gdp's Comments

The New Civil Rights Movement : Minister: Jesus Predicted People Would Vote For Gay Marriage As A Sign Of End Times

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 01:11:37 +0000

Very well said. I wonder how long it will take before my fellow Christians realize that they're being cynically duped by these agents for darkness? Ha, the answer is, "they won't." It's their naive foolishness in following these kinds of people that is destined to ironically bring about "end times." Funny how that works.

Breitbart.tv : Breitbart: Union Bosses Are Exploiting #Occupy Protesters

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 02:33:29 +0000

You're very welcome, Eileen. When it boils down, truth and precision is what matters. We're all Americans, and we sink or swim together, you know?

Breitbart.tv : Breitbart: Union Bosses Are Exploiting #Occupy Protesters

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 02:22:25 +0000

They vary. Action adventure, sci-fi, and music-related. Large studio pics. I stay away from politics, turning down a big-money one a couple months ago dealing with the civil rights movement of the early 60's, because I don't want to be pegged into a genre as a writer, regardless of the chances of it winning awards (kind of kicking myself). That said, one project I'm on deals with deployment to Iraq and the challenges of becoming one's self again as loved-ones once knew them to be. That one's still in rough, but I promise that regardless of whether you're left or right, center, or whatever, you'll dig it. It's respectful and doesn't make political statements. Human ones are more valuable to me. Thanks for asking.

Breitbart.tv : Breitbart: Union Bosses Are Exploiting #Occupy Protesters

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 02:11:38 +0000

I'm glad you brought this up, speaking of "talking points." In economics, no one ever uses percentages that corporations pay as relevant data. Ever :-) Percentage-wise, we're second right behind Japan. But, that's irrelivant! What ALL economists use is the tax rate compared to GDP. Did you know that? If not, you shouldn't be flouting opinions, because they're based on just what you don't like: talking points. Did you know that corporate taxes raised only 1.3% of G.D.P. in revenue this year, about a third of what it was in the 1950s? I bet not. Or that the United States actually has the lowest corporate tax burden of any of the member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development? No? Even heard of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development? You should if you haven't. It's important. It's the 34 poster countries for the free Western world. And, as economists ALL understand as a very basic truth, by the statistics that ALL ECONOMISTS use, the U.S. has one of the TOP business climates based on corporate tax rates of ALL of them. Right behind Germany and Iceland (1.9%) and tied with Turkey at 1.8%. You can argue with this, but you'd be doing so at the risk of your credibility, going off an irrelevant talking point. You wouldn't do that, I know. Thing is, the definition that ALL ECONOMISTS use to define “tax rate” is the average or effective tax rate. If that's confusing, consider it "taxes as a share of income." The most basic and general way to measure a country's tax rate is to take the total federal revenues and divide it by the gross domestic product. OK, we got that. Now, by this measure, our personal federal taxes are at their lowest level in more than 60 years too. The CBO (that's the Republican Congressional Budget Office) figured that federal taxes consumed just 14.8 percent of G.D.P. this year. Hard to tell if that's high or low unless you have history to guide you. The last year revenues were lower was 1950! That means that our corporate business rate makes our business climate tied for the best in the Western World and our personal income taxes lower than they've been in 60 years! You keep talking about how income disparity isn't the problem and pointing it out is Marxist? You don't have much of a grasp of economics, and you don't know much about political philosophy either. It's not Marxism. Just using that word as a blind insult doesn't give it balls, Eric. And again, there is NOT always "such a huge disparity between rich and poor." You know better. The disparity between the super-rich and what's left of the middle class has exploded. http://assets.motherjones.com/politics/2011/inequ... Last, I have to correct you. First of all, the GOP gave up conservatism when they let Neoconservatives infiltrate the party. Not conservative anymore. I was once a real conservative. YR through the 80's. I truly lamented the Neocons taking over the party and using Reagan to do it. I'm really nothing anymore. Just American. I'm here, but I'm not involved in politics. But, I know two things: The Republican party is not "conservative" anymore, and the founding fathers of our country? They were liberals. The shoulders we're standing upon? They're liberal ones. Was Thomas Paine conservative? Have you read his work “Agrarian Justice?“ He wrote it in 1797. It was a universal plan that this "conservative," as you say, held up the rights of man, needing protection from "priestly imposture" and the "insolence of oppressions too long established." A VERY liberal concept then, and still so now. That's what our founding fathers stood for. Republicans don't get to claim that this republic was founded on advocating for Economic Darwinism and individualism. You are speaking in the talking points you tell me to avoid. Sorry, absolutely over-educated. I'd be happy to discuss specifics that really lay out just how not conservative the founding fathers you're libeling by claiming they were something they were not. Respects, but you're just dead wrong on these points. And, cut with the anti-capitalist rhetoric. None of what either Democrats or Republicans espouse is anti-capitalist. Protecting the health of the republic from unhinged capitalism by regulating what corporations can not be trusted to self-regulate has nothing to do with an opinion of capitalism. Capitalism mixed with social protections for our citizens is what we should all shoot for. We just have to agree that the balance is our goal and work together as a people to find the most profitable path there . . . for EVERYONE.

