Friday, April 26, 2013

"They" Promise, Follow Our Advice ($$$ Unnecessary Md Procedures) Live Forever!

Every once in awhile an article is written that begs this question… Hey, do you trust the medical community?
Well, I don’t! There's a constant boast coming out of this community, that only "they" (believers that a medical degree, means GOD, alumni) can make you live longer, as though all those millions of years of evolution that had gradually eliminated (take or leave a million years or so) the weak so they no longer reproduce, allowing the strong to multiply (until an ice age or global warming event made extinct the healthy strong ones, who could not adapt, through no fault of their own) were all for naught. “They” convince us that if we don’t DOCTOR and swallow Big Pharma's pills, we will die much sooner than we would like to. Most of the time early death comes by outside (our body) influences; such as polluted air, contaminated water and food, and MARKETERS who advertise and brainwash us to buy products that they are quite aware will eventually make us very sick and, in the course of time, bump us off. (Oh and let us not forget Guns legally carried around by any nut with a chip on his shoulder) In our culture of greed, if there’s a buck to be made, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!
And that’s the truth (as I see it)… pfffft! thinkingblue

Post Script: There are many who dream of helping humanity by achieving an education and attaining a degree in medicine to actualize this dream. These people wish to end suffering for many and save lives without a lucrative compensation being the first priority. These professionals deserve respect and are a tribute to all that is good in this existence.
Example Here:


Thursday, April 25, 2013

Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Poorer

Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Poorer
No doubt, the wealthy (Romney leading the gaiety) are dancing in the streets, not celebrating their gain but dancing for joy over the Hoi polloi's (93% of us) losses. thinkingblue

A Rise in Wealth for the Wealthy; Declines for the Lower 93%
An Uneven Recovery, 2009-2011
by Richard Fry and Paul Taylor

Overview
During the first two years of the nation’s economic recovery, the mean net worth of households in the upper 7% of the wealth distribution rose by an estimated 28%, while the mean net worth of households in the lower 93% dropped by 4%, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly released Census Bureau data.

From 2009 to 2011, the mean wealth of the 8 million households in the more affluent group rose to an estimated $3,173,895 from an estimated $2,476,244, while the mean wealth of the 111 million households in the less affluent group fell to an estimated $133,817 from an estimated $139,896.

These wide variances were driven by the fact that the stock and bond market rallied during the 2009 to 2011 period while the housing market remained flat.

Affluent households typically have their assets concentrated in stocks and other financial holdings, while less affluent households typically have their wealth more heavily concentrated in the value of their home.

From the end of the recession in 2009 through 2011 (the last year for which Census Bureau wealth data are available), the 8 million households in the U.S. with a net worth above $836,033 saw their aggregate wealth rise by an estimated $5.6 trillion, while the 111 million households with a net worth at or below that level saw their aggregate wealth decline by an estimated $0.6 trillion.1

Because of these differences, wealth inequality increased during the first two years of the recovery. The upper 7% of households saw their aggregate share of the nation’s overall household wealth pie rise to 63% in 2011, up from 56% in 2009. On an individual household basis, the mean wealth of households in this more affluent group was almost 24 times that of those in the less affluent group in 2011. At the start of the recovery in 2009, that ratio had been less than 18-to-1.

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How Wall Street Undermines Democracy!!!
Published on Feb 14, 2013

The free market doesn't work and Noam Chomsky explains how Wall Street DESTROYS democracy. Remember the term "neoliberal" in the phrase "neoliberal package" is meant to describe Trickle-Down economics that benefits the wealthy at the expense of the poor & middle class (The 99%).

Noam Chomsky says:

"It's rather striking to see how every element of the neoliberal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliber...) package is specifically designed to undercut democracy. It's rarely discussed and people talk about it's economic effects, but just thin it through. Let's take, say, financial liberalization (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic...).

The core, for Keynes, the Greatest Achievement of the Bretton Woods system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretton_...) was to institute financial regulation, and there's a reason. That provides space for governments to undertake programs that are supported by the population. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post%E2%...)

If you have no constraints on capital flow and you can attack currencies frequently, freely, that creates what international economists sometimes call a 'Virtual Parliament,' with investors and lenders who can, I'm quoting from technical literature, can carry out a moment-by-moment referendum on government policies. And if they think the policies are irrational, they can vote against them by capital flight, by attacks on the currencies, and so on.

