Showing posts with label greed. Show all posts
Showing posts with label greed. Show all posts
Thursday, January 06, 2011
Saturday, January 01, 2011
Ex-Shell president sees $5 gas in 2012
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The former president of Shell Oil, John Hofmeister, says Americans could be paying $5 for a gallon of gasoline by 2012.
In an interview with Platt's Energy Week television, Hofmeister predicted gasoline prices will spike as the global demand for oil increases.
"I'm predicting actually the worst outcome over the next two years which takes us to 2012 with higher gasoline prices," he said.
Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst with Oil Price Information Service says Americans will see gasoline prices hit the $5 a gallon mark in the next decade, but not by 2012.
"That wolf is out there and it's going to be at the door...I agree with him that we'll see those numbers at some point this decade but not yet." Kloza said.
"The demand is still sluggish enough in some of the mature economies."
In an interview with Platt's Energy Week television, Hofmeister predicted gasoline prices will spike as the global demand for oil increases.
"I'm predicting actually the worst outcome over the next two years which takes us to 2012 with higher gasoline prices," he said.
Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst with Oil Price Information Service says Americans will see gasoline prices hit the $5 a gallon mark in the next decade, but not by 2012.
"That wolf is out there and it's going to be at the door...I agree with him that we'll see those numbers at some point this decade but not yet." Kloza said.
"The demand is still sluggish enough in some of the mature economies."
Monday, December 27, 2010
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Mandating Health Insurance?
The American people are about to be scammed for the medical insurance industry. If they mandate insurance for all Americans, it will be the law that you buy insurance. How in a "free" society can they mandate that you pay a company for a service?
This is nothing more than a scam to make the insurance companies money. Imagine all the new clients they will get that are being forced to pay them. They will be even richer than they are now! And you will still be even more poorer than you are now.
If the environment we lived in was not part of what makes us ill, I could maybe understand this law. But it is not like that. Many get sick from cancers and other diseases b/c it is all around us. So they make us sick then expect us to pay for our care. It is a fuckin' scam. Like any of us can control getting cancer.
And do not think they know what makes us sick. For years they said there was no virus that could cause cancer and in the last 5 years we learned this is just not true. So they do not know. Modern medicine is not advanced. It still is very barbaric even though we have made many accomplishments in medicine.
It truly is becoming a country where only those with money will have an existence and life worth even living. And that is the top 1 percent in this country. 1 percent control the rest of the population and we allow it to continue?
When a few control a countries wealth, this creates poverty.....when a countries rich distribute the wealth, this is prosperity for the people of that country.
This is what capitalism breeds and creates. Greed that will hurt millions so that a select few can wear 24k gold bathrobes and shit in a diamond toilet.
Any system in any country that oppresses a people and controls them, even with money, is not a true free society...................................
They already took money for bailouts for the richest companies in the world. ow they will want even more money.
And if a company is too big to fail, this means they are a monopoly.
How anyone still believes them, Wall Street or any corporation, amazes me......
Wake up America. It is not a conspiracy to take control of the world with Free Masons to create a New World Order. It is about making the richest people richer. That is it....no big conspiracy. They want slaves and have them. And we as Americans, allow it.
This is nothing more than a scam to make the insurance companies money. Imagine all the new clients they will get that are being forced to pay them. They will be even richer than they are now! And you will still be even more poorer than you are now.
If the environment we lived in was not part of what makes us ill, I could maybe understand this law. But it is not like that. Many get sick from cancers and other diseases b/c it is all around us. So they make us sick then expect us to pay for our care. It is a fuckin' scam. Like any of us can control getting cancer.
And do not think they know what makes us sick. For years they said there was no virus that could cause cancer and in the last 5 years we learned this is just not true. So they do not know. Modern medicine is not advanced. It still is very barbaric even though we have made many accomplishments in medicine.
It truly is becoming a country where only those with money will have an existence and life worth even living. And that is the top 1 percent in this country. 1 percent control the rest of the population and we allow it to continue?
When a few control a countries wealth, this creates poverty.....when a countries rich distribute the wealth, this is prosperity for the people of that country.
This is what capitalism breeds and creates. Greed that will hurt millions so that a select few can wear 24k gold bathrobes and shit in a diamond toilet.
Any system in any country that oppresses a people and controls them, even with money, is not a true free society...................................
They already took money for bailouts for the richest companies in the world. ow they will want even more money.
And if a company is too big to fail, this means they are a monopoly.
