>> ^deathcow:

I am venturing a guess that they only show the one persons face because he is the only white person involved and they are not looking for a stigma of "foreign labor".


Italy is like 92% white, I kind of doubt he's the only white guy working there. I wouldn't be surprised if this genuinely is a proper workshop with proper wages, and not a sweatshop. But I don't blame you for being skeptical. Apple has proven that just because a product carries a crazy luxury price, it doesn't mean it isn't made by wage slaves.

@ulysses1904
http://www.copblock.org/2841/police-brutality-statistics/

Sorry there criminal justice professor, no need to site anything but internet sources, you have eyes and everyone has cell phones to record, you can see the rage in the faces of the majority of cops. They pump the shit into homes 24/7, 365 to let us all know that crime is on the rise and more cops with better weapons are needed.

The violence may continue to rise given that the pool of recruits becomes less intelligent (a result of being raised in a society in decline) and the pool of qualified applicants include more inner-city youths, PTSD victims returning home from fucking around the globe playing war games, etc...

Police organizations will always recruit the dregs as well as the capable, but more punks and thugs everyday become law enforcement...Goes with the territory as it were, I am convinced that to perform your duties as a Police officer you have to compromise integrity and ethics at some point or you will not make the final cut. The job has become tainted.

In one possible future which includes these less-than-ethical thugs as cops, there may only be a few types of citizens:
Ultra Wealthy
Wage slaves
Police,Military, Prison personnel, EMT, and other Government employees

This. No matter what Fox and Rush and all the other screw over the working class so 1 or 2% of the population doesn't have to pay an extra 3% tax people say, Obama isn't a Liberal. He campaigned as one, but aside from bringing this country in line with every other country in the world except the communists and Islamic ones by ending Don't Ask Don't Tell (which even McCain said he would support when the military said it wanted to end it, but then didn't support it when they asked), he hasn't really done anything liberal.

I love how some on the right say even Liberals don't like Obama... yes, because he isn't the liberal people voted for, he's a centralist/left leaning Republican, at best a far right leaning Democrat. Now how much is Obama's fault is hard to tell. It could be he is a far right leaning Democrat, or he could just lack the balls to stand up the Republicans (likely), or he could be a victim of the promise the Republicans made when he won in that they would never negotiate and never give in and never let him win, that they would do everything they could do make sure his Presidency was a failure (even more likely).

I think I would rather have the guy who at least says he care about the wage slaves who can't make a living wage because some greedy ass holes think they deserve to take the money earned by those slaves so the ass holes can have a life of luxury, and thinks the greedy ass holes should pay a small amount to help those they stole from, over the guy who flat out supports those people who have stolen their wealth and thinks that the people who are struggling need to be punished more by taking away more of their support while refusing to cut things that actually need cut and would save the country billions more, because the key word in building the economy is building, and one doesn't build with the top, but you start with the bottom... let them have money to spend, then places need more people which creates jobs, which means more people spending, which means transportation needs start growing which means more jobs and more spending which means manufacturing needs to grow which means more jobs and more spending... but no, the Republican ideal is give money to the top, and while it hasn't happened for over 30 years, some day they say it will start to trickle down...

That all said, this commercial wasn't the best... they should have focused on how the feds and Nevada are investigating Sheldon Adelson's casino's actions for purported bribery of foreign officials...

>> ^ChaosEngine:

>> ^bobknight33:
A stupid video ad from a stupid Liberal. Obama is a fool of a president. He is in way over his head and doing such a shitty job that any person with a bit of intelligence will help Romney win, even if they are billionaires.

I glad I'm not dumb enough to vote for Obama.

Bitch all you want. You're still gonna lose the election.
Obama hasn't been a great president, mostly because he's pandered to the right. But he's still an order of magnitude better than Romney.

>> ^Trancecoach:

for some strange reason, I'm not amused by overpaid entitled actors deliberately committing physical violence against work-a-day wage-slave extras working 'at scale' to lay motionless in uncomfortable positions for 4 or 5 hours at a stretch....
that said, the banter is sometimes amusing.


RDJ explained that the room was full of rubber dummy bodies i.e. he didn't know there were any extras on the set.

>> ^Trancecoach:

for some strange reason, I'm not amused by overpaid entitled actors deliberately committing physical violence against work-a-day wage-slave extras working 'at scale' to lay motionless in uncomfortable positions for 4 or 5 hours at a stretch....
that said, the banter is sometimes amusing.