The policies that are irrational are, by definition, those that benefit people, but don't improve profit and market access and so on.

And, therefore, governments face what's called a 'dual constituency:'
their own population and the 'virtual parliament,' and the virtual parliament usually wins, especially in poor countries.

For the rich countries it was modulated into... First of all, they didn't accept the neoliberal package as completely as say, Latin America, but to the extent that they did, the effects are predictable. And the same is true of other neoliberal programs.

Take, say privatization, which became a mantra. Well, by definition, privatization undercuts democracy:
take something out of the public arena and puts it into the hands of unaccountable private tyrannies that are created and supported by the state, which is what corporations are."

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Fanaticism Winner - Common Sense Loser... AGAIN!

Common Sense WILL win eventually but how many of our children must die first? :-(
President Obama noted, "... if action by Congress could have saved one person, one child, a few hundred, a few thousand ... we had an obligation to try."
Thethinking Blue On Facebook




 "But if 20 dead children can't persuade Congress to tighten gun laws, what will?" Cynthia Tucker
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46 Chicken Littles, Vote No

Thursday, April 18, 2013

46 Chicken Littles, Vote No on Background Checks for Gun Sales.

Is this what Democracy is all about?
90% of Americans want background checks for gun sales.
Newspeak 101, majority means minority. thinkingblue

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Thinking about Gabby Giffords, and what she had to say about yesterday's vote:

"Speaking is physically difficult for me. But my feelings are clear: I’m furious. I will not rest until we have righted the wrong these senators have done, and until we have changed our laws so we can look parents in the face and say: We are trying to keep your children safe. We cannot allow the status quo — desperately protected by the gun lobby so that they can make more money by spreading fear and misinformation — to go on.
I am asking every reasonable American to help me tell the truth about the cowardice these senators demonstrated. I am asking for mothers to stop these lawmakers at the grocery store and tell them: You’ve lost my vote. I am asking activists to unsubscribe from these senators’ e-mail lists and to stop giving them money. I’m asking citizens to go to their offices and say: You’ve disappointed me, and there will be consequences." http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/opinion/a-senate-in-the-gun-lobbys-grip.html

President Obama: Gun Lobby and Allies "Willfully Lied About the Bill"

Posted: 04/17/2013 6:49 pm EDT  |  Updated: 04/18/2013 3:32 am EDT
The Senate rejected a bipartisan compromise amendment to expand gun background checks on Wednesday, casting a 54 to 46 vote that drew sharp responses from supporters who had seen the measure as a small, significant and viable step forward on gun control.
"All in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington," President Barack Obama said, addressing the inaction. Standing behind the president was former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) who moments before had also lambasted senators for their opposition in an email.
Below, a list of the Twitter handles of all of the senators who voted no on the measure, excluding Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who voted against the amendment on procedural grounds. Find their information and let them know how you feel. For a full roll call, click here.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) -- @SenAlexander
Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) -- @KellyAyotte
Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) -- @SenJohnBarrasso
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) -- @MaxBaucus
Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) -- @SenatorBegich
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) -- @RoyBlunt
Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) -- @JohnBoozeman
Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) -- @SenatorBurr
Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) -- @SaxbyChambliss
Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) -- @SenDanCoats
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) -- @TomCoburn
Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) -- @SenThadCochran
Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) -- @SenBobCorker
Sen. Jon Cornyn (R-Texas) -- @JohnCornyn
Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) -- @MikeCrapo
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) -- @SenTedCruz
Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) -- @SenatorEnzi
Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) -- @SenatorFischer
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) -- @JeffFlake
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) -- @GrahamBlog
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) -- @ChuckGrassley
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) -- @SenOrrinHatch
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) -- @SenatorHeitkamp
Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) -- @SenDeanHeller
Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) -- @SenJohnHoeven
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) -- @jiminhofe
Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) -- @SenatorIsakson
Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) -- @Mike_Johanns
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) -- @SenRonJohnson
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) -- @SenMikeLee
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) -- @McConnellPress
Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) -- @JerryMoran
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) -- @lisamurkowski
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) -- @SenRandPaul
Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) -- @robportman
Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) -- @SenMarkPryor
Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) -- @SenatorRisch
Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) -- @SenPatRoberts
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) -- @marcorubio
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) -- @SenatorTimScott
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) -- @SenatorSessions
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) -- @SenShelbyPress
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) -- @SenJohnThune
Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) -- @DavidVitter
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) -- @SenatorWicker

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

1st and 2nd Amendment: Freedom to Hate and Freedom to Terrorize?

