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Thom Hartmann has written a dozen books covering ADD / ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder.
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Is it possible to be victimized twice by the same crime? Can it be possible that a cheap $10 mp3 player would actually cost you a $1,000 and more, even though you were not injured badly enough in its theft to prevent you from returning to work? Can the actions of an office functionary with power to abuse be worse than that of some gangland punk?
I submit to you the following case: At 3 AM on Saturday, August 1, while I was walking to a Kent, WA bus stop to catch the 3:30 am bus to Sea-Tac Airport where I work, a “man” whose partner was waiting in a getaway car hidden in the shadows was to be seen loitering in the middle of street. As I got nearer, he crossed over and approached me, deliberately blocking my path. I was wearing headphones, and he demanded to know what I was listening to. When I told him, he sucker-punched me, pushed me to the ground and grabbed the headphones and the cord around my neck, and ran to the waiting car, which sped-off . The whole thing must have been some gang initiation thing to prove this so-called man’s “toughness”; he didn’t “ask” me to give him my “music” or else he’d hit me—he just hit me and took something he didn’t know he was taking: my POS ID badge that was on the cord he ripped from my neck. A short time later I contacted the police dispatcher, but this was a dime-a-dozen case; nothing was done.
But for me, this was far from trivial, and my troubles were only just beginning; after all, anyone of “ethnic” appearance must be a potential terrorist suspect and not to be trusted. Because it was a Saturday, and I work weekends, I was already losing two days of work because the airport ID Access office was closed; without my badge, I could not gain access to my work area. I reported the theft to airport security, who deactivated it so it could not be used for entry into restricted areas. When I was able to go to the ID access office, I was treated no differently than the thief. I filled out a replacement and lost/stolen report form. Twice I was turned away in order to retrieve written requests—despite the fact that the part of the application form filled out and signed by the employer already made these requests. So I was made to go back and forth, to some apparent mirth. When I returned with these letters, I was then informed that my application was still insufficient because the police report was an “on-line” report.
So I went to the Kent police station, where the admin clerk expressed surprise that the form wasn’t acceptable—perhaps it was in an unfamiliar form. I was given a two-page form that was as complete as they could provide. When I showed this to the ID office functionary, she again declared it was inadmissible because it an “on-line” report; apparently only a hand-written report wasn't "on-line." When I told her that this was what I was given at the police station, she stated that it didn’t say that an officer had personally investigated the “crime scene” so it wasn’t sufficient anyways. She went on to say that it didn’t really matter what report I turned in, because it was at her “discretion” to determine if a theft had taken place, even though the police had made that determination by filing an official case report.
Then it got worse. Because there was forty-eight hour waiting period, I was already losing another half a week’s pay. Because I didn’t have a “sufficient” police report, I would have to personally pay a $250 fee up-front; the company I work for would not cover this fee even as a payroll reduction. I didn’t have $250; I am barely surviving paycheck-to-paycheck now, and my next truncated check (because of the days I was unable to work) was all I had to my name. And this would be all I would have, because of the trouble I was being given by this office functionary with power to abuse, I would not be receiving pay for this week because I could not access my work area. And of course, I have bills to pay.
The thief, whose purpose was to conduct a “hit-and-run” theft of a trivial item (he didn’t even bother with the netbook I was carrying, or my wallet) might as well have stolen over a $1,000 and counting—and a bully of an office functionary his chief accomplice.
Complexion--or complexion? Which word did that Valley Swim Club president mean when he forbid black children from entering that swimming pool? And now we have that Boston police officer suing the city after his suspension, claiming that "banana-eating jungle monkey" refers to "behavior" not a descriptive racial caricature. Are we to be taken for fools? If a normal person recognizes the context in which these terms are used, are we to assume that those people who used these terms and deny that they meant the commonly understood contexts are "abnormal?"
Anyways....
Lloyd Doggett Tea-bagger update: http://www.traviscountydemocrats.org/fullstory.php?artid=1637&db=current...
I am glad to hear that Doggett is more committed to health care reform, and that they, and the local media, recognize this bush whacking for what it was.
On a lighter note, is anyone surprised Bill Clinton rushed to North Korea after he heard about two Asian girls in bondage?
