F*$K You, You Got Yours
Posted on
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
by Gary A. Ballard
I have many times in the last year and a half written or tweeted about healthcare reform, an issue I am very close to for many personal reasons that have nothing to do with this article. I have harangued critics who want no real change to the healthcare landscape at all, for being badly-misinformed puppets of monied special interests and the puppets they employ in our government. Today, with the apparent impending passage of a weak sauce insurance industry handjob of a healthcare bill in the Senate, a bill so watered down as to be almost completely useless, I want to take this momentous occasion in history to thank every one of you ignorant cocksuckers out there that made this limp-wristed pile of monkey shit inevitable. To those of you who have continually criticized any sort of public option or single-payer healthcare, especially those who complained about it for no other reason than it was "socialism," I want to give an extra special thanks in the form of this statement.
Fuck you, you got yours.
This thank-you statement is, of course, what we as a nation should now adopt as our national motto, the creed, the very philosophical foundation on which we will build the future we deserve. Why? Nothing says ignorant bag of self-destructive cockgobblers like the attitudes we have taken towards providing basic goddamn healthcare to anyone without the means to pay than "Fuck you, I got mine." So for each individual in the following groups, I want to offer this saying.
Fuck you, you got yours.
To all you motherfuckers on Medicare who screamed at town hall meetings that Obama was a fascist who wanted "death panels" and that a public option was socialist, fuck you, you got yours. Your continued health, your very fucking life is entirely dependent on a "socialized" system that every working American pays into their entire working lives, and by all accounts works with more cost efficiency than private insurance, including the Medicare plans administered by private companies. And how do they do that? By negotiating lower rates with doctors, which according to most of the free market cocksuckers out there, is an abject sin.
To all those veterans who have given their lives and limbs to our country but complain that we might give public, socialized medicine to people regardless of their ability to pay, fuck you, you got yours. Before President Bush and the Neocon Parade drove our military straight into the ground with a useless fucking war in Iraq and overloaded it, the VA medical system was as efficient and well-run as Medicare. It was also completely funded by taxes that we all pay. It's not even a remotely equitable trade - you give up your lives for our freedoms and we give you healthcare. It's the least we can do. But don't complain when we want similar care paid for with our taxes.
For all of you with employer-provided healthcare, fuck you, you got yours. Yes, you most certainly do pay your premiums - but your employer pays more. Not only that, but both you and your employer's purchase of that insurance is subsidized by the government, which means its partly paid for by our taxes. These subsidies are in the form of the tax breaks for premiums (since they are taken out pre-tax) on individuals, but also tax breaks on employers. Incidentally, I am in this group myself - my employer pays most of my individual premium, and we both get tax breaks for it. The fuck me will come when I have to use this insurance and it's fairly large deductible and varied procedure schedule - something that will hit me directly in the pocket book at times when I can't work. I actually have to pay another premium for supplemental insurance to help cover those costs when I do get sick. As good as my subsidized plan is, I still could face serious financial ruin if I get deathly ill. And I can't afford the high premium to cover my self-employed wife with that, so fuck me twice.
To every motherfucking one of the Senators and Representatives currently bitching, moaning and complaining that ANYTHING that restricts the health insurance industry in the slightest is potentially passing through Congress, a huge fuck you, you got yours. You currently suckle at the best government healthcare teat imaginable, paying fuckall for a Cadillac insurance plan funded by the taxpayers, complete with your own fucking at call doctors and nurses in the same goddamn building. They don't even charge a co-pay. Their fuck you also covers anyone working in a government job using government health insurance who doesn't want to extend that coverage to the rest of us.
In short, YOU ALL GOT YOURS, and fuck the rest of us. Thank you very much for torpedoing any sort of real healthcare reform in favor of vague, idiotic worries about a political system you don't even understand, a knee-jerk buzzword taught you by vapid cuntwhistle pundits like Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly, used repeatedly to bludgeon the fear of anything that might hurt their master's bottom lines into you. These bastards don't even deserve the courtesy of a fuck you. They got theirs years ago have are merely fattening their larders on your sheep-like stupidity.
And finally, I'd like to direct a special fuck you, you got yours to Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, both of whom did everything in their power to ensure that real healthcare reform never made it into the bill being considered now. Lieberman appears to have done so simply to be pissy, while Nelson whored his vote for full Medicaid funding for his state and no one else. Congratulations, citizens of Nebraska, you are now the welfare state. Fuck you, you got yours.
I only hope when the clusterfuck that this bill creates comes crashing down around all our ears in five to ten years, all you bastards will be without the socialized care you currently enjoy. Maybe then you'll start to realize that every other fucking country in the world does healthcare for everyone in their country better and cheaper than we do with that evil socialism you ignorantly harp on about. Until then, wake up every morning and say the new national motto.
Fuck you, I got mine.
Fuck you, you got yours.
This thank-you statement is, of course, what we as a nation should now adopt as our national motto, the creed, the very philosophical foundation on which we will build the future we deserve. Why? Nothing says ignorant bag of self-destructive cockgobblers like the attitudes we have taken towards providing basic goddamn healthcare to anyone without the means to pay than "Fuck you, I got mine." So for each individual in the following groups, I want to offer this saying.
Fuck you, you got yours.
To all you motherfuckers on Medicare who screamed at town hall meetings that Obama was a fascist who wanted "death panels" and that a public option was socialist, fuck you, you got yours. Your continued health, your very fucking life is entirely dependent on a "socialized" system that every working American pays into their entire working lives, and by all accounts works with more cost efficiency than private insurance, including the Medicare plans administered by private companies. And how do they do that? By negotiating lower rates with doctors, which according to most of the free market cocksuckers out there, is an abject sin.
To all those veterans who have given their lives and limbs to our country but complain that we might give public, socialized medicine to people regardless of their ability to pay, fuck you, you got yours. Before President Bush and the Neocon Parade drove our military straight into the ground with a useless fucking war in Iraq and overloaded it, the VA medical system was as efficient and well-run as Medicare. It was also completely funded by taxes that we all pay. It's not even a remotely equitable trade - you give up your lives for our freedoms and we give you healthcare. It's the least we can do. But don't complain when we want similar care paid for with our taxes.
For all of you with employer-provided healthcare, fuck you, you got yours. Yes, you most certainly do pay your premiums - but your employer pays more. Not only that, but both you and your employer's purchase of that insurance is subsidized by the government, which means its partly paid for by our taxes. These subsidies are in the form of the tax breaks for premiums (since they are taken out pre-tax) on individuals, but also tax breaks on employers. Incidentally, I am in this group myself - my employer pays most of my individual premium, and we both get tax breaks for it. The fuck me will come when I have to use this insurance and it's fairly large deductible and varied procedure schedule - something that will hit me directly in the pocket book at times when I can't work. I actually have to pay another premium for supplemental insurance to help cover those costs when I do get sick. As good as my subsidized plan is, I still could face serious financial ruin if I get deathly ill. And I can't afford the high premium to cover my self-employed wife with that, so fuck me twice.
To every motherfucking one of the Senators and Representatives currently bitching, moaning and complaining that ANYTHING that restricts the health insurance industry in the slightest is potentially passing through Congress, a huge fuck you, you got yours. You currently suckle at the best government healthcare teat imaginable, paying fuckall for a Cadillac insurance plan funded by the taxpayers, complete with your own fucking at call doctors and nurses in the same goddamn building. They don't even charge a co-pay. Their fuck you also covers anyone working in a government job using government health insurance who doesn't want to extend that coverage to the rest of us.
In short, YOU ALL GOT YOURS, and fuck the rest of us. Thank you very much for torpedoing any sort of real healthcare reform in favor of vague, idiotic worries about a political system you don't even understand, a knee-jerk buzzword taught you by vapid cuntwhistle pundits like Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly, used repeatedly to bludgeon the fear of anything that might hurt their master's bottom lines into you. These bastards don't even deserve the courtesy of a fuck you. They got theirs years ago have are merely fattening their larders on your sheep-like stupidity.
And finally, I'd like to direct a special fuck you, you got yours to Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, both of whom did everything in their power to ensure that real healthcare reform never made it into the bill being considered now. Lieberman appears to have done so simply to be pissy, while Nelson whored his vote for full Medicaid funding for his state and no one else. Congratulations, citizens of Nebraska, you are now the welfare state. Fuck you, you got yours.
I only hope when the clusterfuck that this bill creates comes crashing down around all our ears in five to ten years, all you bastards will be without the socialized care you currently enjoy. Maybe then you'll start to realize that every other fucking country in the world does healthcare for everyone in their country better and cheaper than we do with that evil socialism you ignorantly harp on about. Until then, wake up every morning and say the new national motto.
Fuck you, I got mine.
Labels: Corporate Corruption, Government Corruption, Government Idiots, Health Care, Things I'd Like to Fire Into the Sun
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posted by Gary A. Ballard @ 11:31 AM
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The Jesus Co-Pay
Posted on
Monday, July 13, 2009
by Gary A. Ballard
After some interesting Twitter discussions about healthcare reform last week, I began to think about the conservative right position against universal/socialized/single-payer/public-option healthcare in America. Since the Republican party has so inextricably linked itself with the increasingly odious politically evangelical Christian movement in order to win elections, I'm rather insulted at the hostile reaction our Republican political establishment has shown towards any option that doesn't allow private insurance companies to bankrupt ordinary Americans with high premiums and denial of coverage on financial grounds. No one in favor of some form of public option for healthcare is under any illusion that the program won't be costly. I personally feel that it should likely be expected to cost the country a metric fuckton. If there was ever a government program for which deficit spending is a necessary evil, it's providing healthcare to every citizen regardless of ability to pay. Better to lose a dollar saving a life than to spend fifty cents taking a life in war. But the argument I'm so often hearing against healthcare is the "I shouldn't have to pay so some lazy bastard without a job can get healthcare."
