Foxconn worker conditions in photos

A bell clangs to signal the end of the work shift. Your replacement is standing behind you, waiting to take over and obediently steps in without missing a beat of the production flow. You walk a short way down an alley and into a massive dorm that is home to 210,000 of your coworkers, half of the existing workforce. You walk down a sterile, dim hallway to your room that is the size of a garage and shared with 7 others, one of which shares your bed since there are only 4. You might watch TV in a stark community room or wash your clothes and yourself on a balcony set up for that purpose. Then, back to work you go after sleeping on a barely 1 inch thick pad for a bed.

That is what it’s like to work for electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn in China, the makers of our beloved iPhone. Wired.com sent a team there to take photos for an upcoming feature focusing on the worker’s conditions and reported abuse allegations along with the unprecedented 11 suicides that have occurred there.

Article comments point out that the conditions photographed at Foxconn aren’t all that bad compared to other places in China, and I suppose it wouldn’t even be in our sights at all if it wasn’t the birthplace of the wildly popular iPhone.

But here is an example of the extreme exploitation of people at the hands of capitalism, found throughout Asia and any other third-world or newly industrialized country.

I love my iPhone and extend my thanks to those that suffered to make it.

Nothing new under the sun?

Laws for Our Safety or for Insurance Co’s Profit?

I’ve been driving a long, long while, close to 40 years now. It’s one of those things that I do on a daily basis and just as reflexively as walking. I’ve been talking on a phone just as long, with many years of experience doing so while doing something else. Multitasking has been around a lot longer than computers and cell phones and gadgets (though it took the common use of computers to come up with a label for doing more than one thing at a time), and it is something we humans are capable of. Why? Who cares why? We just are.

Just as obvious is that we know when our attention is divided too much just as instinctively. Ask any mother of a a toddler just how much attention she needs to pay to her child while doing other things. She learns quickly to grow eyes in the back of her head to monitor her child’s activities. If you know of a mother of a young child who doesn’t pick up toys, make beds, do dishes, dust, mop, throw a load of clothes in the washer and cook all with a phone held between her shoulder and ear, then you’ve met a rare mother indeed.

So all this crap about writing laws to prevent talking on a cell phone while driving is just about as ridiculous to me as the seat belt laws. Come on! Who does my not wearing a seat belt threaten? Why, my insurance company’s bottom line; a what, not a who. Point made.

Sure, cell phones fit in pockets a heck of a lot better than they fit between a shoulder and ear, and that tilted head skews visual depth perception quite a bit. So, guess what?  I don’t do it! It takes too much concentration to figure out that skewed perception and carry on a conversation at the same time. I don’t talk on a cell phone and drive well, so I don’t do it. I don’t think I’m alone in this either. It’s called common sense and self-preservation all wrapped up in one.

But, there’s a legion of roosters strutting around in pomp and self-importance – and perhaps a mighty investment in insurance company stock – that insists that they know better than I know myself what is good for me. How dare they!

Beginning drivers, those who haven’t been driving long enough to build the neural pathways to develop the instincts it takes to drive safely, probably shouldn’t talk on a cell phone while driving. Even then, one close call is usually enough to drive that point home, don’t you think? That’s how we learned, right? And since a cell phone doesn’t fit between my shoulder and ear well, I don’t talk on it while driving unless I have my headphones or bluetooth.

Now, even more of those never-ending “studies” have come out that shows that accident rates do not drop in states that have banned cell phone use while driving! And those same studies indicate that texting, for some, certainly not me, has become just as second-nature as talking on a phone while doing chores, and again, show no drop in the accident rates.

Don’t get me wrong. I know that there are a lot people out there that have never heard of common sense, let alone have any, and do stupid things that threaten their well-being constantly and in the process, threaten others. They’ve been out there a lot longer than cell phones! Knowing this, we all learn to drive defensively. We have to. Cars are deadly just because they are 3,000 pounds moving down the road!

Why not just ban driving and get it over with? Oh, can’t do that – there’d be no profit in it. Pshaw!

Google Voice on iPhone: Another Step Toward World Hegemony?

Google is at it again. On the heels of unveiling “Near me now” and “Explore right here,” the search giant went live with its Google Voice HTML5 Web application for iPhone.

By creating a Web-based application using HTML5 standards, Google brings its Voice application to the iPhone in spite of AT&T’s refusal to allow the app to be available through iTunes. Google is pushing the new standards and has already created rich Web applications for Gmail, Reader and YouTube.