How anyone still believes them, Wall Street or any corporation, amazes me......
Wake up America. It is not a conspiracy to take control of the world with Free Masons to create a New World Order. It is about making the richest people richer. That is it....no big conspiracy. They want slaves and have them. And we as Americans, allow it.
Monday, October 05, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Healthcare Around the World
Notice that Americans spend more and die earlier...........
United States - Private System
Private sector funded, with more than half from private sources. Private health insurance available through employer, government or private schemes.
15.3% of population (45.7 million people) do not have health insurance.
Federal government is largest health care insurer - involved in two main schemes, Medicaid and Medicare, each covering about 13% of population.
Medicaid - joint funded federal-state programme for certain low income and needy groups - eg children, disabled.
Medicare - for people 65 years old and above and some younger disabled people and those with permanent kidney failure undergoing dialysis or transplant.
Most doctors are in private practice and paid through combination of charges, discounted fees paid by private health plans, public programmes, and direct patient fees.
In-patient care is provided in public and private hospitals. Hospitals are paid through a combination of charges, per admission, and capitation.
United Kingdom - Universal, Tax-funded System
Public sector funded by taxation and some national insurance contributions.
About 11% have private health insurance. Private GP services very small.
Health care free at point of delivery but charges for prescription drugs, ophthalmic services and dental services unless exempt.
Exemptions include children, elderly, and unemployed. About 85% of prescriptions are exempt.
Most walk-in care provided by GP practices but also some walk-in clinics and 24-hour NHS telephone helpline. Free ambulance service and access to accident and emergency. In patient care through GP referral and followcontractual arrangements between health authorities, Primary Care Trusts and the hospital.
Hospitals are semi-autonomous self-governing public trusts.
France - Social Insurance System
All legal residents covered by public health insurance funded by compulsory social health insurance contributions from employers and employees with no option to opt out.
Most people have extra private insurance to cover areas that are not eligible for reimbursement by the public health insurance system and many make out of pocket payments to see a doctor.
Patients pay doctor's bills and are reimbursed by sickness insurance funds.
Government regulates contribution rates paid to sickness funds, sets global budgets and salaries for public hospitals.
In-patient care is provided in public and private hospitals (not-for-profit and for-profit). Doctors in public hospitals are salaried whilst those in private hospitals are paid on a fee-for-service basis. Some public hospital doctors are allowed to treat private patients in the hospital. A percentage of the private fee is payable to the hospital.
Most out-patient care is delivered by doctors, dentists and medical auxiliaries working in their own practices.
Singapore - Dual System
Dual system funded by private and public sectors. Public sector provides 80% of hospital care 20% primary care.
Financed by combination of taxes, employee medical benefits, compulsory savings in the form of Medisave, insurance and out-of-pocket payments.
Patients expected to pay part of their medical expenses and to pay more for higher level of service. Government subsidises basic healthcare.
Public sector health services cater for lower income groups who cannot afford private sector charges. In private hospitals and outpatient clinics, patients pay the amount charged by the hospitals and doctors on a fee-for-service basis.
United States - Private System
Private sector funded, with more than half from private sources. Private health insurance available through employer, government or private schemes.
15.3% of population (45.7 million people) do not have health insurance.
Federal government is largest health care insurer - involved in two main schemes, Medicaid and Medicare, each covering about 13% of population.
Medicaid - joint funded federal-state programme for certain low income and needy groups - eg children, disabled.
Medicare - for people 65 years old and above and some younger disabled people and those with permanent kidney failure undergoing dialysis or transplant.
Most doctors are in private practice and paid through combination of charges, discounted fees paid by private health plans, public programmes, and direct patient fees.
In-patient care is provided in public and private hospitals. Hospitals are paid through a combination of charges, per admission, and capitation.
United Kingdom - Universal, Tax-funded System
Public sector funded by taxation and some national insurance contributions.
About 11% have private health insurance. Private GP services very small.
Health care free at point of delivery but charges for prescription drugs, ophthalmic services and dental services unless exempt.
Exemptions include children, elderly, and unemployed. About 85% of prescriptions are exempt.
Most walk-in care provided by GP practices but also some walk-in clinics and 24-hour NHS telephone helpline. Free ambulance service and access to accident and emergency. In patient care through GP referral and followcontractual arrangements between health authorities, Primary Care Trusts and the hospital.
Hospitals are semi-autonomous self-governing public trusts.
France - Social Insurance System
All legal residents covered by public health insurance funded by compulsory social health insurance contributions from employers and employees with no option to opt out.