Breitbart.tv : Breitbart: Union Bosses Are Exploiting #Occupy Protesters

Fri, 9 Dec 2011 22:57:18 +0000

I hear you, but corporate tax rates have been 35% since '93, and through Reagan's tenure, they were 46%. http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/Content/P... And, regulation is just what it is. We MUST be protected from corporations cutting corners for profit by dumping chemicals into our water supply, our air, and into our food. You can't say that we either bend to the unquenchable thirst of a corporation's profit -- especially when they are making record profits right now, giving out such obscene CEO bonuses while America is in such dire straits. And, there is NOT always "such a huge disparity between rich and poor." You know better. The disparity between the super-rich and what's left of the middle class has exploded. http://assets.motherjones.com/politics/2011/inequ... And, regulation? My God, Eric, the GOP has been slashing regulation for years, and banking deregulation? It's a huge part of the problem! We're never going to be able to allow enough poisoning and slave-like labor deregulation to compete with 3rd world countries, and we don't want a country where the wealthy live in mansions on the hill while the rest of us are starving in the streets below. That's not America, that banana republic! And, as far as the current Democratic party not being "your daddy's" Democratic party, I think this may be projection on your part. The GOP is so different than it was pre-Reagan and pre-neoconservative revolution, let alone pre-Tea Party. I'm not really anything but a filmmaker now, but truth be told, my dad is an active member of the GOP (energy industry family) and I was a Reagan-era YR. What it was then is so far removed from what it's become it's unrecognizable. Just saying. No one is trying to equalize all income. Hell no. I'm a good writer and damned if lower-caliber writers will make what I do just because. This is America and the creme should and do rise to the top. But, the tip top should be treating their workers like humans. I remember reading something about how at one point (in the 70's), CEO's made around 30 times more than their lowest paid employees. That now averages something like 300 times. Forget not fair. It's not healthy. And, it's definitely not American. That's not capitalism, either. It's where oligarchy meets plutocracy. We just have to be our brothers' keepers, all of us.

Breitbart.tv : Breitbart: Union Bosses Are Exploiting #Occupy Protesters

Fri, 9 Dec 2011 22:30:08 +0000

Ugh, sorry Eileen, about Saul heading up Gingrich's media wing, I was given what I thought was good source. I got on the phone and inquired, finding out it was info from 2009 and not up to date. My apologies on that one! He was with Newt on the "Save American Jobs Project" though. Always like to get facts straight!

Big Hollywood : Obscure Musicians Jump on Rickety Occupy Wall Street Bandwagon

Fri, 9 Dec 2011 21:05:56 +0000

I suppose that even the obscure musicians are worthy of being included in a civil rights movement, right? What about Radiohead? They make the grade? http://www.pitchfork.com/news/44859-watch-thom-yo...

Breitbart.tv : Breitbart: Union Bosses Are Exploiting #Occupy Protesters

Fri, 9 Dec 2011 20:40:01 +0000

Self-seeking? Why would you say that? Should they seek for yet greater income disparity so corporate boards can continue to expand the endless profit from their own backs? They're organizing to curtail this. To bring some fairness back to our system. C'mon. No one wants communism. That's so cold war in mentality. Fearmongering. No one wants that. We ALL -- Republican and Democrat -- want a fair capitalist system that includes safety nets for our weak and our elderly. Without capitalism, there is no American Dream. The rhetoric needs to stop. We're all on the same side here. Unless you're shilling for the super-wealthy. Newt is calling for an end to child labor laws, for crying out loud. That's not American! And, it's NOT what the Republican party wants to be known for!

