OBOF TYMHM & MORE Vol 15 - No 3

OPINOINS  BASED  ON FACTS (OBOF)

&

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (TYMHM)

YEAR ONE

YEAR TWO

YEAR THREE

YEAR FOUR

YEAR FIVE

 

OBOF YEAR FIVE INDEX
OBOF TYMHM	Jan. 07, 2015
OBOF TYMHM Vol 15 - No 1	Jan. 19, 2015
OBOF TYMHM Vol 15 - No 2	Feb.  03, 2015
OBOF TYMHM Vol 15 - No 3	Feb.  23, 2015

 

Agenda

 

1.  Hello from Floyd.

2.  Comments from readers.

3.  Resources I use.

4.  A note from Michelle Obama.

5.  From Senator Bernie Sanders.

6.  A Corporate Apostate.

7.  A Bad, Sad Story.

 

 

HELLO  FROM FLOYD

 

Hello to all of you and especially those of you who have been checking in every week to see if I have any news for you.  I am so grateful to all of you great Americans out there.  There is a great deal to provide for you and it is entirely too much for one posting.  So, maybe, I have a head start already for the next posting.

 

Physically, I am not improving much, or actually not at all.  However, I have made myself to get doing things that I know need to be done and one is to get a posting out to all of you.

 

As I started I found some e-mails from a very dear friend Dr. Allen Smith.  I had looked at them before, but I have not been able to respond to him or even realize what he has written me.

 

Many of you know that I have been blessed with the friendship of Dr. Smith and I have the greatest respect for him.  He has written a large number of essays that are available to all of us in two forms.  First, and this is terrific, there are about 30 plus essays entitled "Think Your Way To A Better Life."  He provides specific thoughts that you can relate to and I defi any one to read these and not find themselves in a better frame of mind and the beginning of a better life.

 

The second is a new book of essays that are entitled "Coping With Life's Problems, One Day At A Time."  The book is available Kindle $2.99.  I do urge you to get the book as it is well worth the price many times over.  When you get the book and read it, I know that Dr. Smith would greatly appreciate it if you would write a review for Amazon.

 

COMMENTS FROM READERS

 

I seldom receive any comments from readers.  Thanks to a faithful reader I may know why.  Hal has followed my posting all of the five years that I have been doing this.  Recently, Hal was able to write a comment and he told me what he finally found the way to write comments on the postings.  He said that he had tried and tried for a long time, but finally found that by using his Google account he was able to write comments easily. 

 

Maybe, some of you have wanted to make a comment from time to time, but it was to hard to get link that would permit you to make the comment.  If that is the case I urge you to try using your Google account and see if works better for you.  I thank Hal for providing me this information.

 

The resources I use:

 

I receiver between 50 and 150 E-mails every day.  They provide me a ton of information.  I sift through them, reading the headlines and introductory commentary.  From that, I look a little deeper into those that had caught my eye. 

 

Out of all that, I actually use about one out of every 40 or 60 to transfer to my Blog and adjust the format so that it fits the limitations of the Blog.  I do not change any of the content of the article.  Sometimes I write a comment in the middle of an article, but when I do, it is plainly marked so that you know it is my comment, not the article.   

 

The following is a SMALL sample of the material I go through to put together a posting.  Just thought you might like to see some of the resources I use.  There is nothing here that you can't find yourself, but, as I have said before, I do this because I have the time and I think that maybe you don't have the time to find this information.  Again, the computer has a mind of it's own and has pretty well messed up the following resource listing. 

