My name is Catherine Morgan, I'm a writer, nurse, mother, and founder of "The Political Voices of Women". This is a blog dedicated to inform and educate the voting public through articles, ideas, and links. It's also a way of giving myself a voice, rather than just sitting back and watching politics and my opinion go by.
--- I am now also at the Care2 Election Blog.
On Wednesday, stocks were down, oil prices were up, and new home sales were the lowest they have been in 13 years. But to spite all of this bad economic news, President Bush told a group at a printing company in Virginia, that the economy will soon be “stronger than ever before.” Really? Is Bush the only person in the country who doesn’t understand that when Americans get their “stimulus” checks they are not going to go on wild spending sprees?
The economy is an important issue to voters, and the voters are getting a lot of mixed-messages about the economy. Is it good? Is it bad? Are we in a recession? Should we be spending or saving? As far as I am concerned…It doesn’t matter what you call it, but the economy is on shaky ground for many Americans. Here is a look at some of the recent news on the economy…
Bush says the economy is on a solid foundation. Really? I’m a little skeptical on this one.The jobs report came out yesterday, and sent the stock market into a tail-spin…It appears I’m not the only person skeptical about Bush’s “solid foundation”.
Wall Street fell sharply Friday after the government’s much-anticipated employment report for December showed that the economy added just 18,000 jobs and that the unemployment rate climbed to 5 percent, the highest since November 2005, from 4.7 percent.
Can our economy really be on a steady foundation? Unemployment is on the rise…
The U.S. economy edged a step closer to recession in December by producing only 18,000 new jobs, its worst performance in four years, and sending the unemployment rate to a two-year high of 5 percent, the Labor Department said Friday. - read full article
Of the several trends boding ill for the U.S. economy in 2008, the most troubling is what’s going on in real estate, which is to say not much in sales and nothing upward in prices and property values. This is not just a housing or mortgage or market problem. It’s an economic problem, and the people who want your vote in 2008 had better have some ideas to address it. - read full article
Don’t expect to see the prices drop anytime soon, either. Oil experts predict price increases will continue to rise into spring.
According to the Energy Information Administration, a statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Energy, gas prices could peak close to $4 a gallon by summer.
Personally, it seems to me that our economy is in some trouble. And, I would really like to hear the presidential candidates address these issues, and let the voters know what they plan on doing to improve our economy if elected. What do you think?
In a report released Saturday, London-based Privacy International assigned Google its lowest possible grade. The category is reserved for companies with “comprehensive consumer surveillance and entrenched hostility to privacy.”
None of the 22 other surveyed companies — a group that included Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and AOL — sunk to that level, according to Privacy International.
Radio personality Don Imus, right, waves goodbye to Rev. Al Sharpton, left, after they appeared face-to-face on Rev. Sharpton’s radio show, in New York Monday April 9, 2007. Imus issued another apology for referring to the Rutgers women’s basketball team as ‘nappy-headed hos’ on his morning show last week. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
As the dust settles following the controversy, it is time to confront the fact that Don Imus’ remarks go far beyond one bigoted commentator. They are further proof that we must change the media system itself if we’re going to reduce hate on the public airwaves, improve journalism and media content in general.
………less than 10% of TV and radio stations are owned by people of color or women. But instead of addressing this national disgrace, Bush’s Federal Communications Commission is actually trying to let the largest companies buy up even more stations.
According to one industry study, only 2.5% of radio stations have a person of color in the role of general manager, and only 4.4% have a racial or ethnic minority in the role of news director. The percentage of women in these jobs isn’t much higher. No wonder shock jocks like Imus have been able to keep their jobs for so long. – READ FULL ARTICLE AT THE HUFFINGTON POST
Many of you already may be aware of this, but many may not be. Either way, if you haven’t signed the petition, you can click on one of the links below to do that. This information is very troubling to me. (This is about Internet freedom. “Network Neutrality” — the First Amendment of the Internet — ensures that the public can view the smallest blog just as easily as the largest corporate Web site by preventing Internet companies like AT&T from rigging the playing field for only the highest-paying sites). And, it also seems not so unlikely that something like this could happen. As a “little guy” with a blog, I don’t want the Internet to change. The Internet is the only media outlet, not being controlled by Corporate America. The scary thing to me is; that the government is already 99% controlled by Corporate America, and the government is going to decide if “we” get to keep our Internet “voice”. If this type of thing is aloud to happen to the Internet, we might as well just start letting Corporate America “hire” our political officials, and do away with the middle man (the voter) all together.
Right now Congress is being pushed to abandon the First Amendment of the Internet — a principle called “network neutrality” that preserves the free and open Internet. Congress needs to hear from you today or they will hand over control of what you do online to companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast.
Politicians are trading favors for campaign donations from these companies. They’re being wooed by people like AT&T’s CEO, who says “the Internet can’t be free.” Sign this petition to tell your elected representatives to protect Internet freedom now. — CLICK HERE TO SIGN PETITION AT THE TAKE ACTION WEB SITE
What is this about?