Let's cut the bullshit. For the record, you are already paying for the lazy bastard without a job to get care at the emergency room. The law does not allow emergency rooms to refuse care to anyone. When that "lazy bastard" gets care at the ER, he does so on the hospital's dime if he cannot pay. The hospital passes that loss off to the people who can pay - if you have health insurance, that's you and your insurance company. You pay higher costs at the hospital, the insurance company charges you a higher premium, and healthcare costs continue to balloon well past the normal rate of inflation. Of course, just calling that person who can't pay a "lazy bastard" assumes that the ER isn't the only healthcare outlet for the working poor, who often can't take afford to take time off of work to visit a doctor during banker's hours.
But continue to call anyone who receives any kind of government aid a "lazy bastard" if that's what helps you sleep at night knowing you are condemning working mothers with three kids as shiftless drains on society. Forget the fact that not only do you receive government benefits for paying insurance premiums (it cuts down on your taxable income - so in effect, it's a tax credit) but your employer does as well (who also gets deductions for providing health insurance). We can quibble about the amount of benefit you receive in comparison, but don't act like you aren't sucking at a government teat just a wee bit.
The most galling part about hearing someone who claims to be a Christian criticizing a universal program as forcing them to pay for "lazy bastards" is how dissociated that attitude is from the teachings of Jesus Christ. Now, I'm no Christian - I find organized religion odious. Nor am I a Biblical scholar, but having grown up with Baptist and Assembly of God teaching, as well as having done my own reading, I can safely say that your attitude would make baby Jesus weep.
Jesus did a lot of healing in his short time as wandering prophet. He healed lepers, cripples, whores, the poor - you know, pretty much every shitheel he could find. If you believe the stories, he even cured a zombie (or created one - we don't know if Lazarus developed a taste for brains). I don't ever remember Jesus asking for a co-pay, or checking for an insurance card. He didn't even moralize about your life choices, or refuse to help someone who might have been gay, or had an abortion, or didn't vote Republican. He didn't ask if you were crippled from birth and therefore might not be eligible for MessiahCare™. Perhaps the disciples forgot to mention Jesus easy payment terms, or the fact that he took checks, debit or credit cards for service. No, Jesus healed the sick with nothing more than a few words about his father and a helpful life lesson. Maybe he asked for a loaf of bread or a fish for his posse, but even then, he was the original Discover card - give one fish, get five back in his handy Fish Back™ program.
If Republicans/Conservatives want to claim they are Christians and that our nation is a Christian one, founded on Christian values, it's time to put up or shut the fuck up. Jesus didn't charge a co-pay. Of course, neither the government nor healthcare professionals are Jesus; they can't practice medicine without some costs. Jesus had no drug costs, his time was free and his materials were divine. But the philosophy is what's important here. Jesus wanted to heal the sick, regardless of whether they were "lazy bastards" or working members of society, whether they were moral followers or the dregs of immorality. The government may not be Jesus, but they damn sure should aspire to one of the basic tenets of the founding of America: every citizen has the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," all of which is difficult when one has to choose between crippling bankruptcy or crippling sickness.
It's almost like the political establishment expects everyone to get their healthcare from this guy.
Let's cut the bullshit. For the record, you are already paying for the lazy bastard without a job to get care at the emergency room. The law does not allow emergency rooms to refuse care to anyone. When that "lazy bastard" gets care at the ER, he does so on the hospital's dime if he cannot pay. The hospital passes that loss off to the people who can pay - if you have health insurance, that's you and your insurance company. You pay higher costs at the hospital, the insurance company charges you a higher premium, and healthcare costs continue to balloon well past the normal rate of inflation. Of course, just calling that person who can't pay a "lazy bastard" assumes that the ER isn't the only healthcare outlet for the working poor, who often can't take afford to take time off of work to visit a doctor during banker's hours.
But continue to call anyone who receives any kind of government aid a "lazy bastard" if that's what helps you sleep at night knowing you are condemning working mothers with three kids as shiftless drains on society. Forget the fact that not only do you receive government benefits for paying insurance premiums (it cuts down on your taxable income - so in effect, it's a tax credit) but your employer does as well (who also gets deductions for providing health insurance). We can quibble about the amount of benefit you receive in comparison, but don't act like you aren't sucking at a government teat just a wee bit.
The most galling part about hearing someone who claims to be a Christian criticizing a universal program as forcing them to pay for "lazy bastards" is how dissociated that attitude is from the teachings of Jesus Christ. Now, I'm no Christian - I find organized religion odious. Nor am I a Biblical scholar, but having grown up with Baptist and Assembly of God teaching, as well as having done my own reading, I can safely say that your attitude would make baby Jesus weep.
Jesus did a lot of healing in his short time as wandering prophet. He healed lepers, cripples, whores, the poor - you know, pretty much every shitheel he could find. If you believe the stories, he even cured a zombie (or created one - we don't know if Lazarus developed a taste for brains). I don't ever remember Jesus asking for a co-pay, or checking for an insurance card. He didn't even moralize about your life choices, or refuse to help someone who might have been gay, or had an abortion, or didn't vote Republican. He didn't ask if you were crippled from birth and therefore might not be eligible for MessiahCare™. Perhaps the disciples forgot to mention Jesus easy payment terms, or the fact that he took checks, debit or credit cards for service. No, Jesus healed the sick with nothing more than a few words about his father and a helpful life lesson. Maybe he asked for a loaf of bread or a fish for his posse, but even then, he was the original Discover card - give one fish, get five back in his handy Fish Back™ program.
If Republicans/Conservatives want to claim they are Christians and that our nation is a Christian one, founded on Christian values, it's time to put up or shut the fuck up. Jesus didn't charge a co-pay. Of course, neither the government nor healthcare professionals are Jesus; they can't practice medicine without some costs. Jesus had no drug costs, his time was free and his materials were divine. But the philosophy is what's important here. Jesus wanted to heal the sick, regardless of whether they were "lazy bastards" or working members of society, whether they were moral followers or the dregs of immorality. The government may not be Jesus, but they damn sure should aspire to one of the basic tenets of the founding of America: every citizen has the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," all of which is difficult when one has to choose between crippling bankruptcy or crippling sickness.
It's almost like the political establishment expects everyone to get their healthcare from this guy.
Labels: Corporate Corruption, Government Corruption, Government Idiots, Health Care, Politics, Religious Corruption
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posted by Gary A. Ballard @ 10:30 AM
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Getting a Head Start on the Angry Mob
Posted on
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
by Gary A. Ballard
What do I see in the New York Times online edition? Some promising news about the upcoming battle to provide Americans with healthcare, of course. It seems that the major health insurers are now ready to drop their objections to covering people with pre-existing conditions. How big of them to show a readiness to work with Congress after decades of obstructing any progress on universal healthcare based on the objection that people with chronic conditions were unprofitable and thus unworthy of coverage.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm glad to see the insurers softening their stance. This country needs universal (GASP SOCIALISM!) healthcare in the worst possible way. Our economy has suffered greatly for it, our businesses are getting gang-raped by the onerous cost of making sure their workers are well enough to come to work, and families are one goddamn disease away from total financial ruin. But make no mistake, this was not the insurers being magnanimous, nor is it a signal they are really ready to give up the gravy train fed from the bone marrow of cancer patients.
This is an industry realizing that their customers have had enough and they aren't going to take this shit lying down anymore. Well, the ones that can still stand, that is. For whatever his flaws and failings may be, Pres. Obama is committed to providing every American healthcare, and the amount of public hostility towards insurers as well as the shift in Congressional party makeup makes the writing on the wall clear in gigantic, 90-point Helvetica type. Your money-siphoning days are over.
Of course, these insurers are still opposed to a government-run health care system. They are opposed because if a government system is run in competition to their own, the chances are they will lose most of their business. Not because the government system will automatically be better (though it certainly couldn't be much worse) but because that system will likely be CHEAPER, and these companies have never really had to compete on price to individuals. Sure, they'll offer group discounts to businesses, because that money is guaranteed. But individuals? They've never wanted to have to compete for individuals, because those are nickel and dime customers. It's harder to please them, the margins are terrible and the industry has spent almost 40 years pissing them off. I can almost guarantee that if offered a chance between a cheaper government-run system and a private insurer, the cheaper option would win out for 70% of the population. With that kind of competition, what are insurers going to offer customers for the higher premiums?
All they would have at that point is better doctors (very subjective), lower wait times and... well, what else do they have? Their entire business model would have to change, and they might actually have to market themselves. It's a lose-lose proposition.
But within their willingness to work with Congress on dropping the pre-existing condition restrictions is a fun little poison pill. They only want to do it if Congress can mandate that every American must be covered by insurance. That means they want to pull the same crap the auto insurers did years ago - i.e. make everyone have to buy coverage from the insurers. At that point, their pool of healthy customers is large enough that it offsets the need to help the deadbeats with Parkinson's. And of course, they would resist any government intervention in pricing policies.
Let me be blunt, health insurance industry. The free ride is over. In whatever form it finally comes, you will not be able to keep things going as they are. Whether it takes 20 years and goes through three Presidents and multiple changes of Congress, the American people are fed up with your bullshit. You'd better get a head start now, because there's an angry mob right the fuck behind you and they won't stop until they get what they want.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm glad to see the insurers softening their stance. This country needs universal (GASP SOCIALISM!) healthcare in the worst possible way. Our economy has suffered greatly for it, our businesses are getting gang-raped by the onerous cost of making sure their workers are well enough to come to work, and families are one goddamn disease away from total financial ruin. But make no mistake, this was not the insurers being magnanimous, nor is it a signal they are really ready to give up the gravy train fed from the bone marrow of cancer patients.