Will Europe Obediently Follow the US into a Catastrophic War? Michael Payne, Op-Ed The EU has the opportunity to avoid taking the same steps the U.S. did when it comes to war. They have the opportunity to move in a positive direction and reject the dictates of Washington. But will they? Read the full story...     War: Where 69¢ of Each of Your Tax Dollars Goes Dave Lindorff, Op-Ed A high majority of U.S. tax dollars are not going to schools, universities, parks, roads, science, environment, or health, but to war. In order to shy away from this type of militaristic government, we need a peace president and congress. Read the full story...   Ice Cream Giant Announces Plans to Stop Using Milk From Cows Treated With Artificial Hormone rBST Cole Mellino, News Report Breyers ice cream has announced that they will not longer use milk from cows treated with the controversial, artificial growth hormone called rBST. Health issues were found in both cows and humans who were exposed to the hormone. Read the full story...       8 Million Metric Tons of Plastic Dumped Into World’s Oceans Each Year Anastasia Pantsios, News Report China, followed by Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, are the biggest contributors to the mass of plastic in our oceans. Waste management techniques must improve, or the amount of plastic could reach 155 metric tons by 2025. Read the full story...   Help NationofChange End Dark Money NationofChange Video End Dark Money is a new campaign designed to expose the truth to millions of Americans via the internet. LAST DAY to raise almost $2000 more to create a documentary-style film that outlines the shocking realities of corporate money in the American political system. Our exposé film will be promoted and advertised across all major social media websites. Read the full story...   Tired of Money Buying Politicians? So Are We. Here’s How to End It. Adam Smith, Op-Ed Our democracy has been cheapened by a handful of wealthy Americans who pick and choose who runs for office while having their hands in the policy process. It's time we fight back as people from across the country are joining forces to put an end to dark money. Read the full story...   Good Samaritans Bought Homeless Couple 3 Nights Out of the Cold, but the Hotel Kicked Them Out Bryce Covert, News Investigation After two good samaritans bought a homeless couple a hotel room in Columbus, Ohio to get them out of the frigid winter temperatures, they were eventually kicked out of the hotel for lack of ID. The Wyndham Hotel Group "missed the opportunity to help someone.” Read the full story...     Leader of the Biggest Social Movement the Media Won’t Talk About Carl Gibson, News Investigation Reverend Dr. William Barber, president of the North Carolina NAACP and voice of the Forward Together movement is "challenging the legislators and governor to be true to the constitution and true moral values." So where's the media coverage? Read the full story...     In Richmond, We Would Not Let Democracy Be Bought Gayle McLaughlin , Op-Ed "Imagine if elections were not allowed to be bought and public financing were the law of the land?" That's what the community of Richmond is trying to do by threatening Chevron. It's time we stop those who deluge our local democracy with its money. Read the full story...     Nestlé to Dump Artificial Colors and Flavors in US Candy, Something It Did in Europe Years Ago Anastasia Pantsios, News Report Nestlé announced it would remove all artificial coloring and flavoring from its candy products sold in the U.S. Funny how “the world’s leading nutrition, health and wellness company” is just starting to do in the U.S. what its already done in Europe. Read the full story...   We Need a Pro-Worker, Anti-Austerity Agenda Bernie Sanders, Op-Ed In order to help save the middle class of this country, we need a pro-worker agenda, not an austerity agenda. It's time we demand corporate America start investing in the U.S. rather than in China. Read the full story...     HSBC’s Clients Linked to Dictators, Arms Dealers and Tax Dodgers Gerard Ryle, News Investigation Recently released documents revealed that HSBC has profited from doing business with arms dealers. This rare glimpse into the super-secret Swiss banking system is one the public has never seen before—a spectrum of illegal behavior. Read the full story...     First Nationwide Oil Worker Strike in Decades Grows Even Bigger Ari Phillips, News Report The United Steelworkers Union's president backed the strike in saying, the "oil industry is long overdue in addressing many of the issues that directly impact workers’ health and safety." How will the industry respond? Read the full story...     Has President Obama Once Again Sold Us Down the River? Michael T. Hertz, Op-Ed What does all this mean? It just means that (as I said before) “ . . . the people who control him and the government want war.” It's all about the money, and nothing else. Read the full story...     First Gray Wolf Spotted at Grand Canyon in 70 Years Shot Dead by Hunter Ari Phillips, News Report Although it is sad news that the first gray wolf to be seen near the Grand Canyon in 70 years was shot by a hunter mistaking it for a coyote, the fact that the wolf ventured over 700 miles into new territory is further evidence that gray wolf populations are coming back from the brink of extinction. Read the full story...   Jon Stewart on Comedy in Times of Tragedy   Bernie Sanders: Keeping US from Becoming Oligarchy Is 'A Struggle We Must Win'   Why Do So Many Young Americans Misunderstand Vaccination?   New Report on Lynching Reveals America's Sinister Legacy of 'Racial Terrorism'   Money Talks: Must-Read Stories About Money and Politics   The Koch Brothers Raised $249 Million at Their Latest Donor Summit   How US Companies Stash Billions Overseas — Tax-Free   Will the United States End Up Like Greece? The Risks of the Trans-Pacific Partnership   ~~~

From Michelle Obama

 

Hey there --

I just wanted to send along a note to let you know how proud I am of you and how grateful Barack and I are to have you on our team.

Because of the work we've done together, our economy has been creating hundreds of thousands of jobs a month, and because of the health reform we all fought for, 10 million Americans now have quality, affordable health coverage.

All of this happened because you stood by Barack and great Democrats across the country -- and I cannot thank you enough.

But we know that we have so much work left to do, from making it easier for young people to go to college, to fixing our broken immigration system, to making child care more affordable.  So for the next two years, we need to keep on pushing and innovating and moving forward until we see the changes we want.

I know we can do it, and I know that your support is at the heart of everything we've done, and everything we'll continue to do going forward.

So thank you.  Thank you for everything.

Michelle

P.S. -- If you're fired up about Barack's agenda for this year and about continuing to make progress together, chip in $10 or whatever you can to help us reach those goals:
~~~

From Senator Bernie Sanders

 

 

 

Sen. Bernie Sanders this week issued a new report that provides a fresh glimpse into the far-reaching corporate tax avoidance strategies of large and profitable companies represented by the Business Roundtable, including what he calls the "legalized tax fraud” of sheltering profits in offshore tax havens.   The report shows for the first time how more than half of the companies represented by the Business Roundtable are collectively holding more than $1 trillion in profits in offshore tax haven countries where money is not subject to U.S. taxes. A number of huge corporations – including General Electric, Boeing, Duke Energy and Verizon – not only have paid nothing in federal income tax in recent years, they received refunds from the IRS. “Instead of sheltering profits in the Cayman Islands and other offshore tax havens, the largest corporations in this country must pay their fair share of taxes so that our country has the revenue we need to rebuild America and reduce the deficit,” Bernie said. "At a time when corporations are making record-breaking profits, while the middle class is disappearing and senior poverty is on the rise, the last thing we should be doing is giving huge tax breaks to profitable corporations that don’t need it.”  Bernie will soon reintroduce legislation to crack down on corporate tax avoidance by making sure that profits shifted to offshore tax haven subsidiaries are taxed at the top U.S. corporate tax rate.

