HELP ME HELP MYSELF!

HELP ME HELP MYSELF!

Image by eyewashdesign: A. Golden
BLOGGED: 07 Oct. 2008: www.counterspinyc.blogspot.com/\

New Yorkers Protest the US0 BILLION Wall Street BAILOUT: Wall Street, NYC - September 25, 2008

Phototgrapher: a. golden, eyewash design - c. 2008.

This is actually a GOOD guy. See: billionairesforbush.com/index.php for more information.

Friends,

The richest 400 Americans -- that's right, just four-hundred people -- own MORE than the bottom 150 million Americans COMBINED! 400 of the wealthiest Americans have got more stashed away than half the entire country! Their combined net worth is .6 trillion. During the eight years of the Bush Administration, their wealth has increased by nearly 0 billion -- the same amount that they were demanding We give to them for the "bailout." Why don't they just spend the money they made under Bush to bail themselves out? They'd still have nearly a trillion dollars left over to spread amongst themselves!

Of course, they are not going to do that -- at least not voluntarily. George W. Bush was handed a 7 billion surplus when Bill Clinton left office. Because that money was OUR money and not HIS, he did what the rich prefer to do -- spend it and never look back. Now we have a .5 trillion debt that will take seven generations from which to recover. Why -- on --earth – did -- our -- "representatives" -- give -- these -- robber -- barons -- $ US850 BILLION -- of – OUR -- money?

Last week, proposed my own bailout plan. My suggestions, listed below, were predicated on the singular and simple belief that the rich must pull themselves up by their own platinum bootstraps. Sorry, fellows, but you drilled it into our heads one too many times: THERE...IS...NO…FREE... LUNCH ~ PERIOD! And thank you for encouraging us to hate people on welfare! So, there should have been NO HANDOUTS FROM US TO YOU! Last Friday, after voting AGAINST this BAILOUT, in an unprecedented turn of events, the House FLIP-FLOPPED their "No" Vote & said "Yes", in a rush version of a "bailout" bill vote. IN SPITE OF THE PEOPLE'S OVERWHELMING DISAPPROVAL OF THIS BAILOUT BILL... IN SPITE OF MILLIONS OF CALLS FROM THE PEOPLE CRASHING WASHINGTON "representatives'" PHONE LINES...IN SPITE OF CRASHING OUR POLITICIAN'S WEBSITES...IN SPITE OF HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE PROTESTING AROUND THE COUNTRY... THEY VOTED FOR THIS BAILOUT! The People first succeeded on Monday with the House, but failed do it with the Senate and then THE HOUSE TURNED ON US TOO!

It is clear, though, we cannot simply continue protesting without proposing exactly what it is we think THESE IDIOTS should/'ve do/one. So, after consulting with a number of people smarter than Phil Gramm, here’s the proposal, now known as "Mike's Rescue Plan." (From Michael Moore's Bailout Plan) It has 10 simple, straightforward points. They are that you DIDN'T, BUT SHOULD'VE:

1. APPOINTED A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR TO CRIMINALLY INDICT ANYONE ON WALL STREET WHO KNOWINGLY CONTRIBUTED TO THIS COLLAPSE. Before any new money was expended, Congress should have committed, by resolution, to CRIMINALLY PROSECUTE ANYONE who had ANYTHING to do with the attempted SACKING OF OUR ECONOMY. This means that anyone who committed insider trading, securities fraud or any action that helped bring about this collapse should have and MUST GO TO JAIL! This Congress SHOULD HAVE called for a Special Prosecutor who would vigorously go after everyone who created the mess, and anyone else who attempts to scam the public in future. (I like Elliot Spitzer ~ so, he played a little hanky-panky...Wall Street hates him & this is a GOOD thing.)

2. THE RICH SHOULD HAVE PAID FOR THEIR OWN BAILOUT! They may have to live in 5 houses instead of 7. They may have to drive 9 cars instead of 13. The chef for their mini-terriers may have to be reassigned. But there is no way in hell, after forcing family incomes to go down more than ,000 dollars during the Bush years, that working people and the middle class should have to fork over one dime to underwrite the next yacht purchase.