This is an industry realizing that their customers have had enough and they aren't going to take this shit lying down anymore. Well, the ones that can still stand, that is. For whatever his flaws and failings may be, Pres. Obama is committed to providing every American healthcare, and the amount of public hostility towards insurers as well as the shift in Congressional party makeup makes the writing on the wall clear in gigantic, 90-point Helvetica type. Your money-siphoning days are over.
Of course, these insurers are still opposed to a government-run health care system. They are opposed because if a government system is run in competition to their own, the chances are they will lose most of their business. Not because the government system will automatically be better (though it certainly couldn't be much worse) but because that system will likely be CHEAPER, and these companies have never really had to compete on price to individuals. Sure, they'll offer group discounts to businesses, because that money is guaranteed. But individuals? They've never wanted to have to compete for individuals, because those are nickel and dime customers. It's harder to please them, the margins are terrible and the industry has spent almost 40 years pissing them off. I can almost guarantee that if offered a chance between a cheaper government-run system and a private insurer, the cheaper option would win out for 70% of the population. With that kind of competition, what are insurers going to offer customers for the higher premiums?
All they would have at that point is better doctors (very subjective), lower wait times and... well, what else do they have? Their entire business model would have to change, and they might actually have to market themselves. It's a lose-lose proposition.
But within their willingness to work with Congress on dropping the pre-existing condition restrictions is a fun little poison pill. They only want to do it if Congress can mandate that every American must be covered by insurance. That means they want to pull the same crap the auto insurers did years ago - i.e. make everyone have to buy coverage from the insurers. At that point, their pool of healthy customers is large enough that it offsets the need to help the deadbeats with Parkinson's. And of course, they would resist any government intervention in pricing policies.
Let me be blunt, health insurance industry. The free ride is over. In whatever form it finally comes, you will not be able to keep things going as they are. Whether it takes 20 years and goes through three Presidents and multiple changes of Congress, the American people are fed up with your bullshit. You'd better get a head start now, because there's an angry mob right the fuck behind you and they won't stop until they get what they want.
Labels: Corporate Corruption, Health Care, Politics, Privatization
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posted by Gary A. Ballard @ 10:34 AM
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Sponsorship Bothers
Posted on
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
by Gary A. Ballard
Is anyone else as queasy, bothered and uneasy about the fact that CNN's woeful Democratic National Convention coverage is sponsored by the coal industry and AT&T? Now, I don't expect CNN to be able to parse the delicious irony of this sort of thing, at least not unless there is a strategist from either side of the election available to digest and regurgitate some talking points for them. But shouldn't the DNC have at least, I don't know, pointed this out?
AT&T has been of the forerunners of the megacorporate drive to remove Net Neutrality rules from Internet access laws. They have lobbied Congress and lobbied them hard to remove the free speech and commerce protections that the Internet currently enjoys. So to let such sponsorship of the coverage be from an agency so opposed to the egalitarian nature of the Internet, something the Democrats should be damn thankful for, is a bit disappointing. It isn't as if the Internet hasn't been used to great effect by both the Obama and Clinton campaigns during the primaries and afterwards. Imagine the YouTube presence of both candidates being stifled by slow bandwidth during the primaries. The voters might have had to resort to watching the television for their news...
Oh.
But the choice of the coal industry for sponsorship is worse. The coal industry is a vast polluter, a killer of working class men and towns, and a generally dirty, horrible way to both power things and make a living. I'm not sure there exists a more environment-befouling energy source on the planet. The only upside to the coal industry is that America has an abundance of the material in our own backyard. But for a party who has made much political headway using a message of environmental responsibility to combat global warming/climate change, it is a slap in the face to have coverage of their national convention bookended by ads touting the wonders of coal-derived energy.
Now, I'm not naive enough to think the DNC could necessarily stop these sponsorships. CNN is free to take ad money from anyone it wants to. As the corporate media whores they are, I expect them to take it from every source imaginable. The least the DNC could do is exert a little pressure on CNN. After all, they are providing the network with the access and permission to broadcast the whole thing. Be principled, tell CNN that such sponsorships are irresponsible and damaging to the reputation of the party. I no longer expect any news organization to act responsibly, which means the only way to enforce such responsibility is to threaten the network where they live: in their overstuffed wallets.
AT&T has been of the forerunners of the megacorporate drive to remove Net Neutrality rules from Internet access laws. They have lobbied Congress and lobbied them hard to remove the free speech and commerce protections that the Internet currently enjoys. So to let such sponsorship of the coverage be from an agency so opposed to the egalitarian nature of the Internet, something the Democrats should be damn thankful for, is a bit disappointing. It isn't as if the Internet hasn't been used to great effect by both the Obama and Clinton campaigns during the primaries and afterwards. Imagine the YouTube presence of both candidates being stifled by slow bandwidth during the primaries. The voters might have had to resort to watching the television for their news...
Oh.
But the choice of the coal industry for sponsorship is worse. The coal industry is a vast polluter, a killer of working class men and towns, and a generally dirty, horrible way to both power things and make a living. I'm not sure there exists a more environment-befouling energy source on the planet. The only upside to the coal industry is that America has an abundance of the material in our own backyard. But for a party who has made much political headway using a message of environmental responsibility to combat global warming/climate change, it is a slap in the face to have coverage of their national convention bookended by ads touting the wonders of coal-derived energy.
Now, I'm not naive enough to think the DNC could necessarily stop these sponsorships. CNN is free to take ad money from anyone it wants to. As the corporate media whores they are, I expect them to take it from every source imaginable. The least the DNC could do is exert a little pressure on CNN. After all, they are providing the network with the access and permission to broadcast the whole thing. Be principled, tell CNN that such sponsorships are irresponsible and damaging to the reputation of the party. I no longer expect any news organization to act responsibly, which means the only way to enforce such responsibility is to threaten the network where they live: in their overstuffed wallets.
Labels: Corporate Corruption, Mainstream Media, Media Corruption, Presidential Campaign 2008
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posted by Gary A. Ballard @ 4:03 PM
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The Credit Crisis Explained... Mostly
Posted on
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
by Gary A. Ballard
I thought I'd link to this enlightening article in the New York Times Business Section. It's a very good, mostly layman's explanation of the credit crisis that is leading our economy down the shitter. I'm no economist, and most of the times I can't make heads or tails of the stock market and investing. This article clarifies the problem a little bit more.
As a bitterly cynical layman with bad financial sense, I've always viewed the stock market as a legally-blessed form of casino gambling, where the house is actually the shareholders of the company you are investing in. It's a crap shoot that somehow the religious right doesn't have any moral issue with, despite the fact it has more in common with gambling (a SIN! ZOMG!) than mid-week Bingo games. I find that a bit of startling moral ambiguity bordering on outright hypocrisy, especially when those self-same members of the church objecting to the lottery.
Investing is gambling. The only difference is the lack of cards or dice or equestrian spectacles. It's gambling that gives accountants a stiffie. And unfortunately, it's what all modern economies are based on. The primary fuel for the investment market is perception... not money, not effort, not production, not profit. Perception. An investment is only as good as the market's perception of its worth, and that perception can be driven by greed or fear. Fear is what is gripping the market now, and it's a well-founded fear based on the idea that a gigantic ultra-metric fuckton of investments are utterly and completely worthless.
Follow my chain of thought. Investors buy someone else's debt. Kinky, but according to the accountants, that's a bit of acceptable kinkiness. Now, those investors bundle up all that debt (which may or may not ever be repaid, and if it's not repaid, that debt becomes worthless) and sell it to someone else, who goes into debt to buy the first bits of debt. Let me repeat. These investors get themselves further into debt to buy debt. Somewhere down at the bottom of this endless rabbit hole of people owing other people they've never met money, somewhere down there lies the mortgage to my house. And if I can't pay, not only do I lose my house, but a shitton of people up the chain probably lose theirs as well because they are betting on me to finish this horse race and pay off the 30-year mortgage.
If you bitches are relying on me, you are fucked. And as a result, we are all fucked. Proper fucked.
Don't ever tell me that investing my money is any more sound than plopping down my life savings on the 3rd at Belmont, or on 7-Black or in the pull of a lever. The person that says that is full of shit, just like our credit market is right now. But hey, at least the rich fuckheads who started bundling this shit together will get to retire from all the bonuses they made over the last 10 years. When I'm mowing their lawn to pay for my 1-bedroom hovel in Crack Town, I'll be sure to thank them for their long-term outlook on the economy.
As a bitterly cynical layman with bad financial sense, I've always viewed the stock market as a legally-blessed form of casino gambling, where the house is actually the shareholders of the company you are investing in. It's a crap shoot that somehow the religious right doesn't have any moral issue with, despite the fact it has more in common with gambling (a SIN! ZOMG!) than mid-week Bingo games. I find that a bit of startling moral ambiguity bordering on outright hypocrisy, especially when those self-same members of the church objecting to the lottery.
Investing is gambling. The only difference is the lack of cards or dice or equestrian spectacles. It's gambling that gives accountants a stiffie. And unfortunately, it's what all modern economies are based on. The primary fuel for the investment market is perception... not money, not effort, not production, not profit. Perception. An investment is only as good as the market's perception of its worth, and that perception can be driven by greed or fear. Fear is what is gripping the market now, and it's a well-founded fear based on the idea that a gigantic ultra-metric fuckton of investments are utterly and completely worthless.