The screen shot is the Voice application on my iPhone. But, right from the get-go, some things don’t work the way you’d expect. It is not as seamless as an application written for the iPhone would be, starting with the ability to use the app to place an outgoing call. On a computer, to place a call, you enter in the phone number and the service then rings your phone and the desired phone number at the same time. In the process, your Google Voice number shows in the Caller ID.

That didn’t happen when I tested the service. On my phone, it showed that I dialed a strange number, and on my friend’s Caller ID was my iPhone’s number. Not good since that was the primary reason for wanting to use the service. Still, the only usefulness of Google Voice, to me, is having a secondary number to give out to keep my private number private, with all calls going straight to the service’s voice mail. In other words, it’s limited since I can’t make calls from that number without my home computer.

Another source of confusion, and limitation, is the announcement of the Web app for the iPhone with the address as http://m.google/voice, which will not come up in my phone’s browser. Instead, I entered http://www.google.com/voice and the app came right up. I’m not sure if it is possible to block a mobile site address across AT&T’s network, nor if it is a blocked address why the Web address still brings up the mobile application. Nor am I sure if this is the reason for the app’s limitations on my iPhone. What I am sure of is that Google will quickly fix what does not yet work as the application grows in popularity.

With Google pushing location independent (cloud) connectivity to the Internet, what with its suite of Web apps and mobile apps, there is speculation that the usefulness of applications installed on individual computers will decrease dramatically as the demand for broadband goes through the roof as a result.

In the process of pushing HTML5 standards, Google is putting the ax to Adobe’s Flash. By pushing Web applications, and now Android, it is threatening Microsoft’s position as the leader in office and operating systems. By making its mobile applications as slick and powerful as any native computer application, it is pushing mobile and Internet service providers to expand as exponentially as Microsoft pushed hardware manufacturers on its way up to the top of the heap. By pushing location independence, Google is, single-handedly, reinventing the usefulness and value of Internet connectivity for individuals and businesses alike.

No, I am not another tech writer, nor do I keep that close of an eye on tech advances outside of my own little niche of interest. But, that Google keeps breaking into the mass media warrants a bit more attention. In the middle of it all, a few major opportunities to jump on its bandwagon just might be the thing to drag the world out of this economic depression.

At this rate, Google just might become the world’s next hegemonic government. Starfleet, here we come! Is it farfetched? You decide.

In the Back Door? Sheikh Buys NC Ranch

Did I mention that I’m “geographically challenged?” So, I Googled it. I had to when I came across an article titled, “SC Horse Property Bought by Dubai Ruler.” Dubai, located within the United Arab Republics, is right there in the center of the proverbial Hot Seat. No, one bad apple don’t spoil the whole bunch, but what is left to think when a whole lot of bad apples are all from the same basket?

That’s my train of thought when I read this little snippet of an article found on thehorse.com:

Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, has purchased 360 acres in South Carolina’s Aiken County through the Darley America arm of his Thoroughbred empire. He eventually will operate a training facility on the property, according to a story on www.aikenstandard.com. The deal for the land closed Dec. 30.

 

Plans for the site include the construction of a one-mile dirt track, Darley America president Jimmy Bell told the Aiken Standard. According to the publication, the property is located near the community of Montmorenci and is approximately six miles from the Aiken Training Track, a well-known winter training center for Thoroughbreds.

 

Bell also said there were no immediate plans to sell a previously purchased Aiken property, which includes two barns at the Aiken Training Track, that Darley bought from Robert and Janice McNair's Stonerside Stable in 2008.

Sure, I could just be contributing to the infinite number of conspiracy theories floating around, but this all seems to come neatly together under the guise of horse racing. Wouldn’t this large acreage be the perfect thing for a militant training center?

Just sayin’.

Welcome to Hypocrisy U

Just last month, Arkansas launched a state lottery for the purpose of providing college scholarships for its students. In its first four days, the lottery took in $1.4 million dollars.

With the purpose of the lottery in mind, one staunchly prohibitive Christian university in central Arkansas, Harding University, decided to exempt the lottery from its anti-gambling code of conduct. Today, however, the university changed its mind:

"My intention was to express in our policy the reality that it will be very difficult to enforce any prohibition against the lottery," said President David Burks. "In an attempt to avoid one appearance of hypocrisy, I made a decision that has itself come to be viewed as hypocritical."

