Wednesday in the Age of Reason-Munchausen (1988)

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Thomas MacKenzie

Before taking a pay cut and going to work for Congress, executive Thomas MacKenzie received a hefty bonus from his soon-to-be former employer, Northrop Grumman. In his new position on a key House committee, MacKenzie advises lawmakers on whether to finance expensive projects developed by Northrop Grumman.

MacKenzie joined the staff of the House Armed Services Committee in March 2011 after serving as a vice president at Northrop Grumman. His decision to return to Capitol Hill meant giving up his corporate position that paid nearly $530,000 annually for one that earns about $120,000.

Fortunately for MacKenzie, Northrop Grumman gave him a nice parting gift: a $498,000 bonus.

The defense contractor has a lot at stake as the Department of Defense decides how to trim its future budgets. Northrop Grumman manufactures the costly F-35 fighter, surveillance drones and nuclear bombers.

http://www.allgov.com/Where_is_the_Money_Going/ViewNews/Northrop_Grumman_Gives_VP_Half_Million_Dollar_Bonus_before_He_Goes_to_Work_for_Congress_120613

“

I looked around and I said, We’re torturing people. We use torture. I think that’s wrong. I’m personally opposed to torture, but we’re using it. So I said, “If we’re going to use it, we need a jurisprudence of torture.”

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/apr2003/nure-a16.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Fritzsche

It seems that Fritsche had a defense while Murdoch doesn’t. Murdoch is more worthy of condemnation because he wanted killings to make a profit. Truly a profiteer of war.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jun/15/campbell-blair-bush-iraq-war

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18468123

wanting war. The deceptively named Foundation for the Defense of Democracies does not concern itself with democracy in the US. If this corporate funded tax free foundation did then it would be in Florida. It doesn’t care that a few negroes don’t get to vote.

check out it’s “peace and freedom” loving gallery of war criminals and accomplices

http://www.defenddemocracy.org/about-fdd

It is a truly awful feature of the Supreme Court that no justice since Thurgood Marshall has seen the inside of a trial courtroom while acting as a criminal-defense lawyer.

from: http://www.harpers.org/subjects/NoComment on 10 Jun 2012

* You Really Can Criticize the Government on Social Media – http://p.feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=65483845&f=306880&u=8715964&c=4189982

Tea Leaf Nation posts a new report from Harvard researchers which analyses censorship of Sina Weibo, and concludes that criticism of the government is tolerated, as long as the tweets do not call for real life action:

As academic papers go, this one is surprisingly readable, offering one very important insight into censorship in Chinese social media. Here’s the money line:

 “Contrary to previous understandings, posts with negative, even vitriolic, criticism of the state, its leaders, and its policies are not more likely to be censored. Instead, we show that the censorship program is aimed at curtailing collective action by silencing comments that represent, reinforce, or spur social mobilization, regardless of content.”

To put their conclusion even more simply: Chinese netizens can criticize the government all they want, and they won’t be censored for that reason alone. What gets the censors’ attention is anything which looks like it may actually mobilize netizens to take…

 “We” aren’t in anything together with “them.” Let “them” pay for it if “they” want it. “We” don’t need it.

CEO pay is now 350X the average worker’s, up from 50X from 1960­1985.