(In)sanatorium

I had the priveledge of attending the Republican candidates debate last September at the Reagan Library. Afterward, in the Spin Room, only Rick Santorum made an appearance. He was complaining mostly about the lack of speaking time he received at the debate and made his rounds to the TV outlets and inquiring press.

He walked by at one point and our eyes met. I went to shake his hand and introduce myself.  But before he could extend his hand, he was interupted by another journalist, grilling him with questions about gay marriage. And that was that.

I’m grateful for that journalist. Several months after the Reagan Library debate Santorum said that women who are impregnated during a rape should  should “make the best out of a bad situation.”

With a comment like that, it would have been tough to keep in mind that i willingly shook Santorum’s hand.

How dangerous it is for somebody vying to be the ’leader of the free world’, to be so removed from reality. To think that rape is just something that happens, and golly, women should make the best of it. Rape is not just unwilling sex with another. It’s a violent, malicious and sometimes murderous act. To not differentiate it from, say, a rainy day where people need to make the best out of being in the rain without an umbrella, is demented…especially when it comes from somebody that Americans are voting for to lead this country. 

Santorum is a sick man. And if he believes women should have no choice over the body when it comes to the psychological and physical effects of rape, then I guess it’s okay to believe for us all to believe  that the word Santorum means “The frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex.”

Ventura Music Week

Ventura “Music Week” will go be upon us next month, beginning mid-February. This is the one week during the year where the city puts its name on the local music scene to (insert generic copy here–i.e., to celebrate the city’s talented group of musicians). 

But the music scene doesn’t need the city’s help. For the other 51 weeks out of the year, the “scene” lives and breathes on its own. Promoters work on their own dime to make shows happen, bands play for minimum wages to make rehearsal space money and whatever else they need to keep a-rockin. But the city doesn’t lend assistance during this time, there is no grants for local music. What the city does like, however, is when it’s businesses do well. So for this ‘music week’ the city puts ad dollars into telling residents to go to a downtown bar/venue/restaurant to hear live music. The venues, using bands as the attraction, will see a bump in sales, i’m sure, and maybe attract some new clientele, but will there be bigger $ guarantees for the bands during this week?

Some may argue that playing out during music week may earn some bands more fans, maybe sell a few more cds. Maybe, maybe not. But the bands i know in this town work pretty hard in promoting themselves, and i doubt that the city encouraging the public to go out during this week will make or break a band.

So I propose this: Since Downtown bars/venues will likely be pushing the city’s music week concept, and likely benefit from more sales and so on, bands should be demanding a much higher pay scale to play in a participating venue. If the propietors are going to make more money for hosting live music, the musicians should also be making more money this week. If musicians normally get 10 percent of the bar, they should get 20 percent this week. If they normally get a $150 guarantee, play for $300 this week.

The city should not be profiting from the labor of musicians. Should be the other way around.

PACs

good read about PACs and their hot mess: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/10/how-to-deal-with-super-pa_n_1197275.html

Some light reading

from: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/11/03/360185/30-corporations-no-taxes/

 Thirty corporations paid less than nothing in aggregate federal income taxes over the entire 2008-10 period. These companies, whose pretax U.S. profits totaled $160 billion over the three years, included: Pepco Holdings (–57.6% tax rate), General Electric (–45.3%), DuPont (–3.4%), Verizon (–2.9%), Boeing (–1.8%), Wells Fargo (–1.4%) and Honeywell (–0.7%).

chem trails

Are we being sprayed?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf0khstYDLA

move your money VTA

 

MOVE YOUR MONEY

 

Ventura County Government Center

 

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4 at 3 pm

 

800 S. Victoria, Ventura

 

WHY SHOULD YOU MOVE YOUR MONEY?

 

Moving your money out of the big Wall Street banks to small community banks and credit unions is a great idea for a number

 

of reasons: you will get better rates and fewer fees, your coMmunity banker will learn your name and provide you with

 

more personal service, and you will be keeping money in your local community which increases economic development and

 

eventually, creates more jobs. Yet the most important reason to move your money is to make your voice heard, to stand strong

 

and no longer help a banking system that has run amok.

 

INVEST IN MAIN STREET, NOT WALL STREET

 

When you keep your money in a local financial institution, that money in turn is reinvested in local businesses, which is

 

important for building a stable economy and encouraging local growth. Put your money in the big Wall Street banks however,

 

and they will use your deposits to make risky investments, gambling at the expense of the economy as a whole.