One of my best friends is an extra...he'd love to get the shit kicked out of him by Robert Downey Jr.

for some strange reason, I'm not amused by overpaid entitled actors deliberately committing physical violence against work-a-day wage-slave extras working 'at scale' to lay motionless in uncomfortable positions for 4 or 5 hours at a stretch....

that said, the banter is sometimes amusing.

another EXAMPLE of GOVERNMENT WASTE!!!!
anytime I hear a brainwashed lapdog spout that I shake my head

if you want to look for waste? stop looking at the local/department level where there is more oversight than in the PRIVATE sector

and start looking at things like defense spending, tax cuts for the rich, subsidies for big oil, etc etc

the whole government waste at the local level is corporate fed propaganda devised to reduce funding to government service so that they can point the finger and go look at how crappy it is, only private enterprise can do this right! and then they come in to MAKE MONEY on something that was previously UNPROFITABLE and WASTEFUL; and where does that money come from? the poor/lacking quality of service and government subsidy

firefighters watching a house burn down, watching someone drown, etc...
police deciding to respond to fewer criminal calls and focus more on traffic violations...
overpriced healthcare costs for low quality return

these are all the effects of privatization
privatization NEVER has a social conscience... its all about profit, margins, and share prices
quality of care doesn't make the top 10
especially when these interests can buy the lawmakers to give them effective monopolies

you want a healthy, strong society... and not a society of wage slaves? start caring for each other more than you care about the unobtainable dream of being rich... and realize, money's goals rarely align with being humane (call it Christian, call it Muslim, whatever values)

people are your brother's and sisters, not Wal-mart, not Wall Street, and not the politicians who represent you but make 30x more than the median income in your country

you aren't being represented if you next door neighbor has no chance to become an elected representative, because they can raise a few million dollars to run (billions now-a-days to get to the highest levels of power)

you'd think in this day and age of internet and smartdevices, that we'd have the medium to EASILY do away with the problems of campaign financing (we do)...

but don't worry, the rich are getting SOPA in place to ensure content they don't want out there, isn't

If you could stop working right now and still live in the lap of luxury with no chance of going bankrupt from a downturn in the economy or surprise medical bills, then you are in the 1%.

Sure that exact percentage may be an approximation, but the point should not be lost in the numbers. There are people out there controlling our government and financial structures who work only to pull money towards themselves without any ethical boundaries. I'm not talking about Bill Gates or anybody else who struck it rich by making the right product at the right time. I'm talking about the inbred financial aristocracy who run the banks and produce the politicians. Everything they do, even when they donate thousands of dollars to charity, is calculated to bring more income. They push all the laws to favor them just a little bit (if not a lot, like the Bush tax cuts). They're running the country like a casino. The house always wins over time. That's how they see income increase year by year while average wages stagnate. That's how they get hurt less by economic downturns. That's how they recover faster when the economy stabilizes.

I'm sorry, but this video does a piss poor job of explaining how we got to the economic situation that we are in and where it is going. The income gap is real, it's getting bigger, and it is turning more and more of us into wage slaves. For the vast majority of us, we are just a few bad days away from bankruptcy. All you have to do is imagine yourself getting laid off, then getting sick with something serious, then having your "health provider" find a reason to cut off your support. You won't be able to find a new source of income while sick, and you won't be able to pay off your medical bills while unemployed.

That's my definition of the 99%, even if it is technically the 95% or the 99.9%.

I don't know what's going to happen to us. Everything's so screwed up. I keep getting sucked back into politics only to realize how useless it all is. Nothing ever goes my way. The crazy conservatives never go away. The lies get debunked, but the lies keep getting told and repeated. Ug.

Saw some friends at the bar last night. Did my heart good. Beats the hell out of sitting there all alone.

Hope you have a great weekend.

In reply to this comment by peggedbea:
he is my congressman. and we don't hail from butt-kissing land. we prefer the epithet, heavily manipulated, angry and logically impaired populist town.
but we're only logically impaired because we're so busy being wage slaves to our corporate masters and then eyes slaves to the tv's they told us we should watch regularly and the churches they said would give us hope and raise our spirits. we don't have much time to think for ourselves anymore.

oooh who will liberate the citizens of heavily manipulated, angry and logically impaired populist town???!???!

In reply to this comment by rougy:
The congressman from butt-kissing land has spoken!

How dare you question the wisdom and resolve of the gentleman from butt-kissing land!

But corporations ARE merchants and merchants ARE the ruling class. Who protects us from the merchant monarchy? That's my question. How many times will you avoid my question? I believe this is the 5th time I've asked, for the record.

Example: Zorloc is sick of the powerful Mars Mining Co abusing the Shnnarr'Ghol people and forcing them to choose between abusive labor in the Adamantium mines or starvation. So, after stumbling across an ancient alien artifact which is worth krillions of space credits, he buys the Mars Mining Co and pays the workers a fair wage, until the old Mars Mining Co opens up a new business, the Jupiter Mining Co. Zorloc cannot compete with Jupiter's wage slave labor and is forced to return his mine to old, abusive conditions. At first he feels bad, but eventually, after several protests from his former workmates, he grows to loathe them and feels entitled to what he refers to as 'the sweat of his brow'.

I think the Renaissance Faire is in town. Live the dream.

