It's all about selling SOAP?

In July 2011, Sarah Palin's documentary The Undefeated opened to an empty theater in Orange County (READ MORE). While on the surface, the movie's box office failure was rather humorous, unfortunately, a majority of journalists missed the point on why the film was released in the first place. It's the same reason why Newt Gingrich, despite getting destroyed at the ballot box, stayed in the race. 

When this blogger lived and worked in the People's Republic of China, I discovered that cigarettes and alcohol were used to bribe government officials. Indeed, the central government actually monitors the sell of expensive cigarettes to gauge the level of corruption in different cities. While the average price per pack was LESS than a dollar, several brands from Yunnan Province cost more than $110s a cartoon. 

Why? Well, cigarettes are a form of hard currency which cannot be individually traced by the government. Thus, local officials accept cartoons of cigarettes, as bribes, without drawing the attention of the central government. 

Economic crimes, such as tax fraud and corruption, routinely appear among the criminal dockets of those given the death penalty READ MORE...

Intead of cigarettes, in the United States, 527 special interest groups purchase books and DVDs (in bulk) to support politicians and so-called journalists who support their specific agenda. For example, the reason Sarah Palin toured Iowa during the primary season was to SELL books and DVDs. She earns more than six figures a year giving speeches. As long as she remains a political celebrity, she'll continue selling SOAP. While this blogger respects Senator John McCain, somebody spiked his political Kool-Aid in 2008.

Suggested Reading:
Money Unlimited ~ How Chief Justice John Roberts orchestrated the Citizens United decision.
Read More...
Covert Operations ~ The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama.
Read More...

To Facebook or NOT to Facebook?

It's ALL about choice. Up until Google+, Facebook did not have any REAL social nutworking competition. There's a reason why the auto industry produces different vehicles. Consumers should DRIVE the internet marketplace.

Indeed, after the Goldman Sachs backroom investment deal with Mark Zuckerberg, a deal which at first left average Americans standing on the sidelines, I was waiting for a dot-com to challenge the Jolly Green Billionaire. READ MORE...

China forbids Google+ Social Network?
In life, I've learned that most things usually happen for a reason.
READ MORE...

Why, IF Facebook is BLOCKED in the People's Republic of China, did the Chinese Communist Party invest in Facebook?
READ MORE...
READ MORE...

Broken Dragons: Crime and Corruption in Today's China (Paperback)

Why do a majority of Americans think 'cheap gasoline' is a 'birthright'?

U.S. oil production is up, so why are gas prices so high?
Read More...

Economics 101?

How did Mitt Romney get Rich?


Is Romney the Wrong Kind of Rich?
Read More...

Mitt is 'Marvelous" after Wisconsin Win?

The Cayman Islands Department of Tourism unofficially endorses Mitt Romney for President?
Read More...

Is it just me or does Congressman Paul Ryan resemble a young President Richard Nixon?


Snooki announces Congressional bid to represent the moon colony? Governor Rick Perry declares the 'vulture capitalist' a protected species in Texas? Newt Gingrich's Think Tank Files For Bankruptcy? Read More...

The POTUS doesn’t control the price of gasoline?
Read More...

Changsha, P.R.C. (January 2009)

Photo by Peter Rimar

Class Warfare in 2012?

New Studies Determine Which Social Class More Likely to Behave Unethically?
Read More...

"The increased unethical tendencies of upper-class individuals are driven, in part, by their more favorable attitudes toward greed. These findings have very clear implications for how increased wealth and status in society shapes patterns of ethical behavior, and suggest that the different social values among the haves and the have-nots help drive these tendencies."
~ Paul Piff, a doctoral student in psychology at UC Berkeley and lead author of the paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Read More...

etc. etc. etc.

Tax Breaks for Job Creators?

Really? Who came up with this talking point? Some K Street lobbyist? According to CelebrityNetWorth.com, on July 2, 2008, Rush Limbaugh signed an eight-year contract with Clear Channel Communications for $400 million. The conservative talk show host "broadcasts his show from a $26 million ocean front home in West Palm Beach, which has 7 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms and an elevator".

Between January and May 2009, Clear Channel Communications eliminated 2,440 positions (roughly a 12% drop from its December 2008 workforce). Read More...

Still confused?
Here's what Seattle billionaire Nick Hanauer wrote in Bloomberg's op-eds section in November, "When businesspeople take credit for creating jobs, it is like squirrels taking credit for creating evolution. In fact, it’s the other way around." Read More...

At what point will the GOP wake up and finally retire its silly "job creator" talking point?

Every person who spends money is a job creator. Every person with money deposited in a savings account is an investor. At the end of October 2011, one month after the start of #Occupy Wall Street Protests, the Congressional Budget Office published a detailed report on the distribution of household income between 1979 and 2007. The raw numbers are alarming. Read More...