 

END TOO BIG TO FAIL

 

The big banks on Wall Street gambled with our money, then demanded a bailout of $700 billion. The size of these Wall Street

 

“Banksters” threatens our economic system, yet their size has only increased since we bailed them out. According to FDIC data,

 

the largest 5 banks held 13% of US deposits in 1994, today they hold 38%. If the government wont step in and break them up,

 

then we must move our money ourselves and end ”Too Big To Fail” once and for all.

 

FEWER FEES, MORE SAVINGS

 

Worried about ATM fees? You shouldn’t be. More and more community banks and credit unions offer ATM surcharge-free

 

networks, providing you with even more access to ATMs nationwide. Community banks and credit unions also charge on

 

average less in fees, and often pay you higher interest on your accounts than big banks. The numbers are clear: the bigger the

 

bank, the higher the fees.

 

GET MORE PERSONAL SERVICE

 

According to JD Power and Associates, small banks have consistently rated higher in overall customer satisfaction than their

 

Wall Street counterparts and the gap has only widened in the last few years. Customers of community banks and credit unions

 

talk to actual people when they call, instead of robotic phone-trees. Tellers often know them by name and treat their customers

 

like family. Smaller banks do disproportionately more small business lending than the big banks. Small businesses, in turn,

 

are the main engine of job growth, accounting for 65% of new jobs. Banking locally is a great way to support independent

 

businesses and create more jobs in your home town.

 

More on Move Your Money

 

http://moveyourmoneyproject.org/

 

CONNECT

 

Facebook: Search Occupy Ventura or OccupyVentura

 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/OccupyVentura

 

Calendar: http://nexus.occupyventura.us/calendar

 

Google Group:

http://groups.google.com/group/occupyventura-general?hl=en

http://www.occupyventura805.wordpress.com

 

Video and Live Stream: http://www.livestream.com/occupyventura

Move the money

I’m going to do it. Taking my pennies from Bank of America and depositing them in a local bank or credit union. The Occupy movement is calling for Nov. 5 as the day to close accounts in major banks. Since rent is due that day, I’ll have to wait a week or so for the check to clear before switching over, but I’m still gung-ho about it.

I’ve read too much condemning material lately about these mega-banks to outweigh the convenience that Bank of America has provided me over the past decade. I’ve traveled across the country and back a number of times; and banking was easy no matter where i was.  Perhaps it was this convenience that blinded me from ever paying attention to the institution’s banking practices.

The Occupy movement is the first revolution I have personally witnessed in my lifetime, for a revolution must be something that anyone can participate in, whether or not they are on the front lines, behind a computer or simply at work.  There is no doubt that as the Occupy movements maintain solidarity there will be a systematic change in the way this country operates. I’m looking forward to the weeks following Nov. 5 to see if the call to shift monies to local banks and credit unions was all bark and no bite from the 99ers.  If it truly does have some bite, by the ticket and take the ride because America is going to one heckuva ride.

 

Fool me once. . .

this is a really good article for many reasons. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/11/war-on-weed-obama-marijuana_n_1005483.html …it’s not just about marijuana, it’s about the let-down obama has become. I have a story coming out on thursday about the Occupy Wall Street movement, and though the story is more about the movement coming to Ventura, I did a lot of research about the Wall Street bankers and corporations that crushed the economy in 2008. And it’s a real shame to discover the guy you voted for became a puppet for lobbyists and massive corporations. Maybe he always was and we were fooled by a wonderful campaign. But one thing we can take from Obama’s campaign is that the people do have power in numbers, should they be able to come together as they did for Obama in 2008.

A paragraph in the story I linked: “Detailing an industry that has “swelled to include numerous drug-trafficking enterprises,” the federal officials warned they would be taking action against dozens of dispensaries they accused of abusing California’s medical marijuana laws.”  Well, the federal government–the DoJ!- in an operation called Fast and Furious illegally trafficked 2000 or so semi-automatic weapons to the drug cartels in Mexico in an attempt to track them to cartel leaders. But instead they lost track of the weapons, and drug cartels  using weapons the DoJ gave them! And now, suddenly,  the same bureau, per obama’s orders, is wagging the dog and going after tax paying, legal mj dispensaries? This is what federal law enforcement is concerned with right now?  C’mon.

Occupy Wall Street brutality?

Anybody following the Occupy Wall Street protests?  Whether or not these protests will be make any lasting dents in the Wall Street machine, what can’t be ignored is how the police react to what is alledgedly peaceful protests here in America. Check out this piece:

Duff on Ortiz/Mayweather

Duff, from Guns n Roses, stirs up some valid points/questions regarding the fight. I, too, thought there was something a bit fishy about it all…

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/thelife/music/news/story?id=6997614