Breitbart.tv : Breitbart: Union Bosses Are Exploiting #Occupy Protesters

Fri, 9 Dec 2011 20:34:18 +0000

That's not true. There's no plan for some "communist revolution" outside cold war fantasies. You freely try and paint groups of people banding together to work for workplace safety. None of these people want to rid our country of capitalism. That's ridiculous. Without capitalism, there is no American Dream, and that's something we all hope for, Republican and Democrat alike. It's the fact that it's unregulated and unrestrained and that the disparity between the wealthy and the working class has ballooned to such a disproportional degree. Fair wages? Making sure there is workplace safety? Stopping corporate boards from sending our jobs overseas? This isn't anti-capitalism. It's as American as it gets!

Breitbart.tv : Breitbart: Union Bosses Are Exploiting #Occupy Protesters

Fri, 9 Dec 2011 20:21:14 +0000

I don't understand that video. It doesn't really bother to mention (among many other things) is there was a VOTE to unionize, and providers chose overwhelmingly to unionize. Also, there is an opt-out option for any provider who does not want to be part of the Union. And to say that what Anuzis (former head of the Michigan GOP and now the chair of Newt Gingrich's media arm of his Presidential campaign, the “Save American Jobs Project” isn't anti-union and pro-child labor is about as transparently disingenuous a statement as I've read on here today. It's OK to hate unions. I understand how corporate boards despise paying people fairly. How worker safety is expensive and how child labor laws make it difficult to profit without constraint. I get that. But, when you have a guy who wants to crush people who organize to fight for these rights, it's way more than wrong to disguise it as not being anti-union. Unions are political. Of course. They fight for legislation that protects workers -- that protect the union members and their families. Union dues do that. This whole anti-union argument is so partisan. But, I don't understand how it can be. Republican working class folk and Democratic working class folk are in the same boat. I feel bad for the people led into supporting things that actually work against them. The rhetoric needs to stop.

Breitbart.tv : Breitbart: Union Bosses Are Exploiting #Occupy Protesters

Fri, 9 Dec 2011 19:56:17 +0000

That's not true. There's no plan for some "communist revolution" outside cold war fantasies. You freely try and paint groups of people banding together to work for workplace safety; fair wages; child labor laws and the like as somehow being communist. That's not true and the rhetoric doesn't help. I'm union. Film. It's nothing like that. Communism is a very specific thing: "According to communist theory, the only way to abolish capitalist inequalities is to have the proletariat (working class), who collectively constitute the main producer of wealth in society, and who are perpetually exploited and marginalised by the bourgeoisie (wealthy class), to overthrow the capitalist system in a wide-ranging social revolution.[7] The revolution, in the theory of most individuals and groups espousing communist revolution, usually involves an armed rebellion." There's nothing armed about it and there's no revolution. There's a call for fairness and banking regulation so that bribes no longer affect our constitutional republic. The people who are bravely marching in opposition to the inequities that are turning our legislature into a rich-man's mafia are all VERY American. They don't want an end to capitalism! My, no. They love their country. They just want fairness. Banking regulation. Normal things that Americans want, not some overthrow of our system. No one wants communism. And, socialism? C'mon, that's silly. We've had socialist ideals woven into our capitalist democratic experiment for over a hundred years. We're not libertarian. We have safety nets for our weak and our elderly so we don't become a banana republic. And, armed rebellion? Be real, please. The protesters who are standing up against the banking industry right now are the OPPOSITE of this. They're completely non-violent, unarmed, peaceful people. They're being treated like terrorists in what can only be considered extremely fascist tactics by militarized police forces (who in cases like the NYPD, are funded directly by the banking system to do their bidding.) The rhetoric has to stop. Being Republican or being Democratic is fine. There are differences (especially now) and it's OK to espouse the actual policy differences. But when the norm ends up with rhetoric like this and you're making up the most foul and far off-base accusations against your fellow Americans, likening them to enemies of the state, no good can come from it.

Breitbart.tv : Breitbart: Union Bosses Are Exploiting #Occupy Protesters

Fri, 9 Dec 2011 19:42:03 +0000

That's just not true. I'm union. I work in film, and our unions work very well with the studios. We're protected through safety standards, insured fairly, and are paid a wage that keeps us out of poverty while the studio owners make their millions. We're OK with their wealth, and they're OK treating us fairly. There's no corruption. No mob. And, it's really ignorant to say that it needs to be put down so we can become indentured with child labor and no need for safety. We're not a 3rd world country, and NO corporation cares about anything above their bottom line. It's not in their nature. They're beholden to stockholders only. Not honor. Not country. Nothing but their bottom line. We exist together. Workers are happy to work in a capitalist system that gives them the chance of obtaining the American Dream, but without protections and without unions, we're a 3rd world country with no possibility for upward mobility. How can you deny that and toss out such shameful rhetoric with a straight face?