Can you name the first time in American history that the government cut revenue as it marched off to war? Once again, President Obama needs to stop calling his proposal to raise revenue to address the budget deficit the Buffet Rule. It needs to be called the After 9-11 Tax. Dear Mr. and Mrs. Tea Party, can the country do its collective Patriotic Duty and pay for the ongoing Wars? Speaking of which, how many millionaires and billionaires served in Iraq or Afghanistan? 1%?
Read More...

"I Pledge of Allegiance to Grover Norquist"?

In case you missed it, according to the latest Gallup, only 11% of Americans approve of the job U.S. Congress is doing. The 86% disapproval rating for the 112th Congress is the highest since Gallup started asking the question in 1974. Read More...

Public service is NOT about being a Republican or a Democrat. It's not about being a liberal or conservative. It's about doing the right things for the right reasons. It's about being a citizen. And believe it or not, the word Compromise is NOT one of George Carlin's original seven dirty words.

Understanding the latest political games being played out in Washington D.C. is not complicated. Power is crack. Money buys crack. Perhaps it's time for this country to take a serious look at enacting a 28th Amendment to the Constitution which overturns the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case (perhaps the worst decision in America's judicial history since Dred Scott).

"94% of elections in America are won by the candidate with the most money. Is this how we want to pick our leaders?"
~ Buddy Roemer

...life in contrast...

Dirty Blue Jeans in Broken Window, Changsha, PRC (December 2008)

2010 Tax Returns for Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and President Obama?

"A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it." ~ Bob Hope






The following are the raw tax numbers for the three top candidates researched and published by CNN:

Mitt & Ann Romney
Total Income: $21,661,334
Effective Tax rate: 13.9%

Newt & Callista Gingrich
Total Income: $3,162,424
Effective Tax Rate: 31.6%

Barack & Michelle Obama
Total Income: $1,795,614
Effective Tax Rate: 26%


Romney’s 13.9% Tax Rate Shows Power of Investment Tax Preference?
Read More...

‎"It's my MONEY and I need it NOW"?

“Computers have enabled people to make more mistakes faster than almost any invention in history, with the possible exception of tequila & hand guns”
~ Mitch Ratcliffe



Rick Sex-torum wins Iowa? Newt Gringrich releases his tax returns and then donates his little black book (holodex) to the Silvio Berlusconi Library? Rick Perry leaves South Carolina to re-invade Texas? The Koch Brothers offer Steven Colbert a job as a pizza delivery guy? Americans for a better tomorrow, tomorrow? Non-unionized workers at Nevada's Bunny Ranch pimping for Ron Paul? Rumors that Viagra privately endorsed the Keystone Pipeline are true? King Mitt Romney wants to ban the movie It's a Wonderful Life on Caribbean cruise ships?

Joke of the Day:
"Rick Perry? There's a guy who thought Arab Spring was a Saudi Deodorant." ~ John Fugelsang on MSNBC's the Ed Show

Embracing the current political SUCK with a BIG SMILE and HOPE?

IF you're running for President and your NET FINANCIAL WORTH is OVER $250,000,000s, it's an X-tremely BAD IDEA to joke about being UNEMPLOYED with an audience of out-of-work voters struggling to keep a roof over their heads & food on the table. It's like joking about your sore GOLF knees to a room full of amputee combat veterans.


Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney decides NOT to release his tax returns?
Read More...


Campaign Update:
Romney paid 14.5% rate on $42.6M over the last 2 yrs?
(January 24, 2011)
Read More...

From Russia With Love?

This post is NOT about the 1963 James Bond film which starred a young Sean Connery. Indeed, while this blogger has previously babbled about the 2012 Presidential Election, #Occupy Wall Street, the People's Republic of China and Facebook Privacy, until today, I've refrained from writing about the former Soviet Union.


That's why it's a bit curious that this completely irrelevant corner of the blogosphere has an active Russian readership.

...speaking of Russia...
Why do Russians hang rugs on the walls?

In my quest to find the answer, I discovered two outstanding web-sources, which married together, provided this blogger with the best possible answer.

According to the website English Russia, Russians started the custom of hanging rugs on the wall in the 1950s. Why? Evidently, the walls of Soviet-era apartment buildings were extremely thin. Hanging rugs on the wall had a real world, practical application. The custom itself helped mask private conversations from noisy neighbors as well providing some added interior insulation against the COLD Russian winters.
Read More...

A first-person narrative written by an American living in Russia provided this blogger with another possible answer to the original question. Lindsay Kosarev's detailed observations about the country's society and culture are a must read for every American who plans on living and working in Russia:

"Russians love putting carpets on their walls. At first, I thought it was for extra insulation, but they put them on inside walls as well. No matter how stylish or traditional Russians believe this custom is, they always pick a rug that does not match the rest of the room. They either look like the furniture covers, which are brown and tan floral patterns or the rugs are red and black. There are other styles of rugs, but these are the most common and memorable."
Read More...