Most people have extra private insurance to cover areas that are not eligible for reimbursement by the public health insurance system and many make out of pocket payments to see a doctor.
Patients pay doctor's bills and are reimbursed by sickness insurance funds.
Government regulates contribution rates paid to sickness funds, sets global budgets and salaries for public hospitals.
In-patient care is provided in public and private hospitals (not-for-profit and for-profit). Doctors in public hospitals are salaried whilst those in private hospitals are paid on a fee-for-service basis. Some public hospital doctors are allowed to treat private patients in the hospital. A percentage of the private fee is payable to the hospital.
Most out-patient care is delivered by doctors, dentists and medical auxiliaries working in their own practices.
Singapore - Dual System
Dual system funded by private and public sectors. Public sector provides 80% of hospital care 20% primary care.
Financed by combination of taxes, employee medical benefits, compulsory savings in the form of Medisave, insurance and out-of-pocket payments.
Patients expected to pay part of their medical expenses and to pay more for higher level of service. Government subsidises basic healthcare.
Public sector health services cater for lower income groups who cannot afford private sector charges. In private hospitals and outpatient clinics, patients pay the amount charged by the hospitals and doctors on a fee-for-service basis.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Daily Show Austan Goolsbee Extended Interview
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Exclusive - Austan Goolsbee Extended Interview Pt. 1 | ||||
| ||||
Friday, August 14, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Americans Working Much Harder for Less Pay
Feel like you’re working a lot harder these days, putting in longer hours for the same pay — or even less? The latest round of government data on worker productivity indicates that you probably are.
The Labor Department said Tuesday that the American work force produced, at an annual rate, 6.4 percent more of the goods they made and services they provided in the second quarter of this year compared to a year ago. At the same time, “unit labor costs” — the amount employers paid for all that extra work — fell by 5.8 percent. The jump in productivity was higher than expected; the cut in labor costs more than double expectations.
That is, despite the deep job cuts of the past year, workers who remain on the payroll are filling in and making up the work that had been done by their departed colleagues. In some cases, that extra work came with a smaller paycheck.
The higher worker output and lower labor costs have been good news for companies struggling through the worst recession since World War II. So far, some 70 percent of companies in the S&P 500 have turned in better-than-expected profits for the latest quarter.
But wage cuts and lost paychecks could seriously jeopardize the recovery of a U.S. economy that still relies on consumer spending for two-thirds of its power.
“You have a very severely harmed, injured consumer in terms of income slow down, job uncertainly, job loss, wealth loss, inadequate savings, high debt levels,” said Laura Tyson, an Obama advisor who headed the Council of Economic Advisors in the Clinton administration. “The consumer, I don’t see powering us out of this recession.”
Many economists believe the current recession is on the verge of ending. And if, as many expect, the economy begins expanding again in the second half of this year, companies may begin adding more shifts and re-hiring workers as demand for their products increases.
That improving trend — a slowdown in the pace of the downturn — was confirmed in this month’s Adversity Index from msnbc.com and Moody's Economy.com, which measures the economic health of 381 metro areas and all 50 states. The index includes four components —employment, housing starts, housing prices and industrial production — and classifies each as being in recession, at risk, recovering or expanding.
So far, none of the areas is in the “recovery” stage. But according to the index, 85 metro areas are now in a "moderating recession" – up from 23 the month before.
“A lot of these places were contracting at a much faster pace in the first quarter than they are now,” said Andrew Gledhill, an economist at Moody's Economy.com, which prepares the index.
With job cuts slowing, corporate profits improving and the housing market showing signs of a bottom, many analysts are forecasting that U.S. Gross Domestic Product will turn positive again this quarter after a sharp over the past year.
The Labor Department said Tuesday that the American work force produced, at an annual rate, 6.4 percent more of the goods they made and services they provided in the second quarter of this year compared to a year ago. At the same time, “unit labor costs” — the amount employers paid for all that extra work — fell by 5.8 percent. The jump in productivity was higher than expected; the cut in labor costs more than double expectations.
That is, despite the deep job cuts of the past year, workers who remain on the payroll are filling in and making up the work that had been done by their departed colleagues. In some cases, that extra work came with a smaller paycheck.
The higher worker output and lower labor costs have been good news for companies struggling through the worst recession since World War II. So far, some 70 percent of companies in the S&P 500 have turned in better-than-expected profits for the latest quarter.
But wage cuts and lost paychecks could seriously jeopardize the recovery of a U.S. economy that still relies on consumer spending for two-thirds of its power.