Breitbart.tv : Breitbart: Union Bosses Are Exploiting #Occupy Protesters

Fri, 9 Dec 2011 19:36:20 +0000

Origins in the mafia? You can't just say that and make it true. "The origins of unions' existence can be traced from the 18th century, where the rapid expansion of industrial society drew women, children, rural workers, and immigrants to the work force in numbers and in new roles. This pool of unskilled and semi-skilled labour spontaneously organised in fits and starts throughout its beginnings, and would later be an important arena for the development of trade unions. Trade unions as such were endorsed by the Catholic Church towards the end of the 19th Century. Pope Leo XIII in his "Magna Carta"—Rerum Novarum—spoke against the atrocities workers faced and demanded that workers should be granted certain rights and safety regulations" Spontaneous and heavily supported by the Church. That's not mafia. "Besides acting to raise wages and improve working conditions, the federations espoused certain social reforms, such as the institution of free public education, the abolition of imprisonment for debt, and the adoption of universal manhood suffrage. Perhaps the most important effect of these early unions was their introduction of political action." I understand that board members who want to profit without having to worry about safety regulations, child labor laws, fair pay, and the like would despise people banding together to strive to be treated fairly. I understand that. It's the same mentality that makes boards seek to take their businesses to 3rd world countries and get 3 cent / hour labor instead of paying Americans. I get it. But, how can anyone with a straight face damn these people for working together to demand fairness? Mafia? Congress and the banking system is in the midst of very real RICO violations, bribery, and the like, and to ignore that and try to damn workers for huddling together to seek some semblance of fairness with rhetoric like this isn't honest and it isn't helping anything.

Breitbart.tv : Breitbart: Union Bosses Are Exploiting #Occupy Protesters

Fri, 9 Dec 2011 19:26:38 +0000

I'm union, working in film. I still think it a badge of honor. We're represented to the studio system and the function makes sure we're not taken advantage of through strict safety standsrds and that we make modest, but fair wages and are properly insured. Nothing wrong with that. The studio owners still make their millions, which is OK, but we're able to survive fairly. I don't understand the whole "communist" thing that you and a lot of others on this board cry out at, because I don't see it. "According to communist theory, the only way to abolish capitalist inequalities is to have the proletariat (working class), who collectively constitute the main producer of wealth in society, and who are perpetually exploited and marginalised by the bourgeoisie (wealthy class)" That much is true. The income gap is HUGE and growing, and that crosses all political lines. We're all suffering because of it. ". . . to overthrow the capitalist system in a wide-ranging social revolution." Here's the rub. No one -- not one American, Democratic or Republican, wants to overthrow our system. It's gotten stacked in favor of the wealthiest and so many are unemployed; children are hungry, and 46 million children live below poverty lines; but no one wants to "overthrow" anything. It's about regulating the financial system. About evening the playing field a bit so that our system of capitalism allows for the possibility of attaining the American Dream. Right? "The revolution, in the theory of most individuals and groups espousing communist revolution, usually involves an armed rebellion." The voice of the protests has been the opposite of this. Non-violent, peaceful. The only violence has been pretty well-recorded as militarized police forces, some, such as the NYPD being funded directly by the banking industry to make them beholden to the banking interests over U.S. citizenry expressing the freedom to peacefully assemble -- beating, spraying, arresting them. The protests have been anything but communist, and definitely not an armed or violent insurrection. The response, however, has been very strikingly fascist. Not that our government is fascist. Not any more than a hundred years of weaving socialist programs into our constitutional republic is "socialist." We have to stop the rhetoric, because it doesn't serve any purpose but to divide us all. I thank Breitbart for providing this forum, because it introduces what should be a healthy insight into those active in forwarding the GOP positions. I just wish what's here actually expresses it intelligently instead of throwing out shock-value red scare kinds of accusations that are so untrue to almost seem to be parody.

Big Government : What Does Sec. of State Clinton Know About Fast and Furious (and El Paso)?

