Monday, November 14, 2011

Citibank and the 1%

I dressed in my best coat and went to Citibank.  It is in my wealthy neighborhood, well, at least the neighborhood directly south of us has many 1%ers.   I went to transfer my measly $2000 IRA CD to another bank.  My husband has more savings, and we have good life insurance.  But because I've been a stay-at-home mom for years, and had part-time jobs for a decade before that, I'm lucky to have $2000 for retirement!  My Social Security future securities have been decimated because Americans MUST be on a PAYROLL to accumulate even the measliest individual retirement security!! 

The Citibank employee sat with me and gave me a lot of information, but could not do one blimmin' thing to help me make this transfer.  Momentarily I actually have to make a call to a Citibank 800 number TODAY to make sure there aren't any IRS charges applied to my transfer--a call the bank employee could not make on my behalf.

I said, "What's the point of a branch office if employees can't do things like this?"

No response, instead she asked, "Why are you transferring the IRA to another bank?"

I said, "Well, at the new bank I can actually trade the funds myself.  I can control the investments and it's not locked up."

And she said, "You can do that here!  Over here in our 'Wealth Management' corner, we have people who can help you invest, there's no charge for their advice!"

I said, "Oh, I did not know that."

Then her, "How much are you transferring?"

I said, "Oh it's not a lot, about $2,000."

And her response was, "Oh, well, they really only work with people who are investing large amounts of cash..."

So I said, "Oh, I guess we're not rich enough!  Okay, thanks anyway."

And I think she knew at that point that I would never be back.

And I think $2000 can help a lot of women's small businesses and sustainable farmers, so I hope I can invest in those kind of things!

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Islamophobes

I've been debating some Islamophobic bloggers (although one I saw shakes off that label because it describes "irrational" fear and he thinks his hate is justified...but I digress).

They take the Koran (Quran?) literally (and it basically allows the same horrific elements that some parts of the bible does: murder, slavery, rape, incest, etc.) and they believe it is a world-domination plan for every Muslim.

They interpret world history as a power play by Muslim Arabs to dominate the Western world (citing massacres in India and Turkey).  And they think that everyone is controlled by the Saudis.

I must admit, our relationship with the Saudis freaks me out.  But if the Saudi's didn't have oil, would we have any reason to have a relationship??  Really?

Sat Sept 3
Op Ed today in New York Times from a faculty member at Yale calling out right-wing legislation against "Sharia Law."  I sent him an e-mail thanking him, asking if he knows of any religious groups integrating Muslims successfully, and warning/or recognizing that he's about to be abused by the Muslim-haters.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/03/opinion/dont-fear-islamic-law-in-america.html?src=tp&smid=fb-share






Monday, August 29, 2011

Conservatives are turning any expression of Muslim religion into Jihad

If anyone is interested, I'm trying to stay reasonable with these guys, but it's hard.  There's just so much desire to fear, to hate, to spread it...



Ron Paul and Chris Christy

I asked a Ron Paul supporter on Facebook to explain/defend/articulate his position against the mere existence of the Fed.  Chirp.  Here is Mr. Paul discussing hurricane aid: http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/ron-paul-thinks-hurricane-aid-wasteful-tout

I give kudos to Chris Christy for calling all the hype about "Sharia Law" what it is, crazy BS!!! Kudos to rational Republicans!

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Have you read that book about Godless liberals?

I hate to admit this, but I want to read that Ann Coulter trash (I won't BUY it, I'll get it from the library) unless you've found someone who has taken that perspective and exposed her, the Republican policies, the legislation against labor, the poor, children, etc.?

This is fun (I have to re-read one or two of his points!): http://www.theliberal.co.uk/hitchens.htm

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Manchurian Transnational Oil Candidate or Weak-kneed corporatist?

My blogging friends, I'm sorry to have been out of the loop.  I value your opinions a lot, and your wise analysis would have forced me to give up on Obama a long time ago.  Alas, I am late and feel foolish for trusting him for so long.

Last night Schmog and I both admitted that Obama has lost our support.  Schmog dumped him when he refused to use the leverage of the debt ceiling (which Republicans actually WANTED to raise) to raise revenue from the rich.  Obama never called their bluff.  He should have used the debt ceiling as leverage, instead of leaving it to the tea party!  So, tactically now, he wins if the Republicans do nothing and taxes get raised, but if Obama wants to pass, say, a jobs bill, or ANYTHING at all, the Republican, hell, the "bi-partisan" congress will attach "keep the Bush tax cuts" to any legislation.  And just like in December, Obama will "be forced to pass it." 