“You have a very severely harmed, injured consumer in terms of income slow down, job uncertainly, job loss, wealth loss, inadequate savings, high debt levels,” said Laura Tyson, an Obama advisor who headed the Council of Economic Advisors in the Clinton administration. “The consumer, I don’t see powering us out of this recession.”
Many economists believe the current recession is on the verge of ending. And if, as many expect, the economy begins expanding again in the second half of this year, companies may begin adding more shifts and re-hiring workers as demand for their products increases.
That improving trend — a slowdown in the pace of the downturn — was confirmed in this month’s Adversity Index from msnbc.com and Moody's Economy.com, which measures the economic health of 381 metro areas and all 50 states. The index includes four components —employment, housing starts, housing prices and industrial production — and classifies each as being in recession, at risk, recovering or expanding.
So far, none of the areas is in the “recovery” stage. But according to the index, 85 metro areas are now in a "moderating recession" – up from 23 the month before.
“A lot of these places were contracting at a much faster pace in the first quarter than they are now,” said Andrew Gledhill, an economist at Moody's Economy.com, which prepares the index.
With job cuts slowing, corporate profits improving and the housing market showing signs of a bottom, many analysts are forecasting that U.S. Gross Domestic Product will turn positive again this quarter after a sharp over the past year.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
My Latest Letter to the White House
Why is it ok for a company to sell cigarettes and the government keeps taxing it higher and higher when they know people are addicted but it is not ok for people to smoke marijuana?
Why is it ok for the government, those who say they know morals better than the normal average citizen, to sell a addictive drug like cigarettes but it is not ok for people to sell marijuana?
Why? Why is it ok for the government to be hypocrites??????
Why is it ok for the government, those who say they know morals better than the normal average citizen, to sell a addictive drug like cigarettes but it is not ok for people to sell marijuana?
Why? Why is it ok for the government to be hypocrites??????
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Thanks to the American Government
Hillary Clinton recently stated that America shares responsibility for what is happening in Mexico due to our "failed drug policies". These failed policies have allowed the current conflicts on the border to become a reality of everyday life for those who live there. These same policies have enabled the growth of these Drug Cartels to what they are now.
The issue is that America is the biggest consumer of drugs on the planet. That is hard to believe since we have had a "War on Drugs" for more than 20 years.
After watching the town meeting that was via the Internet, I now know that they have no plans to stop persecuting people for using a plant that grows naturally. They actually laughed at the highly voted question. Even though decriminalization would help stop some of the violence at the border.
As Chris Rock said, they do not want you doing your drugs, they want you doing their drugs.........
But they will shove another pill down ya throat. "Do you have this symptom? Take this if you have this." It is ok for you to take their synthetic drugs that kill people. Drugs that are suppose to stop things, but cause the same things it is supposed to be stopping. What kind of logic is that? You are not suppose to make worse what you are taking medicine for when you take said medicine. It is not rocket science.
This country is one big hypocritical lie. We are not a country where you can achieve your dreams. It is a country where only through extreme sacrifice will you may have a chance at those dreams. It is a country that tries to preach morals about sex and drugs, but then sell these things to our children. A country that says no to drugs, but then deals over priced & taxed cigarettes to the people.
We live in a country that has convinced people to invest their life savings in the stock market and then allow this market to fail, taking those life savings from the people. Then turns around and takes tax payers hard working money and uses it to bail out these mega corporations who created the failure on Wall Street that took the peoples life savings in the first place. So not only did they get your life savings, but you are now in debt to the bankers of this country for the next 20 years.
His next big idea is for the government to use tax payer money to help investors and banks to take on these toxic loans. The deal though is a bit shady. If a loan is 100 dollars, it can be sold for 88 dollars. The investor will pay 6 bucks. The Treasury will throw in 6 bucks. The tax payer will foot the remainder of what is left. If this loan is paid in full, the profit will go to the private investor, but now if this loan defaults, it is the tax payer left holding the bill to pay. So the tax payer is screwed any way it goes. Now imagine billions in these loans going belly up. Obama's plan will bankrupt America once and for all.
Thanks American Government for looking out for the little man.
I am disgusted anymore. I love this nation and the people in it of all races. It is the diversity of America that makes us Americans & one of the greatest countries to live in. But what they are doing to the people of this nation is just sad. I am so afraid that America's future can be seen if you just go to the border and take a peek over into Mexico...