Follow my chain of thought. Investors buy someone else's debt. Kinky, but according to the accountants, that's a bit of acceptable kinkiness. Now, those investors bundle up all that debt (which may or may not ever be repaid, and if it's not repaid, that debt becomes worthless) and sell it to someone else, who goes into debt to buy the first bits of debt. Let me repeat. These investors get themselves further into debt to buy debt. Somewhere down at the bottom of this endless rabbit hole of people owing other people they've never met money, somewhere down there lies the mortgage to my house. And if I can't pay, not only do I lose my house, but a shitton of people up the chain probably lose theirs as well because they are betting on me to finish this horse race and pay off the 30-year mortgage.
If you bitches are relying on me, you are fucked. And as a result, we are all fucked. Proper fucked.
Don't ever tell me that investing my money is any more sound than plopping down my life savings on the 3rd at Belmont, or on 7-Black or in the pull of a lever. The person that says that is full of shit, just like our credit market is right now. But hey, at least the rich fuckheads who started bundling this shit together will get to retire from all the bonuses they made over the last 10 years. When I'm mowing their lawn to pay for my 1-bedroom hovel in Crack Town, I'll be sure to thank them for their long-term outlook on the economy.
Labels: Corporate Corruption
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posted by Gary A. Ballard @ 10:44 AM
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The Poor in New Orleans Still Getting the Shaft
Posted on
Thursday, December 06, 2007
by Gary A. Ballard
The poor people of New Orleans were treated with the utmost disrespect before and during the Katrina disaster. Years of governmental neglect from the local to state to federal level contributed to the shabby state of the city and its life-preserving levees, and bear a great deal of responsibility for the Katrina disaster. It is incumbent on the government to help those of its citizens who need the most help, and by and large, that is the impoverished. Public housing projects in New Orleans were home to thousands of residents. Those residents were forced to leave the city in 2005, with the understanding they could return to the homes once those homes were classified as habitable.
But HUD (Housing and Urban Development) and HANO (Housing Authority of New Orleans) have closed those housing projects, prohibiting the former residents from returning to them and scheduling many of the projects for demolition. This is despite the fact that most of the units are completely habitable with repairs, repairs which will be paid for out of the taxpayer's money allocated to restoring housing in New Orleans. The demolished low-income housing would not be replaced with new low-income housing except in reduced numbers.
The Advancement Project: Hurricane Katrina is a site documenting the struggle against the federal government to save this housing and allow the former residents to return. It's an interesting documentary about the problem and the lawsuit that has resulted. I urge you to watch it and remember that the massive disservice our government did to the people of the Gulf Coast region is still going on today.
But HUD (Housing and Urban Development) and HANO (Housing Authority of New Orleans) have closed those housing projects, prohibiting the former residents from returning to them and scheduling many of the projects for demolition. This is despite the fact that most of the units are completely habitable with repairs, repairs which will be paid for out of the taxpayer's money allocated to restoring housing in New Orleans. The demolished low-income housing would not be replaced with new low-income housing except in reduced numbers.
The Advancement Project: Hurricane Katrina is a site documenting the struggle against the federal government to save this housing and allow the former residents to return. It's an interesting documentary about the problem and the lawsuit that has resulted. I urge you to watch it and remember that the massive disservice our government did to the people of the Gulf Coast region is still going on today.
Labels: Bush Administration, Corporate Corruption, Government Corruption, Hurricane Katrina
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posted by Gary A. Ballard @ 3:56 PM
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Vivendi Tries to Make EA Jealous
Posted on
Monday, December 03, 2007
by Gary A. Ballard
The video game news this morning is disappointing for video gamers. Yet another big video game merger has occurred, this time involving Vivendi and Activision. Not content with the cash cow that is World of Warcraft, Vivendi has merged its game division with Activision, publisher of such hits as Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk and Call of Duty. The new merged company will be called Activision Blizzard, with Vivendi holding a 52% stake in the venture. Of course, there is one thing to notice about this new company. Every successful game they have is some kind of sequel.
World of Warcraft (WoW) is an MMOG sequel to Blizzard's madly successful Warcraft series. All of the Activision titles listed in the linked article are franchise properties as well, with each having at least three different titles in the series. Blizzard's upcoming products include an expansion for WoW and a sequel to its classic RTS Starcraft series. The trend is unmistakable. Vivendi has built a company to rival Electronics Arts, following the same formula. That formula is to buy up developers with successful properties and leverage those properties into sequel after sequel after sequel.
While I believe WoW's success in the MMOG market has caused investment money to flow back into MMOG development, meaning more MMOG's will be made, I do worry that such money will be spent on shitty, slapdash attempts to clone WoW's gameplay. And the last thing the video game industry needed was another gigantic publisher with kneejerk sequelitis. Sequels are not by themselves bad things, and most accounts of Guitar Hero and Call of Duty sequels are positive. I myself even rated Call of Duty 3 for the Wii highly.
That said, giant corporate publishers with the means and desire to gobble up small developers like Electronic Arts have hurt the game industry. EA Sports acquisition of the exclusive NFL video game license has resulted in buggy rehashes of the Madden franchise, a series showing almost as much age as its namesake. We gamers do not need another monolith trying to out-shovel EA, we already have Ubisoft. Perhaps the three of them can get together and form the massive Blandotron, spitting out Splinter Cells, Maddens and Tony Hawks with the regularity of bowel movements.
Gird your loins. The sequel onslaught has begun.
World of Warcraft (WoW) is an MMOG sequel to Blizzard's madly successful Warcraft series. All of the Activision titles listed in the linked article are franchise properties as well, with each having at least three different titles in the series. Blizzard's upcoming products include an expansion for WoW and a sequel to its classic RTS Starcraft series. The trend is unmistakable. Vivendi has built a company to rival Electronics Arts, following the same formula. That formula is to buy up developers with successful properties and leverage those properties into sequel after sequel after sequel.
While I believe WoW's success in the MMOG market has caused investment money to flow back into MMOG development, meaning more MMOG's will be made, I do worry that such money will be spent on shitty, slapdash attempts to clone WoW's gameplay. And the last thing the video game industry needed was another gigantic publisher with kneejerk sequelitis. Sequels are not by themselves bad things, and most accounts of Guitar Hero and Call of Duty sequels are positive. I myself even rated Call of Duty 3 for the Wii highly.
That said, giant corporate publishers with the means and desire to gobble up small developers like Electronic Arts have hurt the game industry. EA Sports acquisition of the exclusive NFL video game license has resulted in buggy rehashes of the Madden franchise, a series showing almost as much age as its namesake. We gamers do not need another monolith trying to out-shovel EA, we already have Ubisoft. Perhaps the three of them can get together and form the massive Blandotron, spitting out Splinter Cells, Maddens and Tony Hawks with the regularity of bowel movements.
Gird your loins. The sequel onslaught has begun.
Labels: Corporate Corruption, Game Design, PS3, Video Games, Wii, X-Box
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posted by Gary A. Ballard @ 10:19 AM
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Congressional Democrats Need a New Agenda
Posted on
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
by Gary A. Ballard
This story from the LA Times gave me a brief moment of hope, which was quickly dashed by political pussyfooting. Presidential candidate and noted leprechaun Dennis Kucinich filed three articles of impeachment in the House of Representatives against Vice President Dick Cheney on Tuesday, proving that this diminutive Ohio Democrat has more balls per square inch than the entire Senate put together. The articles were, of course, doomed to failure, much like the tiny Congressmidget's presidential campaign, unfortunately. But it was a statement by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer that got my tits in a twist.
According to the article:
That's great, Steny. What exactly is the agenda, then? Is it upgrading S-CHIP? That's already been vetoed and you couldn't muster the votes to override the veto. Is it the war in Iraq? You've already rolled over like whipped dogs and let Bush scratch your belly, giving him every cent he asked for without holding him to any of his own benchmarks. Is it the U.S. Attorney firing scandal? Nope, you've pissed that one away by refusing to actually hold administration officials in contempt for not answering your subpoenas, and let Alberto Gonzales get away with lying directly to you under oath. Is it exposing fraud in Iraq war contracting, or Bush's private militia Blackwater's actions, raising the minimum wage or the fuckups of FEMA during Katrina? That's right, you've done fuckall with those issues as well.
So what is the agenda? From where I sit, you've been stymied at every opportunity by procedural shenanigans, or by Republicans in Democrats' clothing like Joe Lieberman. You've been made to look like complete pussies by the Republican noise machine's framing of all the important issues as failings of your party. Is there some other agenda, maybe like not rocking the boat too much and avoiding nuclear showdowns so you can sneak a Democratic president into the White House next year and get a rubber stamp Democratic Congress?
Look, I understand the political reality of the impeachment situation. I realize that you believe impeaching an obviously criminal, lame-duck president during a war would make you appear to be partisan hacks, just like the Republicans in 1998. I realize you believe the backlash would lose you seats in the Congress. Only, that isn't what happened to the Republicans. By 2002, they'd won a majority in Congress despite the supposed backlash over the trivialities of the Clinton impeachment. I realize you feel it would deadlock the Congress with a process that most likely would not result in the removal of Cheney or Bush from their positions of power.
But at some point, the Democratic leadership in Congress has got to wake the fuck up and realize this President has no intention of compromising on anything. He is the ultimate child king, an immature demagogue holding his breath until he gets his way. His way means the lives of troops in Iraq will be wasted, health insurance for poor kids goes unfunded and the pillaging of this country's treasury by corporate raiders with no sense of responsibility to the country that has made them rich beyond measure. He is not willing to work with you no matter what you offer. He is not willing to end the war in Iraq, he's not willing to stop torturing detainees whether innocent or guilty, and he's not willing to do anything that might make him anything less than an absolute ruler.
