Health Care Now!

Now is the time to speak out on health care!

Please feel free to use this sample letter to email your US senator.



We most strongly urge you to support a single-payer health plan. Americans can longer afford to be at the mercy of predatory, monopolistic, and unpatriotic drug and insurance companies.
In the greatest country in the world, nobody should die because of their inability to pay for health care. This is the most important issue our country has faced in the last fifty years.
We are not asking for luxury care, only for the type of system that most industrialized countries of the world already have successfully implemented...
If Congress can have health care coverage, why not its constituents?


To email your senator to to http://www.senate.gov/ and then find your state’s two senators. Remember that they work for you and not the drug companies.

Washington:
Maria Cantwell
Parry Murray

Oregon
Ron Wyden
Jeff Merkley

In Cairo, Obama’s call sets new tone -Eugene Robinson

WASHINGTON – I used to fear that President Barack Obama was overestimating the power of his personal history as an instrument of foreign policy. Now I wonder if he might have been underestimating.

In several interviews during the long presidential campaign, Obama mentioned the potential impact in other countries of seeing an American president with an appearance and a life story like none of his predecessors. He spoke of how the Muslim world especially, addressed by a president who had a Muslim father and who spent years of his childhood in a Muslim country, might be more inclined to believe that the United States is not an enemy of Islam.

But nations tend to act on the basis of perceived national interest, not personality. I thought that in the final analysis, if Obama became president – which seemed a very long shot when I first heard Obama mention this theme in a March 2007 interview – he would be seen as friend or foe depending on how he conducted U.S. foreign policy.

Now, after Obama’s trip to the Middle East, I think we were both right.

Taking a cold-eyed view of international affairs is never wrong. But it’s also wrong to ignore the spectacle of an audience member, at Obama’s Cairo University speech, interrupting an American president to shout, “We love you!” The last memorable presidential appearance in the Arab world was the news conference in Iraq at which George W. Bush had two shoes hurled at his head.

Not being Bush was a big factor. But at least as important was being Obama – and being able to say, as the president did in Cairo, that “I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed.”

Obama was referring to the “generations of Muslims” in his father’s Kenyan family, his early years in Indonesia and his experience working in Chicago communities where “many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith.”

The most important word in that sentence, however, came at the end: By saying “revealed” rather than “born,” Obama was acknowledging Islam as a divinely given faith.

Obama quoted liberally from the Quran, drawing applause. Perhaps more important was that he opened the speech by putting Islam in the historical context that many Muslims believe the West willfully ignores. He spoke of how the Islamic world kept the light of civilization burning during Europe’s Dark Ages – and mentioned the Quran that Thomas Jefferson kept in his library.

Obama was speaking the language of Islam in a tone of respect. What a concept.

The rest of his speech consisted essentially of a summary of U.S. policy in the Muslim world, and in truth there were no real departures from traditional American policy. Prior administrations have called for a Palestinian state, and Obama hasn’t been nearly as tough with Israel as, say, James Baker’s State Department during the administration of George Bush the Elder. Obama had nothing substantive to announce on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he properly asserted the right of the United States to defend itself against terrorists.

Familiar policies sounded different coming from Obama, though – not just because of his identity but also because he showed a little humility. He acknowledged that in recent years our nation had acted in ways “contrary to our ideals,” and noted that he had ordered an end to torture and the closing of the prison at Guantanamo. There are those who believe that admitting mistakes is a sign of weakness. I think it’s a sign of confidence and strength, and I believe that’s how it was received by Obama’s intended audience.

Perhaps the best indication of how Obama played in Cairo is the reaction of his competitors for the hearts and minds of the Muslim world. The Associated Press reported Sunday that the Iranian-backed Lebanon-based guerrilla group Hezbollah, an influential radical Saudi cleric and the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood all warned followers not to be taken in by Obama’s seductive words – which suggests a fear that Obama had been dangerously effective. A Web site that often reflects the thinking of al-Qaida referred to the president after the speech as a “wise enemy.”

The fact that many Muslims now see a sympathetic figure in the White House creates new possibilities. It turns out that being Obama matters more than I thought.

Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson can be contacted at eugenerobinson@washpost.com.

The digital tv Ripoff

What would you do if you turned on your television one morning and found nothing on your screen but snow? That is exactly what will be happening to millions across the country on June 12. If you receive your television signal over an outside antenna or “rabbit ears,” you most likely will not be able to receive the network stations that you are accustomed to viewing.
As much as the electronics store salespeople want you to, it is not necessary to buy a new television set to get a picture.
Here are some solutions:
If you are already receiving cable or satellite television, no change is necessary and you won’t even notice the difference.
If you have purchased a television since the beginning of 2007, your TV probably has a built-in digital tuner.
If you have an older set and you don’t have cable or satellite, you will need one converter box for each TV you wish to use. These can be purchased at a multitude of retail outlets.
Now, here is the rub!
Even if you have a digital television or have a converter box, you may not be able to get the distant stations. Digital signals may have only minimal coverage in fringe areas. Depending on your location and the size of your outside antenna, you may be able to receive only a few local stations and none of the major networks. If you wish to keep receiving free network television over the airwaves, you will need a much more substantial antenna added to your present system. A new, flat-screen television will not solve the problem if the signal is too weak.
If you live in an area where cable is unavailable and trees or buildings block a satellite signal, a bigger outdoor antenna system will be your only choice.
Of course, you can always console yourself with the fact that the people living near big cities around the country are really enjoying their large-screen, digital TV!
For more information about converter box coupons:
https://www.dtv2009.gov/
or call 1-800-DTV-2009

My question is whether this is a carefully planned scheme by the cable and satellite companies to force those of us in fringe areas to buy their services. This seems like another big-business big government ripoff of the common folks.

Offshore "US" Corporate Tax Dodges

(Left) Ugland House, home to over 17,000 corporations.