The person or people responsible for the Boston Marathon Bombing are perplexing to say the least. They carry within their being, hatred and loathing against something or someone they believe are culpable for the pain they feel, believing themselves to be victims of an uncaring and callous society. They feel a deep need to blame an entity for their actual or imagined suffering and in so many cases, it winds up being the government.
 I did a little research on a person that displayed the classic psychotic symptoms that resulted in a complete breakdown of the reality they lived in; a mental collapse so severe that this person started planning a strike-back against their delusional enemy ‘The Government’.
Timothy McVeigh was the embodiment of this type of mindset, he planned such a heinous and monstrous plot against society without one single hesitation that what he was doing might be over-the-top and too vicious. Upon reading his bio, I couldn’t help but think about the United States Constitution, with its 1st and 2nd Amendments; we are dangerously surrounded by individuals who live in a reality that's made up of fear and hate that sometimes can and does erupt in a complete paroxysm of rage. Please read the excerpt below and click the link on Timothy McVeigh. thinkingblue
Timothy James "Tim" McVeigh (April 23, 1968 – June 11, 2001) was an American terrorist who detonated a truck bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. Commonly referred to as the Oklahoma City Bombing, the attack killed 168 people and injured over 800. It was the deadliest act of terrorism within the United States prior to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. As of 2013, the bombing remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in United States history.

McVeigh, a militia movement sympathizer and Gulf War veteran, sought revenge against the federal government for their handling of the Waco Siege, which ended in the deaths of 76 people exactly two years prior to the bombing, as well as for the Ruby Ridge incident in 1992. McVeigh hoped to inspire a revolt against what he considered to be a tyrannical federal government. He was convicted of eleven federal offenses and sentenced to death. His execution took place on June 11, 2001 at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana. Terry Nichols and Michael Fortier were also convicted as conspirators in the plot.

Childhood

McVeigh was born in Lockport, New York, the only son and the second of three children of William and Mildred "Mickey" McVeigh. His parents divorced when he was ten years old and he was raised by his father in Pendleton, New York.

McVeigh claimed to have been a target of bullying at school, and he took refuge in a fantasy world where he imagined retaliating against the bullies. At the end of his life, he stated his belief that the United States government is the ultimate bully. Most who knew McVeigh remember him as being withdrawn, with a few describing him as an outgoing and playful child who withdrew as an adolescent. McVeigh is said to have had one girlfriend during his childhood, later stating to journalists he did not know how to impress girls. According to his authorized biography, "his only sustaining relief from his unsatisfied sex drive was his even stronger desire to die."

While in high school, McVeigh became interested in computers and hacked into government computer systems on his Commodore 64, under the handle "The Wanderer", borrowed from the song by Dion DiMucci. In his senior year, McVeigh was named Starpoint Central High School's "most promising computer programmer," but he maintained relatively poor grades until his 1986 graduation.

McVeigh was introduced to firearms by his grandfather. He told people he wanted to be a gun shop owner and sometimes took firearms to school to impress his classmates. McVeigh became intensely interested in gun rights after he graduated from high school, as well as the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, and read magazines such as Soldier of Fortune. He briefly attended Bryant & Stratton College before dropping out.

Military life

In May 1988, at age 20 McVeigh graduated from U.S. Army Combat Engineer School. While in the military, McVeigh used much of his spare time to read about firearms, sniper tactics, and explosives. McVeigh was reprimanded by the military for purchasing a "White Power" T-shirt at a Ku Klux Klan protest against black servicemen who wore what he viewed as "Black Power" T-shirts around the army base.

McVeigh was awarded a Bronze Star for his service in the first Gulf War. He was a top-scoring gunner with the 25mm cannon of the Bradley Fighting Vehicles used by the U.S. 1st Infantry Division to which he was assigned. He served at Fort Riley, Kansas, before Operation Desert Storm. At Fort Riley, McVeigh completed the Primary Leadership Development Course (PLDC). McVeigh later said that the Army taught him how to switch off his emotions. He had special lifesaving training and he may have saved the life of a comrade who had life-threatening shrapnel wounds.

