posted Jan 18, 2012 8:28 AM by Screaming Head
Just because Tyler Perry and Will Smith exist does not mean that Hollywood is all equal and good. George Lucas (yeah, you remember Star Wars?) produced an all black film about an all black, really THE all black, World War II Air Force brigade, the Fightin' 99th. They were the first all black air force pilot brigade in World War II, and they performed the best out of anyone. They never lost a bomber; they never got shot down. Nonetheless, many people do not know who they are.
Even though George Lucas was behind the flick and it starred major black talent (Terrance Howard, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Ne-Yo), Lucas recently went on Jon Stewart to tell the world how no studio would back the flick because there was no white lead. So how did the movie get made?
Lucas self-financed the movie with $58 mil of his OWN MONEY and even then, it took 23 YEARS to get made. Now when you consider that Star Wars didn't take that long, not for all 6 episodes, you have to think that this movie is probably worth the $150 buxx they charge at the movie theatres nowadays.
This video is known as Raw Feed for me, because it is unedited, just me talking. I've seen a lot of pure idiots on Youtube who don't exercise any editing in their videos, yet they still get hits. I don't know why. But I have to experiment with the same format to find out. So here is my first Raw Feed video. I also talk about Huntsman dropping out (tear).
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posted Jan 11, 2012 1:41 PM by Screaming Head
Forget the national debt, deficit, income inequality -- we're in more trouble than we know. On the record -- I endorse military action against Justin Bieber.
Justin Bieber is a Ruthless Dictator Who Must Be Stopped |
posted Jan 7, 2012 10:32 AM by Screaming Head
I really enjoy this vlog thing. You can say so much more.
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posted Jan 5, 2012 8:35 AM by Screaming Head
The Screaming Head has begun to VLOG!! Rick Santorum is a Godless Racist |
posted Dec 5, 2011 6:37 AM by Screaming Head
When you can get just as famous for interviewing a Presidental candidate as for doing the work of being one, we're in trouble. The celebrity that you can receive from running for national office is undermining the process.
Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich began this Presidential campaign selling books. Rick Santorum is obviously angling for a show on Fox News with his 1870s conservative views on well...everything.
Between these clowns and the satellite clowns like Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee and Donald Trump, who simply refuses to go away, the serious candidates like Jon Huntsman, Buddy Roemer, and yes, even Ron Paul can't get a fair shake.
The entire reason Donald Trump gets to host a Presidential debate on Fox News has more to do with Fox News than the Presidential debate. We have all had our fun with the Republican nomination process, but it's getting too close for comfort here.
Remove celebrity out of the Presidential process and our country will see a drastic change for the better.
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posted Dec 3, 2011 4:03 PM by Screaming Head
"First they ignore you, then they insult you, then they try to destroy you, then they accept you."
I found myself today, completely at random, in the Rosa Parks museum on the campus of Troy University in Alabama, on the 56th anniversary of the initial action sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Rosa Parks had been arrested the previous day, December 1st, 1955, for refusing to give up her seat on a bus. That very night, Jo Ann Robinson, a schoolteacher and civil rights activist, stayed up all night with two student volunteers mimeographing more than 56,000 handbills for public distribution detailing the wrongful arrest and calling for "every Negro to stay off the buses Monday in protest of the arrest and trial."
The call to action was heeded and extended by other civil rights leaders of the time including Ralph Abernanthy, E.D. Nixon, and a young precocious preacher named Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott has been the subject of encyclopedic writings; there is little hope of doing it justice here, even as an analogue aside the Occupy Movement. However, even without knowing the full history, there are lessons that Occupy can take away from the Boycott, methods of protest stretching as far back as civilization itself.
The Bus Boycott was at its core an ECONOMIC movement. In the 385 days of protest, the bus boycotters crippled the local economy.
Only when the City determined that the protesters had arrived at economically viable alternatives to busing did they take the Boycott seriously.
That point of viable economic disengagement, the creation of an alternative transportation system, was when hell came down.
There were bombings which were blamed on the protesters themselves even though family members were injured.
The DA tried to use an 1921 statute legally prohibiting boycotts to prosecute the organizations involved.
The DA prosecuted the NAACP, an organization with 50 years of business and civil rights activism within the country as a "foreign corporation." Blacks were called "anti-American" and "Communist," even those who had served in our military. This is when the fire hoses first came out and were used against honorable citizens.
The authorities made a regular practice of arresting the leaders of the Boycott. The prosecutions that came from these arrests often carried fines of several months' salary.
When the economy of the oppressor is threatened, the protester is no longer an annoyance. (S)he is a threat, a potential change agent that must be addressed. History, ad infinitum, bears this truth: At the point the protester attempts an economic coup, engagement from the oppressor will be violent and will persist until the status quo becomes more difficult to uphold than to change.
At the core of most civil disturbances are economic disparities. Because the 99% is addressing this disparity even more directly than the Bus Boycott, the 99% should expect violent resistance to this change, equal to and beyond that which the Boycotters faced.
However, the Occupy movement must rejoice in that we now face active destructionist policies from government, which is only one step away from acceptance. I personally believe this acceptance will come as politicians realize they must embrace the Movement in order to keep their jobs in 2012.