Fri, 9 Dec 2011 05:10:45 +0000

I know: let's take speculation and start some partisan investigations which will prove to be no more fruitful than any of the other ones so we can find something . . . anything else to do besides putting Americans back to work. What was the Iran Contra thing about? Even worst case scenario, this doesn't compare to that in the least, and no dog was put down that time. "In the end, fourteen administration officials were indicted, including then-Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. Eleven convictions resulted, some of which were vacated on appeal. The rest of those indicted or convicted were all pardoned in the final days of the presidency of George H. W. Bush, who had been vice-president at the time of the affair. Only one, Elliott Abrams, was convicted of two misdemeanors and subsequently pardoned." Our country is in the midst of a near-depression and we can't even get Congress to do ANYTHING to pass jobs legislation with businesses pledging to let the country fail unless and until the "Kenyan" is deposed. This is a really sick waste of time and we all know it. On the list of what's important right now, this is tied with EVERYTHING besides jobs at the bottom of the list. We HAVE to get that done, because our soldiers are coming home and deserve to have something to come home to.

Big Hollywood : Report: Pedophilia Rampant in Hollywood

Wed, 7 Dec 2011 23:25:53 +0000

Why on earth would this comment be down-voted? That's why people don't want to discourse with you. Unless you're rabid, ignorant, angry, and marching boot-step in hate and bigotry, you won't listen. Won't discourse. Too cowardly to respond, satisfied to vote your hate in. You've lost your way.

Big Hollywood : Report: Pedophilia Rampant in Hollywood

Wed, 7 Dec 2011 23:21:18 +0000

Oh, come now. The "left" is not that. I know it makes it easier for you to hate people who don't fall in line with the right's politics, but to call them anti-family, anti-faith, and for the sake of all that's holy, anti-nation is just silly. I'm not really "left," as any of my more progressive friends would frustratingly attest to, but I am certainly not on the right. I'm very devout in my faith, which happens to be Christian. Anti-family? C'mon. It's your opponents who just made sure that millions of children weren't left with no health insurance and it was the GOP frontrunner who wants to bring back child labor. The union support has all to do with making sure people work for living wages so that the middle-class that GOP policy has all but wiped out survives without 46 million children living in poverty. I know that you probably don't believe what you're saying here, but you really need to think about what you write, because with all that the GOP does to prove these monikers describe themselves, the transparency makes you look very bad. Projecting. Disagree with policy, but keep ridiculous accusations like that in the schoolyard. And, anti-nation? C'mon, Bodica. You may not "like" your President for whatever reason, but he's corrected our foreign policy so that we're again respected in the world and he's actually done all the things that the last administration couldn't / didn't to protect the homeland from terrorists. Just be honest about things. What you wrote makes you sound kind of batty.

Big Hollywood : Report: Pedophilia Rampant in Hollywood

Wed, 7 Dec 2011 23:10:31 +0000

Thing is, it's not any more rampant in Hollywood than it is anywhere else. It's wrong when stuff like this happens in the movie industry, in homes, schools, or Bible camps, like this story that broke today: "28-Year Old Bible Camp Teacher Arrested For Having Sex With 13-Year Old" http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/28-year-old-... It's not right anywhere, and it's kind of transparent and silly for Nolte here to politicize such a serious issue by trying to couch it as a "Hollywood" thing, IMO.

Big Hollywood : Report: Pedophilia Rampant in Hollywood

Wed, 7 Dec 2011 02:26:08 +0000

It's not like that. We all just do our jobs. No one really talks about politics, because it's not relevant to what we're all trying to accomplish. I've worked with directors I know are Republican and ones I know were Democratic. No one likes people who take advantage of kids in any way. And, trust me, if anyone who votes D or R sees someone hurting a child, who they support in any given election wouldn't have anything to do with how fast they invite the authorities to bust some heads. Neither Republicans or Democrats support pedophilia. C'mon. This is kind of ridiculous.

Big Hollywood : Report: Pedophilia Rampant in Hollywood

Wed, 7 Dec 2011 02:17:36 +0000

Well, I don't think we let anything be anything. We let the market decide, right? It's always sad when people confuse their politics with arts criticism. People are going to like what they're going to like and they're going to support what's good IN THEIR OPINIONS. It's why Hollywood remains financially successful. Lotta job creators doing their civic duty. I've been out here a long time and I've never seen anything seedy like Nolte writes of. Never known anyone who's done anything vile like this. Don't believe the hype -- especially from John Nolte. The guy came out here, tried, and failed miserably. Now, he's bitter and is being paid to get back at who he blames his failure on. Personal responsibility, remember?