I’m writing for tomorrow, day 176. I spent most of the day finding a video made by the newest board member of my prison volunteer group. He was speaking against the death penalty, from perspective of the murder of his father. I’m used to getting things converted to use ON the web, not to use OFF the web , but I had to convert it and burn it onto a DVD. It’s for my group’s Victim Impact Meeting on 23rd, which he is unable to attend. To get it approved I have to turn it in to the prison tomorrow, when I’m there for my normal volunteer work. I never play DVDs so, when done, I had to find a neighbor with a DVD player to make sure it would work somewhere other that my computer. Tonight is a Holy Night in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, and my fantasy team has to beat back the thunder-toed Canuck. I’m hoping that I can get articles for Wednesday prepared before I leave tomorrow. Then when I get back from prison, I can crash and post them when I wake up. We’ll see.
(Late update: she sasquatched me in the last minute of the last game) 🙁
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:51 (average 4:43). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: This is incredible:
All German universities are now free to Americans and all other international students. The last German state to charge tuition at its universities struck down the fees this week.
Why are they offering such a generous plan?
In explaining why Germany made this move, Dorothee Stapelfeldt, a Hamburg senator, called tuition fees "unjust" and added that "they discourage young people who do not have a traditional academic family background from taking up study. It is a core task of politics to ensure that young women and men can study with a high quality standard free of charge in Germany."
Major Kudos to Germany! Click through for more.
From NY Times: Among the rolling hills and Spanish moss of Florida’s panhandle, voters have long demanded that politicians walk a wobbly tightrope between the two dominant political parties: Lean too far one way and a tumble is all but certain.
Navigating that kind of crossing in this part of Florida, which looks to the South for cultural kinship but still has a solid core of Democratic-leaning voters, is particularly treacherous these days. More than two dozen Blue Dog House Democrats, a near-extinct group of socially moderate, fiscally conservative lawmakers, have been defeated by Republicans or left office since 2010. The congressional district here, Florida’s Second, has followed that pattern: Four years ago, Representative Steve Southerland II, a political novice backed by the Tea Party, defeated a longtime moderate Democrat.
But in an election season full of dire predictions for Democrats, the party is pinning one of its few genuine chances to reclaim a House seat on a little-known northwest Florida woman with a well-known name. Voters know her just as Gwen, but it is her last name, Graham, that resonates — a marquee Florida brand brimming with centrist political currency. And her father, Bob Graham, who was a popular longtime United States senator and governor, is usually by her side these days, chewing on pork at a fund-raiser, gobbling peanuts at a rally and extolling his eldest daughter’s pledge to put people before party as a Graham Democrat.
She has my support, my endorsement, and if she wins, my deepest condolences over the company she will have to keep for the following two years.
From AlterNet: On Average, Most of Us Got ONE DOLLAR for Every BILLION DOLLARS of New Wealth
A look at the numbers compiled by Us Against Greed shows how personal it really is. Out of that $5,350,000,000,000 ($5.35 trillion) made since the start of 2013, the bottom 80 percent of America took an average of less than $5,000 each. The richest 6 to 20 percent fared better, taking an average of about $65,000.
Now it begins to heat up. From that $5.35 trillion, the richest 2 to 5 percent took an average of about $343,000. The one-percenters need to be split up into the rich, the super-rich, and the filthy-rich:
—-The more common members of the one-percent (1,068,000 families) made over $1,000,000 each ($1,068 billion total)
—-The .1 percent (108,000 families) made about $4 million each ($480 billion total)
—-The .01 percent made about $40 million each ($480 billion total)
The unimaginably rich Forbes 400 each took, on average, almost $1,500,000,000 ($1.5 billion) since January, 2013.
That brings us to the Final 9 (Gates, Buffett, 2 Kochs, 4 Waltons, Zuckerberg). Each of them has accumulated, on average, over $13,000,000,000 ($13 billion) since January 2013.
This is just one of four reasons why we should be taking America’s inequality very seriously. Click through tor the other three.
Cartoon:
In Like manner, the Republican Party hates the UN and has tried to get us out of it.
9 Responses to “Open Thread–10/14/2014”
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4:38 average now 4:50 Anyone know why it's weeping? Was it exposed to a Republican? Moving along, I though recording DVDs was a lot easier before TV went Hi-Def. Probably because I had all the equipment, much of which is now useless. Sorry for you but happy for Lynn.