May 5 (Bloomberg) -- Seagate Technology, the world’s largest maker of hard disk drives, is headquartered in Scotts Valley, California. Yet the documents it files with the Securities and Exchange Commission list its address on South Church Street in George Town, the capital of the Cayman Islands.
Seagate is just one of the companies that may be affected by President Barack Obama’s proposal yesterday to raise about $190 billion over the next decade by outlawing techniques used by U.S. companies in offshore locations to avoid paying taxes. While the U.S. corporate tax rate is 35 percent, Seagate paid an effective tax rate of 5 percent in the year ended June 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The Caymans have no corporate income tax for companies incorporated there. The Caribbean island has helped scores of U.S. companies, including Coca-Cola Co. and Oracle Corp., to legally avoid billions in tax payments to the U.S. government, says U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan.
“Our Main Street businesses are working hard during this economic downturn to pay their fair share of taxes,” says Dorgan, 66, a North Dakota Democrat. “Some of the country’s largest corporations are using these loopholes to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. It is my hope that the Congress will quickly take action to pull the plug on tax breaks that subsidize runaway plants that move U.S. jobs overseas.”
Largest Companies
One quarter of the 100 largest contractors with the U.S. federal government, including Altria Group Inc. and Tyco International Ltd have had subsidiaries in the Caymans, according to a study by the Government Accountability Office. At least 10 of the 30 companies listed in the Dow Jones Industrial Average have had units with addresses in the Caymans.
As of November 2007, 378 U.S. publicly traded companies had at least one significant subsidiary in the Cayman Islands, a GAO study found. Altria, Tyco, Coke and Oracle still have subsidiaries in the Caymans, according to their most recent SEC filings. Seagate lists its headquarters in Grand Cayman.
One of the Dow 30 companies using offshore sites to reduce its U.S. taxes is Santa Clara, California-based Intel Corp., the world’s largest chipmaker.
Intel’s then vice president of tax, licensing and customs, Robert Perlman told the U.S. Senate Finance Committee in March 1999 that Intel would have been better off incorporating in the Cayman Islands when it was founded in 1968.
“Our tax code competitively disadvantages multinationals simply because the parent is a U.S. corporation,” Perlman testified.
‘The Details’
Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said yesterday his company is rethinking its tax strategy. “We’re studying the Obama proposal,” Mulloy said. “Particularly with taxes, the devil’s in the details.”
Seagate spokesman Brian Ziel said yesterday that his company incorporated in the Caymans to reduce its taxes. “The competitive benefits relate both to taxes saved on certain income earned outside of the United States and the ability to efficiently deploy assets around the globe to remain competitive,” he said.
Eighty-five percent of Seagate’s employees work outside the U.S. and more than 70 percent of the company’s revenue comes from sales overseas, Ziel said.
“Officially, our administrative headquarters is in the Caymans,” Ziel said. “That’s how it’s listed in our annual report.”
18,857 Cayman Corporations
Altria spokesman Bill Phelps said his company is in the process of dissolving its Cayman subsidiary. Coke spokeswoman Kerry Kerr said, “We don’t comment on tax strategies, for competitive purposes.”
Tyco’s Paul Fitzhenry and Oracle spokeswoman Karen Tillman didn’t return calls requesting comment.
A five-story office building on South Church Street in the Caymans serves as the official address for 18,857 corporations. That building, called Ugland House, is listed in SEC filings as Seagate’s headquarters. About half those Cayman companies had billing addresses in the U.S., according to a 2008 GAO study.
President Obama referred to Ugland House yesterday.
“On the campaign, I used to talk about the outrage of a building in the Cayman Islands that had over 12,000 businesses claim this building as their headquarters,” Obama said. “And I’ve said before, either this is the largest building in the world or the largest tax scam. And I think the American people know which it is: The kind of tax scam that we need to end.”
Maples and Calder, the law firm that occupies all of Ugland House in Grand Cayman, said Obama is mistaken.
No Financial Misconduct
“I’m sorry to disappoint anyone, but our office is neither the largest building in the world nor a center of financial misconduct,” said Charles Jennings, joint managing partner of Maples and Calder.
“Having a registered office address in the Cayman Islands is driven by commercial considerations, not by tax avoidance,” Jennings said. “It allows companies to raise capital and conduct global business.”
The firm, which provides services for the corporations that use its address, has incorporated more than 6,000 new companies over the past five years. Back in 2004, the building served as home to 12,748 companies using the same address in the Caymans, a British crown colony 150 miles south of Cuba.
Del Monte Fresh Produce Inc., whose corporate headquarters is in Coral Gables, Florida, lists another address -- Walker House on Mary Street in George Town, Grand Cayman -- in its SEC filings. That’s around the corner from Ugland House.
Del Monte’s effective tax rate for 2008 was 3 percent, up from 1 percent the year before. Del Monte spokeswoman Vidya Samsundar had no immediate comment on why the company is incorporated in the Caymans.
Editor: Jonathan Neumann, Laura Colby

Have You Heard any good Rumors Lately?

The following is a Scottish poem called "The Rumour."
In the context of today's world, I believe we can all learn from it.

http://home.centurytel.net/mollan/music/rumour.mp3

Here's your bunus!

Let's see if I understand this.

I go to the dentist for a cleaning.
The dentist screws up the job and all my teeth fall out.
I am unable to eat again.
At year's end, I send the dentist a check for $1 million as a bonus.

I don't think so!

Evil Politicians of the Last 60 Years

Evil Politicians of the Last 60 Years
(in no particular order)

Joseph McCarthy
Richard Nixon
Newt Gingrich
Karl Rove
Dick Cheney

How Far We Have Come!

I just finished reading a book that I had put off reading for the last 47 years. It’s a book I always wanted to read and a book that accurately describes race relations in the south in the late 50s. The book, Black Like Me, by John Howard Griffin is the true story of a white Texan who receives skin treatments to darken his complexion and travels in the Deep South as a black man for two months.
It is a compelling and extremely written book that not only demonstrates how both blacks and whites were systematically straitjacketed by segregation during the era. It also shows how far we have come. This book should be on everyone’s life list!

The End of an Era 1619-2008

Chronology: 389 years of History
1619 – First African slaves are brought to Jamestown Colony
(one year before the Pilgrims!)
2008 – Barack Obama is elected President of the United States
…. with liberty and justice for all…