Not entirely clear how any of the colleges who chose to ban participation in the state lottery will be dealt with, Burks stated that his intent is to stand firm against gambling and will at least issue verbal and written warnings to any student caught playing the lottery.

As much as Dr. Burks wanted to avoid the appearance of hypocrisy, he has anyway, and in full color. The Harding University mission statement includes this little snippet of wisdom, listed as the first goal of the school:

Generally, the integration of faith, learning and living - developing the whole person through a commitment to Christ and to the Bible as the Word of God, an emphasis on lifelong intellectual growth, and the encouragement of Christian service and world missions through a servant-leadership lifestyle.

Wouldn’t “Christian service” include freely giving in order to help Arkansans increase their access to higher education? The gambling aspect of the lottery is minute in comparison, wouldn’t you think?

Maybe. It might not be much of a consideration considering that the vast majority of Harding University students are not Arkansas residents, with only a handful from the city in which the university resides. The private college oozes money and wields its power over the city, the county, and yes, the state, often dictating which businesses will or will not operate within its radius of influence.

Harding, along with other denominational religious groups, stood firmly against the state lottery, but lost to the choice of the voting citizenship. Arkansans want to support Arkansas, and spoke their mind. Perhaps, with the lottery scholarship in hand, a few college bound Arkansas teenagers will choose to attend Harding.

At that point, Harding will probably just increase tuition to remain out of reach. Welcome to Hypocrisy U.

Stressed Out? Take Control.

In September, the Social Science and Medicine journal will contain the results of a long-term study that confirmed what we’ve all known – that it’s less stressful to actually be laid off from a job than it is to worry about losing a job. Worriers, those not knowing if they’ll have a job for the next year, reported poorer physical and mental health.

The study, done in two phases between 1986 – 1989 and 1995 – 2005, concludes that this type of worry is not related to the present economy and it may mean that more people are struggling to cope with higher levels of stress while suffering adverse affects of the emotional turmoil as a result.

A Gallup Poll survey done during the last week of August shows that the level of concern for the possibility of cut hours, reduction of wages and reduction of benefits is much higher than the second phase of the study. While it may be splitting hairs, the question becomes one of whether the results of the study would be the same if done during the current economic depression as the poll suggests.

Watching the headlines during the week, the same sort of conflict of supposed facts is obvious. One will say that there are signs that the depression is easing, that consumer confidence is up and that there were fewer new unemployment claims. The next bunch of headlines say that what rose the month before dropped again and that more businesses are closing. Evidence itself, the conflicting news supports the results of the Gallop poll, that there is far more concern of uncertainty than ever before.

The next question becomes one of whether the “good news” is manufactured to manipulate the public into spending money on crap instead of necessities, despite the reality of the majority of people with very little money. In order to survive, most people are learning a very valuable lesson in delayed gratification.

If there is any hope to be found in today’s current state of affairs, it will be that the majority of the population regains control and breaks free of the “sheep” mentality that has plagued this country for the last century. There is power in numbers, and if the majority of people actually waited to purchase something until they had the money instead of relying on credit, equilibrium will return with the power of people at the top of the pecking order.

Wal-Mart Assistant Manager Beaten with Bat

George Freibott, an assistant manager at a New Haven, CT Wal-Mart store, decided to give a written reprimand last Monday to one of his workers for poor job performance, the second reprimand in a few days. The unnamed worker grabbed an aluminum baseball bat off the shelf and beat Freibott a dozen times, breaking an arm and leaving several bruises. The worker will be charged with first-degree assault and breach of peace, when they find him.

With 1.1 million on its payroll, Wal-Mart is the largest employer in the US, and is in the headlines often. In July, the behemoth decided to cut its list of covered prescription drugs included in the employee health plan to force employees to use $4 generic drugs instead.

Not long before that, the company implemented a point system; after 6 points, the employee is terminated, with no consideration given for circumstances of absences or alleged mistakes made on the job. The people hired by the company for the role of assistant manager are not trusted enough to even put together employee schedules or do time clock overrides. In effect, Wal-Mart is paying for the truism “you get what you pay for” yet again with assistant managers expected to put in 70 hours a week for little compensation.

Add this to the notoriously underpaid and overworked workforce who can be fired on the spot if the word “union” is even thought, and you have the recipe for disaster.

That Wal-Mart is such a large employer with the strength of solid financial reports in an unstable economy gives the corporation the “right” to write its own rules of engagement, and it does so without restraint. More than once, I’ve heard it said, “Sam Walton must be rolling in his grave.”