If they truly needed the 0 billion they say they needed, well, here is an easy way they could have raised it:

a) Every couple makeing over a million dollars a year and every single taxpayer who makes over 0,000 a year should pay a 10% surcharge tax for five years. (It's the Senator Sanders plan. He's like Colonel Sanders, only he's out to fry the right chickens.) That means the rich would have still been paying less income tax than when Carter was president. That would have raise a total of 0 billion.

b) Like nearly every other democracy, they should have charged a 0.25% tax on every stock transaction. This would have raised more than 0 billion in a year.

c) Because every stockholder is a patriotic American, stockholders should have forgone receiving a dividend check for ONE quarter and instead this money would have gone the treasury to help pay for the bullsh*t bailout.

d) 25% of major U.S. corporations currently pay NO federal income tax. Federal corporate tax revenues currently amount to 1.7% of the GDP compared to 5% in the 1950s. If we raised the corporate income tax BACK to the levels of the 1950s, this would give us an extra 0 billion.

All of this combined should have been enough to end the calamity. The rich would have gotten to keep their mansions and their servants and our United States government ("COUNTRY FIRST!") would've have a little leftover to repair some roads, bridges and schools...

3. YOU SHOULD HAVE BAIL OUT THE PEOPLE LOSING THEIR HOMES, NOT THE PEOPLE WHO WILL BUILD AN EIGHTH HOME! There are 1.3 million homes in foreclosure right now. That is what is at the heart of this problem. So, instead of giving the money to the banks as a gift, they should have paid down each of these mortgages by 0,000. They should have forced the banks to renegotiate the mortgage so the homeowner could pay on its current value. To insure that this help wouldn't go to speculators and those who tried to making money by flipping houses, the bailout should have only been for people's primary residences. And, in return for the 0K pay-down on the existing mortgage, the government would have gotten to share in the holding of the mortgage so it could get some of its money back. Thus, the total initial cost of fixing the mortgage crisis at its roots (instead of with the greedy lenders) is 0 billion, not 0 BILLION.

And let's set the record straight. People who have defaulted on their mortgages are not "bad risks." They are our fellow Americans, and all they wanted was what we all want: a home to call their own. But, during the Bush years, millions of the People lost the decent paying jobs they had. SIX MILLION fell into poverty! SEVEN MILLION lost their health insurance! And, every one of them saw their real wages go DOWN by ,000! Those who DARE look down on these Americans who got hit with one bad break after another should be ASHAMED.! We are a better, stronger, safer and happier society when all of our citizens can afford to live in a home they own.

4. THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN A STIPULATION THAT IF YOUR BANK OR COMPANY GOT ANY OF OUR MONEY IN A "BAILOUT," THEN WE OWN YOU. Sorry, that's how it's done. If the bank gives me money so I can buy a house, the bank "owns" that house until I pay it all back -- with interest. Same deal for Wall Street. Whatever money you need to stay afloat, if our government considers you a safe risk -- and necessary for the good of the country -- then you can get a loan, but WE SHOULD OWN YOU. If you default, we will sell you. This is how the Swedish government did it and it worked.

5. ALL REGULATIONS SHOULD HAVE BEEN BE RESTORED. THE REAGAN REVOLUTION IS DEAD! This catastrophe happened because we let the fox have the keys to the hen-house. In 1999, Phil Gramm authored a bill to remove all the regulations that governed Wall Street and our banking system. The bill passed and Clinton signed it. Here's what Sen.Phil Gramm, McCain's chief economic advisor, said at the bill signing:

"In the 1930s ... it was believed that government was the answer. It was believed that stability and growth came from government overriding the functioning of free markets.

"We are here today to repeal [that] because we have learned that government is not the answer. We have learned that freedom and competition are the answers. We have learned that we promote economic growth and we promote stability by having competition and freedom.

"I am proud to be here because this is an important bill; it is a deregulatory bill. I believe that that is the wave of the future, and I am awfully proud to have been a part of making it a reality."

FOR THIS NOT TO REOCCUR, This BILL SHOULD HAVE BEEN REPEALED! Bill Clinton could have helped by leading the effort for the repeal of the Gramm bill and the reinstating of even tougher regulations regarding our financial institutions. And when they were done with that, they should have restored the regulations for the airlines, the inspection of our food, the oil industry, OSHA, and every other entity that affects our daily lives. All oversight provisions for any "bailout" should have had enforcement monies attached to them and criminal penalties for all offenders.