I rarely get to listen to Thom, but I'm working from home today and Thom's not there. Thanks for the folks filling in though. At least I'm getting good progressive talk rather than the other blather that would be available to me otherwise.
Here are links to the depositions referred to in Jeremy Scahill's Blackwater article -
http://s3.amazonaws.com/thenation/pdf/JohnDoe1Declaration.pdf
http://s3.amazonaws.com/thenation/pdf/JohnDoe2Declaration.pdf
mstaggerlee , The story was on countdown and Rachel last nite and it brings a whole new perspective to the Bush crime family.Reacg the Blackwater book by Mr.Scahill, it`s excellent.
BTW - Will RASTA expend enough time and effort on this site today to actually read this post? ... Not F'in likely!
(Oops - this shoulda been in all caps, shouldn't it?) :D
Something else the MSM won't be telling you about, from yesterday's The Nation -
Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder - by Jeremy Scahill
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090817/scahill
Great, if not terribly recent, article I found on Huffpo yesterday -
The Real Lesson of Iran - Beware America' Republican Mullahs, by Frank Schaeffer
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-schaeffer/the-real-lesson-of-iran_b_...
TTF said it so beautifully yesterday. Single-payer or at least a public option in health care reform should be called (or something equally easy to understand):
HEALTH CARE DIRECT!
In my opinion, this clarifies the description of health care that the corporations would like to remain muddy and confusing.
I have used this frame several times since yesterday and will contact Obama, my senators, etc. to suggest they adopt it.
Dan Smith, It`s T.R.Reid not J.R.
Mark , I look at this whole charade as RACISM from the Reich and their KKK members who have fooled a whole of seniors into thinking they will lose the Medicare and the lives,and that Obama is from another planet.
I don’t know if being both extremely arrogant and extremely self-pitying is a peculiarly Russian trait, but Birther birthmother Orly Taitz amply gave a demonstration of it on MSNBC the other day. Taitz, a Russian immigrant whose command of the language makes Arnold Schwarzenegger’s sound like King’s English, came off as completely insane, her mangled tirade fit only for a belly laugh. Although it is now long since clear that the latest Obama birth certificate she is pushing is a forgery—in fact a forgery so obviously contrived that it seems that it was never meant to be taken as anything but a joke—it is still being used as exhibit number one by this patently racist fool, and the fools who follow her.
Got another example of brownshirt action, this one in my own hometown. If I had KNOWN this town hall was happening, I would have showed up and tried to offer some reason to the debate...if you could call it that...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOLs7Cybnqw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOLs7Cybnqw
DanSnith, please look at web sites like think porgress.org,Huffington post,Pleasecutthecrap.typepad.com,you can also check out the movie Sicko and the Bill Moyers interview with Wendall Potter and J,R. Reed(Reid) not sure on his spelling articles and books on health care around the world.
Thom me and my wife are currently under two seperate BC/BS plans and we are paying about $550 a month between the two and $7500 a year in deductibles ,so what I am going to do is drop my BC/BS because it has the $4500 and is more exspensive in premiums, so I offer this suggestion to all like me who have a health care plan that is self funded by their employer and drop it and get others to do the same if their spouse has good coverage.I know it will hit alot of company`s hard because it`s hitting them in the bottom line.On Jan !st 2010 I will be switched over to United Health care because Delta bought NWA my employer and we get to sibsidize Bill McGuire`s pay check,hopefully not me and my fellow union brothers and sisters who have dual health care.As of yesterday I am waiting to hear from the AFL CIO health care task force through my union the IAM to see how I can help with health care and it`s issues pertaining to working middle class folks that are losing everything because of health care costs.
I am looking for information regarding the health care debate. Clearly, the single payer option is simpler to use and understand than any other option. It would reduce administrative overhead, and take the expense of insurance company profits out of the cost of health care.
That said, why is the debate not about single payer? The White House is vehement about the "Public Option" competing with private insurance and they insist that this is not a path to single payer.
If the public option is not on the path to single payer, what does it do exactly?
Here is another one of those stories about how brainwashed people are on the right. I know someone who argues that the government option would be very bad for our society. They argue that government destroys everything it touches. However, one of them served in the military for 8 years and loved the government health plan that they had while serving so much that they cannot wait until she reenlists later this month to get back on that spectacular plan. I cannot believe how obsurd that is that someone will tell us that we don't want a governent health plan when they are choosing to get one by reenlisting.
