<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><BR>
<DIV>While I am not in favor of big government per se, I am very leery of those who preach downsize, for those are often code words for "de-regulate."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Capitalism is based on greed with not altruistic motives whatsoever. And while I believe that performance should be rewarded and even well rewarded, I believe that capitalism must be very strictly regulated. And in some cases lots of regulation means lots of government.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>We obviously need regulation in almost every endeavor, especially health, energy, environment, military, intelligence, and, oh, hell, the list goes on forever. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>For those of you who missed the 60 Minutes show on Oil Speculation, you can see and/or read it here:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/08/60minutes/main4707770.shtml?tag=topStory;topStoryHeadline" target=_blank rel=nofollow><FONT color=#003399>http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/08/60minutes/main4707770.shtml?tag=topStory;topStoryHeadline</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Here is a quote from that show, I think it points out the need for regulation; so I am not so sure about those who preach "downsizing," - they are too Enron-like for my taste. (BTW all the Enron papers were destroyed in WTC7, so there was no prosecution.):</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Asked who was buying this "paper oil," Masters told Kroft, "The California pension fund. Harvard Endowment. Lots of large institutional investors. And, by the way, other investors, <A class=iAs style="BORDER-BOTTOM: darkgreen 0.07em solid; FONT-FAMILY: important" href="http://www.stockhouse.com/Bullboards/MessageDetail.aspx?p=0&m=25739836&l=0&r=0&s=MPV&t=LIST#" target=_blank rel=nofollow><FONT color=#003399>hedge funds</FONT></A>, Wall Street trading desks were following right behind them, putting money - sovereign wealth funds were putting money in the futures markets as well. So you had all these investors putting money in the futures markets. And that was driving the price up."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> In a five year period, Masters said the amount of money institutional investors, hedge funds, and the big Wall Street banks had placed in the commodities markets went from $13 billion to $300 billion. <STRONG><FONT color=#ff0000>Last year, 27 barrels of crude were being traded every day on the New York Mercantile Exchange for every one barrel of oil that was actually being consumed in the United States.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> "We talked to the <STRONG><FONT color=#ff0000><SPAN style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline">largest physical trader of crude oil</SPAN></FONT></STRONG>. And they told us that compared to the size of the investment inflows - and remember, this is the largest physical crude oil trader in the United States - <STRONG><SPAN style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><FONT color=#ff0000>they said that we are basically a flea on an elephant</FONT></SPAN></STRONG>, that that's how big these flows were," Masters remembered.<BR><BR><BR>later:<BR><BR> "Who was responsible for deregulating the oil future market?" Kroft asked Michael Greenberger. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> "You'd have to say Enron," he replied. "This was something they desperately wanted, and they got."</DIV>
<DIV><BR> </DIV>
<DIV> Greenberger, who wanted more regulation while he was at the Commodity <A class=iAs style="BORDER-BOTTOM: darkgreen 0.07em solid; FONT-FAMILY: important" href="http://www.stockhouse.com/Bullboards/MessageDetail.aspx?p=0&m=25739836&l=0&r=0&s=MPV&t=LIST#" target=_blank rel=nofollow><FONT color=#003399>Futures Trading</FONT></A> Commission, not less, says it all happened when Enron was the seventh largest corporation in the United States. </DIV>
<DIV>"This was when Enron was riding high. And what Enron wanted, Enron got."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> Asked why they wanted a deregulated market in oil futures, Greenberger said, "Because they wanted to establish their own little energy futures exchange through computerized trading. They knew that if they could get this trading engine established without the controls that had been placed on speculators, they would have the ability to drive the price of energy products in any way they wanted to take it."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> "When Enron failed, we learned that Enron, and its conspirators who used their trading engine, were able to drive the price of electricity up, some say, by as much as 300 percent on the West Coast," he added.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> "Is the same thing going on right now in the oil business?" Kroft asked.