This is about Internet freedom. “Network Neutrality” — the First Amendment of the Internet — ensures that the public can view the smallest blog just as easily as the largest corporate Web site by preventing Internet companies like AT&T from rigging the playing field for only the highest-paying sites.
But Internet providers like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast are spending millions of dollars lobbying Congress to gut Net Neutrality. If Congress doesn’t take action now to implement meaningful Net Neutrality provisions, the future of the Internet is at risk.
Network Neutrality — or “Net Neutrality” for short — is the guiding principle that preserves the free and open Internet.
Net Neutrality ensures that all users can access the content or run the applications and devices of their choice. With Net Neutrality, the network’s only job is to move data — not choose which data to privilege with higher quality service. Net Neutrality prevents the companies that control the wires from discriminating against content based on its source or ownership.
Who else supports Net Neutrality?
The supporters of Net Neutrality include leading high-tech companies such as Amazon.com, Earthlink, EBay, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Skype, Vonage and Yahoo. Prominent national figures such as Internet pioneer Vint Cerf, Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig and FCC Commissioner Michael Copps have called for stronger Net Neutrality protections.
Editorial boards at the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Seattle Times, St. Petersburg Times and Christian Science Monitor all have urged congress to save the Internet.
What can I do to help?
You can help make the internet faster, more open and accessible to all. Tell Congress to preserve Internet freedom and help ensure that America’s communications infrastructure benefits all Americans.
As a “little guy” with a blog, I don’t want the Internet to change. The Internet is the only media outlet, not being controlled by Corporate America. The scary thing to me is; that the government is already controlled by Corporate America, and the government is going to decide if “we” get to keep our Internet “voice”. If this type of thing is aloud to happen to the Internet, we might as well just start letting Corporate America “hire” our political officials, and do away with the middle man (the voter) all together.
This is the video mentioned in the comment section of this post:
Those two videos do a good job at distorting the issue. Why not post this one so your readers can make a rationale decision about so-called net neutrality.
Businesses in Colombia often pay right-wing paramilitary militias, which were formed in the 1980s to help protect private property from Marxist rebels at war with the state since the 1960s.
Both groups, labeled terrorists by Washington, are locked in a war over lucrative cocaine-producing land in which they extort businesses and kill peasants accused of cooperating with the other side. — Read Full MSNBC Article
Once again, the pharmaceutical companies were able to use the media and buy ads in support of (in this case) an anemia drug, that is now being reported to be dangerous and over-prescribed. Shocking! This is because the pharmaceutical companies have been allowed to report misleading and non-factual information about the effectiveness of their drugs. Basically spending millions to trick consumers into thinking a medication will help them, with commercials touting benefits that have not even been proven. So you, and not your doctor, will suggest having it prescribed, based on false information you saw in a lovely heartfelt t.v. commercial. And I have a “snake oil” that will extend your life by twenty-five years, too bad I don’t have the money to make a commercial.
Of course the companies making these false accusations about their “anemia” drugs…..(not any of the others), will stop doing so. Since they already made a financial killing off this perfectly choreographed deception of the consumer, backing off on this particular campaign is not problem. I’m sure they have some guy that already gave them the “cost/benefit” analysis, that allows for a certain amount of deaths related to this medication since the cost of lawsuits will not outweigh the benefit of huge profits for shareholders. It’s all very legal, and very effective.
Will today’s testimony actually amount to more than just talk with no action?
Wesley Wannemacher of Lima, Ohio, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 7, 2007 before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Investigations subcommittee hearing on credit card practices. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook)
WASHINGTON - An Ohio man whose $3,200 credit card debt mushroomed to $10,700 with interest and fees told his story Wednesday to senators who denounced the industry for confusing billing practices and shifting interest rates. –Read Full Article
……the PCI standards weren’t created to help consumers, they were created to protect the credit card companies from fraud and to transfer the risks from the credit card companies to merchants and merchant banks. The fact that this make consumers feel more secure and give the illusion that Visa and Master Card care about consumers is a nice side-effect, but protecting the company’s own bottom line is why these standards really exist. –Read Full Article
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The talk about this problem has been going on for over seven years. So why has this problem only gotten worse? House Testimony 2001 This is a problem that is clearly hurting the working class and shrinking middle class of our country, so what is going to be actually done to correct this problem?
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Scary Debt Stats
$1.7 trillion
Total consumer credit.
$8,562
Credit card debt carried by the average American.
$50 billion
Total finance charges Americans paid in 2001.
$1.6 billion
Market capitalization of AT&T — the entire corporation.
78%
Percent of U.S. households deemed “credit worthy” by the lending industry.
1.3 million
Number of credit card holders declaring bankruptcy last year.
Here are some additional articles that you my find interesting.