It's almost certain that impeachment would fail. It would be a terrible, ugly scene with sniping back and forth, partisan politics juiced to their most ugly spectacle. But it would be the right thing to do. And it would finally expose some of the nastiest political tricksters this country has ever seen as the devious shitheels they really are. It would serve as a warning to future Presidents that such evil will not be tolerated, an example that apparently Watergate did not provide to someone like Dick Cheney.
The Congressional Democrats need a new agenda, and fast. The one they've got is based on faulty logic and the misguided hope that a Democratic President will fix all the nation's problems. Without the precedent of an impeachment against the Executive, it will only serve to embolden future power-hungry assholes, and this country has shown a startling desire to elect such power-hungry assholes, and then re-elect them.
According to the article:
"Impeachment is not on our agenda," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer(D-Md.). "We have some major priorities. We need to focus on those."
That's great, Steny. What exactly is the agenda, then? Is it upgrading S-CHIP? That's already been vetoed and you couldn't muster the votes to override the veto. Is it the war in Iraq? You've already rolled over like whipped dogs and let Bush scratch your belly, giving him every cent he asked for without holding him to any of his own benchmarks. Is it the U.S. Attorney firing scandal? Nope, you've pissed that one away by refusing to actually hold administration officials in contempt for not answering your subpoenas, and let Alberto Gonzales get away with lying directly to you under oath. Is it exposing fraud in Iraq war contracting, or Bush's private militia Blackwater's actions, raising the minimum wage or the fuckups of FEMA during Katrina? That's right, you've done fuckall with those issues as well.
So what is the agenda? From where I sit, you've been stymied at every opportunity by procedural shenanigans, or by Republicans in Democrats' clothing like Joe Lieberman. You've been made to look like complete pussies by the Republican noise machine's framing of all the important issues as failings of your party. Is there some other agenda, maybe like not rocking the boat too much and avoiding nuclear showdowns so you can sneak a Democratic president into the White House next year and get a rubber stamp Democratic Congress?
Look, I understand the political reality of the impeachment situation. I realize that you believe impeaching an obviously criminal, lame-duck president during a war would make you appear to be partisan hacks, just like the Republicans in 1998. I realize you believe the backlash would lose you seats in the Congress. Only, that isn't what happened to the Republicans. By 2002, they'd won a majority in Congress despite the supposed backlash over the trivialities of the Clinton impeachment. I realize you feel it would deadlock the Congress with a process that most likely would not result in the removal of Cheney or Bush from their positions of power.
But at some point, the Democratic leadership in Congress has got to wake the fuck up and realize this President has no intention of compromising on anything. He is the ultimate child king, an immature demagogue holding his breath until he gets his way. His way means the lives of troops in Iraq will be wasted, health insurance for poor kids goes unfunded and the pillaging of this country's treasury by corporate raiders with no sense of responsibility to the country that has made them rich beyond measure. He is not willing to work with you no matter what you offer. He is not willing to end the war in Iraq, he's not willing to stop torturing detainees whether innocent or guilty, and he's not willing to do anything that might make him anything less than an absolute ruler.
It's almost certain that impeachment would fail. It would be a terrible, ugly scene with sniping back and forth, partisan politics juiced to their most ugly spectacle. But it would be the right thing to do. And it would finally expose some of the nastiest political tricksters this country has ever seen as the devious shitheels they really are. It would serve as a warning to future Presidents that such evil will not be tolerated, an example that apparently Watergate did not provide to someone like Dick Cheney.
The Congressional Democrats need a new agenda, and fast. The one they've got is based on faulty logic and the misguided hope that a Democratic President will fix all the nation's problems. Without the precedent of an impeachment against the Executive, it will only serve to embolden future power-hungry assholes, and this country has shown a startling desire to elect such power-hungry assholes, and then re-elect them.
Labels: Bush Administration, Corporate Corruption, Dick Cheney, Fascism, Government Corruption, Habeus Corpus, Health Care, Iraq, Presidential Campaign 2008
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posted by Gary A. Ballard @ 9:26 AM
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Forgetting the Lessons... Again
Posted on
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
by Gary A. Ballard
The mainstream media is quite literally retarded. I don't mean retarded in the Internet sense whereby anything even remotely stupid is labelled as the produce of mental defectives. I mean that as a collective whole, the mainstream media is suffering from some mass form of congenital brain defect, a defect which causes it to completely forget the lessons of its own past. Not only does it forget its distant past, it forgets its recent past in the rush to utterly desiccate the latest story before a new story comes along to dazzle its minuscule attention span. This week has seen story after story focusing on O.J. Simpson for returning to his criminal ways. And just like that, anything important is swept aside in the feeding frenzy.
The story is a simple one. O.J. thinks some guys stole his sports memorabilia and are trying to sell it. O.J., like the great detective he is, vows to get his merchandise back with greater alacrity than he has exhibited in hunting down his wife's killers. He sets up a sting with some buddies, planning to steal the merchandise back from the "thieves." Only these thieves actually call the cops and O.J. is busted for a bunch of charges that could net him 30 years or so in prison. I can only assume that O.J. neglected to toss the gloves this time.
An interesting story, if only in that "Hmmm, O.J.'s in jail again, I hope they nail that fucker," sort of way. It's worth maybe a 30-second spot on the network news cycle, some late-night jokes and a few shrugs before tackling the important stories. Unfortunately, the mainstream media has completely forgotten those important stories and are instead focused on dissecting in detail the particulars of the case, as if re-enacting the bathroom scene in Larry Craig's fantasies.
Here's a hint, mainstream media. Congress still hasn't had a response to those subpoenas on Karl Rove and Harriet Miers. The Vice-President is still claiming to not exist as an entity in the U.S. government. New Orleans is still a fucking wrecked mudhole, and the evacuees are still living in potentially-hazardous, formaldehyde-laced trailers. Gen. Petraeus' report is still using inaccurate casualty figures to make the security situation seem more positive than it really is. There are still more private mercenaries in Iraq on the U.S. payroll than actual military troops. The Pentagon and the White House are still trying to drum up support for military action on Iran without a shred of credible evidence to justify said action. There is rampant corruption and fraud in the Iraq contract process, and tons of corporations to be nailed for stealing openly from the taxpayers. In short, there are about a billion other stories still ongoing that are absolutely critical to the American people that you could be covering besides a murderer getting busted for strong-arming collectors.
The mainstream media has a fantastic ability to pick one story and fuck it to death. That ability is a very good thing when it is used responsibly, when it picks the stories that are in the public's best interests. Unfortunately, like a retard easily distracted by shiny objects, the mainstream media too often applies this ability to whatever its corporate overlords think will garner the most viewership. It's high time the mainstream media remembers why freedom of the press is both an important protection and a grave responsibility.
The story is a simple one. O.J. thinks some guys stole his sports memorabilia and are trying to sell it. O.J., like the great detective he is, vows to get his merchandise back with greater alacrity than he has exhibited in hunting down his wife's killers. He sets up a sting with some buddies, planning to steal the merchandise back from the "thieves." Only these thieves actually call the cops and O.J. is busted for a bunch of charges that could net him 30 years or so in prison. I can only assume that O.J. neglected to toss the gloves this time.
An interesting story, if only in that "Hmmm, O.J.'s in jail again, I hope they nail that fucker," sort of way. It's worth maybe a 30-second spot on the network news cycle, some late-night jokes and a few shrugs before tackling the important stories. Unfortunately, the mainstream media has completely forgotten those important stories and are instead focused on dissecting in detail the particulars of the case, as if re-enacting the bathroom scene in Larry Craig's fantasies.
Here's a hint, mainstream media. Congress still hasn't had a response to those subpoenas on Karl Rove and Harriet Miers. The Vice-President is still claiming to not exist as an entity in the U.S. government. New Orleans is still a fucking wrecked mudhole, and the evacuees are still living in potentially-hazardous, formaldehyde-laced trailers. Gen. Petraeus' report is still using inaccurate casualty figures to make the security situation seem more positive than it really is. There are still more private mercenaries in Iraq on the U.S. payroll than actual military troops. The Pentagon and the White House are still trying to drum up support for military action on Iran without a shred of credible evidence to justify said action. There is rampant corruption and fraud in the Iraq contract process, and tons of corporations to be nailed for stealing openly from the taxpayers. In short, there are about a billion other stories still ongoing that are absolutely critical to the American people that you could be covering besides a murderer getting busted for strong-arming collectors.
The mainstream media has a fantastic ability to pick one story and fuck it to death. That ability is a very good thing when it is used responsibly, when it picks the stories that are in the public's best interests. Unfortunately, like a retard easily distracted by shiny objects, the mainstream media too often applies this ability to whatever its corporate overlords think will garner the most viewership. It's high time the mainstream media remembers why freedom of the press is both an important protection and a grave responsibility.
Labels: Bush Administration, Corporate Corruption, Government Corruption, Mainstream Media, Television
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posted by Gary A. Ballard @ 2:51 PM
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This FEMA Trailer Sure Does Stink
Posted on
Friday, July 20, 2007
by Gary A. Ballard
Something at FEMA stinks. We've known this since 2005, of course, when the bodies of dead New Orleans residents started flowing down Canal Street as the survivors of Katrina were left to boil in the destruction of the Superdome. But since those early days, Americans seem to have assumed that FEMA would take care of the problems, would bring New Orleans back from the brink of destruction, despite all evidence to the contrary. Congress seemed totally uninterested in figuring out how such a tragedy could occur on US Soil, at least until the Democrats regained a majority in the House and Senate. Now we know that the stench coming from FEMA smells like formaldehyde.