6. IF IT'S TOO BIG TO FAIL, THEN THAT MEANS IT'S TOO BIG TO EXIST! Allowing the creation of these mega-mergers and not enforcing the monopoly and anti-trust laws has allowed a number of financial institutions and corporations to become so large, the very thought of their collapse means an even bigger collapse across the entire economy. No ONE or TWO companies should EVER have this kind of power! The so-called "economic Pearl Harbor" can't happen when you have hundreds -- thousands -- of institutions where people have their money. When we have a dozen auto companies, if one goes belly-up, we DON'T FACE A NATIONAL DISASTER! If we have three separately-owned daily newspapers in your town, then one media company can't call all the shots (I know... What am I thinking?! Who reads a paper anymore? Sure glad all those mergers and buyouts left us with a STRONG and "FREE" press!). Laws Should have been enacted to prevent companies from being so large and dominant that with one slingshot to the eye, the GIANT FALLS and DIES. And no institution should be allowed to set up money schemes that NO ONE understands. If you can't explain it in two sentences, you shouldn't be taking anyone's money!

7. NO EXECUTIVE SHOULD EVER BE PAID MORE THAN 40 TIMES THEIR AVERAGE EMPLOYEE, AND NO EXECUTIVE SHOULD RECEIVE ANY KIND OF "PARACHUTE" OTHER THAN THE VERY GENEROUS SALARY HE OR SHE MADE WHILE WORKING FOR THE COMPANY. In 1980, the average American CEO made 45 times what their employees made. By 2003, they were making 254 times what their workers made. After 8 years of Bush, they now make over 400 times what their average employee makes. How We have allowed this to happen at publicly held companies is beyond reason. In Britain, the average CEO makes 28 times what their average employee makes. In Japan, it's only 17 times! The last I heard, the CEO of Toyota was living the high life in Tokyo. How does he do it on so little money? Seriously, this is an OUTRAGE! We have created the mess we're in by letting the people at the top become bloated beyond belief with millions of dollars. THIS HAS TO STOP! Not only should no executive who receives help out of this mess profit from it, but any executive who was in charge of running his company into the ground should be FIRED before the company receives ANY help.

8. CONGRESS SHOULD HAVE STRENGTHENED THE FDIC AND MADE IT A MODEL FOR PROTECTING NOT ONLY PEOPLE'S SAVINGS, BUT ALSO THEIR PENSIONS AND THEIR HOMES. Obama was correct to propose expanding FDIC protection of people's savings in their banks to 0,000. But, this same sort of government insurance must be given to our NEVER have to worry about whether or not the money they've put away for their old age will be there. This should have meant strict government oversight of companies who manage their employees' funds -- or perhaps it means the companies should have been forced to turn over those funds and their management to the government? People's private retirement funds must also be protected, but perhaps it's time to consider not having one's retirement invested in the casino known as the stock market??? Our government should have a solemn duty to guarantee that no one who grows old in this country has to worry about becoming destitute.

9. EVERYBODY NEEDS TO TAKE A DEEP BREATH, CALM DOWN, AND NOT LET FEAR RULE THE DAY. Turn off your TVs! We are NOT in the Second Great Depression. The sky is NOT falling, Chicken Little! Pundits and politicians have lied to us so FAST and FURIOUS it's hard not to be affected by all the fear mongering. Even I wrote to and repeated what I heard on the news last week, that the Dow had the biggest one day drop in its history. Well, that was true in terms of points, but its 7% drop came nowhere close to Black Monday in 1987 when the stock market in one day lost 23% of its value. In the '80s, 3,000 banks closed, but America didn't go out of business. These institutions have always had their ups and downs and eventually it works out. It has to, because the rich do not like their wealth being disrupted! They have a vested interest in calming things down and getting back into their Jacuzzis before they slip into their million thread-count sheets to drift off to a peaceful, Vodka tonic and Ambien-induced slumber.

As crazy as things are right now, tens of thousands of people got a car loan last week. Thousands went to the bank and got a mortgage to buy a home. Students just back to college found banks more than happy to put them into hock for the next 15 years with a student loan. I was even pre-approved for a USK personal loan. Yes, life has gone on with little-or-no-change (other than the whopping 6.1% umeployment rate, but that happened last month). Not a single person lost any of his/her monies in bank, or a treasury note, or in a CD. And, the perhaps the most amazing thing is that the American public FINALLY didn't buy the scare campaign. The citizens didn't blink, instead telling Congress to take that bailout and shove it. THAT was impressive. Why didn't the population succumb to the fright-filled warnings from their president and his cronies? Well, you can only say 'Saddam has the bomb' so many times before the people realize you're a lying sack of shit. After eight long years, the nation is worn out and simply can't take it any longer. The WORLD is fed up & I don't blame them.