Apple vs AT&T vs Google re: iPhone App

This particularly long-time headliner of a story continues to saturate tech sites, blogs and newspapers as it becomes clear that it is the consumer that suffers when monopolies can’t seem to play well together.

GrandCentral came to be when it’s developers decided to offer a free phone number/voice mailbox – sans any telco – to the homeless, a great idea that allowed various services to communicate with the people that so needed their help. GrandCentral grew to become an online application that could fill many needs. One number that will ring all your phones, a central voice mail, a safe and private way to give out your phone number and make calls without the risk of your real number landing on the lists of telemarketers.

Google sucks up GrandCentral, adds in voice mail transcription and SMS and creates smartphone applications, knowing that there are quite a few people who use their smartphone much like they do their computer to stay connected while away from home.

Rating second in the field of numerous smartphones because of its lack of business savvy though quite strong in the general market, creating an iPhone Google Voice application was a logical move. That logical move has turned into a media mud-wrestling match that pits Apple against AT&T against Google to the point where the FCC has no choice but to become involved. How they figure to stop monopolies from monopolizing is now the question.

Apple says that it didn’t reject the Voice app outright, but is mulling it over due to privacy concerns. The Voice app will upload all the contacts on the iPhone to the Web version of the application, located on Google servers. This time, Apple and AT&T aren’t in cahoots, neither contacted the other to discuss the Voice app, but AT&T, it is revealed, is the only cell phone carrier that does not allow VoIP. Apple contends that allowing the iPhone Voice app will confuse us stupid users that will not be able to figure out what to do having two voice mail apps, SMS apps and phone calling capability.

In the end, Apple is cutting off its nose by not allowing this privacy-protecting service on users’ cherished iPhones. AT&T is now forced to reconsider its ban on VoIP, though the calls Voice makes to connect phone numbers happens over traditional phone lines and not VoIP. And, Google has bought sympathy and time to fix up their growing mountain of services that don’t work together.

Too big for their britches, I’d say. I want my iPhone to do what I want it to do, and that includes using Google Voice!

Inbox: The Fascist Threat?

OK people, this worries me. In my Inbox today was an email that said,

7 Ways We Can Fight Back Against the Rising Fascist Threat
http://www.alternet.org/politics/141929
Why the right-wing extremism must be stopped in its tracks or else we face the threat of outright violence and goon rule.

The loud and raucous “town hall” meetings have turned into the threat of Fascism for the future of our country, likened to the scare tactics used by playground bullies.

I haven’t been following the media circus around the Health Care Reform debate. All I know is that I am employed and without health care, and quite frankly, that scares the shit out of me. This ol’ clunker of a body has run smoothly so far, but just how long will my luck – and the laws of probability – hold out?

Am I looking for a handout? No. Am I selfish for molding my views on the subject of healthcare reform around my own situation? Perhaps.

But one thing I am for certain not doing is using illogical, emotional, extremist verbiage to push my point of view onto someone else, whether it be one person or every citizen in the grand United States of America.

What, doesn’t diplomacy work here at home? That there are such strong insults coming from both sides of the debate is a clear signal that much more work is needed before any laws are passed. Duh.

Talk with me, not at me. I will do the same.

If the Shoe Fits…

The Doo Doo Rolls Downhill - Fast

Whatever the number crunchers say, no matter what barometer they are using to gauge the health of the piss-poor economy, the truth of the matter is that you and I and every other poor soul that sells their time for a paycheck is screwed.

If you think about it, you'll see it is exactly you and I that keeps the economy floating. We pay full retail price for the products we are paid a pittance to produce. When sales slow, you and I lose our jobs. Here's the clincher: the more production slows, the less money that is paid into the "pool" that is the unemployment fund. Less money is paid in while more and more need that fraction of the usual income to survive long enough to - hopefully - find other employment.

Sure, it's a good idea to stay working anyway. It's no secret we're all expected to earn a living for ourselves. That goes without saying. Keep your eyes open, dot your t's and cross your i's, and never take anything for granted. Keep working!

It looks to me like, chunk by chunk, the every day man, you and I, the same ones that keep the economy healthy by our purchasing power, all of us are losing our rights, our freedom and our dignity.

The doo doo is rolling downhill so fast that the bastards are biting off the hands that feed their greed.