That's right, FEMA was providing residents of New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast with trailers so full of formaldehyde, the air was literally killing them. For over a year now, FEMA field staff had let the top brass at the agency know of this problem, and for over a year, their pleas were ignored. Not because there was no evidence, because the one time FEMA actually allowed testing of a trailer under living conditions, the trailer was found to have 75 times more formaldehyde than is allowed in the workplace. After that one test found a positive result, they halted testing. Why? According to Rep. Henry Waxman's statement in the video linked above, because FEMA attorneys didn't want FEMA to have to deal with the issue.
What is it these poor, mostly black homeless bums from New Orleans want? FEMA got them a damn trailer for free. They want to be able to breathe in it? If FEMA let those subhumans breathe in their trailers, FEMA might have to actually clean up their city which is still in ruins. That's like... hard and stuff. Oh and it doesn't enrich Republican donors, or land developers looking to scoop up land on the cheap.
I feel it necessary to point out that the preceding paragraph was written with an overdose of sarcasm. But it really does seem as if FEMA and Homeland Security really does want to exterminate the residents of New Orleans. First, we let them swelter in ungodly heat, flood waters and filth for almost a week claiming that entry to the city was impossible, even when we saw hordes of reporters and actors sweltering alongside the city's residents. Then we discovered that the levees were not only not built to withstand a hurricane of Katrina's strength, but were built incorrectly as well. Next, we found out that a private company charged with rebuilding and upgrading New Orleans' flood-prevention pumps was incompetent and incapable of doing so. And now this. The message is clear. Homeland Security and the Bush Administration don't just dislike poor black people, they are actively engaged in trying to exterminate the poor mendicants.
When do they start sending in the trains to collect the unwashed masses?
That's right, FEMA was providing residents of New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast with trailers so full of formaldehyde, the air was literally killing them. For over a year now, FEMA field staff had let the top brass at the agency know of this problem, and for over a year, their pleas were ignored. Not because there was no evidence, because the one time FEMA actually allowed testing of a trailer under living conditions, the trailer was found to have 75 times more formaldehyde than is allowed in the workplace. After that one test found a positive result, they halted testing. Why? According to Rep. Henry Waxman's statement in the video linked above, because FEMA attorneys didn't want FEMA to have to deal with the issue.
What is it these poor, mostly black homeless bums from New Orleans want? FEMA got them a damn trailer for free. They want to be able to breathe in it? If FEMA let those subhumans breathe in their trailers, FEMA might have to actually clean up their city which is still in ruins. That's like... hard and stuff. Oh and it doesn't enrich Republican donors, or land developers looking to scoop up land on the cheap.
I feel it necessary to point out that the preceding paragraph was written with an overdose of sarcasm. But it really does seem as if FEMA and Homeland Security really does want to exterminate the residents of New Orleans. First, we let them swelter in ungodly heat, flood waters and filth for almost a week claiming that entry to the city was impossible, even when we saw hordes of reporters and actors sweltering alongside the city's residents. Then we discovered that the levees were not only not built to withstand a hurricane of Katrina's strength, but were built incorrectly as well. Next, we found out that a private company charged with rebuilding and upgrading New Orleans' flood-prevention pumps was incompetent and incapable of doing so. And now this. The message is clear. Homeland Security and the Bush Administration don't just dislike poor black people, they are actively engaged in trying to exterminate the poor mendicants.
When do they start sending in the trains to collect the unwashed masses?
Labels: Bush Administration, Corporate Corruption, Dick Cheney, Fascism, Government Corruption, Politics, Privatization
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posted by Gary A. Ballard @ 3:37 PM
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The Bark and the Bite: The NFL on Michael Vick
Posted on
Thursday, July 19, 2007
by Gary A. Ballard
For those who have not yet heard, NFL Star Quarterback Michael Vick of the Atlanta Falcons has been indicted on charges of competitive dogfighting, procuring and training pit bulls for fighting and conducting an illegal dogfighting business across state lines. The charges are a disgusting menu of inhumane acts against dogs that should make every pet owner want to pick up a pitchfork and storm the castle. Dogfighting in itself is a disgusting barbarity, but the particulars of this case are even more savage. Dogs were killed by electrocution, hanging, brutal beatings or shootings. As the owner of three fantastic dogs, I can think of plenty of Gitmo-style punishments too good for anyone convicted of these crimes. But what is truly disgusting is the NFL's hypocritical response to this whole mess.
For the past year, the NFL has taken copious amounts of flak for the rampant, serial misbehaviour of some of its stars. Players like Pacman Jones, with his 11 arrests, Chris Henry with his four arrests, Tank Johnson's arrests for parole violations and the multiple offenders on the Cincinnati Bengals that were arrested on multiple occasions over the season have all given the NFL a reputation as a thug league. To combat that perception, Commissioner Roger Goddell instituted a crackdown, throwing out some harsh suspensions to these players. Henry and Johnson both received eight-game suspensions and Pacman Jones is out for the entire year, with his future beyond that in doubt as well. Of these three particular cases, Jones was the standout not only for the length of suspension, but for the fact that he hadn't even been indicted in any of the cases when the suspension was served. I applauded the suspensions. Yes, Jones is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, but even if he turns out to be exonerated on all the charges, he has still proven that he cannot avoid trouble. He has caused shame on the game and the league, and the league should punish him for that, whether he's convicted or not. If it's his "posse" that's getting him in trouble, he has chosen to remain with that posse and that action alone is enough for me to justify the league's actions.
But now that Vick, one of the league's poster boy stars for his electrifying performances on the field, has been indicted on these heinous charges, no action has been taken. Goddell and Falcons' owner Arthur Blank are content to let the law take its course. They are hiding behind the legal fact that Vick is innocent until proven guilty.
Here's the simple facts. Vick has claimed that his family members and friends used the property in question for dogfighting, an activity of which he was unaware. If that is true, it still happened on his property. He let his "posse" run wild at the house, and that "posse" killed dogs for sport and ran a criminal enterprise at Vick's house. That alone is enough in my mind for Goddell or the team to suspend him for four games. The player didn't keep his house in order, the activities at the house made the NFL look bad because they were connected to the player and thus the NFL is justified in punishing Vick. They are justified in punishing Vick even if he had nothing to do with the dogfighting. If an NFL player throws a party in his hotel room and some underage girls get caught drinking at that party, the NFL player is responsible for that crime and should be punished by the NFL. That's exactly what happened to Chris Henry, and he served jail time and has an NFL suspension to show for it.
Pacman Jones has been indicted but not tried or convicted and he's out for a year. So why hasn't Michael Vick been punished yet? Is it because he's a marquee player, a huge draw at the box office and a ratings bonanza? Is it because Arthur Blank has invested millions in Vick's contract, as well as marketing the Falcons' team using Vick's image? Do star players get preferential treatment in the NFL?
If Mr. Goddell does not hand down some kind of punishment on Michael Vick within the week, then I'd say the answer to all those questions is a very sad "Yes." Goddell's get tough policy is instead a blowhard PR campaign that is applied with determined inconsistency and naked hypocrisy. It's time to match your bite to your bark, Mr. Goddell. There are a ton of dead dogs who deserved better treatment than they got, and the fans of the NFL deserve better than you are giving them here.
For the past year, the NFL has taken copious amounts of flak for the rampant, serial misbehaviour of some of its stars. Players like Pacman Jones, with his 11 arrests, Chris Henry with his four arrests, Tank Johnson's arrests for parole violations and the multiple offenders on the Cincinnati Bengals that were arrested on multiple occasions over the season have all given the NFL a reputation as a thug league. To combat that perception, Commissioner Roger Goddell instituted a crackdown, throwing out some harsh suspensions to these players. Henry and Johnson both received eight-game suspensions and Pacman Jones is out for the entire year, with his future beyond that in doubt as well. Of these three particular cases, Jones was the standout not only for the length of suspension, but for the fact that he hadn't even been indicted in any of the cases when the suspension was served. I applauded the suspensions. Yes, Jones is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, but even if he turns out to be exonerated on all the charges, he has still proven that he cannot avoid trouble. He has caused shame on the game and the league, and the league should punish him for that, whether he's convicted or not. If it's his "posse" that's getting him in trouble, he has chosen to remain with that posse and that action alone is enough for me to justify the league's actions.
But now that Vick, one of the league's poster boy stars for his electrifying performances on the field, has been indicted on these heinous charges, no action has been taken. Goddell and Falcons' owner Arthur Blank are content to let the law take its course. They are hiding behind the legal fact that Vick is innocent until proven guilty.
Here's the simple facts. Vick has claimed that his family members and friends used the property in question for dogfighting, an activity of which he was unaware. If that is true, it still happened on his property. He let his "posse" run wild at the house, and that "posse" killed dogs for sport and ran a criminal enterprise at Vick's house. That alone is enough in my mind for Goddell or the team to suspend him for four games. The player didn't keep his house in order, the activities at the house made the NFL look bad because they were connected to the player and thus the NFL is justified in punishing Vick. They are justified in punishing Vick even if he had nothing to do with the dogfighting. If an NFL player throws a party in his hotel room and some underage girls get caught drinking at that party, the NFL player is responsible for that crime and should be punished by the NFL. That's exactly what happened to Chris Henry, and he served jail time and has an NFL suspension to show for it.
Pacman Jones has been indicted but not tried or convicted and he's out for a year. So why hasn't Michael Vick been punished yet? Is it because he's a marquee player, a huge draw at the box office and a ratings bonanza? Is it because Arthur Blank has invested millions in Vick's contract, as well as marketing the Falcons' team using Vick's image? Do star players get preferential treatment in the NFL?
If Mr. Goddell does not hand down some kind of punishment on Michael Vick within the week, then I'd say the answer to all those questions is a very sad "Yes." Goddell's get tough policy is instead a blowhard PR campaign that is applied with determined inconsistency and naked hypocrisy. It's time to match your bite to your bark, Mr. Goddell. There are a ton of dead dogs who deserved better treatment than they got, and the fans of the NFL deserve better than you are giving them here.