So, continuing to predict the future of our predicament.  Obama has lost me because he is about to allow the dirty oil from the 2nd largest pit of carbon in the world (in Canada) to be rerouted from an existing pipeline, to an inexplicably needed new one that now has to be built under organic farmland in the Midwest (from 4' to 25" deep under rivers...) by a transnational oil company (hated by it's own country) to refineries in Texas.  The press reports that this will create 100's of thousands of jobs, or 10's of thousands of jobs, according to this company, depending on which press report I read.  Really?  More oil jobs?   Oh yeah, and Canada is creating a new method of tar pit oil extraction which will cause less harm to the environment (and I'm about to create some magic beans...).



Now I come to you to help me forge a new path of hope for our nation's future.  And today, all I can foresee is either a Perry/Palin presidency, or four more years of "capitulating" (wink, wink) Obama.

Is there another way?  The Democratic PARTY will nominate Obama and try to kill any challengers.  The Republicans will win if progressive parties run a third candidate.  But what if we "the disgusted people" ran a candidate that equally challenged both the Democrats and the Republicans?

Who would that be?

What one or two people in this country could lead both liberals (civil rights) and conservatives (religion) and independents (libertarians)?

Can you name some names?

Not that I'm ruling them out, but here's why I think these guys DO NOT work:
Ron Paul (loses civil rights supporters)
Elliot Spitzer (loses religious right supporters)
Sen. Bernie Sanders (calls himself a Socialist--loses the socialist-denying masses)

Friday, July 01, 2011

Amazon sucks

If Amazon is going to kick California businesses to the curb for paying state taxes, then I'm going to kick Amazon to the curb for continuing our civic race to the bottom. What? They don't have the tech savvy to incorporate a state tax? Bollocks!! They are taking an ideological position that business owes nothing to society.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Asleep

New Painting (-: 



Asleep
2011
Watercolor on Paper

Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Palin dissing the press she needs in the "Lower 48"

Just considering Palin's frequency in calling the media "lazy" and not giving them "handouts" like a schedule of events.   I find this interesting name-calling considering every Alaskan still receives a state "handout" from the government-run Alaska Permanent Fund every year (taken by the state from oil profits), and most Alaskan families who moved there before 1986 received their land for FREE (by no means were they lazy), through the federal Homestead Act--including a neighbor of mine back then. Perhaps the media can say, "We're rubber, you're glue..."

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Having fun with Wall Street Journal Comments!

This was fun, following up Wall Street readers that are trying to blame Obama for slowly climbing out of the economy Bush trashed and lied about, even accusing Obama of only helping his friends!  Following Boehner's tweets brought me to the article below.

The Election of 2012 will be NOTHING like what has come before.

"The-obama-slowdown"

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/may/23/the-obama-slowdown/

"And how does this compare to Bush and Wal Street getting us into this outrageous ditch to begin with? Jobs? Now we are finally getting back to work after 30 years of Republicans shipping our jobs to Mexico, China and India. But we still need our corporations to pay a decent wage, instead of paying half of what they used to. Look in the mirror, rich, international business, not at Obama. Don't think you're patriotic if you're your tax responsibilities lie on a foreign isle!! "

Gingrich reveals the truth of GOP hypocrisy regarding Health Insurance!!!

Thursday, May 05, 2011

Obama insists on investigating those who TORTURED!

Ya know, I just realized that Fox News is a good source to see what Obama is doing that UPSETS the right wing!! 

Monday, May 02, 2011

I wouldn't believe it about Liberals.

Okay, there are very few times (I hope) that I see the world in black and white.  I have a painting of a green circle called "and," and a painting called "or" and it's a black and white square.  But today I'm rarely in the black box of "or"

We can blame ourselves for 9-11, or we can blame the guy who joyfully took credit for killing 3,000 people.

We could let bin Laden live in peace, or we could have tried to arrest him.

We can imagine that we should have arrested and tried bin Laden, or we can understand that this religious nut was never going to raise a white flag.

We can hope that such a dramatic defeat of the Master of Terrorism will give stateside peace to more people in the world, or we can dwell on the fact that violence sucks and complain that we haven't yet figured out how to live without weapons of destruction. 

Isn't all the "if only it were a better world" ALWAYS obvious?

Okay, I hate violence, I hate guns, I hate intolerance, and I hate military solutions; but I'm f-ing glad when the good guy fighting the criminal has a GUN.  Period.

Next mission?  Wall Street, K Street...

One Nation

One NationDetail rich, factories and heartDetail heart and housesOne NationDetail brain

One Nation, a set on Flickr.

Who said it? Osama bin Laden OR, Rush, Hannity, Newt, etc!!!!!!!

So did Socialism kill Osama?!  Who said this?  Bin Laden or Rush Limbaugh?!  “So I shamelessly say no, I want him [U.S. President Obama] to fail, if his agenda is a far-left collectivism, some people say socialism, as a conservative heartfelt, deeply, why would I want socialism to succeed?”
– Rush Limbaugh in an interview with Sean Hannity, January 21, 2009 (7:17 into video) 

Who are OUR oligarchs, OUR TALIBAN??? 

Will this shut them up?