McVeigh aspired to join the United States Army Special Forces (SF). After returning from the Gulf War, he entered the selection program to become an SF soldier, but quit after his psychological profile categorized him as very unsuitable for SF. Shortly thereafter, McVeigh decided to leave the Army. He was discharged on December 31, 1991.

Post-military life

After leaving the army in 1992, McVeigh grew increasingly transient. At first he worked briefly near his hometown of Pendleton as a security guard, where he sounded off daily to his co-worker Carl Lebron, Jr. about his loathing for government. Deciding the Buffalo area was too liberal, he left his job and began driving around America, seeking out his old friends from the Army.

McVeigh wrote letters to local newspapers complaining about taxes: MORE HERE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_McVeigh

 An Example Of People Who Harbor Hate:



Read article here: http://news.yahoo.com/ariz-bill-passed-makes-cities-sell-turned-guns-125026520.html
An Example Of The People Who Hate:

Fox News Presents Another GOOFY Meme And They Know What They Are Doing Is Wrong!


Fox News is the personification of Tokyo Rose. {{Tokyo Rose (alternative spelling Tokio Rose) was a generic name given by Allied forces in the South Pacific during World War II to any of approximately a dozen English-speaking female broadcasters of Japanese propaganda. The intent of these broadcasts was to disrupt the morale of Allied forces listening to the broadcast. American servicemen in the Pacific often listened to the propaganda broadcasts to get a sense, by reading between the lines, of the effect of their military actions. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Rose }}  This despicable so called news outlet throws out any nonsense, lies, or exaggerations it trumps up to propagandize its viewers, and the Fox News viewers are so gullible and naive it doesn't take much to influence them, they wish to and are encouraged to hate. Fox News is a blight on democracy and all who are affiliated with this 'news outlet' (and I use that term lightly) know exactly what they are doing and do not believe a word of their own BS.
 It's the ignorant they're after and it is all of us who lose with their lies, not just the misinformed. thinkingblue

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Misconceptions About Prisons

I am always amazed at people’s misconceptions concerning rumors. Just start rumors about something, (it doesn’t have to be the whole truth and nothing but…) and before long it winds up a part of the collective conscience. Throw out something on any topic and there will be a response that has been around for ages even though such response will espouse very little accuracy. Take prisons for instance, people want to look at the incarcerated as parasites feeding off the backs of the tax payer. The rhetoric will go like this… “Don’t they have it made, free meals, free medical, free housing all made possible with the hard earned cash from our pockets." Too many people are ignorant to the fact that today’s industrial world is based on profits and greed has run amuck trying to generate new ideas on how to squeeze profits from a stone.
 Privatization helps those who think mainly in numbers ($$$ numbers) and prisons are the latest to go on the auction block. Hey, why not privatize jails, the individuals behind bars have the potential to bring in cash via labor and they don’t even have to be compensated. Indeed, they are in jail anyway, why not lease their labor out and make tons of moola without too much investment and overhead. Sure we have to provide living quarters and food but we can make that as austere and bleak as possible providing the minimum, they don’t deserve more; after all they have committed crimes. Read the article and watch the heartbreaking video of a judge who gave out maximum sentences to young kids for petty offenses, in order to get kickbacks from friends who have invested in such prisons. It will make your heart ache that is if you still have some of your human compassion intact, after the many heartless attempts by the conservatives to make life hell for the 47% , they deem unworthy. thinkingblue
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Profiting from another person's misery has been around, since the beginning of civilizations. But isn't it about time, we stop this practice and start respecting one another?
Alas, It will never happen! Never, as long as people can rationalize that it's nothing but Business as Usual. I don't have much hope for our human race, not at the moment when I see how those who represent and lead us, work against benevolence, respect and generosity because they believe GREED is the only master we should worship.
... TOO BAD. Below another sad tale of an injustice perpetrated in the name of GREED. thinkingblue