Daily Kos – My Mom always had harsh words for anyone who thought it shouldn't be their responsibility to pay for schools if they themselves didn't have any school age kids. Mom was very intelligent herself, but she may have learned that from her father; if so, he was way ahead of his time. He and most of his family came to the US as young adults over a hundred years ago, when Germany still had the 13+ and didn't give a rat's behind about "young people who do not have a traditional academic family background." I am so glad they are – I'm not there, so don't know what tense to use, but I'll say – getting over that. Now if only we could.
NY Times – "She has my support, my endorsement, and if she wins, my deepest condolences over the company she will have to keep for the following two years." How very well put. Good luck to her, and to her constituents!
AlterNet – Buchheit, in naming names, point out that in the big nine there are six who not only rake in money like this but also conduct their businesses but also steal from taxpayers by underpaying employees and destroying the air we need to breathe and the water we need to drink. He doesn't mention the one who has done more to destroy privacy than the NSA. That leaves only two with any credibility at all (and I am not saying either is perfect). Buchheit also pointed out that these obscene sums ONLY represent income FROM INVESTMENTS – passive income which has nothing to do with accomplishment. Tell me again how the rich deserrve their money because they work so hard? Incidentally this is also why I so disapprove of the financial planning field. Besides the fact they they don't accomplish what they claim, even what they claim is to help you as a client get closer and closer to that kind of favored position or, in other words, sell your soul.
Cartoon – Boys just want to take their balls and go home (present company of course excluded – readers here have by and large grown up). (However, pun intended.)
3:08 I must be a fast bloomer today. Probably not fast enough though.
3:30 I'm droopier than that flower today and it shows in my time!
Daily Kos ~ Germany is light years ahead of us in a lot of respects now. Must be because St. Ronnie Ray-Gun tore down the Berlin Wall. LOL
NY Times ~ I wish her well. Maybe with her Father's support she can win over the voters.
Alternet ~ We common folk can't fathom that kind of wealth.
Cartoon ~ Getting out of the UN was one of the John Birch Society's tenets. And so, the TeapublicanTs do likewise.
Denmark doesn't charge its residents either.
FL can be glad Gwen was willing to throw her hat in the ring.
Seems to me the data on wealth inequality has some similar elements to the context that led to the rise of the Nazis (prior to their withdrawal from The League of Nations).
At least one of my friends won the game–would've hated you both losing.
I hope that DVD gets approved. There is a group focused on juveniles in prison with a similar victims program element here in CA.
Daily Kos: I had read this before, and really wish the USA was as progressive. Tuition and the price of books alone is prohibitive in this country, then you still have room and board and incidentals. Our kids are leaving school burdened by debt that will take them years to pay off. My daughter in law borrowed money for two years while in school. It took her and my son ten year to pay off that debt. That is ridiculous. This country always has money for war, but none to help its citizens.
NY Times: I hope she wins Florida needs some sanity in its government.
Alternet: Profits are up, CEO bonuses are up, wages are stagnant, yet people keep voting Republican? How dumb is the general public?
Cartoon: If they get a majority in the Senate, they might get their wish. Alison did a great job in her debate with McTurtle.
Like Edie I had read this before, but it is so worth reading again – soon everyone in the world will be clamouring to be educated at German Universities – which will give them world influence in the world to come.
NY Times – let's hope Gwen wins.
TC the AlterNet article literally made my jaw drop – what horrendous numbers! (And what horrendous people too!).
Puzzle — 3:30 I'm droopier than that flower today and it shows in my time!
FF — Well lookie thar! I thought that you had successfully dethroned me. I guess that 93.2% probability was on target! Woohoo!!!!! TomCat Teabag Trashers 117.38 Size 9 Stompers 122.22
Daily Kos — With the Republicanus/Teabaggers dominating the Congress, there isn't a snowball's chance in hell that college will be free in the US. Hell they're trying to do away with public education (elementary and high school) period. Without a proper and up to date education, future generations of Americans will suffer greatly.
NY Times — Yes, rather odious company in the House to be sure, and the stench comes from the elephant pit!
Cartoon — As I recall from history lessons, Germany, as one of the aggressors of WWI, was subject to a lot of burdensome rules when it lost the war. Under the weight of sanctions such as reparations and not building up an army, to name just 2, Germany got its knickers in a twist. Result, they took their marbles home.
I really have to go as the osteo-arthritis in my left knee (thanks to fracturing my right foot) has been keeping me awake . . . the pain is not good . . . and I can no longer concentrate. Good night all.
Thanks Back Exhausted.