The issue is that America is the biggest consumer of drugs on the planet. That is hard to believe since we have had a "War on Drugs" for more than 20 years.
After watching the town meeting that was via the Internet, I now know that they have no plans to stop persecuting people for using a plant that grows naturally. They actually laughed at the highly voted question. Even though decriminalization would help stop some of the violence at the border.
As Chris Rock said, they do not want you doing your drugs, they want you doing their drugs.........
But they will shove another pill down ya throat. "Do you have this symptom? Take this if you have this." It is ok for you to take their synthetic drugs that kill people. Drugs that are suppose to stop things, but cause the same things it is supposed to be stopping. What kind of logic is that? You are not suppose to make worse what you are taking medicine for when you take said medicine. It is not rocket science.
This country is one big hypocritical lie. We are not a country where you can achieve your dreams. It is a country where only through extreme sacrifice will you may have a chance at those dreams. It is a country that tries to preach morals about sex and drugs, but then sell these things to our children. A country that says no to drugs, but then deals over priced & taxed cigarettes to the people.
We live in a country that has convinced people to invest their life savings in the stock market and then allow this market to fail, taking those life savings from the people. Then turns around and takes tax payers hard working money and uses it to bail out these mega corporations who created the failure on Wall Street that took the peoples life savings in the first place. So not only did they get your life savings, but you are now in debt to the bankers of this country for the next 20 years.
His next big idea is for the government to use tax payer money to help investors and banks to take on these toxic loans. The deal though is a bit shady. If a loan is 100 dollars, it can be sold for 88 dollars. The investor will pay 6 bucks. The Treasury will throw in 6 bucks. The tax payer will foot the remainder of what is left. If this loan is paid in full, the profit will go to the private investor, but now if this loan defaults, it is the tax payer left holding the bill to pay. So the tax payer is screwed any way it goes. Now imagine billions in these loans going belly up. Obama's plan will bankrupt America once and for all.
Thanks American Government for looking out for the little man.
I am disgusted anymore. I love this nation and the people in it of all races. It is the diversity of America that makes us Americans & one of the greatest countries to live in. But what they are doing to the people of this nation is just sad. I am so afraid that America's future can be seen if you just go to the border and take a peek over into Mexico...
Monday, March 16, 2009
America: Freedom to Fascism - Director's Authorized Version
In 2007, corporations paid 278.3 Billion in taxes. The American taxpayers paid 927.2 Billion...
Your labor & wages for such labor is your private property. Your right to privacy. You are protected by the constitution to not pay taxes on such.
Your labor & wages for such labor is your private property. Your right to privacy. You are protected by the constitution to not pay taxes on such.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Ban on Arts Stimulus, Declare Arts Worker Jobs Not “Real”
Folks, we have a lot of work ahead of us in the good ole' USA...
The plot in US politics, in the space of a few short weeks, has gone something like this:
- A new Administration could bring new vision to making the arts part of the economy.
- Arts spending is wasteful.
- Any spending on anything should be specifically prohibited from reaching the arts, as that would be wasteful and evil, and the arts are the best symbol of Waste itself.
As digital musicians and visualists, relevancy to the rest of the people around us is important. What we do can be meaningful to people, and it can pay for our health care and our loved ones and our kids. It’s often not a life or death thing - but then, neither are many jobs. It’s a gig. Heck, even if it’s a hobby, it supports someone else’s gig.
So that raises some really deep questions about what’s going on with our society when arts-related jobs are singled out above nearly every other sector as meaningless or “wasteful” or not “real jobs.” This stimulus bill will pass, but that fundamental misunderstanding isn’t going anywhere - and it’s time to recognize there’s a problem, and start to work to set it right.
Roughly half of one one hundredth of one percent of the US economic stimulus plan was slated to support job protection in the arts — US$50 million. Meanwhile, we’ve just passed one trillion-dollar bailout of finance and are told another trillion is needed.
You might expect anger to be directed at finance, given their industry was at the heart of the problem. Instead, legislators single out — the arts?
In last-minute negotiations in the US Senate, legislators — including key liberal Democrats — have gone still further to ban any use of stimulus funds for the arts (”museums,” “theaters,” and “arts centers” get singled out). The move was largely symbolically-motivated, not fiscally-motivated. Adding insult to injury, arts institutions are lumped together with casinos and golf courses - literally.
