Abdulelah Haider Shaye: Why Does Obama Want This Journalist To Remain In Prison? (VIDEO)

Glenn Greenwald has a piece up on it, too -  Obama’s personal role in a journalist’s imprisonment.
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Barack Obama, Gay Rights Groups Struggle Over Democratic Platform

The LGBT is a small minority, and they have come a long way in acceptance, but they are still a small minority. Like it or not, the majority of voters do not agree with their lifestyle.  

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You're really going to try to argue that it's ok to discriminate against gays because there are so few of them compared to the rest of the population?  

I hold membership in several discriminated-against minority groups, and although 'gay' isn't one of them, all added together trumps your one majority status as a heterosexual.  But even that is irrelevant -- Have you read the Bill of Rights lately?  Do you understand the Constitution protects the minority's rights from assault by the majority. 

I recommend you read a book written back in 1970 by Jerry Farber.  I can't even give you the title of (the link with the title in it doesn't appear to make it past the moder@t0rs here --  The title was offensive back then, so you can imagine what kind of a reception it would get now.  Used copies are available through Amazon (search books at amazon.com by Jerry Farber).

It talked about how different interest groups are bought off in order to get that magic 50 +1. The DLC-controlled Democrats are not looking to satisfy all of us; just enough of us to get legislation passed.  And they will use any tactics they can, including having us at war with each other so as to distract our attention from them and their real constituents (transnational corporations).  

Don't fall for it.  Don't go down that road, that there are fewer of them, or that others are more oppressed than they are, etc., so it's ok to deny them the basic rights that you enjoy as a citizen. Until you live in someone else's skin, you have no idea what misery discrimination has on them.  

And don't think there's safety in numbers -- If the Constitution doesn't work for them, it doesn't work for you either.
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The One Percent Worried About Job Loss, Saving For Retirement

Let's look at the other side of the coin:  The average middle class worker in the US at a typical corporation -- Kaiser Permanente.

Kaiser Permanente can afford to pay its CEO $172,000 a week (that's not a typo), but they can’t afford to fund the employees’ pension plans.

The average Kaiser employee’s pension is around $1,500/month (1 1/2% of the annual salary, times the number of years worked). So if you work for 20 years, you get 30% of your salary ($20,000). Not princely, but if you combine it with Social Security, it’s enough to get by on, if you’re prudent.

But Kaiser can’t afford that because they have to pay their CEO $750,000 a month.

The physician-partners at Kaiser aren’t giving up their pension plans, but they want the rank-and-file to give up theirs. So it’s either the employees or the CEO, and Kaiser is choosing its CEO.

I think it's important to remember what the definition of 'rich' is: To be able to purchase whatever you want.   The rich expect everybody else to fund their lifestyles, their 'wants', at the expense of the 99%'s 'needs'.
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Behind Gas Price Increases, Obama's Failure To Crack Down On Speculators

6/2/08 - Candidate Obama Promises To Impose Windfall Profits Tax On Oil & Gas Industry

6/25/08, what Candidate Obama will do to help consumers with rising gas prices included a second round of stimulus rebate checks, impose a windfall profits tax on oil companies, and close the Enron Loophole that allows for speculation's unregulated upward pressure on gas prices.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChNNVhEZjI0

The first of Obama's many broken pledges & promises once he got elected was reneging on his pledge to impose 'Windfall Profits Taxes on the Oil & Gas Industry", etc.:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMbqVDymi7k

11/10/08 - President-Elect Obama Abandons Windfall Profits Tax on Oil Companies

12/23/08 - When pressed about his abrupt about face on imposing windfall profits taxes, President-Elect Obama said, "The prices have now dropped - We'll see about doing that if or when they rise again."

Since 12/08, the price of oil has reached $80/barrel several times, which is the amount that Candidate Obama had pledged would trigger his windfall profits tax. 

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSWAT00963020080609
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMbqVDymi7k
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/12/obama-abandons.html
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