By his own admission, McCain is a man of great ambition. The lure of easy money can erase a man's integrity faster than the click of a mouse but McCain would not understand that analogy. I have often been referred to as a keen observer of human nature yet, I have a difficult time understanding supporters of the Cheney-Bush-McCain regime. Then again, I still don't understand how Jimmy Jones was able to convince more than 900 people to stand in line and voluntarily consume a lethal dose of poison.
With the addition of Joe Biden to Obama's team, I feel confident that the revitalized Democratic Party now has a capable navigator. The effectiveness of a captain is determined by the proficiency of his crew. Obama must continue to exercise similar sound judgment with Cabinet appointments to insulate himself from a corrupt political machine that was installed during the Reagan administration and has had free rein for the last eight years.
In the section below this post, you will see a spreadsheet I pulled together from Yahoo's Finance site. I couldn't believe that within a 2 year period of time, 10 people earned $2.5 Billion total. Then I look at the net Revenue, over a two year period of time, and I couldn't believe it came out to less than half. After all expenses paid, Nvidia stock holders are in the red. CEO Jen-Hsun Huang seems to top them all at nearly $1 Billion alone. Oh, and he gets over $500,000/yr Salary, and the others listed receive at least one-third or so the pay, or not too far from that.
It amazes me... because that equates to almost $5/share that each investor could have received. I mention this because this particular company, as much as I liked their graphics cards, has been involved in some bad faith dealings. I've spoken with the Anti-Trust Division of the U.S. Government, but they weren't really interested in any investigation.
In 2006, Nvidia announced its plans to buy a company named PortalPlayer, Inc. For those of you who may not be aware, they were the first company to develop the chips that made Apple tons of money, and #1 in the portable media device.
PortalPlayer, Inc. (PLAY) had been doing well since their IPO in Nov/Dec of 2004, which was around the time I joined the company, and where I remained until about 11 months after the Merger occured. 1 month shy of having PortalPlayer stock vest to receive approximately $28,000.00 - Minor in comparison, but it had the potential of becoming a lot more prior to the announcement that Apple was going to get with another manufacturer for the chip, Samsung. This was a blow, but what didn't make it into the Media was that Samsung had been at one time a customer of PLAY, even more interesting was the fact that the chip used in the Next Generation of Ipod was the same chip, but this time, instead of the musical smiley, it was an apple.
It seemed to me that there was more to the overall deal. I am aware that recently the Samsung CEO was arrested for bad dealings he had been involved in. But an even more interesting part of this whole deal was that PLAY was in the process of signing a contract with Microsoft for exclusive productions of the Zune II chip. The Microsoft deal had been going on previous to the Nvidia offer, though some uncertainty existed during the summer and before the offer was made, but pen and contracts were waiting to be signed in November, when the people involved in making the deal were told to do whatever was possible to avoid becoming obligated, or else it would have costed PLAY a great deal and the merger wouldn't happen, causing inevitable bankruptcy. (assuming that Nvidia would be allowed to collect the premerger breach of contract agreement.
So I have to wonder if anything any corporation does in rewarding it's executive staff, board members, etc. Though many people may say that they made more than enough after investing low, and sold high. Imagine if it were $5/share higher? I can't imagine a person needing $500,000,000 /Year in addition to a half a million regular salary & benefits.
All of this leads me to believe that any corporation, whose executive staff and board receive more money for stock 'awards' than they pay out in revenue during the same period... And here I have to file a lawsuit to have the original obligation that wouldn't cost them a whole lot in comparison. I also invested more energy into the company, and having done so cost me in other ways, but from my point of view was worth it because I enjoyed going to work everyday. I hadn't felt so secure working for any other company in the past. There were many late nights that I spent on my own time contributing to the success of that company.
Question is... How far did Samsung, Apple and Nvidia conspire in the merger & acquisition of PLAY? And why did the board vote not to pursue legal remedy for what was obviously corporate theft... maybe espionage? (There was a Director who was released from his employment, only to be employed by Nvidia, and a few months later a Director at PortalPlayer again... Just in time for the Merger.
It seems we've become so accepting of the "what are the chances of that" ideology, that we really ignore the foul odor in the room. But think of how many homes could have been saved with the the money that had been awarded to 10 people total. If we lived in honest times, I honestly wouldn't be spending time writing this article.
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Any person, group of people, nation, or world which is not governed by values which recognise and protect the dignity of others is inherently oppressive and corrupt.