~~~
A Corporate Apostate

 

Authors: Jim Hightower

Published: February 14, 2015

 

Business schools preach a strict, anti-social doctrine of corporate management that comes down to this: CEOs must be idiots.

By that I mean the original Greek word idiotes, which applied to people who care only about themselves and the prosperity of their immediate family.  They’re the ones who reject any responsibility to the larger society, civic affairs, and the common good.

That selfish ethos is what prevails in today’s corporate suites, where it’s claimed that the only responsibility of executives is to maximize profits for the “family” — that is, for themselves and their major shareholders.

If they have to stiff workers, sidestep environmental rules, and shaft consumers to do it, well, that’s the lot of idiotes.

But now comes an apostate to this doctrinal idiocy.

Mark Bertolini, corporate chief of the health insurance giant Aetna, says CEOs should raise the minimum wage their companies pay to a level approaching minimal fairness.  Rather than just calling for it, though, he actually did it.  He lifted Aetna’s lowest wage to $16 an hour, plus improved health benefits.

Then Bertolini really gave up the game: He publicly revealed that these increases aren’t so financially painful after all.

The total cost to Aetna will be about $26 million a year. That’s nothing for a company with annual revenues of $62 billion.

The only pain Bertolini might feel is loneliness when he enters the CEO Club and sees other insurance chieftains turn their backs and shun him over his leadership on the moral matter of shared prosperity.

Indeed, the CEOs of Humana, Anthem, and other insurers say “no” to raises for their employees, sniffing that they pay “competitive wages” — which is just a dishonest way of saying “low wages.”

Whether those idiotes like it or not, Aetna just lifted the national standard for competitive wages.

Moreover, the insurer has thrown open the doors of the executive suites to an honest public conversation about the morality of the suits inside jacking up their compensation while holding down everyone else’s pay.

~~~

A BAD, SAD STORY

 

 

From Floyd:

 

I picked up the following some time ago and I don't remember where I got it.  Obviously, it was from someone who knew me as they started off with my name.  Anyway, the time element referred to has pasted, but I feel we all should know about this.

 

 

 

Hi Floyd–

He was his mother’s favorite.  An exceptional student, Mohamedou Slahi even won a scholarship to study in Germany where he worked as an engineer, sending money home to support his mom and 11 siblings.

On Nov 20th, 2001, after he had returned home to Mauritania, Slahi voluntarily drove himself to a local police station for questioning.  That was the last time his family saw him.

Slahi’s family didn’t even know he had been picked up by the U.S. and was being held in Guantánamo till his brother read the news in a German newspaper a year later. Meanwhile, they delivered clothes and food for him to the local prison, thinking he was still there.  His mother died in 2013, never setting eyes on him again.

Now, over 13 years later, Slahi continues to languish in Guantánamo.  An innocent man, he is being held without charge or evidence – and has survived horrendous torture by our government.

In just 3 days, one of Slahi’s lawyers will personally deliver our message to Slahi in Guantánamo: that we’ve heard his story, and we’re clamoring for his release.

Over 35,000 ACLU supporters have already signed our petition to the Department of Defense to free Slahi – can you help us get to 50,000 signatures by Sunday?

Slahi did something brave and extraordinary.  Learning English in prison, his fourth language, he handwrote 466 gripping pages of his story.

"Guantánamo Diary" is the first book written by a still imprisoned detainee, and is already on the New York Times Best Seller list.  In it, Slahi details how he endured savage beatings, sleep deprivation, death threats, and sexual humiliation.

Yet the Slahi we come to know from his memoir is an optimist.  Empathetic even towards his guards, he’s kept his sense of humor despite his ordeal.  And most importantly, he’s never lost sight of his own humanity – or ours.

Slahi has no idea that so many Americans have heard his story and stand with him, demanding his release. Together we can let him know that we support him.

We have 3 more days before his lawyers’ visit – sign today to let Slahi know that you support his petition for release.

There's very little standing between Slahi and his freedom.  All it would take is for the Department of Defense to stop contesting his federal court petition for release.

One of his lawyers, Nancy Hollander, noted “It’s not that they haven’t found the evidence against him – there isn’t any evidence against him.  It’s just tragic, he needs to go home.”

Together, we can get him home.

Thank you for taking action,
Anthony for the ACLU Action team
 

~~~

If the good Lord is willing and the creek don't rise, I'll talk with you again as soon as I am able.  Hopefully, that will be next week.

 

God Bless You All

&

God Bless the United States of America

Floyd