I don't want to put words in blancos mouth (goodness knows what else has been in there), but I believe the major catalyst for blankfist's politics is anger at paying taxes. Government and democracy is the major focus of his ire. Our political feud is a years-long battle that goes far beyond the subject matter of this video.

He believes the free market is a benevolent, intelligent, almost supernatural force that somehow is able to right all wrongs. Oppressive sweatshops are put out of business by angry citizens who stop buying their products or open their own competing businesses. I've never seen any evidence to suggest the market works like this. To me, it seems to reward low prices at any cost, be it human rights, environmental carnage, livable wages, the exploitation of the 3rd world, squandered resources or otherwise.

I believe the concept of 'the free market' was created to justify greed, selfishness, gross inequity and to absolve the wealthy and big business of all personal responsibility for the part they play in this world. Those with wealth earned it with hard work and ingenuity (or more likely inherited it from their parents); those without are lazy bums who are receiving just desserts for their lack of ambition (or more likely inherited it from their parents). If only those lowly wage slaves would pick themselves up by their bootstraps, they could be the next Bill Gates.

We are pretty much together in our disgust for corporations, but what constitutes an oppressive work environment differs greatly between the two of us.

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:
>> ^mentality:
And DFT, quit with the hyperbole. Slavery? Yeaaaaahhhh.... No.

Slavery is as slavery does. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wage_slavery



Then use the term wage slavery. They are two distinct concepts and the differences are too great for you to carelessly use one term while meaning the other. I may be a "wage slave" if I need to work 2 jobs to pay my bills and support my family, but no one is going to shit in my mouth and beat me to death if I try to quit work.

My transplanted English prof pal from Oregon commented on the latest news here relative to himself and the students that pass for literate enrolled in the college he works for....he's pretty much in the same camp I'm in...don;t let your kids be defiled by public schools in the U.S...Texas is simply a more finely-focused lens of dissolution....and on your televisions so you had to look, huh??

Again, Robot monkey programming makes for obedient little wage-slaves-

Secondary public schools in general in the states, would not pass the 1945 US school litmus test of acceptable practice and curriculum-People have been duped into settling for a thin veneer of the real as opposed to a fine deep lustre...and all of you here, who have fingers to point, point the one that screams complicity, at the man or woman, or at that emasculated fucking male in the mirror....you too, Norwegian-

Oh yeah, and like bea, I spent plenty of time out of tis state as well, living, working, voting, etc. Cali, Oregon, Colorado, Washington State.....regions mean little in the grand scheme of the country as a whole-yer all in the same federal shit storm of idiocracy to the humans being.

and here is an example of the intelligence in our government.
this man conflates free lunch with test scores?
and the people listening accept this as a point of clarity?
this man does not make ONE salient point that does not drip of:
eugenics.
class differentials.
government control.
basically all he was saying is "if we keep feeding this people who cannot be good wage slaves they will continue to breed".
he complains about the problem being "political correctness".since when is mercy and compassion a political correct quandry?
this LT governor makes hypocrites blush.
ooo...lookie here.turns out mr andre bauer is a southern baptist.
well well...think jesus would speak like he does?
AND he is gay.
not that i care but he votes ANTI-gay.
thats it.this man wins the hypocrite of the century award!
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/12748/south-carolina-lt-governor-andre-bauer-outed

1.the health care debate is a moral argument not a fiscal one but those with corporate agendas have turned it into a fiscal argument.they will win that argument.
2.the term "mandate" is being bantered about more and more by politicians and less about "single payer".translation:"prepared to get fucked...hard".
3.historically the end result has always been the working class tax payer who bears the brunt of corporate malfeasance.my opinion is they cannot bear much more.
4.for god and country has always been the battle cry to get citizens to act in a way that is ultimately NOT in their best interest.religion and nationalism has always been the propaganda tool choice of those in power to get YOU to do THEIR bidding.in the end..YOU lose.
5."dey took our JOBS" is just a knee jerk reaction by those who have bought the malarky that somehow jose from mexico took their job when in reality it was the company you worked for who sent it to india or china.blame the company not jose.
6.the US was considered the land of opportunity for years,and for years this country earned that title but when we went to a financial economy that all started to change.now we are all just wage slaves trying to do the best we can and it is in the best interests of large multinational corporations to have you believe that jose has somehow lessened your lot in life.he didnt but they sure as hell did.
7.labor unions back was broke during the reagan years.they were portrayed as evil and,,.shivers,,,communist.how is that working out for everybody now?

my point for these little nuggets?
that this has been happening at a pretty steady pace and we were all asleep.a slow tinkering over the past 90 years,sped up in the 70's..and the bush years accelerated immensely.
i like obama,seems a nice sort and is a talented speaker but politically he is cornered and without some serious growth of balls there is little he will be able to do.
he will deliver the well-meaning speeches but pay attention..in the end it will be the corporation who dictate how and what this country will do.
pay attention to that word "mandate".