Philosophy
I've always been baffled by those who argue that corporate health is a measure of the nation's financial or social health, that we need to get government off the back of business, that less regulation means a more prosperous nation.
It was revealed yesterday that Massey Energy, owner of the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia where twenty-nine miners died, kept two sets of books in order to keep government regulators from knowing about all of the safety violations at the mine. They killed their workers by cutting corners.
If you eat Spam or care about American workers or our food supply, please make sure you read this article about the way that Hormel set up its Spam operation in a way that exposed immigrant workers to plumes of vaporized pig brains and gave them a degenerative neurological disease and then forced them to sign waivers that let Hormel off the hook for most of the cost of the treatment, leaving these workers sick with next to nothing.
We have a presidential candidates who say we have a "gangster government." It turns out that it is indirectly true, but for the opposite reason she intends. It is not big government that is the threat to the American people and the well-being of the nation, but the influence of corporations run by scum like this. These people gather with Republicans at meetings held by groups like ALEC where corporate interests write legislation that shields them from oversight or responsibility for their horrendous actions. When the history is written and we look back on what ended the American century, this is the sort of story that will be told.
- Spill, Baby, Spill
Interesting time to start thinking about the energy bill. In the last week we had an oil platform explode, and sink off the coast of Louisiana, killing workers and spilling 1,000 barrels a day into the Gulf of Mexico which could harm the shrimp and fish...
- Mississippians Turn To Iran For Health Care Help
Guest post today from Barbara of Mahablog (one of my daily reads). Recently I wrote that Mississippi has the worst health care in the nation. Now I want to tell the story about how desperate Mississippians, abandoned by their government, turned to Iran...
- Big Three In Big Trouble
The American car makers are in BIG TROUBLE. I used to drive a Ford. I loved my Festiva. It had 305k miles on it when I traded it in. I'm the sort of person that ought to be the target for the American car makers. I drive a Honda and will not drive...
- Coal Mine Tragedy Is Good For Business?
This is crass and cold and Wall Street is filled with "blood-thirsty vultures". "Bad Week for Coal Workers, Not So Bad Week for Coal Stocks" by Stephen Gandel April 10th, 2010 Time Wall Street, it appears, likes tragedy. The worst U.S. coal accident...
- Mccain & Obama On Technology Issues
PC World has offered a summation on the policies of technology issues between presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama. There is a lot of rhetoric and "pie in the sky" positioning but I think the bottom line for either one when he becomes...
Philosophy
Faith in the Private Sector
I've always been baffled by those who argue that corporate health is a measure of the nation's financial or social health, that we need to get government off the back of business, that less regulation means a more prosperous nation.
It was revealed yesterday that Massey Energy, owner of the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia where twenty-nine miners died, kept two sets of books in order to keep government regulators from knowing about all of the safety violations at the mine. They killed their workers by cutting corners.
If you eat Spam or care about American workers or our food supply, please make sure you read this article about the way that Hormel set up its Spam operation in a way that exposed immigrant workers to plumes of vaporized pig brains and gave them a degenerative neurological disease and then forced them to sign waivers that let Hormel off the hook for most of the cost of the treatment, leaving these workers sick with next to nothing.
We have a presidential candidates who say we have a "gangster government." It turns out that it is indirectly true, but for the opposite reason she intends. It is not big government that is the threat to the American people and the well-being of the nation, but the influence of corporations run by scum like this. These people gather with Republicans at meetings held by groups like ALEC where corporate interests write legislation that shields them from oversight or responsibility for their horrendous actions. When the history is written and we look back on what ended the American century, this is the sort of story that will be told.
- Spill, Baby, Spill
Interesting time to start thinking about the energy bill. In the last week we had an oil platform explode, and sink off the coast of Louisiana, killing workers and spilling 1,000 barrels a day into the Gulf of Mexico which could harm the shrimp and fish...
- Mississippians Turn To Iran For Health Care Help
Guest post today from Barbara of Mahablog (one of my daily reads). Recently I wrote that Mississippi has the worst health care in the nation. Now I want to tell the story about how desperate Mississippians, abandoned by their government, turned to Iran...
- Big Three In Big Trouble
The American car makers are in BIG TROUBLE. I used to drive a Ford. I loved my Festiva. It had 305k miles on it when I traded it in. I'm the sort of person that ought to be the target for the American car makers. I drive a Honda and will not drive...
- Coal Mine Tragedy Is Good For Business?
This is crass and cold and Wall Street is filled with "blood-thirsty vultures". "Bad Week for Coal Workers, Not So Bad Week for Coal Stocks" by Stephen Gandel April 10th, 2010 Time Wall Street, it appears, likes tragedy. The worst U.S. coal accident...
- Mccain & Obama On Technology Issues
PC World has offered a summation on the policies of technology issues between presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama. There is a lot of rhetoric and "pie in the sky" positioning but I think the bottom line for either one when he becomes...