- U.S. Senate Votes Against the Arts (Chicago Examiner)
- Arts Bashing (Center for American Progress)
Congress Restores Arts Funding, Drops Arts Stimulus Ban, After Public Outcry
Here in the US, Congressional Democrats have reversed not one but both bad decisions on the role of the arts in the economic stimulus package. Provisions that would have blocked any stimulus funds from reaching arts centers, museums, and theaters have been dropped. (Golf courses and casinos are still in the ban. Maybe this time, someone read the actual legislation.) And the US$50 million (out of some $800 billion) that would go to the National Endowment for the Arts, dropped from a Senate version, has been restored to the bill. It appears both of those changes not only cleared the House but are part of the Senate version that’s in votes as I write this.
If you believe artists shouldn’t rely exclusively on government funding, you can still celebrate. The arts will receive far less of a handout than a lot of other industries — and do more with it. Arts advocacy groups estimate that for every dollar of the NEA money, another seven dollars will come from public and private supporters. What the tiny amount of federal spending does is make up for shortfalls in lean times, protecting an arts sphere that depends on a variety of sources for revenue. Nearly 15,000 real jobs could be saved by those same estimates. That means an arts infrastructure in the US that can remain healthy and independent.
But the important story here has nothing to do with the stimulus bill, or even the US. It’s that public outcry from people like you rescued this legislation. And if public support can do that, it can do a lot more for the arts, not only in federal spending but other key areas.
Americans for the Arts says supporters from its organization alone sent some 100,000 messages and letters to their Members of Congress. That’s not counting the many more letters and phone calls from constituents, not to mention letters to the editor and press attention.
Here’s one example from CDM comments, by Dartanyan Brown:
I heard the congressman from Nashville (!) talking down the $50 million for the
National Endowment for the Arts. I immediately called his office and let his
staffers know that (blue dog democrat Cooper) was full of hot air on this issue.
As a synthesist, jazz musician and former NEA artist-in-residence I had the
facts and anecdotes to make my points clear.
If Rush Limbaugh can get his folks to call, we can at least counteract them with some facts and persistence.
Call them, they listen, they respond to numbers.
More background on today’s developments:
- House passes stimulus bill with $50 million for artists (Los Angeles Times)
- U.S. Senate Begins Voting on Obama’s $787 Billion Stimulus Plan (Bloomberg)
To all of you who were active, and to our elected representatives who got this right, thanks.
Targeting the arts in this way may have backfired for those elements seeking to vilify it. Instead, it caused thousands of people to rally to the cause. Here’s an example of organizing meetings in Chicago - and a renewed sense that the arts could be part of the economic solution, not the “costly distraction” so many try to make it out to be.
- Organizing Around Art (Chicago Tribune)
Friday, January 09, 2009
There is No Justice
If we were kids that were on a playground and one kid was beating the crap out of another, wouldn't anyone stop the fight? Especially if one kid was doing all the beating and the other was throwing maybe one punch to this other kids 50 punches?
Then why is the world just sitting around and watching Israel kill people?
I actually saw a commercial on TV that was pro Israel. It stated that many Jews are killed and was asking for money to help them. No mention about the Palestinians, who though have been murdered and had their land taken from them. Can you believe there was a commercial for Israel? The commercial was acting like Israel is the victim and cannot help itself. Israel has killed over 700 people since last week alone! 4 Israelis have been killed. That is a bit dis-portioned.
Imagine if that was 700 of our people that have been killed...........
I still say if God does exist, I think he will have something to say to his "chosen people" for all the blood that is on their hands....
I ain't pro Jew or pro Palestinian. I am pro stop killing each other! We as a race will never get beyond this time now till we stop the killing. It will be impossible for us to evolve!
Many of us suffer everyday for the bullshit of myths, legends and other distractions. I am so tired that if I found out I was gonna die of cancer, I would not care. This world has no future. Plus I am ashamed to even be a human being when I look around at the world. To me it would not matter. What am I leaving? A world filled with hate, murder, ignorance, stupidity.......
I really dislike our world because it is based on who has what and who knows who. There is no justice in this world anymore. None, zero, zip, zilch......
Madoff ripped off billions and is on home arrest in this million dollar apartment. There is no fuckin' justice what so ever....this will be why we fail as a race. Holding down those who are without while they raise up those who do. I was caught with a plant and you would have thought I was a terrorist. Madoff steals billions and gets nothing so far.
If this is the best "God" can do, then he is one fucked up being. Maybe he is a bipolar twelve year old with A.D.D. and an anger management issue.
"You can't smell your own shit on your knees or see the forest for the trees....." - Marilyn Manson
Wake up....Open Your Eyes....Grow up.....