Sure Could Use a Little Good News

I've been keeping my eye on the headlines as usual, and for the last few days, I haven't found anything that hasn't been pounded into the ground. Even that cartoon-in-poor-taste is still making the rounds.

It makes me wonder. Could we have another strike in the making, only this time it's news reporters instead of flaky Hollywood actors? Or maybe everyone is hunkering down to weather the depression and there really isn't anything happening?

Maybe, it's more that my own eye has grown too accustomed to all the bad news. Hm. That must be it, because I sure could use a little good news today.

When Less is More, Lots More

I saw this photo and thought, "great, now techies are reviewing dentist chairs too." Of course it sent a shiver down my spine. Back in the 1960s, my old dentist's exam chair looked just like this one. It just goes to prove that you never can tell when something will pop up to send you back into childhood nightmares.

This is called the Freedom chair, made by Humanscale. It is marketed as lightweight due to the lack of adjustment handles and levers, and because it has a headrest. It's also supposed to be comfortable and stylish and intuitive. I'll just have to take their word for it.

When a product trumpets "it doesn't have this and it doesn't have that," I assume that, because it lacks all of those this and thats, it will be less expensive. Less goes in, so it should cost less. Right? Think again. The price range on this chair runs from $1,180 to $2,750.

Obama: How Deep Does it Have to be Before it Matters?

That is the question I am going to ask you with a very heavy stomp of my foot for emphasis. If you've been watching or reading the news, you recognize the photo to be the entrance to Obama's aunt's Boston apartment. Aunt Zeituni Onyango lives in public housing and holds a job with the housing authority, and a four year old standing order to leave the country after her request for asylum was rejected. Said aunt attended his senatorial swearing in ceremony and has contributed to his presidential campaign - illegally, since only citizens can contribute. Also coming to light is the frequent visits Obama paid family members in Kenya, even one to introduce his wife-to-be to them. Family members have also traveled here to visit Obama and other friends.

Again, another angry stomp of my foot. How much more can this country learn about this man that screams of anti Americanism and still ignore it? His own past associations right here in the US negates any possibility of a non-classified National Agency Check clearance, and is at the top of my list of things that raise quite a few red flags in my mind. I had to pass a NAC in order to work in a position that served the families of deployed soldiers, and that did not require access to any military information whatsoever. I wouldn't want the safety of this country in the hands of such a person.

Nevermind that he has been caught in more lies during this campaign than I've told in my entire lifetime, and the backstabbing way he's conducted his campaign. Forget that everything he's proposing has been tried and failed before. And pay no attention to the list of characters of ill repute and intention that he has closely associated with. Don't ask where all this campaign money is coming from at a time when the whole country has sewed shut its collective wallet during the worst economic period since the 1920s.

Look, I have no more evidence than you. I base my opinions on the same news stories you read. I am no more able to glean what is true from what is fabrication than you are. All this "evidence" is circumstantial, though a good news source would validate the claims made.

But, consider this: It is possible to win a murder trial based on circumstantial evidence, even without a body as proof that a murder occurred. The evidence has to pass the test of "beyond a reasonable doubt" in order to return a verdict of guilty.

I've seen more than enough evidence to reasonably deduce that Obama should be laughed out of the room for even thinking about running for the highest office in the land. What an arrogant, self-serving narcissist!

And just how naive can Americans be? How deep does the pile of evidence have to be before it matters to you?

Today's Bob the Squirrel

An Election Tie Would be a Mess

Get this! Let me see if I can untangle this mess well enough to spit it back out intelligibly. I'll make no guarantees.  The news this morning reports that it's very possible that the electoral college will return a tie in which neither candidate reaches the 270 points needed to win the election. If that happens, the Constitution dictates that the House would then decide the vote, but instead of counting up electoral votes, each state would get one vote regardless of its size.

In the House right now, Democrats control 27 states, Republicans 21, and 2 states have an equal number of representatives in both parties. The sticky part comes in to play when you consider that only 25 of the states signed into law that their representatives are required to vote per the popular vote in their states. This scenario could mean that some representatives would be voting against their own party, and under an extreme amount of pressure because of it, whether in states that require their vote to be the popular vote or not.

Both candidates would be bargaining and cajoling and doing whatever they had to do to get House representatives to vote their way. In the meantime, get this, while the candidates are in bed with the House, the Senate is in the process of choosing the Vice President. Obama could end up with Palin, and McCain could end up with Biden, regardless of which wins the presidency.