10. THEY SHOULD HAVE CREATED A NATIONAL BANK, A "PEOPLE'S BANK." Since they're really itching to print up a trillion dollars, instead of giving it to a few rich people, why don't We give it to ourselves? Now that We own Freddie and Fannie, why not set up a People's bank? One that can provide low-interest loans for all sorts of people who want to own a home, start a small business, go to school, come up with the cure for cancer or create the next great invention. And, now that we own AIG - the country's largest insurance company - let's take the next step and PROVIDE HEALTH INSURANCE FOR EVERYONE. MEDICARE FOR ALL! It will SAVE us SO MUCH MONEY in the LONG RUN (not to mention bring peace of mind to all). And, America won't be 12th on the life expectancy list! We'll be able to have a longer lifespan, enjoying our government-protected pension and will live to see the day when the corporate criminals who caused this much misery are let out of prison so that We can help re-acclimate them to plain old ordinary, civilian life -- a life with ONE nice home and ONE gas-free car invented with help from the People's Bank.

P.S. Call your Senators NOW !!! ---> www.visi.com/juan/congress/

Since they voted against passing the extension of unemployment benefits and skipped out to "campaign" to us to be re-elected...call them and tell them you will vote for the other "guy" if they don't get their act together!

bbb low-cost housing, tegnestuen vandkunsten

Image by seier+seier
bbb low-cost housing, kvistgård, elsinore, denmark.
architects: tegnestuen vandkunsten, 2004-2008.

before closing everything down for the summer, I thought I'd take a break from my palermo photos and show you a few snapshots from the completed first stage of the bbb housing project I have worked on for tegnestuen vandkunsten.

many of you commented on the prototype I uploaded last year, here is a chance to see the finished project. people started moving in about half a year ago if I remember correctly. the photos are from yesterday...

as I have written earlier, it is a courtyard project in which the houses are gathered nine by nine in clusters around a small, communal garden or square. the clusters are all identical but they are placed freely on a sloping site which centres naturally on a little lake.

I can't help feeling that the low-cost tag is not entirely fair. we did the original competition with a high degree of prefabrication in mind but the impact of repeated units is softened considerably by the quality of the site and the scale of the buildings...but most importantly, we never felt we were made to compromise for budget reasons. it remains a central tenet and experience of vandkunsten that key qualities of housing are independent of budget. that may be a provocative statement to all those struggling with budget restraints in social housing, but just think about how often the wrong decisions are forced on a project by thick-headed bureaucrats and ignorant clients rather than a lack of money.

what made me really happy yesterday was the way people are making the place their own. what I saw was only the beginning and as such both careful and hesitant, but it showed an impressive understanding of our intentions. I only fear there are too many restrictions on what residents are allowed to do. we love rules in denmark but the real sustainability of this project does not lie in the sturdiness of its materials but in the fundamental adaptability of its scale and method of construction. I hope changes will be allowed over time.

I also can't wait to see what people will make of their communal squares. they were finished simply with a lawn and a couple of young apple trees but the possibilities for making unique and personal spaces out of them are many and the process of doing so should generate a real sense of community...not that it seems to be lacking. from our client we have heard stories of how people are helping each other moving in - always a challenge, but particularly so in a project where you have to do part of the finishing work yourself.

when you arrive at a place as a stranger, the sense of community often proves itself as a kind of natural surveillance. this place is full of kids (as we had hoped) and people were discreetly keeping an eye on me and my camera as I toured the place, a sign of the individual responsibility they feel. you cannot force that on anyone but you can support it in the design: here, in the way all kitchens open onto the communal garden; in the way the covered access becomes a niche in that space while at the same time framing a view of the private garden and the landscape beyond.

all modest means, describing a modulation of social spaces from public to private.

our own discussion at home right now is whether we should move there ourselves. it would be so much better for our daughter but it would add 40 kilometers to our daily commute - both ways - a problem as old a suburbia itself.

my first text on the project
client's project web site
www.vandkunsten.com

Obama in Ghana - The design and the real T-shirt

Image by Monde Perso
Obama in Ghana 017, screen- and transfer-print, with a textile application in form of the black star. (0019). Design by Stefan Meisel for Monde Perso. For this design we used an artwork of Mel Mercelo which can be seen here in it's original version of the used Obama image.