Then why is the world just sitting around and watching Israel kill people?
I actually saw a commercial on TV that was pro Israel. It stated that many Jews are killed and was asking for money to help them. No mention about the Palestinians, who though have been murdered and had their land taken from them. Can you believe there was a commercial for Israel? The commercial was acting like Israel is the victim and cannot help itself. Israel has killed over 700 people since last week alone! 4 Israelis have been killed. That is a bit dis-portioned.
Imagine if that was 700 of our people that have been killed...........
I still say if God does exist, I think he will have something to say to his "chosen people" for all the blood that is on their hands....
I ain't pro Jew or pro Palestinian. I am pro stop killing each other! We as a race will never get beyond this time now till we stop the killing. It will be impossible for us to evolve!
Many of us suffer everyday for the bullshit of myths, legends and other distractions. I am so tired that if I found out I was gonna die of cancer, I would not care. This world has no future. Plus I am ashamed to even be a human being when I look around at the world. To me it would not matter. What am I leaving? A world filled with hate, murder, ignorance, stupidity.......
I really dislike our world because it is based on who has what and who knows who. There is no justice in this world anymore. None, zero, zip, zilch......
Madoff ripped off billions and is on home arrest in this million dollar apartment. There is no fuckin' justice what so ever....this will be why we fail as a race. Holding down those who are without while they raise up those who do. I was caught with a plant and you would have thought I was a terrorist. Madoff steals billions and gets nothing so far.
If this is the best "God" can do, then he is one fucked up being. Maybe he is a bipolar twelve year old with A.D.D. and an anger management issue.
"You can't smell your own shit on your knees or see the forest for the trees....." - Marilyn Manson
Wake up....Open Your Eyes....Grow up.....
Friday, December 26, 2008
Meet the Second Christ
The minister has the number 666 tattooed on his arm.
But Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda is not your typical minister. De Jesus, or "Daddy" as his thousands of followers call him, does not merely pray to God: He says he is God.
"The spirit that is in me is the same spirit that was in Jesus of Nazareth," de Jesus says.
De Jesus' claims of divinity have angered Christian leaders, who say he is a fake. Religious experts say he may be something much more dangerous, a cult leader who really believes he is God. (Watch followers get 666 tattoos for their leader )
"He's in their heads, he's inside the heads of those people," says Prof. Daniel Alvarez, a religion expert at Florida International University who has debated some of de Jesus' followers.
"De Jesus speaks with a kind of conviction that makes me consider him more like David Koresh or Jim Jones."
Is de Jesus really a cult leader like David Koresh, who died with more than 70 of his Branch Davidian followers in a fiery end to a standoff with federal authorities, or Jim Jones, the founder of the Peoples Temple who committed mass suicide with 900 followers in 1978?
Prophets 'spoke to me' - De Jesus and his believers say their church -- "Creciendo en Gracia," Spanish for "Growing in grace" -- is misunderstood. Followers of the movement say they have proof that their minister is divine and that their church will one day soon be a major faith in the world.
But even de Jesus concedes that he is an unlikely leader of a church that claims thousands of members in more than 30 countries.
De Jesus, 61, grew up poor in Puerto Rico. He says he served stints in prison there for petty theft and says he was a heroin addict.
De Jesus says he learned he was Jesus reincarnate when he was visited in a dream by angels.
"The prophets, they spoke about me. It took me time to learn that, but I am what they were expecting, what they have been expecting for 2,000 years," de Jesus says.
The church that he began building 20 years ago in Miami resembles no other:
Followers have protested Christian churches in Miami and Latin America, disrupting services and smashing crosses and statues of Jesus.
De Jesus preaches there is no devil and no sin. His followers, he says, literally can do no wrong in God's eyes.
The church calls itself the "Government of God on Earth" and uses a seal similar to the United States.
Doing God's work with a Lexus and Rolex
If Creciendo en Gracia is an atypical religious group, de Jesus also does not fit the mold of the average church leader. De Jesus flouts traditional vows of poverty.
He says he has a church-paid salary of $136,000 but lives more lavishly than that. During an interview, he showed off a diamond-encrusted Rolex to a CNN crew and said he has three just like them. He travels in armored Lexuses and BMWs, he says, for his safety. All are gifts from his devoted followers.
And what about the tattoo of 666 on his arm?
Although it's a number usually associated with Satan, not the son of God, de Jesus says that 666 and the Antichrist are, like him, misunderstood.
