Slog
News & ArtsTuesday, June 5, 2012
News Morning News: Wisconsin, Venus, Vegetables
Posted by Anna Minard on Tue, Jun 5, 2012 at 8:28 AM
Wisconsin Recall Election Commences: "Enraged Democrats and labor activists gathered more than 900,000 signatures in support of the recall after they failed to stop [Governor Scott] Walker and his GOP allies in the state legislature from stripping most public employees of their union right to collectively bargain." Walker is the first Wisconsin governor to face recall; he'd be the first US governor to defeat a recall if he wins. State elections officials predict a 60 to 65 percent turnout.
Venus in Transit: A rare and beautiful celestial event will be viewable from North America this afternoon and evening. Go here to see when to look up (and don't look right at it!).
Syria to Allow UN Aid Workers: It'll be the first time humanitarian aid workers (other than the Red Cross) are allowed in the country since the uprising began. They'll be stationed in the four hardest-hit cities.
Town Hall's Beautiful Memorial for Gloria Leonidas: See a picture here.
The Paycheck Fairness Act: A key procedural vote in the Senate today on a bill intended to make it easier for women to prove and fight against pay discrimination.
"American women are mad as hell," said Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, the Democrats' chief sponsor of the bill. She said women earn 77 cents to the dollar for their male counterparts, which is up 18 cents since 1963, when President Johnson signed into law the Equal Pay Act.
Europe: Maybe not doing so hot lately.
Local News Roundup: Child porn on the playground! Murder on the peninsula! Planned power outage in the ID! Teen beaten for shoes!
Hannah Montana Now Brought to You by Broccoli: Disney says it will no longer accept junk food ads on its websites, radio stations, or TV channels aimed at children. Michelle Obama rejoices; Big Corn weeps.
The Queen of England: Has a big ol' fuckin' party. (Another reason to wear a fancy hat!)
1
really admiting the audacious stand obama took in the wisconsin fight. not only did he stand with labor which helped him win, showing loyalty, but his three trips to madison, ann arbor and milwaukee are really juicing up the youth vote that dropped off so much between 2008 and 2010. And what a genuis for community organizing; his massive firy speech at the U WI football stadium led to an extra 3,000 get out the vote volunteers signing up in one day and that will help ensure he wins this state in the fall. Best of all, he clearly explained that slashing government jobs hurts us all, government is us, and we can employ the unemployed, and we shouldn't unemploy them -- that'd be like a family in tightened circumstances tighteing its belt by firing the kids who work at the family store. Man, I love his short, simple moral narratives that explain the whole economy thing and really connect with those white working class folks and independents who'd otherwise think we ought to you know, scale down a stimulus to not freak out wall. street a bout deficitis, or those yahoos who pledge to cooperate with insurance companies the for profit ones as if that would solve our health care finance crisis! Yes, he's a whole Harry Truman and MLK rolled into one.
3
American women mad as hell?
No way -- check out these Miss America contestants autotuning in their bikinis:
http://www.brobible.com/girls/video/miss…
4
Not sure why we even mention these once-in-a-lifetime celestial events around here. Clouds almost always block our view.
5
If they interviewed people's families when they went for a gun permit, we might have a chance of preventing some shootings like on the peninsula and in Roosevelt last week.
7
Another legacy of the Bush crime family: broccoli became the poster child for forcing people to eat healthy. What, no kale or cabbage? Even cauliflower didn't get a call back. Ah, broccoli, this world was never meant for something as beautiful as you.
(OMG, I just quoted Don McClean. I must surrender what little internet cred I have.)
(OMG, I just quoted Don McClean. I must surrender what little internet cred I have.)
8
And speaking of "England" . . . .
The great populist from Texas, Rep. Wright Patman **, was instrumental in pressuring President Roosevelt (FDR) to create the last study on the concentration of economic power in America, the TNEC study; the Temporary National Economic Committee study.
This committee study lasted from 1937 to 1939, and while invaluable data was uncovered, major portions of that study are still classified to this very day!
Years later, Rep. Patman would again be the motivating force on another study, Tax Exempt Foundations and Charitable Trusts: Their Impact on Our Economy (December 1962) 87th Congress, 2nd Session; exposing how the super-rich hid their wealth and ownership through foundations and trusts.
The super-rich and their cartels and multinationals have been so successful that today few Americans are even aware of the importance of knowing the ownership of any corporation or bank, and are routinely ignorant of the extraordinary concentration of power today!
Who owns ExxonMobil, BP, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup, GE or AT&T?
Who owns the majority of pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies today?
Nobody knows, and fewer appear to care!
Sadly, the way the situation has been rigged and manipulated, it would be impossible to find out unless one possessed unlimited resources, since much of that wealth and ownership is hidden within trusts, and multi-layered trusts of all types, and those trusts reside, technically speaking, offshore.
Those offshore trusts aren’t even required to be officially registered at those offshore sites --- there isn’t even a way to deduce how many trusts exist!
(Please understand that when Forbes publishes their list of the global richest, they include a disclaimer that it was compiled from public sources --- yet most data on the super-rich can only be gleaned from private sources --- and when there’s no discernible way to track such private sources, an accurate list on just who are the super-rich is impossible to compile!)