The Prison Industry in the United States: Big Business or a New Form of Slavery?
Human rights organizations, as well as political and social ones, are condemning what they are calling a new form of inhumane exploitation in the United States, where they say a prison population of up to 2 million – mostly Black and Hispanic – are working for various industries for a pittance. For the tycoons who have invested in the prison industry, it has been like finding a pot of gold. They don’t have to worry about strikes or paying unemployment insurance, vacations or comp time. All of their workers are full-time, and never arrive late or are absent because of family problems; moreover, if they don’t like the pay of 25 cents an hour and refuse to work, they are locked up in isolation cells.
The Prison Industry in the United States: Big Business or a New Form of Slavery?
There are approximately 2 million inmates in state, federal and private prisons throughout the country. According to California Prison Focus, “no other society in human history has imprisoned so many of its own citizens.” The figures show that the United States has locked up more people than any other country: a half million more than China, which has a population five times greater than the U.S. Statistics reveal that the United States holds 25% of the world’s prison population, but only 5% of the world’s people. From less than 300,000 inmates in 1972, the jail population grew to 2 million by the year 2000. In 1990 it was one million. Ten years ago there were only five private prisons in the country, with a population of 2,000 inmates; now, there are 100, with 62,000 inmates. It is expected that by the coming decade, the number will hit 360,000, according to reports.
What has happened over the last 10 years? Why are there so many prisoners?
“The private contracting of prisoners for work fosters incentives to lock people up. Prisons depend on this income. Corporate stockholders who make money off prisoners’ work lobby for longer sentences, in order to expand their workforce. The system feeds itself,” says a study by the Progressive Labor Party, which accuses the prison industry of being “an imitation of Nazi Germany with respect to forced slave labor and concentration camps.”
The prison industry complex is one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States and its investors are on Wall Street. “This multimillion-dollar industry has its own trade exhibitions, conventions, websites, and mail-order/Internet catalogs. It also has direct advertising campaigns, architecture companies, construction companies, investment houses on Wall Street, plumbing supply companies, food supply companies, armed security, and padded cells in a large variety of colors.”
According to the Left Business Observer, the federal prison industry produces 100% of all military helmets, ammunition belts, bullet-proof vests, ID tags, shirts, pants, tents, bags, and canteens. Along with war supplies, prison workers supply 98% of the entire market for equipment assembly services; 93% of paints and paintbrushes; 92% of stove assembly; 46% of body armor; 36% of home appliances; 30% of headphones/microphones/speakers; and 21% of office furniture. Airplane parts, medical supplies, and much more: prisoners are even raising seeing-eye dogs for blind people.
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Profiting from another person's misery has been around, since the beginning of civilizations. But isn't it about time, we stop this practice and start respecting one another? It will never happen! Never, as long as people can rationalize that it's nothing but Business as Usual. I don't have much hope for our human race, not at the moment when I see how those who represent and lead us, work... TOO SAD, TOO BAD. Below another sad tale of a long injustice perpetrated in the name of GREED. thinkingblue

Private prisons and the profit motive

, @youngcollier
On Tuesday, the ACLU of Ohio released a timeline tracing the decline of the country’s first privately- owned prison. Ohio Governor John Kasich first proposed privatizing prisons in March of 2011 as a way to climb out of an $8 billion budget deficit. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction boasted $3 million in savings “for Ohio taxpayers compared to similar state facilities.” However, since being purchased for $72.7 million from the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the largest private prison corporation in the United States, the prison has racked up countless violations.

In an audit last October, the CCA was slapped with 47 violations including having smaller-than-state standard housing units: “all housing units prove less than the requirement of 25 feet of unencumbered space per occupant.” Later that same year, the CCA failed yet another inspection. And now, according to Think Progress, the CCA’s Lake Erie prison “is reportedly overcrowded at 130% capacity, with single-person cells holding 3 inmates each, according to internal documents obtained by the ACLU.” Since the U.S. leads the world in incarcerations with 2.2 million Americans behind bars, it is no surprise that state budgets are being overwhelmed by prison costs. But instead of trying to legislate prison reform, Gov. Kasich decided to delegate responsibility to private systems that have an incentive to find ways to keep profits up.

The CCA is not shy about its goals, stating in the company’s 2010 Annual Report: “We believe we have been successful in increasing the number of residents in our care and continue to pursue a number of initiatives intended to further increase our occupancy and revenue.” DID THEY REALLY SAY THAT?