Occupy Xmas believes that the economic pressure must continue to come to bear for reforms to take place. Boycott big business and redirect your money into small business. Become a producer instead of a consumer. Do not use credit cards. Learn to invest without the use of bankers, in real estate and in yourself.
"First they ignore you, then they insult you, then they try to destroy you, then they accept you."
Herman Cain, ladies and gentlemen.
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posted Dec 1, 2011 4:47 AM by Screaming Head
Let's take on the tax problem with basic math and psychology.
Taxes need to be raised on the 1%. This much is absolutely, categorically essential. The federal deficit is climbing at an untenable rate and is expected to reach over $20 trillion dollars by 2016 at current rates. By the middle of the century, all federal taxes will be absorbed into paying interest on the federal debt. The government will basically be in a nationwide subprime mortgage by 2050.
The issue is not raising taxes on the highest earners. It. Must. Be. Done. The issue is how, and for all of the advanced degrees of the talking heads on television, no one has broken down the actual issue, at least on camera. We need to raise taxes. What we do not need is an increase in tax RATES.
Raising corporate taxes increases investment in business as owners look for tax shelters. The largest tax shelters are investments within businesses, either one's own or someone else's. One need look no farther than World War II to realize this. Top tax rate of 90%, 10 million jobs created, a world war won with no debt.
Raising corporate tax rates rings psychological bells. Higher tax rate numbers automatically bring up the defenses of those who wish to protect their money from "redistribution," "socialism," and "paying for the welfare state." Stay away.
Raising personal taxes decreases spending, at least on its face. In an economy that needs the injunction, this seems incorrect. However, raising luxury taxes would cause an economic injection away from items that have no bearing on the overall economy (yachts, jets, etc.), thereby encouraging the 1% to spend more money on things that would actually help small businesses to create jobs.
Raising capital gains taxes would decrease investment. This is a no-no across the board. Yes, the 1% will be disproportionately advantaged by such a policy, but in this case, the 99% and the Occupy movement needs to suck it up and look away from what "the other guy" is making. However, a policy that no one has considered is to increase the long term investment tax rate to two years, or three, instead of one.
So!
Raise corporate taxes by closing loopholes. Do not raise corporate tax rates. Raise taxes on luxury items. Do not raise taxes on ordinary items, and do not institute a federal sales tax. Do not raise capital gains taxes unless you consider raising only the short term rate, or extending the length of investment for the long term rate to kick in.
Easy!
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posted Nov 30, 2011 12:45 PM by Screaming Head
In keeping with the tenets of my new movement Occupy Christmas, which are 1. redirection from big business, 2. holding government accountable while 3. assuming personal responsibility, I offer this personal spending reform as a partial solution to what ails the nation:
Microfinancing.
Instead of giving a Christmas gift to people who already have everything, why not make an investment in a small business that needs a break?
The microfinancing movement online is already a big one, with investors able to form relationships with small businesses across the globe with as little as $1. There are many types of microfinancing sites which facilitate this type of relationship.
If you want equity stakes in a company, you can get equity stakes. If you want to buy bonds with a fixed rate of return, you can do so. If you want to simply help out for a thank you note and a smile, there are microfinancing sites for you as well.
A link to a list of the top 10 microfinancing sites (click here to visit).
We must practice the values for which the Occupy boots on the ground are marching. There is no worthier recipient of a Christmas gift than a small business person who has been working hard and is not asking for a handout. That's the America that we need to patronize. And don't forget: If you pick the right businesses, you can actually make money!!
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posted Nov 16, 2011 4:39 PM by Screaming Head
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updated Nov 16, 2011 4:40 PM
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posted Nov 15, 2011 8:33 PM by Screaming Head
The 99% have the opportunity of a lifetime coming up to make their presence known, and I wonder if anyone in authority with the Occupy Wall Street protesters has thought of it yet.
There's one way to find out; hit Google. Be back in a couple minutes. Grab a beer; read this political blog.
Ok, I'm done. Just like I thought; the initiative has not really been organized.
What initiative, you ask? Why the initiative to stop Black Friday, of course.
The biggest shopping day of the year is when many businesses first hit black - for the entire year. The economic consequences of a successful Black Friday boycott would be monumental. The effects would stretch months into the future, when those businesses that were expecting a year's worth of preparation to finally pay off would have to report quarterly results. Stocks would fall. Investment banks would be hit hard. And the Occupy Wall Street movement would finally have the leverage of real political power, the only political power there truly is: the dollar.
The November 5th effort to move money from large banks to local credit unions was by most counts a success. However, though credit unions signed up more customers in a weekend than they usually do all year, the initiative had little, if any, effect on the long term health of the banks. Truthfully, they barely felt it.
The organization of the initiative was completely correct: The remote nature of the protest and the ADD nature of the protesters make a single concentrated strike the best course of action. People simply do not have the attention span to pull off a Montgomery Bus Boycott any more.
This is precisely why Black Friday could be so advantageous to the leverage that the Occupy Wall Street protest holds to affect political change. So many businesses hinge their entire year on Black Friday and the holiday season that the 1% could not take a disappointment, especially not in the current economic climate of volatility.
Stop Black Friday? This may be just what the rich 1% doctor ordered.
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