There is one interesting item, after many years of research, we have been able to ascertain.
That item concerns the oldest corporation, and continuously existing corporation, in the Western Hemisphere, the City of London Corporation.
While it is interesting to note that this ancient corporation appears to also own the oldest continuing financial fund, their City Cash, the really salient point is that it appears to be the nexus, or central point, of either the meeting or congregation place of various of the world’s major cartels.
Of course, this is much too obvious, to mundane and banal for most unaware, blithely ignorant people to take notice of, so please continue with your self-involved, self-absorbed and infantilized consumer existence --- after all, this is what they demand you do.
**Rep. Wright Patman was crucial to the passage of legislation finally awarding the promised bonuses to the World War I veterans. An excellent account of this is to be found in Marc Levinson’s book, The Great A&P and the Struggle for Small Business in America, pp. 152-153.
(I don’t agree with the author’s final conclusions, but his chapter on Wright Patman is highly recommended.)
Rep. Patman, at his own expense and financial loss, self-published two books in 1934:
Patman’s Appeal to Pay Veterans
and
Bankerteering, Bonuseering, Melloneering
True classics in politicking for the people against the ruling 1%!
More...
The Charade
The great populist from Texas, Rep. Wright Patman **, was instrumental in pressuring President Roosevelt (FDR) to create the last study on the concentration of economic power in America, the TNEC study; the Temporary National Economic Committee study.
This committee study lasted from 1937 to 1939, and while invaluable data was uncovered, major portions of that study are still classified to this very day!
Years later, Rep. Patman would again be the motivating force on another study, Tax Exempt Foundations and Charitable Trusts: Their Impact on Our Economy (December 1962) 87th Congress, 2nd Session; exposing how the super-rich hid their wealth and ownership through foundations and trusts.
The super-rich and their cartels and multinationals have been so successful that today few Americans are even aware of the importance of knowing the ownership of any corporation or bank, and are routinely ignorant of the extraordinary concentration of power today!
Who owns ExxonMobil, BP, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup, GE or AT&T?
Who owns the majority of pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies today?
Nobody knows, and fewer appear to care!
Sadly, the way the situation has been rigged and manipulated, it would be impossible to find out unless one possessed unlimited resources, since much of that wealth and ownership is hidden within trusts, and multi-layered trusts of all types, and those trusts reside, technically speaking, offshore.
Those offshore trusts aren’t even required to be officially registered at those offshore sites --- there isn’t even a way to deduce how many trusts exist!
(Please understand that when Forbes publishes their list of the global richest, they include a disclaimer that it was compiled from public sources --- yet most data on the super-rich can only be gleaned from private sources --- and when there’s no discernible way to track such private sources, an accurate list on just who are the super-rich is impossible to compile!)
There is one interesting item, after many years of research, we have been able to ascertain.
That item concerns the oldest corporation, and continuously existing corporation, in the Western Hemisphere, the City of London Corporation.
While it is interesting to note that this ancient corporation appears to also own the oldest continuing financial fund, their City Cash, the really salient point is that it appears to be the nexus, or central point, of either the meeting or congregation place of various of the world’s major cartels.
Of course, this is much too obvious, to mundane and banal for most unaware, blithely ignorant people to take notice of, so please continue with your self-involved, self-absorbed and infantilized consumer existence --- after all, this is what they demand you do.
**Rep. Wright Patman was crucial to the passage of legislation finally awarding the promised bonuses to the World War I veterans. An excellent account of this is to be found in Marc Levinson’s book, The Great A&P and the Struggle for Small Business in America, pp. 152-153.
(I don’t agree with the author’s final conclusions, but his chapter on Wright Patman is highly recommended.)
Rep. Patman, at his own expense and financial loss, self-published two books in 1934:
Patman’s Appeal to Pay Veterans
and
Bankerteering, Bonuseering, Melloneering
True classics in politicking for the people against the ruling 1%!
Advertisement
Most Commented on Slog
-
All You Motherfuckers Complaining That aPodments Are Too Small at 200 Square Feet by Dominic Holden
-
SL Letter of the Day: Did You Think I Was Going To Tell You Not To Come Out? (PLUS: Help Free Kate!) by Dan Savage
-
Rightwing Anti-Gay French Activist Commits Suicide at Notre Dame Cathedral by Dan Savage
-
It's Spring! Who's Ready for Street Harassment? by Cienna Madrid
-
Spoiled Rotten: Star Trek Into Darkness by Paul Constant
-
America's Epidemic of Toddler-on-Toddler Gun Violence Continues by Goldy
-
Slog Overnight by Dan Savage
-
Saint Genet Re-Creates "Shoot" by Brendan Kiley
-
Dutch Artist Turns Dead Cat into Remote-Controlled Helicopter by Bethany Jean Clement
-
New Gun Enthusiast... by Dan Savage
Stranger Personals
The Stranger
RSSSeattle Art & Performance Quarterly
A complete guide to Seattle's current art, film, dance, and theater season.
Facebook
Twitter
Comments (11) RSS