The ACLU’s report on the failings of CCA’s Lake Erie Prison highlights the need for an overhaul in the prison system, not privatization of it. And there are ways. Last month, Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky, a Republican, and Patrick Leahy of Vermont, a Democrat, introduced the Justice Safety Valve Act, a bill that would begin to alleviate the problem of overcrowded prisons by altering mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenses.
MORE HERE: http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/04/12/private-prisons-and-the-profit-motive/#_=1365850361458&align=right&id=twitter-widget-2&lang=en&screen_name=allinwithchris&show_count=false&show_screen_name=true&size=m
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Has Slavery Really Ended: A sad tale regarding a slave auction.

Slave Auction, 1850
In early March 1859 an enormous slave action took place at the Race Course three miles outside Savannah, Georgia. Four hundred thirty-six slaves were to be put on the auction block including men, women, children and infants. Word of the sale had spread through the South for weeks, drawing potential buyers from North and South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana. All of Savannah's available hotel rooms and any other lodging spaces were quickly appropriated by the influx of visitors. In the days running up to the auction, daily excursions were made from the city to the Race Course to inspect, evaluate and determine an appropriate bid for the human merchandise on display.

The sale's magnitude was the result of the break-up of an old family estate that included two plantations. The majority of the slaves had never been sold before. Most had spent their entire lives on one of the two plantations included in the sale. The rules of the auction stipulated that the slaves would be sold as "families" - defined as a husband and wife and any offspring. However, there was no guarantee that this rule would be adhered to in all cases.

The sale gained such renown that it attracted the attention of Horace Greeley, Editor of the New York Tribune, one of America's most influential newspapers at the time. Greeley was an abolitionist and staunchly opposed to slavery. He sent a reporter to cover the auction in order to reveal to his readers the barbarity inherent in one human being's ability to own and sell another.

Preparation...

"The slaves remained at the race-course, some of them for more than a week and all of them for four days before the sale. They were brought in thus early that buyers who desired to inspect them might enjoy that privilege, although none of them were sold at private sale. For these preliminary days their shed was constantly visited by speculators. The negroes were examined with as little consideration as if they had been brutes indeed; the buyers pulling their mouths open to see their teeth, pinching their limbs to find how muscular they were, walking them up and down to detect any signs of lameness, making them stoop and bend in different ways that they might be certain there was no concealed rupture or wound; and in addition to all this treatment, asking them scores of questions relative to their qualifications and accomplishments.

All these humiliations were submitted to without a murmur and in some instances with good-natured cheerfulness - where the slave liked the appearance of the proposed buyer, and fancied that he might prove a kind 'mas'r.'

The following curiously sad scene is the type of a score of others that were there enacted:

'Elisha,' chattel No. 5 in the catalogue, had taken a fancy to a benevolent looking middle-aged gentleman, who was inspecting the stock, and thus used his powers of persuasion to induce the benevolent man to purchase him, with his wife, boy and girl, Molly, Israel and Sevanda, chattels Nos. 6, 7 and 8. The earnestness with which the poor fellow pressed his suit, knowing, as he did, that perhaps the happiness of his whole life depended on his success, was interesting, and the arguments he used were most pathetic. He made no appeal to the feelings of the buyer; he rested no hope on his charity and kindness, but only strove to show how well worth his dollars were the bone and blood he was entreating him to buy.

'Look at me, Mas'r; am prime rice planter; sho' you won't find a better man den me; no better on de whole plantation; not a bit old yet; do mo' work den ever; do carpenter work, too, little; better buy me, Mas'r; I'se be good sarvant, Mas'r. Molly, too, my wife, Sa, fus rate rice hand; mos as good as me. Stan' out yer, Molly, and let the gen'lm'n see.'

Molly advances, with her hands crossed on her bosom, and makes a quick short curtsy, and stands mute, looking appealingly in the benevolent man's face. But Elisha talks all the faster.

'Show mas'r yer arm Molly - good arm dat mas'r - she do a heap of work mo' with dat arm yet. Let good mas'r see yer teeth Molly - see dat mas'r, teeth all reg'lar, all good - she'm young gal yet. Come out yer Israel, walk aroun' an' let the gen'lm'n see how spry you be.'