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT color=#ff0000><SPAN style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline">"Every Enron trader, who knew how to do these manipulations, became the most valuable employee on Wall Street," Greenberger said</SPAN></FONT></STRONG><BR></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN style="COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Black'"><FONT size=3></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN style="COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Black'"><FONT size=3></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN style="COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Black'"><FONT size=3>"I have lost faith, godammit! I put my faith in the People and that was a mistake! This is a shit people! They get stolen blind by their politicians and they lick their boots. They send their kids off to die for somebody's business deal and they celebrate it like they're doing something heroic! This great and glorious people! Lazy sacks of junk food and jingo!"</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Black'"><FONT size=3> </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Black'"><FONT size=3>From: "The Army of the Republic"<SPAN> </SPAN>by Stuart Archer Cohen</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><BR><BR>--- On <B>Thu, 1/15/09, Robin Migalla <I><rmigalla@earthlink.net></I></B> wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid">From: Robin Migalla <rmigalla@earthlink.net><BR>Subject: [CitizensTruth] FW: To Avoid Misunderstandings<BR>To: "citizenstruth@six.pairlist.net" <citizenstruth@six.pairlist.net><BR>Date: Thursday, January 15, 2009, 5:04 PM<BR><BR><PRE>Hi Everyone,
I'm assuming many of you are already familiar with the Downsize DC
organization, so please forgive me if you've already seen this message. I
liked it so much I wanted to share it.
Cheers,
Robin
-----Original Message-----
From: Downsizer Dispatch [SMTP:downsizer-dispatch@downsizedc.org]
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 10:10
To: rmigalla@earthlink.net
Subject: To Avoid Misunderstandings
D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c h
|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|
Quote of the Day: "We did not see (as a result of brain scans of
partisan loyalists) any increased activation of the parts of the
brain normally engaged during reasoning. What we saw instead was a
network of emotion circuits lighting up, including circuits
hypothesized to be involved in regulating emotion, and circuits known
to be involved in resolving conflicts. None of the circuits involved
in conscious reasoning were particularly engaged. Essentially, it
appears as if partisans twirl the cognitive kaleidoscope until they
get the conclusions they want, and then they get massively reinforced
for it, with the elimination of negative emotional states and
activation of positive ones . . . The result is that partisan beliefs
are calcified, and the person can learn very little from new data."
-- Drew Westen, Director of Clinical Psychology at Emory University
<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11009379>
Subject: To avoid partisan misunderstandings
We want to be clear. DownsizeDC.org is, by law, non-partisan. But the
managers of DownsizeDC.org go one step further. We are philosophically
and tempermentally ANTI-partisan. We believe political parties are a
problem, not a solution.
Likewise, we're skeptical of politicians. Any person who thinks he or
she is qualified to make decisions for others, and to coerce others to
abide by those decisions, is automatically suspect in our eyes.
Politicians, almost by definition, are people who feel qualified to
use government coercion to manage other people's lives.
We disagree with them. They aren't qualified. No one is.
In our view the best a politician can do is work to limit the use of
government power. These boundaries are required by the Constitution
and the Bill of Rights. Sadly, most politicians are too impressed
with themselves to limit themselves in such a way.
This fact motivates us to be both anti-partisan and anti-politician.
Where most people look to parties and politicians for solutions, we
favor skeptical thinking, limited, decentralized power structures,
individual liberty, and personal responsibility. We prefer to deal
with issues, ideas, and principles.
Here's where the potential for misunderstanding arises. Most people
are used to thinking in terms of parties and personalities. Thus, if
we support or oppose a policy associated with a particular party or
politician, some jump to the conclusion that we are being partisan --
that we're picking sides.
Nothing could be further from the truth. We care about the issue, not
the party or the politician.
For the past four years we've opposed (and only occasionally
supported) policies associated with Republicans in general, and
President Bush in particular. Some have assumed from this that we're
anti-Republican, anti-Bush, and pro-Democrat.
Now we have the opposite problem. The Democrats have gained control
of Congress and the White House. We've responded by opposing coercive
Democratic proposals. As a result . . .
Some people jump to the conclusion that we're anti-Democrat,
anti-Obama, and pro-Republican. Again, nothing could be further from
the truth.
What we are, and intend to remain, is consistent.