Is this a correct statement? If it isn't correct, why is it incorrect? If it is correct, why is there so much misery?
It is absolutely disgusting that John McCain is travelling to Colombia to discuss trade agreements with the criminals that run that country and even more disgusting that American taxpayers are footing at least part of that bill.
In Jully of last year relatives of six Colombia Death Squad Victims sued the U.S. corporation Chiquita for arming and funding their killers. These people were allegedly murdered by a Colombian paramilitary group that was partially fundeed by Chiquita. Other multinational corporations in Columbia have also been accused of funding money and guns to right wing death squads who have murdered thousands of people over the past 8 years in Colombia.
Colombian president Alvaro Uribe is among the most corrupt. In May of this year his cousin who is very close to the president was arrested for his connections to these death squads.
Go here for a video that explains it better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfsWD6PYMVw&feature=related
DISGUSTING!
This is a country whose right wing government is so anti-labor that they send out death squads to kill people who try to start unions.
If you've ever wondered what makes Terry McAuliffe such a rabid Hillary fan, you need look no further than his business investments. As many of you may know, he is the rich businessman who loaned the Clintons the money in the fall of 1999 to buy their home in New York, (11 room $1,695,000) a state where the Clintons had never lived so that Hillary could qualify as a resident and run as a senator from New York in 1999. But he has a lot more in business investment tied to the Clintons according to what I read.
Now the following quote is from a 2004 issue of the New York Post. I try to not quote from Republican sources, but in this case I make an exception because this is a prediction that they made in 2004 that has indeed come to fruition in 2008 so it does have some credibility in that it has lived out as "proof in the pudding of the present".
"NY POST PAGE SIX - The last thing the Clintons want is for a Democrat from Arkansas to defeat Bush next year," says our spy about the ex-general [Clark] who is expected to announce his candidacy next month. . . Our source adds, "The Clinton master plan is for a Hillary candidacy in 2008 and they will subtly sabotage the Democratic candidate in 2004. That's why they insist on keeping their personal operative, Terry McAuliffe, in charge of the Democratic committee."
http://prorev.com/mcauliffe.htm
So if there is any doubt about Clintons and how far they go to get what they want, I think that if this campaign has not thus far proven it, the above statement may very well do the job. It also makes the idea that if they can't wrangle the election this year that that would not be above doing all they can to see that Obama loses. I really have not thought that until now and now I do.
I may be wrong, but this is no longer the implausible thought that I once considered it to be. Yes they are indeed just that conniving. But this time they may have outdone themselves if they expect to come back and run under the banner of the Democratic Party. Because of the way she has acted in this campaign, her prestige is even slipping in New York.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-clintonblacks25-2008may25,0,2206514.story
I know it may be asking too much of some of you, but if you disagree, instead of personally attacking me, could you please do something more intelligent and write a post of your own that refutes what I have written with evidence and links to your sources?
Read More »public resources and assets into private hands and to enrich their constituents and supporters. Indeed, the notion that public officials are charged with promoting civil rights and the general welfare came as quite a shock and the adherents of the Republican party are still attached to the former practice.
So, John McCain's efforts to smooth a deal that will enrich his friends shouldn't be considered unusual. Nevertheless, his efforts are an example of what we now consider corruption. In part, that's because, as our public resources and assets have become debased and depleted, our concept of ethics has evolved to expect that public officials carry out the duties of good stewards and not as dispensers of favors to their riends.
It's not right to dole out the nation's natural inheritance in exchange for a mess of porridge.
Richard
www.MySpace.com/Richard732
nothing like more free reign to pillage and plunder!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/04/blackwaters-iraq-contract_n_95168.html
The entire front page of today's Detroit Free Press (print version) covers nothing but Democratic Party news. The entire thing.
There is a piece about the value of a re-vote for the Michigan and Florida primaries. The online version also includes a very tiny story about a abused cat.
There is an article about Eliot Spitzer, the elected Democratic governor of New York who couldn't control his sexual urges and brought disgrace upon himself, his family and his office.
Then there is an article about Kwame Kilpatrick, the elected Democratic mayor of Detroit who couldn't control his sexual urges and brought disgrace upon himself, his family and his office.
Oddly enough, there are voters in this land who see these creeps as proof that Democrats are morally bankrupt. There are a lot of people who don't look at issues (we've seen that on PartyBuilder) and look only at personalities. Republicans get elected by playing to those voters.