Then, pointing to the three-year-old girl who stood with her chubby hand to her mouth, holding on to her mother's dress, and uncertain what to make of the strange scene.

'Little Vardy's on'y a chile yet; make prime gal by-and-by. Better buy us mas'r, we'm fus' rate bargain" - and so on. But the benevolent gentleman found where he could drive a closer bargain, and so bought somebody else..."

The Sale...

"The buyers, who were present to the number of about two hundred, clustered around the platform; while the Negroes, who were not likely to be immediately wanted, gathered into sad groups in the background to watch the progress of the selling in which they were so sorrowfully interested. The wind howled outside, and through the open side of the building the driving rain came pouring in; the bar down stairs ceased for a short time its brisk trade; the buyers lit fresh cigars, got ready their catalogues and pencils, and the first lot of human chattels are led upon the stand, not by a white man, but by a sleek mulatto, himself a slave, and who seems to regard the selling of his brethren, in which he so glibly assists, as a capital joke. It had been announced that the Negroes would be sold in "families," that is to say; a man would not be parted from his wife, or a mother from a very young child. There is perhaps as much policy as humanity in this arrangement, for thereby many aged and unserviceable people are disposed of, who otherwise would not find a ready sale...

...The expression on the faces of all who stepped on the block was always the same, and told of more anguish than it is in the power of words to express. Blighted homes, crushed hopes and broken hearts was (sic) the sad story to be read in all the anxious faces. Some of them regarded the sale with perfect indifference, never making a motion save to turn from one side to the other at the word of the dapper Mr. Bryan, that all the crowd might have a fair view of their proportions, and then, when the sale was accomplished, stepping down from the block without caring to cast even a look at the buyer, who now held all their happiness in his hands. Others, again, strained their eyes with eager glances from one buyer to another as the bidding went on, trying with earnest attention to follow the rapid voice of the auctioneer. Sometimes, two persons only would be bidding for the same chattel, all the others having resigned the contest, and then the poor creature on the block, conceiving an instantaneous preference for one of the buyers over the other, would regard the rivalry with the intensest (sic) interest, the expression of his face changing with every bid, settling into a half smile of joy if the favorite buyer persevered unto the end and secured the property, and settling down into a look of hopeless despair if the other won the victory... MORE HERE: http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/slaveauction.htm

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Look What Dropped In On My Facebook Page

Facebook Group - DOA - Democrats Opposing Abortion
I don't know how they did it; I certainly would not have "LIKED" this page. I oppose those who oppose a woman's right to choose. I had to find out how to get out of this group; I didn’t want to receive their subjective opinions about the right to choose (we have fought too long and too hard to get that right in the first place). I think what ticked me off the most was their attempt to use Science to prove their opinion correct. Say what? Of course science will show that an actual human life begins at conception but it cannot live on its own without its host. Science also will prove that many life forms begin at conception or fertilazation. What about some fish, snakes, turtles, lizards, cuckoos, butterflies, frogs, flies, worms, mosquitoes, sharks, they just leave their young to fend for themselves and many die, this we just dub as Nature.
Hey, they can believe what they want but don't try to capture and enslave my mind to believe as they do and don't try to make illegal a right that has done so much for the freedom of women. Hell, these pro-lifers will go to any extent to make others adhere or believe in their criterion on what life is really all about. thinkingblue

In Remembrance: Women Who Died from Illegal and Unsafe Abortions
The seven women below are just a small representation of the countless women who have died because they did not have access to safe and legal abortions. Most of these women died before Roe v. Wade offered them a safe alternative. However, women continue to die and suffer injury due to current restrictions that particularly affect young women and poor women.
Our government is now controlled by conservative leaders who are extremely hostile to women's reproductive rights. If more retsictions on abortion are enacted, and especially if Roe v. Wade is overturned, this list of lives cut short could grow to include our daughters, sisters, mothers, best friends, wives, partners, granddaughters and other special women and girls...
Clara Bell Duvall
Clara Bell Duvall
Dec. 23, 1896 - March 27, 1929
Clara Duvall, her husband and five children (ages 6 months to 12 years) were living in Pittsburgh, Pa., with her parents due to limited financial resources when she learned she was pregnant again. Clara attempted a self-abortion with a knitting needle. Her doctor, knowing she was seriously ill and in severe pain, delayed sending her to a hospital for several weeks. The Catholic hospital where she died chose to list the cause of death as "pneumonia."
Ruth Irene Friedl
Aug. 24, 1901 - Aug. 21, 1929
Denied a legal abortion though her pregnancy was diagnosed as life-threatening, Ruth Friedl attempted to self-abort by drinking a plant poison, ergot apiol. That night at the dinner table of their home in Denver, Colo., with her husband and two small children present, she collapsed and died.
Pauline Roberson Shirley
Pauline Roberson Shirley
June 22, 1910 - August 22, 1940
Pauline Shirley and her six children were living with her mother in Arizona while her husband sought work in California. After an illegal abortion, she began to hemorrhage and was hospitalized. She needed massive transfusions. While Pauline's mother searched the community for donors, Pauline bled to death.