Labels: Corporate Corruption, Michael Vick, NFL, Sports
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posted by Gary A. Ballard @ 9:23 AM
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Raging Douchebag Week: Day 5
Posted on
Friday, April 27, 2007
by Gary A. Ballard
It's the final day of Raging Douchebag week, and today's super-duper winner is from the stratified air of corporate America. The 2k's have given us great examples of Corporate Raging Douchebaggery, from Enron to Worldcomm, from Haliburton to IAP. But today's Raging Douchebag is a real lowlife from the high reaches of Mount Corpratus. Presiding over a Fortune 500 company is hard, what with lavish bonuses for profits made on the backs of everyday Americans struggling to make ends meet. There are so many Americans to fuck over, yet this one managed to do a number on multiple states worth. The penultimate Raging Douchebag is State Farm Insurance Companies' Chairman and CEO, Edward B. Rust, Jr.
What did Edward do to deserve this honor? Let's flash back to August 2005. The states of Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama are donkey-punched, raped and sodomized by the titanic queen bitch Hurricane Katrina, leaving billions of dollars in damages, and thousands without homes. The entire Mississippi Gulf Coast is ground zero, with whole towns wiped out. Homeowners across the Gulf from New Orleans to Mobile dry their tears and attempt to rebuild their lives, starting with their houses. Many of these houses were destroyed by storm surge, a combination of high winds and 22-foot waves thrown almost a mile inland.
So what's an insurance company CEO to do? Does Mr. Rust stand up and proudly proclaim his company's sympathy with the victims, throwing all the corporation's resources into paying claims as quickly as possible, knowing that an insurance check is all the money these people will see for months? Does he rush down to the dead zone and lend a hand to the rebuilding efforts? No, he and his subordinates did everything they could to deny as many claims as they could. How could he do such a thing? The way most corporate weasels do, with legalese and an army of lawyers. Most home insurance policies do not cover flood damage, requiring a homeowner to purchase separate flood insurance. Homes not considered to be in a floodplain are not required to have flood insurance. Mr. Rust, or some toadie reporting to him, decided sight unseen that houses caught in the storm surge were not wind-damaged but flood-damaged instead, and thus claims on those houses were rejected. There is even evidence that he pressured an engineering consulting firm to change reports on said claims, altering the report's conclusion to fit with State Farm's previous assessment of flood damage over wind damage.
Once the state of Mississippi's Attorney General filed suit against State Farm to fight such a heartless piece of shitcockery, Mr. Rust decided that Mississippi was just too expensive a state to do business in. State Farm has refused to sell any new home owner's policies in the state, depriving more people of the helping hands of a good neighbor. But what really earns Mr. Rust this award, what really sets him apart from the other shitheel corporate douchebags infecting this country with their stink is State Farm's bottom line.
In 2005, the year Katrina caused all that damage, the year State Farm had to pay a significant amount of claims despite their douchebaggery over Katrina victims, in 2005 State Farm posted a PROFIT of $3.24 BILLION. Let that sink in for a moment. $3.24 BILLION. That ain't chicken feed, that's serious money. Even more galling is that 2006 was a record year for State Farm, who posted profits of $5.32 billion. That's not revenue numbers, that's profit. And who benefited from those monster years built on the backs of homeowners across the Southeast but Mr. Edward B. Rust, Jr., garnering an 82% RAISE in March of this year, making a total of $11.66 million in 2006, including a results-based bonus of $9.89 million. Are you fucking kidding me? This asshole rapes and pillages homeowners in my state and others, turns his back on them just long enough to shit upon their heads from a very high distance, and he gets rewarded with millions for his work? How many of the homes he refused to cover would that money rebuild? I'd measure it by the fuckload.
So for all that you do, Mr. Edward B. Rust, Jr. and your entire shit-eating company State Farm, I award you with the title of Raging Douchebag Pro Tempre. I hope your millions allow you to sleep warm and well, because there's thousands of residents of Gulfport, Biloxi, New Orleans and countless other towns in Katrina's swath that won't because of you.
What did Edward do to deserve this honor? Let's flash back to August 2005. The states of Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama are donkey-punched, raped and sodomized by the titanic queen bitch Hurricane Katrina, leaving billions of dollars in damages, and thousands without homes. The entire Mississippi Gulf Coast is ground zero, with whole towns wiped out. Homeowners across the Gulf from New Orleans to Mobile dry their tears and attempt to rebuild their lives, starting with their houses. Many of these houses were destroyed by storm surge, a combination of high winds and 22-foot waves thrown almost a mile inland.So what's an insurance company CEO to do? Does Mr. Rust stand up and proudly proclaim his company's sympathy with the victims, throwing all the corporation's resources into paying claims as quickly as possible, knowing that an insurance check is all the money these people will see for months? Does he rush down to the dead zone and lend a hand to the rebuilding efforts? No, he and his subordinates did everything they could to deny as many claims as they could. How could he do such a thing? The way most corporate weasels do, with legalese and an army of lawyers. Most home insurance policies do not cover flood damage, requiring a homeowner to purchase separate flood insurance. Homes not considered to be in a floodplain are not required to have flood insurance. Mr. Rust, or some toadie reporting to him, decided sight unseen that houses caught in the storm surge were not wind-damaged but flood-damaged instead, and thus claims on those houses were rejected. There is even evidence that he pressured an engineering consulting firm to change reports on said claims, altering the report's conclusion to fit with State Farm's previous assessment of flood damage over wind damage.
Once the state of Mississippi's Attorney General filed suit against State Farm to fight such a heartless piece of shitcockery, Mr. Rust decided that Mississippi was just too expensive a state to do business in. State Farm has refused to sell any new home owner's policies in the state, depriving more people of the helping hands of a good neighbor. But what really earns Mr. Rust this award, what really sets him apart from the other shitheel corporate douchebags infecting this country with their stink is State Farm's bottom line.
In 2005, the year Katrina caused all that damage, the year State Farm had to pay a significant amount of claims despite their douchebaggery over Katrina victims, in 2005 State Farm posted a PROFIT of $3.24 BILLION. Let that sink in for a moment. $3.24 BILLION. That ain't chicken feed, that's serious money. Even more galling is that 2006 was a record year for State Farm, who posted profits of $5.32 billion. That's not revenue numbers, that's profit. And who benefited from those monster years built on the backs of homeowners across the Southeast but Mr. Edward B. Rust, Jr., garnering an 82% RAISE in March of this year, making a total of $11.66 million in 2006, including a results-based bonus of $9.89 million. Are you fucking kidding me? This asshole rapes and pillages homeowners in my state and others, turns his back on them just long enough to shit upon their heads from a very high distance, and he gets rewarded with millions for his work? How many of the homes he refused to cover would that money rebuild? I'd measure it by the fuckload.
So for all that you do, Mr. Edward B. Rust, Jr. and your entire shit-eating company State Farm, I award you with the title of Raging Douchebag Pro Tempre. I hope your millions allow you to sleep warm and well, because there's thousands of residents of Gulfport, Biloxi, New Orleans and countless other towns in Katrina's swath that won't because of you.
Labels: Corporate Corruption, Raging Douchebag Week
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posted by Gary A. Ballard @ 11:06 AM
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Incompetence Keeps Its Day Job
Posted on
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
by Gary A. Ballard
There are news stories that make you think, news stories that make you sad and news stories that really have no impact on you whatsoever. Then there are some news stories that make you so intractably furious, so outraged and disgusted that language should fail even the most accomplished wordsmith. One can only be left in a puddle of quivering anger jelly, that bilious substance that fuels this angst-ridden collection of feelings. You see, it wasn't enough that Republican campaign contributors with fat contracts and Republican politicians failed the city of New Orleans so spectacularly during the events of Hurricane Katrina. No, that wasn't enough. The right wing greed machine and the companies it employs to clean up its messes have decided that New Orleans didn't deserve working flood pumps before the thankfully mild 2006 hurricane season.
Yep, that's right. The new flood pumps that were put in place in early 2006 to protect New Orleans from another hurricane, whether that hurricane was a pedestrian Category 1 or the more dangerous Katrina types, those life-saving pumps were installed in a non-functioning state. They were fucked, in essence. The pumps themselves were defective, testing of the pumps was half-assed at best and the decision was made by the Army Corps of Engineers to go ahead with this catastrophuck in the making. The Corps had no way of knowing if any of those pumps would work, what capacity they would work at, nor did they apparently know how bad the flooding would be in case of a hurricane.
How is this acceptable? How is this making good on Bush's promise to use the $5.7 billion Congress allocated to protect New Orleans better than it was pre-Katrina? How are people not being fined, fired and jailed for this kind of absolute cockup?
The really galling part lies here:
This is unacceptable. First off, this company which has shown its corruption and incompetence before, is given an extremely important contract. Said incompetent company was founded by friends of the President's brother and a Republican campaign contributor. Isn't that the very definition of corruption, or at the least, a conflict of interests? The Corps of Engineers shouldn't be withholding 20 percent of the contract, they should be demanding all the money back and for this company to complete the work for free. At the very least, the company should be barred from seeking such contracts in the future, should they ever manage to complete this contract acceptably. But no, the Corps decided to pay them an additional $4 million for extra portable pumps. This company doesn't deserve more money to deliver what they were supposed to already have delivered.
How do politicians support this sort of vile profiteering? How can they endorse such rampant incompetence? These douchebags have stolen money from the American public, and are likely to be the cause of future deaths that will not only be a goddamn tragedy, but will, I would hope, cause these politicians to lose their cushy jobs. Does this just not get through to them that these current Republicans and friends of Republicans are tarring their Party with the unwashable stench of corruption the likes of which this country has never seen before?