With friends like these, Republicans hardly need advertising agencies.
this man seriously needs to resign. like, um, yesterday......
3/3/2008 10:18:49 AM
The trial of indicted influence peddler Tony Rezko – longtime friend and political patron of Sen. Barack Obama -- starts today . Sen. Obama's name has already surfaced in pre-trial documents submitted by the prosecution and, according to media reports, is likely to surface again as the trial progresses. Democrats deserve the answers to these questions as they consider their votes:
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this is rich! george (on abc's "this week") is pressing axelrod to discuss rezko, and he won't answer the questions. he deflects it to clinton tax returns. wtf? this is so typical of obama. smoke and mirrors, denial and spin. i can't WAIT for this trial to start. remember when obama referred to rezko as "that person"? right, he's been your buddy for how many years? obama proves his disloyalty yet again. this is so NOT what i want in a president. sorry, obama. no you can't.
read the story on abc:
just keeping things even.....
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/353829,CST-NWS-rez23.article
BREAKING: NYT Exposes McCain Affair With Lobbyist FROM TRUTHOUT.
Not quite as bad as the headline would indicate, but not good either.
What is apparent is that scandal, deception, and dishonestly are moving humanity towards an abyss of insecurity, tumult, and instability. A changing surface whereby economic and political dynamics are assisting in the evolution of a world that is neither silent nor hospitable to the individual. Only, the interests of "self" dominant on a sphere where influence and corruption are byproducts of moral debauchery - a debauchery that originally started seeping down through the cracks of the once representative governments. The ooze of "self" then covered every aspect of private life until once habitual non-confrontational social intercourse became infused with the goo of confrontational "self". Effective government and business cannot perpetuate when all interest exists for the sole benefit of "self". Society is no longer social, family is no longer familial, government is no longer impartial with an eye toward the betterment of all, and business is conducted dishonestly.
Also visit http://structuralEconIssues.blogspot.com/ Read More »
The great influence of money in our politics is a very dangerous thing because, if the main emphasis in politics becomes money, the people who have the most money, also known as the people who can afford to donate large sums to political campaigns, will gain an inordinate influence in our government. This means that the rich and the corporations will gain a much greater influence in our politics than will the povertized and the Middle-Class. It is very important to ensure that this small minority of ultra-rich citizens never gains complete and total control of our government. That would degrade and deplenish our grand democracy, which is based upon the values of being of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Unfortunately, it seems as though the ultra-rich minority has already gained nearly complete control of our government, the Democratic Party, and the Republican Party, and, not only that, but our entire country as well. Let me explain my thoughts on this matter. Firstly, the financial and political elites are often the same people, for the reason that the financial elites have enough money to launch and run a political campaign, and to maintain a political career. These financial elites who gain political office have, first and foremost, their own self-interest, and therefore the self-interest of other financial elites, at heart. Adding to the reasoning of the statement that politicians have the self-interest of financial elites at heart is the knowledge that most politicians take extraordinary amounts of money from the ultra-rich and the corporations (financial elites). Political leaders find it necessary to take money from these elites, for the reason that they would not be able to win elections otherwise. In order to win an election, one political party has to out-raise another political party. Make no mistake, money is the greatest determining factor in the outcome of elections. The Republican Party has been raising money from the businesses and special interests for years now, and the Democrats, in an attempt to regain power from the Republicans and win elections, had to establish an allegiance to the corporations and ultra-rich as well, to raise enough money to be serious competition. Bill and Hillary Clinton accomplished this, by taking the Democratic Party to Wall Street, and removing it from Main Street, where it had resided for decades. Shame on them, and other Democratic political leaders, for degrading the sacred â??Party of the Peopleâ??.
So, both of our political parties, both competing with each other by trying to raise the most amount of money for elections, have sold out and both become the property of the ultra-rich and the corporations, who are the entities which can donate the most money to political campaigns. And, since our two-party system, with the Republican and Democratic parties, completely controls, and in fact has a monopoly on, our politics and government, our government itself has been sold out to the corporations, ultra-rich, and special interests.
It is also a noted fact in the United States that these same corporations, and the same ultra-rich people, who buy and sell our politicians on a regular basis also own all of the media outlets in the United States. All of the major media outlets in this country are owned by five large corporations. That is a fact. This has caused many to rightfully describe and decry the mainstream media in the United States as the â??Corporate-Owned Mediaâ??. Read More »
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