Vivian Campbell
December 12, 1925 - May 6, 1950
Vivian Campbell was the mother of two children ages five and three. She was newly separated from her husband when she realized she was pregnant. Sending her children to stay with her parents, she sought and obtained an illegal abortion. She sent for her husband, but by the time he arrived at the hospital it was too late. She died in agony of peritonitis.
Geraldine Santoro
August 16, 1935 - June 8, 1964
The photo of Geraldine Santoro dead on a hotel room floor has become a symbol for the horror of illegal abortion. Gerri, as she was known, lived on her family farm in Coventry, Conn., with her two daughters. At the age of 28, separated from her abusive husband, she became pregnant by another man, Clyde Dixon. Afraid that her husband would kill her if he found out, she and Dixon looked for ways to terminate her pregnancy. With no other options, they attempted to perform the procedure themselves. When the operation went awry, Dixon fled, leaving Santoro behind where she bled to death. A chambermaid found her body the next morning. (How sad is this picture? Click Here)
Rosie Jimenez
Rosie Jimenez
1950 - Oct. 3, 1977
A single mother with a 5-year-old daughter, Rosie Jimenez of McAllen, Texas, was a scholarship student six months away from her teaching credential. She was the first known victim of the Hyde Amendment, which cut off Medicaid funding for abortion to women on public assistance — women who by the government's own definition cannot afford health care. Too poor to pay for the procedure at a private clinic, she died in agony from a botched illegal abortion.
Becky Bell
Becky Bell
August 24, 1971 - Sept. 16, 1988
At 17, Becky became a victim of an Indiana state law requiring parental consent for a minor to obtain an abortion. Unable to bring herself to disappoint her parents by telling them she was pregnant — or go before a judge to bypass the law — Becky sought an illegal abortion. When she became seriously ill, her parents rushed her to the hospital. In severe pain from a massive infection, Becky still could not tell them, and despite the efforts of the doctors, she died.


Sandy Rapp's song, "Remember Rose: A Song For Choice", recalls the story of Rosie Jimenez. It's a fitting soundtrack on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. This version features vocals by feminist Congressmember Bella Abzug. Listen to "Remember Rose". FROM THIS PAGE - http://www.now.org/issues/abortion/120904women-who-died.html

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Study and Remember These Faces

For the next time there is a mass killing by guns in America.
And there will be more as long as Gun Regulations are untouched or watered-down to the point that they can be drowned in a bathtub (with the help of these faces). thinkingblue
Please Click This Link For More Information On These Faces
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How many more rounds are we going to let this go on for?



Monday, April 08, 2013

McCain Asks GOP, What Are We Afraid Of On Gun Control?

Join the club Senator McCain, the rest of "thinking" America don't understand it either. thinkingblue

Sunday, April 07, 2013

Numb-Nut Dust


Makes me wonder if Lapierre and the NRA are sprinkling NUMB-NUT DUST over our legislators, WTF else could it be that immobilizes them, rendering them helpless against a well known, well documented and well recognized danger in our society? If the single slaughter of 20 little children isn’t enough, what would it take for them to cry out in unison ENOUGH'S ENOUGH?
Like I said, “IT MUST BE NUMB-NUT DUST’! thinkingblue
Numbnuts (nuhm-nuhts) Noun 1. The stupidest of the stupid. A complete dumbass, one whose intelligence quotient does not surpass that of the average rock.

American Ideals - Guns and Greed
Below: A Must See Video On Greed