The idea to create a Obama in Ghana collection for his first visit as elected President of the United States to an African country came up with the first news mid May. German designer and photographer Stefan Meisel who’s living in Abidjan, Ivory Coast since 2007 made the first layouts in the first days of June, together with designer Yves Dossou who created already a street wear collection for the Ivory Coast in 2002. The both creative are working together since February 2009 to bring fresh air in West African street wear. The studios and ateliers are beside the front shop called “Monde Perso” – which is a French catchword for “Create your own (personal) world” - in the centre of Abidjan.

L'idée de créer une collection Obama au Ghana pour sa première visite en tant que Président élu des États-Unis à un pays africain est venu avec la première nouvelle mi Mai. Designer et photographe allemand Stefan Meisel qui vit à Abidjan en Côte d'Ivoire depuis 2007 a fait la première mise en page dans les premiers jours de Juin en collaboration avec le designer Yves Dossou qui a créé déjà une collection street wear pour la Côte d'Ivoire en 2002. Les deux créateurs travaillent ensemble depuis Février 2009 pour donner un nouveau souffle au street wear en Afrique de l'Ouest. Les studios et les ateliers sont à côté du magasin "Monde Perso" dans le centre d'Abidjan

Monde Perso - Personnalisation des vêtements et autres supports
Sérigraphie, Flex, Transfert, Broderie, Strass ect.
Abidjan Marcory-Résidentiel, Côte d'Ivoire
Tél.: (+225) - 21 26 57 94 Mail: mondeperso[at]yahoo.fr

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Obama’s Remarks at Cape Coast Castle
U.S. president says former holding area for slaves also offers hope

Taken from the site America gov.

THE WHITE HOUSE, Office of the Press Secretary
July 11, 2009

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AT CAPE COAST CASTLE, Cape Coast Castle, Cape Coast, Ghana 3:57 P.M. GMT

THE PRESIDENT: Michelle, the children, as well as other members of my family, just got an extraordinary tour of this castle. It is reminiscent of the trip I took to Buchenwald because it reminds us of the capacity of human beings to commit great evil. One of the most striking things that I heard was that right above the dungeons in which male captives were kept was a church, and that reminds us that sometimes we can tolerate and stand by great evil even as we think that we're doing good.

You know, I think it was particularly important for Malia and Sasha, who are growing up in such a blessed way, to be reminded that history can take very cruel turns, and hopefully one of the things that was imparted to them during this trip is their sense of obligation to fight oppression and cruelty wherever it appears, and that any group of people who are degrading another group of people have to be fought against with whatever tools we have available to us.

So obviously it's a moving experience, a moving moment. We want to thank those who arranged for the tour and the people of Ghana for preserving this history. As painful as it is, I think that it helps to teach all of us that we have to do what we can to fight against the kinds of evils that, sadly, still exist in our world, not just on this continent but in every corner of the globe.

And I think, as Americans, and as African Americans, obviously there's a special sense that on the one hand this place was a place of profound sadness; on the other hand, it is here where the journey of much of the African American experience began. And symbolically, to be able to come back with my family, with Michelle and our children, and see the portal through which the diaspora began, but also to be able to come back here in celebration with the people of Ghana of the extraordinary progress that we've made because of the courage of so many, black and white, to abolish slavery and ultimately win civil rights for all people, I think is a source of hope. It reminds us that as bad as history can be, it's also possible to overcome.

Thanks, everybody.

Read more: America gov

NAS my day

Image by Stargazer95050
The three boxes on the left can house up to 6 x 3.5" drives.
Each box can be RAID0/RAID1/JBOD and a variety of other modes using 2 HDs.

Those two tiny boxes are not to be underestimated -- via eSATA connection and build-in RAID, they outperform all other NAS. At a fraction of the price. And in most cases, you just plug in existing drives. works with NTFS, XFS or any Linux EXT format. And USB -- if you use a laptop.

OTOH, the "big" box on the left is a real Linux-based NAS server with Gigabit Ethernet interface -- but won't be as speedy as those eSATA boxes. The built-in DVD-RW drive and the ability to place this box far away from my desktop PC & eSATA drives makes this a useful addition. I might add a second LG NAS box -- one for occasional backup services, one for day-to-day network activity.
The NAS also helps me to backup my MSI netbook and possibly I could burn CD/DVD from the netbook via this NAS

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P1020083_bib

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the house where I spent my teenage years

Image by shellipsm
someone else lives there now, but I helped put the insulation in when I was 10 years old! (I also snuck out onto the roof and snuck out a few times in highschool!)