Once again, we believe all politicians, of all parties, are
fundamentally unqualified to decide how other people should live. We
do not believe in top-down social engineering by Republicans,
Democrats, or anyone else. We believe in critical thinking, limited,
decentralized power structures, individual liberty, and personal
responsibility.
One hallmark of critical thought is the rejection of special
pleading. Special pleading is when you have one standard for
yourself, and a different standard for others. Loyalty to parties and
politicians lends itself to special pleading and rank hypocrisy. We
believe such loyalty is inherently toxic to the mind. We think it
also damages the social fabric via unnecessary culture wars.
We've pointed before to brain scan studies showing that partisan
loyalists experience pleasure from lying on behalf of their own
party. Our "quote of the day" comes from the lead scientist in these
studies. We want to protect ourselves from this kind of dishonesty
and non-thinking.
We do this by being loyal to our principles and nothing else.
Therefore, anyone who writes to us accusing us of being
anti-Democrat, anti-Obama, or pro-Republican, is mistaking us for
someone else.
Personally, we (the undersigned) admire Obama's intelligence and
composure. We also take pleasure in the fact that an African-American
family will soon occupy the White House. But . . .
This won't keep us from criticizing things like his vote to legalize
warrantless spying and to immunize the telecom companies that aided
such spying. Neither can we endorse his eagerness to spend a trillion
dollars to supposedly stimulate the economy.
We opposed the stimulus package when Bush wanted it. We'll continue
to oppose it now that Obama wants it. We don't do special pleading.
If you believe as we do that the stimulus bill will be full of waste,
corporate welfare, and favors to political interests, then please send
Congress a message opposing this bill. Do it now, and keep doing it
until the vote is held. You can use our quick and easy Educate the
Powerful system to send your message.
<http://www.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/104>
Then, if you really agree with this focus on principle over
partisanship and cult of personality, please go to our blog, located
conveniently on our home page at www.DownsizeDC.org
<http://www.DownsizeDC.org/>
, and "Digg" the blog version of this message. If you've never
used
Digg before, please, go sign up!
Thank you for being a member of the growing Downsize DC Army, which
allows you to particpate or not participate on individual issues,
depending on your own principles.
Jim Babka & Perry Willis
President & Communications Director
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.
P.S. This Congress is still just getting started. Not all new office
holders have Internet contact pages yet. We are updating our system
to reflect the new Congress, just as quickly as the information comes
to us. If you have one or more new elected representatives, its
possible that you won't be able to get a message to them. But your
message should go through to any of your representatives that remain
the same, or for which we have already received new information.
Don't let this transition deter you from taking action. Your message
will get through to someone, and will make a difference.
|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|
D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c h
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</PRE>
<DIV id=yiv502710700><FONT color=green><B>D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c h</B></FONT>
<HR>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><STRONG>Quote of the Day:</STRONG> "We did not see (as a result of brain scans of partisan loyalists) any increased activation of the parts of the brain normally engaged during reasoning. What we saw instead was a network of emotion circuits lighting up, including circuits hypothesized to be involved in regulating emotion, and circuits known to be involved in resolving conflicts. None of the circuits involved in conscious reasoning were particularly engaged. Essentially, it appears as if partisans twirl the cognitive kaleidoscope until they get the conclusions they want, and then they get massively reinforced for it, with the elimination of negative emotional states and activation of positive ones . . . The result is that partisan beliefs are calcified, and the person can learn very little from new data." <BR><A href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11009379" target=_blank rel=nofollow>-- Drew Westen, Director of Clinical Psychology at
Emory University</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><STRONG>Subject: To avoid partisan misunderstandings</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>We want to be clear. DownsizeDC.org is, by law, non-partisan. But the managers of DownsizeDC.org go one step further. We are philosophically and tempermentally ANTI-partisan. We believe political parties are a problem, not a solution.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Likewise, we're skeptical of politicians. Any person who thinks he or she is qualified to make decisions for others, and to coerce others to abide by those decisions, is automatically suspect in our eyes. Politicians, almost by definition, are people who feel qualified to use government coercion to manage other people's lives. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>We disagree with them. They aren't qualified. No one is.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>In our view the best a politician can do is work to limit the use of government power. These boundaries are required by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Sadly, most politicians are too impressed with themselves to limit themselves in such a way.