But of course, the story is likely to not get front page news. I couldn't even find this story on CNN.com, which was plastered with the smug piehole of that cunt of an AG, Alberto Gonzales, who knows he won't lose his job despite being consistently wrecthed at it. New Orleans has almost been the forgotten abused child since the bodies stopped floating in front of TV cameras, except when celebrities show up for Mardi Gras. Congress sure has forgotten about the city, what with Senators spending three weeks just arguing over whether they can actually debate the fucking Iraq War without emboldening the terrorists.
What the fuck is wrong with you ivory tower jackasses? Is the petty squabbling more important than people's fucking lives? Get on with it, and get on with actually helping New Orleans. And for fuck's sake, get on with prosecuting the bejeesus out of any shitheel corporation like MWI, IAP or Haliburton that wants to suck off the government tit while pissing on the American people who are funding their welfare windfall.
Yep, that's right. The new flood pumps that were put in place in early 2006 to protect New Orleans from another hurricane, whether that hurricane was a pedestrian Category 1 or the more dangerous Katrina types, those life-saving pumps were installed in a non-functioning state. They were fucked, in essence. The pumps themselves were defective, testing of the pumps was half-assed at best and the decision was made by the Army Corps of Engineers to go ahead with this catastrophuck in the making. The Corps had no way of knowing if any of those pumps would work, what capacity they would work at, nor did they apparently know how bad the flooding would be in case of a hurricane.
How is this acceptable? How is this making good on Bush's promise to use the $5.7 billion Congress allocated to protect New Orleans better than it was pre-Katrina? How are people not being fined, fired and jailed for this kind of absolute cockup?
The really galling part lies here:
The drainage-canal pumps were custom-designed and built under a $26.6 million contract awarded after competitive bidding to Moving Water Industries
Corp. of Deerfield Beach, Fla. It was founded in 1926 and supplies flood-control
and irrigation pumps all over the world.
MWI is owned by J. David Eller and his sons. Eller was once a business partner of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in a venture called Bush-El that marketed MWI pumps. And Eller has donated about $128,000 to politicians, the vast majority of it to the Republican Party, since 1996, according to the Centerfor Responsive Politics.
MWI has run into trouble before. The U.S. Justice Department sued the company in 2002, accusing it of fraudulently helping Nigeria obtain $74 million in taxpayer-backed loans for overpriced and unnecessary water-pump equipment. The case has yet to be resolved.
Because of the trouble with the New Orleans pumps, the Corps has withheld 20 percent of the MWI contract, including an incentive of up to $4 million that the company could have collected if it delivered the equipment intime for the 2006 hurricane season.
This is unacceptable. First off, this company which has shown its corruption and incompetence before, is given an extremely important contract. Said incompetent company was founded by friends of the President's brother and a Republican campaign contributor. Isn't that the very definition of corruption, or at the least, a conflict of interests? The Corps of Engineers shouldn't be withholding 20 percent of the contract, they should be demanding all the money back and for this company to complete the work for free. At the very least, the company should be barred from seeking such contracts in the future, should they ever manage to complete this contract acceptably. But no, the Corps decided to pay them an additional $4 million for extra portable pumps. This company doesn't deserve more money to deliver what they were supposed to already have delivered.
How do politicians support this sort of vile profiteering? How can they endorse such rampant incompetence? These douchebags have stolen money from the American public, and are likely to be the cause of future deaths that will not only be a goddamn tragedy, but will, I would hope, cause these politicians to lose their cushy jobs. Does this just not get through to them that these current Republicans and friends of Republicans are tarring their Party with the unwashable stench of corruption the likes of which this country has never seen before?
But of course, the story is likely to not get front page news. I couldn't even find this story on CNN.com, which was plastered with the smug piehole of that cunt of an AG, Alberto Gonzales, who knows he won't lose his job despite being consistently wrecthed at it. New Orleans has almost been the forgotten abused child since the bodies stopped floating in front of TV cameras, except when celebrities show up for Mardi Gras. Congress sure has forgotten about the city, what with Senators spending three weeks just arguing over whether they can actually debate the fucking Iraq War without emboldening the terrorists.
What the fuck is wrong with you ivory tower jackasses? Is the petty squabbling more important than people's fucking lives? Get on with it, and get on with actually helping New Orleans. And for fuck's sake, get on with prosecuting the bejeesus out of any shitheel corporation like MWI, IAP or Haliburton that wants to suck off the government tit while pissing on the American people who are funding their welfare windfall.
Labels: Bush Administration, Corporate Corruption, Government Corruption, Politics, Privatization
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posted by Gary A. Ballard @ 10:00 AM
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Iraqi Oil: Is THIS What It's Really All About?
Posted on
Thursday, January 11, 2007
by Gary A. Ballard
Upon being linked to this story today, I felt I had to respond. It's a MarketWatch story about the carving up of Iraqi oil profits by foreign companies. I find myself asking, "Is this what this whole Iraq thing has been about the whole time?"
I'm not one of those "NO BLOOD FOR OIL!" hippies you see protesting the war in marches. I find that sort of phrase a simplistic bit of hyperbole, better suited to propaganda or as a pickup line to ensnare hippie chicks on the Quad with pretensions of political thought and a dime bag of weed. The world is a complex place and surely no person, no organization, no government in the 21st century would be so greedy as to sacrifice the lives of thousands just to increase the profits line on a spreadsheet. That kind of bald-faced, black and white evil cannot truly exist in our grey world.
But these lines make my stomach turn with the realization that perhaps there really are folks with that little regard for anything but profit.
Every company that signs onto such a deal should be castigated in the media, should be abandoned at the pump and the cash register, and should be vilified by the world community. It is the epitome of the colonialist, robber baron mentality of some of these companies, who must feel as if it is their G0d-given duty to exploit every natural and human resource possible for their own enrichment. It is the modern-day equivalent of the divine right of kings, and it is reprehensible. There are not curses profane enough for oil executives and the people who helped craft this law.
Perhaps the Iraqi oil industry wouldn't be unable to get itself back on its own two feet had it not been blown to shit by an illegal invasion. Perhaps it might have avoided problems with reconstruction had the Iraqi army not been disbanded, since those suddenly out-of-work soldiers formed the backbone of much of the early insurgency. Perhaps had our government gone in with some kind of plan that involved more than just rewarding loyalist cronies with appointments overseeing a disaster, the oil industry wouldn't need outside corporations to save the day in exchange for three-quarters of the profit.
But there are a lot of "what-if's" we could engage in from the last 30-40 years, such as alternative energy supplies, or the support of brutal dictatorships against the imagined Communist threat, or even the use of diplomacy in building an actual coalition of nations willing to pay a share of the reconstruction. We could "what-if" the situation all day.
In coarse language, this law is a fucking sin against humanity, and the people involved are raging douchebags of the highest order, not fit to hold the position of jizz mop at the Glory Hole Gas Station on I-95. My shame in humanity is palpable.
I'm not one of those "NO BLOOD FOR OIL!" hippies you see protesting the war in marches. I find that sort of phrase a simplistic bit of hyperbole, better suited to propaganda or as a pickup line to ensnare hippie chicks on the Quad with pretensions of political thought and a dime bag of weed. The world is a complex place and surely no person, no organization, no government in the 21st century would be so greedy as to sacrifice the lives of thousands just to increase the profits line on a spreadsheet. That kind of bald-faced, black and white evil cannot truly exist in our grey world.
But these lines make my stomach turn with the realization that perhaps there really are folks with that little regard for anything but profit.
A draft of this controversial law, which the U.S. government has been helping to craft and has been seen by the Independent, would give oil giants such as BP PLC (BP), Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) and ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM) 30-year contracts to extract Iraqi crude and let these foreign oil companies undertake their first large-scale operations in the country since the industry was nationalized in 1972.
Oil industry executives and analysts say the law, which would allow Western companies to pocket up to three-quarters of profits in the early years, is the only way to get Iraq's oil industry back on its feet after years of sanctions, war and loss of expertise. However, opponents say Iraq, where oil accounts for 95% of the economy, is being forced to surrender an unacceptable degree of sovereignty, the Independent reported.
Every company that signs onto such a deal should be castigated in the media, should be abandoned at the pump and the cash register, and should be vilified by the world community. It is the epitome of the colonialist, robber baron mentality of some of these companies, who must feel as if it is their G0d-given duty to exploit every natural and human resource possible for their own enrichment. It is the modern-day equivalent of the divine right of kings, and it is reprehensible. There are not curses profane enough for oil executives and the people who helped craft this law.
Perhaps the Iraqi oil industry wouldn't be unable to get itself back on its own two feet had it not been blown to shit by an illegal invasion. Perhaps it might have avoided problems with reconstruction had the Iraqi army not been disbanded, since those suddenly out-of-work soldiers formed the backbone of much of the early insurgency. Perhaps had our government gone in with some kind of plan that involved more than just rewarding loyalist cronies with appointments overseeing a disaster, the oil industry wouldn't need outside corporations to save the day in exchange for three-quarters of the profit.
But there are a lot of "what-if's" we could engage in from the last 30-40 years, such as alternative energy supplies, or the support of brutal dictatorships against the imagined Communist threat, or even the use of diplomacy in building an actual coalition of nations willing to pay a share of the reconstruction. We could "what-if" the situation all day.
In coarse language, this law is a fucking sin against humanity, and the people involved are raging douchebags of the highest order, not fit to hold the position of jizz mop at the Glory Hole Gas Station on I-95. My shame in humanity is palpable.
Labels: Bush Administration, Corporate Corruption, Government Corruption, Politics
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posted by Gary A. Ballard @ 10:39 AM
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