The Antichrist is not the devil, de Jesus tells his congregation; he's the being who replaces Jesus on Earth.
"Antichrist is the best person in the world," he says. "Antichrist means don't put your eyes on Jesus because Jesus of Nazareth wasn't a Christian. Antichrist means do not put your eyes on Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Put it on Jesus after the cross."
And de Jesus says that means him.
So far, de Jesus says that his flock hasn't been scared off by his claims of being the Antichrist. In a show of the sway he holds over the group, 30 members of his congregation Tuesday went to a tattoo parlor to have 666 also permanently etched onto their skin.
He may wield influence over them, but his followers say don't expect them to go the way of people who believed in David Koresh and Jim Jones. Just by finding de Jesus, they say, they have achieved their purpose.
"If somebody tells us drink some Kool-Aid and we'll go to heaven, that's not true. We are already in heavenly places," follower Martita Roca told CNN after having 666 tattooed onto her ankle.
But Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda is not your typical minister. De Jesus, or "Daddy" as his thousands of followers call him, does not merely pray to God: He says he is God.
"The spirit that is in me is the same spirit that was in Jesus of Nazareth," de Jesus says.
De Jesus' claims of divinity have angered Christian leaders, who say he is a fake. Religious experts say he may be something much more dangerous, a cult leader who really believes he is God. (Watch followers get 666 tattoos for their leader )
"He's in their heads, he's inside the heads of those people," says Prof. Daniel Alvarez, a religion expert at Florida International University who has debated some of de Jesus' followers.
"De Jesus speaks with a kind of conviction that makes me consider him more like David Koresh or Jim Jones."
Is de Jesus really a cult leader like David Koresh, who died with more than 70 of his Branch Davidian followers in a fiery end to a standoff with federal authorities, or Jim Jones, the founder of the Peoples Temple who committed mass suicide with 900 followers in 1978?
Prophets 'spoke to me' - De Jesus and his believers say their church -- "Creciendo en Gracia," Spanish for "Growing in grace" -- is misunderstood. Followers of the movement say they have proof that their minister is divine and that their church will one day soon be a major faith in the world.
But even de Jesus concedes that he is an unlikely leader of a church that claims thousands of members in more than 30 countries.
De Jesus, 61, grew up poor in Puerto Rico. He says he served stints in prison there for petty theft and says he was a heroin addict.
De Jesus says he learned he was Jesus reincarnate when he was visited in a dream by angels.
"The prophets, they spoke about me. It took me time to learn that, but I am what they were expecting, what they have been expecting for 2,000 years," de Jesus says.
The church that he began building 20 years ago in Miami resembles no other:
Followers have protested Christian churches in Miami and Latin America, disrupting services and smashing crosses and statues of Jesus.
De Jesus preaches there is no devil and no sin. His followers, he says, literally can do no wrong in God's eyes.
The church calls itself the "Government of God on Earth" and uses a seal similar to the United States.
Doing God's work with a Lexus and Rolex
If Creciendo en Gracia is an atypical religious group, de Jesus also does not fit the mold of the average church leader. De Jesus flouts traditional vows of poverty.
He says he has a church-paid salary of $136,000 but lives more lavishly than that. During an interview, he showed off a diamond-encrusted Rolex to a CNN crew and said he has three just like them. He travels in armored Lexuses and BMWs, he says, for his safety. All are gifts from his devoted followers.
And what about the tattoo of 666 on his arm?
Although it's a number usually associated with Satan, not the son of God, de Jesus says that 666 and the Antichrist are, like him, misunderstood.
The Antichrist is not the devil, de Jesus tells his congregation; he's the being who replaces Jesus on Earth.
"Antichrist is the best person in the world," he says. "Antichrist means don't put your eyes on Jesus because Jesus of Nazareth wasn't a Christian. Antichrist means do not put your eyes on Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Put it on Jesus after the cross."
And de Jesus says that means him.
So far, de Jesus says that his flock hasn't been scared off by his claims of being the Antichrist. In a show of the sway he holds over the group, 30 members of his congregation Tuesday went to a tattoo parlor to have 666 also permanently etched onto their skin.
He may wield influence over them, but his followers say don't expect them to go the way of people who believed in David Koresh and Jim Jones. Just by finding de Jesus, they say, they have achieved their purpose.
"If somebody tells us drink some Kool-Aid and we'll go to heaven, that's not true. We are already in heavenly places," follower Martita Roca told CNN after having 666 tattooed onto her ankle.
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