If the House doesn't choose by the time Bush leaves on January 20, the newly chosen VP becomes president. If neither the House or the Senate can make up their minds, Nancy Pelosi becomes the acting president until everyone makes up their minds!

Considering the House's decision to back the $700 billion bailout plan against a very strong and overwhelming opposition to it by the American people, your guess is as good as mine which way they'd choose in this election. It could end up in the courts, much like the 2000 Bush election, and it could drag on for quite awhile.

If this wasn't so pitiful, it would be hilarious. What if we turned against the status quo and all decided not to vote at all?  That would sure put a crimp in their plans.

Bailout Failed Without a Spin

Get this. An article in Time says that the reason why us pitiful little people don't want the bailout is because we have no idea what the current financial wreck does to us. The article compares the people's overwhelmingly negative response to the $700 billion bailout plan to the failure to leave before a hurricane hits. Bush and company should put a face to the impact an economic failure would have and rename the bill to something other than a bailout. There you have it: The government and the rich bankers think we're just stupid, dumb idiots that continually fall for the huff and puff and fluff.

So, I have to ask: What makes them think we haven't been living this economic failure already? The economy has been crap for the everyday Joe for about two years. No stink was made until the downturn started to effect the bottom line for the rich.  Sorry, but the trickle-down theory only works when the economy is in an upswing, and that only happened once in our history at the beginning of the Industrial Age. Keep calling your representatives and remind them that they must continue to represent The People.

Surprise: No Bailout

The people spoke out, and for once, their representatives listened and voted per their constituencies' will. But, why are they surprised that the American people did not want to spend their money bailing out the businesses and corporations that have been raping them all along?

Those businesses get the average citizen going and coming: We are paying for them to be in business when we buy their products or services, when we pay tax on those products and services that the businesses don't, when we pay local taxes that end up going to businesses as incentives, when we pay our utilities, when we work for minimum wage to make them rich, when we apply for credit for purchases and then end up with hefty interest rates and finance charges, and on and on. Now they are worried that we didn't want to pay them for screwing up so badly that they are crumbling?  Who cares?  I don't. You want us to yell foul when one of us applies for welfare, but it's OK if businesses demand welfare to pay for their mistakes? Get real.

I think it would be a not-so-bad idea if the whole system crumbled so that a less greedy and hopefully more equitable system can be built to replace it. Let the stock market collapse all the way. I doubt we'd see much of a change anyway. Cudos to the House for doing their job.

My Money is Spent How?

I'm not going to tell you that I understand the stock market or the way these big financial companies work, because I don't. Not in the least. The only conclusion I can draw from it all is that what they are dealing and gambling with is less valuable than the paper money circulating that is supposed to be backed by gold. Real gold. Gold in heavy, hefty bars. These stock brokers and whatever other players involved watch numbers flash across a ticker at lightening speed and that's what they are dealing and gambling with - blips of neon light. The numbers represent, supposedly, a vast amount of money so voluminous that no human being could ever count it in a lifetime if it was piled right in front of him.

So, here's all these major trading firms, commercial banks, mortgage lenders and financial insurance companies all whining for help, to bail their asses out before their walls all come crumbling down. Not one single financial genius is looking at the real reason behind the "worst crisis on Wall Street since the Great Depression."

And it's all so simple, really. A few years ago, when gas prices started to go up - something we can't live without - but blue collar wages didn't, the squeeze began. The 90% of the population that holds only 10% of the wealth in this country pay taxes while the 10% that holds 90% of the wealth enjoy government tax breaks, incentives and yes, trillions of dollars in "bail outs." Well, you damned idiots, what did you expect would happen when you drained your consumer market dry with your greed? You got all the money - aren't you happy now?

What really pisses me off is that we are all so well programmed that we do nothing while our tax money is spent to bail out badly run businesses. But, bring up the topic of "welfare" and there's a mighty public uproar. Why is that? It's right to bail out business with gazillions of money, but it's wrong to spend less than 11% of the national budget on Public Assistance, Medicaid and Medicare?

I thought the Consitution of the United States reads "government for the people, by the people." People, not businesses. People. You and I kind of people. You and I and millions of other people that make up that 90% of the population that holds only 10% of the wealth.

Go ahead and slam me for my idealism, perhaps my naivete, and if you want, for my trashy language. If it makes you stop and think about this long enough to slap me upside the head, then maybe some of it will sink in. We the people are the majority, and it's about time that the majority woke up.