Thus, based on these specific web-sources, this blogger reached a simple conclusion. What started off as a practical solution to address real world concerns (noisy neighbors and cold apartments), over the course of fifty-plus years, the custom itself simply became a part of the cultural fabric of Russian society.

Hanging rugs on the wall is just one more thing
which helps define Russia as Russian.

Lonely Planet ~ Russia [Paperback]

Donald Trump? Kingmaker?

Hollywood insider rumors that CBS is negotiating with Mr. Karl "527" Rove to appear with the host of Celebrity Apprentice on an upcoming season of Survivor: #Occupy Wall Street are untrue?

Question of the Week:
When did the GOP become
the Grand Obstructionists Party?

...perspective...

"Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh." ~ George Bernard Shaw

...something, something & something more...

IF it's important, people find the time, energy & money to do IT (i.e. whatever IT is). It's human nature. It's an idea which defines our own humanity.

Maybe it's time for a digital UPGRADE?

Does anybody know how to load Windows 2.1x on a Commodore 64 w/ an 8-track tape external hard drive?

Facebook Profile "Going Out Of Business" Sale!

Witty status updates & political remarks FREE.
Everything must go!
Actually, this blogger CLOSED his Facebook account in August. 
Why? Well, I DO NOT believe its founder gives a "rats behind" about protecting user privacy or intellectual property rights. The sole purpose of Facebook is to make m-o-n-e-y. No problem. However, when Mark Zuckerberg locked out American investors, but then accepted BILLIONS from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), I made the decision to BOYCOTT Facebook. READ MORE...

Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks, Fargo, North Dakota (July 9th, 2010).

While a majority of Facebook users have been focused on the latest batch of profile design changes, recently, the social networking giant jumped into the political ring & was caught tracking its users AFTER they logged out :

~ Facebook forms its own Political Action Committee (PAC)
   Read More...
~ Facebook's FAKE Log Out Button?
   Read More...
   Read More...

Facebook MAP of the World

Power is CRACK? Money buys CRACK?

"Liberal friends think I'm a Fascist; Conservative friends think I'm a Communist." 
~ John Gorelski

‎"There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there—good for you. But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You built a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea—God bless, keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is [that] you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along." ~ Elizabeth Warren
Flying Lizards (MP3 Download)

...perspective...

Fenghuang, PRC (April 2009).
Click on image to open in a new window.

Sometimes 'FAIR' and 'BALANCED'?

Los Angeles Times
Climate skeptic admits he was wrong to doubt global-warming data
October 20, 2011
Read More...

The world is still FLAT? The sun revolves around the EARTH? Why discover a new truth when folks are comfortable wrapping themselves in a warm blanket of rhetorical denial?

Anyhow, what distinguishes a true scientist from a political hack, as in the case of UC Berkeley physicist Richard Muller (see story above), is a REAL scientist is open to changing his views if the hard evidence no longer supports his initial hypothesis. A hack merely appeals to preconceived biases and notions to support a specific, privately funded, political agenda.

Joke of the Week:
“Earlier today, Rick Perry unveiled his new tax plan. He says he wants a flat tax. He believes that the tax should be flat, just like the Earth.” ~ Jay Leno
Backstage at the Tonight Show: From Johnny Carson to Jay Leno (Paperback)

What it is, What it was and What it shall be...

Term limits? Good luck convincing politicians in a bad economy to quit their jobs and stand in an unemployment line with the rest of humanity:

I may very well be losing my mind
but I have not lost my sense of humor!
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (DVD)

Wal-Mart goes GREEN?

In January 2003, for various political and economic reasons, this blogger decided to boycott shopping at Wal-Mart. Five years later, in February 2008, I walked back into a store in Beijing.

I believed corporations actually respond to the purchasing power of consumers. For example, if Americans demand more products "Made in the USA", eventually, retailers will respond by stocking more locally manufactured items. It's really not that complicated. It's called "give the people what they want" economics.

CNN Money
Wal-Mart returns to 'Buy American' roots. Really?
May 12, 2011
Read More...

Another case in point is Wal-Mart's recent business decision to install solar panels on 130 of its California stores by 2013:

PC Magazine
Walmart Goes Solar In California
September 23, 2011
Read More...

I've always found that if something is important, people, governments & corporations always find the time, energy & money to pay for IT (whatever it is).
Force of Nature: The Unlikely Story of Wal-Mart's Green Revolution (Hardcover)

Corporation Update: Shortly after I wrote this POST, Wal-Mart announced it would cut health care benefits for some part-time workers. Read More...
*Derivative photograph of marketing montage, Wal-Mart Visitor's Center, Bentonville, Arkansas (May 2010).
*Wal-Mart Store Entrance, Beijing, PRC (February 2008)