We win!!!!!

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

Republicans oppose welfare for people, but not corporations

I heard Rep. Ryan say today that government is meant to "encourage" not "support" people.  Our rights, he said, don't come from government, they come from nature and G-d (thrilling, isn't that?).  According to him, being on Medicare and using OUR social security is equivalent to being on "welfare" from cradle to grave.  This guy has a screw loose.

How progressives can outline the importance of government:

The Failure of antigovernment conservatism
http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_failure_of_antigovernment_conservatism

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

No more sacrifices for us, no BALANCE

President Obama, I WANT you to point fingers of blame.  I WANT you to pick a side.  I WANT you to stand up to the forces of evil that are trying to dismantle every force of good in this country and every last corrupt politician who does not represent the ordinary workers in this country.

For I will cease to believe there are differences in you and those politicians until you focus on those differences in stark detail.

No games, just straight talk about who represents who.

No balance, no shared sacrifice; ordinary people fund this government, and we need representation in Washington.

Truth and reality

My gut wants Obama to be President so that he can protect women's rights in America--there is NO other option; but I am so disappointed about his inability to change Wall Street.  I have no basis for this hope, but if anyone is going to change it, it could be him in a second term.  I know, it's foolhardy and childlike in it's logic...

Silver spoon spawn

I followed a link to a Wall St Journal video criticizing Obama's energy speech (one I would call unenthusiastically practical and business as usual), but wow, that's not the opinion of Dartmouth's recent all-in conservative talking points graduate...who found it "incoherent."

http://online.wsj.com/video/opinion-journal-the-energizer/8C8EF69D-0F6D-449B-B14F-2FF10B3233B9.html

I couldn't believe J. Rago is a "senior" writer at the WSJ.  He just spews talking points, and ooo, surprise, the oil industry has the better argument?  And why do electric cars make gas prices go up??  Funny, really, because I happen to know that some business leaders (e.g. Mr. Newscorp) actually implements that "blue sky" stuff with his own employees.

Wow...insular conservative Dartmouth graduates are bad news!!!

Thursday, March 31, 2011

REVOLUTION! Red, White and Blue

Ya know, the American flag has been used as such a patriotic supremacy weapon by the right wing, so much so that many people on the left used to feel that it was a symbol of bullying nationalism.

But today, for this leftist, the American flag symbolizes those Americans who want to bring equity to our nation.  Those Americans who realize we need a revolution to restore prosperity to our communities and culture.  Those Americans who put American lives before money.  Those Americans who think American companies should pay American taxes.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Dissecting the babble around Libya

Obama has said all along that he and NATO want to remove Gadafi, there’s no hiding that. Both Clinton and Obama, and the military, have admitted that this isn’t just humanitarian, it’s in NATO’s interest and our interest for Middle East stability. We failed in Somalia, so we avoid ground wars in the Ivory Coast, et al. Yes, we are making a difference when we CAN. The other option is isolationism and not making a difference at all.

Destroying Gadafi’s military is both practical and moral when he was about to kill thousands of people with the machines NATO sold him!!! Other dictators are working with us to find enemies of our country, so we’re not bombing them (and anyway, do we really want to bomb every leader that sucks?)

I think the hard left imagined a dove and ignored (or never supported) the hawk that is Obama (and Clinton, by G-d). And they are pissed, rightfully, at our bloated military spending compared to our social spending. Yeah, that sucks, but it doesn’t make our actions in Libya unjust, and I’m actually relieved that the military had a slush fund to join NATO to bring justice to some Muslims. That’s very important, I think, to strengthen peace within the Muslim world.

So I find it hard to stomach people on the left advocating that we shouldn’t have intervened here because we aren’t intervening in the Ivory Coast, and that we can’t afford any of it. This is exactly the same position as people on the right who don’t give a flop about humanitarian issues. How can they all ignore a chance to stop a massacre?

So the right (and left) are rightfully complaining that Obama should have had a debate in the House, yet every House member is untied to this action and is willing to take whatever position in the winds on this issue. But only the left really consistently demands this Constitutional process. Many on the right want and would defend the commander in chief acting unilaterally whenever he f-ing wants to bomb somebody–just not when the CIC is a Democrat. During the campaign, Obama and Clinton joined all the right wing candidates reassuring America that each had the ability to start bombing on a moment’s notice! MOST Americans wanted that comfort and now act angry that he used the power they want! COME ON!

Obama is making good decisions (except for violating the Constitutional process–but that’s arguable too) and he’s using our military wisely, and NO ONE can predict or plan for all the “WHAT IFS.” That’s a hollow criticism. The other argument on the right is that we should not be a contributing member of NATO. They code this in comments like, "This is what England and France wanted, are we their lap dog?" sort of thing.  They really think we don’t need allies and we’ll still have influence in the world??   Illogical, irrational, unobservant, frustrating nonsense!