, compassion and privileges.
When 90% of the citizens are neglected, (while rich individuals, corporates, lobbyists, tax-evaders, secret-a/c holders abroad, stateless-untaxed income-earners have a free-ride), it is a confused nation !!!
How can a speaker not be protected at an university?
Confused ?
"What do the journalists have to hide"
Yes, that would be the logic used by the House of Un-American Activities Commission when they were investigating supposed communists, and that used to vastly increase surveillance under the Patriot Act, so congratulations Surgres on another gem of a comment.
How were these journalists bullies? They were writing about a corporate culture that instigates and endorses misogyny and sexual harassment. Does that not fall under the job of the press?
And as a last point, I noticed you ran away from your comment on the last healthcare article, choosing not to respond. I guess it was easy to "dish out" cherry picked statistics about ACA costs, but that you couldn't "take it" when others pointed out how wrong you were.
Bit hypocritical, huh?
Living near a university with a heavy fraternity-sorority presence, we are consistently amazed at how little the college intervenes in anything these organizations do. The result is basically a system where greek organizations make their own rules while the college just hopes nothing terrible hits the media. The problem is that 20 years olds have pretty poor decision-making skills and care very little about long-term consequences for their actions. It is a shame that they are not provided with guidance and regulation.