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>This fact motivates us to be both anti-partisan and anti-politician.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Where most people look to parties and politicians for solutions, we favor skeptical thinking, limited, decentralized power structures, individual liberty, and personal responsibility. We prefer to deal with issues, ideas, and principles. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Here's where the potential for misunderstanding arises. Most people are used to thinking in terms of parties and personalities. Thus, if we support or oppose a policy associated with a particular party or politician, some jump to the conclusion that we are being partisan -- that we're picking sides. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Nothing could be further from the truth. We care about the issue, not the party or the politician. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>For the past four years we've opposed (and only occasionally supported) policies associated with Republicans in general, and President Bush in particular. Some have assumed from this that we're anti-Republican, anti-Bush, and pro-Democrat. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Now we have the opposite problem. The Democrats have gained control of Congress and the White House. We've responded by opposing coercive Democratic proposals. As a result . . .</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Some people jump to the conclusion that we're anti-Democrat, anti-Obama, and pro-Republican. Again, nothing could be further from the truth.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>What we are, and intend to remain, is consistent. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Once again, we believe all politicians, of all parties, are fundamentally unqualified to decide how other people should live. We do not believe in top-down social engineering by Republicans, Democrats, or anyone else. We believe in critical thinking, limited, decentralized power structures, individual liberty, and personal responsibility. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>One hallmark of critical thought is the rejection of special pleading. Special pleading is when you have one standard for yourself, and a different standard for others. Loyalty to parties and politicians lends itself to special pleading and rank hypocrisy. We believe such loyalty is inherently toxic to the mind. We think it also damages the social fabric via unnecessary culture wars. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>We've pointed before to brain scan studies showing that partisan loyalists experience pleasure from lying on behalf of their own party. Our "quote of the day" comes from the lead scientist in these studies. We want to protect ourselves from this kind of dishonesty and non-thinking.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>We do this by being loyal to our principles and nothing else. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Therefore, anyone who writes to us accusing us of being anti-Democrat, anti-Obama, or pro-Republican, is mistaking us for someone else. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Personally, we (the undersigned) admire Obama's intelligence and composure. We also take pleasure in the fact that an African-American family will soon occupy the White House. But . . .</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>This won't keep us from criticizing things like his vote to legalize warrantless spying and to immunize the telecom companies that aided such spying. Neither can we endorse his eagerness to spend a trillion dollars to supposedly stimulate the economy. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>We opposed the stimulus package when Bush wanted it. We'll continue to oppose it now that Obama wants it. We don't do special pleading. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>If you believe as we do that the stimulus bill will be full of waste, corporate welfare, and favors to political interests, then please send Congress a message opposing this bill. Do it now, and keep doing it until the vote is held. <A href="http://www.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/104" target=_blank rel=nofollow>You can use our quick and easy Educate the Powerful system to send your message.</A> </FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'">Then, if you really agree with this focus on principle over partisanship and cult of personality, please go to our blog, located conveniently on our home page at <A href="http://www.downsizedc.org/" target=_blank rel=nofollow>www.DownsizeDC.org</A>, and "Digg" the blog version of this message. If you've never used Digg before, please, go sign up!</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Thank you for being a member of the growing Downsize DC Army, which allows you to particpate or not participate on individual issues, depending on your own principles. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Jim Babka & Perry Willis<BR>President & Communications Director<BR>DownsizeDC.org, Inc. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial', 'sans-serif'">P.S. This Congress is still just getting started. Not all new office holders have Internet contact pages yet. We are updating our system to reflect the new Congress, just as quickly as the information comes to us. If you have one or more new elected representatives, its possible that you won't be able to get a message to them. But your message should go through to any of your representatives that remain the same, or for which we have already received new information. Don't let this transition deter you from taking action. Your message will get through to someone, and will make a difference. </SPAN></DIV>
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