I contacted Arlen Specter recently about Single Payer Health Care and the Public Option. He responded with a long message about the complexity of the issue, but he did say that he is open to considering the Public Option for health care reform. Please contact his office to show your support for this option just to reinforce in him that it is what the public wants and needs.
http://specter.senate.gov/
202-224-4254 DC Number
Other Numbers are available on his website.
I give blood every 8 weeks. I will fill out the feedback form and mention the CEO salaries.
Thanks for the link folks! http://pleasecutthecrap.typepad.com/main/
Thom & chat room-- Please help me out!-- The astroturf "Tea-Baggers" are descending on NC and have a bus tour rolling through our state to try and shout down any civil, intelligent discussion about healthcare reform legislation--
Their "Patient's First" bus tour ("Keep your hands off my healthcare!") is being run by an organization called "Americans For Prosperity"-- I want to find out who, what organization/corporation(S) are actually bankrolling this effort-- I am going to organize an effort to expose it for the fraud that I know that it is--
How can I find out who is backing "Americans For Prosperity"??! Thanks very much!
(BTW- Thom, a fan for years, LOVE the show-- Please keep it going!);--)
I find it fascinating that Thom and the other superstars of progressive talk radio are headed to Republican Kent to give a show at the ShoWare Center, and I have purchased a ticket. I’d like to give Thom a little background about the Center site. Perhaps the first thing you notice is how out-of-place it seems. On one side is a low-income neighborhood. Why is this significant? Because that brick fortress topped with barbed wire directly across the street from the Center is the King County prison complex, which was deemed a socially acceptable place to put it. The Center itself is built on what used to be a playing field for neighborhood kids and little-league soccer—when it wasn’t transformed into a swamp after a heavy rain. On the other side is a railroad track parallel to is the Interurban Trail, where Lance Armstrong wannabes in their silly tights take the Tour de South King County, with its scenic drainage ditches and picturesque industrial parks.
The first large silver metal utility pole adjoining the trail (streetside with the Center) has a swath of green paint rising six feet from the base. Why is it there? Why naturally it is to cover something up. What is it covering up? Racist graffiti. A few years ago someone or someones decorated the pole with Nazi symbols, “Die N(blank)r,” “Whites Only” and a stick figure with a raised penis and a line rising from its neck, obviously a portraiture of a lynching. It was identified as a “Dead “N(blank)r.” Perhaps not surprisingly in a town like this, it remained undisturbed for at least a month despite being so close to the street.
The idea that this country would be better served if it depended solely on “volunteerism” and "good will" rather than the government to assist the impoverished and under-served seems rather like pie-in-the-sky whimsy. There are religious and non-profit organizations that provide food or temporary shelter, but these only address short-term survival needs, not long-term issues like lack of work, medical insurance or sleeping under an overpass. Even though religious and community organizations do what they can within their budgets and level of donations, in hard times they have to do more with less. For individuals in hard times, they have to look after their own needs first. The rich, it seems, are too busy donating to their own “charities,” like the local symphony, opera house, art museum or their college's football booster fund.
Recalling an experience I had many years ago, I once received a letter from the state unemployment insurance office, informing me that since I had worked for an organization of a religious nature, I was ineligible for unemployment insurance. A functionary at the Department of Human Services informed me that since I was an “able-bodied single male” I was on my own, and there was nothing they could do for me except give me a few dollars worth of food stamps. Just for fun I looked through the community services listing in the phone book; there were rows and rows of services for women and “families,” but nothing specifically for men, although presumably the Union Gospel Mission and a food bank would provide assistance for some.
It is thus quite easy to see how people might find themselves in a situation that might be hard to dig out of. The fact is that in a country that lacks a true social safety network—not to mention such things as universal health care—“volunteerism” is not equal to the task, and never was. This country has long passed the time when most people felt a moral obligation to help even their own kin in need or when aged. Federal and state government programs that by default must pick-up the slack are themselves not entirely up to the task because of underfunding and opposition from right-wing politicians, who continue the disengenuous deceit that government has already insinuated itself too much into the social contract.